Tag Archives: Friendship

Innerspace Virtual Book Tour

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Literary, Psychedelic, New Adult, Friendship

Date Published: 08-02-2021

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Four close friends, a beach, a fire, a trip to remember

 

“We’re ready to take flight on our next big adventure, supplies
packed, minds clear…The air is charged with sherbet-zing
anticipation. We’re in formation. Ecstatic motion. Screaming down the
hill towards the beach.”

Everyone has secrets. Some are darker than others. Ethel, Isaac, Moana, and
Henry are about to embark on their last psychedelic adventure together
before Moana leaves for Australia

Each of the four has something soul-scarring to hide, something
they’ve vowed to take to their graves. But when the psilocybin kicks
in, psychological doors spring open and all past and present lives are laid
bare.

Will the experience bring them closer to each other and closer to
understanding themselves, or will it devastate them?

 

Content warning: contains strong language, use of psilocybin mushrooms and
other substances, trauma themes.

 

 

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EXCERPT

First chapter

 

Ethel

The library is busy for a Friday. The steady flow is punctuated by the tension-induced banter of tired week-day staff who just want the weekend to come. Celeste bustles over to me – I always think of her movements in this way, probably because of the high heels and tight skirts that inhibit her movement. I’m shelving romances. She brushes lint from my shoulder. I try to hold back the instinct to recoil. My smile is a grimace.

“What are you up to this weekend?” 

Usually I say something like “reading” or “cleaning the house” because that’s a usual weekend thing, and Celeste responds with “aw” or “sad” or “lame” and looks pityingly at me. Her idea of fun is going into town, barely clad, and drinking until she falls over. This time I try a different approach, just to see how she reacts: “I’m getting wasted with my friends at the beach.” 

“Wow, Ethel.” Celeste puts the back of her palm up to my forehead, a playful-mocking gesture. “You feeling okay? I’ve never heard you say such a thing!”  She heads towards a customer at the counter, but pauses, looks back and squints, “I thought you didn’t drink.”

I don’t. Hopefully she won’t start inviting me out clubbing under the impression that I do. Drinking and I don’t mix well. Alcohol makes me nauseous if I have any more than a drink or two. I continue returning the heavily thumbed romances to their shelves. These ones are getting old. They’ll be out on the $1 rack soon and we’ll replace them with newer pulp. Their yellowing pages and the smell of cardboard and vanilla give them away. These books with their formulaic plots and two-dimensional characters don’t mean anything to me, but I hold them up and inhale anyway. 

Real books have smells that eBooks can never replace. The process of the paper breaking down, slowly, releases a compound similar in structure to vanillin. So that is what I’m inhaling: the smell of books dying.

I push my empty trolley back towards the counter. A familiar foreboding figure awaits, her back straight as a ruler, grey hair pulled into a tight knot. Agatha Millen. I contemplate going into the back room where we catalogue books, just to escape her, but I see Celeste has gotten there before me. Agatha turns her head and I instinctively want to duck behind the biographies. It’s too late. She’s seen me. 

“Excuse me.” Her tone is overbearing, even when her words are polite. She beckons with her bony fingers.

“How may I help you?” I try to smile.

“Oh, it’s you, the clumsy one. Well, don’t dither about. I need to track down the first edition of my father’s History of Paraguay. Of course, the family has several copies, but I know there’s one in the library system and I want to ensure it is returned to us before you toss it out like those poor sods outside.”

This is a fairly common Agatha request. She comes in every week asking for obscure volumes written by her family and acquaintances. Her unpleasantness forms a kind of parody of herself, reminding me of the judgemental elderly neighbours in my childhood who asked invasive questions about my broken shoes, my messy hair, my mother. I flinch but try not to show it. I can’t find the book on the system, anyway. It must have been tossed already. “I’ll look into it for you.”

Agatha fixes me with one of her piercing stares, emitting a kind of psychic toxin from behind her spectacles. I feel my soul withering. Thank God it’s almost the weekend.

 

About the Author

JR Bryant

JR Bryant has spent many years researching psychedelic experiences and has
written multiple novels under different pen names. They live in New
Zealand

 

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REVIEW – HENRY AND TOM BY MICHAEL ATKINS & WID BASTIAN

HENRY AND TOM
Henry and Tom explores the world of animal emotions and the powerful bonds that can develop between animals and humans. In 1995 Tom, a spokesman at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was involved in rescuing a beached juvenile sperm whale near San Diego, California. Tom names the whale Henry and the two form a strong emotional bond during the rescue. Twenty years later, Tom’s sailboat sinks on a solo voyage from San Francisco to Hawaii, and he and Henry are reunited thousands of miles from land. Henry rescues Tom and their incredible journey together across the Pacific begins…

BOOK DESCRIPTION COURTESY OF AMAZON

I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.

HENRY AND TOM is a heartwarming story. The characters and story line are very well-developed. This is a great story showing the love and trust of a man and whale. Henry finds Tom on the beach. He knows he has to help the whale and he calls a friend. When they get their, Henry starts to leave the whale, but the whale becomes agitated when Henry leaves. Now Tom has to stay with the whale why they try to get him back to the water. The crew attends the cuts that the whale had sustained from a shark attack that killed his mother. Be prepared to cry in this book, for it will pull at your heartstrings. It deals with finding yourself, family and marriage. This is not my usual type of story that I read, but I thought why not! I am glad I did. I GIVE HENRY AND TOM 4/5 STARS. 

 

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REVIEW – A MESS OF REASON BY A. WILDING WELLS

A MESS OF REASON“Witty”, “romantic”, “sexy” and “soul-swelling”.

An addictive heartfelt novel with a bold voice that will have you laughing out loud one minute then grabbing for tissue the next. An unforgettable romance with twists so emotionally wrought and endearing that they’ll make you weep. Get ready to carve out a chunk of your heart for Scout and Tess’s genuinely moving best-friend-turned-lover romance. This is an “I love you” like you’ve never read before. It’s not a story, it’s a sexy romance novel game changer.
“Scout Steele is the country music star People magazine just voted ‘sexiest bachelor’. More than that, he’s my best friend forever, my bff. OK, not quite my lingo – I’m almost thirty. We’ve shared everything, and then some. Even crossed the line a few times, but not too far. Well, mostly…. He’ll go to the end of the world to make me happy; he knows me inside and out. Except, that is, my most intimate and darkest defect; this he must never know. It would ruin us, and ‘us’ is the only thing that matters. So I’m marrying someone who doesn’t care about the truth or, frankly, even me.”
“She’s twisted and sexy as all get out. Brilliant and beautiful, Tess Harlow is my best friend and my forbidden fruit – the woman I’ve always known and loved the best but can never have. Between my tours (and sexy groupies) and her man-juggling, we’ve never found “our time”. I love her to pieces but she’s about to marry the bane of my existence, rocker Creed Luce. He’s a walking cliché and he treats my Tess like hell – why she stays with him I still haven’t figured out. I am always there for her…but not this time. Tess deserves better, way better, my better. The door is half-open and I have my ways. Her best friend is about to become her best lover.”

BOOK DESCRIPTION COURTESY OF AMAZON

I was given a copy of this book by the Author for an honest review.

I loved A MESS OF REASON! The characters and story grabbed me from the first page. If you have been in love with your best friend since school, would you jeopardize your friendship to tell her?  Scout is about to get to that moment. He does not like the man who Tess Harlow is marrying. What can he do? He cannot let her marry that douche bag! Stryker and me are going to be the only males at her bachelorette  party. I can’t take anymore of her fiancée, and the way he treats her. Will I lose her forever when I tell her. I love Scout and Tess. Tess is also carrying around a secret that she has told no-one about. If she lets Scout know, she knows he will leave her. I recommend this book, and it is a great story. I give A MESS OF REASON 5 /5 STARS.

 

 

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REVIEW- UNEXPECTED BY LILLY AVALON

unexpected
Ever had one of those days? Alina Lyons is having one. Everything keeps falling apart and going wrong. Just when she thinks it couldn’t get worse, it does. After a case of mistaken identity and a broken heart, she finds herself questioning the things she thought she knew. She wonders who she can turn to or trust anymore.

An unlikely bond with her former best friend‘s ex, Ryan Wilcox, sends her life in a new direction. He offers her a place to stay while she gets her life back on track. His friendship is exactly what she’s been missing—what she’s been needing. Alina’s never felt this alive. As time goes by, the dynamic of their relationship becomes more than either of them expected. A few innocent kisses could lead them in a new direction, but are they prepared for what’s on the other side?

Only one way to find out.

BOOK DESCRIPTION COURTESY OF AMAZON

I was given a copy of this book by the Author for an honest review.

UNEXPECTED is a sexy,hot read. I fell in love with the characters of Ryan and Alina, they are good for each other. Alina has just received news from her boyfriend that he wants a break from their relationship. She cannot get a break from the crappy day that she is having, she is late going in for work and ends up losing her job. She goes back to the apartment that she shares with her friend and takes a shower.  While she is in the shower, someone joins her.  Thinking it is her boyfriend they start to have shower sex, until she finds out it is her roommates boyfriend. They both find out that their boyfriend and girlfriend are having an affair with each other.

So Alina and Ryan go out and get drunk together. Ryan takes her to her place to stay, because she is moving out of her place. Now with her staying with Ryan, it starts to get interesting. The characters and story line is very well-developed, and I recommend this book to everyone. Lilly Avalon is a writer that I will keep my eye on and her books on my to be read pile. I give UNEXPECTED 5/5 STARS.

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“ALWAYS ON MY MIND” BY JILL SHALVIS

ALWAYS ON MY MIND

Today, I just started reading ALWAYS ON MY MIND BY JILL SHALVIS. This is part of her Lucky Harbor Series, featuring Jack Harper and Leah Sullivan, who are longtime friends who grew up together in Lucky Harbor. Only Jack does not know that Leah has had a thing for him ever since they were young, but now Leah tells a lie to his Mom that they are a couple so she won’t think she is the reason that Jack can’t find a lasting relationship. This makes his mom so happy that he can’t tell her it is not true, so they continue the lie. Will their friendship suffer, or will LOVE, AND COMMITMENT BLOOM OUT OF THIS LIE.

I am only 38 pages into the book and it is already getting good. So once I finish it I will give you my review and recommendations on the book.  So happy reading.  : )

Book Description

Publication Date:September 24, 2013
“Count on Jill Shalvis for a witty, steamy, unputdownable love story.” — Robyn Carr, New York Times bestselling author of Harvest Moon
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING After dropping out of pastry school and messing up her big break on a reality cooking show, Leah Sullivan needs to accomplish something in her life. But when she returns home to Lucky Harbor, she finds herself distracted by her best friend, Jack Harper. In an effort to cheer up Jack’s ailing mother, Dee, Leah tells a little fib – that she and Jack are more than just friends. Soon pretending to be hot-and-heavy with this hunky firefighter feels too real to handle . . .
No-strings attachments suit Jack just fine – perfect for keeping the risk of heartbreak away. But as Jack and Leah break every one of their “just friends” rules, he longs to turn their pretend relationship into something permanent. Do best friends know too much about each other to risk falling in love? Or will Jack and Leah discover something new about each other in a little town called Lucky Harbor?
BOOK DESCRIPTION COURTESY  OF AMAZON

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