Vocal Expressions

This is the first time I am reading anything by Annie Winters and Tony West. The Vigilante’s Lover is the story about Jax De Luca who feels he was set up by Jovana, his ex-girlfriend and sent to prison without pleading his case in front of a tribunal (this is a mercenary/spy organization). While planning his escape from prison he has been sending coded messages to Klaus, a member of his network. However, these letters fall into the hands of a naïve twenty-years old, Mia Morrow who gets turned on by reading them. She innocently responds but Jax finds her messages to be out of code.  Jax then turns up in the middle of the night and kidnaps Mia from her aunt’s Tennessee home thinking she is a trainee assassin out to seduce him. But Mia is a civilian who has no idea what Jax is talking about. Jax is still not convinced despite her telling him the truth the house that he thinks is a safe house belongs to her aunt, that her parents are dead, and she’s lived there as a child, but came b...

Author’s Bio: Amy L. Bernstein writes stories, essays, and poems that let readers feel while making them think. Her novels include The Potrero Complex , the award-winning The Nighthawkers, Dreams of Song Times , and Fran, The Second Time Around , voted best young adult novel by the Maryland Writers’ Association. Amy is an award-winning journalist, speechwriter, playwright, and certified nonfiction book coach. She lives, works, and plays in Baltimore, Maryland. Learn more: https://amywrites.live   Deliah Lawrence: What inspired you to write your book? Amy L. Bernstein: Dreams of Song Times grew out of a desire to push my imagination in new directions. My previous books were grounded in reality, though tinged with speculation. With Dreams , I wanted to see if I could combine my interests in socially relevant fiction with magical realism. And voila! A human-mermaid named Ell was born and became the center of a fight for the right to exist and be accepted.  DL: How do yo...

Author’s Bio: I was a very shy military child and went to many different schools. At 14, a teacher discovered I could sing and convinced me to be in the school talent show. I felt the extreme joy of being someone else and was hooked. I did my first professional show at 16 (Hello Dolly) and was a working actor for over 40 years, loving every minute.   I also discovered I have a real passion for teaching and had a thirty-year relationship with AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy), a performing arts university.  I traveled extensively, giving master classes in audition technique, acting for the camera and career preparation. I loved and still love my students.   Then, life intervened. I re-encountered my Italian soulmate after 30 years apart, got married at 60, recovered from cancer, went through my husbands’ cancer with him, and began a new life on a hilltop in Italy. After twelve wonderful years Covid hit, we were in isolation.  With extra time o...

This is the first time I am reading anything by Michele Arris. Catch Me is the contemporary interracial love story about the sexy yet stubborn Tabitha Seils and the sexy yet stubborn Dominic Balaska. Tabitha is a custom pastry chef and part owner with her friends Evie and Kennedi of a Washington D.C. boutique bakery (Chase Confections) reopening in a new location.  Tabitha likes things her way and constantly bumps heads with Dominic who is overseeing the project of the new location. Dominic is also Trenton’s brother who is engaged to Kennedi. So, everyone wants Tabitha and Dominic to get along because they have to work together.  Now, these two are thrown together for a week on a promo opportunity to market the bakery out on the West Coast (Las Vegas) at Shaw’s signature restaurant, Pearl Fine Dining. Dominic is Shaw Enterprise’s COO and would arrange for meetings to get Tabitha interviewed and to drum up business. While there, tension eases between the two of them and they ...

Author’s Bio: André C. Wade was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. After graduating from the University of Nevada Las Vegas with a degree in psychology, he moved to Los Angeles where he began writing. After moving back to Las Vegas, he was later named a Champion of Pride by The Advocate magazine. His writing credits include articles for several magazines and newspapers where he advocated for the LGBTQ community. Seven Ways to Disappear: The Book within the Book is his first book.  Deliah Lawrence: What inspired you to write your book? André C. Wade: A good place to go to find out a little bit of background and context for me writing the book is the blog that I created: www.7waystodisappear.com . Specifically, the entry on the origins of the ‘book within the book’ is a good blog entry to get a sense of the inspiration.   The thing to keep in mind when reading this book is that it’s a work of fiction by a fictional author inside of a larger story.   DL: What ...

This is my second time reading a novel by Lauren Blakely and The Sexy One delivered on the genre of single dad/nanny romance. So, let’s meet Simon Travers, the single dad to Hayden, his five-year-old daughter. He’s handsome, sexy, thoughtful, successful, and focused on being the best dad since divorcing his cheating wife. He hires Abby Becker as his daughter’s nanny. Abby is beautiful, adventuresome, into nature and fluent in a few languages including Spanish which she teaches part time.  These two kept their attraction under wraps for the past seven months since Abby became the nanny for fear of being a cliché not to mention there is an eight-year age difference. Simon feels he’s too old to hang with Abby’s friends when she simply wants him to have fun with her. Their respective friends just want them to admit their true feelings and be happy. Well, all it takes is a little light flirting over cake and nature documentaries to reveal it’s more than a crush between them.  ...

Author’s Bio: Matilda Young (she/they) is a poet with an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Maryland. She has been published in several journals, including Anatolios Magazine , Angel City Review , and Entropy Magazine’s Blackcackle . She enjoys Edgar Allan Poe jokes, not being in her apartment, and being obnoxious about the benefits of stovetop popcorn. Deliah Lawrence: What inspired you to write your book? Matilda Young: This spring, I was selected as one of Yellow Arrow’s 2022 Writers in Residence. I had the privilege of collaborating with three amazing writers and the great team at Yellow Arrow. The chapbook came together around the theme of Catrice Greer’s fabulous poem “I Want to Love You, Baltimore.” I think of our book as a complicated love letter to a complicated, lovely city. I’ve learned so much from Catrice, Arao, and Amy. It was such a joy to be part of this true fellowship of writers, and I am so grateful to Yellow Arrow for the opportunity.   DL: How do you...