Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Sky Garden by Jenny Schwartz (VBT, guest post, excerpt and GIVEAWAY) GFT





I have the pleasure of having a guest post by author Jenny Schwartz, who shares one of her passions.


Museums

Jenny Schwartz 



I love museums, especially the small ones that are often quirky, reflecting the passions of those who work in them. Lanie Briers, the heroine of Sky Garden, is curator for the very individualistic Horry Museum that celebrates the Edwardian era (think Downton Abbey, though not so grand). Being fictional, I could site the Horry Museum anywhere I wanted, so I put it in Bloomsbury, rubbing shoulders with the British Library and British Museum, both of which have absolutely gorgeous websites for those of us who can’t visit in person.

The Horry Museum is a unique museum, possibly only viable in fiction. It lets visitors touch the objects! It’s a house furnished as an Edwardian home and visitors are invited to wonder through and imagine life a century ago. [Going off on a slight tangent, the BBC has a wonderful program on the dangers of an Edwardian home, and the associated webpage is fascinating.]

As for smaller or quirkier museums in real life…I’d love to visit the Hershey Museum—and yes, that’s because I’m a chocaholic! I’d also like to see the grand Met Museum, especially its Costume Institute.

Museums are a fabulous way to encounter amazing things. I recently visited the “Treasure Ships. Art in the Age of Spices” exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (the link will probably stop working when the exhibition ends, but it’s here), and it was fabulous! So many varied cultures and responses to encountering one another, and some of the objects were 400 years old, yet still vivid with imagination and passion.

Museums and their exhibitions are storytelling in another form, so it’s no wonder that as an avid reader and author, I love them. Do you have a favourite museum or one you dream of visiting?

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Sky Garden
by Jenny Schwartz

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GENRE: Romantic Suspense

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BLURB:

On the rooftops of London, you can be anyone.

A year ago, Lanie Briers escaped a serial killer. She grew up in a theatre family and her act was mediumship, but not anymore. Life, now, is a hidden retreat above a quirky Bloomsbury museum, where she waits and watches.

Nick Tawes is an unexpected intrusion. He's a landscape architect filming a television series on roof gardens, and he intends to build one in Lanie's aerial territory. He has his own demons, old family troubles, that lure Lanie out of her refuge and into living again.

But as summer progresses and the sky garden grows, Lanie's enemy is closing in--because some secrets must go to the grave.


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EXCERPT

Head down, he forced his feet up the endless, dizzying stairs.

Abruptly, the wall of the house ended. He swayed, blinking at the transition from shadowed darkness to light. He’d reached the roof. His jetlagged brain bounced between explanations of neon light or moonlight as the source of illumination. Tokyo roofs were seldom dark; London skies seldom cloudless in his memory.

Concentrating on his feet, he negotiated the awkward step up and over a concrete wall edge, and down onto the roof. He looked up.

A woman looked back at him.

Soundless, he watched her mouth open and the plate she held drop. Water and soapsuds fountained up.

The light came from a kitchen window.

His brain kicked into gear. “It’s all right. I’m from the solicitor’s. I have a key.” Ridiculous words, but the fear in her expression demanded reassurance.

She held a phone up, soap suds running down her bare forearm to the pushed-up sleeve of an apple-green pullover. The phone was brandished as a weapon.

“A key,” he mouthed exaggeratedly. “I have a key.”

A stand-off. He didn’t dare move. He must have frightened her when she’d felt safe and alone on this rooftop. He couldn’t understand how she and her kitchen were here at all.


Amazon link

Sky Garden will be $0.99 during this tour

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:


Bio: Jenny Schwartz is a hopeful romantic with a degree in Sociology and History — people watching and digging into the past. She lives in Western Australia and is working towards her dream of living by the sea. Jenny writes romantic suspense, as well as contemporary and paranormal romance.


Website
Facebook
Twitter

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GIVEAWAY



a Rafflecopter giveaway
The tour dates can be found here

38 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for letting me visit your lovely blog to chat about museums. There are some amazing ones around, and I'd love to hear about other people's favourites or the quirkiest museum they've visited. Silly timezone challenges from living in Australia mean it might take me a little while to respond (I'll be sleeping), but I'll catch up with you all in the morning!

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    1. Hi Jenny, sorry to take so long to greet you! I am fortunate because we have many lovely museums here in Southern California, although I confess that I have not been to any recently. I still need to plan a visit to our California Science Center to get a closer look at the space shuttle, Endeavor.

      I appreciate you taking the time to interact with my readers and wish you a belated Happy Australia Day! Good luck with the tour!

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    2. Thanks for the Australia Day good wishes! Back atcha!

      A spaceship makes my submarine seem dull - that would be a fabulous museum visit.

      Lisa Shearin's new series is set in New York, but has a tantalising (and sexy!) link to her fantasy series :) Thoroughly recommend!

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  2. What character in a book would you like to be best friends with?

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    1. Ooh, Mai, that is such a cool question! Okay, let me think... When I was 8, it was definitely Nancy Drew LOL. Then Anne, from "Anne of Green Gables".

      Now... hmmm, okay, this is going to sound weird -- and the character in question wouldn't approve! but Sir Samuel Vimes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. That conflicted, strong minded pursuer of justice would be a great friend. He'd help me say "no" when I should (I'm such a pushover) and be brave enough to say "yes" to amazing opportunities. So weird or not, I'd like Vimesy as a friend :)



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    2. Such a great question, Mai! Thanks for visiting! And what a wonderful answer, Jenny...although I'm not familiar with Vimesy!

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  3. What genre do you enjoy?

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    1. So many! I'm a big fan of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I can't wait to start Lisa Shearin's new release, "The Brimstone Deception". I also love mysteries - more the cozier ones than the blood and gore. I'm a bit of a wuss :)

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    2. Thanks for taking the time to visit and ask an intriguing question, Becky! And, wow, I didn't know Lisa had started a different series...I am SO far behind!

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    1. Thanks, Victoria! I do love museums - so I'm glad I didn't go on and on and on about them :)

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    2. Good to see you, Victoria, thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Enjoyed the guest post and excerpt, sounds like a great book, thanks for sharing and Good luck with the tour!

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    1. Thanks, Eva :) Good luck with the giveaway!

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    2. Glad you liked them, Eva. Thanks for popping in!

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  6. What museum do you think deserves more attention than it gets? Great post and thanks for sharing.

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    1. Catherine, I love your question! There are two museums in Fremantle, a port city on Western Australia's coast where I went to school. It has two amazing museums. I won't add the links in case that marks my post as spam, but a quick google will bring them up.

      The West Australian Maritime Museum has a fantastic collection of things from the 1600s and 1700s where European ships on their way to the spices of Indonesia and Malaysia mis-steered and hit the Australian coast. It also has a submarine concreted above ground that you're allowed to tour. It is very cool -- although not literally! When I visited it, it was a really hot day and that thing was baking!

      The second museum is the old Fremantle Prison which is a world heritage site. It's probably also the only place in the world where you can go on a boat ride BENEATH a prison. And no, I'm not joking. And yes, I remember when the museum was a real high security prison! I am *that* old!

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    2. Great question, Catherine, thanks for dropping by!

      Jenny, I will try to post the links for you...

      http://museum.wa.gov.au/museums/maritime/
      http://www.fremantleprison.com.au/Pages/default.aspx

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  7. I visited the Jell-O, Kazoo and A Christmas Story house museums. They were all a lot of fun, the Christmas Story was my favorite, but I am a huge fan of the movie. In Ohio they also have the worlds largest candy store, now that was a lot of fun!!---Rae

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    1. Rae - oh wow! I love those museums you've mentioned -- not that I've been to them (but looking online). The Jell-o museum even has a cow! Totally cool. There's a town a few hours south of where I live that has those statues - Cowaramup - if you google Deja Moo 2015 you'll see they had a celebratory gathering of people in cow costumes last year. Ahem. Yes, Aussies can be weird.

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    2. Hi Rae! Great to see you! Those sound like fun places.

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  8. Great post, Jenny! One museum that comes to mind is the Toledo Museum of Art located in Toldeo, Ohio. It would take days, maybe weeks to see everything but I really enjoyed my visit, especially the outside sculptures.

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    1. Betty, I'd love to visit Ohio. Adding the museum to the wish list! I've been watching the TV show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" and would love to tour the USA from one restaurant to the next! Of course, I'd have to buy new clothes along the way as a result of all that good eating! ;) Walking through museums would help prevent the new clothes thing.

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    2. Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment, Betty! Sounds like that is a museum that would be fun to visit.

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  9. I love museums too. It has been quite a while since I visited one. A fabulous occupation for your character.

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    1. Hi, Mary. I, too, have been remiss and not visited a museum for some time...I will have to work on that, lol. Thanks for popping in!

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    2. Mary, I hope the discussion has inspired you! Museums are such a great break from reality -- and we can justify them as educational :)

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  10. I am really enjoying following this tour, thank you!

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    1. I'm so glad, Nikolina :) I'm having fun, too.

      In fact, I just saw that the British Museum has a new exhibition, one on Sicily and I immediately thought of sharing here :) http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/sicily.aspx

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    2. Thanks for visiting, Nikolina. And thanks for the link, Jenny!

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    3. Thanks for adding the links to my earlier comment! So kind :)

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  11. I enjoy visiting museum too. The Field Museum in Chicago was amazing as was the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Thank you for the post and the giveaway!

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    1. Ree -- I want to see the Met soooooo much!

      Good luck in the giveaway :)

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