I am stoked to be hosting a stop on
the blog tour for THE ADVENTURES OF MAGGIE PARKER Series by Martha R. Carr! I have an excerpt to
share with you today check it out and enter to win the giveaway below!
About The Books:
Title: THE GNOME'S
MAGIC (The Adventures of Maggie Parker #2)
Author: Martha Carr
Pub. Date: June
6, 2019
Publisher: MRC
Publishing
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
Pages: 238
READ FOR
FREE ON KU!
Maggie
Parker is learning to make magic and after a showdown with Simon Wesley, it’s
clear she’s running out of time. But nothing is going as planned.
Did she
just turn a mouse into a corgi? Oops… Magic is a
lot more complicated than she realized.
Not only
does Maggie have to find the compass, she has to rescue a friend of her late
father who may hold the answers…before the
world realizes she’s living on
borrowed time.
A Godwin
Knight has teamed up with Maggie and Bernie, swearing to protect the Elemental
on her journey, even as more humans wake up to their magic.
But Maggie
needs to figure out who she can trust, including that tall drink of water,
Jake. She needs a plan and fast.
Will she
find the other four Elementals in time to put the machine back together?
Title: THE ELEMENTAL’S
MAGIC (The Adventures of Maggie Parker #3)
Author: Martha Carr
Pub. Date: July
22, 2019
Publisher: MRC
Publishing
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
Pages: 230
READ FOR
FREE ON KU!
Elemental
Earth Magic. Intergalactic Consequences. Maggie Parker holds the compass and
her magic can change everything - but time is running out.
Can the
Austin Detective find the other Elementals and fix the great machine to
continue the quest? They’re only a few steps ahead of Simon Wesley and his dark
magic.
Maggie’s
still searching for answers. What happened to her missing childhood friend?
Who’s been behind all the strange robberies? Why can’t Bernie change back from
being a talking raccoon?
It doesn’t
help that the Earth is trying to kill her and swallow her into its
depths.
Nothing
like knowing your life, as well as the lives of everyone you love are at stake
to kick you into overdrive to survive.
Can Maggie
stay alive and complete the quest to bring the five Elementals together and
decide of the fate of the ship, which happens to be Earth?
Join Maggie
and Bernie on their quest for the missing parts and uniting the Elementals to
save Earth in The Elemental’s Magic.
About Book 1:
Title: THE MAGIC COMPASS (The Adventures of Maggie Parker #1)
Author: Martha Carr
Pub. Date: April 11, 2019
Publisher: Martha Carr
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 244
READ FOR FREE ON KU!
Find the
compass, save the world or save herself?
For Austin robbery detective Maggie Parker, dating is harder than
running down a felon, even if the guy is worth it – just ask Jake. Now add in magic.
When she finds someone breaking into her garage, stealing a favorite
wooden puzzle box everything changes. Did she just see a compass fly?
Can she
learn how to use the magic of bubbles to chart a new course in time? The
mechanics may hold the answer.
Her new quest: Rescue the passengers on an ancient ship – a big blue marble called Earth – and save herself.
Recover the
compass, find the other Elementals and help decide Earth’s fate.
Simple? It’s a lot harder than it sounds. And there’s that fourth date…
Now on to the excerpt!
2
Maggie walked into the precinct carrying a large cup of coffee from her
favorite convenience store, despite a thief shooting a bullet at her head the
last time she was in there. Magic was the only thing that saved her, for now.
Joey insisted on giving her the coffee gratis but she drew the line at free
food. Maggie had paid for a tacquito and eaten it sitting in the El Camino at a
red light. She could still feel it sitting in the pit of her stomach.
She took a good long swig from the coffee and made her way past the
small break room, stepping in to grab an oatmeal raisin cookie. O'Malley's wife
was baking again. She always baked too much when he had night shifts.
I just need a little routine, something familiar.
Taylor caught up to her, grabbing a small pile of cookies in his large
hand, picking up his pace to walk alongside her. Maggie took another slow sip
of coffee, turning briefly to the side to let another detective pass by.
"Morning partner," said Taylor. "I don't suppose you
know anything about the ruckus on South Congress this morning?" He slid an
entire cookie into his mouth, filling his cheeks, and still tried to get out
another sentence, dribbling crumbs on his pressed shirt.
"I heard something about it on the scanner." Maggie kept
walking, keeping her eyes straight ahead. It was a lot to explain.
Taylor nodded at Detective Moss as they passed his desk. "Hey
Taylor, you made the spread on the game last night, well done."
"Even a squirrel sometimes finds a nut."
Moss let out a snort of laughter and went back to typing. "The
paperwork never ends," he muttered.
Taylor smiled at his friend but as soon as he turned his back, he let
the smile fade. "I spoke to the cop and he said something about a witness
reporting bees attacking a man, a large snake and a blue light show that took
up an entire acre." He counted the list off on his fingers. "Two days
ago I'd have said the guy was having a flashback to a Twisted Sister concert
and I might have even leaned in that direction today." He bit into another
cookie, chomping down.
Maggie raised her eyebrows, watching him. "That's like your Xanax,
isn't it? You have a pileup on there," she said, pointing to his shirt.
"Very funny. I come by this waistline honestly. Good solid Italian
food at home mixed with whatever is in that vending machine."
Maggie got to her seat and pulled it out, sliding into it and drinking
down the last of her coffee. She kept her head down and started typing, opening
a folder on the screen and filling out a form. But Taylor wasn't going to let
it go and leaned over, taking a look around to make sure no one was close
enough to overhear, picking up where he had left off.
"But I had to stifle a few good swears when I heard the rest of
the report. The
witness said there was a short guy in an orange sweater
wrestling with a young woman, standing under a man with white hair. I'm gonna
guess you, your new friend, Bernie, and our coroner Simon. Am I right so
far?"
Maggie slowly looked up at Taylor. "You got me. We got caught
playing out in the open and I'm pretty sure Wesley is our former coroner at
this point. I don't see him coming back from this one."
"This isn't funny, Parker. It's amazing that no one has a video of
it."
She finally looked up and saw Taylor's pursed lips. He only did that when
he was up against a problem he couldn't solve. He always saw that as a
temporary situation and would come back at it, twice as determined. She let out
the breath she had been holding and decided to trust her partner with the
truth. "The Huldus took care of that. Bernie's people. Before you say it,
yes, they missed one. Magic isn't perfect. We were there because we tracked
Simon to that pavilion, and he has something of mine that I have to get
back."
"Tracked him..." He shook his head. "I have a thousand
questions, but I'll start with the one about the tall guy from the medieval
festival. Was that the gnome in a taller version of himself?"
"I'm pretty sure if Bernie could make himself taller, he'd just
stay that way. Just call it a hunch. That was a Godwin Knight who has appointed
himself my personal bodyguard. What? No laugh at even the idea?"
Taylor finished off the last of the cookies, still chewing too fast to
really taste one. "I know you can take care of yourself, Parker, at least
under normal circumstances. What I don't like is the lack of normal." He
looked down and saw the fading welts on her hands and narrowed his eyes.
"Are you okay?"
Maggie's face softened and she turned in her chair to face him.
"I'm okay, really, well at least for now." She held up her hands and
watched Taylor's eyes tracking the red marks along the back. "I know that
was a lame sentence, but I'm catching on to all of this at about the same rate
as you are. My hands are okay, I'm okay."
"For now..."
"That's the general state of things. What I could really use is a
somewhat normal day of regular human mayhem, thievery and general disregard for
others."
Taylor's phone buzzed and he looked down, reading the text. "Then
your day is getting better. I'm going to assume you'll let me help you when the
time is right."
"Thank you for trusting me."
"That's how this works. Come on, we have a robbery over on Brodie.
A nice normal smash and grab."
"Unless someone turns into a bird..."
Taylor's eyes widened as he grabbed his coat off the back of his chair.
"Is that even possible?"
"At this point, I wouldn't bet against it."
About
Martha:
Hello, I’m a bestselling author from Austin, Texas. I live there
with the good dog, Lois Lane and spend most of my time dreaming of Elves,
Witches, Wizards and other magical worlds. I was a nerdy kid from the jump, performing
magic at my little brother’s birthday party, saving up for DC comic books,
inventing elaborate 3D board games or making treasure hunts with a lot of clues
that led all over the house. Jeff was a very tolerant little brother who went
along with my schemes. In those days, we were known as M&J.
But from the day I walked into the
Philadelphia library and found out there was a place that would let me borrow
books to read, bring them back and get more, I was hooked on telling a good
story. My love affair with books has been a theme throughout my entire life but
my first taste of getting a review was when I was nine years old.
My Dad dropped off the three youngest
of us at the movies and drove off without checking the movie listing. It was
1960’s style parenting…
Turns out it was a Vincent Price triple horror feature in black and white.
Scary stuff in the day. Lots of blood and poisonous vines and a little murder.
My brother and sister insisted on leaving but I knew this was the only movie I
was going to get to see and I wasn’t budging. I stayed all by myself.
The next week when we were asked to
write a Halloween story in school, I wrote my first thriller and filled it with
all my newfound knowledge, with a twist. My father was called in to explain and
like he did whenever he had to visit a principal for one of his kids (even if
it was his fault), my father the minister wore his collar. Bottom line…
I saw the power of words and weaving a good tale and just kept going. I mean, I
scared the teacher with a good horror story –
Vincent Price style. The wheels started turning.
Fast forward through writing for the
Washington Post, having a nationally syndicated column on politics, a few books
and FINALLY, I got back to that inner nerdy kid and started writing about Elves
and Wizards and magic again in the bestselling series, THE LEIRA CHRONICLES. A
little thriller, a lot of magic, some loyal friends, a swearing troll and a
detective named Leira Berens who never gives up and always believes in the
possibilities. All adds up to a really good time and feels like I finally came
home. A lot more adventures to follow…
Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a $25 Amazon gift card, US Only.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
Week Two:
Week Three:
