5 Things You Might Not About Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain By Marie McGaha

 

5 Things You Might Not About Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain

By Marie McGaha

1. This is the story, or madness, that followed as I grieved the death of my husband, Nathan. 

2. This came from over 600 pages of me purging my grief onto paper.

3. Grief is a process that evolves over time and comes in waves in varying degrees.

4. Writing this, editing the 600 pages of the insanity of grief kept me in tears the entire process.

5. Nathan is still the love of my life. 

Marie McGaha is an award-winning writer whose work includes clean historical romances, Christian devotionals, and heartfelt children’s books. A storyteller at her core, she weaves faith, resilience, and gentle humor through every page she writes.

She makes her home in southeast Oklahoma, in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, where life is anything but quiet. Her days are shared with four spoiled dogs, a crippled rooster with more attitude than feathers, a noisy guinea who believes it runs the place, a couple of flighty hens, and a watchful roo who keeps an eye on everything that moves. This lively little farm—equal parts sanctuary and circus—provides endless inspiration, companionship, and the kind of grounding only God’s creation can offer.

Whether she’s crafting a tender love story, guiding readers through Scripture, or bringing the Bible to life for children through animal characters, Marie writes with a voice shaped by faith, loss, healing, and the stubborn hope that refuses to let go. Her work reflects the heart of a woman who has walked through fire and come out carrying stories worth telling.

You can also join her for daily devotionals on YouTube at @HeReignsChurch, where she shares encouragement, Scripture, and the steady reminder that hope is still alive. You can contact her by email: church.hereigns@gmail.com. 

Marie’s latest book is Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain.

Visit her blog at authormariemcgaha.blogspot.com. 

Connect with her on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorMarieMcGaha

╰┈➤ LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/mariemcgaha 

 

5 Things You Might Not Know About The Lemon House Murders by Tucker May

 

5 Things You Might Not Know About The Lemon House Murders

By Tucker May

1. The setting for this book comes directly from my own personal experience in a shabby rehab facility. I spent time living in what became direct inspiration for Lemon House in 2022. The details of the house in the story, and some of the minor characters, are based on true details directly from my memories. While the events of the story in The Lemon House Murders are entirely fictionalized, the setting is not.  

2. It's more than your typical whodunit murder mystery.

Like all good mysteries, it will keep you guessing until the very end. What makes The Lemon House Murders special is that it will also make you think about important topics like societal marginalization of former addicts, the importance of self-determination to a fulfilling life, and what we're really doing when we judge others. Come for the mystery puzzle box, stay for the thought-provoking messaging.

3. It questions pervasive popular media messaging.

I like to build stories around a central idea that I think is worth exploring deeply. The Lemon House Murders was born when I noticed how much of our popular media emphasizes the importance of family. We hear it so much that it almost doesn't register any longer: family is everything, blood is thicker than water. We're constantly told that familial relationships are some of the most important ingredients of a happy life. It made me begin to wonder if there might be a downside to this pervasive messaging. What about the people who have no family? How are they meant to feel about all of this? Even more broadly, I wondered if it's healthy to put anything, even something as supposedly good as family, up on a pedestal in that way? This led me toward the topic of addiction, something that I have personal experience with, and I crafted The Lemon House Murders to explore our society's addiction to family and how that might potentially damage a young man's life.

4. It challenges the reader's pre-existing notions about addiction.

I hope that The Lemon House Murders encourages readers to think differently about addiction, which is a simple miswiring of feedback mechanisms that are baked into each and every one of our brains. Addiction is not a personal or a moral failure on the part of the struggling individual. The people who suffer from addiction are just as engaging, multi-faceted, and full of promise as anyone else. This story, I believe, can help others recognize these facts. Recovering addicts have much to offer the world and when we write them off as a lost cause, we're hurting them, ourselves, and our society as a whole.

5. It is my second published murder mystery novel.

My first book, Death of a Billionaire, follows a man wrongly accused of murdering the world's most famous tech billionaire. Will his desperate attempt to prove his innocence cost him everything he was trying to save in the first place? Death of a Billionaire is available to purchase on Amazon here.

Tucker May is a writer of mystery novels, whodunit short stories and all kinds of fun, puzzling tales. Murders, crimes, and mysteries abound. He grew up in Missouri then attended Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He’s a diehard fan of the Los Angeles Rams and Geelong Cats. He lives in Pasadena, CA with his wife Barbara and their cat Principal Spittle. He is the author of The Lemon House Murders and Death of a Billionaire. 

╰┈➤ Visit Tucker’s website at www.tuckermay.com. 

Connect with him on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Tucker-May-Mysteries 

╰┈➤ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/TuckerMayMysteries 

╰┈➤ BlueSky: http://www.bluesky.com/TuckerMayMysteries

╰┈➤ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58926295.Tucker_May 

5 Things You Might Not Know About Fighter Pilot's Daughter by Mary Lawlor

 

5 Things You Might Not Know About Fighter Pilot's Daughter

By Mary Lawlor

1. It’s a true story—an account of my life as one of four daughters in an Irish-American, Catholic, military family.

2. The plot of the book follows the moves we made at the behest of the Marine Corps and Army. And we moved a lot –on average once every two years.

3. Fighter Pilot’s Daughter is my first book of non-academic writing. I spent many years as an English professor and published a couple of academic books. This was my first venture into making a story about my own, personal experience. It was a very exciting and very frightening thing to do. I had no idea if I could pull it off but was thrilled to see that I could.

4. Some readers have wondered how my sisters, who have a central role in Fighter Pilot’s Daughter, reacted to the book. Well before publication, I gave them the manuscript to read. I wanted to know if there was anything they objected to so we could talk about it and work out potential issues. But they were very supportive and didn’t complain about anything—none of the complicated pictures of our family the book conveys, including our father’s alcoholism. I’ve been very grateful for that support and wouldn’t feel right about the book if they hadn’t seen it before it came out.

5. Fighter Pilot’s Daughter is one of the few works of non-fiction about a specific military family and one of even fewer that situates the experience of military family life on base and all the moving within the larger picture of the late Cold War. 

 

 Mary Lawlor is author of a memoir, Fighter Pilot’s Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War (Bloomsbury 2015) and two books of cultural criticism, Recalling the Wild: Naturalism and the Closing of the American West (Rutgers UP 2000) and Public Native America (Rutgers UP 2006). She studied at the American University in Paris, the University of Maryland, and New York University. She divides her time between Easton, Pennsylvania and Gaucin, Spain. Her novel, The Translators, is set in 12th century Spain and fictionalizes the experiences of Robert of Ketton, first translator of the Koran into Latin. She hopes to see it out next year. In the meantime, she has started a second novel, The Women’s Hospital, set in 18th century Spain and inspired by the life story of an Irish woman whose family moved to Cádiz, escaping English oppression in their own country.

╰┈➤ You can visit her website at https://www.marylawlor.net/.

Connect with her on social media at:

╰┈➤ Twitter: https://x.com/marylawlor5

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.lawlor.186/

5 Things You Might Not Know About Evan's Gift by Karen Charles

 

5 Things You Might Not Know About Evan's Gift

By Karen Charles

1. The setting of the story is in Nigeria, West Africa, where the author, Karen Charles, grew up. It takes place at the American boarding school she attended and the town where her parents worked.
2. Evan’s Gift is based on a true story of Karen Charles working to earn enough money to buy a bicycle when she was growing up in Africa.
3. 
   
   Evan’s Gift was originally published in 1984. Karen Charles rewrote the story and republished it. 
4. The illustrator of Evan’s Gift is a world-renowned installation artist who resides in and has a studio in Seattle, Washington. 
5. Evan’s Gift is a children’s story intentionally aligned with CASEL’s Social-Emotional Learning framework. Through an engaging, age-appropriate narrative, the book supports the development of:

• Social Awareness – recognizing kindness, empathy, and the feelings of others
• Self-Awareness – understanding emotions and the impact of one’s actions
• Relationship Skills – practicing caring behavior, respect, and positive interaction
• Responsible Decision-Making – choosing kindness even in small, everyday moments

Evan’s Gift provides a natural entry point for classroom discussion, reflection, and connection, making SEL concepts meaningful and accessible to students ages 5–12.

Karen Charles has a page of discussion questions in the back of the book that parents and teachers can use with their children. She has also developed teacher question-and-answer guides and student handouts free for the asking.

About the Author

Karen Charles grew up in West Africa and traveled to countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Her rich background and lifetime experiences are reflected in the depth of her writing. In her stories, she transforms real-life narratives into gripping fiction thrillers. Her novels intricately weave the threads of truth into a tapestry of suspense, intrigue, and riveting storytelling. She is the author of two children’s books, “Freeman Earns a Bike” and “Evan’s Gifts,” and three thrillers based on true stories. “Fateful Connections” takes place in the aftermath of 9/11, and “Blazing Upheaval” takes place during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles and the Northridge earthquake. “A Glimpse Too Far” offers all the mystery and heart-pounding suspense of a psychological thriller and is based on a true story.

Karen Charles has two businesses—a global company that trains international teachers to teach American English and an Airbnb on a beautiful bay in Washington State, where she currently resides with her husband. 

Visit her website at www.weaveofsuspense.com. 

Connect with her on X, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About the Book:

When Evan trades his dream of a new bike for compassion, he discovers the greatest gift of all—helping others.

 

Ethan’s Gift is available at BookBaby.