🏰 Author Interview Featuring Karen Charles, Author of 'Evan's Gift'

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.


🏰Can you tell us a little about yourself? Are you a full-time author?

I wear a few different hats. I’m a part-time author, but storytelling has always been part of who I am. My primary work is training teachers internationally to teach American English, which allows me to connect with people and cultures around the world. I also run an Airbnb year-round, which keeps me grounded in hospitality and human connection. Writing fits naturally alongside these roles because all of them, in one way or another, are about people, empathy, and communication.


🏰Can you tell us about Evan’s Gift?

Evan’s Gift is a story about a young boy who faces a simple yet powerful choice. Evan dreams of getting a new bike, but when he sees a greater need, he makes a decision that changes not only someone else’s life, but his own. The story gently shows children that kindness, compassion, and generosity often come at a cost, but the rewards are far greater than anything we can buy.

🏰Can you tell us a little about the characters?

Evan is a thoughtful, kind-hearted boy who represents the best of what children are capable of when they listen to their hearts. The supporting characters, his family, dorm parents, roommates, classmates, and friends, help shape his understanding of empathy and responsibility. Each character plays a role in showing that even small actions can create meaningful change.

🏰How can people benefit from reading Evan’s Gift?

Children learn that kindness matters and that their choices, even small ones, can make a difference. For parents and educators, the book opens the door to meaningful conversations about empathy, gratitude, and social responsibility. It’s especially useful in classrooms and homes as a gentle introduction to social-emotional learning.

🏰Is Evan’s Gift your only book?

No, I’ve written books for both children and adults. My adult novels are psychological thrillers based on true events, while Evan’s Gift reflects my lifelong work with children, education, and cross-cultural experiences. Although the genres differ, all my writing explores human behavior, compassion, and the choices we make. 

🏰Thank you so much for this interview, Karen. What’s next for you?

Thank you, it’s been a pleasure. I plan to continue training teachers internationally while sharing Evan’s Gift with schools, libraries, and families. I’m also always writing, sometimes children’s stories, sometimes novels for adults, because storytelling remains one of the most powerful ways we connect and learn from one another.

Where to purchase the book:

https://store.bookbaby.com/book/evans-gift

Where to find Karen:

https://www.weaveofsuspense.com



🏰 {BOOK TRAILER} FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER BY MARY LAWLOR

 


BOOK DETAILS

 


Title: Fighter Pilot's Daughter

Author: Mary Lawlor

Publication Date: August 22, 2013

Pages: 323

Genre: Memoir

Fighter Pilot’s Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War tells the story of Mary Lawlor’s dramatic, roving life as a warrior’s child. A family biography and a young woman’s vision of the Cold War, Fighter Pilot’s Daughter narrates the more than many transfers the family made from Miami to California to Germany as the Cold War demanded. Each chapter describes the workings of this traveling household in a different place and time. The book’s climax takes us to Paris in May ’68, where Mary—until recently a dutiful military daughter—has joined the legendary student demonstrations against among other things, the Vietnam War. Meanwhile her father is flying missions out of Saigon for that very same war. Though they are on opposite sides of the political divide, a surprising reconciliation comes years later.

Read sample here.

Fighter Pilot’s Daughter is available at Amazon.


 
 
About Mary Lawlor
 


Mary Lawlor is author of Fighter Pilot’s Daughter (Rowman & Littlefield 2013, paper 2015), Public Native America (Rutgers Univ. Press 2006), and Recalling the Wild (Rutgers Univ. Press, 2000). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Big Bridge and Politics/Letters. She studied the American University in Paris and earned a Ph.D. from New York University. She divides her time between an old farmhouse in Easton, Pennsylvania, and a cabin in the mountains of southern Spain.

You can visit her website at https://www.marylawlor.net/ or connect with her on Twitter or Facebook.

 
 

🏰 {BOOK TRAILER} NIGHTBORN BY THERESA CHEUNG #PARANORMALTHRILLER

 

 


BOOK DETAILS

 

Title: NightBorn

Author: Theresa Cheung

Publication Date: October 7, 2025

Pages: 220

Genre: Paranormal Thriller

What if the line between your waking life and your darkest dreams disappeared forever?

Alice Sinclair, a driven psychology professor, is about to find out. When thousands of people begin experiencing terrifying, vivid nightmares … all centered around her, Alice’s quiet academic life is shattered. Haunted by the question of why she’s become the subject of these shared dreams, Alice embarks on a desperate search for answers, uncovering a chilling secret: someone – or something – hungry for global power has discovered a way to manipulate consciousness itself. The world is fast becoming a playground for those in control of the dreaming mind.  In a heart-stopping race against time, Alice must navigate a treacherous web of deception, where nothing – and no one – can be trusted, not even herself.

Read a sample.

NightBorn is available at Amazon US and Amazon UK.

 


 
 
About Theresa Cheung

Theresa Cheung is an internationally bestselling author and public speaker. She has been writing about spirituality, dreams and the paranormal for the past 25 years, and was listed by Watkins Mind Body and Spirit magazine as one of the 100 most spiritually influential living people in 2023. She has a degree in Theology and English from Kings College, Cambridge University, frequently collaborating with leading scientists and neuroscientists researching consciousness.

Theresa is regularly featured in national newspapers and magazines, and she is a frequent radio, podcast and television guest and ITV: This Morning’s regular dream decoding expert. She hosts her own popular spiritual podcast called White Shores and weekly live UK Health Radio Show: The Healing Power of Your Dreams.

Her latest book is the paranormal thriller, NightBorn, available at Amazon US and Amazon UK.

You can visit her website at www.theresacheung.com or connect with her on X, Facebook, Instagram or Goodreads.

 
 

The Page 69 Test: *Cinder Bella* by Kathleen Shoop #page69

 

 
They say if you want to really find a good book, go to page 69 (the middle and meat of the book) and you like what's there, it's definitely worth reading the whole book. For today's feature, I'm zooming in on page 69 of Kathleen Shoop's holiday historical fiction, Cinder Bella. 


BOOK DESCRIPTION

She never had anything.

He lost everything.

Together they create a Christmas to remember.

December, 1893–Shadyside, Pennsylvania

Bella Darling lives in a cozy barn at Maple Grove, an estate owned by industrialist Archibald Westminster. The Westminster family is stranded overseas and have sent word to relieve all employees of their duties except Margaret, the pregnant maid, James the butler, and Bella. Content with borrowed books and a toasty home festooned with pine boughs and cinnamon sticks, she coaxes the old hens to lay eggs–extraordinary eggs. Bella yearns for just one thing—someone to share her life with. Always inventive, she has a plan for that. She just needs the right egg into the hands of the right man.

Bartholomew Baines, a Harvard-educated banker, is reeling in the aftermath of his bank’s collapse. With his friends and fiancé ostracizing him for what he thought was an act of generosity, he is penniless and alone. A kind woman welcomes him into her boarding house under conditions that he reluctantly accepts. Completely undone by his current, lowly position, and by the motley crew of fellow boarders who view him as one of them, Bartholomew wrestles with how to rebuild.

With the special eggs as the impetus, the first meeting between Bella and Bartholomew gives each the wrong idea about the other. And when the boarding house burns down a week before Christmas it’s Bella who is there to lend a hand. She, Margaret, and James invite the homeless group to stay at the estate through the holidays. But as Christmas draws closer, eviction papers arrive. Maple Grove is being foreclosed upon. Can Bella work her magic and save their Christmas? Is the growing attraction between Bella and Bartholomew enough for them to see past their differences? 

Read a sample.

Cinder Bella is available at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble & Kobo




“You’ll see,” Bella said.  

“And you’ll be doing the Lord’s work,” Mrs. Tillman said. “Think  of it. You’re making room at the inn for those who need it most. At  Christmastime.”  

He sighed again and twisted his mouth then pushed to standing.  “You’ve softened me with this remarkable pie. I’ll take the eggs and  give you two days maximum. That will give you time to relocate, the  hens laying eggs or not.”  

“Well.” Mrs. Tillman turned her back. “Thank you for that.”  “That’s more than generous.” He walked back through the pantry  just as Bartholomew reentered through the cloakroom.  Bella saw that Mr. Buchanan had forgotten the basket of eggs. She  scooped it up and hurried after him, catching him as he was opening  the front door. “Your eggs,” she said holding the basket out to him.  He put his hat on. “You keep them. Sounds like you’ll need them.”  She shook her head. “Nonsense. We made a deal and the eggs are  part of it. Surely your wife will look kindly on fresh eggs at the holidays.”  “The missus hasn’t been looking kindly on much of anything I’ve  done lately.” His gaze lingered on Bella. She gave an understanding nod.  Instead of him walking away, his posture loosened and he took on the  tone of a close friend. “Truth is, nothing’s good enough or even  satisfying. I can’t get anything right anymore.”  

The confession moved Bella. She felt his disappointment as though  it was her own. His soft sadness disarmed her—something she hadn’t  noticed in the kitchen. She reminded herself that money didn’t solve all  problems, that sometimes money just made problems bigger or spread  them out among more people. It was something that she comforted  herself with since she could remember. “Take them. Eggs are a symbol  of new life and prosperity. Something everyone needs these days.  Everyone.”  

He cocked his head. “You’re right. Eggs as a present are as good as  anything I’ve dreamed up as of yet. I’ll give it a try.”  

And so he was gone, leaving Bella to shake off the dread he’d  brought with him.



What do you think? Would you keep reading?
 

Bestselling author Kathleen Shoop, PhD writes historical fiction, women’s fiction, and romance. Shoop’s novels have garnered awards in the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), Eric Hoffer Book Awards, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and more. You can find Kathleen in person at various venues. She’s on the board of the Kerr Memorial Museum, teaches at writing/reader conferences, co-coordinates Mindful Writers Retreats and writing conferences, and gives talks at various book clubs, libraries, and historical societies.

Sign up for her newsletter at www.kshoop.com

Visit her website at www.kshoop.com or connect with her on X, Facebook, Instagram, BookBub, TikTok and Goodreads.

Cinder Bella is available at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble & Kobo


The Page 69 Test: *One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches* by Kayleigh Kavanagh #page69

 

 
They say if you want to really find a good book, go to page 69 (the middle and meat of the book) and you like what's there, it's definitely worth reading the whole book. For today's feature, I'm zooming in on page 69 of Kayleigh Kavanagh's historical paranormal fantasy, One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches. 


BOOK DESCRIPTION

Demdike and Chattox, famed witches of Pendle Forest, might be dead, but they’re not gone. Bound to their bloodline, they’ve spent the past two and a half centuries watching over their descendants, waiting for when they’ll be needed. 

When 14 year old Yana comes into her psychic abilities and inherits the ‘eyes of the Chattox family’, she can see the long-dead witches, as well as an encroaching evil. But even with this foreknowledge, she’s trapped by marriage interviews and being unable to see her own future, and more importantly, whoever her future husband will be. 

Demdike’s healing gifts are alive and working in Claire, a mid-30s midwife well renowned for her skills and holding her tongue. The Secrets of Pendle are safe with her and her midwives. However, when surgeons looking to make standardisation the norm encroach on her territory, she soon realises how, even a respected woman is vulnerable in a patriarchal system. 

The two descendants must come together to protect the ones they love from an ancient evil, all whilst balancing their lives and the cruelties of being a woman in a man’s world. Set in late 1800s NW England, this book has all the elements of the area: strong, hardy people, atmospheric horror and days as unpredictable as the weather.  

One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches is available at Amazon.





As the lady said, it had led to a lot of strange suggestions and practices. Bloodletting, to try and rid the body of the germs and bleed them out. Smoke to stop the inhalation of germs they knew lived in the air and could get into the lungs. They were still learning. Three hundred (even just twenty) years ago, they hadn’t any clue. Witches and forces of evil made sense to them, and in their attempts to help people, many lives had been lost.
Though, if this 'mother’ was to be believed, she’d been sacrificed as an action of greed. Also not unheard of in those times. 'till, Yana would be careful. 'he had no way of knowing if the spirit was speaking the truth. Playing on sympathy was an easy way to confuse people.
If this spirit was a malevolent entity, it might try to make itself look vulnerable and weak to gain her trust and attack later.
"So you were a wise woman in my family, who died as a witch?" she asked, partly for clarity’s sake, but also to make sure, if the spirit ever did lie, she could be prepared to catch them.
"Indeed."
"Then why are you still here? You don’t seem angry. And you haven’t asked for forgiveness from the church."
The look the woman then gave her--lesser mortals would have fled.
"They should be asking for my forgiveness, not the other way around."
"Isn’t that why you’re trapped, though? Because your bones aren’t on consecrated ground?"
The anger on the woman’s face gave way to something more amused. "I am bound to my family. And I shalln’t be moving on anytime soon."


What do you think? Would you keep reading?
 


Kayleigh Kavanagh is a disabled writer from the North-West of England. Growing up in the area, she learnt a lot about the Pendle Witches and launched her debut novel around their life story. Her main writing genres are fantasy and romance, but she loves stories in all formats and genres. Kayleigh hopes to one day be able to share the many ideas dancing around in her head with the world.

Her latest book is the historical fantasy, One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches. 

You can visit her on Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads and Tiktok.