The Page 69 Test: *City of Toys* by Lindy S. Hudis #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 Lindy S. Hudis' thriller suspense, City of Toys. 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Four beautiful women seek fame and fortune in Hollywood, the City of Toys, where  actresses are like dolls, playing pretend on the big screen.  

Marlo: a former child actress from New York City.  

Rhonda: a small-town beauty queen.  

Kim: a “nice Jewish girl” with a painful childhood.  

Guyla: a “serious actress” with a debilitating, stress-induced illness.  

Marlo, Rhonda, Kim, and Guyla, become friends living in the same apartment complex, in  the city where dreams and disasters go together. They come to rely on each other as they  deal with sexual come-ons, crazed stalkers, jealous starlets and the constant pressure of  trying to make it in showbiz. But when the pressure gets too much, will their friendship save  them, or will the City of Toys break them?

City of Toys is available at Amazon. 

╰┈➤Book Details

• • Genre: Thriller

  • Sub-genre: Suspense

  • Language:English

  • Pages: 333

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-1897562703 

“Yes, Marlo Gillotti. I am here to see Brian Tucker.” “Do you have an appointment?” 

“Yes.” 

“I don’t see it in my book. Exactly what time was this  alleged appointment?” 

“Nine-thirty.” 

“Are you sure you had an appointment?” 

“Quite sure.” 

“Because psycho actors storm in here every day and  disrupt—” 

“I’m with your East Coast office.” 

“Then where is your appointment?” 

“Pardon me?” Marlo was getting impatient and quickly  shifted into her ‘New York’ mode. 

“If it is not here in my book, then just where exactly is  it?” 

“Maybe if it was up your ass you would know where it  was!” 

“Just a minute.” She spoke into a speakerphone, glancing  at Marlo. “Yes, tell Brian Tucker a very rude lady is here to  see him.” She motioned to Marlo to sit down. “He’ll be right  with you.” 

“Thank you.” Marlo sat on the couch and looked around.  Movie posters adorned every inch of the place; Gone with the  Wind, Pretty Woman, Titanic. How Hollywood!  

Brian Tucker appeared, mid-thirties, handsome and  grinning, a real player. He was friendly and extended his hand  to Marlo. “Marlo, hello there. I’m Brian.” 

“Hi.” 

“Well, come on back and let’s talk.”

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

Lindy Sternberger Hudis is an award-winning filmmaker, author and actress. Lindy is a  graduate of New York University, where she studied drama at Tisch School of the Arts. She  also performed in a number of Off-Off Broadway theater productions while living in New  York City. 

She is the author of several titles, including her romance suspense novel, Weekends, her  “Hollywood” story City of Toys, and her crime novel, Crashers. Her latest release,  “Hollywood Underworld – A Hollywood Series” is the first installment of a crime mystery  series. 

She is also the author of several erotic short stories, including “The S&M Club”, “The Backstage Pass”, “Guitar God”, “The Guitarist”, and “The Mile High Club”. 

Her short film “The Lesson”, which she wrote, produced and directed, has won numerous  awards, including ‘Best Short Film’ at the Paris International Film Festival, The Beverly Hills  Arthouse Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival.

She is also a former actress, having appeared in the television daytime drama “Sunset Beach”, also “Married with Children”, “Beverly Hills 90210” and the feature film, “Indecent Proposal”. She and her husband, Hollywood stuntman Stephen Hudis, have formed their own production company called Impact Motion Pictures and have several projects and screenplays in development. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

Visit her website at https://lindyinparadise.wordpress.com.

Connect with her on social media at:

X:  https://x.com/Lindyscribe  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindyScribe/  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindys.hudis/  

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lindy-s-hudis 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6470478.Lindy_S_Hudis 

The Page 69 Test: *Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain* by Marie McGaha #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 Marie McGaha's memoir, Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain. 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain is a searing, faith-anchored memoir of love, loss, and the long road back to oneself. When Marie’s husband dies without warning, her world fractures in an instant, leaving her to navigate the brutal, unfiltered landscape of grief. In the quiet of an empty house and the chaos of a shattered heart, she wrestles with God, memory, and the haunting presence of the man she can no longer touch but cannot let go.

Told with unflinching honesty and spiritual depth, Your Ghost traces the intimate, day-by-day unraveling and rebuilding of a woman who refuses to let tragedy define the rest of her life. As she confronts guilt, loneliness, anger, and the strange moments when his nearness feels almost tangible, Marie discovers that grief is not a straight line but a sacred, winding path. What emerges is a story not only of devastation, but of resilience—a testament to enduring love, stubborn hope, and the quiet miracles that carry us forward when we think we cannot take another step.

╰┈➤Book Details

• Genre: Memoir
• Sub-genre: Survival Biographies
• Language:English
• Pages: 105
• Hardcover: 979-8252998060 

Your Ghost is available at Amazon.

╰┈➤Here’s What Readers Have To Say!

“You will feel every emotion, especially the pain, of losing your soulmate unexpectedly as you read this deeply spiritual journey of recovery. This kind of loss is painful, emotionally draining and physically crippling. Through every stage of grief, Ms. McGaha helps us understand how we can begin to breathe again and move forward. I cried, I felt her pain and rejoiced as the agony slowly began to leave. The best book I’ve ever read about grief and recovery. A must read for anyone experiencing the loss of a loved one. Also, it’s proof God is still beside us at our lowest point… (this is) a woman trying to hang onto life. A life that crashed and burned unexpectedly… very inspiring.” – Vicki L.

 

“A beautifully written, heart-wrenching examination of deep-held grief, Marie McGaha pulls the reader in with her dynamic and impactful imagery, compelling us to understand her tragedy—the caregiving and ultimate loss of the one love of her life, her husband, Nathan. The thoughts, the analysis, and the unfolding of this unwanted, unasked-for journey from a woman familiar with grief are, at times, more than one can bear. Yet the sheer poetry, interwoven with the Word of God, brings us fully into the author’s world with brilliance. Her deeply personal exploration of grief—from exhaustion, to numbness, to heightened awareness—is extraordinary, leaving the reader with a greater understanding of our own journeys through death and loss. This is a journey that, once entered, will not easily be forgotten—a powerful and necessary read for anyone who has known love and loss.” – Linda W.

I don’t remember a life without pain because the only time the pain eased was when he was here.
When he died, every old wound returned with interest.
The grief didn’t just hit the moment he took his last breath — it reached backward into every part of my life — the girl who learned to survive, the woman who carried too much, the years before I
knew safety, the wounds that were never tended. Nathan didn’t erase those wounds. He held them with me. He made them lighter. And when he died, the pain came back like a flood.
Sometimes the grief hits like a crashing wave, sudden and violent. Other times it pulls me under slowly, like an undertow. And then I feel like I’m floating on the surface, waiting to see which will come next.
The calm between storms isn’t peace — it’s exhaustion.
It’s the moment after the scream has emptied itself, after the tears have burned through, when my body has nothing left to give.
It’s the gap between realizing this is how I live now and realizing I can’t change any of it.
It’s resignation, not because I don’t care, but because I cared so deeply that the loss broke something inside me that hasn’t had a chance to mend.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

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 

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. 

The Page 69 Test: *Fighter Pilot's Daughter* by Mary Lawlor #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 Mary Lawlor's memoir, Fighter Pilot's Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War. 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

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.

Fighter Pilot’s Daughter is available at Amazon.

The disappointment and the anger, instead of wearing Mom down or leaving her, like her mother, in the stew of depression, toughened her. She sharpened her voice and her posture on Dad’s sins. On top of
Jack’s insults, Mary Ellen Walsh, Frannie’s dear old grandmother, died.
She had been a crucial presence in Mom’s life, a source of security, particularly since her father had left Frankie. With Mary Ellen’s passing, Frannie was more alone than ever. Her statuesque “Grandma” had been a model of strong and gracious femininity. She had helped the family significantly to fashion its Irish Catholic profile as aristocratic and cultured. She had seen the prosperous household creep through the depression with balance and “class.”
Frannie was ready to step into these noble lines. But what she didn’t take from her grandmother was the bosomy, lace trimmed femininity visible in portraits of Mary Ellen. She could have picked up styles like
this from her own mother too, for Frankie was an ultra-feminine, even sexy, beauty. All the charm got her in the end, however, was a nightmare. Philip Walsh had courted her like a prince, set her up in a grand house with a Rolls Royce and polo ponies, made money hand over fist in the stock market; and then he had pulled the rug out from under her feet. No more trips to Paris to buy Worth gowns, no more maids, no parties. No more fancy car or house. No more husband. Frannie had looked around through the steam of misery that followed and seen the survivor was not her mother, but her brother—and the father she devised in a carefully maintained story. After her grandmother, it was these male figures she followed. They could stand up and move like gentlemen through the good times and in danger and want. She would emulate them.
When Jack’s squandering of money on booze and dice started looking like habit, Frannie prepared her attack. She drove to Burdine’s, at the time Miami’s most prestigious store. Skipping the clothes and the
perfume counters, she went straight to the jewelry department where she purchased an exquisite, solid gold, art deco watch with a sapphire crown. The price tag, $700. That was a lot of money in 1955, and Dad
felt it directly when she showed it to him. Turning the snaky thing in the lamp light, she growled in a low, threatening voice, “that’s how you waste good money.”

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

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.

The Page 69 Test: *A Glimpse Too Far* by Karen Charles #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 Karen Charles' new psychological thriller, A Glimpse Too Far. 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

A terrifying gift. A government cover-up. And a past that won’t stay buried.

Elouise thought she had left the past behind. After a tragic accident, she woke with chilling ability to see glimpses of people’s pasts and futures. She’s spent years trying to live a normal life. But when a powerful senator pulls her into a high-stakes game of deception and control, she realizes her gift is no longer a secret—it’s a weapon. And he intends to use it.

She must make an impossible choice: play his deadly game or risk everything to expose the truth.

Danger closes in. Now, Elouise is running for her life, hunted by those who will do anything to silence her.

Who can she trust? The boyfriend who swore to protect her? Or the man who wants to own her gift—at any cost?

A Glimpse Too Far is a pulse-pounding thriller filled with menace, betrayal, and a race against time. Will the truth be uncovered before it’s too late?

To order your copy, visit Amazon and BookBaby.

Elouise stood in the luminous shafts of the morning sun, the light catching the strands of her wavy blonde hair, which was tied in a loose ponytail that swayed with her every step. The ranch stretched before her like a painting: lush green pastures framed by sturdy wooden fences, with the distant neighs of horses echoing across the hills. She inhaled deeply, the scent of hay and earth mingling with the crisp autumn air. This was her sanctuary, the only place where she felt remotely in control of the whirlwind her sixteen
year-old life had become.
“Can you hand me the syringe, Elouise?” Dr. Warren’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
The veterinarian, a lean, tall, middle-aged man with kind eyes who always seemed to understand more than he said, crouched by a gray mare.
Elouise crouched beside him, her fingers deftly passing the syringe without hesitation.
“Do you think this will work?” she asked, her voice tinged with worry as she watched the horse’s labored breathing.
“She’ll be fine. With some care and patience, animals tend to heal faster than we do,” Dr. Warren replied, glancing at her. “You’re picking up on these procedures quickly. Ever think about doing this professionally?"

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

 

 

 

 

Karen Charles is the author of Freeman Earns a Bike, a children’s book, and two 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. She 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 resides with her husband. Her latest book is the psychological thriller, A Glimpse Too Far.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ www.weaveofsuspense.com  

X ➜  http://www.x.com/karenra24229683 

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/karen.rabe.7/