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Day 3 of Lone Star Literary Life’s Aransas Morning Book Blog Tour features an excerpt from the book called “Allie & Bo.” It’s an introduction to two of the main characters and a hint at one of several conflicts in the story that must be resolved. It’s a two-parter beginning at Storybook Reviews and continuing at Forgotten Winds Blog.

At both sites you’ll find the calendar with all the stops for this book blog tour. You’ll also find the link to the giveaway for signed copies of Aransas Morning. You can enter as often as you wish with different options for participating, including sending me a comment at this blog.

By the way, in my previous day’s blog I posted a picture that I took on the actual morning “when Sam met Dave” on the beach at Port Aransas and this whole story got started. As it happens, the photo on the book cover was taken at that same location exactly five years ago this week.

 

Day 2 of Lone Star Literary Life’s Aransas Morning Book Blog Tour features something that all writers crave and at the same time fear: a book review.

But Bibliotica’s Melissa Bartell definitely got the spirit of the book with these words:

“Aside from immediately putting the reader in that beachy state of mind, Hampton tells a compelling story. There’s nothing flashy in his writing – the language is pretty simple, and the characters are the kinds of ordinary people we interact with every day – and yet there’s something about Sam, Dave, Bo, Shelly, and Allie that makes you want to keep reading.

“From the first chapter, I was rooting for every character. I particularly loved that grizzled fisherman Bo had that softer side, that twinkle in his eye. Gruff characters run the risk of being stereotypes, but Hampton gave this gruff character just enough depth that he became supremely real.”

Read more from her at Bibliotica.

Day 2 also includes my own telling of how the book got started. It was a chance encounter that prompted a story that has become an amazing gift. Read more about it at Chapter Break Book Blog. The photo below was taken just a moment before that encounter at 7 a.m. on July 31, 2009.

 

 

 

For Wilshire Baptist Church

It wasn’t my best moment as a homeowner. Or a savvy troubleshooter. Or a tenacious investigator. Or a critical thinker. Or a take-charge alpha male.

It started when LeAnn came home from a morning appointment and said there was some kind of alarm sounding in the garage. I came downstairs from my office and could hear it as I walked through the kitchen. When I opened the door I was almost knocked over by the sound: three pulsing screams, repeating over and over. It sounded like a smoke detector so my eyes went to the ceiling, and no, we don’t have a smoke detector on the garage ceiling. But mounted high up on the wall was a small, square transformer. I walked toward it and, yep, it got louder. Found it. Continue reading “Tunnel Vision”