📚 Pump Up Your Book Presents When a Stranger Comes…Virtual Book Publicity Tour

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Satisfying one's greed can come at a devilishly high cost WHEN A STRANGER COMES...by Karen S. Bell @karensuebell #PUYB #thriller Click To Tweet

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to bring you Karen S. Bell’s WHEN A STRANGER COMES… Virtual Book Tour March 5 – 30!

When a Stranger Comes

Inside the Book

Title: WHEN A STRANGER COMES…
Author: Karen S. Bell
Publisher: KSB Press
Pages: 222
Genre: Thriller

BOOK BLURB:

Achieving what you crave can also bring the terrifying fear of losing it. For Alexa Wainwright, this truth has become her nightmare. Born Gladys Lipschitz, the daughter of an unwed Soviet-era Jewish immigrant, her debut novel, A Foregone Conclusion, soared to number one on the bestseller’s list and became an international sensation. The accompanying fame and riches were beyond her expectations. Unfortunately, her subsequent work has yet to achieve the same reception by critics and readers. Yes, they have sold well based on her name recognition, but she dreads the possibility of becoming a mid-list author forgotten and ignored. She vows to do whatever it takes to attain the heady ego-stroking success of her debut. But is she really?

Witnessing an out-of-the-blue lightning bolt whose giant tendrils spread over the blue sky and city streets below her loft window, Alexa doesn’t realize just how this vow will be tested as she’s magically transported to an alternate reality. In this universe, the characters from her books are given the breath of life and she meets publisher, King Blakemore, who just might be the Devil himself. At first, she shrugs off her doubts about this peculiar publisher and very lucrative book deal offer because the temptation of riches and refound fame is too strong. But all too soon, Alexa realizes she’s trapped in an underworld of evil from which she desperately wants to escape. For starters, she finds herself in an iron-clad book contract that changes its wording whenever she thinks of a loophole. Desperate to get her life back, she devises schemes to untether herself from this hellish existence. She’s also aided by the forces for good who attempt to help her. However, King Blakemore is cleverer and more powerful than she can begin to understand. Playfully, he decides to give Alexa a second chance to save herself from eternity with him and to be free. He offers her the prospect of a rewrite, as most authors do as part of the writing process. Given this chance, will Alexa make the same choices and the same mistakes again?

Alexa, as the MC, is relatable, likable, and vulnerable with a keen sense of humor. Her world is very small because writing is her life and so she is an easy target for entrapment. Her pact with the Devil is an allegory for the evil lurking in our midst. The social decay of modern society with its excessive greed, the ignorance of our political leaders, and our indifference toward the survival of all species from the effects of climate change, among other environmental pressures, are perhaps brought forth by the darkest forces of human nature.

Praise:

In this psychological thriller, an author hoping to match her bestselling debut’s success signs a lucrative contract that nudges her into a nightmarish world.

Alexa Wainwright has written quite a few novels since her first book. But while A Foregone Conclusion stayed at No. 1 for a year, her subsequent works haven’t cracked the top 10. Her chance to be a winner again comes from her copy editor, Margaret Hathaway, who introduces Alexa to Alex. His last name is eerily Wainwright, and he is a dead ringer for Foregone character Rick. Alex wants to make Alexa’s not-yet-completed trilogy into a film, but she resists, as the movie adaptation of her debut bombed. The full offer from the company Alex represents, Trinity of Sixes, is unbelievable, promising millions for movies and future books. Reluctant, Alexa meets CEO/Chairman King Blakemore, a surreal encounter in which the novelist is disoriented and sees others resembling characters from her stories. She’s later shocked to learn she has evidently signed a contract with the company. As Trinity slowly turns her newest psychological tale into an erotica piece for mass appeal, Alexa is stuck; the contract language keeps inexplicably changing, closing off potential loopholes. She’s soon certain the company name is a sign: Alexa has made a deal with the devil. Bell’s (Sunspots, 2012, etc.) novel is a sometimes-convoluted but riveting story. Readers, for example, will be just as startled as Alexa by plot twists: her apparent doppelgänger; the suddenly appearing basement door in her home; and a surprising death or two. Answers aren’t easy to come by, which is befitting of the protagonist, who entertains notions that she’s being drugged, hallucinating, or perhaps losing her mind. Regardless, her plight is grounded by her parallel, Jodie, her more relatable literary character drawn to abusive relationships, akin to Alexa’s inability to escape the ruthless contract. The final act addresses various mysteries, including Alexa’s murky history (she isn’t sure of her mother’s birth date), while the ending is appropriately—and smartly—open to interpretation.

A methodically paced but wholly engaging literary tale that revels in its dreamlike plot.

–Kirkus Reviews

When A Stranger Comes is available at Amazon.

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Meet the Author

Karen S. Bell

When a Stranger Comes…is Ms. Bell’s third novel. Her debut, Walking with Elephants, was initially published by a small publisher who went out of business. Subsequently, she took over as an indie publisher. It went on to win the Awesome Indies Seal of Excellence and was a top-five finalist in the Kindle Book Review’s 2012 contest for the best indie books. Sunspots, her second novel, was awarded the IndiePENdents.org Seal of Approval for good writing. She holds a Master of Science in Mass Communication and for 15 years, she was an editor/copyeditor for a “Big Four” public accounting firm. Ms. Bell was also technical editor for an accounting industry magazine.

Here are some reviews of her previous work published in the Florida Times Union:

http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/2013-07-13/story/book-review-sunspots-karen-s-bell#

http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/literature/2011-03-13/story/book-review-karen-s-bell-fills-walking-elephants-charm

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

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Tour Schedule

Monday, March 5

Book Feature & Tour Kick Off at PUYB Virtual Book Club

Interview at The Dark Phantom Reviews

Tuesday, March 6

Guest Blogging at Dear Reader, Love Author

Wednesday, March 7

Interview at The Writer’s Life

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Monday, March 12

Book Featured at Confessions of an Eccentric Bookaholic

Tuesday, March 13

Book Review at Books for Books

Wednesday, March 14

Book Featured at A Title Wave

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Monday, March 19

Book Review at Sefina Hawke’s Books

Tuesday, March 20

Guest Blogging at Blogging Authors

Wednesday, March 21

Book Featured at The Literary Nook

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Monday, March 26

Book Featured at La libreria di Beppe

Tuesday, March 27

Guest Blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner

Friday, March 30

Character Interview at Pimp That Character

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