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The Secrets of Hawthorne House - Book Tour and Giveaway

9/30/2018

32 Comments

 
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The Secrets of Hawthorne House
by Donald Firesmith
Genre: Teen Paranormal Mystery

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Fifteen-year-old Matt Mitchell was having the worst summer imaginable. Matt’s misery started when a drunk driver killed his mother. Then Matt’s father moved him and his sister to a small town in rural Indiana, as far as his grieving father could get from the ocean that his mother had loved. At the new high school, three bullies were determined to make Matt miserable. And to top it off, Matt learned that the recluse who lived in the dilapidated Victorian mansion next door was none other than Old Lady Hawthorne, the town’s infamous witch and murderer. Matt’s terrible summer was turning into an awful autumn when something quite unexpected happened. Old Lady Hawthorne’s niece and her three children moved in next door, and Matt met Gerallt.


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​The sun had just set as Matt, now transformed into a youthful vampire, walked out his front door to join Gerallt and Gareth for their planned evening of house-to-house candy extortion. Rising in the east like a pale pumpkin in the sky, a full moon peeked out from behind wispy translucent clouds. The temperature was dropping rapidly, and Matt drew his cheap black and scarlet cape around him with a flourish before striding out into the gathering darkness.
A thin mist was rising from the dew-drenched grass, forming a low layer of fog that darkened the shadows beneath the row of oaks lining Hawthorne Drive. Matt looked next door at the old Victorian mansion and was amazed by its transformation. Each tall window of the Hawthorne House framed a single colorful candle, burning with flickering flames of yellow, orange, or red. A few candles even burned with the same sickly shade of green that illuminated the bottom of the twin streams of smoke rising from the mansion’s massive stone chimneys. The green glowing smoke bubbling out of the chimney pots rose only a few feet before cascading down the gabled roof to become a low-lying fog. Matt was surprised to see a black shape suddenly swoop through the smoke, only to be followed by another and yet another. Large bats fluttered around the twin chimneys and the three towers, feasting on clouds of ghostly moths seemingly drawn to the pale green smoke. Matt had seen the occasional brown bat before, but never so many and never as big as these.
Only the short attic windows were without candles. Yet, while watching in wonder at the fluttering forms, Matt would have sworn that out of the edge of his vision he had seen a pale figure briefly looking back at him from one of the darkened windows. He looked back at the window, but the ghostly shape had vanished as quickly as it had appeared. It sent a shiver up his spine.
Walking slowly over to the Hawthorne’s gate, Matt admired the fantastic cobwebs that covered their fence, bushes, and even the lower branches of the trees. Not the thick cottony store-bought stuff he’d seen at the neighbor’s houses, they appeared to be real spider webs. Each one was outlined in diminutive droplets of dew and hosted what looked like a large black spider sitting smugly at its center. Matt was impressed; the webs looked expensive, and it must have taken lots of work to drape them so realistically.
The gate creaked mournfully as Matt opened it. Thirteen of the most intricately carved jack-o-lanterns he’d ever seen lined the front walk. Each had a different expression, some friendly and some almost terrifying, and every one worthy of wonder and envy. They were so incredible that Matt thought Gwyneth, her mom, and great aunt must surely have worked all day on them.
The fog was getting thicker. Gazing into the darkness on either side of the twin rows of carved pumpkins, he could just make out fairy rings of large, white toadstools around teepees of dried corn stalks and several giant pumpkins at least a yard across. To his right, what looked like a real skeleton hung suspended by a hangman’s noose from a lower branch of the huge oak in the corner of their front yard. To his left, another pair of realistic skeletons sat hand in hand in the small gazebo next to the fence between their houses. Clearly, Matt thought, the Hawthornes went all out on Halloween.
The covered porch was lined with more of the marvelous jack-o-lanterns. Cobwebs hung from the newly painted gingerbread trim and between the ornately turned spindles of the recently repaired railing. Leaning over to take a closer look at one of the webs, Matt jerked back in shocked surprise. Both the big black spider and its web were real! Turning in amazement, he went to the windows for a better look at the colored candles; they too were real with flickering flames burning yellow, orange, red, or green.

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A geek by day, Donald Firesmith works as a system and software engineer helping the US Government acquire large, complex software-intensive systems. In this guise, he has authored seven technical books, written numerous software- and system-related articles and papers, and spoken at more conferences than he can possibly remember. He's also proud to have been named a Distinguished Engineer by the Association of Computing Machinery, although his pride is tempered somewhat by his fear that the term "distinguished" makes him sound like a graybeard academic rather than an active engineer whose beard is still slightly more red than gray.

By night and on weekends, his alter ego writes modern paranormal fantasy, apocalyptic science fiction, action and adventure novels and relaxes by handcrafting magic wands from various magical woods and mystical gemstones. His first foray into fiction is the book Magical Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore written under the pen name Wolfrick Ignatius Feuerschmied. He lives in Crafton, Pennsylvania with his wife Becky, and his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs, cats, and birds.


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Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!

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32 Comments
James Robert
9/30/2018 03:28:41 am

Good Morning! Thank you for the book description.These tours are great and we have found some terrific books so thanks so much.

Reply
Janet W.
9/30/2018 06:33:06 am

This cover has me intrigued to see what happens! Sounds great!

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Calvin
9/30/2018 10:03:17 am

Great book to welcome the Halloween month

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Bea LaRocca
9/30/2018 11:02:35 am

Congratulations on your soon-to-be-released book and on the book tour. I love the cover and excerpt. This sounds like a story that I'd love to read myself then share with my grand kids.

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Victoria
9/30/2018 12:28:35 pm

Definitely the time for this one, can't wait to check it out. Thanks for sharing and for the awesome giveaway :)

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Rita Wray
9/30/2018 01:19:19 pm

I liked the excerpt.

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wendy hutton
9/30/2018 04:35:05 pm

awesome cover it really draws in a person attention thanks

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Kelly D
9/30/2018 05:45:21 pm

I like the cover- it looks spooky.

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Debbie P
9/30/2018 06:05:38 pm

Fantastic book for Halloween. Cool cover.

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Dale Wilken
9/30/2018 09:39:55 pm

Sounds great. Cover is great.

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Donald Firesmith link
9/30/2018 09:43:27 pm

Rudi Parfaite, the cover artist, is the lead environmental artist at a computer game company. He did a great job. The house is exactly as I architected it.

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Mood Reader
9/30/2018 10:57:43 pm

Sounds like an interesting read!

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Marisela Zuniga
10/1/2018 09:42:21 pm

great cover, this sounds so good

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Kelly Nicholson
10/2/2018 01:12:41 pm

What do you think of the books or the covers?

looks like a haunted house for sure

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jan
10/2/2018 05:55:36 pm

great cover and great timing for Hallowe'en

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Ann Fantom
10/3/2018 02:35:44 pm

I like the cover. Very eerie!

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Ken Ohl link
10/4/2018 11:23:15 am

love to open this book looks scary

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jennifer stapp
10/5/2018 05:20:08 am

Perfect read for Halloween. I love this author's style and I absolutely LOVE haunted house stories.

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Donald Firesmith link
10/5/2018 04:25:35 pm

I'm very happy with the first 5 reviews on my brand new novel The Secrets of Hawthorne House:

5) The Secrets of Hawthorne House. ★★★★★ (Amazon US)
This is the first book that I have read by this author, and I am glad I did! Well-written and a great story.

4) An adventure that stays with you. ★★★★★ (Amazon US)
This is my first book by Donald Firesmith, but it definitely won’t be my last. The Secrets of Hawthorne House is not just one adventure but many, and I didn’t want the book to end. The characters are defined and complex, and it draws you in so subtly that I found myself talking to the characters! I would love to see these characters again. (hint, hint Mr. Firesmith)

3) Love this book. ★★★★★ (Amazon CA)
Wonderful book and wonderful story. Kept me guessing what would happen next as you get drawn into the two families and their building friendships. Recommend for all reader!

2) The unlikely encounter of 2 families, one having mysterious origins and powers. ★★★★★ (Amazon FR)
The unlikely encounter of two families: one very normal, the other with mysterious origins and powers. I loved it. To read urgently.
Thank you Donald for allowing us these delicious moments of reading.

1) Very entertaining read ★★★★ (Amazon UK)
What an interesting read. Follow Matt through his many trials and tribulations, never quite knowing where the next twist and turn will lead, especially when things are not always as they appear. A well written thoroughly enjoyable read.

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Marcy Meyer
10/6/2018 01:26:24 pm

The cover is cute. Sounds like a great read.

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Lisa F.
10/7/2018 11:01:04 am

The author handcrafts magic wands from various magical woods and mystical gemstones? Wow. Very creative person.

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lynn clayton
10/7/2018 09:49:17 pm

cover looks spooky will be a great read

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Denise Higgins
10/7/2018 10:46:04 pm

Love the cover

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Juana Esparza
10/8/2018 09:14:10 am

I liked both the excerpt, and the book cover.

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Corey Hutton
10/8/2018 09:51:35 pm

Good luck with the book and Thanks for the giveaway.

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Nikki
10/13/2018 06:45:55 pm

It's a wonderful cover!

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Heather D
10/18/2018 03:37:28 pm

I like the cover and the story sounds interesting.

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Heidi Borchardt
10/19/2018 12:44:39 pm

Interesting cover.

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Daniel M
10/25/2018 07:29:22 pm

sounds like fun

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Kim BookJunkie
10/29/2018 09:04:03 pm

Teen angst, mystery, and paranormal... right up my alley!!

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latanya
10/31/2018 12:00:23 pm

the cover makes me want to read the book

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Jerry Marquardt
10/31/2018 11:58:51 pm

The cover is fantastic!!

Reply



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