This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sharon Overend will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
A haunting, lyrical exploration of family, silence and the secrets we inherit.
Years of avoidance and blame have left the McLaughlin clan fractured and ill-equipped to face the critical illness of one of their own. When long buried memories of a neighborhood child’s death while in their care resurface the family truly begin to unravel.
Told in alternating voices, Look Over Your Shoulder, reveals how secrets ripple through generations, and how healing begins when someone finally dares to speak the truth.
Enjoy an Excerpt
ANNE
I slipped away. In slow motion, I raised one foot after the other, one step at a time, upstairs. My limbs now disconnected from my body, my head bobbing in a black fog, I drifted across the hall and toward my bedroom. I lay on top of the covers but dragged a throw over my hip.
The buzz of distant conversations crawled into the room, and my window shook each time the front door opened or closed. Knuckles rapped, an empty hanger slapped against the door panel, the buzz amplified, feet shuffled forward, a presence lingered, a hand touched my arm, a voice whispered.
“Mom.”
I said nothing until her feet shuffled back toward the door.
“I’m sorry,” I sighed into the pillow seconds before the hanger again rattled, and the hum of voices roared back into the room. I wasn’t sure whether I’d wanted her to hear me or not.
“For what?” She had heard.
“For resenting you.”
The weighty creak of floorboards, a car engine idling, a woman’s laughter, a child’s shriek, a toilet flush.
“You’re tired,” Marilyn said, now close enough to touch me. “Sleep.”
“You scare me,” I said, still telling the pillow, not her. “Your strength and your capacity for forgiveness are things I’ve never experienced before. But I have to know. Have you ever forgotten?” Shame had stalked me my whole life, a shadow dancing across my peripheral vision, now fully in view.
“We’ll talk in the morning.” She lifted the fringed edge of the blanket, pulled it over my shoulder, and tucked it beneath my chin. A blue spark of static electricity sprang between her fingers and my face.
About the Author:
SHARON OVEREND, is an award-winning author whose fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry has appeared in the Canadian, American and British literary journals and anthologies including Antigonish Review, Avalon, Descant, Grain, Matter of Time, Spirit of the Hills, Surfacing, Wild Words, Word Weaver, UK’s Dream Catcher, CafeLit, The Best of CafeLit and A Coup of Owls.
Sharon and her husband live on a 156- rural acre property in Ontario, Canada where she has found inspiration for many of her projects.
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This author was an Army reporter and photographer whose first novel, The Bridge, placed us in the middle of the devastating war in Vietnam. Now in the first part of this book Alan Ramias reaches deeper into the psyches of soldiers sent there, offering three stories, each based on real-life characters and incidents.
Alan Ramias served as an Army reporter in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War, where he documented the daily lives of soldiers and civilians in a world marked by uncertainty. Those experiences became the foundation for The Bridge, a story about connection, loyalty, and the unexpected friendships forged in the shadow of conflict. After the war, Alan earned degrees in English, Philosophy, and an MBA, and built a distinguished corporate career helping organizations improve performance around the globe. Today, he draws on both his military service and decades of working with people from many cultures to create fiction that explores the complexities of human relationships, memory, and the moments that stay with us.
Haunted by regret and stalled by guilt, Alex Chambers arrives at Silver Springs Health and Rehabilitation Centre searching for redemption. What he finds instead is Mae Seasons—a sharp-tongued, fiercely independent resident with no interest in being anyone’s project.
Marc MacDonald is an author who believes every great story starts with a spark—whether it’s a single sentence, an unforgettable character, or an idea that won’t let go. As the writer behind Between Two Seasons, a novel that celebrates the beauty of human connection, Marc weaves heartfelt narratives that linger long after the last page is turned.
Fifteen years ago, Elles Garity’s world came crashing down, in more ways than one. Now in her mid-twenties, long since removed from the small island town that she grew up in and never dealing with the pain of her loss, life is calling her back home. In the affirmant of recent unfortunate events Elles finds herself at a turning point once more. This time though, she’ll be forced to confront both her unresolved grief and the people and places she left behind. It won’t be easy. Along the way Elles will learn the truth behind a new friend’s dark connection to her tragic past and be the last to uncover unthinkable family secrets that will unravel everything she ever knew about the family she thought she lost.
