I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the BELIEVED by Michael James Emberger Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out
my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Author: Michael James Emberger
Release Date: October 4, 2021
Publisher: Michael James Emberger
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook (FREE)
Pages: 429
Find it: Goodreads, books2read (find all FREE audiobook links here and other purchase links), Free eBook download here! https://www.michaeljamesemberger.com/believed
Description:
Kelsea Jones is like a lot of girls at the University of Northern Minnesota. She has a boyfriend, she works at a coffee shop, and she’s on the swim team. But she’s not a girl. She’s a mermaid.
Trouble brews when star hockey player Chad Andersen takes an interest in her.
She tries to avoid him, but he won’t leave her alone. A son of wealth and
privilege, he takes what he wants, and he gets away with it. He wants Kelsea,
she says no, and so he rapes her. Kelsea stands on a tail and two fins to fight
the most painful trial of her life. Despite her trauma and a crisis of faith,
she speaks the truth of what Chad did, but will she be believed?
A note from the author:
1 out of 4 college girls experiences rape or sexual assault. That breaks my
heart. It’s a crime that has affected people I love, and it has to stop. This
novel is my way of raising awareness and showing survivors that someone hears
them.
Believed is a product of my friendship with a survivor who is an
author and advocate. She opened my eyes to a world of trauma and PTSD that had
been largely invisible to me before I met her, and it was life-changing. I
needed to share that with others. The burden on my heart was too great to not
say something, and fiction is the method I know best to convey the thoughts,
truths, pains, and struggles that I see.
Sexual assault is not my story. I haven’t experienced it, I don’t live with the
resulting trauma, and I do not wish to profit from the pain of survivors. This
is a book for them. It’s a book for those who love them. It’s a book to
encourage readers to think and to empathize and to consider the realities of so
many whose lives have been affected by this crime. If you purchase a copy here,
know that the prices are the minimum allowed. I make no royalty on print
copies. If you would like to read for free, you can download the book at my
website: https://www.michaeljamesemberger.com/believed
If you find value in this work, please consider donating to an organization
that fights against sexual violence or offers support to survivors. Tell your
family and friends about the book. Review it online. Let the survivors in your
life know that you care, that you believe them, and that you are there for
them.
This is part of a deleted section. Kelsea, the main character, is kidnapped while driving home late at night. Chad’s mother, Adria, plans to kill her. It’s from the original ending, but it didn’t fit well to the overall feel of the book, so I removed it from the story:
I wake with a start. The lights are on. There’s a splashing sound. I look up. Several fish swim at the top of the tank. A hatch falls closed with a clang that echoes and hurts my ears. What happened to the woman? Did I sleep? Wasn’t she just here? Where am I?
“Time for breakfast,” she says.
I spin, searching for the source of the voice, but it has no source. It was everywhere. My head is killing me. Everything I look at is hazy. “Breakfast?”
“Yes. It’s morning. It’s time for you to eat.”
My tail and fins are slow to respond, but I swim to the wall and cup my hands to the glass. I can’t see anything out there.
“Come now,” she says. “You must be hungry. Eat up.”
“Who are you?”
She chuckles. “Don’t you remember our conversation last night? I thought it would be clear enough.”
“Conversation?” I try to remember, but the headache is in the way.
“It will come back to you soon enough. Those sleeping drugs can muddle things a bit, or so I’m told. I can’t try them. They would kill me. But eat. You’ll feel better.”
“Eat what?”
She laughs. “The fish, silly. You’re a mermaid. That’s what you eat.”
I gaze at the trout circling across the tank from me. I’m starving, but my stomach turns at the thought. “I don’t eat live fish. I’ve never done that.”
“I’d suggest you start, then. That’s all you’re getting.”
“What? Why? Why am I here?” I try to remember. I had a flat tire. She said something about a tank and women, and paying bail, and her son. I snap my head up, eyes wide.
“Is it coming back to you, Kelsea?”
“Adria,” I say. “Adria Andersen.”
“Mm hmm. Very good. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, sweetie. It’s going to cost me a fortune to get Chad out of this little mess he’s gotten himself into.”
“I didn’t do anything. He did.”
She sighs. “Whatever. It’s not important. Don’t concern yourself with him. He’ll be fine. This will all blow over. The media will move on, and they’ll forget about you and your friends and their little stunt. ‘Me too…’ Ha! What do they think they’re going to prove? Do they think people will care? Do they think they’ll make some sort of difference? I’ll tell you the answer; it’s no. The world is run by men with power and money, and power and money gets what it wants, always. The only way to beat it is to join it. They’ll see in time.
Michael
James Emberger is an author of thrillers and suspense residing in Wilton, NH.
He enjoys weaving narratives of conspiracy and misguided intentions around
divisive topics. Where there is debate, there is always room for a villain with
goals far out of alignment from either side. Michael is a graduate of Messiah
College, where he studied Engineering and met his wife racing solar cars
cross-country. When he’s not working on home renovations or writing, he enjoys
visiting the ocean and exploring the majesty of God’s creation on the summits
of New Hampshire’s mountains.
Michael wrote Believed, a heartbreaking and inspirational
tale of a Mermaid in college in Minnesota. It was the most difficult book he’s
ever written, but also the most important. He’s made it available for free in
audiobook and e-book formats, and he hopes it will encourage and inform.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
There isn’t a giveaway for this tour. Instead Michael is giving away the audiobook and ebook! You can download a FREE copy of the audiobook here! https://books2read.com/u/bzVLlD
OR a FREE copy of the eBook HERE! https://www.michaeljamesemberger.com/believed
and if you love the book please help spread the word with a review or share the
links with your friends!
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
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9/1/2022 |
Excerpt 2 |
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9/2/2022 |
Guest Post/IG Post |
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9/3/2022 |
Guest Post/IG Post |
Week Two:
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9/4/2022 |
Excerpt 1/IG Post |
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9/5/2022 |
Excerpt 2 |
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9/6/2022 |
Guest Post/IG Post |
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9/7/2022 |
Excerpt 1/IG Post |
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9/8/2022 |
IG Spotlight |
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9/9/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/10/2022 |
IG Spotlight |
Week Three:
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9/11/2022 |
Excerpt 1/IG Post |
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9/12/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/13/2022 |
Excerpt 2/IG Post |
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9/14/2022 |
IG Spotlight |
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9/15/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/16/2022 |
TikTok Review/IG Post |
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9/17/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
Week Four:
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9/18/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/19/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/20/2022 |
Excerpt 1/IG Post |
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9/21/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/22/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/23/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/24/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
Week Five:
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9/25/2022 |
Excerpt 2 |
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9/26/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/27/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/28/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/29/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/30/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
Thank you for sharing this!
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