C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

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#atozchallenge: S is for Squares & Seismic Crimes

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Bonus S: SEISMIC CRIMES

Today is the release of Chrys Fey’s first novel!

BLURB: 
An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.
Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.
When a tip reveals the killer’s location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?

DIGITAL LINKS: 
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / KOBO / The Wild Rose Press
ALSO AVAILABLE IN PRINT!


Here’s to a great AtoZ!

Join in the FUN.

This year I traveled to Cuba. You know, it’s that little island that’s spitting distance from Florida and should not be visited without special dispensation. I wanted to see it before MacDonald’s arrived. I’m so glad I did. I learned a lot and I met some wonderful people. It seems they like us. Now there’s a change!

I’ll add a short T/F quiz to each post the same as I did last year about Burma, and I’ll post the answers to the questions the following day. 

Answers to your T/F Quiz for R:

TRUE 1. The Bay of Pigs (Invasión de Playa Girón) was an attempt by the U.S. to overthrow the Castro government. Unfortunately, the Cuban refugees who were backed by the CIA were ill-prepared, and the landing was a fiasco.

FALSE 2. The Soviet Bloc didn’t collapse in 1969; it collapsed in 1991.

S is for Squares:

The squares in Havana are absolutely beautiful and some date from the 1500s. The Plaza Vieja was laid out in 1559 A beautiful area to explore and enjoy architecture and interesting statues. 
Plaza de la Catedral features the Categral de San Cristóbal and dates from the 18th century. The wide open, car-less area is wonderful to walk. Deep red Bouganvilla cling to the ancient stone walls and blue balconies and doorways blend with the color of the sky.
Naked lady with a fork and riding a chicken. Yep. 
The Plaza de San Francisco faces the port of Havana. The old customs house and the former stock exchange front this elegant, but more commercial plaza. The Basilica Menor de San Francisco de Asis was built in 1580 and the bell tower rises 42 meters into the sky. 
The Plaza de Armas is a place to stroll through palm-lined walkways and gaze at Baroque buildings. The Book Market is a favorite spot to find books and magazines that go back to the 40s and 50s. 
My picture didn’t turn out. Here’s the SOURCE for this one so much like it.
Your T/F Quiz for S:

1. Today squares are primarily for strolling and finding good restaurants, but in the past they often were places of executions.
2. Old Havana and its squares are now World Heritage sites.
Answers tomorrow.






Comments

  6. Blog hopping from North Carolina during the #Challenge. I started WAY down the participant list figuring they wouldn't get as much traffic. Always happy to find blogs where I can learn something. Your photos of Cuba timely with what Obama has done, which makes me crazy. Happier seeing it through your eyes. Thanks. I have been writing about hotels and inns, come and have TEA on the letter T day if you have time or interest.

  9. Congrats Chrys on your release, wahoo!

    The pictures are beautiful. I know in the movie Evita the scenery was gorgeous.

    Juneta @ Writer's Gambit

  13. Congrats Chrys!

    I'd love to visit a square that dated back to the 1500s. I love old things and seeing them.

    ~Ninja Minion Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

  14. Congrats to Chrys!
    Hey, I'm getting better at these quizzes maybe there's hope for me yet? LOL
    I fear the squares were used for executions. How sad, but so glad to see they now foster culture!

  17. I love squares and places that cater to pedestrians and not cars. Havana's look very beautiful, especially that huge bougainvillea bush! Best thing my town did was close off about a mile of street and pave it all so tourists can walk at their leisure between all the hotels and stores. It's called The Memsha (literally, The Walk) and I stroll there every week. 🙂

  19. I wish Chrys good luck with her new book.
    I so enjoyed yet another insight of Cuba via your writing and pictures.

    Ps what did your comment mean on my post today?
    Yvonne.

  20. On this one I have no idea, but am tempted to say yes to the both of them and would say they are true.

    I need to check that one with the Bay of Pigs again. I definitely thought it had to deal with the Missle crisis between JFK and Nikita Khrushchev.

    Visiting from the A to Z Blog Challenge.

    Shalom,
    Patricia @ EverythingMustChange

  24. The pictures look lovely and I'd love to be sitting in the square right now with a cool drink and a copy of Seismic Crimes 🙂

  32. Thank you so much for adding my promo, C Lee! And for putting it at the top too! That was mighty generous. 😛 That naked lady statue is interesting. I wonder why she has a fork…or why she's riding a chicken. Hmm…

  34. A toast to Chrys! Congratulations. The plazas/squares are so traditional in older cities; places for governments to make announcements, places buy and sell, places to execute. I'm going with true for both questions.

  37. If like Savannah, the squares were also a gathering point for firefighting… Chrys has a nice cover. I hope her book sells and becomes a hit.