#ExclusiveExcerpt The Secret in Mossy Swamp by @RitaMonette #middlegrade @Saphs_Books

I sat on the dock with my ruined birthday gift in my lap. Snooper trotted up next to me and laid his head on my leg. “I wish we had our own place, Snoop.” He gazed up at me with his I know how you feel look.

Snooper was the only creature in the whole world that understood me. I put my arm around him and nuzzled my face in his short fur. Snooper had been my best buddy since Papa brought him home as a hunting dog. After he found out he was useless at that particular chore, he set out to get rid of him, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. Me and him were two of a kind. Neither of us fit in. Snoop couldn’t hunt coons or rabbits on account of his smeller not working, and it seemed I couldn’t keep my nose out of trouble.

I glanced out at an old oak tree with low, moss-covered branches that reached out over the bayou. “That there would make a grand getaway, don’t you think? Maybe a tree house.”

My old friend, Lydia Hebert, from Pierre Part, had her own tree house. We had a lot of fun playing in hers. Spikes and his brothers had their own clubhouse. That’s where we figured out the pirate map from our last adventure. I thought it was time I had one of my own. My dog cocked his head at where I pointed and blinked.

Mama came up behind me. “Come in for some breakfast, honey.”

“I’m not hungry,” I huffed. “And why’s Papa so grumpy anyway?”

Mama sat down on a wooden bench. “Oh, he’s just fretting over that missing boy.”

“What missing boy?” I squinted at her.

Things are never what they seem... in a foggy Louisiana swamp

Book Information:

Title: The Secret in Mossy Swamp

Series: Nikki Landry Swamp Legends, Book 3

Author Name: Rita Monette

Genre(s): Juvenile/Middle Grade, Adventure, Mystery

Length: Approx. 204 pages

ASIN: B01KIQNDD6
ISBN Paperback: 978-1987976168

Release Date: Septemer 17, 2016

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing

(http://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com/)

Follow the Blog Tour:

http://saphsbookblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/book-tour-schedule-secret-in-mossy.html

About The Secret in Mossy Swamp:

Living in a tiny houseboat, Nikki is stuck with sharing a room with her little brother, Jesse, who does what little brothers do best…torture their sisters. Fed up, she decides to build a place of her own…a tree house where no boys are allowed. Meanwhile, something strange is happening on Bayou Platte. Things and people are coming up missing…and little stick dolls covered in moss, known locally as “signs” from the legendary Rougarou, are showing up in their place.

Is the Rougarou really to blame? Can Nikki get to the bottom of the mystery before things get worse? Find out in this third instalment of the Nikki Landry Swamp Legends Series!

Add the Book on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31622394-the-secret-in-mossy-swamp

Purchase Links:

Mirror World Publishing ~
Paperback: http://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/juvenile/products/the-secret-in-mossy-swamp-paperback

eBook: http://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/juvenile/products/the-secret-in-mossy-swamp-e-book

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2cbkPHy

Meet the Author:

Behind Every Legend Lies the Truth!

Rita Monette was born and raised in Southwest Louisiana. She loves to write stories set in the beautiful, yet mysterious, bayous and swamps of her home state. She is currently retired and lives with her husband, four lap dogs, and one lap cat, in the mountains of Tennessee. Besides writing and illustrating, She enjoys participating in festivals and craft shows where she does face and body art, along with selling her books.

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/RitaMonetteBooks

Amazon:  

http://amzn.to/2d0B4aF

Goodreads Author Page:  

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6580833.Rita_Monette?from_search=true

Blog: http://ritamonette.blogspot.com/

Author Website: http://www.ritamonette.com/

The Legend of Ghost Dog Island #NewRelease from @RitaMonette @MirrorWorldPub #middlegrade #kidlit @Saphs_Books

Behind every legend lies the truth… 

About The Legend of Ghost Dog Island:

Moving is nothing new for ten-year-old Nikki Landry. Her father relocates their raggedy old houseboat several times a year in search of better crabbing spots. However, their latest move has brought her to a mysterious bayou where she feels something is watching her from a nearby island.

Nikki learns of a local legend about something sinister inhabiting those swamps, stealing the souls of dogs...which would explain the strange howling sounds. Papa reassures her there’s nothing on the island but gators and snakes. He should know. He’s spent his whole life trapping and fishing those bayous and swamps…But maybe there’s something Papa doesn’t know.

Nikki and her new friends begin to uncover strange happenings from years ago that may have started the old legend…and town folks aren’t talking.

Then her beloved beagle goes missing.

Join Nikki as she seeks to discover the real truth behind the legend of Ghost Dog Island…before it’s too late.

Book Details:

Title: The Legend of Ghost Dog Island
Author Name: Rita Monette
Genre(s): Middle Grade, Adventure, Mystery
Tags: Adventure, mystery, middle grade, louisiana, bayou, dogs
Length: Approx. 204 pages
E-book:  978-1-987976-00-7
Paperback:  978-0-9947490-9-3
Re-Release Date: September 1, 2015
Publisher:  Mirror World Publishing

Read an Excerpt:

“I’m going to hate Morgan City,” I complained to my dog Snooper, “no matter what Papa says.”

My beagle laid his head on my lap and gazed up at me with his watery eyes. He pretty much agreed with me on everything.

I sat on the deck of our old flat-bottomed houseboat as it glided through the winding bayous. Papa’s fishing boat, filled with baskets of line and crab crates, trailed behind on its rope. We were leaving Pierre Part…Lydia…far behind. I rolled the legs of my overalls up and dangled my feet over the edge.

“Nicole Landry, keep your feet out of that filthy water,” Mama hollered from the doorway of the small living area of our floating home. She wiped her hands on her stained apron, then fixed the comb that held her long dark hair in a pile on top of her head. Mama was born and raised in New Orleans, but left the big city for a life in the bayous with Papa. She never looked back. At least that’s what she always told folks.

“They ain’t in the water, Mama.” I held my legs up so she could see they were dry.

She opened the patched screened door and shooed a fly out, before closing it and going back inside.

I twirled the end of my long black braid. Moving to a new place always gave me a lump in my throat as big as a bullfrog. But I wasn’t going to cry this time. I was ten years old after all.

I’d lived in that same house since the day I was born—as Mama always tells it, "the coldest morn’ of 1946." But I couldn’t rightly recall how many times it got tied up to a new dock. Mama liked to say Papa never let the grass grow under his feet. But I could hardly think of a time when his rubber boots ever touched grass.

Papa grew up in Morgan City, and he said folks there were mighty friendly. But it seemed to me, most city dwellers weren’t too welcoming to my kind, being from the wrong side of the levee and all. And the city was where I’d have to go to school.

“And, as for making friends with any kids there, no way.” I shook my finger in Snoop’s face. “Just to up and leave ’em behind anyway.”

He managed a tiny whimper, as if I was fussing at him.

I thought about Lydia standing on the Belle River Bridge waving goodbye. My eyes burned, and I squeezed ’em shut. I felt in my pocket for her note. I’d read it at least a hundred times since she’d handed it to me, right before I went stomping down the ladder from her tree house. She’d scribbled down her post office box address and "write me," then signed her name with the little heart over the i like she always did.

“Hmph!” I told Snooper. “She’s crazy if she thinks I’m gonna write her after what she did.”

Lydia Hebert was my best friend in the whole world…until yesterday. It was a lot easier to leave while I was still mad at her. But now it felt like an empty hole inside me.

Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/1VbZ7jq

Mirror World Publishing Links:
eBook http://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/history/products/the-legend-of-ghost-dog-island-ebook
Paperback  http://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/history/products/the-legend-of-ghost-dog-island-paperback


Meet the Author:

Rita Monette was born and raised in Southwest Louisiana. She loves to write stories set in the beautiful, yet mysterious, bayous and swamps of her home state.

Her middle grade series, The Nikki Landry Swamp Legends, is based on tales told by her father—who made his living in those bayous—of reasons to stay out of the swamp.

She currently lives with her husband, four lap dogs, and one lap cat, in the mountains of Tennessee. Besides writing and illustrating, she loves watching the many birds that make their habitat on the Cumberland Plateau, working in the garden, and frequenting waterfalls.

Follow the Tour:

http://saphsbookblog.blogspot.com/2015/08/blog-tour-schedule-legend-of-ghost-dog.html