Frozen Crimes is Chrys Fey’s latest novel in the Disaster series. I have been reading her work for years and eagerly pick up her books anticipating a wonderful story.
I love the beautiful cover of Frozen Crimes, done by Kim Mendoza.
I have been through a hurricane, an earthquake, a lightening storm, a tsunami, a fire, and now a blizzard with Beth and Donovan. Chrys Fey does not give them a break, just because Beth is pregnant.
Frozen Crimes has a gorgeous cover and I do love a story that features storms and Mother Nature showing us who is the boss. To know Beth and Donovan’s full story, you need to start at the beginning with Hurricane Crimes.
Chrys Fey dives right into the suspense and I wonder…is it someone we have met before?
Donovan is away on a monster truck tour. He is a driver and loves what he does. He had never planned on marriage, but once he met Beth, he was a goner. She used to travel with him and he missed her terribly. Now that a little one is on the way, he wonders…
Beth is home alone…Oh No. It’s nighttime. There’s a knocking at her bedroom window. She’s no newbie to danger, but being pregnant adds another level of fear. She has no idea that she is being hunted, stalked. In this day and age, it is easy for someone to find you and that in itself is frightening, then we have Beth and Donovan’s story to add to that.
Beth is no stranger to danger, so she started a self defense studio. Thorn, a police officer, is their best friend and has a sweet spot for one her friends who is also an employee. She has her own tragic story to tell and kindred spirits are drawn together. He uses checking on Beth as an excuse to spend time with her.
Beth and Donovan’s love for each other is so sweet. When he took her for a drive on vacation in Michigan, I knew what was coming and I loved it. He is so wonderful with Beth and the small things are very precious to her. I love that they live in Florida, and I too love living in sunny paradise. I was born in Michigan, so them visiting for Christmas and getting caught in a blizzard brings to mind forgotten memories. Deep fried turkey, yeah I’ve had that. I love those little touches that make a book even better to me.
Chrys Fey’s writing flows smoothly, leading me deeper into the story, anticipating something bad coming, just not sure what it is going to be. She does add the good with the bad. She creates suspense and adds some heat to spice things up.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Frozen Crimes by Chris Fey.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
***Frozen Crimes (Disaster Crimes Book 5)***
Beth and Donovan are expecting their first child. Life couldn’t get any better…until a stalker makes his presence known. This person sends disturbing messages and unsettling items, but it isn’t long before his menacing goes too far.
Hoping for a peaceful Christmas, Donovan takes Beth to Michigan. Days into their trip, a winter storm named Nemesis moves in with the goal of burying the state. Snowdrifts surround their house, and the temperature drops below freezing.
Except, the storm isn’t the only nemesis they must face. Everyone’s lives are at stake—especially that of their unborn child. Will they survive, or will they become a frozen crime?
Lisa Gardner is a must read author for me. I have been reading her work since way before I began blogging, but now forget to keep up with her. This is my first step to correct that and catch up on some of the books I’ve missed, so I am happy to throw some library love her way.
Detective D D Warren can relate to Flora, so they made a deal to work together, but I must warn you…have tissues handy because the highs and lows, the love and hate, had my emotions roiling, making this intense thriller impossible to put down, keeping the waters muddy and I was unable to see the end until I got there…the epilogue…a real tear jerker.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
In #1 New York Times
bestselling author Lisa Gardner’s latest twisty thrill ride, Detective
D. D. Warren and “Find Her”‘s Flora Dane return in a race against the
clock to either save a young girl’s life . . . or bring her to justice.
The
home of a family of five is now a crime scene: four of them savagely
murdered, one—a sixteen-year-old girl—missing. Was she lucky to have
escaped? Or is her absence evidence of something sinister? Detective D.
D. Warren is on the case—but so is survivor-turned-avenger Flora Dane.
Seeking different types of justice, they must make sense of the clues
left behind by a young woman who, whether as victim or suspect, is
silently pleading, Look for me.
ABOUT LISA GARDNER
Lisa Gardner is a #1 New York Times bestselling crime novelist. A self-described research junkie, she has parlayed her interest in police procedure and twisted minds into a streak of twenty-plus thrillers. Her latest, WHEN YOU SEE ME, comes out January 28, 2020 and features fan-favorites Boston Detective D.D. Warren, survivor-turned-vigilante Flora Dane, and FBI Agent Kimberly Quincy. When a shallow grave is discovered outside a small mountain town in Georgia, questions quickly arise. Are these the sad remains of one of infamous Jacob Ness’s previous victims? Or the evidence of something worse? The cold case quickly turns red hot as the task force realizes nothing in this quaint town is at it appears. Worse, there’s another young victim whose life is on the line. Can they figure out the truth in time? Lisa lives in the mountains of New Hampshire with two crazy pups and an ancient rescue dog. When not writing, Lisa loves to hike, play cribbage, and of course, read!
I have read other books about the Lost City, so I am eager to see D V Berkom’s spin on it. I do love traipsing through the jungle, with danger lurking, looking for lost treasure.
Martin is concerned about keeping the discovery quiet and the location secret, to protect it from those who would endanger the site and the people who live around it. Nancy, his daughter, is more interested in academic pursuits, wanting to share it with the world, which opens them up to those who want it for themselves.
She drank the Kool-Aid.
Enter Leine Basso…a kickass ex-assassin that takes name and leaves no prisoners. She is pulled from her comfy cozy bed, where she was nestled with Santa, her detective boyfriend, in Los Angeles and on her way to the jungle deep in the heart of the Amazon.
The head bad guy betrays anyone and everyone to get what he wants and I hope and pray he gets a healthy dose of Karma.
I am loving Shadow of the Jaguar and the Indiana Jones vibe I’m picking up. We have action and adventure, loyalty and betrayal, treasure found, and lives lost.
I love books that add the ecological aspects that would accompany a discovery such as this, including theft, clear cutting, eco terrorism and things that would damage the jungle and the people who live there. To me it adds a realistic aspect to the fiction.
The pacing flowed smoothly, making it easy to read on, totally captivated by the characters, trying to figure out who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. I was worried and I wonder…could a good guy do a bad thing and still be a good guy?
I love that D V Berkom has Leine and her daughter on the adventure together. They both work for SHEN, which is an organization that deals with human traffickers and there is never a dull moment. They are well equipped to handle whatever gets thrown at them and it is a pleasure to be along for the ride.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Shadow of the Jaguar by D V Berkom
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Leine Basso is back in Shadow of the Jaguar, an edge-of-your-seat, page-turning action-adventure thriller.
A lost civilization. A woman’s abduction. The promise of unimaginable treasure.
Deep in the heart of the Amazon, an expedition finds evidence of a fabled lost city of gold. It isn’t long before a ruthless drug trafficker learns of the possible find and kidnaps an expedition member, threatening to kill her and the rest of the expedition unless he’s given the coordinates to the city.
Former assassin Leine Basso and her daughter are called in to rescue the kidnapped woman, who also happens to be a good friend’s niece. But in the jungle, danger lurks at every turn, and nothing is as it seems…
ABOUT D V BERKOM
DV Berkom is a slave to the voices in her head. As the author of two
popular thriller series (Leine Basso and Kate Jones), her love of
creating resilient, kick-*ss female characters stems from a lifelong
addiction to reading spy novels, mysteries, and thrillers, and longing
to find the female equivalent within those pages.
Raised in the Midwest, she received her
BA in political science from the University of Minnesota and promptly
moved to Mexico to live on a sailboat. Many, many cross-country moves
(and several years) later, she now lives just outside of Seattle,
Washington with the love of her life, Mark, an ex-chef-turned
contractor, and writes every chance she gets.
For more information, please visit her website at www.dvberkom.com.
I received a copy of Stranger in Town by Cherly Bradshaw from her assistant on 10.5.16 and added it to my Goodreads TBR on 12.15.17. Don’t ask me why I waited so long to add it to my shelf or to read it, because I can’t tell you. 🙂
The sweet cover does not foreshadow the ugly story inside.
Stranger in Town by Cheryl Bradshaw is the fourth book in the Sloane Monroe Mystery series. It falls between a cozy and the dark, hardcore suspense that I love so much. I did enjoy meeting Sloan and love that she is a PI instead of a cop. She’s a PI because, “I don’t like people.” She doesn’t play well with others.
Stranger in Town deals with a difficult subject, child trafficking. Though Cheryl Bradshaw doesn’t delve into specific details that occur all too often with those taken, it is not any less frightening.
Olivia knew something wasn’t right….but she was frozen in fear.
Imagine your child at your side, doing your normal grocery shopping. An innocent errand turns horrific when you notice she is no longer at your side, no longer in the store… I can’t imagine anything more terrifying.
Sloane has her own backstory, which is what drives her to commit everything she has to finding the young girls. There are now two missing, a four year old, Savannah, and a six year old, Olivia. What could someone possibly want with them? Did they want them for their own? Did they want them to sell them?
Sloane wants to make everything whole again. She is methodical, thinking things through before acting, but something is different this time. She’s different. She will do whatever needs doing to get justice. I can relate to her desire to run when she is cornered. It’s all about perspective. Sometimes stepping away opens your eyes to what is in front of you.
Uh oh. At 55% I smelled a rat!
When Sloane talked to Sierra, Savannah’s little friend, it was heartbreakingly sweet.
In Stranger in Town, Cheryl Bradshaw covers more of Sloane’s search for the missing girls than the subject of human trafficking. There was more than one instance when I thought a character was suspicious, but it wasn’t for the reason I expected. We do have a twist, and that will happen when the villain feels he was betrayed, or put at risk of being exposed.
I would love to read more of Cheryl’s work and meeting Sloane was well worth the time.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Stranger in Town by Cheryl Bradshaw.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cheryl Bradshaw
He only needed her to look away for a few seconds…
Six-year-old
Olivia Hathaway tiptoes down the center aisle of Maybelle’s Market,
stopping once to glance over her shoulder and make sure her mother isn’t
watching. But Mrs. Hathaway is too preoccupied to notice her daughter
has slipped away. Moments later, a frantic Mrs. Hathaway runs up and
down the aisles, desperately searching for her missing daughter. But
little Olivia is already in the arms of a stranger. Will PI Sloane
Monroe find Olivia before it’s too late?
ABOUT CHERYL BRADSHAW
Cheryl Bradshaw is a New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author writing in the genres of mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, paranormal suspense, and women’s contemporary fiction. Stranger in Town (Sloane Monroe mystery series book 4) was a Shamus Award finalist, and I Have a Secret (Sloane Monroe mystery series #3) won best thriller of the year from eFestival of Words.
Cheryl Bradshaw’s Novels:
Sloane Monroe Series:
Black Diamond Death (#1) Murder in Mind (#2) I Have a Secret (#3) Stranger in Town (#4) Bed of Bones (#5) Flirting with Danger (#5.5) Hush Now Baby (#6) Dead of Night (#6.5)
For information and updates about Cheryl Bradshaw, visit her at www.cherylbradshaw.com, find her on Facebook on her Cheryl Bradshaw Author Page and follow her on Twitter @cherylbradshaw.
Crushed Ruby by Jane Blythe is Book II in the Broken Gem romantic suspense series. Each story is about one of the ‘broken’ sisters and it may even break your heart too.
Ruby and her four sisters had been sold to sex traffickers…by their parents. I can only imagine the terror and sense of betrayal they felt, knowing no one would be looking for them.
She was not a virgin, so there were no hands off signs on her and the kidnappers took advantage of that. She was a sex object. On call. Anything goes. She can’t say no. How many times can she let her mind go before she would never be able to get it back.
It had been four years and it still felt like yesterday when she would hang out with her friends doing things seventeen year old teens do. She especially missed her twin. She felt used up at 22. She didn’t care any more. No friends, no family. She’s done.
Four years…a chance at escape appears….and she takes it.
Seven years later and Sapphire, her sister is getting married. Even though one of them is still missing, Emerald, Ruby feels hopeful, though the biggest part of her life is lost in books, shelf after shelf, floor to ceiling books.
This took a twist I didn’t see coming. Jane Blythe is great at book surprises.
A Skull. A Black Cat. A Witch. A Ghost.
Judah and Zeb hadn’t been partners for long, but they clicked, working together seamlessly. The case they are working now is urgent, but will become more personal as the days pass and Judah will be more drawn to Ruby.
Ruby is still a prisoner…in her own mind. Will she be able to allow him entrance? Suicide calls to her. Will she ever be normal? She feels tainted, poisoned, unworthy. Ruby has no idea how strong she really is and when the time comes, will she be able to save herself?
I love when Ruby was reading, looking for a plot twist, because I was too. And I got it.
Jane Blythe writes some of the most suspense, nail biting, mind twisting romantic suspense novels and I am always eager to grab the next one. She doesn’t fail to give me more than I am expecting, and characters that I grow to love and worry and fret over.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Crushed Ruby by Jane Blythe.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Betrayed. Sold. Tortured. Now she’s fighting to rebuild her life.
Ruby Hatcher escaped human traffickers, and she has her life back, but a nagging voice at the back of her mind keeps telling her the world would be a better place without her in it. When a home invasion throws her together with Detective Judah Willow, she learns that she’s not as alone as she thought.
Judah wants to ask Ruby out, but he knows about her traumatic past and won’t push her into doing something she isn’t ready for. But when Ruby gets mixed up in his latest case, he is determined not only to keep her safe but also to prove to her that not all men treat women like property. Earning her trust and her heart will push him to confront his own turbulent past, but if it helps Ruby, it’s worth it.
↝ Trigger warning – mature content, issues of sexual assault/abuse, violence ↜
ABOUT JANE BLYTHE
Jane
has loved reading and writing since she can remember. She writes dark
and disturbing crime/mystery/suspense with some romance thrown in
because, well, who doesn’t love romance? She has one completed series,
Detective Parker Bell, and one new series, Count to Ten.
When she’s not writing Jane loves to
read, bake, go to the beach, ski, horse ride, and watch Disney movies.
She has a black belt in Taekwondo, and a 200+ collection of teddy bears.
She has the world’s two most sweet and pretty Dalmatians, Ivory and
Pearl. Oh, and she also enjoys spending time with family and friends!
Andy and Rebecca had been told to stick together, but when he went into the library and Rebecca refused, the worst happened. He came out and she was gone.
I know many of us have had that annoying sibling…the one that keeps hanging on, following us around, and just down right making a pest of themselves. The funny thing…I was the annoying pest. I latched onto my older sister like a leech. LOL
In books, nothing ever happens by accident – there is always deeper meaning.
This quote definitely applies here.
Andy goes out every night…looking for Rebecca…looking for the elusive yellow van no one believes was there.
Told from multiple points of view and that always works for me. I love to get the view from each characters perspective, their thoughts and feelings.
WOW! This took a wild turn making me rapidly ‘flipping the pages’ to see what the outcome will be…and another wonderful twist that has me hopeful for a good outcome.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Girl Who Wasn’t There by Nick Clausen.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Monsters are real. And they steal children.
A young girl disappears without a trace. The police have no clue as to what might have happened. The severed family is thrown into despair as weeks go by, and still no sign of her. The girl’s older brother begins looking for her on his own. Soon he becomes convinced that a supernatural being has taken her. Unfortunately, it turns out he’s right …
The Girl Who Wasn’t There is a gripping supernatural thriller.
ABOUT NICK CLAUSEN
Born 1988 in North Jutland,
where I still live with my wife, who also happened to be my earliest
childhood girlfriend. From 2017 I have lived as a full-time writer. Up
until then, I had different jobs beside the writing. I have been
studying as a carpenter for three years, and have also read two years of
psychology at Aalborg University. It turned out that the writing had a
much more powerful pull on me.
I decided early on that I would be an author when I grew up. In
fact, the decision came to me already when I read my first book,
Snevampyren by Dennis Jürgensen. My first “real” stories I wrote at
14-15 years of age. They were rejected by the publisher, but still got
praise. There were some years when I was busy with being a teenager and
trying to get an education before I suddenly remembered that I should
be an author.
That day I made a promise
to write 1,000 words a day until I got a book published. I sat down and
started writing. I continued to write every single day for a year and a
half. I sent the finished manuscripts to different publishers, and the
rejections piled up. Twelve of them by the end. But each time I could
feel it was a little bit better. The criticism became more positive. The
thirteenth story was called Tidevandet, and it was adopted by the
publisher and came out a year later.
I have always enjoyed writing, although in the beginning I put a lot
of pressure on myself. My approach to the process has become much more
free over the years. For example, I no longer plan my stories. That
way, I feel that I’m experiencing the story while writing it and the
characters feel like real people. I do not know where the ideas come
from, but I’ve never had trouble finding them.
I have seen Darynda Jones name bandied about for a long time now, so I am glad to finally pick up one of her books and have an introduction into her world with A Bad Day for Sunshine. I couldn’t resist this fabulous cover. I want to thank Darynda Jones and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review my first Darynda Jones novel.
It will be released on April 7, 2020 and is available for preorder HERE.
I have been wanting to read a Darynda Jones novel for some time now, so when I saw the chance to grab this advanced review copy from NetGalley, I jumped all over it.
Sunshine Vicram is back in town after some shenanigans pulled by her parents, getting her elected as the sheriff of Del Sol, New Mexico, and supplying her with an adorable home for her and her daughter, Aurora.
Right off I liked Sunshine and Auri’s relationship, their verbal banter leads to some very humorous dialogue, and I could see there are some underlying problems.
Sunshine has a past that demands answers and she is going to find them
Auri has seemed a bit off since the New Year’s party she went to when they arrived.
Del Sol is a small town with all kinds of crazy going on. We have some unique, quirky, entertaining characters and lots of secrets surround them. There is a sense of mystery underlying every event that transpires and no one gives answers easily.
I enjoyed the beginning of the book, but began to wonder what all the hoopla was about Darynda Jones’ work. The fun writing and character’s personalities had me liking them and the undercurrent in town made me think there was danger coming, but where is that feeling that I can’t stop reading until I have all the answers? At 30%, I became more involved, but the verdict is still out.
At 62%, Darynda Jones got my attention with a twist and I even teared up thinking about Auri…and the rest of the pack. After this it moved quickly. I know how this will end, but the last third of the book is what made it all worthwhile, keeping me glued to the pages.
Well…I love it and, even though this story is told, I am sure there is more to come for these fabulous characters and I hope to be there with them.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of A Bad Day For Sunshine by Darynda Jones.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
New York Times bestselling author Darynda Jones is back with the brand-new snarky, sassy, wickedly fun Sunshine Vicram series!
Sheriff
Sunshine Vicram finds her cup o’ joe more than half full when the small
village of Del Sol, New Mexico, becomes the center of national
attention for a kidnapper on the loose.
Del Sol, New Mexico
is known for three things: its fry-an-egg-on-the-cement summers, its
strong cups of coffee—and a nationwide manhunt? Del Sol native Sunshine
Vicram has returned to town as the elected sheriff–an election her
adorably meddlesome parents entered her in–and she expects her biggest
crime wave to involve an elderly flasher named Doug. But a teenage girl
is missing, a kidnapper is on the loose, and all of it’s reminding Sunny
why she left Del Sol in the first place. Add to that trouble at her
daughter’s new school and a kidnapped prized rooster named Puff Daddy,
and Sunshine has her hands full.
Enter sexy almost-old-flame
Levi Ravinder and a hunky US Marshall, both elevens on a scale of one to
blazing inferno, and the normally savvy sheriff is quickly in over her
head. Now it’s up to Sunshine to juggle a few good hunky men, a
not-so-nice kidnapping miscreant, and Doug the ever-pesky flasher. And
they said coming home would be drama-free.
ABOUT DARYNDA JONES
NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious RITA, a Golden Heart, and a Daphne du Maurier. As a born storyteller, she grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike. She currently has two series with St. Martin’s Press, the Charley Davidson Series and the Darklight Trilogy. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of more than 25 years and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.
Welcome to my stop for Finding Lisa by Sigrid Macdonald. Which fork would you take? I love book covers and often grab a book for that reason alone. Sometimes it works against me. LOL Let’s send out a big welcome to Sigrid Macdonald.
TOPIC: MY BOOK COVER
Dear Sherry:
Thank you for having me on your blog and
for asking about my book cover. It took me a long time to choose this cover
because I wanted it to represent so many things.
Tara, my protagonist, has a dilemma.
Everything is going wrong in her life, with her marriage, on the job, and with
her moody teenage son. And, to top it off, she’s about to turn 40, and the
thought terrifies her. The only thing right in her life is her best friend,
Lisa. One night the two women have a typical night out on the town watching a
flick at the foreign film theater and going for a snack at the deli afterward.
It’s status quo. They do this all the time. But this night is different. This
night Lisa tells Tara that she is pregnant, and her partner, Ryan, may not be
the father. Tara is worried because Ryan has a history of domestic violence and
was incarcerated for assaulting his first wife. Tara doesn’t think Ryan will
handle this news well. But there is no time to find out because right after
that night at the movies, Lisa goes missing. Tara has no idea what to do.
The cover illustrates Tara’s
indecisiveness. A woman is standing, looking out into an empty field. She is at
a crossroads where she could go left, or she could go right, or she could walk
straight across the grass without a path at all. But Tara has no idea what to
do. She’s never been in this situation. It’s possible that Lisa could have
broken her sobriety and gone on a drinking binge. If that’s the case, Tara
doesn’t want to embarrass her by attracting publicity. Or maybe Lisa was too
afraid to tell Ryan about a baby that might not be his. But deep down, Tara
knows that Lisa would never take off without contacting her boss, her parents,
or Tara. She might not tell Ryan where she’s going, but she would let the
others know so they wouldn’t worry. So, now Tara is worried!
Eventually, Tara will make several
decisions, for good or for bad. It’s up to the reader to decide whether Tara
does the right thing in her search for her friend, along with her own shaky
sense of self-identity. As Charles Dickens said in the first line of David Copperfield, “Whether I shall
turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by
anybody else, these pages must show.” The same can be said for Tara.
Thanks so much.
Best,
Sigrid
PS I had a midlife crisis and pretended to
be 39 for several years! It was so much easier for me to turn 60 than 40, so I
wanted to give this particular issue to my character because we live in such a
youth-oriented culture that I think this magic number of 40 affects a lot of
people, especially women who are told that they need to stay young to be
relevant.
Finding Lisa by Sigrid Macdonald
GENRE: Mystery/women’s fiction
BLURB
Finding
Lisa is a character driven story about a quirky Canadian woman named Tara who
is about to turn 40. She dreads the thought. Everything is going wrong in her
life from her stale marriage to her boring job to her hopeless crush on a
24-year-old guy. The only thing right in Tara’s life is her best friend Lisa
who has just confided that she is pregnant and the baby does not belong to her
partner Ryan, who has a history of domestic violence. Then Lisa disappears and
the search is on to find her.
EXCERPT
All the carts were taken at the supermarket on Tuesday. I
found one off to the side of the vegetable aisle. It had a defective wheel,
which resulted in me almost overturning a display of cantaloupes. The cart was
also enormous. No doubt this was a deliberate ploy on the part of the
supermarket to encourage excess shopping.
“I feel as though I’m driving a school bus,” I
announced to the frail, pale orange-haired woman to my left, who was squeezing
the small, unappetizing looking cantaloupes.
She smiled faintly and nodded. I wondered how she had the
strength to push the heavy cart through the long aisles of the grocery store at
her age.
“Mum, I’ll go with you to one of those Women against
Rape meetings if you want?” Devon
said to my astonishment, his voice rising at the end of his sentence.
“There’s only one condition. You have to watch 8 Mile with me.”
“8 Mile? Isn’t that the movie based on the book by
Stephen King?”
“Nah, you’re thinking about The Green Mile,” Devon
replied. “8 Mile is the story of a rapper in Detroit. It’s based on the
life of Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers. Eminem even stars in
it,” he said with increasing enthusiasm.
“I think it’ll give you a better idea of where he’s
coming from. You know, you’re always talking about these girls who’ve been,
like, abused and what horrible lives they’ve had. You even feel bad about boys
who were taken advantage of by priests or their hockey coaches. So why don’t
you have any sympathy for Marshall? His mother was abusive. She was mean to
him, and she did drugs! Also, she, like, gave him something called Munchkins
syndrome,” Devon added uncertainly.
“Munchausen syndrome?” I asked, trying to picture the
tough guy with the tattoos and bad attitude as a small child with a
manipulative and controlling mother.
“Yeah, that sounds right. She made him feel sick when
he was totally healthy. And, Mum, I know you would respect the way Em felt
about his little brother, Nathan. He, like, didn’t wanna leave him alone in the
house with his mother when he finally split from Detroit. He’s also really keen
about his daughter, Hailie Jade. He talks about her all the time in his songs
and on TV.”
I pushed the buttons on the radio. The Steve Miller band was
singing, “Time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future.” I had a
sense of motion. The car was moving forward, and with every traffic light I
passed, I was moving farther away from Lisa and our routine evenings at the
ByTowne Theatre. The rest of us were going ahead, and Lisa had been left
behind. I wanted to go back, not just to last Thursday night, but to my university
days, so I could live my life all over again.
I wanted to be sixteen or twenty-six again, making decisions
based on what I knew now. So many lost opportunities. How had I managed to
completely screw up my life? I’d done everything wrong except that I hadn’t
become a street prostitute or a serial murderer. Too late for the former—who
would want me? But there was still time for the latter.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Originally from New Jersey, Sigrid Macdonald lived for almost thirty years in Ottawa, Ontario, and currently resides in Weston, Florida. She has been a freelance writer for years. Her works have appeared in TheGlobe and Mail newspaper; the Women’s Freedom NetworkNewsletter; the American magazine Justice Denied; The Toastmaster; and the Anxiety DisordersAssociation of Ontario Newsletter. Her first book, Getting Hip: Recovery from a Total Hip Replacement, was published in 2004. Her second book, Be Your OwnEditor, followed in 2010. Although Finding Lisa is written in first person, Macdonald only resembles her character in the sense that she once had a neurotic fixation on her hair, and she has always been called by the wrong name; instead of being called Sigrid, people have called her Susan, Sharon, Astrid, Ingrid and, her personal favorite, Siri.
Macdonald
is a social activist who has spent decades working on the seemingly disparate
issues of women’s rights and wrongful convictions; she has worked at the
Women’s Center at Ramapo College of New Jersey and Carleton University in
Ottawa, Ontario, and was a member of AIDWYC, The Association in Defense of the
Wrongly Convicted. She owns an editing company called Book Magic. Sigrid is a
public speaker and a member of Mothers against Drunk Driving, Ottawa
Independent Writers, the American Association of University Women, and the
Editors’ Association of Canada. Visit her website at http://bookmagic.ca/ or friend her on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/sigridmac.
Sigrid Macdonald will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Follow the tour and comment, the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. Follow the tour HERE.
Jane Blythe has been entertaining me with her stories for some time now, and Forgotten did not let me down. Even though I knew a lot of what would happen from previous novels, it still felt like the first time. Glad I put some distance in between books.
OMG! OMG! OMG! JANE! JANE! JANE! Even though I knew a lot of what would happen because I read the previous novels, it still felt like the first time and you blew me away.
I love these characters and it is so wonderful being back with them again. They are all flawed in their own ways, but I would still want them by my side in a clutch situation. Jane has put them through hell…repeatedly…and does not give them a break in Forgotten.
Their past comes back to haunt them, over and over again. Secrets will be exposed…and trouble, which is Tessa’s middle name, will find them.
Tessa and Parker’s inability to get past their own insecurities and trust in each other causes a separation they may never be able to overcome. Do we ever really know a person? People are not always what they seem.
Jane has brought all the events in the previous books into play and wraps it up in a NOT pretty package. She has no trouble killing off her characters and the loss of this one was gut wrenching. Even though I knew it was going to happen, I still had all the feels I did the first time around, maybe even more.
The villains are monstrous, but I understand how they got that way. I see their motivation, empathize with their pain, but they know right from wrong and there can be no forgiveness.
It broke my heart when Maisy…and then Jane finished me off with… Tears were rolling down my face as….I couldn’t hold them back. Sometimes knowing what’s coming doesn’t change anything.
You only get one shot at life and you had to make it count.We’re all responsible for our own choices.”
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Forgotten by Jane Blythe.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Sometimes love can’t conquer all.
With his relationship to wife Tessa strained almost to the point of breaking, Detective Parker Bell finds himself once again becoming too invested in his latest case, that of a young woman who was kidnapped and is suffering from amnesia. As he becomes intrigued by and attracted to the beautiful and mysterious young woman he names Hope his friends and family feel that he is losing his objectivity, and risking everything he cares about in the process.
Meanwhile Tessa is working to battle her demons and finally become the woman who can give her husband what he needs. When Parker pulls away from her, intent on helping his newest project, Tessa must figure out what secrets Hope is hiding before it’s too late. Unfortunately Hope’s secrets will end up costing someone their life.
↝ Trigger warning – themes of sexual assault ↜
ABOUT JANE BLYTHE
Jane
has loved reading and writing since she can remember. She writes dark
and disturbing crime/mystery/suspense with some romance thrown in
because, well, who doesn’t love romance? She has one completed series,
Detective Parker Bell, and one new series, Count to Ten.
When she’s not writing Jane loves to
read, bake, go to the beach, ski, horse ride, and watch Disney movies.
She has a black belt in Taekwondo, and a 200+ collection of teddy bears.
She has the world’s two most sweet and pretty Dalmatians, Ivory and
Pearl. Oh, and she also enjoys spending time with family and friends!
I would like to send out my thanks to Anita Dickason for the opportunity to read Not Dead. I fell in love with the creepy cover and could hardly wait to find out what’s ‘between the covers’.
The creepy cover for Anita Dickason’s Not Dead drew me in. I love suspense and the supernatural, so this was a perfect fit for me.
There is a long list of characters, which Anita lists in the beginning of the book.
Mandy, a four year old girl, is missing. Meridian, Oklahoma, is a small town, so I am thinking it has to be someone who knows her. Strangers would be noticed.
Chief Chad Bishop is sitting at his desk, rounding up help and doing the basics, amber alert, reward….when in walks HER.
She is the niece of the missing girl and the new editor of the Tribune, Ashley Logan. She is a hotshot reporter from Baltimore, and knowing Chad had left the Atlanta Police Department abruptly to come to to Meridian, she investigates…HIM, while investigating Mandy’s disappearance. Why did he leave such a great position to come to the small town of Meridian. Of course, we could ask the same of her. We will find out all the details.
Ashley thinks she can pump the secretary for details, but she is mistaken.
Anita Dickason’s descriptions of the characters make them easy to picture in my mind.
At the end of Chapter Three there is an eerie moment that ramps up my anticipation for this new element. I wonder, will it be a good thing…or a bad thing.
The story keeps getting more interesting the more I read. It’s nice to see something good coming with the bad. I’m not sure what to share without spoiling things. There is so much more going on than just a missing child and the villains that are truly evil.
The fog…is all fog hiding evil? I didn’t anticipate where the story would go and that is a very good thing. I loved it.
It’s not hard to predict that Ashley will run straight into trouble. She’s persistent, dogged, and determined to find Mandy before her time runs out. She’s not going to leave it up to the coppers to do it.
We switch character’s points of view and I love hearing from the horses mouth, so to speak. It allows me to understand their motivations and feelings that lead them to do what they do.
I love the mix of child trafficking and the supernatural. I can overlook a problem or two that I had with Chad and Ashley working together. After all, it is fiction and I allow the author to take me where they will, as long as there is a good story to go along with it. Not dead did not blow me away, but I loved the mix of romance, suspense and the supernatural…AND THE DOLL.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
A small-town Texas cop who is haunted by his past. A reporter who risks it all, even her life. A kidnapping that crosses into an unearthly realm.
Focused on the abduction of four-year-old Mandy Norton, Chad Bishop, Meridian’s Police Chief, ignores the twinges of foreboding triggered by an eerie fog that shrouds his town. What he can’t ignore is the editor of the Tribune.
When Ashley Logan becomes embroiled in the search, nothing stops the hard-hitting, investigative reporter, including Chad’s threats to throw her in jail. She’s Mandy’s aunt.
As the mystery of Mandy’s disappearance deepens, unnerving details emerge. Chad refuses to believe they’re connected to his past until the case turns deadly. He’s forced to face the terror that haunts him. It’s waiting in the shadowy depths of the unearthly fog.
This time, it could cost Chad more than his sanity.
ABOUT ANITA DICKASON
Code Name: Trackers: The elite of the elite. FBI agents, each with a secret, an extra edge, that defies reason and logic.
Characters with unexpected skills—that extra edge for overcoming danger and adversity—have always intrigued Anita. Adding an infatuation with ancient myths and legends of Native American Indians, and Scottish and Irish folklore creates the backdrop for her characters.
Anita is a retired Dallas Police Officer. During—what she refers to as an extraordinary career—Anita served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer, advanced accident investigator, and SWAT entry/sniper.
Upon retirement, she became involved in a research project that dealt with the death of a witness to the Kennedy assassination. The research led to her first book, JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy, that details the results of her reconstruction of a 1966 motor vehicle accident that killed Lee Bowers, Jr., a key witness to the assassination.
Once the Bowers book was written, Anita reached the same point many authors ultimately face: I’ve written it, now what do I do? Answering that question has become another career, one she has wholeheartedly embraced. The publishing field is in a constant state of flux, offering unlimited possibilities for an author, but also endless landmines.
Anita started a new company, Mystic Circle Books & Designs LLC, offering cover design and manuscript services. In addition to her works as an author, she enjoys helping other authors see their dream become a reality.
