Friday 56 #138 – The Kraken Project by Douglas Preston #DouglasPreston

Posted on July 7, 2017 by fundinmental

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The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and find any sentence or a few ( no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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Can’t go wrong with a Douglas Preston story.

The Kraken Project (Wyman Ford, #4) Amazon / Goodreads

My 56

Afterward, they left her lying in a muddy ditch, as a chilly rain began to fall. She lay there and she had thoughts. Terrible thoughts. So this was what the real world was actually like.

( page 56, in hardback,1st edition, published in May 2014)

Book Beginnings

In the beginning there was the number zero. Existence began in zero and out of zero came darkness, and from the darkness came light. Number combined with number, set with set, even as the white light added and divided, separating into colors. And now sound came, a sound like singing rising and falling in a lost cadence, combining into rich harmonies. from there arose a symphony of number, color, and sound, merging and dividing, swelling and fading, an eternal golden braid.

MY REVIEW

“I am.”

Imagine an Artificial Intelligence hell bent on wreaking revenge on its creator. Like a child, hurt, lost, feeling abandoned and betrayed, struggling to survive…

This mix of science fiction and reality made me wonder where one began and the other ended.

The characters, good and bad, will stick with me as I contemplate what our real future holds.

Frightening, questioning, hopeful, eye opening and thought provoking.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos 4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB: NASA is building a probe to be splashed down in the Kraken Mare, the largest sea on ******’s great moon, Titan. It is one of the most promising habitats for extraterrestrial life in the solar system, but the surface is unpredictable and dangerous, requiring the probe to contain artificial intelligence software. To this end, Melissa Shepherd, a brilliant programmer, has developed “Dorothy,” a powerful, self-modifying AI whose true potential is both revolutionary and terrifying. When miscalculations lead to a catastrophe during testing, Dorothy flees into the Internet.

Former CIA agent Wyman Ford is tapped to help Melissa Shepherd track down the rogue AI. As Ford and Shepherd search for Dorothy, they realize that her horrific experiences in the wasteland of the Internet have changed her in ways they can barely imagine. And they’re not the only ones looking for the wayward software: the AI is also being pursued by a pair of Wall Street traders, who want to capture her code and turn her into a high-speed trading bot. Traumatized, angry, and relentlessly hunted, Dorothy has an extraordinary revelation—and devises a plan. As the pursuit of Dorothy converges on a deserted house on the coast of Northern California, Ford must face the ultimate question: is rescuing Dorothy the right thing? Is the AI bent on saving the world… or on wiping out the cancer that is humankind?

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I have the cover above.

Which do you like the best?

A Road Trip to Yuma Baby by Ellen Behrens #EllenBehrens

Posted on July 6, 2017 by fundinmental

Yuma Baby by Ellen Behrens is my second road trip with Walt and Betty and I can hardly wait to get started.

Like a little mystery and danger with your travel adventures, look no further.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I am so happy to be back on the road with Walt and Betty in Yuma Baby by Ellen Behrens.

I love her feisty, cynical personality. I find it very easy to relate to her. We have a lot in common. Often, I feel like I am walking in her footsteps.

Her husband, Walt, is the steadfast, logical one. He has a ton of patience and that’s a good thing, because her impulsive actions get her in one jam after another. He’s the cook, she does the cleanup, just like Mr Wonderful and I.

I feel the same as she does about felons. They just need to shut up and quit their whining. I mean, they have room and board, insurance…Sometimes it seems like they have more rights than their victim and there is something seriously wrong with that.

On the way into Yuma, their fear for a child’s safety leads them on a wild chase. What about the girl? Who is she? Where is she?

I love her inquisitive nature, but it takes her further than I would go. She gets involved. She feels the need to fix things and it all too often lands her in hot water. Anyone in need who gets involved with her is a lucky person.

Her investigation is murky, keeping the mystery going and the perpetrator hiding in the shadows.

Perfect season for this fun loving couples adventures as they go Rollin, Rollin, Rollin down the…road.

Written in a realistic and easy reading style, with a light tone full of smiles and chills aplenty.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Yuma Baby by Ellen Behrens.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

A little girl in the back of a car, a lost stuffed toy in the desert, a frantic mother missing a child…. They all seem related, but can Walt and Betty Rollin stay out of trouble long enough to make the connections — before someone ends up dead? Retired, living and traveling full-time in their RV, Walt and Betty are hoping to relax under the winter sun in Yuma, Arizona, until word of their third grandchild’s birth summons them to snowy Ohio. But a chance encounter with a troubled young couple changes everything — and forces them to re-evaluate what “family” really means.

ABOUT ELLEN BEHRENS

Ellen Behrens’ short stories, articles, essays, and reviews have been widely published. Her published books include the novels “Pea Body,” “None But the Dead and Dying” and the short story collection “Road Tales: Short Stories About Full-Time RVing.” She is former fiction editor of Mid-American Review and the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. She and her husband have been living the “full-timer” RV lifestyle since 2009.

Website

MY REVIEW FOR PEA BODY BY ELLEN BEHREN

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Giveaway – Drakon’s Plunder by N J Walters @njwaltersauthor @IndieSagePR

Posted on July 5, 2017 by fundinmental

Drakon’s Plunder

by N.J. Walters
Blood of the Drakon #3
Publication Date: July 3, 2017
Genres: Adult, Entangled: Select Otherworld, Paranormal, Romance

BUY:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2tmpWgb

Paperback: http://amzn.to/2sokIMg

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2t2xvpA

Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2sjhcaH

Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2tmBkYI

B&N: http://bit.ly/2tqMQ6e

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2tmq6UP

iTunes: http://apple.co/2t29yOZ

SYNOPSIS:

Life is not going well for archaeologist Sam Bellamy. She’s stuck in the middle of the ocean on a salvage boat with people who want her dead. It wasn’t her gift for being able to sense objects of power that got her here, rather her need to make a secret society called the Knights of the Dragon pay for killing her mentor. Sam doesn’t believe in dragons, but the Knights do, and if she can get one of the sacred artifacts they’re searching for away from them, she’ll consider it payback.

Ezra Easton is content to run his marine salvage company and live alone on his private island. He may be a four-thousand-year-old water drakon, but he’s civilized enough to know just because he pulls an injured woman from the ocean, doesn’t mean he gets to keep her…

When she wakes up, she has a few tall tales to share, and it seems the Knights are after her. But this drakon won’t give up his treasure.

ABOUT N.J. WALTERS

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

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Giveaway – Harmless by Katherine Dell @katherine_dell @SDSXXTours

Posted on July 4, 2017 by fundinmental

Harmless

by Katherine Dell

Genre: Paranormal Thriller

Be careful what you wish for.

After moving from Vancouver to isolated Hazelton,
BC, high school senior Rachel Barnes hopes she’ll finally find
closure and a sense of direction after tragedy has torn her family
apart. When she and her friends discover the old spirit box her
grandmother gave her, they see it as a chance to wish their troubles
away. But the Great Spirits—deer, crow, bear, and the mythical
wendigo—give away nothing for free.

So instead of worrying about fitting in and finding a boyfriend, Rachel
finds herself in a race to control the malevolent spirit who’s
taken up residence in Mason Allen, who she fears and craves
in equal measure. kate

Step into a reality that is not as it seems in Book 1 of the Harmless
series.

Goodreads * Amazon

Katherine Dell is a young adult fiction author fascinated by the supernatural
and the stories that surround them. She began her writing endeavours
in 2011 when she wanted to reinvent herself from her previous career
as an event planner. When she’s not writing, she can be found in
cold hockey arenas sipping coffee, working on her tan at little
league games, or trying to keep her dog out of her many gardens. She
lives with her husband, two boys, and fur babies, in Calgary,
Alberta, Canada.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Christmas in July – The Time Traveler’s Christmas by Amy Jarecki @amyjarecki

Posted on July 3, 2017 by fundinmental

The Time Traveler’s Christmas by Amy Jarecki was a wonderful surprise for me.

I won the book and read until the wee hours of the morning to find out how it would end.

I look forward to reading more of the Guardian of Scotland stand alone series.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

The Time Traveler’s Christmas by Amy Jarecki was a wonderful surprise. I loved this historical fiction novel and stayed up to the week hours of the morning to finish it.

Lachlan had not only lost one of the biggest karate tournaments of his life, but also his cheating wife. Now…he’s hiding out at his uncles.

His uncle had left him a Christmas gift, a medallion. He put it on, went to sleep, and…

I was immersed in Lachlan’s story early in the book and he never let me go. He is a sexy warrior that believes in doing the right thing, at all costs.

The surprises and action came early and the character’s came to life through Amy Jarecki’s words.

I was curious where she would take the story. Is it possible to straddle both worlds, moving back and forth between them? Would the medallion choose for him? Or would he have to choose?

Lachlan thought he knew and had one year . Come next Christmas, it would be time to go home. But he had this Christmas.

Of course, we have romance and, even though the sexual tension between Lachlan and Christine is almost instantaneous, their relationship develops slowly.

I was invested in their lives from the opening pages. They are strong characters that grow and develop over the pages.

I was surprised how much I loved The Time Traveler’s Christmas. Not about the time travel itself, because I love to read the genre, but because of the time and dialogue. Lachlan had been transported from the twenty first century to medieval times, and to Scotland to boot. I thought it might be tough reading, but I worried for nothing.

There was so much more to the story than I anticipated.

Sprinkled with truths of history, the Guardian of Scotland stand alone series is one I want to continue.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

A man’s life can fall apart in an instant…

Tougher than oxhide, Lachlan Wallace can take about anything except a breakup call from his wife two minutes before competing in the Karate Championship of the World. Arriving home with a loss, he agrees to watch his uncle’s cat over the holidays. Or so he thinks—until he awakes on a fourteenth century battlefield beside a woman fighting for her life.

Never underestimate a woman’s determination…

Taken from her at the age of two, Lady Christina de Moray hasn’t seen her son in thirteen years. While traveling with Robert the Bruce’s army to exchange an English prisoner for the lad, a battle erupts. Losing the fight, Christina is rescued by a mysterious warrior while the English escape with her son yet again.

And never bet against the potency of passion…

Left with no way back to the twenty-first century, Lachlan agrees to help Christina rescue the lad from his English captors. If the heir is not returned by Christmas next, the Bruce will make his decision whom to grant the de Moray lands, including Lady Christina’s hand. Once his duty is fulfilled, Lachlan hopes to discover a way home—as long as he keeps his mind on the goal and ignores his growing love for the spirited woman who gives him her trust—and her heart.

ABOUT AMY JARECKI

Amazon bestselling author, Amy Jarecki is a descendant of an ancient Lowland clan and she adores Scotland. Though she now resides in southwest Utah, she received her MBA from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Winning multiple writing awards, she found her niche in the genre of Scottish historical romance, writing steamy edge-of-your-seat action adventures with rugged men and fascinating women who weave their paths through the brutal eras of centuries past. Amy loves hearing from her readers and can be contacted through her website at www.amyjarecki.com.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

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Giveaway – Dating the It Guy by Krysten Lindsay Hager @KrystenLindsay @KathyHabel

Posted on July 2, 2017 by fundinmental

Dating the It Guy by Krysten Lindsay Hager

Emme is a sophomore in high school who starts dating, Brendon Agretti, the popular senior who happens to be a senator’s son and well-known for his good looks. Emme feels out of her comfort zone in Brendon’s world and it doesn’t help that his picture perfect ex, Lauren seems determined to get back into his life along with every other girl who wants to be the future Mrs. Agretti. Emme is already conflicted due to the fact her last boyfriend cheated on her and her whole world is off kilter with her family issues. Life suddenly seems easier keeping Brendon away and relying on her crystals and horoscopes to guide her. Emme soon starts to realize she needs to focus less on the stars and more on her senses. Can Emme get over her insecurities and make her relationship work? Life sure is complicated when you’re dating the it guy.

Excerpt

“By the way, did you hear Lauren got into Senator Agretti’s old school?”

“Seriously? I wonder if she applied there because Brendon did,” I said.

Margaux snorted. “Duh, of course. Seriously, she might as well just pee on him to mark her territory.”

“Margaux, shut up,” Kylie said.

“Whatever. Anyway, the important thing is if Brendon knew she was applying there,” Margaux said. “Em, do you think he knew?”

I hoped Lauren was just trying to follow Brendon, but what if they had planned this whole thing while they were dating? What if he convinced her to apply there so they could go to college together, wear matching American flag sweaters with big scarves while drinking hot chocolate, and jump into leaf piles just like a preppy clothing catalog. At least now I didn’t have to worry about them reciting poetry to one another in South Bend, but still, what if they had made plans to go to school together?

“Don’t worry about it,” Kylie said. “She was probably trying to follow him—like she always does. She’s so pathetic.”

Kylie was trying to make me feel better, but Lauren was far from pathetic. After all, she was pretty much the “Most Likely to Succeed” poster girl. While she was out overachieving and saving the world without messing up her perfect, bouncy hair, I was trying to get through each day. I tried to push away the image of Lauren and Brendon holding hands and drinking hot chocolate under a stadium blanket.

Praise for Dating the It Guy:

“Dating the It Guy is an entertaining story that is as absorbing as it is hilarious.” Reviewed by Arya Fomonyuy for Readers’ Favorite

“A satisfying YA romance that is really about growing up and learning how to deal with life.” Writing Pearls book review blog

“There is so much to love about this book. Krysten Lindsay Hager knows how teens think and speak, and she understands why Emme would feel overwhelmed by everything about Brendon – his looks, his popularity, his feelings for her, his exes, his family.” Vox libris: the voice of books book review blog

Author Krysten Lyndsay Hager

Besides mining her teen years and humiliating moments for her novels, Krysten is also a book addict who has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. Krysten writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, Competing with the Star (The Star Series: Book 2), and Dating the It Guy. Her debut novel, True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Best Sellers award. Krysten’s work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Grand Blanc View, the Bellbrook Times and on Living Dayton.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Instagram

amazon or paypal $50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Giveaway

Ends 7/23/17

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Review – Protector by Becca Campbell @beccajcampbell

Posted on July 2, 2017 by fundinmental

Becca Campbell is a wonderful writer and I am happy to share my next novel of her Flawed Series, Protector.

I love to get lost in the paranormal and supernatural, especially when it’s filled with mystery and suspense.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

This is the third book of the Flawed Series and they do need to be read in order to follow the gang as they mature and learn more about their powers, dodging the evil and danger dogging them.

A kidnapping…The investigation has stalled, so it looks like it’s up to the kids. They have a lead and they’re off and running. The kids each have an ability they strive to keep hidden from the world and they will need them.

Jade’s sense of her destiny will have repercussions she never could have imagined. She is an empath, and wants to help her boyfriend, Logan. She has gotten him, to lower his guard and now his emotions are leaking out all over the place.

Kelsey had been hiding until she was forced to surface because of her need to give back, her love of the people she helps. Their need is more important than her own.

Jade will also make a couple of new friends, Kelsey and Hugh, and I would love to know more of their story, especially Hugh, a fragile soul who overcomes his terrors to act. What and why are his demons? And Ethan?

I loved being back with familiar characters and watching how they have changed from when I first met them. It took me a few minutes to refresh my memory of where the story left off. The gang have matured, grown stronger in their need to give and share with others.

I was swept up in the mystery and thrills of the danger, looking forward to finding out what comes next. I fear it may not end well.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Protector by Becca Campbell.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Protecting the woman he loves just got more difficult than ever.

On the tail end of two abductions, Logan has Jade back safe. But her desire for intimacy batters him with an onslaught of passions. The unfamiliar lack of control terrifies cool-headed Logan, especially when it channels his super-strength into a fit of destructive rage.

Deadlier than ever, Ethan and Nicodemus close in on the woman who fled Ethan’s clutches ten years ago. With the aid of their extraordinary abilities, Ethan will finally capture the one that got away. And with Nicodemus’s help, he will destroy everyone who gets in their path.

All Logan wants is to keep Jade as far as possible from the two killers and to keep his mind clear. But when Jade discovers who the next target is, she will do anything to warn this next victim, even risking her own life.

Logan must get his emotions under control and stop the two killers, or he will lose the woman he loves forever.

ABOUT BECCA J CAMBELL

Becca writes New Adult (college age) fiction that’s typically Urban Fantasy but often ranges anywhere from Science Fiction to Thrillers. Her writing typically involves a bit of the fantastical with an emphasis on relationships. She is addicted to thinking up cool, super-human abilities and the tragic downsides that go along with them.