Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those
neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything
like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in
your stacks.
**The Ghost and The Graveyard is a funny, exciting, and sexy read intended for adults. Due to sexual content, language, and violence this book is recommended for ages 18+**
Grateful Knight isn’t looking for love when she moves into a rent-free house on the edge of a graveyard. At twenty-two, all she wants is to recover financially so she can move back to the city where she belongs.
But sparks fly when the gorgeous cemetery caretaker, Rick, introduces himself and mentions his suspicion that her new house might be haunted. Her attraction to him seems supernatural, and despite her resolve to not get involved, she literally can’t keep her hands off him.
When things in Grateful’s house start moving on their own, another man enters her life, Logan, a sexy ghost with a dark secret. He says Rick isn’t what he seems, and indulging her passion for him could cost her soul.
One thing’s for sure, magical forces are at work in the tiny town of Red Grove, and they’re converging on Grateful. Life will never be the same once she’s forced to choose between the ghost and the graveyard.
Why did I grab this one? Just look at the cover, then read the blurb and I think that will answer your question. I added this to my TBR on 10.18.12 and grabbed it from Amazon on 9.6.13. I love when I have added a book and find it free later.
If you like smart, fast-paced thrillers with unexpected twists, then you’ll love J.K. Franko’s Eye for Eye Trilogy!
MY REVIEW
The Eye for Eye trilogy by J K Franko kept me reading long into the night….and the next night….and the next. Once I started I didn’t stop until I had finished. Each book brought more surprises and mystery as I wonder how many people’s lives are going to be affected and who will be left standing. I love vigilante scenarios and replays of familiar story lines, especially when it is as chock full of danger and suspense as the Eye For Eye trilogy was. This proves the chaos theory, so be careful about throwing that pebble into the pond. It’s not necessary to read the prequel: Trial of Joe Harlan Jr, though you may find it interesting. It is, however, best to read the trilogy from the beginning, with Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth, and Life for Life. When it comes to the wrapup…fanfrickintastic. Even when I thought the story was pretty much over, J K Franko kept the surprises coming. He even had me feeling sorry for Roy…and most of the other characters. I mean, what do you do when the justice system fails you? Do you take the matter into your own hands? What if it was your child? Your son? Your daughter? Your best friend? How far would you go to protect them? Seek vengeance for them? And is it so wrong?
I highly recommend picking up this series, but be sure and set aside the time. Once I started I didn’t want to stop, and you may feel the same way.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Eye for Eye Trilogy by J K Franko.
When I try to piece together how this whole mess began, a part of me thinks it may have started over thirty years ago. At least the seeds were planted that far back, in the early 1980s. What happened then, at that summer camp in Texas, set the stage for everything that was to come.
Odd, how something so remote in time and geography continues to impact me here, today.
Sometimes I try to imagine her, how she felt—that eleven year-old girl—as she ran, stumbling and tripping through the woods that night. I try to put myself in her shoes. When I do, I wonder if she was frightened.
Did she understand the consequences of what she’d gotten herself into? I imagine it felt otherworldly to her, like a dream. But not a good dream. No, one of the bad ones—the ones that make your heart machine-gun as you try to outrun some dark thing that’s chasing you. But the faster you try to run, the slower you go, your legs feeling leaden, clumsy, useless.
Panic sets in. Tears of frustration form. Fear takes hold and won’t let go. You open your mouth to scream but realize, to your horror, that you’re paralyzed. It’s not that you can’t scream; you can’t even breathe. Not a dream—a nightmare.
Then again, all that may simply be my imagination. It could just be me projecting what I might have felt onto Joan. Maybe she wasn’t scared at all.
True, it was dark out. The night smelled of rain, but there was no lightning, only the far-off rumble of thunder hinting at a distant storm. There were no trail lights, no visibility but for the moon peeking out intermittently from behind a patchwork of clouds. But, Joan had been down this trail before. She was running toward the main cabin.
She had been at Camp Willow for almost two full weeks. She had been up and down that trail at least ten times a day, every day. Of course, that was during the day, and always with her buddy, or a camp counselor (the children called them troop leaders). Joan had never been on the trail at night. And never alone.
Maybe I imagine Joan was scared because, as an adult, I believe that she should have been. I would have been terrified.
J.K. FRANKO was born and raised in Texas. His Cuban-American parents agreed there were only three acceptable options for a male child: doctor, lawyer, and architect. After a disastrous first year of college pre-Med, he ended up getting a BA in philosophy (not acceptable), then he went to law school (salvaging the family name) and spent many years climbing the big law firm ladder. After ten years, he decided that law and family life weren’t compatible. He went back to school where he got an MBA and pursued a Ph.D. He left law for corporate America, with long stints in Europe and Asia.
His passion was always to be a writer. After publishing a number of non-fiction works, thousands of hours writing, and seven or eight abandoned fictional works over the course of eighteen years, EYE FOR EYE became his first published novel.
J.K. Franko now lives with his wife and children in Florida.
Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews and giveaways!
Enter To Win!
This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for JK Franko. There will be Six (6) winners for this tour. Two (2) winners will each receive a $10 Amazon.com gift card; Two (2) winners will each receive 1 print edition of Eye for Eye, book 1 of the Talion series, by JK Franko (US and Canada Only); and Two (2) winners will each receive 1 ebook edition of Eye for Eye, book 1 of the Talion series, by JK Franko. The giveaway begins on October 19, 2020 and runs through December 21, 2020. Void where prohibited.
Strong From The Heart by Jon Land is the eleventh book in the Caitlin Strong Texas Ranger series and I have been loving spending time with her. I usually receive an ARC, but this time I received a beautiful, signed, hardcover and I am so excited to add it to my collection of Jon Land books.
Many of us are aware of the opiod epidemic and Caitlin Strong will be facing it in Strong From The Heart by Jon Land. I wouldn’t want to be the culprits that she is seeking.
The Prologue reeled me in and my mind was whirling with the possibilities.
We start out with a wayward mailman who is on a mission, but it’s not to deliver his mail.
WTH…happened in Camino Pass? Caitlin Strong is on the case and will get to the bottom of it.
She has stepped into a snake pit and I am rooting for her, as she defuses a volatile situation at the Canyon Ridge Elementary School, where ICE attempts to pick up six children. We have the usual posturing between law enforcement divisions for control of the situation. She will not allow that, and her trusty friend Guillermo Paz is by her side. I love Caitlin’s attitude and the humor that Jon Land adds to his thrillers.
“Kids are safe and I didn’t even have to shoot anybody.”
Cort, her outlaw boyfriend is at the hospital after a call telling him his son ODed on opiates. Caitlin would stop at nothing to trace who was providing the drugs to him and the other kids at school. I love that Jon Land tosses in current events.
“Just one Texas Ranger, son?”
“You ever hear the motto, one riot, one Ranger? Because it’s damn near true.”
“You are like human flypaper Ranger, and wherever you go, the worst of the worse just sticks to you.” An apt description of Caitlin Strong, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Jon Land’s writing makes the story flow smoothly, increasing the danger and suspense over the course of the story. We have more than one story line going on and the past creeps into the present. Jon Land always gives us tidbits of Texas Ranger history and I love that.
I worry for some of my favorite characters, because they do not run from trouble and danger, they run towards it.
I had been waiting to read Strong From The Heart by Jon Land for when I really needed a pick me up, a get lost for hours book. I started reading during College Game Day (and anybody that knows me, knows I don’t want to be disturbed during football) and figured I would read during those dull moments, commercials, and half time. I finished it shortly after the Alabama vs Ole Miss game. I got so involved that I couldn’t put it down..
I needed some distraction from current events and I want to thank you, Jon, for helping me to get lost and escape through your words.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Strong From The Heart by Jon Land.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
In what Brad Meltzer
calls a “savory Tex-Mex tale, seasoned with all the ingredients of a
great thriller,” Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong digs for the truth behind
the Opioid Crisis in the next installment of Jon Land’s critically
acclaimed series
Mexico, 1898: Texas Ranger William Ray
Strong arrives in the border town of Camino Pass to transport a young
Pancho Villa to stand trial, but his plans are waylaid when he learns
all of the town’s children have been kidnapped.
The Present:
The drug crisis hits home for fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin
Strong when the son of her outlaw lover, Cort Wesley Masters, nearly
dies from an opioid overdose.
Determined to make those
responsible pay, Caitlin sets out to track down the dealer and pusher,
while trying to solve the inexplicable tragedy of a small Texas town
where all the residents died in a single night. When she realizes these
two pursuits are connected, she finds herself following a trail to the
truth of the crisis nestled hard in the center of America’s power base.
That
power base, comprised of politicians, Big Pharma, along with corrupt
doctors and drug distributors, has successfully beaten back all threats
in the past. But they have no idea what’s in store when the guns of
Texas come calling.
ABOUT JON LAND
Jon
Land is the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of 36 books,
including the bestselling Caitlin Strong Texas Ranger series that
includes Strong Enough to Die, Strong Justice, Strong at the Break,
Strong Vengeance and, most recently, Strong Rain Falling. The Tenth
Circle marks the second return engagement of his longtime series hero
Blaine McCracken on the heels of last year’s Pandora’s Temple which was
nominated for a Thriller Award and received the 2013 International Book
Award for Best Adventure Thriller. Jon’s first nonfiction book,
Betrayal, meanwhile, was named Best True Crime Book of 2012 by Suspense
Magazine and won a 2012 International Book Award for Best True Crime
Book. He is currently working on Strong Darkness, the next entry in the
Caitlin Strong to be published in September of 2014. He graduated Phi
Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Brown University, where he continues
to maintain a strong volunteer presence, in 1979.
I got the idea and the motivation to start doing Tackling The TBR from All The Book Blog Names Are Taken.
It has helped me to keep track of my reading shelf as far as current
events and I also started doing a post for Books From The Backlog,
from Carole’s Random Life in Books,
to tidy up my shelves. I feel better about my out of control TBR and
have even knocked off a couple of those old ones that had been hanging
around for years.
Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let’s share
some songs we’ve been enjoying lately! If you would like to play, and
I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below HERE
Bruce Springsteen is the only artist that I have stood in line to buy tickets for. It was a cold, rainy day in Michigan and I was soooo excited. I have been watching Trevor Noah on The Daily Show since he began. I am a huge fan of his and loved it when he interviewed Bruce this past week. Bruce also has a new film that I believe airs on AppleTV+.
Bruce talked about Born in the USA and how people had misunderstood what he was saying, so I included the lyrics to the song.
“Born In The U.S.A.”
Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says “Son if it was up to me”
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said “Son, don’t you understand”
I had a brother at Khe Sanh fighting off the Viet Cong
They’re still there, he’s all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I’m a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I’m a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
**images are linked to Amazon (I am an affiliate)**
Hello fellow bloggers. It happened…Mr Wonderful was given administrative leave and will not be returning to work due to a reduction in force. We had planned for this, but had hoped he would make it a couple more years, at least. I am not unhappy about it, though we are having to make some tough decisions. He has some freelance worked planned, so we won’t feel any adverse affects before next year. They will continue his pay through mid December. Isn’t it ‘funny’ how so many people lose their jobs around the holidays? He is not one to sit still, so the main thing will be keeping him busy so I have blogging time. 🙂
We were lucky that Zeta blew through with no damage to our property. Myself, I have had enough of that to last me for the rest of my life. BUT, living here in Florida, I am sure that will not be the case. Right now, there is a crispness in the air and the sun is shining.
