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.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. C. W. Allen will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Like most siblings, Tuesday and Zed don’t always get along. Unlike most siblings, their arguments are over things like whether their parents are hiding a life of crime, or are simply the weirdest adults on the planet. When they decide to go on the hunt for some solid evidence, things get weirder than ever: two thugs with shape-shifting swords show up, their dog shows off some tricks she definitely didn’t learn in obedience school, and even their treehouse turns out to be more than meets the eye.
Their escape leaves Zed and Tuesday stranded in a land where robots and holograms live alongside quaint medieval villagers and soldiers on horseback. Soldiers who insist their father is a disgraced fugitive, and their dog a legendary monster.
If they ever want to see their parents again, they’ll have to learn to work together. After all, they’ve got a mysterious code to break, secrets to unlock, bandits and soldiers to outwit, and a rowdy dog whose antics are getting more outrageous by the minute. Even if they manage to evade the eerie secret police and uncover enough clues to figure out what’s really going on, they’re not sure they’re going to like the truth.
Zed and Tuesday will have to decide who to trust and what really matters, or they’ll never get back to normal (whatever that is.) Because when it comes to normal, everything is relative.
Read an Excerpt
Their father was fond of saying the dog had not managed to learn anything in the years that followed, but that was not strictly true. While it was true that she did not come when called or sit on command, the dog had in fact learned many tricks. Nyx had learned quite early on, for example, how to help herself to the contents of the refrigerator. No one was quite sure how an animal without thumbs was capable of opening a refrigerator door, since she had never been caught in the act, but an entire ham doesn’t simply get up and go for a stroll during the night, now does it?
Zed imagined some people would consider it normal to take a dog along to run errands—as long as the dog could fit comfortably inside a purse, that is, or at the very least wait patiently in the car. But Nyx was neither tiny, nor well-behaved and patient. She was, in fact, huge. Her bristly black fur and legs that seemed much too long for the rest of her frame made her look like a gigantic hairy spider. His mother spent nearly every moment in the dog’s company, and whenever she needed to go inside the grocery store, or post office, or other location where dogs are generally unwelcome, she brought Nyx along to wait in the car for her return. Nyx made use of this time by bouncing anxiously from seat to seat, smearing her nose on the windows.
About the Author:
C.W. Allen is a Nebraskan by birth, a Texan by experience, a Hoosier by marriage, and a Utahn by geography. She knew she wanted to be a writer the moment she read The Westing Game at age twelve, but took a few detours along the way as a veterinary nurse, an appliance repair secretary, and a homeschool parent.
She recently settled in the high desert of rural Utah with her husband, their three children, and a noisy flock of orphaned ideas. Someday she will create literary homes for all of them. (The ideas, not her family.)
Relatively Normal Secrets (Cinnabar Moth Publishing, Fall 2021) is her debut novel. She writes fantasy novels for tweens, picture books for children, and short stories and poems for former children. Her work will appear in numerous anthologies in 2021. She is also a frequent guest presenter at writing conferences and club meetings, which helps her procrastinate knuckling down to any actual writing.
Malice in Miami: A Jamie Quinn Mystery by Barbara Venkataraman
About Malice in Miami
Malice in Miami: A Jamie Quinn Mystery Cozy Mystery 6th in Series Independently Published (June 9, 2021) Paperback : 318 pages ISBN-13 : 979-8518046757 Digital ASIN : B08P27FRL6
Reluctant family law attorney Jamie
Quinn is loving life–and why wouldn’t she? Her boyfriend Kip is back
from Australia, her long-lost dad finally has his visa and she’s about
to start her dream job at an art foundation. But it all falls apart when
Jamie is accused of stealing priceless art from a rare book collection.
If she can’t find out who framed her, she can kiss her dream job
good-bye–and her law license too. Meanwhile, Kip has problems of his
own. Now an environmental activist, he uncovers a deadly secret–one that
just might get him killed. Jamie’s in trouble, Kip’s in danger, and
Duke Broussard has gone AWOL. How could Jamie’s favorite P.I. abandon
her at a time like this?
About Barbara Venkataraman
Barbara Venkataraman is an attorney and author of the award-winning Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery series, as well as Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person, Quirky Essays for Quirky People, and A Year of Shorts: Flash Fiction.
Her books have won numerous awards including Indie Book of the Day,
First Place in the 2016 Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Mystery Writing
Competition, Gold Medal in the Readers’ Favorite Contest for Memoir, and
Two-time Finalist in the Kindle Book Awards. She also co-authored Accidental Activist: Justice for the Groveland Four with her son Josh about his four-year quest to obtain posthumous pardons for The Groveland Four.
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.
2012 Book of the Year Award Finalist-Young Adult Fiction, ForeWord Reviews
“Sure to win over YA readers looking for a dangerous, dystopian adventure story” —Kirkus Reviews
“Gripping young adult dystopian novel; compelling conflicts; high stakes; powerful narrative; surprises keep coming; strong writing; page-turner; engaging characters; Readers will be hungry for the sequels.”—BlueInk Review (starred review)
“Thomason’s description of Thera’s totalitarianism will make fans of Brave New World shiver… SCI, her fantasy corporation, has disturbing parallels to actual companies and regimes that claim to do good while harming people… The author deftly appeals to both romance-loving teens as well as those intrigued by young adults fighting the establishment.”—Foreword Clarion Review, 4 stars
Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance™. Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving—forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.
Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.
Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner—Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.
Meet Ethan Darcton. Born with a defective heart and resulting inferiority complex, Ethan’s forced to do his SCI elite family’s bidding. Cleave-worthy Kira Donovan catches his eye, but the presiding powers give defect-free Blake Sundry first dibs.
Full of competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, daynight is Megan Thomason’s debut young adult dystopian novel and first in the daynight series.
I added Daynight by Megan Thomason to my TBR on 1.21.13. I also picked up the second book in the series, Arbitrate, but unfortunately I don’t have the third one, Generate. These sound like some great apocalyptic/dystopian fiction and I plan on reading them and leaviing the third book until the verdict is in. All too often I don’t finish a series, but I have been doing much betterat it. How about you? Do you always plan on finishing a series, or do you let them slide?
I have read quite a few of Blake Pierce’s first in a series novels that he offers for free. He writes some wonderful mystery, suspense, thriller fiction, and I am happy to be here to share City of Prey with you. The simplicity of the cover still manages to give me a creepy feeling, a sense of foreboding.
Blake Pierce quickly got my attention. My spidey senses were tingling as soon as HE walked in the door.
Let’s step back in time…the 1920s in New York City, to be precise. Women had their place…at home, in the kitchen. Not so for Ava Gold. At her husband’s funeral, when the captain asked if there was anything he could do for her, she blurted out, “…I’d like a job.”
Ava’s father had been a boxer, until he broke his hand. He’s a trainer…and he taught Ava, so beware. This may be the 1920s and women were thought to be helpless, but not Ava. Once she starts working, he helps her with her ten year old son. She doesn’t realize it, but he has the utmost respect for her.
I could rant and rave about how the women were treated, but I want you to feel the same frustration and disgust that I felt at the stupidity of it all. Of course, I believe so much of this still goes on today, so it should be easy to imagine.
Ava has to deal with racism and sexism and understands neither. She loves Jazz and singing. She’s not afraid of Harlem and ignores those that frown at her independence. She is a natural investigator, whether because of her husband’s insight while discussing police business with her, or her own abilities to think like the criminal she is chasing. Investigating was not as sophisticated in the 1920s, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those who stand above the rest, not willing to accept the easy way out. Piece by piece she puts the puzzle together to catch him.
I had a few issues with City of Prey, but overall they were minor. I loved the character of Ava and those who surrounded her had their place. History shows, it takes characters like these, willing to step outside the box and push the boundaries, to help us all progress.
City of Prey by Blake Pierce touches on racism, prohibition, and women’s rights.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of City of Prey by Blake Pierce.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
In the rough streets
of 1920s New York City, 34 year-old Ava Gold, a widower and single mom,
claws her way up to become the first female homicide detective in her
NYPD precinct. She is as tough as they come, and willing to hold her own
in a man’s world.
But when a psychotic serial killer
unleashes a rampage, murdering young women across the city, Ava will
have to search the dark canals of the twisted killer’s mind if she has
any hope of hunting him down. With psychological profiling still in its
infancy, and mocked by most, Ava will be even more alone as she follows
her instinct, and hunts him down in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
Just when it seems the stakes couldn’t be higher, Ava comes to an awful realization: she herself may be the next target.
Amidst
the speakeasies, jazz clubs, mafia-run prohibition rings, horrific
mental asylums and dangerous back alleys of the city, can Ava achieve
what all the men cannot: enter the sick mind of a killer, and stop him
before more women die?
A heart-pounding suspense thriller
filled with shocking twists, the authentic and atmospheric AVA GOLD
MYSTERY SERIES is a riveting page-turner, endearing us to a strong and
brilliant character that will capture your heart and keep you reading
late into the night.
Books #2 and #3 in the series—CITY OF FEAR and CITY OF BONES—are now also available.
ABOUT BLAKE PIERCE
Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE
mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also
the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising thirteen
books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six
books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the
MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the
KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE
psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT
psychological suspense thriller series, comprising seven books (and
counting); of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series,
comprising two books (and counting); of the ZOE PRIME mystery series,
comprising three books (and counting); of the new ADELE SHARP mystery
series; and of the new EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series.
ONCE
GONE (a Riley Paige Mystery–Book #1), BEFORE HE KILLS (A Mackenzie
White Mystery–Book 1), CAUSE TO KILL (An Avery Black Mystery–Book 1), A
TRACE OF DEATH (A Keri Locke Mystery–Book 1), WATCHING (The Making of
Riley Paige–Book 1), NEXT DOOR (A Chloe Fine Psychological Suspense
Mystery–Book 1), THE PERFECT WIFE (A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense
Thriller–Book One), and IF SHE KNEW (A Kate Wise Mystery–Book 1) are
each available as a free download on Amazon!
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
Join Us For This Tour From: September 1 to September 14
Book Details:
Book Title: Rebel Correspondent by Steve Procko Category: Adult Non-Fiction 18+, 356 pages Genre: Biography & Autobiography, Military and Nonfiction, History, United States, Civil War Period Publisher: Steve Procko Productions, LLC Release date: September 2021 Tour dates: September 1 to September 14 Content Rating: PG
Book Description:
Rebel Correspondent is the true story of a young man who joined the Confederate Army days after his eighteenth birthday and served bravely
until the war ended. Wounded twice, he emerged a changed person. But he wasn’t just a returning veteran; he was also a writer.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Arba F. Shaw was a fifty-seven-year-old farmer. On a chilly December day in 1901, he put pen to paper to write his memories of being a Rebel Private in the 4th Georgia Cavalry (Avery), C.S.A. He completed writing his account in February 1902. His local newspaper, the Walker County Messenger, in
Lafayette, Georgia, published his account in more than fifty articles from 1901 to 1903. Then it was all but forgotten. Until Now. Rebel Correspondent presents Arba F. Shaw’s account word-for-word, as first published in the Walker County Messenger almost 120 years ago. Procko annotates Shaw’s account with in-depth research, verifying it and uncovering the back story of his life and the lives of his Rebel comrades. Procko’s research offers a historical perspective on the many
places and events Shaw so richly described.
Steve Procko never thought of himself as a Civil War history buff, let alone a biographer. He does love history, however, particularly learning about the small, everyday events in the lives of little-known people
and the small towns they lived in.
A documentarian and cinematographer, Steve was sleuthing stories for a documentary series he has developed, “There’s History Around Every Bend,” currently available on YouTube, when he came across the writings of Private Arba F. Shaw.
The down-to-earth accounts of the everyday life of a lowly private just struggling to survive one of the greatest events in American history fascinated Steve. As he read the series of articles, mostly unread since they were published in a small, north Georgia newspaper in 1901-1903, he began to realize that this was a remarkable cache of history.
A native of Florida, Steve, with his Lauren and their dog Rigby, splits his time between a mountain log cabin nestled next to Stanley Creek near the town of Blue Ridge, Georgia, and a home in Ocala, Florida.
He opened a commercial film production company with a partner in 1984. In 2003 the company became Steve Procko Productions (SPP). His Emmy-award-winning financial literacy program Talkin’ Money Minutes is available on over 100 Public Television stations nationwide. SPP has also won three additional Emmys over fifty Addy Awards, Telly Awards, and two Promax awards.
When he’s not behind a video camera or researching the archives for his next documentary or book, Steve explores remote areas throughout the United States and Canada as a fine art photographer. He has had work displayed at The Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Museum of Art in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, as well as solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States.
Steve’s second book, Captured Liberty, another Civil War story about nine POW Union officers and their amazing escape will be published in 2022. He also plans to develop documentaries about The Rebel Correspondent and Captured Liberty.
I’ll preface this review by saying that Mr Ultra Mega Love by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff is so much more than I anticipated. I had judged the book by its cover and my previous reads in her paranormal worlds. I got more than I bargained for and that is always a good thing.
Mimi Jean’s books have a lot of humor, but Mr Ultra Mega Love starts out with Joy, an 18 year girl, who is a valedictorian and one of the sweetest girls you would ever know, is lying on the locker room floor being beaten by 4 other girls. That woke me up! This is so much more than bullying. That start had my emotions are all over the place, so I am eager to see where the story will go. I was soooo hooked and only 10% into the book.
The family has tried to go on, but the stink of the town hovers in the air, flashes through the eyes of every person they pass in the streets, whispers start and stop as they walk by. They cannot forget, and neither can the town.
We are focusing on Hudson, Joy’s brother, who is haunted by what happened. He is a NERD, afraid of his own shadow. His best friend, River, convinces him to come to the same college she has been attending for two years. He ran away from the town and towards River as fast as he could. I love the play on names…Hudson and River. Two years can make a difference and River had turned into a hot babe. Hmmm…I wonder….
Mr Ultra Mega Love by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff is not what I was expecting after looking at the cover…it is so much more. Mimi can sure pen a novel that wakes me up and has me anticipating what will happen next.
Well, what happens next, is a douchebag starts manhandling River, and this time he will not stand by and watch anything happen to someone he cares about. He sure didn’t anticipate the results and it is amazing how cruel and thoughtless people can be. The chaos affect…gotta be careful what you do because you cannot always anticipate the outcome.
Question: If you were given a box, and inside was a button that would kill a murderer, would you push it?
After his transformation…when he takes a leak…OMG. I was laughing out loud.
I love that Mimi Jean Pamfiloff took such a refreshing, humorous, tragic turn with Hudson. It is thoughtprovoking in a way that has me unsure if all that happened was good or bad…or just WAS.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Mr Ultra Mega Love by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff.
4 Stars
ABOUT THE BOOK
WILL HE EVER GET THE GIRL?
My name is Hudson Ulysses Ferris, better known as Huff. And I’m an ultra-nerd with mega-hang-ups. You’ll see why after you walk a day in my Converse. (My past isn’t pretty.) But hey, that’s no excuse for avoiding everything I want in life, including a fresh start at an out-of-state university.
My first night there, I meet the girl of my dreams (so cool). She’s taken, of course. But even if she weren’t, she’d never date a scrawny loser like me. Then my best friend, River, is manhandled by some dipsh*t twice her size (not cool), and for once, I act like a man. It costs me big because that dude and his friends leave me for dead.
But I don’t die.
And when I wake up the next morning, I look different. I feel different. The bruises and cuts don’t even hurt.
What the heck happened last night?
Because I just lifted a bus to save a puppy, and suddenly all the girls are looking at me. Except one. She might actually be afraid of the transformation that saved my life. Just my luck.
MIMI JEAN PAMFILOFF is a New York Times bestselling author who’s sold over one million books around the world. Although she obtained her MBA and worked for more than fifteen years in the corporate world, she believes that it’s never too late to come out of the romance closet and follow your dreams.
Mimi lives with her Latin lover hubby, two pirates-in-training (their boys), and their three spunky dragons (really, just very tiny dogs with big attitudes) Snowy, Mini, and Mack, in the vampire-unfriendly state of Arizona.
She hopes to make you laugh when you need it most and continues to pray daily that leather pants will make a big comeback for men.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kirsten Weiss will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
It’s Halloween season in small town San Borromeo, and Abigail and Hyperion are determined to make Beanblossom’s Tea and Tarot spooktacular. But when Hyperion’s boyfriend, Detective Tony Chase, is arrested at Beanblossom’s for murder, the duo is certain someone’s playing a nasty trick. And when the official investigation turns into a witch hunt, the stakes to unearth the truth are raised…
But a clever killer has plans to squash their investigation… and the two amateur detectives. If they don’t solve this puzzle—and fast—it will be out of the cauldron and into the fire for them both.
Never Say Chai is the fourth book in the Tea and Tarot cozy mystery series. A fast-paced and funny cozy mystery, packed with quirky characters, pets, and murder! Perfect for fans of Jana DeLeon, Janet Evanovich, and Donna Andrews. Buy the book and start this hilarious caper!
Tearoom recipes in the back of the book!
Read an Excerpt:
Never panic-shop.
Also, never drink and shop. And especially never panic, drink, and shop.
I’d done all of the above.
The tearoom’s oven broke last month while I was baking quiches. The estimate for its repair had been nearly as much as a new oven. In a fit of panick and piña coladas, I’d bought a new one.
The thought still made my insides curdle like over-whipped clotted cream. Industrial ovens ain’t cheap.
I hated budget pandemonium, especially when I was its cause. There was a certain joy in watching numbers fall into place, especially on the profit side of the ledger. And I’d just messed with my carefully balanced tearoom universe.
So I was more than a little anxious as I studied our tearoom. Miniature pumpkins lined its broad windows. Paper bats dangled from hanging lamps and sprouted from tiered tea trays.
Even the costumed Tarot readers had gotten into the Halloween groove. The scent of baking sugar and pumpkin hung in the air. Women chatted at their tables, teacups clinking.
It was October first, day one of the Halloween season, and San Borromeo (saint of heartburn) was becoming a Halloween town. This was a good thing for those of us dependent on tourism. Tourists don’t flock to the Pacific beach quite as often in October, despite the occasional day of spectacular weather. The Halloween festivities meant more customers.
Beanblossom’s Tea and Tarot needed those customers, especially after that new oven. It was a really awesome oven, though.
About the Author: Amazon bestselling author Kirsten Weiss writes laugh-out-loud, page-turning mysteries. Her heroines aren’t perfect, but they’re smart, they struggle, and they succeed. Kirsten writes in a house high on a hill in the Colorado woods and occasionally ventures out for wine and chocolate. Or for a visit to the local pie shop. Kirsten is best known for her Wits’ End, Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum, and Tea and Tarot cozy mystery books. So if you like funny, action-packed mysteries with complicated heroines, just turn the page…
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
