I have been remiss in keeping up with my challenges and am now crossing off the Z for my Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge, Zombies v Ninjas by R A Barnes. I have K, Keeper of the Peace by Jennifer Malone Wright, X, EXtinct by Ike Hamill (which I am currently reading), and You Can Run by Willow Rose to finish it off. I pulled them from my Amazon free downloads. I will be squeezing the reviews in before the end of the year, because I like all my challenge books to be reviewed.
I picked this up on 9.10.15 for free and it was still FREE when I created this post.
The tile for Zombies v Ninjas made me have to pick this up. I was curious how they would come together and it happens quickly.
An island, the Undead, an evil mastermind…and ninjas, there has to be a lot of slash ’em up, rock ’em sock ’em action…and there is. Have I died and gone to…HELL?
This is a different slant on zombies and how they came to be and the ninjas are recruited to save humanity from the apocalypse.
I felt like that’s cool, oh yeah, i like that, all right, way to go, but I never felt like OH NO! OMG! Run for your lives. Watch Out.
All in all a fun read and I would continue with the series.
3 Stas
GOODREADS BLURB
The dead are coming alive on an island in the North Atlantic Ocean. A bullet isn’t going to stop them. They feel no pain.
Flesh-eating walkers have been taking sheep and cattle from the fields. A minor inconvenience until someone, or something, starts to organize them.
A force of pure evil, building an army of undead offspring, planning the end of mankind. Only the ninjas are suitably skilled to identify the undead, understand them and cut off their heads. So few against so many.
Will the human race survive?
Featuring Ruby Barnes, John Baptist and D.I. Andy McAuliffe.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Geoffrey Saign 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.
Serve justice. Discover a secret. Find his daughter. Repay betrayal.
Jack Steel trains for the impossible, and it looks like it found him.
On a black op to neutralize terrorists, elite specialist Steel puts honor and integrity ahead of orders when he spares a monk. He just never expected his decision to put crosshairs on his back.
Hunted by a twisted killer, a vengeful billionaire, and the highest levels of government, Steel races to discover who’s behind a conspiracy that will decide the fate of two countries—and why one monk is the key to it all.
Aching from a missing daughter, Steel finds it easy to fall for Christie, a beautiful counter-terrorism analyst who offers to help. But he isn’t sure he can trust anyone.
To have a chance at love and a new life, and to serve justice, Steel just needs to stay one step ahead of a bullet…
*****
Revenge. Love. Family.
To protect their families, Jack Steel and Christie Thorton must become assassins.
Deadly Blackhood Ops specialist Jack Steel has moved on from his bloody past, but his past won’t let him go. He has it all; his partner Christie, his daughter Rachel, a protection agency he’s proud of, and his head on straight.
But it’s all torn apart when a madman blackmails him and Christy. Their skills are pushed to the limit as they are forced to become assassins to save those they love. The Mexican cartel, terrorists, and people from Steel’s past force them into a non-stop fight that they can’t walk away from.
To protect his country, and everyone important to him, Steel will be forced to trust the very people he swore to kill.
And he might have to walk away from those he loves…
Read an Excerpt from Book 2: Steel Assassin
Steel heard the ooh ooh ooh cry of a Mexican spotted owl. It began softly and escalated rapidly to a louder pitch. Wishing he could just stand still and enjoy it, he kept moving. He had a deep, abiding love for nature—which always grounded him.
As he made his way south, he also wished he had taken a firmer stand with Christie and refused her help. It probably wouldn’t have mattered. She would have come anyway. But the fact that she was in a dangerous Op, with little field experience, gave his steps more urgency.
A deeper fear lurked beneath that idea. When the Colombian had threatened to send Christie’s photo to the cartel, he had intuited that it wasn’t just a threat, but a plan. The Colombian would have to die before that happened.
The trees formed dark shadows under the moon. He ran from trunk to trunk until he was far enough south that he could approach the side of the house directly from the east.
Decades of exploring caves had made moving in darkness second nature to him.
As he got closer, the house lights guided him in. He stopped fifty feet out behind a tree. No one was visible in the windows. It triggered an alarm in his head to be more cautious.
About the Author:
Award-winning author Geoffrey Saign has spent many years studying kung fu and sailed all over the South Pacific and Caribbean. He uses that experience and sense of adventure to write the Jack Steel and Alex Sight thriller action series.
Geoff loves to sail big boats, hike, and cook—and he infuses all his writing with his passion for nature. As a swimmer he considers himself fortunate to live in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota. See what he’s up to at his website.
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.
An erotic tale of passion and power and their dangerous consequences
In
1978, Dawit, a young, beautiful, and educated Ethiopian refugee, roams
the streets of Paris. By chance, he spots the famous French author M.,
who at sixty is at the height of her fame. Seduced by Dawit’s grace and
his moving story, M. invites him to live with her. He makes himself
indispensable, or so he thinks. When M. brings him to her Sardinian
villa, beside the Bay of Foxes, Dawit finds love and temptation—and
perfects the art of deception.
I won this ARC quite some time ago and thought I read it. I don’t have it marked read and I don’t really remember it, so….It is erotica and that is not a genre that is at the top of my reading list, but I do try to read everything that sits on a shelf in my house. So….I will need to read it again to be sure. It looks like a fast read at 235 pages. I added it to my TBR on 7.6.12.
Wicked is his name. He watched her from the dark, barely able to control himself.
Gwen saw him approach from the dark, tall, heavily armed and looking like the warrior he is.
At first I had trouble figuring out who was talking, him or her. It took a moment to catch the shift.
How she becomes a vampire is a bit different and so are these vampires. I am always on the lookout for an author that represents them in a new to me light. They are accepted as part of the human world.
When I heard Gwen say, “Well, hurray for me. Don’t I feel special?”, I knew I was going to love this character. LOL I love her sarcastic wit. She is a Halfling, half vampire and half human.
We have other supernatural characters visiting and, in my book, we can never have too many.
Have you ever felt like…one minute I was attracted to him and wanted him to kiss me and the next I wanted to punch him in the face and watch him bleed.
As Gwen sits at his beside, tears rolling down her face, I came close to crying with her. I love a story that evokes emotions.
He met his match in her, but will she be his mate? In the supernatural world, love and romance is on a different timeline and I love to go with it, letting the author take me where they will.
Kayden…I laughed and worried about him. He is a great warrior, but, deep in his soul, who is he really?
Great and a bit gory fight scenes and sweet lovin’. This is not erotica, but I highly recommend it for adults only. The sex scenes are more sweet and loving than erotic.
As I saw the end coming, I knew what would happen, with 500 pages left, I was racing through the pages as I see the story undold right before my eyes. I worry so much more for Kayden than I do for Gwen and Wicked. After all, they are the stars of the show and can’t be killed off…can they?
Whew…no cliffhanger, unless you count the tease, which did its job and hooked me. I have to know more and this is one of those series that I want to read to the very end.
I am hooked on the characters, the vampire warriors, and Evi’s ability to spin a tale that captured me totally, completely. I was afraid I would have to wait for the next book in the series, but, no worries. It has been written. The only problem I see is there is no Kindle version available. Hey, Evi, help a girl out, please. I have to know more!!!!!!!
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Wicked Night by Evi Rhodes.
4 Stars
BLURB
Follow
the journey of a strong, independent, yet caring woman as she navigates the
supernatural world she is thrust into. Gwen steps out of a dysfunctional family
life and into a world filled with danger she never realized lives at every
turn, fiery passion, and a love that is ever binding. How will she handle her
strange new surroundings as well as the man with the intense and overbearing
personality who threatens to destroy the emotional barriers around her heart?
Wicked, the next in
line to become the vampire king, is caught off guard when he grudgingly agrees
to take on a charge, something he never wanted to do. He is unsure how to
handle the fierce and vibrant woman with the unsettling green eyes. It doesn’t
take long for them to clash, but will it end passionately or burn down around
them?
EXCERPT
Wicked stood in the darkness staring at his soon-to-be
charge and felt like a deer in the headlights. He couldn’t take his eyes off of
her and just stared, blinking with wide eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to be so beautiful,” he whispered to
himself. He was late meeting her but he
could not face her yet, not until the blood in his veins cooled and his
breathing returned to normal. The last thing he needed to do was make an ass of
himself by acting like a high-school boy hyped up on hormones. He had never in all his 148 years felt this
kind of draw toward anyone. He had the strongest urge to reach out and touch
her hair, to whisk her off her feet into his arms and kiss her until their lips
hurt and she breathlessly begged him to stop.
His blood felt as if it were boiling in his veins as the image of this
woman in his arms flickered across his mind.
Out of the blue, she laughed aloud, seemingly for no
apparent reason, but it was almost his undoing. It was like she was purring in
his ear; he could feel her breath against his skin as if she were standing
right beside him. He growled under his
breath and then turned around and closed his eyes as he ground his teeth
together in response to his body’s reaction. Good God, he wanted to march
across the short expanse separating them and do something that he would
definitely regret later, like push her up against the wall and take her right there. He could picture ripping open her jacket and
lifting her off the ground . . .
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Evi Rhodes has
always had a passion for writing and likes to spend as much time as possible
hanging out with the array of rescue animals on her farm in Ontario, sipping on
a cup of coffee and typing on her laptop.
In addition to
getting her degree in business as well as competing in her favourite equestrian
sport, dressage, she is an entrepreneur, and has coached many of a riding
enthusiast, but she has always found herself coming back to wanting to write
full-time.
“I just want to
be me and to be authentic. To tell a story that others can immerse themselves
in and enjoy is what I have always wanted.”
I loved Perry Prete’s Ethan Tennant series, so I was curious how he would handle these four dark tales of horror…and I think they are a complete success. Well done Perry.
The stories are short, so I didn’t have time to get lost in them, but I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Social Studies.
THE ELEVATOR: This was one creepy story and it had my mind wondering what was real and what was I imagining as I got lost in the dark…trapped in the elevator and in my own mind. Well done. 4 Stars
REUNION: It had been five years since his girlfriend went missing when the creature attacked and he had been back for a family reunion. Sad, frightening, but ya gotta hang in til the end because ya just never know. 4 Stars
SOCIAL STUDIES: One assignment = one grade and it took over her life. I didn’t see where this going and, wow, it was all over the place and I loved it. 4 Stars
HIGHWAY 7: Predictable, now you see it, now you don’t, but with a twist and I loved it.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Highway 7 by Perry Prete.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
A terrifying tale of
claustrophobia reveals a dark secret even more disturbing than the
present ordeal. What should be an idyllic family reunion turns to trauma
when a demon from the past reappears to claim its victim. An innocent
girl investigating a series of brutal murders becomes warped in ways one
cannot imagine. And a pit stop along a long highway drive may lead to
love, or it may be the final destination in a bizarre twist of fate…
Award-winning
mystery novelist Perry Prete returns with Highway 7: 4 Dark Tales, an
anthology of unsettling horror stories that are sure to leave you
shivering as you triple-check your locked door. Get ready to experience a
weird world as you journey along Highway 7!
ABOUT PERRY PRETE
Perry
Prete is a Canadian crime writer and paramedic. His first novel, All
Good Things, introduced us to Ethan Tennant, a City of Ottawa paramedic
who looks at crimes from the medical perspective.
Perry continues to work full-time as a
paramedic and uses his thirty plus years of life changing and sometimes
dramatic experiences to bring realism to his gripping medical novels.
His other works include, The Things That Matter Most and All Good
Things.
He is also a business owner,
specializing in the pre-hospital care field. His company sells medical
equipment across North America, primarily to EMS agencies.
A native of Sudbury, Ontario, Perry, graduated from Fanshawe College in London but now lives and works in Brockville, Ontario.
The eerie cover of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell makes me think of Jack the Ripper and ghosts. Are you creeped out yet?
Jonathon has made himself a prisoner in Raven Hollow Manor, along
with his daughter, Holly. He lost his love, Anna, but her ghostly
presence lingers.
His past is coming back to haunt him when a serial killer goes wild in the foggy nights of London.
He is able to transform himself and I loved it. He becomes a cat, a
Great Dane, or a mist in the night. Being immortal allows him to see
without being seen. He is very protective of Holly and struggles to
allow her some freedom. He is easily able to ‘spy’ on her, assuring her
safety. After all, he knows first hand the monsters that lurk in the
shadows. His oasis is by Anna’s gravesite. He reads Poe and Robert Frost
to her.
Holly knows that he is an immortal. Authors have the freedom to
create the immortal they want to portray, and I love Ilona Caldwell’s
version.
I begin to wish for his happiness, for him to move on and create a new life, without Anna.
Enter…Walter Deverough, a detective on the hunt. I wonder….I feel we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and SHE will scorch the earth with her need for revenge.
We, also, have Leland…a hero to the end.
Fast paced. Suspenseful. A vampire of a different color. Great world
building as I pictured him walking the streets of London, damp and
weary. Ilona Caldwell draws pictures with her words.
I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell.
4 Stars
Beneath London’s Fog Iona Caldwell Published by: FyreSyde Publishing Publication date: October 30th 2019 Genres: Occult Fiction, Ghost Story, British Literature
Jonathan is the immortal master of Raven Hollow Manor – a decrepit mansion riddled with superstition, murder and restless ghosts. Beneath it lies a restless malice.
Its previous owner driven mad, violently kills his guests with a rusted ax, creating the perfect venue for Jonathan to seclude himself in a prison of his own device.
When the streets of London begin to run red with blood; the bodies exhibiting disturbing signs and baffling wounds, the identity of the killer remains elusive to police.
The bodies are just the beginning of Jonathan’s troubles. A mysterious letter accusing Jonathan of committing the murders appear, raising suspicion in the police. Hidden beneath the mangled bodies, Jonathan soon realizes he is being forced to face demons he thought died in a forlorn past he attempted to escape.
One thing Jonathan knows for certain: He must deal with the demons of his past if he is to survive his future. Not only him but those he has come to love as well.
For fans of Jim Butcher, Stephen King, Darcy Coates and Nick Cutter.
I want it known before this tale begins – I am not a hero but a villain. I want no sympathy from whomever reads this recalling of my story; no mourning for the tragedy that befell my life. I am not an innocent man but a sinner forced to face the ravaging demons and ghosts of his own creation.
My story began as many do – a lie, a fire and murder. One of my kind murdered the woman I loved in the coldest of blood in one of history’s darkest times at the behest of a possessive noble.
After a run in with him in Nottingham, I soon found myself fleeing for my life from hunters, framed for a murder I had not committed.
Forgive me, I am getting ahead of myself.
Let me begin where this part of my story took place.
A bloody civil war ravaged London followed shortly by the Great Fire in 1666. A glorious time for me and those like me to take advantage of the chaos and remain hidden in the shadows.
I managed to pursue the one responsible for nearly getting me killed two centuries prior to the plague which befell London before the fire.
Within the shadows of the flickering flames of St. Peter’s Cathedral, I struck him down and departed the city, thus avoiding my demise.
I had yet to escape him, however, when his vengeful spirit devoured the souls of the innocent in a mad bloodlust.
Though greatly injured, I managed to drive his spirit to my new home Raven Hollow Manor in London, imprisoning him in stone coffin in the crypt beneath it.
Peace resumed in my life and nobles of all kinds enjoyed lavishly hosted parties within the halls of my estate.
Unfortunately, the short lived splendor at the hands of the hauntings filled the ears of the locals and my beloved home decayed into a tangled web of blood-filled rumors and superstition.
My once glorious halls became infested with dust, its crystal chandeliers covered with cobwebs, their spiders fat on the insects buzzing around the decay and mold-covered wallpaper.
Yet, there I remained as it proved a decent place to not only contain my greatest sin but served also as a castle of solitude.
The tides of time swept by in a cacophony of modernization and the movement from superstition to things only mortal science could explain.
I still needed to venture into the city, not only to feed but also to purchase other items needed for everyday living.
It wasn’t until the winter of 1910 that my silence would be disrupted in the form of a girl named Holly, a young street urchin accused of theft. I took her with me after using a bit of “persuasion” on the local officers to let her go.
They did not need to know where I would take her and she soon grew into a wonderful messenger on my behalf. She became a rather attractive young woman with bouncy blonde curls who kept me company with stories of what went on in the city.
I am sure, at one time, she became infatuated with me. It did not surprise me. To mortals, my kind held a certain allure they found difficult to ignore. I ended her infatuation quickly following a stern talking to and dousing with cold water.
One day, while in my labyrinthine garden, Holly came to me in tears.
When the people of London learned where Holly lived, the townsfolk dubbed her a practitioner of black magic.
One day, I found Holly sitting on one of the marble benches in the garden, sobbing. I picked a flower and put it in my daughter’s hair, sitting next to her beneath the statue of a praying angel.
“You need not worry about them, dearest. Mortals are always quick to place labels on what they do not understand.”
Holly sniffled and sobbed, wiping her nose and offering me a smile. “But why do they avoid this place, Jonathan?”
“Mortals fear what they cannot comprehend. Pay them no mind. You are a wonderful young woman,” I purred, brushing a blonde curl from her face.
The words appeared to have placated her as she smiled and joined me in a moonlight stroll through the garden.
***
Around midnight, after dinner with Holly, I dismissed her to bed. Once she departed, I sought out sustenance in the city.
A dense fog rolled in due to the cool winter weather and the recent days of rain.
Combined with the darkness of the streets and alleyways, I managed to meet a young working woman on the corner and wooed her into joining me for a walk to the park. As with other women, I made sure she understood I respected her body with gentle caresses and loving words murmured into her ears.
Once I placed her deep under my spell, I kissed the tender flesh of the woman’s throat and exposed shoulder, thanking her for her gift.
My fangs pierced her flesh, earning a moan of pleasure as her body surrendered its precious life force without any significant damage. Her body pressed against mine, her moans increasing with pleasure at my kiss.
I preferred this method to those of many of my other brethren who tore their victims apart during a feeding, choosing power to subdue instead of sexual allure.
When signs of weakness began manifesting I released my hold, picking her up after licking the small puncture wounds, my saliva healing them, leaving no marks or scars.
To assure she received care, I took her to the nearest hospital and deposited her on the steps without anyone noticing.
As always, I used hypnotic suggestion to erase her memory and leave her with a pleasant dream.
During the wee hours of the morning, I tended to enjoy the calls of the birds and the chirping of the crickets to help relieve the burden on my mind.
Not a soul roamed the streets near the bridge where I liked to sit and write poetry or read a book.
In the midst of the silence, a horrifying shriek caught my attention, almost startling me.
My pupils narrowed to those one might see in a viper or a cat. I let my body dissipate into the form of a black mist, hovering over the city in search of the source of the scream.
I found it in the shape of the body of a mangled man.
The whites of his eyes consumed most of the portion of the glossy orbs in his skull, mouth gaped open mid-scream.
I knelt before him, my own brows furrowed in frustration at the recognition of the familiar puncture wounds on the man’s throat. This cannot be. No other has hunted here in centuries.
The disturbing find made something clear.
Many of my kind preferred not to hunt in one place occupied by another of higher status, or in another’s territory for that matter. We changed due to the growing number of human hunters who would kill any of us they came across.
Despite the city’s size, my reputation often kept others out of my hunting grounds, for which I remained grateful.
This new kill had been malicious.
If I allowed such behavior to continue, it could draw the attention of the hunters or the local police to my home.
Whomever the responsible party, I needed to locate them and have a word with them or kill them if necessary.
My eyes closed, a heavy sigh drawing up from within my lungs. I placed my fingers over the man’s eyes, using a gentle touch to close them. “Forgive whichever of us did this to you. You did not deserve to die in such a horrific manner.”
Searching through the pockets of his trench coat, I located his identification card and vowed to send some money and roses to his family.
Sounds of sirens and the calls of the corner watchmen announced the arrival of the authorities. I left them the man’s wallet so they could inform his family of their loss.
I lurked in the shadows listening to the inspectors scrutinizing the scene.
“Bloody mystery, it is. This is the second mangled body we found this week. One has to wonder if we might be witnessing the birth of another blighter of a serial killer.” One of the inspectors scratched his head beneath the dome shaped hat.
I recognized him as Bertrand Abrams, a well-known officer and one of the only men who aided Holly during her visits to town.
From his looks, one would expect him to hail from Scotland. A bushy mustache and stringy hair with the consistency of sheep’s wool held the color of fire. Dimples set into high cheekbones and a double chin made me smile. A portly belly betrayed his affinity for too many scones and perhaps Scotch.
He had been wrong. This death held no mystery. I merely needed to find the one responsible before it resulted in too much of a personal dilemma.
Following the release of the corpse to the medical examiner, I took the form of black mist and drifted back to Raven Hollow.
The beginnings of my night would be haunted by dreams of a past filled with love, vengeance and pain.
It would be filled with shining auburn locks and eyes the color of the fresh leaves of spring.
Author Bio:
Iona Caldwell is the lover of all things arcane, folklore, nature and magic.
She is the author of the British Occult Fiction, Beneath London’s Fog set to be published by FyreSyde Publishing October 2019. Her second title, Hell’s Warden is forecasted to release in February of 2020. When she’s not busy weaving worlds of the arcane and dark, she’s spending time out in nature. An avid lover of books, Iona claims her biggest inspirations are H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Edgar Allen Poe.
She believes storytellers should tell the stories they want to tell. As such, most of her titles are stand-alone novellas she hopes will leave her readers immersed in magical worlds.
She is also an extremely active book blogger who will review primarily horror, suspense, supernatural thriller, mystery, and occult/gothic fiction.
Every so often I will follow an email link from NetGalley and check out what’s happening. I try to limit how many books I grab at one time…you know how that is. I found some books by Joanna Schaffhousen and grabbed a couple. I would like to thank NetGalley, Minotaur Books and Joanna Schaffhausen for the opportunity to read and share them.
The Vanishing Season is Joanna Schaffhausen’s debut novel, released in 2017…and, boy oh boy, is it a good one. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it gave me so much more.
Three people have gone missing and Ellery Hathaway knows they are dead and another will be taken very soon. Sam dismisses her warnings, but she won’t stop there. Sam is not only her boss, the chief of police, but also her lover, her married lover. I sure don’t approve of that, but as I read on, I could see how it happened. She uses sex as a weapon. That will have it’s own repercussions.
Woodbury, Massachusetts is a small town, a blink and you will miss it, with only eight police officers. I love to read of small towns, the gossip mill, and secrets that won’t stay secret. Ellery has a big one, but…
Ellery calls in the big guns, Reed Markham, an FBI profiler that had saved her from the serial killer that had taken her fourteen years ago, leaving her scarred and broken. He too has his own story. His marriage is on the rocks, but he had made a promise to her, so when she called, he came.
I love her basset hound, Speed Bump. LOL Critters always add some grins for me, and with a subject like serial killers, I need some chuckles.
The dog leapt from the vehicle with all the grace of a hippo performing a belly flop.
I have plenty of suspects, but two in particular have my attention. Even if I’m wrong, I don’t like them. LOL I do like to try and figure it out for myself as we follow clues, question witnesses, and try look for what others have missed.
There is no romance, though I know there are more books coming, so I wonder. I mean, just think about it, her body is scarred and so is her mind. She doesn’t want anyone in her house. Doesn’t want anyone touching her. And doesn’t want to share her secret. After what she’s been through, I can see why she protects herself, so who could possible get through the walls she has built up but the one person she trusts?
I am at 38% and my tension level is high, the pace is picking up, making me feel like the end is near, nut, there’s so much of the story left. I can only imagine what Joanna Schaffhausen has in store for her characters. I am lovin’ it.
I am filled with horror at the terrible things one person can do another, as the bits and pieces of Ellery’s captivity leaks out, each detail worse than the last.
Well…I didn’t see him coming. It takes a lot for an author to fool me so completely, especially near the end, but she had me eying the wrong guy until a page or two before he attacked. He was well camouflaged, but I will be on my toes with the next case, expanding my suspect list and reading between the lines.
Man oh man, I am so glad I took a chance on Joanna Schaffhausen. I had never heard of her. She kept me riveted from beginning to end and I can hardly wait for Book II, No Mercy. BRING IT ON!
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Ellery Hathaway knows a
thing or two about serial killers, but not through her police training.
She’s an officer in sleepy Woodbury, MA, where a bicycle theft still
makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim number
seventeen in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben.
The only victim who lived.
When three people disappear from her
town in three years, all around her birthday—the day she was kidnapped
so long ago—Ellery fears someone knows her secret. Someone very
dangerous. Her superiors dismiss her concerns, but Ellery knows the
vanishing season is coming and anyone could be next. She contacts the
one man she knows will believe her: the FBI agent who saved her from a
killer’s closet all those years ago.
Agent Reed Markham made his name and fame on the back of the Coben case, but his fortunes have since turned. His marriage is in shambles, his bosses think he’s washed up, and worst of all, he blew a major investigation. When Ellery calls him, he can’t help but wonder: sure, he rescued her, but was she ever truly saved? His greatest triumph is Ellery’s waking nightmare, and now both of them are about to be sucked into the past, back to the case that made them…with a killer who can’t let go.
ABOUT JOANNA SCHAFFHAUSEN
Joanna Schaffhausen wields a mean scalpel, sharp skills she developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain―how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked as a scientific editor in the field of drug development. Prior to that, she was an editorial producer for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband, daughter, and an obstreperous basset hound.
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.
Rules:
Every Monday share a few songs you’ve been enjoying lately. It doesn’t
have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites – just
something you’d like to share with others. If possible, share a music
or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s),
and/or music video(s).
If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post’s url HERE
This song broke my heart. Celine Dion has a voice to die for. (pun intended) The music is amazing too. It brings tears to my eyes every single time. How about you?
It is so worth watching all the way though. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
And…if you haven’t caught Carpool Karaoke, you are missing out on sooooo much fun. I have been to Vegas many, many times and never saw her in the Beau Rivage Fountain. and I surely never got a pair of her shoes. James Corden is a riot in carpool karaoke and I have spent some time tooling around many places with him and his guests. Lots of laughs.
I can’t believe the people weren’t videoing and shooting photos the whole time, regardless if they recognized the happy couple or not. Mr Wonderful is great at spotting the stars, even out of their element, and we would have been shooting every camera we had on rapid fire!
**images are linked to Amazon (I am an affiliate)**
LATEST HAPPENINGS
Hi All. Glad to see you here. Well….another week has gone by and it passed too fast. I don’t know where the time goes. I remember as a kid when I used to wish the days away, wanting to be older so I could do this or that. No more. Even though I am retired, it still seems like there is never enough time in the day. Time to read, time to blog, time to work in the yard…time to…well, you probably know what I mean.
It’s been another great week for wonderful books. I must have esp or a lot of luck on my side when choosing books. Of course, I have become more selective and check them out on Goodreads and Amazon first. I look for 3 Stars or more. Of course, we all want those 5 Star reads, but even a 3 star can give me hours of reading entertainment. How about you?
Well, that’s about it for this week. Leave a link and I’ll stop by and check you out.
Dr. Brian King is the
author of the recently released book The
Art of Taking It Easy (Apollo Publishers). He trained as a neuroscientist
and psychologist and for the past decade has traveled the world as a comedian
and public speaker. By day he conducts seminars, presented nationwide and
attended by thousands of people each year, on positive psychology, the health
benefits of humor, and stress management. By night he practices what he teaches
in comedy clubs. Dr. Brian began performing stand-up comedy in the San
Francisco Bay Area in 2009, and has performed hundreds of shows around the
world. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, a master’s
degree from the University of New Orleans, and a PhD from Bowling Green State
University, and, in addition to The Art
of Taking It Easy, is the author of The
Laughing Cure. Dr. Brian hails from New York City and today spends his life
on the road, traveling regularly with his partner, Sarah, and their young
daughter.
What do you think makes
your approach to handling stress unique? Can you share a story?
I would not say that my
approach is unique. As we all live our individual lives, we all accumulate a
unique set of experiences which in turn influence our behaviors, and yet other
people with their own set of unique experiences express similar behaviors. Our
paths may be different, but we are all going to the same set of destinations.
Lots of people manage stress well, and I am one of them. Early in my life I
could tell that I handled things better than a lot of my peers; I would remain
calm in many situations where my friends would be anxious, sad, or angry, but
it wasn’t until graduate school when I started to realize that I had a higher
than average tolerance for stress.
I went to graduate school
in New Orleans, Louisiana, a city that I have loved since I first set foot
within its borders. I lived in the French Quarter, an awesome vibrant
neighborhood that attracts tons of tourists, and with good reason—it’s a
beautiful part of the city. But it was also plagued with a high crime rate. One
day, my roommate and I were walking home from the grocery store and on our
block a guy popped out from behind a car pointing a gun at us. In broad
daylight on the sidewalk of a city street, we were being robbed.
I remember seeing the gun,
and I remember the man instructing us to give him our wallets. My roommate
handed his over right away, but I chose not to. Instead, I remained perfectly
calm and attempted to negotiate with my mugger. I reasoned with him that he
could have my cash, I didn’t have much on me anyway, but that I needed to keep
my wallet. My wallet had my ID, my credit cards, and other things that were
going to be a major hassle to replace, so I insisted that he could have my
money if he agreed to let me keep my wallet. I said, “Those are my terms.”
The mugger and I went back
and forth on this, him asking for my wallet and me calmly stating my terms.
Meanwhile, my roommate is looking at me like I am out of my mind, but I felt
like I could convince this guy to see it my way and he eventually did. I gave
him my money, as per our agreement, and he let me keep my wallet. Then I asked
if my roommate could have his wallet back too and he agreed.
The mugger left and my
roommate and I went into our apartment and put our groceries away. I realized
that he was much more shaken up than I was and maybe my ability to remain calm
in the face of a stressful event was a bit unusual. A few months later, he left
the French Quarter for an apartment in the suburbs.
How have you used your
success to bring goodness to the world?
I think my success is from
bringing good things into the world. Granted not everything I have tried has
worked out or been all that great, but the few successes I have enjoyed are
those that have made a positive impact on others. As a comedian, I make people
laugh and in the process I make them a little bit happier. That may not sound
like much, but humor and laughter have a measurable impact on our health. As a
public speaker, I share knowledge and insight with my audiences about how to
manage stress and live a happier life, and in the process try to make them
laugh. As a writer, I can only hope to do the same.
What are your “5
things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and
why. Please share a story or example for each.
None of us are able to
achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person
who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share
a story?
As a habit, I express my
gratitude every day. In my seminars on happiness and stress management, I
encourage my audiences to do the same. It’s a common practice and it is very
helpful in changing the way we look at the world. Even Oprah does it, and she seems
pretty happy to me.
There are so many people
in my life that have helped me get to where I am, and because of how I live
most of them probably already know how grateful I am. However, there is one
person who has changed my life in the most significant way possible who has yet
to realize how much she has affected me: my two-year-old daughter, Alyssa.
Having children changes
your life, that is common knowledge. But this little girl came into my world
when I was at a very unhealthy point. Without knowing it, I had been suffering
from sleep apnea for years and it was starting to take its toll. With
fatherhood approaching, my partner, Sarah, convinced me to see a doctor and
within the year I was on CPAP treatment and on the way to recovery. Having
children does make people healthier, but having her may have quite literally
extended the length of my life.
My new book, The Art of
Taking It Easy, is dedicated to my daughter, but it was also inspired by her. If
for some reason I don’t get to see her grow up, I wanted her to know how
important she is to me and at the same time I wanted to give her a manual that
could help her, and perhaps thousands of other people, live a better life. To
this day she inspires me to live a better life.
You are a person of
great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount
of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what
your idea can trigger. 🙂
Is there a dance move that
combines the robot with the running man? I could see that being a thing.
Honestly, I always feel
like I am the last person at the party. I remember when Twitter started and a
few of my comedian friends were taking to the platform while I didn’t see the
point. I thought it was weird when people started posting to my Facebook
instead of sending me an email. Later when Instagram came out, I said, “but I
can already post photos to Facebook…” I don’t have a good track record with
being able to recognize good ideas.
But if I have any
influence at all, I hope that I can help convince people of the need to take
life less seriously and, you know, take it easy. There are so many people in
the world that are struggling with stress-related issues who could use a change
in perspective. Reevaluate your thought processes, your reactions, and your
interactions with other people. The world can be a crazy place, and there will
always be conflict. So why not chill out and try not to be part of the problem?
How can our readers
follow you on social media and where can they find your new book?
I am on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and whatever comes next at @drbrianking, and The Art of Taking It
Easy is available on www.apollopublishers.com and Amazon, and in Barnes & Noble and
independent bookstores around the country.
Book Details:
Book Title: The Art of Taking It Easy by Dr. Brian King Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+) Genre: Literary/Self-Help/Humor Publisher: Apollo Publishers Release date: October 2019 Content Rating: PG-13+
Book Description:
Psychologist
and Comedian King explores the science behind stress in this witty,
informed guide. The author uses a bevy of running jokes and punch lines
to enliven technical explanations for how and why people experience
stress. His metaphors of coming across a bear in the wild as well as
being stuck in traffic are also used to great effect to explain a
variety of stress responses, such as perceiving a threat and feelings of
powerlessness. Reframing thoughts plays a large role in King’s advice:
Stress is simply a reaction to a perception of threat being able to
consciously redirect choices made by other areas of the brain is the key
to living a less stressful existence. He also provides breathing
exercises, plants for painting physical health and useful advice for
setting attainable goals. King’s enjoyable guide to living with less
will be of help to any anxious reader.
DR.
BRIAN KING trained as a neuroscientist and psychologist and for the
past decade has traveled the world as a comedian and public speaker. By
day he conducts seminars, attended by thousands of people each year
around the US and internationally, on positive psychology, the health
benefits of humor, and stress management. By night he practices what he
teaches in comedy clubs, and is the founder and producer of the highly
reviewed Wharf Room comedy show in San Francisco. Dr. Brian holds a
bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, a master’s degree from
the University of New Orleans, and a PhD in neuroscience from Bowling
Green State University. Hailing from New York and living in dozens of
cities throughout the US as the child of a military family, today spends
his life on the road with his partner, Sarah, and their young daughter.
