The cover wasn’t the only thing that had me eager to read David Barnett’s My Hungry Friend. The title makes me wonder…Who’s hungry and who will be eaten. LOL
Running the gauntlet of the homeless that are collected on the block, he makes the biggest mistake of his life.
“Everything’s got a price,” she said.
And he was going to pay it!
Is it real, or all in his head?
Will he take anyone down with him?
I wondered.
Spiders…one of the creepiest critters to crawl the face of the earth. Just thinking of, writing about them, makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck and chills run up and down my spine. That is the kind of scary I like. Not Jason coming at me with a chain saw.
The subtle creepiness and anticipation of what is to come gives me plenty of time to watch his world crumble.
The writing is great and the story is haunting.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of My Hungry Friend by Daniel Barnett.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
When Mike Roberts kicks over a homeless woman’s cup of change, she whispers a cryptic warning:
“Mind the cracks . . .”
Now
the Boston he knows and loves is unraveling around him. But his life is
not the only thing at stake. His mother, a once acclaimed writer lost
in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, depends on him to have a home. And
then there’s her caretaker, Cassie, who might want something more from
Mike than the friendship they’ve long shared.
As his city
balances on a razor’s edge, Mike will have to hunt down the daughter of
the woman he wronged and uncover their terrible family secret . . . or
be plunged into a world of crawling horrors and unspeakable hunger.
A world from which no one has ever returned.
ABOUT DANIEL BARNETT
Daniel Barnett lives in Portland, Oregon and is a lover of stories–especially ones where things go bump in the night. His work has appeared in Crowded Magazine, and his short story The Sadie Hawkins placed in the top 6 for the 2015 Aeon Award. When he isn’t writing or reading, he’s discussing fiction with others. Whether they want to or not.
**images are linked to Amazon (I am an affiliate)**
~~~
Hello. Welcome to another edition of Sherry’s Shelves. Spring is in the air, but I wish it would quit raining. I don’t think I have ever seen this many days of no sun and I am sick of it. LOL I know, come August, I’ll probably to asking, “Why doesn’t it rain. Everything is so dry and I don’t want to spend the time watering.” Have you noticed any changes in the weather patterns in your neck of the woods?
It has only been recently that I have begun to read outside my favorite genres, and it is because of authors like P M Terrell. I first fell in love with her writing when I was reading the Black Swamp Mystery series and I never looked back.
Close your eyes, take a deep breath and let your mind go. Imagine you are a pioneer woman, captured by the Indians, bound hand and foot and taken far from home. Imagine floating in a canoe, smelling the trees, feeling the wind on your face and listening to the boat knife through the water. Around the bend the prairie spreads out in its vastness and a herd of bison grow larger. There is a white buffalo. Have you heard of it?
Songbirds Are Free by P M Terrell is told from two points of view. One is Mary’s, the other is Jim’s. A relative who never gives up in his search for her.
Captured by Indians, Mary chose to live and wait patiently to escape, adopting the life instead of dying and her determination to survive and return to her family is amazing.
Songbirds Are Free is a piece of P M Terrell’s personal history, spiced up with her ability to write a story that will have you white knuckled, sometimes pissed off, sometimes sad, sometimes even spreading a smile or two across my face as I travel with P M Terrell in Mary’s fictional footsteps.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Songbirds Are Free by P M Terrell.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Songbirds are Free is the story of Mary’s years in captivity and her eventual escape. It is a journey that will take her from present-day Nashville deep into Indian Territory–through Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan before she is able to successfully escape her captors. It is the story of courage and determination in the face of overwhelming odds. It is the story of one woman’s effort to survive a brutal existence and travel hundreds of miles alone to be reunited with her family.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
p.m.terrell
is the pen name for Patricia McClelland Terrell, the award-winning,
internationally acclaimed author of more than 21 books in four genres:
contemporary suspense, historical adventure/suspense, computer how-to
and non-fiction.
Prior to writing full-time, she founded
two computer companies in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. Among
her clients were the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Secret
Service, U.S. Information Agency, and Department of Defense. Her
specialties were in white collar computer crimes and computer
intelligence, themes that have carried forward to her contemporary
suspense.
She has been a full-time author since
2002. Vicki’s Key was a top five finalist in the 2012 International Book
Awards and 2012 USA Book Awards nominee, and The Pendulum Files was a
national finalist for the Best Cover of the Year in 2014. The Tempest
Murders was one of four finalists in the 2013 International Book Awards,
cross-genre category.
Her historical suspense, River Passage,
was a 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Winner. It was determined to be so
historically accurate that a copy of the book resides at the Nashville
Government Metropolitan Archives in Nashville, Tennessee.
She is also the co-founder of The Book
‘Em Foundation, an organization committed to raising public awareness of
the correlation between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She
is the organizer and chairperson of Book ‘Em North Carolina, an annual
event held in Lumberton, North Carolina, to raise funds to increase
literacy and reduce crime. For more information on this event and the
literacy campaigns funded by it, visit www.bookemnc.org. She is also the founder of The Novel Business, mentoring authors in the business end and selling of books.
She sits on the board of the Friends of
the Robeson County Public Library. She has also served on the boards of
Robeson County Arts Council, Crime Stoppers and Crime Solvers and became
the first female president of the Chesterfield County-Colonial Heights
Crime Solvers in Virginia.
I haven’t read any Young Adult for a while, so when I was offered a copy of Diamond Moon by Celia Breslin I jumped on it. This may be the 12th book in the series, but I didn’t have any trouble beginning out of order. That being said, I loved it enough to recommend beginning at the beginning so you don’t miss any of the good stuff.
It’s been a while since I have read any Young Adult Werewolf stories, and I was ready for this sweet little novella, Diamond Moon by Celia Breslin.
Darci’s parents had died and all she had left was a map leading to a mystery town. She is half human and half werewolf. Her desire is to be all human, so hopefully whoever is in the mystery town can help her to quit shifting. Last time her heart stopped. How long before it kills her?
Thus, the adventure begins.
She’s going solo. She is creeped out by the forest, which usually brings her comfort and puts her at ease. Maybe that is a sign. Is someone or something out there?
We meet Ross. He is all wolfy male, wanting to escape the city and find more meaning for his life. He walks away from his computer job to build houses, though he still keeps his hand in technology.
Okay, I think we all know where this is going, but I am having a great time getting there.
I quickly fell in love with Mister Sun God Sexy. I love his Big Bad Wolf attitude and his pet attack cat.
A lot is packed into this short story and I loved it.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Diamond Moon by Celia Breslin.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Human-wolf hybrid Darci Diamond spends every full moon locked in auntie’s basement in Southern Oregon. Her excruciating shifts terrify her, the last one causing her heart to stop beating. Seeking a cure, she journeys to Los Lobos.
Ross
Luparell returns to the struggling Tao pack, using his millions made in
the tech industry to build homes for pack families in need. He never
imagined he would also find his one true mate. But when a hybrid with
the biggest green eyes he’s ever seen lands on his doorstep in the
middle of a wicked summer storm, there’s no denying it. She’s the one.
She wants a normal human life, free from pain-filled shifts. He won’t give up on her Wolf, and will do whatever it takes to help her accept her true nature. But can he convince her to trust him with her heart?
ABOUT CELIA BRESLIN
Writer, urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Mega Joss Whedon fan. Lover of dark chocolate and exercise (no kidding). I write about the sexy and mysterious creatures of the Otherworld. Vampires, werewolves and all manner of Fae hold an extra special place in my heart.
Sir Geoffrey…no conscience, no morals, self preservation, not someone I would want in my circle of friends. But I do love a good bad guy. LOL
Is there an honest person in government? Is there anyone that doesn’t have their own devious agenda, willing to go to any lengths to get what they want? I do love conspiracies, so I was looking forward to diving into this one.
B P Smythe has created some despicable characters, but to counter the bad, we need to have the good. There is tons of action and characters that have their individual stories, and they come together the story becomes clear.
Though it didn’t rate high on my thriller list, The Expired by B P Smythe was an interesting and enjoyable read that fed my conspiracy reading need.
3 Star
GOODREADS BLURB
‘The Expired’ is a
psychological thriller masterpiece showing how vulnerable people can be
brainwashed to become sleepers (Manchurian Candidates) and used by
corrupt politicians to further their own ends. ‘The Expired’ shadows
true accounts of government sleeper programmes set up during the Korean
War and the East West Cold War.
Commander Gregory Potting is a
former head of MI6 Intelligence and the governments most trusted Senior
Adviser for Internal Affairs.
His position is put to the test in
1973 when a bizarre psychological plot unfolds that is inextricably
linked to a London terrorist attack, a cocaine drug scam, a homosexual
called Francis Hodder who suffers from schizophrenia and changes from
time to time to Roxanne – a transvestite prostitute who robs and murders
his clients.
Francis Hodder is a transsexual who preys on gay men. As a child he is abused by his father who is head of government security. Francis becomes an embarrassment to MI6 because of his gender leaning. He is brainwashed to become a Sleeper assassin triggered by code words to kill personnel who threaten government security. Francis becomes a manipulated pawn, who by mistake during a sexual encounter with a Black September terrorist, uncovers plans for a deadly attack on a densely crowded popular sports event to kill thousands of people to further the cause of EL Fatah and Black September.
ABOUT B P SMYTHE
I studied engineering at Carshalton College and eventually became a member of the Institute of Quality Assurance.
My engineering career took on many roles including toolmaking and being a technical writer for an artificial limb manufacturer. However, I’ve always enjoyed putting pen to paper while raising quality manuals and writing reports. I also write tennis articles for my local county magazine and relax reading crime and horror fiction. This, coupled with my technical writing career, partly influenced my transition into creative writing.
Wanting to expand my writing knowledge, I obtained a Level 3 / NCFE Certificate / PI410 creative writing diploma.
Sow
And You Shall Reap – http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/145677171X is my first
self- published novel. However, I have submitted numerous short stories
for internet competitions including, winning £100 as first prize for my A
Rose Without a Thorn for the www.spinetinglerspublishing online
magazine and winning £50 first prize for my We’ll Meet Again in the
http://dark-places.co.uk online magazine.
Two of my other short
stories, Love Me Do and My Secret Place, have also been published in the
printed Litro Magazine – Issue 140 – ISBN 978-0-9554245-5-7
http://www.litro.co.uk/2015/02/litro-140-diaries/
Near the end of
2015 I fortunately obtained a three book deal contract with Bloodhound
Books www.bloodhoundbooks.com to publish a trilogy of macabre/thriller
collected short stories. My first book titled – ‘From a Poison Pen’ is
the first book of the trilogy and highlights from the stories – What
happens when a member of the Hitler youth ends up in a concentration
camp? How does a beach side cocktail get in the way the way of one
woman’s scheming? What leads a teenage girl to reign down fire and
brimstone? When a doctor buries his mistake, can he get away with it?
This collection of dark, humorous and macabre tales explores the disturbing side of human nature.
When I read The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon, I was fascinated while exploring true accounts of government sleeper programmes set up during the Korean war and the east west cold war. This inspired me to write ‘The Expired’, a psychological thriller showing how prospective candidates can be brainwashed to become sleepers and used by corrupt politicians to further their own ends.
Aurora’s brother had been murdered, but only after being tortured.
I love that she is alone…in the middle of the night…
Thump. What’s that? Is it the cat? Thump. Uh-oh. I know Jane…and that is no cat!
Hide? Run? Too late. Merry Christmas to her. 🙁
Brady…Okay, I didn’t see that coming. Instalove…Instalust…The scenario is pretty far fetched, but it is fiction and I do love to forget the logical and set my mind free to follow where the author wants to take me.
Do you want a short, easy read, with thrills, chills and a happy ever after? You might want to give this a try.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Diamond Star by Jane Blythe.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
~ Part of the Heart of a Hunk multi-author box set ~
It’s
Christmas Eve, and Aurora Kinsley is grieving her brother who was
recently murdered. That quickly becomes the least of her concerns when
she wakes in the middle of the night to find four men trashing the
house. To survive the mess her brother left behind, she’ll have to put
her trust in one of the men who killed her only sibling.
** Warning: Graphic violence and themes of sexual assault/abuse **
Elias Zanbaka reached out to me through Goodreads offering his short story, Environmentally Friendly, to me for review. I’m glad I took him up on the offer. At the time of posting, it was free (be sure and check for the “0”) and you can grab it HERE.
I’m so glad I grabbed this original, intense, wild rollercoaster ride of a short story that had me zipping through the pages, following a cop trying to do a good thing, giving more than taking and leaving me wanting more of this wonderful character.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Out of seven billion people, one man has declared war on Mother Nature and plans to bring it to its knees.
Out of all the criminals in Los Angeles, he’s the number one target being hunted by the LAPD tonight.
And out of the entire LAPD, one officer is hell-bent on helping him complete his mission.
A house on wheels, three mangy rednecks and a Wrestlemania road trip. I feel nothing can go wrong. ‘as I chuckle under my breath’
Some men never grow up, and Mike’s friends, Lonnie and Pork Chop are a perfect example.
They decide to take a shortcut and I know nothing good can come of that, but I sure am eager to find out what kind of trouble they find. They, literally, run into the “goat”, causing a crazy band of vicious, coldblooded cultists to chase them down.
Have no fear. Adam has a way of taking his flawed and twisted characters and turning them into lovable friends that come through at the end, but at what cost. He kills his characters off with no shame, probably laughing with glee as Another One Bites the Dust.
This action packed, fire and brimstone apocalyptic tale leaves me wondering…does anyone survive when the line between good and evil is blurred? Be careful…if you let pride…think you know it all….Arrogance is not an asset.
One minute I felt the truth of it all and the next I felt I was in hell with Sam and Dean Winchester.
Adam Howe shattered my expectations, leaving me loving and hating Mike and his band of misfits…and looking forward to their next twisted adventure.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Scapegoat by Adam Howe.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
March 29, 1987… For
metalheads Mike Rawson, Lonnie Deveroux, and Pork Chop, an RV road trip
to Wrestlemania III becomes a one-way ticket to hell. While delivering
an illegal shipment of counterfeit wrestling merchandise, an ill-fated
shortcut through the Kentucky backwoods leads them to a teenaged girl
carved head to toe in arcane symbols. Soon our unlikely heroes are being
hunted through the boonies by a cult of religious crazies who make the
Westboro Baptists look like choirboys… a cult that will stop at nothing
to get the girl back and complete a ritual that has held an ancient evil
at bay for centuries… Until now.
From Adam Howe, writer of Die
Dog or Eat the Hatchet, and the winner of Stephen King’s On Writing
contest… and James Newman, acclaimed author of Odd Man Out and
Animosity.
PRAISE FOR SCAPEGOAT:
“As if Joe Lansdale
wrote, and John Carpenter directed, the Jonestown massacre. SCAPEGOAT is
Howe and Newman’s Kool-Aid and you’ll want to drink it to the very last
drop.” (Eryk Pruitt, What We Reckon)
“A delightful backwoods detour through the three Rs of Southern-fried horror: Rednecks, revenge, and Wrestlemania! One of 2018’s most entertaining reads. This is one GOAT you’ll definitely want to get.” (Michael Patrick Hicks, Mass Hysteria)
ABOUT ADAM HOWE
Adam
Howe writes the twisted fiction your mother warned you about. A British
writer of fiction and screenplays, he lives in London with his partner,
their daughter, and a hellhound named Gino. Writing as Garrett Addams,
his short story Jumper was chosen by Stephen King as the winner of the
international On Writing contest, and published in the paperback/Kindle
editions of King’s memoir. His fiction has appeared in places like
Nightmare Magazine, Thuglit, Mythic Delirium, and Year’s Best Hardcore
Horror Volume 1. He is the author of Tijuana Donkey Showdown, and two
novella collections, Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, and Black Cat Mojo. In
the pipeline: the occult thriller Scapegoat, co-written with James
Newman, a horror/crime collaboration with Adam Cesare, and 80s action
throwback, One Tough Bastard.
I have been reading the Scion Chronicles since the beginning, The Daughter of Nothing by Eric Kent Edstrom. Sister of Shadows is the third book and all I can say is Eric did not let me down.
The evil of humanity oozes from the pages in the third book, Sister of Shadows by Eric Kent Edstrom. I am loving the series and can hardly wait to see how he wraps it up in the fourth and final book.
Sister of Shadows picks up where Child of Lies left off, so reading in order is necessary. I have loved each story, watching the children struggle to survive as they discover who they really are and why they were ‘born’.
The topic raises ethical and moral issues, while pointing out how power and money corrupt and some people will stop at nothing to get what they want.
I have a lot of notes, but because this is the third book, I tossed them to the wind. I will not spoil all the twists, turns and surprises that Eric has piled onto these resilient children. I have watched them grown and develop into young adults, pushed beyond anything they ever could have conceived. I have watched their leadership skills rise to the forefront, their maturity and creativity grow at a fast pace, forced because of their circumstances.
They make a run for freedom, for life, and the treachery and danger that follows them kept me in suspense, wondering who will survive, because Eric doesn’t hesitate to kill off his characters. I hope they haunt him at night. LOL One of my favorite newbies is Meow Meow and if you read the story you will see why. This girl is off the charts, afraid of nothing.
I find the story unique and original, and it sticks in my head. It is hard to surprise me with something new and different, so this is a refreshing story. A story that keeps on giving a high level of tension and pacing, keeping my total attention.
I laughed, I cried, I raged and I sighed…knowing Eric has more to come.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Sister of Shadows by Eric Kent Edstrom.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Escape. That is all Jacey cares about as the riveting story of the Scions continues.
Escape is in their grasp. The Scions now have a way off the island—a ship—but they have no place to go.
With
an enemy hiding in their midst, and shaken by murder, kidnapping, and
an impending military invasion, time for escape is running out.
A fast-paced rollercoaster of a novel, Sister of Shadows will keep you breathless all the way to the shocking finale.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR .
Eric is an author, songwriter, husband, father, and guitarist. He is the author of YA SF series The Undermountain Saga, which includes Undermountain, Afterlife, and Starkiller.Eric loves working out with kettlebells and eating pretty much anything with peanut butter. . Stalk Eric: Website / Twitter / Goodreads .
I am not a huge scifi fan, but after reading The Heights of Perdition by C S Johnson, I knew this was a series that I really wanted to finish. Thankfully, C S Johnson agree. So…here we are on The Breadth of Creation, Book II of the Divine Space Pirates Trilogy. You will want to read them in order.
The Breadth of Creation by C S Johnson is the second book in the Divine Space Pirates trilogy. I loved the first book and was ecstatic when I received the rest of the series. It’s rare when I do finish a series and this is one where I felt I had to know the ending. So let’s get started.
the Breadth of Creation picks up where The Heights of Perdition by C S Johnson left off.
Aerie is anything but predictable and that makes for some exciting reading. I like a person that bucks the system and shows some independence. After all, it is thinking outside the box that brings about advancement.
The Heights of Perdition made me think of the Patrick Swayze movie Red Dawn. I loved it, so it was easy for me to get lost in Aerie’s world.
To keep from spoiling things for you, I will only tell you that Aerie feels something in her life is very wrong. And that is putting it mildly.
Rebels, dissenters and the religious are ready to fight for their right to live in freedom. It’s the usual debate of those who wish to rule and use an iron fist to do it. Outlaw religion, the arts and anything else that helps people to dream of what could be. But…how far can you push someone before they push back?
C S John has created a believable world that shows both sides of humanity, with all the gray areas popping up, because that’s life. It could be our future. Lots of food for thought and seeing that the trilogy is complete, I will not have to wait to see how they resolve their lives. That is always a plus in my book.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Breadth of Creation by C S Johnson.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Life in the United
Revolutionary States has never been easy for Aerie St. Cloud. Recovering
from recent injuries and unable to recall the last few weeks of her
life, she feels haunted by a growing absence in her memory. Stepping out
in search of the truth, she is determined to get the answers she
seeks—even if they only bring her more pain.
After losing Aerie,
Exton Shepherd once more faces the temptation to take his revenge
against the URS, and General St. Cloud in particular. With the help of
his family, community, and Aerie’s long-lost mother, Merra, he leads
them into battle to reclaim the Ecclesia’s outpost of Chaya in hopes of
finding inner peace.
Surrounded by secrets and deception, and
plagued by their own shortcomings, can Aerie and Exton find their way
back to each other without sending the world into further chaos?
ABOUT C S JOHNSON
C.
S. Johnson is the author of several young adult novels, including
sci-fi and fantasy adventures such as the Starlight Chronicles series,
the Once Upon a Princess saga, and the Divine Space Pirates trilogy.
With a gift for sarcasm and an apologetic heart, she currently lives in
Atlanta with her family. Find out more at http://www.csjohnson.me.
