One Sentence Reviews for 3 Pembroke Sinclair Novels @PembrokeSinclai

Posted on October 29, 2016 by fundinmental

I won this awesome package some time ago from Pembroke Sinclair and Laura @ fuonlyknew. All the books were signed…YAY!

I didn’t purposely wait so long to post my review, but you know how it goes.

Now seemed the perfect time to share my reviews.

I read all three books in one day, unable to stop!!

Now…I really need a Bloody Mary.

My Review for Life After the Undead, Book I by Pembroke Sinclair

I bonded with Krista quickly because of her curiosity, the need to know why the zombies do what they do and we head to Florida, traveling through the grisly horror with the excellent writing and storyline, including a laugh or two along the way.

Amazon / Goodreads

GOODREADS BLURB: Seventeen-year-old Krista must quickly figure out how she’s going to survive in the zombie-destroyed world. The one advantage humans have is that the zombies hate humid environments, so they’re migrating west to escape its deteriorating effects. The survivors plan to construct a wall at North Platte to keep the undead out, and Krista has come to Nebraska to start a new life.

Zombies aren’t the only creatures she has to be cautious of—the other survivors have a dark side. Krista must fight not only to live but also to defend everything she holds dear—her country, her freedom, and ultimately, those she loves.

Join Krista in her quest to survive in this thrilling apocalyptic novel by Pembroke Sinclair.

~~~

My Review for Death to the Undead, Book II by Pembroke Sinclair

Pembroke Sinclair keeps the twist and turns coming and the seed that was planted in my mind in Book I, Life After The Undead, comes to life, yet they battle the depths of depravity that are so far out there my mind has a hard time wrapping around the fight that seems futile, battling zombies and humans alike because, “What are the options?”

Amazon / Goodreads

GOODREADS BLURB: Seventeen-year-old Krista has already proven she can survive the zombie hordes.

After moving to North Platte with her distant cousin General Liet to help build a wall that will keep the zombies in the West, it becomes apparent that the zombies aren’t the biggest threat—some survivors are far more dangerous than Krista had ever imagined.

With the help of Quinn, a survivor and fighter from the zombie-infested wildlands of the West, they free the garrison at North Platte from the power-hungry Liet. But there is a bigger battle to fight.

The Families who rule Florida and use intimidation and the threat of the zombie horde to coerce their territory want Krista and Quinn captured, the zombies want to devour them, and other survivors want them dead. Caught between powerful forces, will they survive long enough to devise a new plan and put it into action? Or will they self-destruct?

Find out in book two of this thrilling apocalyptic series by author Pembroke Sinclair.

~~~

My Review for Finding Eden by Pembroke Sinclair

This original and thought provoking novel of zombies, angels and God gave me lots of food for thought as each person told their story while driving through a horde of zombies with body parts flying willy nilly and I was not able to quit thinking about the story long after I put the book down.

Amazon / Goodreads

GOODREADS BLURB: Drunk womanizer Duke, spends his life selfishly taking care of himself and screw the rest of the world. After one particular black-out alcoholic binge, he wakes to find the world changed—the dead are rising from their graves.

Lonely, guilt-ridden Hank is someone who minds his own business, and sympathetic but strong-willed Lana is on the receiving end of harassment by other students.

Forced together for survival, the three misfits must confront their world gone strange. God said the people of Earth would be punished for their sins, and so the end has come.

Duke, Hank, and Lana must walk their own paths to salvation, but they also must depend on each other. Will their salvation lie in Finding Eden? A Zombie story with inspirational elements.

All the books received the same rating:

5 Stars

Isn’t he cute?

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Tag Team Giveaway, Guest Post & Review – Witches by Kathryn Meyer Griffith @KathrynG64

Posted on October 28, 2016 by fundinmental

Welcome to the Tag Team Tag Team Event & Giveaway!

Welcome to the Tag Team Event hosted by Laura and Sherry.

This is a special edition as we have two bloggers joining in to share their reviews.

A warm welcome to Stormi and Barb.

For today we are featuring Witches by Kathryn Meyers Griffith.

Be sure to click on all of the links. Each blog will be hosting an individual giveaway, so visit them all for four chances to win!

~~~

Witches by Kathryn Meyer Griffith kept me spellbound and here is some insight into…

Why I wrote Witches By Kathryn Meyer Griffith

In 1991 I’d already been writing for about twenty years, on and off (though there was a long gap where I didn’t write because of a divorce, the finding of a full time job to support myself and my son, and a remarriage…life) when I contracted my fourth novel, my first of four to Zebra paperbacks, a romantic horror called Vampire Blood, about a family of vampires who run a movie theater in a small town. I’d already had a fifth novel, The Last Vampire, completed and in with them when they asked me for another novel.

Got anything about witches, they asked. Witches are hot right now. Hmmm.

For many years I’d played around with an idea about a present day white witch who finds a diary of a long dead witch–either good or bad, I hadn’t decided–in her old house’s attic, or basement, or under a floorboard. The story would have been about the good witch reliving the other dead witch’s life through the diary. In my head I’d always called that possible book Rachel’s Diary.

So in 1991 or 1992 I began the witch book and it quickly metamorphosed into a story of a present day good witch, Amanda Givens, who’s yanked into a perilous seventeenth century past by an evil witch, Rachel Coxe, to take her place…and possibly, unless Amanda can change the evil witch’s history, die a horrible death as an accused witch. I had the idea then to actually send Amanda into the past to live (for a while) the other witch’s life. Of course, being a good witch, Amanda, changes the other witch’s unsavory reputation but still ends up in a prison waiting to die for Rachel’s earlier crimes. The story, simply put, would be how Amanda overcomes her trials and tribulations, finds her lost eternal love again in the past, and finds a way to return to the present alive. In the process, learning some important life lessons about accepting what life has dealt her and the value of sisters, friendships and the love of those around her. Or, in other words, a story of good versus evil and, in the end, good wins and is rewarded. I also threw in a few touches of humor in the form of three precocious witches’ familiars…a mind-reading and speaking ancient cat called Amadeus, a mouse, Tituba, and a tiny bat, Gibbiewackett…all with feisty personalities and quirks of their own.

I was excited about the book as I was writing it and when it was done, pleased with it, but had no idea that over the years it’d become one of the jewels of my writing career and a book my fans would love as much as they did. I loved the cat face cover Zebra did for it in 1993 (a rare occurrence as I’d learned the hard way that covers weren’t always what I’d envisioned and in the early days I had no choice but to accept whatever the publisher’s gave me…and some weren’t so hot, let me tell you!); but I love Dawne Dominique’s new 2015 cover just as much with the witch and her cat.

Witches originally came out in 1993 and did well. I noticed soon after as I went on to publish other books I continued to get admiration for it and requests for a sequel (though I haven’t been able to do another one so far…but maybe in the future). Readers loved the three sisters, Amadeus and Amanda, Gibbiewackett and Tituba. In those days I was too busy working full time as a graphic artist, living my life and writing new books to notice. It went into a second printing in 2000 and after that, sadly, went out of print until 2010. But my fans never forgot it. I’d find comments on it and discussions on the Internet…even customer reviews raving about it years and years later. I tried talking Zebra into reissuing it but after Zebra and I parted ways in 1994 there was no talking them into it.

Then in 2010 when Damnation Books contracted my 13^th and 14^th novels, the publisher asked about all (there was 7 at the time) my out-of-print Zebra and Leisure paperback backlist novels and if I’d like to have them reissued as new paperbacks and, for the first time ever, in e-books. Sure, that’d be great! I told them. And, as they say, the rest is history. Between June 2010 and July 2012 all 7 of them were updated, rewritten and came out again. Of course, that meant a heck of a lot of rewriting. A lot of work. Those early novels went back thirty-two years and were first written in the days of snail mail and on an electric typewriter before the Internet, e-mails and Windows Track Changes (for editing). Oh, boy, did they need revising. As of today I can happily say all my fourteen older novels have been totally rewritten, even my very first published romantic horror novel, Evil Stalks the Night (originally a 1984 Leisure Books paperback). Then, later, between 2012 and 2015 I finally (after much fighting with my old publishers) got all my rights back to all my old novels and self-published ALL my 23 novels myself in eBooks, paperbacks and Audible audio books. I will never go back to publishers again because I’m finally making a living with my books–and it’s great to have complete control for the first time in 45 years of writing.

I’ve often been asked what I think of e-books and I have to say it feels strange, all these years later, to be so into them. I think it’s fantastic to be able to put hundreds of books on one little lightweight hand-held contraption and sell them as inexpensively as we do. I started publishing e-books four years ago and have seen such great changes in even that short a time. With a chuckle I recall a writer’s convention I attended in 1990–yes, that far back–and the main topic back then was…OMG the electronic books are coming! They’re going to make us authors obsolete! Print books are going to die a terrible lonely death…etc., etc. Lack and alas, what are we going to do? Ha, ha. It’s ironic that 26 years later I’m in love with e-books and self-publishing. It is the present and the future. Though I think there’ll always be room for print books as well as electronic ones as many people still like to feel a real book in their hands.

So Witches…I rereleased it again in 2015 with a brand new cover and I’m thrilled. The cover is still of Amadeus, the magical cat, but now Amanda, the white witch, is also on it. As always my cover artist, Dawne Dominique, did an amazing job. I’m proud of the book, it has held up pretty well, I think. I hope it finds many more readers and fans.

So that’s the story of Witches…the little book that wouldn’t die.

She always has such amazing covers that depict the story inside.

Cover: Dawn Domique

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

A curse, reincarnation, familiars, a battle between good and evil, Witches by Kathryn Meyer Griffith is loaded with many witch things that tease and titillate your paranormal and supernatural desires.

I have been watching Charmed (a TV series) reruns for a long time now, so it is easy to visualize all the going on, from familiars to scrying to all the powers needed for the battle coming Amanda’s way.

Amanda is a good witch and a good person, lonely since the death of her husband. She has her family and some friends in her isolated surroundings and she will need them. The selfless love she spreads and gives to others freely, asking for nothing in return makes me feel she deserves only the best.

The familiars are faithful companions and can be amusing at time. I couldn’t help but laugh at Tibby, a mouse familiar. I can see him throwing his little paws in the air in frustration.

Murders.

It will be Amanda and her familiar, Amadeus, against the diabolical cult that is killing the residents of Canaan. She is a bit naive, unwilling to believe the danger that stalks her and I want to be with her, fighting at her side, making things right for her.

The witch hunt puts a target on her back and it is worse than she thought. The battle between good and evil will take all she has to survive.

The sense of evil and foreboding of what is to come was present from the opening pages. The grisly murders, the impromptu storms, and the death and destruction run rampant in Canaan.

I didn’t see the direction Kathryn would take for this unusual witch’s tale and the world I would be in. Her vivid descriptions and detailed, complex characters make me love and hate them…but Amanda…

The terrible things Kathryn puts her through come alive on the pages. She is not afraid to make her characters suffer, sometimes killing them off, making me love her writing, because I have to stay on my toes and be ready for the surprises she will spring on me.

The writing is outstanding, but I am not surprised by Kathryn’s ability to bring this magical world to life, making me devour the words, unable to stop, wanting to know…

Kathryn Meyer Griffith takes WITCHES to a whole new level, keeping the suspense rising,the pacing constant. I am anxious, curious, suurprised, amazed, fearful, terrified as read of Amanda and those around her as demons and black magic rise and good magic fights back.

5 Stars

BLURB FROM KATHRYN MEYER GRIFFITH

Amanda Givens is careful how she uses her powers. She doesn’t want the people of Canaan, Connecticut to know they have a witch among them . . . even a good white witch. For years, she’s lived quietly in a remote cabin with Amadeus, her quirky feline familiar. At first with her husband, Jake, the love of her life, until a car accident; but now alone after his death. But when she’s wrongly blamed for a rash of ritualistic murders committed by a satanic cult, she knows she can no longer hide. She’s the one the cult’s after and she is the only one who can stop them and prove her innocence.

As punishment for fighting and destroying the cult, she’s drawn back in time by the ghost of the dark witch, Rachel Coxe, who was drowned for practicing black magic in the 17th century.

Now, as Amanda tries to rehabilitate Rachel’s reputation in an effort to save lives, as well as her own, and falls in love all over again with Joshua, her reincarnated dead husband from the future, she has to rely on a sister’s love and magical knowledge, and a powerful sect of witches named the Guardians to help her get home safely. ***

EXCERPT

Now, with her heart breaking, her eyes shut, her hands waving languidly over the fire, she chanted the nefarious words that would bring her husband back from the dead.

Mandy…no, Mandy…

Something crashed against the door, as if something or someone were throwing themselves against it. Wood splintered, but the door held. Amadeus, who had powers of his own, was fighting mad now. It was his responsibility to protect her, protect her from herself, if need be. She heard him growling at her through the door.

Open up, Mandy. Open the damn door!

“No. I told you, Amadeus, either help me or go away.”

The cat grumbled beyond the door, hissed and spat as loud as any big cat, and the battering resumed.

Amanda’s eyes flew open, widened as the apparition began to take form inside the pentagram—the outline of a man, tall, his arms thrown over his face as if in defense.

“Jake?” She moaned, staring at the thing.

It lowered its hands and a ghoulish, misty face peered out at her, a face so full of torment and fear, Amanda fell back in shock.

“Don’t do this, Mandy, I beg you! Remember me as I was. I don’t belong there anymore.” She heard the plaintive whisper, an echo on the still air. Its hands reached out to her. “Let me go. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

She couldn’t stop. The enchantment wasn’t complete. It would be better when it was. He was between two worlds now and he would be frightened. Half-formed. Between two worlds.

If she wasn’t careful, those unearthly denizens—shade demons, she called them—that haunted that dead world could escape into hers. So dangerous. What the hell was she doing opening the forbidden portals like this?

What happened if she was a moment off, a word wrong and the demons came through? If she unleashed them? A disaster.

Amanda steeled herself, wiped the fresh tears from her face with the back of her hand. “Damn it, I want you back, Jake. I’ll have you back,” she swore.

She took up where she’d left off, knowing if she stopped at this point of the spell, it could ruin everything. Everything.

The door groaned behind her under its assault (damn but that cat was strong), the wind screamed outside the windows. The candles placed around the pentagram fluttered in a strange breeze in the shadowy room.

Amanda’s heart froze. She stopped in the middle of the spell, her eyes going wide with fear, her hands half-raised before her, and her head thrown back as the flames from the fire glowed more brightly across her tense face.

What was that word? Suureerustus? Summertus? Or…

She stared at the blurry figure trying to form in the circle. It was yelling at her now…something…something…she couldn’t make out the words.

It was no longer alone.

Things writhed around its melting feet, flew about its head. Terrible things. Things from the dead world. Unholy things. Gaping mouths with sharp bloodied teeth, glittering fiendish eyes in deformed, hideous bodies. Some almost human, some insect like. Others indescribable. Some growing before her eyes to be taller than she was.

Monsters. Coming through the barrier, crossing the lines of the pentagram, into her world.

Amanda grabbed the nearest thing with which to fight them off, a broom, and started swinging at them.

She was so busy hitting and spewing out new spells to keep the shade demons from coming through that she never heard the door burst open; never felt the cool storm wind enter the cabin until something determined and furry flew by her face toward the pentagram, hissing all the way.

Then Amadeus was helping her herd the malignant spirits back from where they’d come. All claws, teeth, and unearthly glowing eyes. He snarled the word Sutterus at her in passing and Amanda quickly supplied it in the spell where it belonged.

The demons began to slowly dissolve in shrieks of rage.

Don’t send us away! Don’t send us back there! Let us out. Out!

Jake’s figure returned. A shadow with hanging head. Just one or two sentences and the incantation would be complete. Jake would be there, solid, before her.

Amanda hesitated. The thing in the circle looked so pitiful. So unnatural.

Before she could finish, soft, but strong paws clamped tightly around her neck and wouldn’t let go. Something howled like a banshee in her ear, as sharp teeth angrily nipped it. She couldn’t breathe.

“Amadeus! Get off!” She screamed, tumbling to the floor with the huge cat on top of her, still holding on like a leech, its yowling and screeching enough to wake the dead—instead, it woke her.

By the time she’d yanked the cat off, throwing him roughly against the opposite wall so that he yelped in pain, and she’d crawled back to the pentagram, Jake was gone. The enchantment broken.

*****************

ABOUT KATHRYN MEYER GRIFFITH

100_8628

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-four years ago now, and have had twenty-two (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance, two thrillers, and four murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press. But I’ve gone into self-publishing in a big way since 2012; and upon getting all my 22 books’ full rights back for the first time in 33 years, have self-published all of them. My Dinosaur Lake novels and Spookie Town Mysteries (Scraps of Paper, All Things Slip Away and Ghosts Beneath Us) are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-eight years; have a son and two grandchildren and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois. We have a quirky cat, Sasha, and the three of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk/classic rock singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *Finalist* for her horror novel The Last Vampire ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS * Finalist * for her thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.

*All Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s books can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/ld4jlow

*All her Audible.com audio books here:

http://tinyurl.com/oz7c4or

Novels and short stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith:

Evil Stalks the Night, The Heart of the Rose, Blood Forged, Vampire Blood, The Last Vampire (2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Horror category), Witches, The Nameless One erotic horror short story, The Calling, Scraps of Paper (The First Spookie Town Murder Mystery), All Things Slip Away (The Second Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Ghosts Beneath Us (The Third Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Egyptian Heart, Winter’s Journey, The Ice Bridge, Don’t Look Back, Agnes, A Time of Demons and Angels, The Woman in Crimson, Human No Longer, Four Spooky Short Stories Collection, Forever and Always Romantic Novella, Night Carnival Short Story, Dinosaur Lake (2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Thriller/Adventure category), Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising and Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation, Dinosaur Lake IV: Dinosaur Wars.

STALK HER AT:

Twitter / My Blog / Facebook / Authors Den / Goodreads / Gravatar / Amazon

~~~

GIVEAWAY

Kathryn is offering three (3) prizes. Winners will have their choice: an ebook or FREE Audible Audio Book code.

To be entered, leave your email and whether you want an ebook or audiobook, so we can contact you if you are a winner and answer the question:

If you were a Witch, would you be into white magic or black magic? 👿

For more chances to win, visit Laura, Stormi and Barb.

Giveaway will run from 10.28.16 – 11.8.16

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
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Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
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MY REVIEWS FOR KATHRYN MEYER GRIFFITH’S BOOKS

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Giveaway & Review – Wasp’s Nest by Gabriel Valjan @GValjan @NouveauWriter

Posted on October 27, 2016 by fundinmental

I was drawn into the Roma Series because of the fabulous covers and the storyline.

It made me think of Kathy Reichs and the the TV series, Bones, with her forensic anthropology, only for a character that specializes in forensic accounting.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Bianca is back in the Wasp’s Nest by Gabriel Valjan, the second book in the Roma Series. She has returned to the States and is working for Rendition…again. I wonder if she may regret it. She is a loner and distrustful. She walked away from love, but she cannot forget him. Will he come back into her life?

A scientific element arises when Bianca investigates Nason Pharmaceutical and wasp DNA. Will it be used for a cure or a weapon? In this twisted world, who can say.

As the story grows and develops into more than one mystery to be solved, I wonder how safe any of the characters are. An assassin, corruption and greed…can anyone be trusted?

It is difficult for me to understand some of the scientific and technological references, but I do understand conspiracy, greed, betrayal and murder. The heavier reading sometimes seems like a school lesson, but I do want to know and understand, so my pace is slower than usual.

In Wasp’s Nest we are becoming more serious, more involved in the mysteries and there is less eating and traveling and more investigating. Italians do have a passion for food and their needs are a celebration of taste so I think it is a valuable component to the story. The suspense has ramped up, with danger around every corner. I was worried Bianca’s band of merry men may pay a fatal price. I have become very fond of her gang, each with their own personalities, desires and motives.

If I gave half stars, I would give Wasp’s Nest 3 1/2. The story is much better, with more action, for an action junkie like me. There will be more in this five book series and I look forward to following the gang to the very end.

I received Wasp’s Nest free of charge from the Gabriel Valjan.

You can see my review for Roma: Underground, Book I, by Gabriel Valjan HERE.

3 Stars

SYNOPSIS

WASP’S NEST (Book #2)

In the highly anticipated sequel to Roma, Underground, Bianca returns to the U.S. for her former employer, the covert organization Rendition, to investigate Cyril Sargent and Nasonia Pharmaceutical. Although ambivalent about the assignment and uneasy about her online “friend,” Loki, she is enticed into researching what Sargent is doing with insect genetics that might upset the world of cancer research and treatment. Old friends Farrugia and Gennaro uncover a twisted conspiracy from their past and join Bianca in Boston where they will experience conflicted loyalties, question allies, and confront uncertain enemies, as they’re drawn into the wasp’s nest.

“Again, Valjan successfully conflates multiple sophisticated narratives that bring the past and present together, which the archaeological theme of the last novel also helps accomplish . . . Black is back and just as entertaining as ever.”

—Kirkus Book Reviews

“…a compelling reading, action-packed and with intriguing characters. The plot had plenty of twists and turns, some surprising secrets, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing until the very end.”

—The Book Junkie

ABOUT GABRIEL VALJAN

Gabriel Valjan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Roma Series, available from Winter Goose Publishing. Gabriel has also written numerous short stories and essays found online and in print.

Connect with the author: Website ~Twitter ~ Facebook

GIVEAWAY

5 winners get a paperback copy of CC
5 winners get an ebook copy of CC
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in paperback (signed)
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in ebook format
12 winners total
Print copies open to USA and ebooks open international
Giveaway ends Dec 17

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You may see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
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You can see my review for Roma: Underground, Book I, by Gabriel Valjan HERE.

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#5Star New Release – Water Under the Bridge by Britney King @britneyking_

Posted on October 25, 2016 by fundinmental

Water Under The Bridge was listed as one of iBooks Most Anticipated Romance’s of Fall in the romantic suspense category!!!

I love romantic suspense, so when Britney King asked me if I wanted to read Water Under the Bridge I said yes. I am so glad I did, because I now know why iBooks raved about this fantastic novel that knocked my socks off.

I have not read any other works by her, but I aim to correct that.

This gorgeous cover looks so nice…doesn’t it? Britney King designed it herself.

Wait til you read the not so nice story inside!!!!!

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I love the cover for Water Under The Bridge by Britney King. She designed it herself. It looks like it could be for a paranormal/supernatural novel, but this is so much better. We have not one, but two serial killers!!! And one is female!!! The is a love story like none I have ever read before.

Each chapter starts with a sketch and I like to try and figure out what it’s telling me.

The beginning is tantalizing, teasing me, making me have to know how we got to this point.

“Maybe you would be better off dead and I can’t help but wonder if I have it in me.”

What do you think of that?

Kate wants a divorce. She likes to be in control, but so does he. The judge says six months of counseling. Can you imagine a judge telling two serial killers they have to go to counseling? 😆 And then the counselor telling them to write a letter before their next appointment. What do you think would be in the letter? His is titled:

Water Under The Bridge

When they first meet, he never could have anticipated what the future held for them. It made me think of a Criminal Minds episode, you know, when two like minded individuals encounter each other and immediately know WHAT they are, and it ain’t normal.

I am so hooked, from the very beginning, devouring the words, knowing at 11% that I won’t be able to stop until it’s over.

I can’t say much about the story or the characters because it will give away too much of this deliciously evil and wicked story. The characters are so complex, so outside the norm, so twisted. We know they are both serial killers, so to think they can have a normal life is…well…difficult to imagine. Marriage? Children? Can sociopaths love?

Til death us do part may mean an entirely different thing to them.

I had wondered about their first meeting and what would be the outcome. The clues were there for me to figure out from the beginning, but this was a new twist I didn’t anticipate so I missed it. Nice one Britney. I love when an author makes me question my assumptions and Britney does, from the opening pages.

Britney King’s writing is fabulous, creating tension and suspense, the pacing whetting my sense of anticipation. One thing after another after another. I gotta know. I gotta know what comes next.

I find myself falling for these terribly flawed human beings and using the word flawed is putting it mildly! I want a happy ever after for these cold blooded killers.

There are so many wonderful surprises hidden between ‘the pages’ of this awesome, heartpounding, thrill ride.So…you better hold on tight

The ending…how marvelous. I am shocked, left with my mouth hanging open and lovin’ every minute of it. I know an author has come up with some great ideas when I am left feeling lost without more to read. But wait…

Water Under The Bridge by Britney King started out as a solo novel. Now, it will be a trilogy, but each book can stand alone. I am so happy.

I received a free copy of Water Under The Bridge from Britney King.

5+++++ Stars

GOODREADS BLURB:

My whole life I’ve wanted nothing more than to fit in.
Only, my whole life I’ve done anything but.
That’s probably because I’m anything but average. After all—female serial killers seem to be a minority in today’s society.
And that’s ok—because I’ve longed for a change for quite some time now.
Which brings me back around to fitting in.
You know what one has to do to fit in?
I do.
One has to blend.
Which is great news!
Because I realize my clock is ticking, so to speak, and now I want a family. Luckily, I’ve always been good at getting what I want.
So I figure what better place to blend than suburbia?
All that stuff I did before—it’s water under the bridge now. I just hope it’s not too late to change my ways. Here’s to hoping for suburbia’s sake, too.
I mean, what are the odds I could be the girl next door?
Apparently, they’re better than you might think.

==============================

Your whole life you’ve wanted to fit in.
Only your whole life you’ve done anything but.
That’s probably because you’re anything but average— you’re a killer— but, then so am I.
You say you’ve longed for a change for quite some time now.
This is good because, well, me too.
Your clock is ticking, you want a family, but you waste so much time.
I know because I’m watching, waiting, blending.
What you don’t realize is if you want me, and I think you do, then you’ll have to change your ways because sometimes hunters become hunted.
But what are the odds of that happening in suburbia?
Apparently, they’re better than you might think.

ABOUT BRITNEY KING

Britney King writes modern love stories for mature audiences. She also enjoys suspense and often finds her sweet spot penning a good mixture of the two. She is the author of seven novels, several of which have been featured on various bestseller lists, and is currently at work on number eight.

She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, children, two dogs, one ridiculous cat, and a partridge in a pear tree.

She enjoys hearing from readers and would love it if you would connect with her at www.britneyking.com or the plethora of social media accounts she posses.

To receive an email whenever the author releases a new title, sign up for the new release newsletter at britneyking.com/subscribe-to-new-rele…

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Kept Me Guessing – Review for The Second Man by Emelle Gamble @EmelleGamble

Posted on October 24, 2016 by fundinmental

I think Emelle Gamble has some great covers and the one for The Second Man did not let me down. It is a cover that grabs my attention, and I love that the girl is dominant, yet it hints at the romance inside.

Cover by Tammy Seidik

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

The deadly mystery of The Second Man by Emelle Gamble begins in the opening pages. I love when the author puts their hooks in me right out of the gate. I have read a couple other books by Emelle Gamble and I think each book I read keeps getting better and better.

Jill’s school reunion is coming up and her bestie, Carly, is coming home from Europe with her husband and child. There will be two more men who will arrive and create all kinds of havoc for her, a triangle…of sorts.

I have an inkling of what’s coming, but Emelle Gamble does a great job of twisting and turning things, keeping me guessing. One minute I think it’s too obvious for this guy, then I’m sure it’s him. I never really thought it was the other guy, but who then?

All the time I’m reading, the suspense builds…slowly. I know something will be happening, yet I have more to learn about the characters and their motivations before I will find out.

I like that Jill didn’t immediately climb into bed with her old love, even though she wanted to jump his bones. She gives her ex the benefit of the doubt when he comes knocking on her door, even though she wants nothing more to do with him.

I am often accused of being cynical, but I think I am a realist. Why throw your trust out there willy nilly, especially after having been burned. What’s wrong with waiting for someone to prove their trustworthiness?

I can relate to her decision making process – slow and methodical. I mull it over and anticipate all the options, just like she does.

The characters are more complex than I anticipated and it kept me guessing what their actions would be. I love when I start out thinking people and events are so predictable and the author jerks me around, hopping from suspect to suspect, unable to be sure who the guilty party is until the end. Her writing misdirected me and when I found out, it was so obvious, all I could think was, good job Emelle.

I look at the very pretty cover and think this will be more of a cozy, but as I read along, I had to change my mind. The villain will bump off anyone that gets in his way or may discover his secret.

If you are looking for a great mystery that’s heavier than a cozy, yet doesn’t have blood and guts flying off every page, The Second man by Emelle Gamble is for you.

I received an advanced reading copy of The Second Man by Emelle Gamble in exchange for my honest review.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB: Jill Farrell’s college reunion is coming up, but she wants no part of it. The man she once loved, Swedish exchange student Max Kallstrom, is rumored to be attending, but that doesn’t tempt her as Max disappeared from her life the night before the graduation, and has never been heard from since.

When her ex-husband, Andrew Denton, knocks on her door and announces he wants to make nice, and, “oh, by the way, one of their class alumni might be a murderer”, Jill’s resolve to avoid the event hardens.

Jill shuts Andrew’s efforts to reconnect down, and tries to put Max out of her mind.

And that’s that, until a second man knocks on her door, and the emotions of a time long ago overtakes her. Max Kallstrom tells Jill she’s the reason he has come to California. He asks her to please let him explain why she hasn’t heard from him for fifteen long years.

She’s willing to listen to what he has to say, but immediately realizes that her memories must guide her through a wrenching and dangerous few days. While her heart remembers a handsome young lover, she and her classmates are all different people now, and the reality of a murdered friend proves she can’t trust everyone.

What’s not so clear is if she should trust anyone . . . especially Max Kallstrom.

ABOUT EMELLE GAMBLE

From Goodreads: Emelle Gamble was a writer at an early age, bursting with the requisite childhood stories of introspection which evolved into bad teen poetry and attempts at ‘real literature’ all copies of which she has since, very sensibly, shredded. She took her first stab at romantic fiction in an adult education writing class when her kids were in bed, taught by fellow writer Carolyn Haines, in Mobile, Alabama. As M.L. Gamble, she published several romantic suspense novels with Harlequin. She is now contracted with Soul Mate Publishing for Secret Sister, summer of 2013, and Dating Cary Grant, an early 2014 release.

Always intrigued by the words ‘what if’, Emelle’s books feature an ordinary woman confronted with an extraordinary situation. She most enjoys reading stories that surprise and amaze her, and hopes her readers will enjoy the challenging and exciting journeys her characters take.

Emelle lives in suburban Washington D.C. with her husband, Phil, her hero of thirty years, and two orange cats, Lucy and Bella. Her daughter, Olivia, and son, Allen, are happily launched on their own and contributing great things to society, which has always been their mother’s fondest wish.

Website / Twitter / Facebook

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Last Train From Perdition by Robert McCammon @MacCammon

Posted on October 22, 2016 by fundinmental

Last Train From Perdition is only one of the many stories Robert McCammon has to tell.

If you love some vampires with your horror, you’ll want to check him out.

If you have read I Travel by Night by Robert McCammon, and have been waiting for the next adventure in the series, then your wait is over. Book II, Last Train From Perdition is now available for pre-order and has a publishing date of October 31, 2016. I have not read the first book, but don’t feel it made a difference in my reading enjoyment.

Cover: Michael Whelan

Publisher: Subterranean Press

MY REVIEW

I won this ARC of Robert McCammon in the black and white scifi/fantasy/horror novella surprise giveaway at Little Red Reviewer. Thanks Andrea. I am very excited to read it. Robert McCammon’s name is familiar to me and he is a prolific author of horror.

Last Train from Perdition is the second novella in the I Travel By Night series. I don’t feel like it made any difference in the reading by not having read the first novella, but I sure do want to now.

Trevor is a vampire, but not the vicious, human killing kind, though he does have a mighty thirst for blood…he drinks cattle blood, but it is a constant struggle to keep to that. He takes on a “job” to recover a man’s errant son, who wants to come home, from a gang of Wild West killers and teams up with Ann to do it. Just think of having a sidekick like Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane. Together they must fight the Dark Society to accomplish their mission. The battle is vicious, savage, and lethal for humans and vampires alike. These are not your run of the mill vampires and Robert McCammon has many surprises in store for us in this original storyline that makes me love Trevor and see why Ann will sacrifice her life to help him. If you need another gun you guys…I’m in. Last Train from Perdition by Robert McCammon left me SCREAMING for more.

4 Stars

Add me to Goodreads

AMAZON BLURB: In I Travel by Night, master of horror Robert McCammon introduced the tortured and instantly unforgettable vampire adventurer Trevor Lawson—All Matters Handled—as he searched for his maker, LaRouge, in hope of becoming human once more. It wove a tale about the terrors of the Dark Society, featuring the gothic sensibilities of old New Orleans, and the unforgiving violence of the untamed frontier of 1886. Now McCammon returns to Lawson’s gripping journey and sends him West, in the chilling sequel novella Last Train from Perdition.

Ever on the hunt for LaRouge, Lawson still travels by night, but no longer alone. Crack-shot, whip-smart Ann has become his companion, on her own search for her vampire-taken father and sister. Lawson has been summoned from New Orleans and the Hotel Sanctuaire to Omaha by a wealthy man who needs his son retrieved from a band of outlaws. Lawson and Ann agree to take the case and travel to the town of Perdition where they find their prey—but things get complicated fast when a saloon shootout leaves an innocent girl badly injured.

On a night train from Perdition to Helena to find medical help, it soon becomes clear that Lawson and Ann’s enemies may also be looking to prey upon them. As they struggle against those forces of darkness with a trainload of their most unlikely allies yet, Lawson also wages battle with the darkness LaRouge left within him. This latest installment in Trevor Lawson’s battle for redemption finds bestselling McCammon at his thrilling best.

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Giveaway & Review – Roma: Underground by Gabriel Valjan @GValjan @NouveauWriter

Posted on October 20, 2016 by fundinmental

I was drawn into the Roma Series because of the fabulous covers and the storyline.

It made me think of Kathy Reichs and the the TV series, Bones, with her forensic anthropology, only for a character that specializes in forensic accounting.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I love the concept for Roma, Underground by Gabriel Valjan…a woman on the run and an investigator and archaelogist on a treasure hunt…of sorts.

If you like procedural novels, Roma is for you. Gabriel Valjan allows Bianca to take us step by step through her investigation, though there is more than one mystery going on.

Want to visit Roma? See some sights? Eat some great food…and lots of it? Then lets follow Bianca as she helps her ‘boyfriend’ solve the mystery of who is smuggling stolen historical artifacts out of the country.

Bianca’s step by step digital search and quick mind will have her ‘gang’ tiptoeing through danger as she tries to avoid discovery from her past employer, a covert US organization. I like that her investigation mirrored a forensic murder investigation, just surfing the internet instead of dissecting a body. She makes me think of Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds. You must find the parts and pieces and put them together.

Gabriel Valjan is very detail oriented in his descriptions of places and food. He takes us Underground, through caves, and dining in restaurants, showcasing the food enough to make your mouth water. My only complaint is sometimes the details dogged down the pacing, slowing the story and losing the sense of suspense and danger. This could be because I am an action junkie!!!

I questioned how I would get through the entire series, but the deeper into the story I went, the more involved I became. I was already interested in Bianca, but the peripheral characters grew around her, creating their own dilemmas that drew her in, bringing with them an increasing sense of danger.

Roma, Underground’s mystery is wrapped up nicely, but Bianca’s story is still left to our imagination…or the next book, Wasp’s Nest. Thank goodness I do not have to wait, because the entire series is available.

I received Roma Underground free of charge from Gabriel Valjan.

3 Stars

SYNOPSIS

ROMA, UNDERGROUND (Book #1)

Savvy forensic accountant Alabaster Black is hiding in Rome from her former employer, covert U.S. organization “Rendition.” While there under an assumed name she meets Dante, an investigator, erstwhile explorer and member of the Roma Underground, a band of amateur archaeologists who map the city beneath Rome. With Italian artifacts disappearing at an alarming rate, Alabaster and Dante search for answers and create a trap for the thieves. Through a mysterious online contact Alabaster learns she is being followed, and with her safety at risk she is forced to rethink her chosen alliances and discover hidden truths about herself.

ABOUT GABRIEL VALJAN

Connect with the author: Website ~Twitter ~ Facebook

GIVEAWAY

5 winners get a paperback copy of CC
5 winners get an ebook copy of CC
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in paperback (signed)
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in ebook format
12 winners total
Print copies open to USA and ebooks open international
Giveaway ends Dec 17

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Giveaway & Review – Strong Cold Dead by Jon Land @JonDLand @partnersincr1me

Posted on October 17, 2016 by fundinmental

I actually have two opportunities for you to win, so be sure and read to the end.

Strong Cold Dead

by Jon Land

on Tour October 2016

MY REVIEW

Jon Land writes a great story and Strong Cold Dead is the latest in his Caitlin Strong series. These novels will stand alone, but if you are just starting the series, I would always recommend beginning at the beginning. 🙂 Don’t want to miss anything, do you?

Politics and resentment create a hostile situation for Caitlin when she arrives on the scene of a riot, but that doesn’t stop her from taking action. And…that is only the beginning.

Jon Land’s Caitlin Strong novels are always on my reading list. I know I can’t go wrong and look forward to hours of action and adventure with Caitlin, a Strong and confident female character that defies death.

Caitlin is surrounded by characters who will grip you with their bravery and determination to get the job done, no matter the cost.

From Texas, to Canada, to Iraq, and back again, the evil doesn’t smack you in the face, but subtlely infuses itself into the story. Ghosts, Native American mysticism, terrorists and monsters rise to a crescendo that leaves me racing to the end, wanting to know…who will live and who will die.

Seeing the terrorism is on United States soil, I felt even more fear…for all of us…because I do believe things ‘like’ this could happen at any time.

I received an ARC of Strong Cold Dead from Jon Land.

5 Stars

Synopsis:

In her storied career as a Texas Ranger, Caitlin has confronted all manner of villains, but nothing that’s prepared her for the terrorist group ISIS’s pursuit of a devastating weapon on Lone Star State soil. The land in question lies on an Indian reservation where a drilling operation steeped in mystery and controversy is about to commence under the auspices of shadowy billionaire Cray Rawls.

But Rawls is only one of Caitlin’s problems. Her surrogate son Dylan, the oldest boy of her reformed outlaw lover Cort Wesley Masters, has joined the tribe to protest Rawls’ desecration of the sacred Indian lands. The same desecration that has unearthed an ancient evil Caitlin’s own great-great-grandfather fought nearly 150 years before. There’s also a twisted genius who’s uncovered the true nature of that evil, a young man with whom Caitlin shares a past now poised to deliver Armageddon from Texas’ canyonlands.

To save millions from a horrible fate at the hands of ISIS, Caitlin and Cort Wesley must sort through a web of death and deceit as tangled as the blood-soaked grounds of the reservation that hold a deadly secret. A secret that’s the source of a battle rooted in the past and now destined to determine the shape of the future.

Book Details:

Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Forge Books
Publication Date: October 4th 2016
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 0765335131 (ISBN13: 9780765335135)
Series: Caitlin Strong Novel #8
Get Your Copy of Strong Cold Dead by Jon Land on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or add it to your list at Goodreads

Read an excerpt:

CHAPTER 1

East San Antonio, Texas

“Nobody goes beyond this point, ma’am,” the tall, burly San Antonio policeman, outfitted in full riot gear, told Caitlin Strong.

“That include Texas Rangers . . .” She hesitated long enough to read the name plate over his badge. “. . . Officer Salazar?”

“That’s Sergeant Salazar, Ranger. And the answer is, yes, it includes everyone. Especially Texas Rangers.”

“Well, Sergeant, maybe we wouldn’t need to be here if a couple of your patrolmen hadn’t gunned down a ten-year-old boy.”

Salazar looked at Caitlin, scowling as he backed away from her Explorer. A few blocks beyond the checkpoint, a grayish mist seemed to hover in the air, residue of the tear gas she expected would be unleashed again soon. That is, unless the youthful crowd currently packed into the small commercial district at the near end of Hackberry Avenue dispersed, which they were showing no signs of doing. The third night of trouble had brought the National Guard to the scene in full battle attire that included M4 rifles and flak jackets. Caitlin could see more floodlights had been brought in to keep the street bathed in day-glow brightness, casting a strange hue in the air that reminded her of movie kliegs, as if this were a scene concocted from fiction rather than one that had arisen out of random tragedy.

Sergeant Salazar came right up to her open window, close enough for Caitlin to smell spearmint on his breath, as he worked a wad of gum from one side of his mouth to the other. “Those patrolmen found themselves in the crossfire of a gunfight between a neighborhood watch leader and gang bangers he thought were robbing a convenience store where most pay with their EFD cards. The clerk who chased them down the street just wanted to return the change they’d left on the counter for their ice cream, but the watch leader, Alfonzo Martinez, saw the scene otherwise and ordered the bangers to stop and put their hands in the air.”

Neighborhood watch leader Martinez, a lifelong resident of J Street who’d managed to steer clear of violence all his life, started firing his heirloom Springfield 1911 model .45 as soon as the gang bangers yanked pistols from the droopy waistbands of their trousers. The only thing his shots hit was a passing San Antonio police car, the uniformed officers inside mistaking the fire as the gang bangers’ and opened up on them so indiscriminately that the lone victim of their fire was a ten-year-old boy who’d emerged from the same convenience store.

It was almost dawn before everything got sorted out and the investigative team comprised of San Antonio and Highway Patrol detectives thought they’d managed to get control of the situation. Then relatively peaceful protests by day gave way to an eruption of violence at night, spearheaded by rival gangs who abandoned their turf wars to join forces against an enemy both of them loathed. Violence and looting reined, only to get worse by the second night when eight officers ended up hospitalized, one from what was later identified as a bullet instead of a rock. And now the third night found the National Guard on the scene in force and armored police vehicles from as far away as Houston barricading the streets to basically shut off the neighborhoods of East San Antonio’s northern periphery from the rest of the city.

“You’re still here, Ranger,” Sergeant Salazar noted.

“Just considering my options.”

“Only option you have is turn your vehicle around and leave the area, ma’am. You’re not needed or welcome here.”

“On whose orders exactly?” Caitlin wondered.

“Mine,” a female voice boomed, a moment before Caitlin heard a loud pop!, like a shotgun blast, crackle through the air.

CHAPTER 2

East San Antonio, Texas

A few blocks beyond the checkpoint, one of the spotlights fizzled and died, victim of a well-thrown rock more likely than a bullet. Caitlin was out of her Explorer by then, hand instinctively straying to her holstered SIG Sauer P-225 in anticipation of more shots to follow.
“Get back in your vehicle, Ranger,” said Consuelo Alonzo, deputy chief of the San Antonio police department, as she strode forward, red-faced from the exertion of rushing to the scene from the police line upon learning of Caitlin’s arrival.

“You got a problem with getting some more back-up?” Caitlin asked her.

“I do when it comes from you.”

“Why don’t you catch your breath and hear me out?”

“Because there’s nothing you have to say that can possibly interest me right now. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re sitting on a powder keg one spark away from blowing San Antonio to hell. We don’t need you providing that spark, Ranger. No way.”

Instead of settling down, Alonzo’s agitation continued to increase. Her face had grown redder, her words emerging through breaths becoming more and more rapid. She had risen quickly through the ranks of the department, becoming the youngest woman ever to make captain three years prior to her recent promotion to deputy chief. And she had been rumored to be in line for the job of Public Safety Commissioner that came with a plush Austin office and a job that would place her, among other things, as chief overseer of the Texas Rangers. Alonzo no doubt relished that particular perk of a job certain to be hers, until the death of a Chinese diplomat, exacerbated by Caitlin’s solving the murder while Alonzo was dealing with more politically oriented ramifications, led to her being passed over.

Alonzo had overcome an appearance often referred to as “masculine” by even her supporters and much worse than that by her detractors, who seemed to put no stock in the fact that she was happily raising three young children with her husband who was a professional boxing referee. This was Texas, after all, where a woman needed to work twice as hard, and be twice as good, in a profession ruggedly and stubbornly perceived to be for men only. Caitlin and Alonzo had had their differences over the years, but had mostly maintained a mutual respect defined by their professionalism, and the sense that their own squabbles only further emboldened those who sought their demise.

At least until Alonzo cast Caitlin with all the blame for her losing out on a job that was likely never going to be hers now. Since then, she’d used her position as deputy chief to wage subtle war on the Rangers’ San Antonio-based Company F whenever possible, seizing upon any bureaucratic conflict or jurisdictional dispute she could in a hapless attempt to make Caitlin’s life miserable.

Alonzo ran a hand through her spiky hair. She was heavyset and had once set the woman’s record for the bench press in her weight class. She’d also done some boxing and was reputed to be the best target shooter with a pistol in the entire department. But Caitlin had beaten her three times running when they’d gone up against each other in state-sponsored contests, winning the overall title in two of those instead of just the woman’s division. She’d stop entering after her most recent victory, figuring the last thing she needed was to draw more attention to herself than her exploits already had.

“You’re not moving, Ranger,” Alonzo told her.

Caitlin gestured toward a figure pressed tight against the waist-high concrete barrier erected to close off the street to unauthorized vehicles. “See that woman there? That’s the mother of the boy who was killed by the fire of those SAPD officers. She’s the one who called me, asked me to see what I could do about the violence being done in her boy’s name. She doesn’t want the city to burn on his account. She wants this resolved peacefully.”

“And you think I don’t?”

“No, ma’am. It’s question about how you’re going about things.”

“And how’s that?” Alonso asked, not sounding as if she was really interested in Caitlin’s answer. “We got a full-scale riot brewing back there. What exactly do you think you can do about it that we can’t?”

“I’ve got an idea or two.”

“Care to share them?”

“Ever hear of Diego Ramon Alcantara?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“He goes by the nickname ‘Diablo.’ Leader of a gang running drugs for a Mexican cartel that sees the riots as their opportunity to solidify their hold on the business throughout the state. And Diablo Alcantara has united the city’s normally warring gangs toward that purpose on the cartel’s behalf. I take him off the board, all this goes away.”

Alonzo shook her head, her expression a mix of resentment and disbelief. “You alone?”

“That’s right. Just give me a chance. What have you got to lose, Deputy Chief?”

“How about this city?”

Caitlin turned her gaze in the direction of the rioting. “Seems to me it’s already lost. Thing at this point is to get it back.”
Alonzo’s lower lip crawled over her upper one, puckering her cheeks until she blew out some breath that hit Caitlin like a blast wave from a just opened oven. “We’ve got five hundred personnel on scene who haven’t been able to manage that.”

“Would it really hurt to listen to what I’ve got to say?”

“It hurts me standing here right now instead of commanding the front line. The governor just approved an assault. We move inside the next hour, if the crowd doesn’t disperse as ordered.”

“Just give me a chance.”

This time Alonzo finished her chuckle. “You know the saying ‘stone cold dead,’ Ranger?”

“I do.”

“Maybe you haven’t heard that among Texas law enforcement types it’s called ‘strong cold dead’ now.”

Caitlin smiled slightly. “Is that a fact?”

Alonzo was left shaking her head. “Tell me, when you look in the mirror, how big’s the army that looks back?”

“Well, you know how the saying goes, Deputy Chief,” Caitlin said, backpedaling toward her SUV. “’One riot, one Ranger.’”

CHAPTER 3

East San Antonio, Texas

Caitlin skulked about the outskirts of the neighborhoods just outside the riot zone. Through windows not boarded up or covered in grates, she spied more than one family following the simmering violence just a few blocks away on their televisions while huddled against a wall.

According to the information she’d obtained from a trio of informants, “Diablo” Alcantara was running the show from his sister’s home near J Street two blocks from the brewing riot’s front lines. The cartels had trained Alcantara well, taught him the tricks of their own trade to inspire everyday people to turn to violence to the point that it came to define them. A road a person was often too far down by the time he found himself on it at all. So it was here in East San Antonio, where closing the schools for the day had turned hundreds of teenagers into virtual anarchists, looting and destroying for its own sake. Right now Caitlin could still smell the smoke from a Laundromat that had burned to the ground when local firefighters and their trucks were chased back by crowds hurling bottles and rocks. Three had been hospitalized and one of the engines had been abandoned at the head of the street where it too had been set ablaze.

The Laundromat had chemicals and detergents stored in a back room that turned the air noxious for a time, the strange combination of lavender soap powder mixing with the corrosive bleaches to form the perfect metaphor for the city of San Antonio. Watching those white curtains of mist wafting through the flames to chase the rioters away more effectively than any efforts the authorities had mounted, though, had given Caitlin the idea to which Deputy Chief Alonzo had refused to listen.

Holding her position against a house in view of the main drag, Caitlin checked her watch, then the sky, and finally her cell phone to make sure she had a strong signal. Since word was the gangs were communicating via text message, there was talk of shutting down the grid, lasting until nobody could figure out a way to do it quickly—something she was glad for now.

Above the fire smoke and tear gas residue staining the air in patches, the night sky was clear and she made out a bevy of news choppers with navigation lights flashing like the stars millions of miles beyond them. Creeping closer to J Street and the home of Diablo Alcantara’s sister, Caitlin froze just beyond the spray of a streetlight showcasing a block packed with gang members proudly and openly displaying their colors.
Amid the gang bangers unified in this unholy alliance, she spotted a stocky figure more bulk than muscle holding court near the rear. Diablo Alcantara had gotten into a knife fight while in high school and ended up losing an eye to a slice that split the left side of his face right down the middle. Even in pictures, it was hard to look at the jagged scar and translucent orb visible through the narrow slit Alcantara had for a socket without feeling a flutter in her stomach from the sight.

Caitlin knew the stocky figure was Alcantara the moment he turned enough toward the streetlight for its spray to reflect off the marble-like thing wedged into his skull in place of an eye. She counted fifty bangers in the vicinity armed with assault rifles and submachine guns no intelligence report had made mention of, meaning such firepower must’ve only just reached the scene courtesy the cartels.

The bangers, under Diablo Alcantara’s leadership, looked ready to launch their assault that would push the rioting from this neighborhood into the city proper, intent on turning San Antonio into Juarez. Caitlin’s plan hadn’t accounted for going up against heavy weaponry, but the reality made its implementation all the more necessary. Giving the matter no further consideration, she lifted the cell phone closer and pressed out three words in a text message:

COME ON IN

Caitlin figured she had three, maybe four minutes to wait, spending the first of them following the gang members’ antics in preparation for what was to come. Some of them wore military-grade flak jackets, in odd counterpoint to the pungent scent of marijuana smoke gradually claiming the air. She watched beer bottles drained and smashed, a few stray shots fired into the air to cheering by the most chemically altered in the bunch.

Caitlin checked her watch one last time before she stepped out from the darkness onto the street, light glinting off her badge and holstered pistol in plain view, as she continued toward the center of the block.

“I’m a Texas Ranger,” she called out to the gang members, whose gazes fixed on her in disbelief. “All of you, stay right where you are.”

Author Bio:

Jon Land is the USA Today bestselling author of 38 novels, including eight titles in the critically acclaimed Caitlin Strong series: Strong Enough to Die, Strong Justice, Strong at the Break, Strong Vengeance, Strong Rain Falling (winner of the 2014 International Book Award and 2013 USA Best Book Award for Mystery-Suspense), Strong Darkness (winner of the 2014 USA Books Best Book Award and the 2015 International Book Award for Thriller and Strong Light of Day which won the 2016 International Book Award for Best Thriller-Adventure, the 2015 Books and Author Award for Best Mystery Thriller, and the 2016 Beverly Hills Book Award for Best Mystery. The latest title in the series is Strong Cold Dead, to be published on October 4 and about which Strand Magazine said is “certain to rank Land among a handful of our most talented thriller authors of this decade.” Land has also teamed with multiple New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham on a new sci-fi series, the first of which, The Rising, will be published by Forge in January of 2017. He is a 1979 graduate of Brown University and lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Catch Up with Jon on his website and on Twitter & Facebook

Tour Participants:

GIVEAWAY

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for Jon Land to celebrate the release of his 8th Caitlin Strong thriller, Strong Cold Dead. There will be 5 winners of one (1) autographed copy of Strong Cold Dead by Jon Land. This giveaway is limited to US & Canadian residents only. The giveaway begins on September 28th and runs through November 3rd, 2016.

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For my giveaway, we have an ebook for International visitors and a print copy of Strong Cold Dead by Jon Land for a US visitor.

Show some love to Jon Land and leave your email. Good luck! Ends 11.3.16

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours

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You can see my Reviews HERE.
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One Sentence Review for Mutation Z by Marilyn Peake @marilynpeake

Posted on October 15, 2016 by fundinmental

I have been reading Mutation Z by Marilyn Peake, a novella series, that, even with the zombies, smacks of realism.

You can find out more and check out my reviews at the links below, but for now, I will share #5 and #6, the final chapters of a truly frightening glance at the apocalypse that could make the human race extinct. Do you believe something like this could happen in real life?

If you want to find out if this zombie horror is for you, the first story is FREE.

Amazon / Goodreads

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Mutation Z: Dragon in the Bunker Novella #5 by Marilyn Peake

Amazon / Goodreads

Mutation Z: Dragon in the Bunker Novella #5 by Marilyn Peake

MY REVIEW

Journalist Hunter Morgan is a seriously messed up guy who has lost so much because of the Z virus, but he never gives up and I love that, because in this apocalyptic horror novella, all my conspiracy theories developed into full blown betrayal and treason showcasing an evil so potent that it makes me so angry I want to jump into my Kindle and beat the hell out of someone…or so much worse and with writing like that I say, “Well done, Marilyn,” as we move on to a new beginning in Hunter’s life.

GOODREADS BLURB: Journalist Hunter Morgan gains an unlikely ally in his search for the truth about the origins of the zombie virus. Mark Chen, youngest son of a co-owner of Chen-Zamora Pharmaceuticals, shows him information more frightening than his greatest nightmares. Together, they travel all the way from an abandoned meth shack in the Mexican desert to China, evading the authorities by communicating with Mark’s contacts through a video game on the Dark Web. NOVELLA. GENRES: Apocalyptic Science Fiction, Zombie Fiction, Conspiracy Fiction, Horror.

4 Stars

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Mutation Z: Desperate Measures, Novella #6 by Marilyn Peake

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Marilyn Peake wraps up this novella series, exposing all the conspiracies and corruption, the perverted reasons for setting the zombies loose, and my juices were flowing as they pissed me off and sickened me beyond words, but left me with the faith that a ‘few good men/women can make all the difference in the world.

GOODREADS BLURB: Sixth and final book in the series.

As things heat up in the United States with both the U.S. military and radical militias targeting those trying to develop a vaccine and cure for the Zombie Plague, more researchers flee to Mark Chen’s bunker in China. There, they will be free to carry on their research. Bringing patients afflicted with the Zombie Virus to China on a cargo ship, they’re attacked by pirates. It becomes very clear that they’re in a race against time to try and save the human race. NOVELLA. GENRES: Apocalyptic Science Fiction, Zombie Fiction, Conspiracy Fiction, Horror.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos

5 Stars

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Marilyn Peake has now created a complete set of all 6 novellas for the Mutation Z series at an amazing price of $.99.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Each novella is an important part of the whole in the Mutation Z series by Marilyn Peake. Her writing amazes me, bringing the characters and the world they created to life. The Zombie Virus was developed by some of the most evil men ever to walk this earth, all for their own gain and self interest. The brutality they dealt out as the blood and guts flew, the lives that were lost as the good people struggled to expose the conspiracy, is shocking. I felt this story rang of possibilities, that something like this could really happen. Maybe not exactly as written, but when push comes to shove, the elite will sacrifice anything and anyone to get what they want. If you want to be shocked, pissed off, saddened, frightened, left with food for thought, then Mutation Z is for you.

5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB: Omnibus Edition of All Six Books in the Mutation Z Series

Ebola, one of the most feared of the hemorrhagic diseases, begins spreading across the borders of countries in West Africa. Soon after, the disease mutates into the “Z” or Zombie Virus. Journalist Hunter Morgan uncovers a disturbing connection between Chen-Zamora Pharmaceuticals and this mutation. Further investigation reveals a web of sinister intrigue connecting the pharmaceutical company to a treatment and research camp in West Africa, U.S. government officials, the CDC and the World Health Organization. Racing against time to find a cure, Hunter and several scientists go underground in order to hide from powerful forces trying to silence them forever.

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
Problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

MY REVIEWS FOR MUTATION Z BY MARILYN PEAKE

Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombie

Mutation Z: Closing Our Borders

Mutation Z: Protecting Our Own

Mutation Z: Drones Overhead

With the fantastic price for the entire series at a shocking $.99, I did not feel it necessary to list them individually, but if you would like to see if this is for you, you can grab the first novella for FREE HERE. Grab your Amazon copy today!

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Poor Baby Dragon – Giveaway – The Emerald Key by Mark Frederickson @mfredwriter

Posted on October 14, 2016 by fundinmental

The Emerald Key by Mark Frederickson is a fun filled adventure for all ages.

If you like dragons, I LOVE dragons, this baby will steal your heart.

MY REVIEW

The Emerald Key by Mark Frederickson is a fun filled adventure for kids of all ages. When I read about magic and dragons, I knew I wanted to go with them and I love that the action began early.

Laci lives mostly through books. Her best friend, Penny, stands up for her when she won’t do it for herself. They are opposites, Penny is an athlete and a chic dresser. Laci is a bookworm and dresses for comfort. She’s a bit of a klutz too.

In the attic, the girls find a hidden box and the adventure is set in motion.

Four teens, a book of magic and a baby dragon…

“Poisonous snakes, dragons, cliffs and traps? Guessing this isn’t a big tourist destination.”

A fun story of traveling through portals with a fire breathing baby dragon, dodging styggs, Chuvashia, Hellblaze Wyvers, Vardo Witches, Glem fog, pirates and deadly vines, all to return him to his home.

I can’t figure out who they can trust or who will betray them.

I do wonder if one mystery will be solved and they will return home with more than they started out with…or less.

What would you think if the fantasy world you read about became a reality and you were in it?

The Emerald Key made me think of Neverending Story. A book is an adventure, but what happens when magic brings it to life?

I love action and adventure and we also have a mystery to solve. All the characters have an important part to play and I hope if I ever fall down the rabbit hole I have friends like Laci’s to accompany me.

The ending was fabulous and if you like a smile on your face when you close a book, then this will be good one.

I received a copy of The Emerald Key from Mark Frederickson.

4 Stars

The Emerald Key by Mark Frederickson & Melora Pineda

Penny and Laci are headed for a mundane summer vacation until a mysterious journal unlocks a portal to another world and they find themselves face to face with a baby dragon. In an attempt to send their new acquisition back to its home, the girls, along with two neighborhood friends, get sucked through to a mythical world. In this land, they must battle foes seen and unseen, pushing them to both their physical and mental limits. If they fail to stop the powers they’ve unleashed, it could not only destroy this strange world, but also annihilate their own.

WOODSHED EXCERPT

They could hear the deep breaths of the dragon as it passed by the shed. They crouched motionless under the window with their backs pressed against the wall. Not only did they hear it sniffing the ground and the walls, but that familiar methane smell was overwhelming. It rounded the side and approached the woodshed doors.

Buzz mouthed a jumbled Hail Mary while attempting, but failing to make the sign of the cross.

A loud screech in the distance startled them out of their silent formation and Buzz’s haphazard prayer. The dragon pushed off the ground with its massive legs and flew away, back in the direction of the enormous mountain they had seen from the top of the knoll. It turned back once to circle the shed; then as quickly as it arrived, it vanished into the horizon behind the trees.

Praise for The Emerald Key

“In The Emerald Key, authors Mark Frederickson and Melora Pineda take readers on a fast-paced journey sure to enthrall not only middle-grade readers but their parents, as well. Laci and Penny will appeal to anyone looking for strong, resourceful female characters and the side characters are well-developed and hilarious, too (my favorite might be Buzz!).”
– Author Julie Gardner

“If you like fantasy and want adventure, this book is for you! It is entertaining for adults as well as middle-grade students…Just when you think there’s nothing new anyone could offer in a fantasy, these two authors prove you wrong. They have created a very believable new world fraught with danger and excitement at every turn. I couldn’t put it down.”
– Dani B

“I love the vivid characters and the way you can picture all the action…I would recommend this book for any age and it is a book that grandparents can buy for their grand kids and know that it is an exciting story and a safe read.”
– Amazon Customer

“A real page turner, loved it. This book is funny and an adventure story for both young and old readers. I’m looking forward to the next book!”
– MJP

Blog Tour Schedule

Mark Frederickson

Mark was born and raised in Southern California. He graduated UC Santa Barbara with a degree in film and has worked in the film industry for years. He has written several screenplays and had a show optioned by MTV. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Rebecca and his daughter Sara. This is his first novel, and hopefully not his last.

Facebook * Twitter

Melora Pineda

After Melora graduated from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, she worked in the television industry for several years before becoming a library volunteer at her daughters’ school. Her passion for both reading and entertainment inspired her to write. This is her first novel. She currently lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband, daughter, and a pet bunny and a fish. Oh…never mind, the fish died.

Facebook * Twitter

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 10/30/16

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

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