I don’t buy many books, but when I saw Zombie Santa Claus and the good cause the proceeds from the sale of this short story was for, I had to have it.
I love the great cover for Zombie Santa Claus by Astrid Addams. This short story is horrorlicious and could be taken as a warning. Have all you parents been good this year?
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Zombie Santa Claus: Axe Murderer Edition
It was Christmas Eve and
the twins wanted to go and see Santa Claus. Mother wasn’t sure, but
they’d been so good lately hadn’t they? After all, what was the worst
that could happen?
Have you been naughty or nice? Be warned because the naughty will be punished and only the weak scream.
Have you said something you shouldn’t have? Be warned because Snitches get Gifted!
All author proceeds are being donated to Bacchus Residents Rescue.
Mermaids Marry In Green by Alice Renaud is Book III of the Sea of Love series. If you are a lover of the mer world, this is one series that is a must read.
Once I started reading Mermaids Marry in Green by Alice Renaud, I couldn’t stop. I forgot how fantastic the series is and I won’t put off reading any of her work again.
The afane had awakened, only to find out he was the last of his kind. He desperately struggles to find someone he can communicate with.
Calitha is on of the strongest mermaids in the western seas, but she struggles to fulfill her destiny. She wished she had had more time with her mother, more time to prepare for her role as the leader of the three mer clans. Whenever she was in doubt, she thought, “What would my mother do.” She never found time for herself, for a love life, for romance.
When Jonty, a warlock, entered her life, all bets were off. He came to her requesting her help in dealing with the afane, a water monster in England, and she was eager to go. The attraction was immediate, but Calitha is a leader, not to be mated to a human. Even though it was forbidden, the heart wants what the heart wants. It surely will not be an easy road, but I have a feeling…Sexual tension follows them, but they put it aside to deal with the problem at hand.
She surrendered, thinking she would have one night of pleasure before she returned to her duties, but that one night told her the truth – he was her mate. Of course, we know that is coming, but I do love all the push/pull that keeps them from making a commitment. It’s how the romance will come about that becomes one of the most interesting aspects of the story.
They both had a past, a mistake made, guilt weighing them down. Of course their love will have a rocky road filled with danger, but the sex is sweet…and HOT.
I love mer stories, but all too often I don’t finish a series. I am so glad I had all three of the Sea of Love series, because once I started it, I didn’t want to quit. Now that the story is told, what do I do? Where do I go from here. Any suggestions Alice?
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Mermaids Marry in Green by Alice Renaud.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Caltha Dooran is the toughest, fiercest shape-shifting mermaid in the western seas. She has three Clans to rule, and no time for romance. But when a warlock, Jonty, turns up and asks her to come with him to London to capture a water monster, she can’t say no. In London, away from her duties, her attraction for Jonty grows… and they soon fall under each other’s spell. But will his past and her responsibilities pull them apart, or can they find the only true magic, the one that binds two souls together?
ABOUT ALICE RENAUD
Alice lives in London, UK, with her husband and son. By day she’s a compliance manager for a pharmaceutical company. By night she writes fantasy romance about shape shifting mermen, water monsters and time-travelling witches. Her first book, “A Merman’s Choice,” was published in January 2019 by Black Velvet Seductions. It is the first book in a fantasy romance trilogy inspired by the landscapes and legends of Brittany and Wales. The second book, “Music for a Merman,” is out now and the third, “Mermaids Marry in Green,” will be released on 1 November. Alice has also written a short story, “The Sweetest Magic of All,” included in the BVS “Mystic Desire” anthology, out now. Alice loves reading and writing stories, and sharing them with anyone who’s interested!
This year I have finished more series than usual and am proud of that. A lot of times, I start a series, read the first book, and never continue. Not so here and I am happy I took the time to get the entire story of Selkie Moon.
The Third Note by Virginia King picks up where The Second Path, Book II, left off. I highly recommend reading this series in order.
A package arrives from Selkie’s long dead grandmother. It was supposed to be delivered on her eighteenth birthday, but it was seventeen years late. Stella, her step mother begs her not to open it and it just makes Selkie more curious about what’s inside. I knowsecrets have been kept and I want her to find them out.
“What if you could heal the past?” That is what Selkie has been trying to do since her move to Hawaii.
Soooooo, it’s off to Ireland with Davina, who believes Selkie is a psychic detective. They both have pasts that will confront while there. She’s on a mission to discover what happened to her twin relatives. Supposedly, one was murdered and the other sent away.
Psychic visions, myths and legends, fairies, ghosts, magic, superstitions, secrets, and Selkie is determined to unveil them.
The Third Note is heavy on the mystery and the suspense is subtle, yet there are urgent and dangerous moments as Selkie and Davina visit their roots in Ireland. So many pieces to the puzzle, it took Selkie spelling it out for me, piece by piece, to see how the puzzle came together. The romance is sweet and develops over time.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of the Third Note by Virginia King.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
A mysterious parcel. An unsolved crime. A spell from beyond the grave.
After
returning from her last strange quest, Selkie Moon is more than ready
to settle down. So when she receives a parcel from her great grandmother
35 years after her death, opening it seems like such a bad idea.
But
curiosity wins and the objects it contains plunge Selkie into
long-buried family secrets. Suddenly an old mystery begins to echo with
the present and she’s wrapped in a spell that won’t let go: frightening
visions, deadly encounters and a pull from the past that she can’t
ignore. What happened down by the old stone well in 1896 – and why does
it matter to Selkie after more than a hundred years? Armed with only her
wits and psychic twinges that are hardly reliable, Selkie is drawn into
a web of cryptic clues that delve deep into the folklore of Ireland
where superstition still weaves a powerful – and fatal – spell.
If
you love mysteries with lightning pace, twists and turns you never see
coming, quirky clues and a sprinkling of the supernatural, then you’ll
love The Third Note.
Join Selkie Moon on a quest that will threaten not only her sanity, but her life.
ABOUT VIRGINIA KING
When a voice wakes you up in the middle of the night and tells you
to write a mystery series, what’s a writer to do? That’s how I came to
create Selkie Moon, after a massage from a strange woman with gifted
hands was followed by this nocturnal message. I sat down at the
keyboard until Selkie Moon turned up — a modern woman with a mythical
name. Soon I was hooked, exploring far-flung places full of secrets
where Selkie delves into psychological clues tangled up in the local
mythology.
Before Selkie Moon invaded my life, I’d been a
teacher, an unemployed ex-teacher, the author of over 50 children’s
books, an audio-book producer, a workshop presenter and a prize-winning
publisher. These days I live in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney
with my husband, where I disappear each day into Selkie Moon’s latest
mystery. Bliss.
Amanda Siegrist writes some wonderful clean romance and some a bit more suspenseful and I have been reading her work for quite a while (which you can see below). I am excited to share her latest holiday romance, Snowflakes & Shots.
Such a beautiful cover to go with a beautiful story.
I love visiting friends for the holidays, especially book friends in the year of Covid.
Snowflakes and Shots by Amanda Siegrist has a sweet cover that goes with the sweet story inside.
We will have some second chance romance and family conflict. It wouldn’t be a family holiday without some conflict, would it?
The story is predictable, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it tremendously. It was warm and cozy, like a hot fire and a cup of hot chocolate.
The characters are as realistic as the story and I love when a true piece of the author’s life is included in the story. I feel you too will enjoy meeting Curly …but I will leave it to you to figure out who Curly is and the part he plays in the story. It left me with a warm fuzzy feeling.
I don’t think you can go wrong with an Amanda Siegrist novel, especially this time of year. She will share a sweet romance, sometimes a bit steamier than her contemporary novels, but her stories do have all the feels I look for in a romance novel. I did debate between a 3 and a 4 rating because of the predictability, but the characters won me over, so a 4 it is.
I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of Snowflakes and Shots by Amanda Siegrist.
4 Stars
BOOKREADS BLURB
From USA Today
bestselling author Amanda Siegrist comes a heartwarming holiday series
that will fill you with the Christmas spirit and lots of love.
One last shot at love…
Stu
doesn’t have many regrets in life—not even the fact he never decorates
his bar for the holidays. But when a bar fight turns into needing
medical attention, he’s put face-to-face with the one woman he’s tried
to avoid for the last fifteen years. Okay, so maybe he regrets a few
things. He should’ve never walked away from her. It only took a good
knock to his head to make him see clearly. He’s going to win Chasity’s
heart once again. It doesn’t matter that she’s not going to make it
easy; he’s up for the challenge. Bring on the bets and all the Christmas
spirit he can handle. Except, one person doesn’t like the idea of them
together—the same person that had him walking away from her all those
years ago.
The entire Holiday Romance series: (Each book can be read as a standalone.) Merry Me (Book 1): Elliot & Lynn Mistletoe Magic (Book 2): Aiden & Theresa Christmas Wish (Book 3): Bentley & Emma Snowed in Love (Book 4): James & Erin Snowflakes and Shots (Book 5): Stu & Chasity
**images are linked to Amazon (I am an affiliate)**
Hello fellow bloggers. It’s been a quiet week and right now that is a good thing. How about you? Anything new you would like to share? Hope you have a good week.
Labyrinth of the Dolls is book two in Craig Wallwork’s Tom Nolan series. I loved the first one, so it was a no brainer grabbing this one when Craig asked me if I would like a copy.
I loved the first book of the Tom Nolan series, Bad People, by Craig Wallwork, so when I got the chance to get my hands on Labyrinth of the Dolls, Book II, there was no hesitation.
Pam Bollen was in a great mood as she set off to work. Every Wednesday, at 6:00 AM, she headed to the home of Joanna Harcourt to clean her house. The grisly sight awaiting her was the macabre body of Joanna.
Enter MIT, the Murder Investigation Team, and Tom Nolan. He had joined the team with the specific purpose of chasing down his nemesis.
The past converges with the present as Tom Nolan hunts for what the media has labeled the Dollmaker. Tom has a knack for finding serial killers and it will take all his resources to put the past to bed once and for all.
I love that Tom is not a GQ kind of guy, though there is nothing wrong with that. LOL In fact, I love them too. But Tom feels like a realistic character. He’s a bit on the chunky side with an overbite, but there is someone for everyone, isn’t there? Will we have a little romance on the side?
The Ragman is his boogieman, that comes in the dark doing evil things. Only he knows why he does what he does, but Tom is pretty darn good at getting into his head.
The Tom Nolan series is one of those that keeps on giving. In fact, I think it got better with Labyrinth of the Dolls. As I sit, watching Criminal Minds, I feel as if Craig Wallwork could have been one of the writers. His books are filled with human evils, frailties, weaknesses and strength.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Labyrinth of the Dolls by Craig Wallwork.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
EVIL HAS A NEW FACE
It’s been one year since the horrific murders of Stormer Hill,
and the events of that time continue to resonate with Detective
Constable Tom Nolan. In an attempt to find the second killer, known only
as the Ragman, Nolan joins West Yorkshire’s Murder Investigation Team.
Partnered
with Jennifer Morrison, a straight-talking detective with her eye on
promotion, the two officers are assigned to track down a new killer
whose victims are all found dressed like human dolls. As the
investigation progresses, Nolan becomes an intricate piece in the
killer’s grand vision that puts his life in danger.
But with the
body count rising daily and the pressure to find who the media is
labelling the Doll Maker increasing, Nolan discovers more than just a
series of grisly murders…
Within the human dolls, the answers he has sought for nearly a year may finally be found.
ABOUT CRAIG WALLWORK
Craig Wallwork is the author of the novels, Bad People, and The
Sound of Loneliness, as well as the short story collections,
Quintessence of Dust, and Gory Hole. His stories have been nominated
three times for the Pushcart Prize, many of which feature in various
anthologies and magazines both in the U.K. and U.S. He currently lives
in England.
I have been reading the Claus series by Tony Bertauski since the first one, Claus, Legend of the Fat Man. I have missed one or two, and hope to catch up on them. The series is unique and fun to read.
Gingerman is not my first foray into the world of Claus by Tony Bertauski and it won’t be my last. I have been loving this quirky series since the beginning, with Claus, Legend of the Fat Man.
Christmas White Blizzard, better known as Chris, is off to school. His mother loved Christmas so much, she names him and his sister, Yuletide. He is terrified of going off to school, but his desire to learn overrides his fears.
The Institute of Creative Minds is the ultimate dichotomy:
“Be creative and free. But follow the rules or go home.”
The Institute is unlike any school I have ever heard of before. It is Christmas all the time.
When he meets Joli, she decides to be his introduction to the school. I love her feisty, independent personality. She’s a rebel.
Gingerman….well, I don’t want to spoil your introduction to him, so you will need to discover everything about him yourself. I will tell you…he is…unusual. Whether he is good or bad, we will have to wait and see. The verdict is still out, but I do have my thoughts.
The magic of Christmas comes alive through Tony Bertauski’s descriptive words. So, come along with me, Chris, and the Gingerman to solve the mystery of the Institute. It is a wild ride and I think you may enjoy it. It is delightful, unique and mysterious.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Gingerman by Tony Bertauski.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
His real name is Christmas. It’s embarrassing.
He’s been accepted into the Institute of Creative Mind, a prestigious institute for eccentrics, outliers, and gifted students. A school located in the middle of nowhere with two-hundred-year-old castles and a formidable stone wall. A school where Christmas is celebrated the entire year.
Christmas trees, ornaments, and lights decorate the castles. Presents are given out every month, and students are pitted against each other in creative challenges. Chris soon finds out, however, the stakes are high.
The losers are expelled.
He spends sleepless nights keeping up with his homework to not disappoint his parents and to keep a cruel guidance counsellor off his back. But this place is more than a demanding school for gifted students. Chris finds a clue in a textbook his first night, written in code.
Run, run as fast as you can.
When he’s presented with an impossibility that defies all laws of physics and biology, anything becomes possible. Chris discovers students aren’t chosen for their artistic abilities but because of a DNA test. He doesn’t know what the school is really after. If he doesn’t stop them, Christmas will end forever. Everything depends on his courage.
My grandpa never graduated high school.
He retired from a steel mill in the mid-70s. He was uneducated, but he
was a voracious reader. I remember going through his bookshelves of
paperback sci-fi novels, smelling musty old paper, pulling Piers Anthony
and Isaac Asimov off shelf and promising to bring them back. I was
fascinated by robots that could think and act like people. What happened
when they died?
I’ve written textbooks on landscape
design, but that was straightforward, informational writing; the kind of
stuff that helps most people get to sleep. I’ve also been writing a
gardening column with a humorous slant. That takes a little more
finesse, but still informational for the most part.
I’m a cynical reader. I demand the
writer sweep me into his/her story and carry me to the end. I’d rather
sail a boat than climb a mountain. That’s the sort of stuff I wanted to
write, not the assigned reading we used to get in high school. I wanted
to create stories that kept you up late.
Fiction, GOOD fiction, is hard to write.
Having a story unfold inside your head is an experience different than
reading. You connect with characters in a deeper, more meaningful way.
You feel them, empathize with them, cheer for them and even mourn. The
challenge is to get the reader to experience the same thing, even if
it’s only a fraction of what the writer feels. Not so easy.
The Trapdoor by Hal Glatzer was originally published in the 80s and I think it would have been a realistic, frightening look at the computer world. I still enjoyed the book and remember those early years of computers and see how this would have people believing it could really happen….because it has.
Hackers put in trapdoors, so they can easily access a forbidden computer system and do what they will.
The Lightning is a hacker and his name is Joe. Of course, he is a nerd. 🙂 Anyone seeing him would recognize that about him. He loved his pocket protector and wore it everywhere, carefully choosing the pens. Even before he ever touched a computer, he loved to tinker with electronics, whether it was his electric train or the family’s television.
He makes his living taking from others, but gets in way over his head. There is a heart stopping moment or two, as his life is put on the line.
The Trapdoor is a great introduction into the world of computer hacking. It took half the book for me to get involved, but I would recommend meeting Joe and seeing what the repercussions are for crossing the line.
Hal Glatzer used his knowledge of computers to take us into his world and I enjoyed visiting it with him.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Trapdoor by Hal Glatzer.
3 Stars
AMAZON SYNOPSIS
Originally published as a paperback in 1986, The Trapdoor was one of the first novels to be set in the underground digital world of cyber-thievery and online pornography. In the book, a hacker gets into trouble with organized crime, and has to hack his way out. The title refers to a sinister technique for theft; but it also alludes to the risk of falling into one’s own trap! A forerunner to today’s notorious hackers, such as “Anonymous,” the protagonist of The Trapdoor is Joe (alias “The Lightning”), a techie nerd who lives quietly in a small apartment, surrounded by computers. Secretly stealing money online – as much for the thrill as for the money – is a flirtation with danger to which many of the earliest hackers were addicted. But Joe is drawn into a wider digital underworld until he’s not safe anymore. Suddenly he has enemies. And it’s bad enough when they try to kill him; but it’s worse when they steal his secret hacker identity. Progress in computer technology was once front-page news. In 1983, TIME magazine – for the first time ever – didn’t name a “Man of the Year.” Instead, the editors named the personal computer “Machine of the Year.” Computer entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were just getting noticed; and magazines were launched to help people use those new “machines”. At first, noisy modems slowly dialed computers over telephone lines; data storage was limited to mere kilobytes, on easily-damaged floppy disks. But technologies were constantly surging forward, and illegal computing activities surged right along with them. Readers of The Trapdoor will get a glimpse of that early time, when anything seemed possible, and the shadowy side of high-technology was just coming into view. And readers of a certain age, who were intrigued by computers in the ’80s, will enjoy The Trapdoor as a fond nostalgic trip back in time. So The Trapdoor has now been re-issued in the most up-to-date form for a novel: the e-book.
ABOUT HAL GLATZER
Hal Glatzer wrote his first piece of fiction in elementary school. He submitted The Mysterious Island to his third-grade teacher, who handed it back with this critique: “Great imagination. Terrible handwriting.” Perhaps that is what led, years later, to his embrace of computerized word processing! Visit his WEBSITE to learn more.
Conserving the
Radio Spectrum (Sams, 1984). Glatzer was one of the founders of the
Computer Press Association, a virtual press club for fellow
writers and editors in the field. He served as its vice president, and
for six years chaired the committee that created and presented the
annual Computer Press Awards for excellence in high-tech journalism.
Glatzer
has subsequently had more mystery novels published; but his first was
The Trapdoor. “Considering how far information technology has
progressed since the early ‘80s,” he says, “I want to give the computer
users of today a good idea of what life was like when the computer
revolution began, and give people like me, who were there, then, a trip
into the past. And the best way to bring that vintage paperback to
today’s tech-savvy readers is to turn it into an e-book.”
City of Ghosts by J H Moncrieff is a predictable, at times realistic, horror story that had me rapidly flipping the pages as Jackson Stone was chosen to tell a ghostly tale of pain, anger and vengeance.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Winner of the 2018 Kindle Book Review Award for best Horror/Suspense.
On the day the villagers were forced to flee Hensu, not everyone got out alive.
Jackson Stone is touring the abandoned Chinese city when he slips away from the group to spend the night, determined to publish an account of his ghostly experiences there.
Then he meets Yuèhai, a strange, soft-spoken woman who can tell him the city’s secrets—secrets the Chinese government would kill to keep hidden.
As Jackson uncovers the truth about Yuèhai and the ghost city, he’s drawn into a web of conspiracy, betrayal, and murder. He must risk everything to save himself and bring honor back to Yuèhai and her family.
The Dalya series by Katie Zaber needs to be read in order.
Below Dark Waters is told by three points of view.
Princess Mega is on the run, with her friends by her side, running from her father, who wants her dead. Does it get much worse that that?
Carmia is a free spirit, an adventurer. She felt the call of the sea and had Octavia built so she could take to the sea, where she felt at home. A woman pirate, gotta love it. She is on the hunt for treasure, leaving her family behind, though they didn’t miss her much.
Lily…love her. She is a master of disguise.
Seeing this is Book II, I don’t want to spoil the wonder of Princess Megan’s world. I want to be at her side, saving children, being taken to an underwater world where evil is afoot, growing, changing, evolving into the leader she never asked or wanted to be. She has devoted, loyal friends and gathers more, as they see her for who she is, a warrior, a fair and determined woman who knows right from wrong. She grabs what moments of happiness and love that are at her fingertips, knowing she may have to sacrifice her own desires and do the right thing for their worlds to survive and prosper.
The end is not here and I can hardly wait to see where we go to next.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Below Dark Waters by Katie Zaber.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Princess Megan, who never had a reason to assume she was anything but human, has been on the run, protected by her friends. With each step toward the city of Delmont, she hopes they will have time to regroup before setting sail to the Ka’Pamau Islands, their final destination. Instead, her bad luck shadows her and chaos continues to ensue everywhere she goes—including a new part of the world that most air breathers have yet to explore.
Confronted with another royal family and a smitten prince whose advances turn cold, she faces another life-altering decision with ramifications she can’t possibly begin to guess at.
Back on land, Lilly reveals more of her secrets, her story, and her goals. Monumental changes and challenges are headed her way as she embraces her new role in life.
On the sea, Aunt Carmia is stirring up trouble while continuing her hunt for the treasure she most desires. She experiences upheavals, but she is always prepared for the unknown.
As their stories unfold, they remain unaware how fate connects them in the world of Dalya
ABOUT KATIE ZABER
Katie Zaber is originally from Southern New Jersey. Her childhood
home is just minutes from the Long Beach Island Bridge. When not
writing, Katie can be found at wine tastings, sun bathing at the beach,
going for hikes, screaming at Six Flags, reading, or in her favorite
place, her kitchen, baking desserts and breads. She currently lives in
Morris County, New Jersey with her boyfriend.
