Elias Zanbaka reached out to me through Goodreads offering his short story, Environmentally Friendly, to me for review. I’m glad I took him up on the offer. At the time of posting, it was free (be sure and check for the “0”) and you can grab it HERE.
I’m so glad I grabbed this original, intense, wild rollercoaster ride of a short story that had me zipping through the pages, following a cop trying to do a good thing, giving more than taking and leaving me wanting more of this wonderful character.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Out of seven billion people, one man has declared war on Mother Nature and plans to bring it to its knees.
Out of all the criminals in Los Angeles, he’s the number one target being hunted by the LAPD tonight.
And out of the entire LAPD, one officer is hell-bent on helping him complete his mission.
I have been reading the Scion Chronicles since the beginning, The Daughter of Nothing by Eric Kent Edstrom. Sister of Shadows is the third book and all I can say is Eric did not let me down.
The evil of humanity oozes from the pages in the third book, Sister of Shadows by Eric Kent Edstrom. I am loving the series and can hardly wait to see how he wraps it up in the fourth and final book.
Sister of Shadows picks up where Child of Lies left off, so reading in order is necessary. I have loved each story, watching the children struggle to survive as they discover who they really are and why they were ‘born’.
The topic raises ethical and moral issues, while pointing out how power and money corrupt and some people will stop at nothing to get what they want.
I have a lot of notes, but because this is the third book, I tossed them to the wind. I will not spoil all the twists, turns and surprises that Eric has piled onto these resilient children. I have watched them grown and develop into young adults, pushed beyond anything they ever could have conceived. I have watched their leadership skills rise to the forefront, their maturity and creativity grow at a fast pace, forced because of their circumstances.
They make a run for freedom, for life, and the treachery and danger that follows them kept me in suspense, wondering who will survive, because Eric doesn’t hesitate to kill off his characters. I hope they haunt him at night. LOL One of my favorite newbies is Meow Meow and if you read the story you will see why. This girl is off the charts, afraid of nothing.
I find the story unique and original, and it sticks in my head. It is hard to surprise me with something new and different, so this is a refreshing story. A story that keeps on giving a high level of tension and pacing, keeping my total attention.
I laughed, I cried, I raged and I sighed…knowing Eric has more to come.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Sister of Shadows by Eric Kent Edstrom.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Escape. That is all Jacey cares about as the riveting story of the Scions continues.
Escape is in their grasp. The Scions now have a way off the island—a ship—but they have no place to go.
With
an enemy hiding in their midst, and shaken by murder, kidnapping, and
an impending military invasion, time for escape is running out.
A fast-paced rollercoaster of a novel, Sister of Shadows will keep you breathless all the way to the shocking finale.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR .
Eric is an author, songwriter, husband, father, and guitarist. He is the author of YA SF series The Undermountain Saga, which includes Undermountain, Afterlife, and Starkiller.Eric loves working out with kettlebells and eating pretty much anything with peanut butter. . Stalk Eric: Website / Twitter / Goodreads .
I shared Sweet Dreams for Teaser Tuesday and now I need a book for Saturday’s One Sentence Review. Seeing I loved Sweet Dreams by Aaron Patterson, it seems a perfect fit, I also must confess, the cover reached out…………
I wasn’t sure I was going to write a review about Sweet Dreams by Aaron Patterson until after I finished reading it, saw some of the mixed reviews and thought I needed to add my two cents by saying, “Hey man, it’s a fictional novel with lots of thrill, chills and surprises by some fiendish villains and loveable heroes that will keep you reading, and reading, and wanting more.”
4 Star
GOODREADS BLURB
*Warning The WJA series is a cross genre series and may bend or break many rules. If you are set in the traditional ways of storytelling this may not be the series for you. Please use caution and only read if you are of an open mind, and crave something off the map and mind-bending. Mark Appleton is living the American Dream. Beautiful wife, loving daughter, and a high paying job in New York City. But when his family are killed in a accident he must reinvent himself. A year later in the midst of putting his life back together, Mark finds out that his family was killed and it was…No accident. Mark will stop at nothing to hunt down the men responsible for the death of his family and what he finds will change his life forever. Kirk Weston is a Detroit detective. He hates his job, his ex-wife, and his life. He is hand selected to help the FBI on a high profile case and just when he thinks things could not get any worse… They do.
If you look at the Amazon blurb you will notice it and the Gooreads blurb are different. I always share the Goodreads blurb on my blog. After checking out the Amazon blurb, I have mixed feelings about this situation. Read the Amazon blurb below and let me know what you think.
AMAZON BLURB
Fans of Daniel Silva, Robert Ludlum, and James Patterson will enjoy
SWEET DREAMS by international bestseller Aaron Patterson. . .
Mark
Appleton was living the American dream. Beautiful wife, loving
daughter, and a high paying job in New York City. But his perfect life
is shattered when his family dies in an accident. In the midst of
putting his life back together, Mark discovers the seemingly random
accident that killed his wife and daughter was not an accident at all.
Mark will stop at nothing to hunt down the men responsible for the death
of his family, and what he finds will change his life forever.
“New
authors come and go every day. Very few come on the scene with the
ability to weave a tale that will make you sad to reach the end, longing
for more. At a time when the world needs a real hero, Patterson
delivers big with the WJA’s Mark Appleton—an unlikely hero for the 21st
century.” —The Joe Show
“SWEET DREAMS is packed with action, suspense, romance, betrayal, death, and mystery.” —Drew Maples, author of 28 Yards from Safety
Visit Aaron’s blog at TheWorstBookEver.blogspot.com Follow Aaron on twitter at www.twitter.com/Mstersmith Join Aaron on Facebook too!
Matt has not lost one wife, but two, taken before their time. Heaven Denied is a look into his psyche to see how one person deals with grief, the desperation of loss and the need to know….
Ken La Salle has a way of digging deep into my mind, raising questions and making me wonder what I would do. How would I handle the loss of someone so important to me that I cannot let them go. He gets inside my head, scrambling all my perceptions to the point where I get Matt’s motivation, his need to do something.
Matt needs…I don’t think he knows what he needs and I love that his mother is by his side as he searches. And Eric? Is he just along for the ride?
Ken La Salle walks his own line, as do his characters, and that shines through in his writing. They muddle through life, like the rest of us, looking for love and happiness. I love that his books do more than entertain me, they make me think, to read between the lines, to look into myself and ask the hard questions.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Heaven Denied by Ken La Salle.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
What would it be like to have heaven enough?
For
just a few, brief days on the Pacific Crest Trail, Matt Murphy knew. He
fell in love, faced his true self, and came to understand what was
really important in life – until the woman he fell in love with died and
his life was cast into the chaotic emptiness of grief. Within that
emptiness, Matt lost his wealth, his job, and everything that helped his
life make sense.
Matt believed he could accept that if it really
was the price of true love… Until he learned that the woman he loved
had already been married.
Where that left him and what it meant
for the love he thought they shared, Matt couldn’t know. His only
recourse would be to meet the man who had married his love and
understand what that love had meant to him. How could he have lost her?
How could he have pushed her aside? How could he have given her up when
losing her broke so much of what was left of Matt’s heart?
Matt
is going to have to find out. Even if it means blundering through
another relationship, driving into a lake, just a bit of kidnapping, and
possibly facing the kind of man he really is, was, and always will be.
The results of which could change Matt’s life forever…
Okay, this is my second attempt to create my review post for Deception Bay by Chris Patchell. I had the review written since November, but was waiting for it to release this month to get all the details. Then, it got buried in my draft folder and now…Any of you who have switched to the new WordPress **** know how frustrating this can be. I pushed the schedule button and voila…it disappeared…gone forever.
But not so Deception Bay. I love the gorgeous cover and it holds all the elements to hook me. I was also traveling when I read the book, so my notes from reading it back in November are scarce and my memory…well, let’s not discuss that. LOL
I love a prologue, especially one like Deception Bay’s that immediately hooked me and never let me go.
Austin is heading home to Whidbury Island to see about his mom, who has been in an accident.
He has a panic attack and meets Ellie.
The cat…named CAT after Inspector Clouseau’s valet because he’s sneaky and attacks when you least expect it. Makes for some hilarious scenes and I do like the extra fun with the critter.
If Austin wasn’t a writer, I might mistake him for Jim Rockford, from the Rockford Files. He’s constantly getting beat on. Love the character.
I figured out some of the mystery from the prologue, but I’m still working on the who. Why would anyone want to hurt his mother? Sure, she had issues, but who wouldn’t when their Golden Boy was taken from them before his time.
Austin is forced to face his past and the inner demons that he can’t seem to get rid of. He grows, changes, forgives and solves a couple of mysteries along the way.
Three deaths, past and present.
A wonderful tale of secrets, murder and mystery, with laughs along the way. I do love some chuckles with my murder
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Deception Bay by Chris Patchell.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
She’s armed. He’s dangerous. Together, can they stop a killer from tearing a small island community apart?
When
wise-cracking cozy mystery author, Austin Martell, left his hometown on
Whidbey Island for the bright lights of New York, he vowed he would
never go back. But some promises are impossible to keep, and when Austin
discovers that his mother has suffered a serious accident, he has no
choice but to return. Austin soon learns that her accident may be no
accident at all, and secrets that were laid to rest after his brother’s
tragic death off the coast of Deception Bay, have now begun to surface.
Austin
finds himself in the center of a real-life murder mystery, when Police
Chief Ellie Sharpe uncovers a curious connection between the author and
the death of a local businessman. Born and raised on Whidbey and trained
as a New York cop, Ellie is smart, and tough, and determined to solve
the mystery behind the killing before more people die. Sparks fly as the
two pair up to figure out who is responsible for the murder. The closer
they come to discovering truth, the more desperate someone is to keep
the sins of the past from coming to light.
Someone close to Austin harbors a deadly truth. Can Ellie unmask a killer before Austin becomes one more secret buried beneath the waves of Deception Bay?
ABOUT CHRIS PATCHELL
Chris Patchell is the bestselling author of In the Dark and the Indie Reader Discovery Award winning novel Deadly Lies. Having recently left her long-time career in tech to pursue her passion for writing full-time, Chris pens gritty suspense novels set in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her family and two neurotic dogs.
I have been reading Perry Prete’s Ethan Tennant series and loving it. His covers are simple, but the stories inside are not. Are you ready for some thrills? Put your thinking cap on and let’s dive into the mystery in The More Things Change.
I love that Perry Prete’s stories are inspired by his real life career as a paramedic in Ottawa and his passion for his work shines through his words.
A man is down at Parliament Hill and they are being tight lipped about their response. WTF Tennant, a paramedic in Ottawa, had been hand picked to respond, but for what and why? Galen, his cop friend, was there too. What had they gotten into?
Since the loss of his wife, Maddy, he had changed. He would have never acted impulsively. We all know that life goes on and now Ethan has a new girl, Becky. She had left, but is now back. She couldn’t stay away. I love his friends and would wish for the same.
Lots of action. Domestic violence, over doses and an attack by the bad guys that knew Ethan Tennant had something they wanted.
The story took a sharp turn and it took me to a very scary, frightening place, where all the guys are bad ones. but Ethan is cool, calm and collected with this latest confrontation.
“You’re a shit magnet, you know!” That does describe Ethan to a T. Trouble seems to be his middle name.
Well Perry…another fabulous thriller that had me looking around corners, over my shoulder and wanting Ethan by my side as danger ramps up, seeing how he manages to make it through…with bumps and bruises.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The More Things Change by Perry Prete.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Everyone thought the Second World War ended April 30th, 1945 with Hitler’s death.
In
2013, Ethan Tennant, a Paramedic for the City of Ottawa, discovers more
than a body on Parliament Hill. He unwittingly unleashes a secret that
began almost seventy years ago and still hasn’t been revealed. Some
people want to keep what he found a secret, others want the world to
know. Certain secrets are never meant to be known.
Hitler’s dream may not have died with his death.
ABOUT PERRY PRETE
Perry
Prete is a Canadian crime writer and paramedic. His first novel, All
Good Things, introduced us to Ethan Tennant, a City of Ottawa paramedic
who looks at crimes from the medical perspective.
Perry continues to work full-time as a
paramedic and uses his thirty plus years of life changing and sometimes
dramatic experiences to bring realism to his gripping medical novels.
His other works include, The Things That Matter Most and All Good
Things.
He is also a business owner,
specializing in the pre-hospital care field. His company sells medical
equipment across North America, primarily to EMS agencies.
A native of Sudbury, Ontario, Perry, graduated from Fanshawe College in London but now lives and works in Brockville, Ontario.
I have read several stories by Lawna Mackie now and I am definitely hooked on her writing. I’ve read about a gargoyle, a cowboy, and now a gypsy. She also has some great covers. And that tagline…makes me want to go to the circus and meet Avalon.
Gypsy Bride is my third book by Lawna Mackie and I was eager to begin reading. I enjoyed My Gargoyle and Stiletto & Spurs, so now it’s off to the circus. I don’t find a lot of gypsy stories and I do love to read about the free spirit of the Romani.
Maverick and his partner were roused from bed by a ringing telephone. Their presence was requested in helping to find a missing girl. That scene had me smiling and looking forward to another fun read by Lawna Mackie.
Avalon’s grandmother had said…Go…Meet your destiny. So she did. Now, she’s stranded.
A beautiful, talented Romani woman, a circus performer, horses and a fox to work with, two handsome men vying for her hand in marriage and a domineering father. I don’t think I have read about a fox as a woman’s friend and I do like that Lawna Mackie incorporates the unique in her stories.
Her biological clock is ticking…and there he is, to the rescue. It may be instalove for him, but it is destiny for her.
Sizzling hot romance meets some bumps on the road to bliss.
Lawna Mackie writes with wonderful creativity making her characters come to life, making me become involved in their lives and well being, and me hanging on every word to learn their story.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Gypsy Bride by Lawna Mackie.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Free spirited, athletic
and absolutely stunning. He stared at the beautiful horse who had
captured the audience’s attention—then he saw her. Astride the
magnificent animal, Avalon Boswell commanded the horse’s attention
without so much as a bridle or saddle. In the small town of Black
Hills, Montana, Park Ranger, Maverick McGregor had not expected Avalon
the Romani Gypsy horse rider to capture and control his heart the way
she did with her horses.
After listening to her tarot
card-reading grandmother, Avalon ends up being rescued off the mountain
by Maverick—maybe her grandmother had been correct. Avalon is dedicated
to the equestrian show An Evening Under the Stars. Night after night she
performs effortlessly but time is running out for her. Prearranged
marriages were a thing of the past, but her father refused to break her
upcoming nuptials.
With the risk of losing everything including Maverick, Avalon makes a deal. She has five days to convince her fiancé she is not the woman for him, and then somehow try to convince Maverick he’s the only one for her.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lawna
Mackie was born in Jasper, Alberta. After finishing high school and
post secondary she moved to Calgary, Alberta, married her husband and
settled in the small town of Didsbury, Alberta.
Lawna would tell you that a lot of her
creativity comes from her mother, who could design and build, just about
anything. Her mother never lacked the talent for hand-making toys. “She
always amazed me. My brother and I were never bored because she made us
flutes, toy cars, and even parallel bars in the trees,” she explains.
Her other creative inspiration comes
from her husband Jeff, and the many adventures they have had. It was on
one particular trip to British Columbia, when she stopped at the
Enchanted Forrest that the fairy tale world called to her to write a
story.
Along with the love she has for her
husband and family, is the deep admiration and compassion she has for
animals. “They bring so much joy and inspiration to my life I don’t know
how I would ever live without them,” she says. Alaskan Malamutes are
near and dear to her heart. With one Malamute, one Bichon Shih Tzu, one
farm cat and a Bengal, her house is never quiet.
Lawna writes contemporary romance and
paranormals. One fan writes, “Lawna’s books are well-written and are
impossibly good! The scenes are unexpected and very creative. I highly
recommend her books!”
We share our reviews and giveaways, giving you two views and two chances to win!
Today we are happy to share Scraps of Paper by one of our favorite authors, Kathryn Meyer Griffith. There are 5 books in the series and our her best sellers.
The fantastic cover is done by Dawne Dominique
The ebook for Scraps of Paper is free on many websites. It is also available in Audio on Amazon and you can find it on Goodreads here.
MY REVIEW
I love the cover for Scraps of Paper by Kathryn Meyer Griffith…and that tagline…how could I possibly resist? I feel a sense of foreboding. The book is free everywhere, so feel free to grab a copy.
After two stagnant years of her life, Abigail has found out that her husband, Joel, had been murdered. Misery put her on the road in search of a new life.
She was determined to become a new person.
To find time to live and love.
Spookie Town called to her.
The past and the present merge and the mystery grows.
I love the direction she goes to solve the mystery of Emily and her kids disappearances. She moves into the an empty house and begins to find Scraps of Paper. To find the answers to the mystery makes me think of a scavenger hunt.
Kathryn Meyer Griffith has a way with words and once I begin one of her books, it is hard to put it down. So true with Scraps of Paper. I felt Abigail’s pain and her need to find a way to go on after her husband’s death. When she moves into the empty house, the former tenants mystery becomes hers. She feels a need to find out happened to them because we all need answers…don’t we?
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Scraps of Paper by Kathryn Meyer Griffith.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Abigail Sutton’s beloved husband walks out one night, doesn’t return, and two years later is found dead, a victim of a long ago crime. It’s made her sympathetic to the missing and their families.
Starting her new life, Abigail moves to small town and buys a fixer-upper house left empty when old Edna Summers died. Once it was also home to Edna’s younger sister, Emily, and her two children, Jenny and Christopher, who, people believe, drove away one night, thirty years ago, and just never came back.
But in renovating the house Abigail finds scraps of paper hidden behind baseboards and tucked beneath the porch that hint the three could have been victims of foul play.
Then she finds their graves hidden in the woods behind the house and with the help of eccentric townspeople and ex-homicide detective, Frank Lester, she discovers the three were murdered. Then she and Frank try to uncover who killed them and why…but in the process awaken the ire of the murderer.
ABOUT KATHRYN MEYER GRIFFITH
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-six
years ago now, and have had twenty-seven (nine romantic horror, two horror
novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time
travel, one historical romance, four thrillers, one non-fiction short story
collection, and six murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve
short stories published from various traditional publishers since 1984. But
I’ve gone into self-publishing in a big way since 2012; and upon getting all my
previous books’ full rights back for the first time in 35 years, have
self-published all of them. My Dinosaur Lake novels and Spookie Town Murder
Mysteries (Scraps of Paper, All Things Slip Away, Ghosts Beneath Us, Witches
Among Us and What Lies Beneath the Graves) are my best-sellers.
I’ve been married to Russell for over forty years; have a son, two
grandchildren and a great-granddaughter 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 late 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.
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, Witches II: Apocalypse, Witches plus Witches II: Apocalypse,
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), Witches Among Us (The Fourth Spookie Town Murder Mystery), What Lies
Beneath the Graves (The Fifth 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, Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation and Dinosaur Lake IV:
Dinosaur Wars, Dinosaur Lake V: Survivors, Memories of My Childhood and
Christmas Magic 1959.
Kathryn Meyer Griffith is offering the first two books, Scraps of Paper (which is free everywhere) and All Things Slip Away, Book II in the series.There will be 3 winners. Entry is easy peasy. Just answer the following question:
Have you ever found any hidden treasure when you moved into a new residence?
For a second perspective of the book and a second chance to win, check out Laura’s review and giveaway at fuonlyknew.
I have read several books by Sue Coletta and she gave me Wings of Mayhem just because. I love serial killers…well, books about serial killers….and Sue kept me enthralled in the first book of The Mayhem Series.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Starting out with a fabulous cover by Elle Rossi of EJD Designs, is always a good sign.
A cat burglar, a cop, and a serial killer meet up in this brutal tale of love, loss and revenge that held me spellbound until the end.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Shawnee Daniels — cybercrimes specialist by day, cat burglar by
night — ignites the hellfire fury of a serial killer when she
unknowingly steals his trophy box.
A SERIAL KILLER STALKS THE STREETS…
Cat
burglar Shawnee Daniels always believed her “fearlessness rules” mantra
would keep her on top and out of jail. When she hacks a confiscated
hard drive at the Revere P.D., she focuses on a white-collar criminal
accused of embezzlement. To teach him a lesson and recoup the funds she
breaks into his massive contemporary in Bear Clave Estates. Jack has
even more secrets, deadly secrets, secrets worth killing over.
A CAT BURGLAR PICKS THE WRONG HOUSE TO ROB…
Shawnee
thinks she made it out clean until a deadly package arrives at her door
soon after. He’s found her. As a glowing eagle taunts her Skype screen,
Jack tells her she stole his precious trophy box — and he wants it
back!
THEIR LIVES COLLIDE…
When her
“helpful” best friend convinces her to date charismatic Detective
Levaughn Samuels, her two worlds threaten to implode. Ordinarily Shawnee
keeps a firm line between her professions, but dating Levaughn might
help her get this psycho off her tail.
AND NOW, NO ONE IS SAFE…
In
this lightning-fast-paced psychological thriller of secrets and lies,
Shawnee juggles being stalked by a serial killer, dating the lead
detective on the case, and tap dancing around her librarian best friend.
If
she doesn’t find the trophy box, the killer’s coming for her. If she
doesn’t expose her secrets and lies, more will die. And if she does, she
could lose her freedom and everyone she holds dear.
If you’re a fan of Lisa Jackson, Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter
thrillers, crime fiction with an edge, or psychological thrillers,
mystery, and suspense, then Wings of Mayhem is for you.
Praise for Sue Coletta’s novels…
“The
heart-stopping descriptions are so jarringly real that there are several
scenes I will never forget.” ~ Eliza Cross, Award Winning Author
“Sue
Coletta isn’t going to spare you the gory details or an honest look
behind the crime scene tape. She’s a well versed author in all things
crime who indelicately dumps you into the middle of a life which has
been disrupted, disturbed, and marred by the evil acts of a solitary
man.” ~ Beaux Cooper, Author and Amazon Reviewer
“Sue Coletta’s writing style is bold. It’s riveting.”
![The More Things Change (Ethan Tennant Series) by [Prete, Perry]](https://i0.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51rwKsMGhcL.jpg?w=584&ssl=1)
