One Sentence Review – Investing Isobella by Jason Werbeloff @JasonWerbeloff

Posted on April 8, 2017 by fundinmental

The Creepy cover for Investing Isobella by Jason Werbeloff makes me eager to begin reading this sci-fi and horror short story.

How about you?

You can get it FREE.

Amazon / Goodreads

ONE SENTENCE REVIEW

Investing Isobella is a creepy and unsettling story of a man’s careless decision that may cost him the thing most dear to him, until he makes an even dumber mistake that I revel in while my emotions go from anger and being super pissed off to a smile on my face and a sense of satisfaction at the end.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB: Paul Sanders is a desperate man. He and his daughter, Isobella, are weeks away from living in the Gutter.

Enter Jono Falanges, a greasy stockbroker who promises Paul all the money he needs, and more. The only catch is, Paul must invest Isobella’s health on the stock market.

Plunge down the slippery slope of morality with Investing Isobella, a horrifying sci-fi novella. You won’t look at your investments the same way, ever again.

Jason also has some other freebies you can check out HERE.

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The Spider Apocalypse Is Here in Skitter by Ezekiel Boone @ezekiel_boone

Posted on March 30, 2017 by fundinmental

I love a good horror novel, and after reading The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone, I had to have Skitter, Book II in the series.

Just looking at the cover gives me the willies and shivers run up and down my spine. I can only imagine what reading the book is going to do to me.

Bring it on, Ezekiel!

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I HATE SPIDERS!

Skitter by Ezekiel Boone is the continuation of The Hatching and the spiders are winning. If you weren’t afraid of spiders before, you will be after reading about the spider apocalypse.

Millions of people around the world are dead and there is no end in sight.

Melanie never thought she would become the most important woman in the world…but, here she is and the pressure is intense as she struggles to save the world.

Would she succeed?

Agent Mike Rich had been at ground zero, finding the very first spider and he hasn’t stopped since.

People’s true colors come out when disaster occurs, and we have our share of heroes and villains. Do any of us know how we would act in a time of crisis? I would hope I would rise to the occasion. How about you?

Would the war games, flu epidemics and disaster protocols the government has practiced and had in place for years…decades…succeed? We are about to find out.

If you want something to keep you looking out the corner of your eye, jumping at the slightest perceived movement, slapping at the creepy crawlie feeling running up and down your arms, READ THIS!

I voluntarily reviewed Skitter by Ezekiel Boone.

4 STARS

GOODREADS BLURB

Tens of millions of people around the world are dead. Half of China is a nuclear wasteland. Mysterious flesh-eating spiders are marching through Los Angeles, Oslo, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, and countless other cities. According to scientist Melanie Gruyer, however, the spider situation seems to be looking up. Yet in Japan, a giant, truck-sized, glowing egg sack gives a shocking preview of what is to come, even as survivors in Los Angeles panic and break the quarantine zone. Out in the desert, survivalists Gordo and Shotgun are trying to invent a spider super weapon, but it’s not clear if it’s too late, because President Stephanie Pilgrim has been forced to enact the plan of last resort: The Spanish Protocol. America, you are on your own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from Amazon)

I live in upstate New York with my wife and kids. Whenever I travel and say I’m from New York, people think I mean NYC, but we live about three hours north of New York City. Our house is five minutes outside of a university town. We’re far enough out of town that, at night, it’s dark.
No.

Darker than that.

Dark enough that, if you’re not careful, you might fall off the small cliff at the edge of my property. If you’re lucky, the water will be up enough to break your fall. If you’re not lucky, please sign a waiver before you come to visit.

I’ve got two unruly dogs who are mostly friendly. Well, that’s not true. The part about them being unruly is true, but one of them is the most friendly dog you’ve ever met, and the other dog … isn’t. They are good writing partners, though they spend a lot of their day curled up in front of the wood burning stove and ignoring me. Unless I’m making lunch. They pay attention to me then.

THE HATCHING is Ezekiel Boone’s first book, but it’s not actually *my* first book. I also write under the name Alexi Zentner. Alexi Zentner’s books are pretty different from Ezekiel Boone’s.

Website / Twitter

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My review for The Hatching

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Giveaway, Interview, Excerpt & Review – Remnants by Carolyn Arnold @Carolyn_Arnold @GoddessFish

Posted on March 28, 2017 by fundinmental

Meet today’s guest, Carolyn Arnold. She is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series and has written nearly thirty books. Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark, POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.

Today, she answers a few questions for us and gives us insight into her life and journey as a mystery author.

Have you ever been on a manhunt or at the scene where a dead body was found?

I took part in my local police department’s Citizen’s Academy. As part of this, I received an inside look at seventeen divisions over a ten-week period. As an added benefit, each student was afforded a ride-along. And mine… Well, I went on the perfect one for a crime writer.

My ride-along actually started out with a manhunt. I experienced the excitement of wanting to find the guy and found myself scrutinizing every male I spotted in the area just to make sure he wasn’t the one we were after. Unfortunately, the search moved to the downtown area from the eastern end of the city where the hunt had begun, and the sergeant signed off the investigation. By the end of my ride-along, about five hours later, the man still hadn’t been found.

After the sergeant left the investigation, he turned to me as he was driving and asked if I had ever seen a dead body. I told him I had at memorials and funerals and then asked why. I soon found out that our next stop involved one.

I figured I’d catch a glimpse of the deceased under a tarp or being wheeled away, but I got far more than that. I received a front-row seat to a death investigation. For hours, the sergeant and I were mere feet away from the body. I witnessed firsthand how it changed color over time, but I also found that I went into detective-mode. The forensic identification unit—essentially CSIs—was called in and arrived with collection kits. The team members gloved up, snapped photographs, took fingerprints from the deceased, and more.

The entire time that I was on scene, I noticed myself going into a detached state—the result of adrenaline. Later that evening, it began to sink in that I had spent hours with a dead body, and I was nauseated. As more time passed, I became weepy as it sank in that the deceased had been a husband, a father, a lover, a friend…a person. That night I dreamed about the man. It wasn’t a nightmare, but I was an officer trying to figure out what had happened to him.

I couldn’t imagine returning to the field the next day and having a similar experience or witnessing something even worse, like a violent murder scene or that of a fatal car accident.

What do members of law enforcement say about your books?

Many testimonials attest that I am pleasing readers in law enforcement. They love that my mysteries are accurate in that regard, and they view that alone as a sign of my respect for them.

Here are a few testimonials that I have received on Eleven (Brandon Fisher FBI series):

“I spent thirty-eight years with a major police department in Missouri, fifteen of which were in the homicide section. I also had numerous dealings with the FBI throughout my career, mostly bank robbery, interstate shipment thefts, and a few kidnappings. Eleven kept my interest piqued throughout… Loved it.”

–Richard Bartram, Sergeant (retired), St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, St. Louis, MO

“I am a forty-year veteran of police work. All local, no Fed. Eleven was a great read. All the descriptors and nomenclature were spot on.”

–Joe Danna, Police Officer, Katy Independent School District Police Department, Katy, TX

“Very good! I worked as a police officer for eleven years and with the Federal Bureau of Prisons for twenty-two. I have also dealt with the FBI.”

–Richard Smith, Facilities Development Manager (retired), Federal Bureau of Prisons, Central Office, Washington, DC

“A great police procedural! … Full of twists and turns. The characters are well-developed and a mix of interesting personalities. … Holds your interest to the end!”

–Mark Davis, FBI Special Agent (retired), Washington, DC

What did you do before you became a bestselling author?

For a living, I worked in accounts receivable for a few different companies collecting from businesses. Yet, despite working full time, in 2006 I was reunited with writing. I wrote every chance I got—before work, on lunch breaks, after work, on the weekends. I became so focused on writing and the publishing world that hardly a day went by without them being a part of my life, and since the summer of 2014, I’ve been a full-time author.

How do you know so much about what criminals think?

I can’t answer that without incriminating myself… Just kidding.

Everyone has what we call a “dark side.” In writing these books, I suppose you could say I tap into this side of my psyche. Whatever I can scheme up is possible, and I write that which scares and excites me.

When did you know that you had hit the big time with your books?

When I got to say good-bye to my day job! Even before I fully resigned, I had cut back a five-day a week job to four days, then to three. It got to the point, though, that I loathed going in for that many days, and I knew it was time to make the move and become a full-time author. That was in the summer of 2014. Since then, I incorporated my own publishing company in the summer of 2015, and, at the start of 2016, my husband joined me there full time.

The Brandon Fisher FBI series is a perfect fit for you if serial killers and the FBI fascinate you, if you like getting inside the minds of killers, love being creeped out, sleeping with your eyes open, and feeling like you’re involved in murder investigations. If this speaks to you, then join FBI agent and profiler Brandon Fisher and his team with the Behavioral Analysis Unit in their hunt for serial killers.

Amazon / Goodreads

Remnants by Carolyn Arnold

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Mystery

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MY REVIEW

I love thrillers, suspense, murder and serial killers, not necessarily in that order. LOL

Remnants by Carolyn Arnold has them all.

It is amazing how quickly someone can just vanish. There one minute, gone the next.

Body parts are being found in a Georgia river. A leg here, an arm there, here a skull, there a torso, but no hands or feet. Why?

The parts don’t match. How many bodies are there?

A serial killer is on the loose.

Step by step, clue by clue, law enforcement follows the path to the Unsub in a Criminal Minds fashion.

You may not want to eat before you read this. The killings are brutal, gruesome, savage.

The case became more involved than I thought it would when I first started reading. I didn’t put all the pieces together until the last part of the book and it was Carolyn Arnold that took me there. I love that I can’t figure it out early. Keeps the mystery alive. Though, if the book is well written it doesn’t matter…either way is fine with me.

There are some seriously messed up characters that deserve worse than they got.

The FBI team had issues of their own. Makes them come across as realistic people.

I love these kind of stories and would highly recommend following the stand alone series.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Remnants of Carolyn Arnold.

4 Stars

BLURB

FBI agent and profiler Brandon Fisher and his team are called to Savannah, Georgia, when body parts belonging to three separate victims are recovered from the Little Ogeechee River. As the case takes one dark turn after another, Brandon finds himself embroiled in a creepy psychological nightmare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT

PERIMETER MALL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 11:30 AM EASTERN

THE TIME HAD COME TO select his next victim. He had to choose carefully and perfectly—he wouldn’t get a second chance. The mall was teeming with life, and that made for a lot of eyeballs, a lot of potential witnesses. But he supposed it also helped him be more inconspicuous. People were hustling through the shopping center, interested solely in their own agendas. They wouldn’t be paying him—or what he was doing—much attention.

He was standing at the edge of the food court next to the hallway leading to the restrooms eating a gyro. The lidded and oversized garbage bin on wheels that was behind him would ensure that anyone who did notice him would just think he was a mall janitor on his lunch break.

The pitchy voice of a girl about eight hit his ears. “Daddy, I want ice cream.”

Trailing not far behind her were a man and woman holding hands. The woman was fit and blond, but his attention was on the man beside her. He was in his twenties, easily six feet tall with a solid, athletic build. He’d be strong and put up a fight. Yes, this was the one. And talk about ideal placement—he was across from the Dairy Queen.

He wiped his palms on his coveralls and took a few deep breaths. What he was about to do wasn’t because of who he was, but rather, because he had to do it.

And he had to hurry. The family was coming toward him.

“It’s almost lunchtime,” the woman said, letting go of the man’s hand.

“Daaaaaaddyyyyy.” A whiny petition.

The man looked to the woman with a smile that showcased his white teeth. “We could have ice cream for lunch?”

The little girl began to bounce. “Yeah!”

“Really, Eric?” The woman wasn’t as impressed as the girl, but under the man’s gaze she caved and smiled. “All right, but just today…”

“Thank you, Mommy!” The girl wrapped her arms around the woman’s legs but quickly let go, prancing ahead of her parents and toward the DQ counter.

“Brianna, we wash our hands first.” The woman glanced at him as she walked by and offered a reserved smile. Had she detected his interest in them?

Breathe. She thinks you work here, remember?

Smile back.

Remain calm.

Look away and act uninterested.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international best-selling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series—Detective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures.

Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.

Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower.

She currently lives just west of Toronto with her husband and beagle and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada.

Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online:

Website – http://carolynarnold.net/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Carolyn_Arnold

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolynArnold

And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY

Carolyn Arnold will be awarding a paperback copy of Violated by Carolyn Arnold to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the tour and comment. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. Follow the tour HERE.

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Traveling in Mystery – Pea Body by Ellen Behrens #EllenBehrens

Posted on March 27, 2017 by fundinmental

Ellen lives a life many of us envy and I am so happy to be traveling with her to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

My hubby, Mr Wonderful and I have been looking into an RV so we, too, can travel the USA, stopping wherever the mood strikes.

Do you have the wanderlust gene?

Hop on board and let’s go to the Outerbanks of North Carolina and see what’s shakin’.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

The author, Ellen Behrens, interests me as much as this cozy mystery, so I had to get my hands on Pea Body. The cover represents the calm before the storm that is contained within the pages.

I have so much in common with Ellen and her characters, Betty and Walt. They are wanderers, dreamers and list makers. It felt like I was walking in their shoes…Bird watching, taking photographs of everything in sight, hiking, biking, and being a bit antisocial. We even like a lot of the same TV shows…NCIS, CSI, The Closer…but I have never found a dead body, let alone a murder victim.

Happy birthday. Your present…a dead body.

As the story rolls along, the suspect list mounts and the danger closes in around Betty and Walt.

The characters they run into as they investigate come across as authentic people you could meet anywhere, some are friendly and some…not so much. Some are a bit abrasive and annoying, but, when looking closer, you may find you have more in common than you would have thought.

It was easy to relate to the locations…I have visited many small coastal towns and each is unique in its own way. I, too, have hiked many trails through state and national parks, enjoying all the wonderful things they have to offer. I am constantly amazed and inspired by their beauty and the birds and animals that call them home.

If you are looking for an adventure, Pea Body by Ellen Behrens, is a fun and entertaining cozy mystery that shares the wonders of nature, the characters of a small, seasonal coastal town on the outerbanks of North Carolina, the danger of greed in the hands of those that will do anything to get what they want and the freedom and drawbacks of a home on wheels.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Pea Body by Ellen Behrens.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Who knew birdwatching could lead to such trouble? Betty and Walt Rollin find out when visiting Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. All they want to do is relax and spend a little time away from Talkative Ted and Clingy Caroline, their overbearing neighbors at the RV “resort” where they’ve been staying. But when Betty spots a very non-avian body at the edge of a far pond, she and Walt are drawn into the investigation. What they discover threatens to uncover long-held secrets that could ruin local reputations, and plunges these retired, full-time RVers up to their necks in the deep sand of local politics and passions.

ABOUT ELLEN BEHRENS

Ellen Behrens’ short stories, articles, essays, and reviews have been widely published. Her published books include the novels “Pea Body,” “None But the Dead and Dying” and the short story collection “Road Tales: Short Stories About Full-Time RVing.” She is former fiction editor of Mid-American Review and the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. She and her husband have been living the “full-timer” RV lifestyle since 2009.

Website

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One Sentence Review – Just Different Devils by Jinx Schwartz @jinxschwartz

Posted on March 25, 2017 by fundinmental

I picked up Just Different Devils by Jinx Schwartz from Amazon on a free day.

How could I possibly turn my back on a nautical action adventure.

Here’s a joke for you:

“What do you get when you cross a dog and a dolphin?”

“A porposeful relationship.”

Amazon / Goodreads

MY ONE SENTENCE REVIEW

This humorous action adventure treasure hunting mystery has unique and lovable characters with attitude, that had me holding my breath one minute and laughing the next.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Hetta Coffey is a sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht, and she’s not afraid to use it—most of the time.

She’s an intrepid cruiser, but wild rumors of marauding gangs of flesh-shredding giant Humboldt squid on a rampage in the Sea of Cortez could keep even Hetta tied to an expensive dock. However, when the opportunity for an intriguing and highly lucrative charter arises she talks her best friend, Jan, into signing on for a mysterious cruise.
Damn the calamari! Full bank account ahead!

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Review – Onyx Webb by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz @OnyxWebb

Posted on March 20, 2017 by fundinmental

Onyx Webb by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz is a combination of genres that’s filled with hours of captivating reading, and plenty of thrills and chills.

I LOVE this fabulous cover that makes me shiver and cringe in anticipation of the horrors between the pages.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Onxy Webb is filled with death, murder, horror, ghosts, and lots of suspense and evil…

So beware. Check your Karma and see if you dare to enter, because your actions can have repercussions far beyond your wildest imagination.

Onyx Webb is a fabulous, mystical character that keeps surprising those around her and rightly so in my book. She is complex and misunderstood, and so not deserving of what is happening. I love that she takes her ‘life’ into her own hands, not leaving her fate up to others to decide.

Many of the characters are good ‘people’. Sometimes it was hard to know who was human and who was a ghost and I loved the surprise of learning who was who, or what.

I try to be alert, waiting for the next shoe to drop, the next accident to happen, the next person to die.

The tension and suspense is stretched, keeping me waiting, anticipating, fearing for my favorite characters.

Be careful how much of your heart you give to these characters, because some may not survive. I love when the author is not afraid to kill someone off, regardless of whether I like it or not.

What’s going to happen next and who is responsible? Many lives are tainted by the evil that touches them. Of course, there are those whose misfortunes I revel in as they get their just desserts.

Onyx Webb keeps pulling on me, drawing me in deeper and deeper as I struggle to accept the tragedies heaped on the characters. There is so much going on, so many characters and so much action, that the story calls to me, demanding I read on, read more, and more.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Onyx Webb: Book IV by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

A multi-genre mash-up that combines elements of supernatural suspense, crime, horror, romance, and more.

The Onyx Webb series follows the unusual life of Onyx Webb along with a central group of characters in various locations and times. The billionaire Mulvaney family, piano prodigy Juniper Cole and her brother Quinn, paranormal show hosts Cryer and Fudge, and a few others make up the core of the series. Written like a book version of a supernatural soap opera, each character’s story moves forward with most every episode. It may appear that the characters are entirely unrelated and yet episode by episode, the connections will become clearer. Like being an inch away from a spider web, with each book, the web will move further and further away revealing the full story of every character and most importantly, the stunning conclusion for Onyx Webb herself.

About Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton

Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz are a married writing team. Most well known for their business fables, they’re professional speakers who teach audiences on how to overcome fear of failure and rejection. The Onyx Webb Series is their first serious dive into fiction.

Richard and Andrea have been in love with creating stories together since they met almost twenty years ago and even spent some time in Hollywood writing screenplays, being represented by the producer of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Their favorite genres are suspense, thriller, crime and anything of a paranormal nature which is how Onyx Webb turned into a mash-up of all their favorites!

Website: www.OnyxWebb.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OnyxWebbSeries
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/Onyxwebb
Pinterest: www.Pinterest.com/OnyxWebbSeries
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101671769414005773146
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5835138.Andrea_Waltz

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MY REVIEWS FOR ONYX WEBB

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He’s Very, Very Hungry – Carnivore by Leigh Clark #LeighClark

Posted on March 18, 2017 by fundinmental

I borrowed Carnivore by Leigh Clark from my sister, Laura, at fuonlyknew.

We both love creature features and will drop everything to read one.

Here’s a tease for you:

“This isn’t going to work out the way you think!”

Amazon / Goodreads

MY ONE SENTENCE REVIEW

As the death count rises, with body parts, and blood and guts flying, this creature feature shows no mercy to anyone for their arrogance and overstepping their bounds with this TRex.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

In an Antarctic research outpost, a group of scientists made a discovery. For the first time, modern man would come face-to-face with the ruler of the prehistoric world, the king of the dinosaurs–the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Blinded by scientific zeal, the researchers thought only of the importance of their find, the contribution to science. But soon they are forced to open their eyes to an inescapable fact–once revived, the specimen would need to feed.

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Giveaway & Review – A Ghostly Mortality by Tonya Kappes @tonyakappes11

Posted on March 16, 2017 by fundinmental

A Ghostly Mortality

by Tonya Kappes

on Tour February 28 – March 30, 2017

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

With the tease at the end of A Ghostly Reunion, I knew I had to have me some more of Emma and her granny in this riproaring Ghost Whispering kind of haunting murder mystery.

A plastic Santa had fallen on Emma’s head and now she sees dead people. It’s fitting that she lives and runs a funeral home.

This Ghost Whispering sleuth lives in a small town where everyone knows your business and some considered the creepy funeral girl a bit wacky, talking to herself…or at least that’s what they think as she talks to ghosts that no one else can see.

Jack Henry is her hot cop sweetie and he jumpstarts her day with a happy feeling.

Emma’s seventy seven year old granny rides a moped. I can see her tooling around town in all her glory.

Marla and her pet hen.

Mable always has a coin for passing children.

Her new client? The only reason I saw it coming was the tease in Ghostly Reunion and I love it. I could see the ghost…whispering in her ear, laughing, talking, telling Emma to “get on with it.”

Humor, murder, mystery, family situations that made me want to laugh out loud.

Warning! Be careful where you read this. You too may be considered nuts for laughing out loud in public.

A Ghostly Mortality contains a ton of mystery, laughs and love…the total package for a cozy mystery.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of A Ghostly Mortality by Tonya Kappes.

4 Stars

Synopsis

That ghost sure looks . . . familiar

Only a handful of people know that Emma Lee Raines, proprietor of a small-town Kentucky funeral home, is a “Betweener.” She helps ghosts stuck between here and the ever-after—murdered ghosts. Once Emma Lee gets them justice they can cross over to the great beyond.

But Emma Lee’s own sister refuses to believe in her special ability. In fact, the Raines sisters have barely gotten along since Charlotte Rae left the family business for the competition. After a doozy of an argument, Emma Lee is relieved to see Charlotte Rae back home to make nice. Until she realizes her usually snorting, sarcastic, family-ditching sister is a… ghost.

Charlotte Rae has no earthly idea who murdered her or why. With her heart in tatters, Emma Lee relies more than ever on her sexy beau, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross…because this time, catching a killer means the Raines sisters will have to make peace with each other first.

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal
Published by: Witness
Publication Date: February 28th 2017
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 0062466976 (ISBN13: 9780062466976)
Series: Ghostly Southern Mysteries #6
Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

Read an excerpt:

Lawdy bee.” Granny scooted to the edge of the chair and lifted her arms in the air like she was worshiping in the Sunday morning service at Sleepy Hollow Baptist and the spirit just got put in her.

I sucked in a deep breath, preparing myself for whatever was going to come out of Zula Fae Raines Payne’s mouth, my granny. She was a ball of southern spitfire in her five-foot-four-inch frame topped off with bright red hair that I wasn’t sure was real or out of a L’Oréal bottle she’d gotten down at the Buy-N-Fly.

“Please, please, please,” she begged. “Let me die before anything happens to Emma Lee.” Her body slid down the fancy, high-back mahogany leather chair as she fell to her knees with her hands clasped together, bringing them back up in the air as she pleaded to the Big Guy in the sky. “I’m begging you.”

“Are you nuts?” My voice faded to a hushed stillness. I glanced back at the closed door of my sister’s new office, in fear she was going to walk in and see Granny acting up. I sat in the other fancy, high-back mahogany leather chair next to Granny’s and grabbed her by the loose skin of her underarm. “Get back up on this chair before Charlotte Rae gets back in here and sees you acting like a fool.”

“What?” Granny quirked her eyebrows questioningly as if her behavior was normal. My head dropped along with my jaw in the “are you kidding me” look.

“Well, I ain’t lying!” She spat, “I do hope and pray you are the granddaughter that will be doing my funeral, unless you get a flare up of the ‘Funeral Trauma.’ ” She sucked in a deep breath and got up off her knees. She ran her bony fingers down the front of her cream sweater to smooth out any wrinkles so she’d be presentable like a good southern woman, forgetting she was just on her knees begging for mercy.

“Flare up?” I sighed with exasperation. “It’s not like arthritis.”

The “Funeral Trauma.” It was true. I was diagnosed with the “Funeral Trauma” after a decorative plastic Santa fell off the roof of Artie’s Meat and Deli, knocking me flat out cold and now I could see dead people. I had told Doc Clyde I was having some sort of hallucinations and seeing dead people, but he insisted I had been in the funeral business a little too long and seeing corpses all of my life had brought on the trauma. Truthfully, the Santa had given me a gift. Not a gift you’d expect Santa to give you, but it was the gift of seeing clients of Eternal Slumber, my family’s funeral home business where I was the undertaker. Some family business. Anyway, a psychic told me I was now a Betweener. I helped people who were stuck between here and the ever after. The Great Beyond. The Big Guy in the sky. One catch . . . the dead people I saw were murdered and they needed me to help them solve their murder before they could cross over.

“I’m fine,” I huffed and took the pamphlet off of Charlotte Rae’s desk, keeping my gift to myself. The only people who knew were me, the psychic and Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, my hot, hunky and sexy boyfriend. He was as handy as a pocket on a shirt when it came time for me to find a killer when a ghost was following me around. “We are here to get her to sign my papers and talk about this sideboard issue once and for all.” Granny stared at me.

My head slid forward like a turtle and I popped my eyes open.

“I’m fine,” I said through closed teeth.

“You are not fine.” Granny rolled her eyes so big, I swear she probably hurt herself. “People are still going around talking about how you talk to yourself.” She shook her finger at me. “If you don’t watch it, you are going to be committed. Surrounded by padded walls. Then—She jabbed her finger on my arm. I swatted her away with the pamphlet.

“Charlotte Rae will have full control over my dead body and I don’t want someone celebrating a wedding while I lay corpse in the next room. Lawdy bee,” Granny griped. I opened the pamphlet and tried to ignore Granny as best I could.

“Do you hear me, Emma Lee?” Granny asked. I could feel her beady eyes boring into me.

“Don’t you be disrespecting your elders. I asked you a question,” she warned when I didn’t immediately answer her question.

“Granny.” I placed the brochure in my lap and reminded myself to remain calm. Something I did often when it came to my granny. “I hear you. Don’t you worry about a thing. By the time you get ready to die, they will have you in the nut-house alongside me,” I joked, knowing it would get her goat. The door flung open and the click of Charlotte Rae’s high-dollar heels tapped the hardwood floor as she sashayed her way back into her office. The soft linen green suit complemented Charlotte’s sparkly green eyes and the chocolate scarf that was neatly tied around her neck. It was the perfect shade of brown to go with her long red hair and pale skin.

“I’m so sorry about that.” She stopped next to our chairs and looked between me and Granny. She shook the long, loose curls over her shoulders. “What? What is wrong, now?”

“Granny is all worried I’m going to get sent away to the nuthouse and you are going to lay her out here.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. Or did my subconscious take over my mouth? It was always a competition between me and Charlotte, only it was one-sided. Mine. Charlotte never viewed me as competition because she railroaded me all my life. Like now. She’d left Eternal Slumber with zero guilt, leaving me in charge so she could make more money at Hardgrove’s Legacy Center, formerly known as Hardgrove’s Funeral Homes until they got too big for their britches and decided to host every life event possible just to make more money.

Author Bio:

Tonya Kappes has written more than fifteen novels and four novellas, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists including USA Today. Best known for stories charged with emotion and humor and filled with flawed characters, her novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with her husband, two very spoiled schnauzers, and one ex-stray cat in northern Kentucky. Now that her boys are teenagers, Tonya writes full-time but can be found at all of her guys’ high school games with a pencil and paper in hand.

Catch Up with Tonya Kappes on her Website 🔗, Twitter 🔗, & Facebook 🔗

Tour Participants:

Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for Tonya Kappes and Witness Impulse. There will be 1 US winner of one PRINTED set of The Ghostly Southern Mysteries #1-6 by Tonya Kappes. The giveaway begins on February 27th and runs through April 2nd, 2017.

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My Review for A Ghostly Reunion

One Sentence Review of Steamy Paranormal Romance – Big Bad Wolf by Christine Warren @ChrstineWarren

Posted on March 11, 2017 by fundinmental

I read several Christine Warren’s Other Series books and this was my favorite…so far.

I enjoyed the series so much, I will be on the lookout for more of her work.

Amazon / Goodreads

Big Bad Wolf by Christine Warren is a steamy paranormal novel that sends sweet and innocent Missy on a MateHunt with her hot and sexy Were, Graham, and it was a fight to the death that kept me reading til the wee hours of the morning and left me craving more.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB: Book overview Missy Roper’s fantasies have revolved around Graham Winters since the moment they met. But the imposing leader of the Silverback werewolf clan always seemed oblivious to Missy’s existence. At least the Lupine law decrees that every Alpha must have a mate, and all Graham’s instincts tell him that the sensual, beguiling Missy is his. Trouble is, Missy is human?every delectable inch of her. Convincing his clan that she’s his destined mate, and keeping her safe from his enemies, will be the biggest challenge Graham has ever faced. And now that he is determined to have her?as his lover and as his mate?Missy’s world is changing in ways she never imagined? About The Author: About the Author Born and raised in coastal New England, Christine Warren now lives as a transplant in the Pacific Northwest (she completely bypassed those states in the middle due to her landlocking phobia). When not writing (as if that ever happens), she enjoys horseback riding, playing with her pets, identifying dogs from photos of their underbellies, and most of all reading things someone else had to agonize over. She enjoys hearing from readers and can be reached via email sent to Christine@christinewarren.net.

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If you are looking for a steamy paranormal love story, hold onto your panties and be sure to check out Christine Warren’s Other stand alone series.

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Giveaway & Review – A Fine Year For Murder by Lauren Carr @TheMysteryLadie @iReadBookTours

Posted on March 9, 2017 by fundinmental

A Fine Year For Murder is not my first foray into Lauren Carr’s Thorny Rose Mystery series and I am sure it will not be the last.

That being said…let’s get to the good part. Keep on reading for my review and the great giveaway at the end of the post.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

A Fine Year For Murder by Lauren Carr is part of an ongoing mystery series that has many recurring characters, both human and animal, that I have grown to love.

These Thorny Rose mysteries stand alone, but you won’t want to miss any of them.

Jessica kicks, punches and scratches her new husband during her nightmares.

She is haunted…until Dallas Walker, an investigative journalist, helps her discover what has been causing her nightmares and refuses to allow her rest until she has the answers.

Nigel is a virtual butler. I love how Lauren Carr keeps her characters and their lives up to date, allowing them to grow and develop along with the world around them.

Newman is a lazy basset hound that likes to eat in the recliner while binge watching TV. LOL But he is not the only critter that has a special and humorous relationship with his human counterparts.

Mysteries, murder, danger, and memories that threatens their lives keeps the action and suspense at a high level and even when the answers are found, it left me wanting more.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of A Fine Year For Murder by Lauren Carr.

4 Stars

Book Description for A FINE YEAR FOR MURDER

After months of marital bliss, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton are still discovering and adjusting to their life together. Settled in their new home, everything appears to be perfect … except in the middle of the night when, in darkest shadows of her subconscious, a deep secret from Jessica’s past creeps to the surface to make her strike out at Murphy.

When investigative journalist Dallas Walker tells the couple about her latest case, known as the Pine Bridge Massacre, they realize Jessica may have witnessed the murder of a family living near a winery owned by distant relatives she was visiting and suppressed the memory.

Determined to uncover the truth and find justice for the murder victims, Jessica and Murphy return to the scene of the crime with Dallas Walker, a spunky bull-headed Texan. Can this family reunion bring closure for a community touched by tragedy or will this prickly get-together bring an end to the Thorny Rose couple?

Book Description for KILL AND RUN

Five women with seemingly nothing in common are found brutally murdered in a townhome outside Washington, DC. Among the many questions surrounding the massacre is what had brought these apparent strangers together only to be killed.

Taking on his first official murder case, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton, USN, believes that if he can uncover the thread connecting the victims, then he can find their murderer.

The case takes an unexpected turn when Murphy discovers that one of the victims has a connection to his stepmother, Homicide Detective Cameron Gates. One wintry night, over a dozen years before, her first husband, a Pennsylvania State trooper, had been run down while working a night shift on the turnpike.

In this first installment of the Thorny Rose Mysteries, the Lovers in Crime join newlyweds Lieutenant Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday to sift through a web of lies and cover-ups. Together, can the detectives of the Thorny Rose uncover the truth without falling victim to a cunning killer?

Buy the Book: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Add of Goodreads

ABOUT LAUREN CARR

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with Lauren: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

GIVEAWAY

One winner will receive a $100 Amazon gift card (Open internationally)

Ends April 22

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