Tag Archives: suspense and thriller fiction

Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza @RobertBryndza #NetGalley #ErikaFosterReturns

Posted on by

.

NEW RELEASE

Every once in a while, I hop over to NetGalley and see what’s happening. I have missed some good books, but found some new authors, and Robert Bryndza is one. YEAH!

Fatal Witness (Detective Erika Foster, #7)

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

As soon as I saw the cover for Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza, it screamed READ ME. It’s awesome and sure does relate to the story inside, suspenseful, dangerous.

Then, I read the Prologue and it grabbed me. I do love a good Prologue and it made me ask myself…How did it come to that? Why?

Erika is a police officer and had been married to one. Her husband, Mark, had died on the job and her new house is to be a fresh start for her.

I like my action fast and furious, but I settled down in the police procedural, gathering clues with Erika, though they seem to be few. Suspects are eliminated as they crop up.

Two murders, seemingly unrelated, yet both are from the same rental building.

Even though Fatal Witness is fiction, it reminds me of how small a world we live in.

Well written. Easy to read. Flows nicely.

I sometimes have difficulty with novels from the UK, but not so here. Some words were unfamiliar, but the book was written in a way they were easy to understand.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Detective Erika Foster is back in FATAL WITNESS – with a chilling new serial killer case in Robert Bryndza’s multi-million bestselling crime thriller series!

How do you find a killer who has destroyed all the evidence?

Detective Erika Foster is on a late-night walk near her new house in Blackheath when she stumbles upon the brutal murder of Vicky Clarke, a true-crime podcaster.

Erika is assigned to the case and discovers that Vicky had been working on a new podcast episode about a sexual predator who preys on young female students around South London, staking out his victims in their halls of residence before breaking in at the dead of night. When Erika discovers that Vicky’s notes and sound recordings were stolen from her flat at the time of her murder, it leads her to believe that Vicky was close to unmasking the attacker, and she was killed to guarantee her silence.

The case takes on a disturbing twist when the body of a young Bulgarian student doctor is discovered in the same building, and this makes Erika question everything she thought she knew about Vicky. With very little evidence, the clock is ticking to find the killer before he strikes again.

ABOUT ROBERT BRYNDZA

Robert Bryndza

Robert Bryndza is an international bestselling author, best known for his page-turning crime and thriller novels, which have sold over five million copies.

His crime debut, The Girl in the Ice was released in February 2016, introducing Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster. Within five months it sold one million copies, reaching number one in the Amazon UK, USA and Australian charts. To date, The Girl in the Ice has sold over 1.5 million copies in the English language and has been sold into translation in 29 countries. It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller (2016), the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle in France (2018), and it won two reader voted awards, The Thrillzone Awards best debut thriller in The Netherlands (2018) and The Dead Good Papercut Award for best page turner at the Harrogate Crime Festival (2016).

Robert has released a further five novels in the Erika Foster series, The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath, Cold Blood and Deadly Secrets, all of which have been global bestsellers, and in 2017 Last Breath was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller. Fatal Witness, the seventh Erika Foster novel, is now available to pre-order and will be published 7th July 2022.

Most recently, Robert created a new crime thriller series based around the central character Kate Marshall, a police officer turned private detective. The first book, Nine Elms, was an Amazon USA #1 bestseller and an Amazon UK top five bestseller, and the series has been sold into translation in 18 countries. The second book in the series is the global bestselling, Shadow Sands and the third book, Darkness Falls, has just been published.

Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England. He studied at Aberystwyth University, and the Guildford School of Acting, and was an actor for several years, but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. He self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels, before switching to writing crime. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia, and is lucky enough to write full-time.

You can find out more about Robert and his books at www.robertbryndza.com

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Tempe is back in a new release – Cold Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs #NetGalley #ColdColdBones

Posted on by

I have been a huge fan of Kathy Reichs for a long time, so to get an early copy from NetGalley was fabulous. I love the awesome cover. How about you?

Cold, Cold Bones (Temperance Brennan, #21)

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

It is wonderful to be in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Temperance Brennan. I think my biggest problem with Cold Cold Bones is that I kept thinking about the TV show and comparing it to the book.

In case you haven’t met Temperance Brennan before, she is a forensic anthropologist, consulting with medical examiners and coroners on difficult cases, determining the cause of death. Her significant other, Andrew Ryan, is a retired Quebec homicide police officer, now trained as a private investigator. Tempe’s daughter is back from a tour in Afghanistan and moving into a new home.

I am not very excited. Granted, Cold Cold Bones comes across as a police procedural with a bit of danger, but when Tempe went to the steel plant…well, I was disappointed. Enough said. You want to know why I felt that? Read it yourself.

Compared to some of Kathy Reich’s novels, I am a bit disappointed. I will tell you I have missed some of the books in the series, so maybe it affected me while reading Cold Cold Bones. And…after watching so many of the TV shows, well, that presents its own problems, comparing everything.

No matter that Cold Cold Bones was not one of my favorite novels by Kathy Reichs, It won’t stop me from reading more of her work.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of Cold Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
3 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

#1 New York Times bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-first novel of suspense featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, after receiving a box containing a human eyeball, uncovers a series of gruesome killings eerily reenacting the most shocking of her prior cases.

Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. Freed from a heavy work schedule, Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.

GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.

There seems to be no pattern to the subsequent killings uncovered, except that each mimics in some way a homicide that a younger Tempe had been called in to analyze. Who or what is targeting her, and why?

Helping Tempe search for answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. Also pulled into the mystery: Andrew Ryan, Tempe’s Montreal-based beau, now working as a private detective.

Could this elaborately staged skein of mayhem be the prelude to a twist that is even more shocking? Tempe is at a loss to establish the motive for what is going on…and then her daughter disappears.

At its core, Cold, Cold Bones is a novel of revenge—one in which revisiting the past may prove the only way to unravel the present.

ABOUT KATHY REICHS

Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Website  /  Twitter  /  Facebook

MY REVIEWS FOR KATHY REICHS

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Giveaway – The Don’s Dilemma by Caprice Langden @XpressoTours

Posted on by

The Don’s Dilemma
Caprice Langden
(The Calegaris, #5)
Publication date: June 7th 2022
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

As head of one of the East Coast’s most profitable crime families, I keep my real family close…and my enemies even closer.
I had plans for the future. Once my rise was complete, no one I loved would ever have to worry about anything. Ever.

Someone else had other ideas. Someone was trying to bring down my organization from the inside. I could handle them. That’s the world I live in, the world I command. But then they crossed a line. It’s one thing to mess with my business; it’s a different matter entirely to threaten my family.

I launched a preemptive strike with one thing in mind – I needed information I could use against the man who’d recently become the biggest thorn in my side. Under the guise of reconciliation, I welcomed his olive branch, but I couldn’t trust him….or, as it turned out, anyone else.

My plan backfired. Suzanne’s sweetness was more than I could resist. One look into her eyes, and I condemned myself for the crimes I was about to commit. I couldn’t bring an innocent woman into the carnage of those who wronged the name “Calegari.”

My name is Gabriel Calegari. I am a mafia don, a son, a brother… and a lover. I can have no weakness – including her. I will stop at nothing to protect my family from those who are out to destroy me – no matter how much it costs me.

Dive into the dengerous desires of the Calegari world with the rest of the series:
The Virgin Clause
The Virgin Temptation
Princess of Pride
Princess of Passion

Goodreads / Amazon

—


Author Bio:

Caprice Langden is a pen name for romance author Debra J. Falasco. Edgier, darker and steamier, Caprice Langden romances feature alpha males and the good girls who bring them to their knees. She lives in a historic home in Colorado with her husband, son and two kitties.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest


GIVEAWAY!
View Giveaway

Hosted by:
XBTBanner1

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

The Finale – Some Mistakes Are Unforgivable by Jane Blythe @jblytheauthor

Posted on by

.

Jane Blythe and Some Mistakes Are Unforgivable is another heart wrenching series that has reached its conclusion. I will miss Rivers End.

Some Mistakes Are Unforgivable (River's End Rescues, #6)

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Anyone that knows me, knows that Jane Blythe is one of my favorite authors. She has never let me down when it comes to getting lost in a make believe world.

Oh yeah, it is fabulous to be back in rivers end with familiar characters but a new romance.

“Her fate had been sealed the moment she made the decision to defy her parents.”

It had been eight years since her friends had been taken and forced to play the game, Rape, Torture, Kill. She will have to live with the guilt and horror for the rest of her life. She had thought the danger was over, the perpetrators had all been killed, but that was not to be.

She had to return home, or other girls would be taken. What do they want with her. Was it just that she was the one that got away?

Fletcher…she had always had a crush on him, but had never acted on it. She didn’t know that he returned the feeling because he never acted on it either. Fletcher is a deputy sheriff in Rivers End. He was determined to break down the walls Dahlia had created. He wouldn’t let her get away this time.

Jane Blythe knows how to immediately grab me by the throat, holding on, unable to stop reading, with white knuckles and my body filled with tension. Her books fit me to a T. They are fast paced with awesome characters. Unputdownable.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Some Mistakes Are Unforgivable by Jane Blythe.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

One moment in time you wish you could take back.

When Dahlia Black was fifteen she made a mistake that got her best friend killed and she hasn’t been able to forgive herself for it. Banishing herself from River’s End she’s lured back when someone decides that the past hasn’t been laid to rest. Returning to town doesn’t just mean facing the family she let down but the one man she’s always loved but who nearly died saving her.

Fletcher Harris grew up as an honorary member of the Black family, Dahlia like a little sister to him, but when he lays eyes on her for the first time in eight years he finds a beautiful, strong but hurting woman in place of the kid he remembers. Unable to get her out of his mind he’s determined to help Dahlia learn to forgive herself so she can finally move on.

But guilt could lead her to take extreme measures, ones that might ruin any chance the two of them might have had, and destroy the Black family forever.

ABOUT JANE BLYTHE

USA Today bestselling author Jane Blythe writes action-packed romantic suspense and military romance featuring protective heroes and heroines who are survivors. One of Jane’s most popular series includes Saving SEALs, part of Susan Stoker’s OPERATION ALPHA world! Writing in that world alongside authors such as Janie Crouch and Riley Edwards has been a blast, and she looks forward to bringing more books to this genre, both within and outside of Stoker’s world. When Jane isn’t binge-reading she’s counting down to Christmas and adding to her 200+ teddy bear collection!

Website  /  Twitter  /  Facebook

MY REVIEWS FOR JANE BLYTHE’S BOOKS

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Giveaway – The Kite by N R Walker @XpressoTours @NR_Walker

Posted on by

The Kite
N.R. Walker
Publication date: June 28th 2022
Genres: Adult, LGBTQ+, Romance, Suspense

Ex-Australian Specialist Response Group, Tim “Harry” Harrigan, has been running covert ops for almost a decade. A lone wolf, he’s single-handedly taken down terrorists and national security threats, or so he thinks. He’s been in the game far too long, and when he sees a familiar threat, he knows his time is up.

Asher Garin is a dangerous man. A man without loyalty, a man without a nationality, without a country, or a home. He’s also a mercenary for hire to the highest bidder. His next job is a face he recognises, and after a tip-off, he learns he too is a marked man.

It’s a different game now, and Harry and Asher have a better chance at surviving if they stick together. But it’s not just the game or the rules that have changed. The stakes have too.

Because on their own, they had nothing to lose. Together, they do.

~

#EnemiesToLovers #GayAssassins #UsAgainstThem

Caution: on-page physical and gun violence. Reader discretion advised.

Goodreads / Purchase

—

EXCERPT:

Harry crossed the street. No one crossed after him, but whoever was after him was closer now.

He could feel it.

That cold stab of dread, sixth sense, gut feeling. Like icy fingers down his skin.

And if someone was after Harry, it wasn’t good. He was the hunter, never the hunted. If he was the mark . . .

Christ. He was the mark.

Harry ducked past two women, slipping through a narrow utility alley, and he ran. He was being chased now, silent and fast. At the end of the alley, he turned left and went through an open door, up a set of stairs to the roof, his heart hammering.

He ran along the roofline, exposed but faster than on the street. He heard footsteps chasing behind him but didn’t dare turn around, and as the muted whirr of a bullet pinged past his head, he jumped.

He knew the sound of that gun. It was a SIG Pro 9mm with a suppressor.

French special forces, standard issue.

He landed on a first-floor balcony, using his momentum to leap again, this time to the ground. Pain shot through his ankle but he kept moving, down another alley, and through an open door and into a darkened hall.

Hands grabbed him, spun him and pinned his back against the wall as the door closed behind him. In half a disorienting second, Harry pulled his gun to his assailant’s head at the same time he realised he had a pistol pressed against his.

Eyes flashed in the dark, familiar and close. A man’s body pressed him hard to the wall, their chests heaving. A hand covered his mouth.

“Shh.”

Harry didn’t dare breathe, his finger on the trigger, still aimed at the man’s head. The cold press of metal against Harry’s temple told him to wait.

The sound of feet outside came running. The crackle of a radio, a French voice just outside the door. “I’ve lost him.” The footsteps faded, and only after a long moment did the man move his hand from Harry’s mouth.

Harry could see then who it was.

Asher Garin.

Asher fucking Garin.

Adrenaline exploded through Harry’s veins and he started, pushing his pistol harder into Asher’s temple. Asher gnashed his teeth. Anger and defiance flashed in his eyes. “Keep quiet or you’ll kill us both,” Asher hissed, barely a whisper.

His words didn’t make sense.

Asher had saved him?

If there was anyone on the planet sent to kill Harry, it would be Asher. He was the only other man good enough. They were the top two government assassins in the world. Yet Asher had just saved him from the French?

Keep quiet or you’ll kill us both.

Both?

After an eternity, Asher released him, though he kept his pistol aimed at Harry’s head. “We need to get out of here,” he murmured.

Harry’s heart was thundering. His finger itched to pull the trigger. Itched. “The fuck?”

Asher held up his phone to show Harry the screen. “Sent to all agencies.” An assignment, just like any other. Just like any of the thousand he’d received in the last decade. Locations, dates, names, and photographs.

Two photographs.

Harry’s blood ran cold, and his eyes met Asher’s.

Asher nodded, his stare intense. “You and me; double hit. They want us dead. You’re a kite, and your government just cut you loose.”

Harry grappled with his fight or flight instinct, his heart hammering, his ankle throbbing. But given two men had just tried to kill him and the fact Asher hadn’t killed him—and the assignment on his phone screen—Harry could assume what Asher said was true.

Asher must have seen the realisation in Harry’s eyes because he slowly lowered his gun. Just an inch. “We need to trust each other,” he whispered. “The only chance we have is if we stick together. Can you do that?”

Trusting any other person went against every cell in Harry’s body, but what choice did he have? If he said no, one or both of them died right here. If the assignment was sent to all agencies, there wasn’t a country or government anywhere in the world that could protect them.

Harry had no choice.

Answering without a word, he took his finger off the trigger.


Author Bio:

N.R. Walker is an Australian author, who loves her genre of gay romance. She loves writing and spends far too much time doing it, but wouldn’t have it any other way.

She is many things: a mother, a wife, a sister, a writer. She has pretty, pretty boys who live in her head, who don’t let her sleep at night unless she gives them life with words.

She likes it when they do dirty, dirty things… but likes it even more when they fall in love.

She used to think having people in her head talking to her was weird, until one day she happened across other writers who told her it was normal.

She’s been writing ever since…

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub


GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:
XBTBanner1

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Heather Sunseri’s Protected In Darkness & Death Is In The Details @heathersunseri

Posted on by

Today I have a special treat. I am sharing two of Heather Sunseri’s stories. Protected In Darkness is a novella and Death Is In The Details is a full length novel, the first in the Payne’s Creek thriller series. Both can stand alone.

Protected in Darkness (In Darkness #2.5; Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Colt, being a Navy Seal from somewhere else, knew it would be a one time thing.

Kate, hiding in Witsec with her four year old daughter, knew better than to get involved with anyone in any way, but she let her defenses down when she met Colt. She is the daughter of the leader of Kentucky’s deadliest motorcycle gang, and a twin. Can she escape the life and start over?

Awesome and I am hooked, not only of the series, but Heather Sunseri’s ability to deliver so much deliciousness into a novella.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Four years ago, Charley Packstone was hopelessly stuck in a miserable life as the daughter of the thug running Kentucky’s deadliest outlaw motorcycle gang and the twin sister to the gang’s future leader.

As Kate Ward, she’s built a simple but lonely life for herself and her four-year-old daughter inside the Witness Protection Program.

Kate has rules—rules to keep her and her daughter hidden from the wrath of the motorcycle club that wants her dead. But one fateful night, she lets her guard down after meeting a handsome stranger—Navy Seal Colt Callaway—at a bar along the Virginia Beach boardwalk. And after a sexy one-night-stand, Colt resolves to penetrate the steep walls that protect Kate’s heart.

A dead rat left on Kate’s front porch the next morning sends a clear message: the biker gang she ratted out years ago has finally found her.

No matter how badly Colt believes he can save the troubled and beautiful woman he just met, Kate’s only choice is to grab her daughter and vanish under a fresh identity. But can she do it before someone close to her is killed? And can she truly say goodbye to Colt forever?

Death is in the Details (Paynes Creek, #1)

Amazon / Goodreads

FREE AT TIME OF POSTING

MY REVIEW

Death in the Details by Heather Sunseri is the first book in the Payne’s Creek stand alone series.

Faith Day is a forensic photographer, which appealed to me greatly because I love photography. Adds a little something extra to some of my favorite reading genre. She is no stranger to death by fire. Her mother died in a fire and she recalls every single detail with 100% clarity, due to hyperthymesia.

Faith lives in the small town of Payne’s Creek and after 12 years since her mother’s death, the fires in town, it is brought back in vivid detail. Faith has a forensic science degree and her uncle is the Fire Chief, Sam Reid. Her brother Finch is the town vet.

Fire Chief Sam Reid depends on her. She is the best help has has until he can hire a new detective. She sees things others miss.

Faith lives in an Airstream with her guardian cat, that acts more like a dog than a feline. Someone had been in her house, had lit a fire in her firepit. After ten years in prison for the murder of their parents, her step brother had been released due to a technicality. Could he have found her? And…what if it isn’t him?

I love the way Luke Justice describes her, “…when you walk through a room, people watch you. When you exit a room, people whisper. And when you exit a building, people sigh with relief.”

As bodies fall, fires, burn, she’s at the center of it. The pieces come together as she and Luke struggle to figure out what is really going on. Things are not as they appear on the surface and….

I loved the story…and the ending. WOW. It took me a while to figure it out, because there are more suspects than meet the eye. Is it her step brother? Is it him…or him…or…The bigger mystery, who is setting all the fires, is solved and a romance is blooming, but there is more to tell…and I hope to be there. I love when an author can hook me from the beginning and keep the pace at a high level, making it hard to put down.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

A woman haunted by her past. A killer who won’t let her forget.

Faith Day’s condition curses her to recall her mother’s fiery murder like it was yesterday. And when the forensic photographer’s convicted stepbrother is somehow cleared 12 years later and released from prison, Faith wonders if he’ll put an end to her tortured memories. But after a string of eerily familiar fires tear through her small town, Faith starts to question every detail of her traumatic past.

Luke Justice won’t rest until he catches a notorious serial killer masking his murders in arson. Following a trail of deadly blazes to Faith’s doorstep, the FBI agent senses she holds the key to the case. But if he can’t convince her to open up, Luke fears he’ll miss his best chance to put a psychopath behind bars.

As Faith fights the resurgence of dark emotions, an arsonist begins leaving personal totems in her home. Determined to stay alive, she taps into the only weapon she has against the vicious murderer: the echoes of her childhood nightmare.

Can Faith help Luke unmask the true killer before they both go up in flames?

Death is in the Details is a chilling standalone thriller novel. If you like small-town mysteries, psychological thrillers, and spine-tingling twists, then you’ll love Heather Sunseri’s latest page-turning tale.

ABOUT HEATHER SUNSERI

Heather Sunseri

Heather Sunseri was raised on a tiny farm in the smallest of towns in thoroughbred horse country near Lexington, Kentucky. After high school, she attended Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and later graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in accounting. Always torn between a passion for fantasy and a mind for the rational, it only made sense to combine her career in accounting with a novel-writing dream.

Heather now lives in a different small town on the other side of Lexington with her two children, and her husband, Mike, the biggest Oregon Duck fan in the universe. When she’s not writing or working as a CPA, she spends her time tormenting her daughter’s cat, Olivia, and loving on her son’s Golden Retriever, Jenny. MINDSPEAK is her first published novel.

Website / Twitter / Facebook

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Giveaway – Thief by Leslie Georgeson @XpressoTours @lesliegeorgeson

Posted on by

Thief
Leslie Georgeson
(Popov Bratva, #4)
Publication date: June 14th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Mafia, Romance, Suspense

I live by one simple rule.

Do not get attached.

Feelings are a weakness that I can’t allow.

It’s an easy rule to abide by. Keep everyone at a distance.

Then a sassy, smart-mouthed redhead interferes in my heist. For the first time in my life, I botch the job.

If I let her go, she’ll turn me in. I have no choice other than to take her hostage.

Too late, I learn she’s a celebrity. Her disappearance will make the headlines and lead back to me. She’s nothing but trouble in a tight, sexy body.

Can I strike a deal with a woman who challenges me at every turn?

Then I discover she has secrets that could ruin her. Now I have the upper hand. I plan to use it to my advantage.

She has more to lose than I do. Or so I think.

I am about to learn that some rules are meant to be broken.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

My stomach dropped. Had I seriously lost my wallet? This was not good. I needed to go back to the store before they closed and see if I could find it.

It was ten-thirty at night. The store closed at eleven. I needed to hurry.

There might be a slim chance someone had found my wallet and turned it in to someone at the store. It was also possible I’d dropped it somewhere and it still lay where it had fallen. If I hurried, I might actually get lucky and find it before someone picked it up.

The paparazzi should be long gone by now.

Snatching up my purse, I tossed my phone inside and headed for the garage. I’d never lost my wallet before. I wouldn’t feel better until I had it back in my possession.

Snagging a hoodie from the coat rack by the back door, I slipped it over my head. Moments later, I was in my Audi R8 and pulling out of the garage. I’d fallen in car lust the moment I’d seen the sleek and sexy convertible at the car dealership last year. Melanie called it a “dickmobile” and I loved the description with its intended pun. The sports car had cost me over a hundred and fifty grand. It was one of my few splurges. Mostly, I was careful with my money, investing over half of it for the future. I was smart enough to know I wouldn’t be on top forever. Everyone’s career had its ups and downs. Considering where I’d come from, I wasn’t about to be too confident. Today I might have it all, but tomorrow I might have squat.

I took nothing for granted.

Ten minutes later, I reached the store. 10:45 p.m. I still had fifteen minutes until closing.

The parking lot was nearly empty now. Only a few cars remaining. A sleek black Escalade. A beat-up blue Honda. A nondescript gray sedan.

Assuming the owner of the Escalade was wealthy, probably a celebrity and unlikely to care if he or she spotted another celebrity, I parked next to it. Plus, I felt safer parking near another expensive car. People with nice cars were less likely to ding your vehicle with their doors.

Pulling the hoodie up over my head to hide my face and stuffing a pepper spray in the pocket for my safety—a girl could never be too cautious—I exited the car and hurried toward the south entrance where Gus had picked us up earlier. If I couldn’t find my wallet on the ground, then I would go inside and ask the store clerk if someone had turned it in.

I’d only taken about eight or nine steps across the parking lot when I sensed a movement behind me.

My skin prickling, I whirled around.

A man dressed all in black slipped out of the back of the Escalade and rushed around to the driver’s side of my Audi, his face hidden beneath a black balaclava.

My mouth dropped open.

Are you kidding me?

Frozen with shock and cursing my dumb luck and the decision to park near the SUV, I could only stare as my car bleeped, the lights flashing as it unlocked, and the man slipped behind the wheel. Of my car. How the hell did he unlock it?

What I did next was probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But I wasn’t about to lose my precious Audi in addition to my wallet.

Pulling the pepper spray from the pocket of my hoodie, I raced back to my car just as the engine fired up.

Oh, no, you don’t, asshole!

Yanking the passenger’s side door open, I leaped into the vehicle just as it started to move forward.

The man jerked toward me in surprise.

I aimed the pepper spray at his face.

And pressed the trigger.


Author Bio:

Leslie Georgeson writes romance and suspense, sometimes with a dash of sci-fi or paranormal tossed in to make things more interesting. She is the author of the popular military romantic suspense series, THE DREGS, which was nominated for the 2018 TopShelf Indie Book Awards. Her other titles include the UNLIKELY HEROES series, the UNDERNEATH series, the standalone romantic mystery, NO SON OF MINE, and the newly released romantic suspense duet, THE PACT. Book one, The Mocking Man, is now available on Amazon.

Leslie lives with her husband and daughter on a quiet country acreage in Idaho. She is currently working on The Honest Liar, the second book in THE PACT, and anticipates an early May 2020 release.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Newsletter


GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:
XBTBanner1

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

New Release – Little Does She Know by Pamela Crane @MentalMommyPam

Posted on by

.

Woo Hoo. A new Pamela Crane novel, Little Does She Know, and I began reading almost as soon as it hit my Kindle. It has a preorder price of .99 and will be released on 6.21.22

Little Does She Know

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Ginger Mallowan is a Material Girl…until her son disappears. It brings to mind my own memories of the 80s: upbeat music, disco dancing, the clothes, big hair (though mine was always long and straight).

Tara Christie is her next door neighbor, the keeper of secrets and her best friend, but a dead body and her missing husband may change all that.

We do start out with a Prologue: Reginald Bloodson, the reason Bloodson Bay, North Caroline, exists. He went from bliss to despair when he lost his wife during childbirth, leading him to madness. On the anniversary of the tragedy, the town feels the gloom. Could they be cursed?

1986: Ginger Mallowan’s 16 month old son, Cole, goes missing. Thirty six years later, Ginger pulls out an evidence storage box. She is too stubborn to let it go. The guilt eats at her. Her other son, Benny, grew up and I am not feeling too good about the man he has become. The town is struck with more murder and disappearances.

NOW, it is getting really good. When I read about Ginger going down the stairs anticipating a hand reaching between the slats and grabbing her ankle, I remember feeling the same way in my childhood home.

A Bloodson may always win, but a Mallowan never surrendered. And Ginger wouldn’t. I felt for her, especially the more I learned about her. I love both of these women, Ginger and Tara. They are strong. Tara saves horses doomed to be pet food. And then we have rich men, thinking the world is their personal playground. I think we will be hearing more about Tara in the next book.

Pamela Crane has so much depth to her characters, whether good or bad, victims or villains. Some dialogue had me fuming, wondering if I would be able to contain my feelings or let rage rule. Good luck trying to solve the mystery amongst all the lies and secrecy surrounding the characters.

Little Does She Know by Pamela Crane is filled with lies and deceit, loss and despair, love and forgiveness…And, yes, I do like a happy ever after, though I couldn’t resist the tease she supplies at the end leading to the next book in the If She Only Knew series.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Little Does She Know by Pamela Crane.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Would you destroy your best friend to save your husband…if he’s done the unspeakable?

Ginger Mallowan embodies everything the 1980s stand for, from big hair to power suits to “Material Girl”…until her son disappears during a beach walk one night. That’s the moment girls don’t want to have fun anymore, and the moment she starts hunting for answers.

Now Ginger’s hair is a bit flatter, her power suits packed into the attic, and her dance steps to Madonna lack the energy of better days. She hasn’t found—or forgotten—her missing son, and she’s only survived the grief thanks to her neighbor and keeper of secrets, Tara Christie.

Except for Ginger’s darkest secret of all…about what happened the night her son disappeared.

But that vow of friendship is tested when Tara is jarred awake one night by a scream coming from next-door, where she finds Ginger standing over a dead body. Even stranger, Tara’s husband is nowhere to be found.

As the investigation shakes the town to its core, and Tara’s husband is charged with the murder, Tara must choose between proving her husband’s innocence or protecting Ginger’s past.

Little does she know they’re about to stumble down a twisty path that could destroy them all.

ABOUT PAMELA CRANE

Pamela Crane

PAMELA CRANE is a USA TODAY best-selling author and professional juggler. Not one who can toss flaming torches in the air, but a juggler of four kids, a writing addiction, and a horse rescuer. She lives on the edge (her Arabian horse can tell you about their wild adventures while trying to train him) and she writes on the edge…where her sanity resides. Her thrillers unravel flawed women who aren’t always pretty. In fact, her characters are rarely pretty, which makes them interesting…and perfect for doing crazy things worth writing about. When she’s not cleaning horse stalls or changing diapers, she’s psychoanalyzing others.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

MY PAMELA CRANE REVIEWS

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Little Ballerina by Jane Blythe @jblytheauthor

Posted on by

.

Woo Hoo…another Jane Blythe novel in the Candella Sisters series is here. I want to introduce you to Naomi Candella in Little Ballerina.

Little Ballerina (Candella Sisters' Heroes, #3)

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

She had dreamed of being a ballerina…until the fire that changed her life forever.

Three concussions in one year. It’s a good thing Naomi is hard headed. LOL Her shoulder was injured twice in the same year. Now, she can add being shot to that equation. No matter what, Naomi has to stay in motion.

Naomi and Sam had been childhood friends. As they grew up, he wanted more, but never pressed her. She was the one taking car of people, not them taking care of her. She is a member of Sam’s private security firm, Zeeke’s Private Investigations and Personal security, tough as nails, a warrior. She does get tired and it would be nice if she could relax, let someone take care of her for a change. Let’s see if Jane Blythe can make that happen. 🙂

How could her life get any worse? Being stalked. People around her are also in danger.

Jane Blythe shares her characters souls, their sense of failure, their guilt from something that was beyond their control. Ruth, her sister, lost herself to drugs, unable to kick the habit no matter how hard she tried guilt took her back to it. Naomi felt she had failed the family too, that she had to be tough, to be perfect.

The mystery, suspense and pacing builds, making it hard to stop for even a minute. I know it’s fiction, but sometimes it’s so easy to forget that, everything seems so real.

Though Little Ballerina is the end of the Candella Sisters Heroes series, Jane Blythe will keep us updated in the new Storybook Murders Trilogy.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Little Ballerina by Jane Blythe.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Sharing her dark secrets is the only way to save her life.

Naomi Candella has watched both her sisters find love in the last year but she knows there’s no happy ever after in her future. When an injury leaves her vulnerable and someone leaves a photo of her at a crime scene, her friend and boss steps in to play bodyguard. Problem is Sam is the one person who has the power to make her want what she cannot have, and having him staying in her home might just be the final straw that breaks her.

Samuel Zeeke has known Naomi since they were kids, she’s strong, tough, smart, everything he could want in a woman, but she also has walls as high as the heavens built around her. He’ll keep her safe, he’ll push her to give up her secrets to save her life, but he can’t push her into giving him a chance.

He doesn’t do soft or gentle, but for Naomi he’ll try, he’d do anything to keep her safe, but his best efforts might not be enough.

ABOUT JANE BLYTHE

USA Today bestselling author Jane Blythe writes action-packed romantic suspense and military romance featuring protective heroes and heroines who are survivors. One of Jane’s most popular series includes Saving SEALs, part of Susan Stoker’s OPERATION ALPHA world! Writing in that world alongside authors such as Janie Crouch and Riley Edwards has been a blast, and she looks forward to bringing more books to this genre, both within and outside of Stoker’s world. When Jane isn’t binge-reading she’s counting down to Christmas and adding to her 200+ teddy bear collection!

Website  /  Twitter  /  Facebook

MY REVIEWS FOR JANE BLYTHE’S BOOKS

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

New Release Review – And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling #NetGalley @PPPress

Posted on by

.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling.

And There He Kept Her

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I found the characters for And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling very interesting, a gay policeman, a missing girl with diabetes…and what happens when two kids break into a man’s house to steal his prescription drugs….

Seems there are a lot of secrets for a small town. But, we all know, sooner or later, they will be exposed. In the meantime, some will do anything to protect themselves.

The clock is ticking and time is running out.

I love watching the characters as they walk through the pages, some worse than others. They remind me of how fragile live is. Is everyone either good or bad? I love villains that make me wonder…and we have many to choose from. The whys are intriguing. Nature or nurture seems to come up when dealing with drug addiction, murder, serial killers…

I didn’t take many notes as I read, but I will commend Joshua Moehling for a job well done for his first novel. I look forward to watching him grow and develop his writing. I foresee good things for him.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

GOODREAD BLURB

“A dark and complex mystery that will consume you, starring a protagonist who is equal parts quirky Milhone and steady Gamache.”—Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight

They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong.

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he’s been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he’ll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector.

Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff’s deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

Unrelentingly suspenseful and written with a piercing gaze into the dark depths of the human soul, And There He Kept Her is a thrilling page-turner that introduces readers to a complicated new hero and forces us to consider the true nature of evil.

ABOUT JOSHUA MOEHLING

This is Joshua Moehling’s debut novel. I was unable to find any information at this time.

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/ product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!