Every so often, I hop over to NetGalley to see if there is a book there than I must have. When I saw House of Blood and Earth, Crescent City #1, I immediately clicked and was approved for this exclusive extract. I was disappointed, because I clicked so quickly, I didn’t realize it wasn’t for the completed novel. đ I have my fingers crosses that I’ll get a copy, because the ending was to die for.
It took me a while to get involved, as Sarah J Maas introduced the characters and the world they live in. The more I read, and the more I got to know the characters, the more deeply involved I became…BUT, be careful who you become attached to, because the ending blew me away and took me in a direction I didn’t see coming, which Sarah did in a bloody and twisted way. I applaud her.
I think we have every supernatural entity that you can imagine, and maybe some you can’t, along with humans. They walk side by side…
I flip back and forth between 3 and 4 stars…because of that ending. One way or another, I will get me a copy. I have to know!!!!!!!
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
An EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT from the first novel in the epic series Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, from the number one New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. A
blockbuster modern fantasy set in a divided world where one woman must
uncover the truth to seek her revenge. With heart-stopping twists and
searing romance, this is perfect for fans of Jessica Jones and True Blood.
ABOUT SARAH J MAAS
Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series (Queen of Shadows, Book 4, will be out in September 2015), as well as the A Court of Thorns and Roses series (out 5/5/15).
Sarah lives in Bucks County, PA, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much tea, and watches an ungodly amount of TV. When she’s not busy writing, she can be found exploring the historic and beautiful Pennsylvania countryside with her husband and canine companion.
BURIED IN MY PAST By Eva Mackenzie Domestic Romantic Suspense
Sheâs desperate to stop the panic attacks. But the truth wonât set her freeâŚ
Jamie Kendal sees life through the bottom of a bottle. After
surviving assault and betrayal, she is forced back to her hometown to
care for her mother. Not long after her return, sheâs plagued by
terrifying slivers of memories from the night her twin brother
disappeared foreverâŚ
Unearthing new evidence, sheâs shocked to learn sheâd been found
wandering in the woods that same nightâcovered in blood. More than one
person from her past hid the haunting truth thatâs bubbling to the
surface. The deeper she digs into the horrors from her past, the more
she fears almost anyone could be a killer, including Jamie herself.
Can Jamie expose what happened that night, or will she join her missing brother?
Taylor
âHello, my name is Taylor, and Iâm a sex addict.â He looked around the room at a few familiar faces. Heâd never told his story to them, but he always liked to introduce himself to the group. Of course, Taylor wasnât his real name. And perhaps his burden was not exactly sex addiction, but it was in that vein.
âHello, Taylor.â The group welcomed him.
He quickly took his seat and cast his eyes to the ground.
There was a big group tonight at Sex Addicts Anonymous. The dusty space occupied the third floor of the public library, rented to them every Tuesday night.
Marcie, or so she claimed to be, stood up and moved to the front of the group.
She always liked to share all the gory details of her sex addiction. Taylor secretly wondered if she was getting off telling the group about her promiscuity. Too willing, if you asked him.
He glanced around at the men and women captivated by Marcieâs passionate relapse. He imagined some were fathers and mothers. Some were possibly divorced or in open relationships. Heterosexuals, homosexuals, and anything in between. All looked like average people.
Marcie was maybe a four on a scale of one to ten, so he barely raised his head as she continued.
This was his fifteenth meeting, and every time he walked through those doors, he wondered what he was doing here. Of course, he had a problem, but he wasnât interested in fixing it. Maybe problem wasnât the proper classification.
Was his issue a lack of moral character? If so, who was the judge? Society? That was a joke. No one on this earth was free from lust.
All of these people were suffering. Not him. He lived the dream. But on most Tuesday nights he found the time to drive two and half hours to this meeting. He didnât ask himself whyâhe knew whyâand the anticipation offered a giddy sensation that nudged his crotch. He was a bastard, for sure;
There was no one in this room he was interested in. Hell, who wanted cheap thrills. He was looking for a ten.
He wasnât a handsome man, although he wasnât ugly either. Some might say his nose was a bit too sharp or his hair too thin. His features werenât coveted, and he wasnât charming or even funny. But he only had sex with women who were nines, at minimum; it was sort of a rule he had.
The group around him broke into applause as Marcie took her seat. She didnât give him a come-hither glance. Her eyes were glued to the other man she sat next to. As he stood up to introduce himself, Marcie rested a friendly hand on his armâencouragement. Right.
He would be Marcieâs next relapse.
It was too easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
Not himâhe wanted a real lay.
He stood and removed a cigarette from his coat pocket and headed for the door, his movement swift. He had forgotten the time.
Once out on the street, he was greeted by a blast of hot air. The pavement had soaked up the sun and continued to heat the city at night. He lit his smoke and waited while keeping his eyes on the steady stream of people moving down the sidewalk. The working crowd hustled along in and out of Virginiaâs metro station in Arlington.
A woman in her early thirties hustled past him. Her Clinique perfume teased his nose as he closed the space quietly. Her feet slid into two-inch heels revealing that sexy muscle on the sides of her calves. She wore a business suit fitting her well in all the right places. Her smooth, pale skin flashed in the intermittent streetlights. She was a ten.
He dropped his smoke, not missing a step as she chose her watering hole.
A pub for working adults and cliques. High-end place. He knew before she even went inside that she would take a seat at the bar.
She graciously held the door for him without a backward glance.
Inside he took a seat at a table with a full view of the restaurant; Virginia didnât have barsâthey had places that serve fried food to patrons consuming large amounts of alcohol. The place was packed, noise assaulting his senses. Just the way he liked it. Much of the same crowd was here last week. He watched Ten take her seat, order her drink, and immediately pull out her cell phone.
âWhat can I get you?â a waitress asked.
âGin and tonic and a margarita for my girlfriend.â He patted the table beside him as he nodded to the bathroom. She scurried off without another word.
He watched as a large group of men entered the bar. One of them spotted Ten and boldly joined her.
âFifteen seventy,â the waitress said as she placed the two drinks in front of him a few minutes later. Opening his wallet, he counted out eighteen dollars and handed the money to her. He imagined the police asking her a list of questions. âWhat did he look like? How tall was he? Did he have any tattoos?â She would remember none of these things, the tip not large enough or small enough to trigger any memories.
He sipped his drink and watched.
He knew his number ten would be stood up this evening. Her profile picture online, to his delight, was an accurate depiction. In the dim bar light, her skin was as creamy and flawless as he recalled. She scanned her phone once again, her mannerisms jerky. She was looking for a man that didnât exist. At least he didnât live in Arlington, Virginia. Best to travel in groups. There are a lot of assholes out there, Julie.
He pulled a small bottle from his pocket. A clear liquid inside promised adventure as he poured it into his second drink. Number ten was still at the bar, an unhappy pout dressing her full lips. The bold admirer continued a conversation with her. Perfect.
He slunk to the bar and pulled up next to her, careful not to gain her attention yet as she faced away from him. Bodies pressed in all directions. Her margarita sat barely touched in front of her.
âCan I get another gin and tonic?â He held up his empty glass. He scanned faces quickly but discreetly.
Placing his margarita next to hers, he gently tapped her on the shoulder as the bartender turned for his refill.
âThis is mine, right?â he asked, pointing to her drink. She looked dazed for a second as she glanced at the two glasses. She nodded absently as he took her drink and left his cocktail instead. After paying the bartender, he went back to his table.
He watched as she drank the whole glass. Shadows danced over his face as he looked at his watch; it had been twenty minutes. Almost time.
Her movements were becoming loose as she swayed gently on the stool. Her admirer smiled at her dolefully as she seemed to lose her inhibition. Her current company mouthed, âIâll be right back,â and took off toward the restroom. Time to make his move.
âThere you are!â he said as he approached her. She looked over at him, glassy warm brown eyes accompanying a silky smile. He didnât have much time.
âIâm sorry Iâm late. Traffic was a mess.â He put his arm around her and kissed her softly on the lips. She didnât object.
âLetâs go, sweetheart.â He was already moving toward the door. No, I donât have a problem. He looked down at his new girl. None at all.
Eva Mackenzie is an author who enjoys twisty, emotionally engrossing
tales. Her debut novel has been a work in progress for over a decade.
Under the urging of a loved one, itâs finally finished.
She is a
wife and mother living on the east coast. When she isnât writing, she is
spending time with her family, training for her next marathon or
reading stacks of suspense novels. Some of her favorite authors are
Minka Kent, Dean Koontz, Tami Hoag, and Lisa Jackson.
Her latest book is BURIED IN MY PAST.
It’s wonderful to be back with another Willow Rose mystery. I devour her books.
Harry is on the hunt…for drug dealers. He had been removed from the narcotics police squad because he was always beating them up and getting beaten in the process. His wife was a vegetable after a drug overdose, so that explains his motivation. He takes care of her with the help of his neighbor and his wife’s best friend, Jean. He is always in trouble at work, being late and disobeying orders.
After the fifth death of a group of students, he is assigned to protect a possible future victim. The more he learns about him, the less he cares about him. I love to hate villains, but there is so much more to the guy than I anticipated. He is arrogant, a bully…reveling in the torture he heaps on his victims. Is he a sociopath? A psychopath? Does it matter? Evil is evil.
But, is he the killer? We have plenty of suspects. I kept bouncing back and forth, trying to figure it out for myself, but Willow Rose doesn’t make it easy. Some seem too obvious, and knowing Willow, I am sure she is going to twist and turn me round and round until the end.
The turn Willow took with this mystery was a surprise, and I love book surprises. Secrets don’t stay secret. And they can be used against you. In this instance, it is taken to such an extreme no one is safe from his manipulation. How far would you go to keep a devastating, life destroying secret? How far would someone else go to use it against you?
All The Good Girls by Willow Rose is one wild rollercoaster ride. She has an ability to surprise me with the unexpected.
All The Good Girls, and the future Harry Hunter novels, are shorter stories, with a pace so fast it’s hard to keep up and the suspects so numerous I couldn’t put it together. Love it!
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of All The Good Girls by Willow Rose.
4 Stars
This novel is the first book in Willow Rose’s electrifying new Harry Hunter series.
Detective Harry Hunter of Miami PDâs homicide squad throws himself into a case no one asked him to solve.
Four teenagers from one of Miami’s affluent neighborhoods are murdered on a boat. Another is found in a dumpster. All five of them go to the same school and are on a list of witnesses to another crime.
Because he’s in bad standing with his boss, Harry is given the task of protecting a possible future victim, but Harry isn’t always known to follow his boss’s orders.
Soon, he’ll risk everything while racing to stop a killer who has left everyone else in the homicide squad shaking in terror.
ALL THE GOOD GIRLS is the first book in the Harry Hunter Mystery Series and can be read as a standalone.
The Queen of Scream aka Willow Rose is a #1 Amazon Best-selling Author and an Amazon ALL-star Author of more than 60 novels.
She writes Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense, Horror, Supernatural thrillers, and Fantasy.
Willow’s books are fast-paced, nail-biting pageturners with twists you won’t see coming. Several of her books have reached the Kindle top 10 of ALL books in the US, UK, and Canada. She has sold more than three million books.
Willow lives on Florida’s Space Coast with her husband and two daughters. When she is not writing or reading, you will find her surfing and watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Due to mature content, this book is best suited for a Mature YA/New-Adult or Adult reader.
John looked at the sign, Lucius D Harwell.
He approached the doctor’s door and knew he had to go in…now. Before anyone saw him,
âSoâ, the doctor said, âAre you ready?â
When he saw the bucket full of the slithering slime he remembered the woman he had brought in a while back. It hadnât ended so well for her.
What would become of him? There had to be another way. He couldn’t bring himself to let the doctor begin. He had heard stories whispers, quickly hushed when someone approached. The doctor tried to talk him into beginning but he thought it couldn’t hurt to hypothetically discuss other options. The doctor tried to explain that it wasnât like an elixir or ointment, couldnât be found in a battle or jar â more like a potion, it was witchcraft. It went against church and state, but John couldnât help himself.
Three conditions would let the doctor begin his recommended treatment, after he told him he would have to âcast away his good name and denounce all things holey and pure”. He would never speak of the books or what was contained in the pages. He agreed. The doctor retrieved the book and John watched him place it on the desk.
He saw only one word, KURE. The doctor gave him one more chance to change his mind, but he placed his hand on the cover of the book and felt an evil. As the book turned its pages on its own volition the doctor began reading.
How did Jaye Frances go there? It makes me wonder how her mind works.
Jaye Franceâs books have taken me on some wild journeys I never could have imagined, and I always breathe a sigh of relief, for leaving with my sanity, when the story is told.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
“In vain thou shall use
many medicines, but thou shalt not be kured. And even though you search
for a virgin to lay upon her balm, there is no healing for you. You
multiply your remedies in vain as your cries fill the earth, and you
will stumble, one over the other, and both will fall down together.” –
The Book of Eternal Regret
John Tyler, a young man in his early
twenties, awakens to find a ghastly affliction taking over his body.
When the village doctor offers the conventional, and potentially
disfiguring, treatment as the only cure, John tenaciously convinces the
doctor to reveal an alternative remedyâa forbidden ritual contained
within an ancient manuscript called the Kure.
Although initially
rejecting the vile and sinister rite, John realizes, too late, that the
ritual is more than a faded promise scrawled on a page of crumbling
paper. And as cure quickly becomes curse, the demonic text unleashes a
dark power that drives him to consider the unthinkableâa depraved and
wicked act requiring the corruption of an innocent soul.
Ultimately,
John must choose between his desperate need to arrest the plague that
is destroying his body, and the virtue of the woman he loves, knowing
the wrong decision could cost him his life.
ABOUT JAYE FRANCES
Jaye
Frances is the author of âWorld Without Love,â a suspense thriller
series with an erotic edge, including âBetrayed,â âReunion,â and
âRedemption.â Her other books include âThe Beach,â a sci-fi supernatural
tale about the possibilitiesâand horrorâof wishful thinking, âThe
Kure,â a paranormal-occult romance novel, âThe Possibilities of Amy,â a
coming-of-age story of first love, and âLove Travels Forever,â a
collection of poignant short stories. When not absorbed with her
writing, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and taking pictures-lots of
them. Jaye lives on the gulf coast of Florida, sharing her home with one
husband, six computers, and several hundred pairs of shoes.
Carolyn Arnold does a fantastic job of writing cozies and police procedurals. Past Deeds is due for release on the 18th, so I am glad to give you a sneak peek.
Carolyn Arnold writes in multiple genres and her police procedurals are my favorites. She puts her characters in impossible situations and I always look forward to following the process to capture. Her stories remind me of Criminal Minds, and that is a very good thing. It makes it easy for me, along with Carolyn’s writing, to follow the process they go through to catch the criminal.
A sniper. A death. Is the sniper a hired gun? A vigilante? I am very curious. I love when I can relate to the villain, finding out their motivations for their actions, what drives them to do the evil that they do. It’s always the why for me.
Jack Harper and the rest of the BAU team are on the case. Each character has a unique personality and a history that drives them.
Brandon and Paige have a tenuous working relationship and Jack throws them together, time and time again. Brandon has problems with looking past the personal and dealing with the case. It strikes a little too close to home and the guilt that he carries. It’s his own fault. I want to slap him upside the heads. Can’t undo your Past Deeds, and they play a part in who you are now. May have you asking some questions of yourself. I love a thought provoking novel.
Kelly is new to the team, but not to Jack. Jack keeps the newbies close to him, working side by side. She questions herself and every word that comes out of her mouth, second guessing herself. I loved watching her grow confidence and learn what it means to be a member of the team. Her past gives her the ability to empathize with the unknown subject, which is a valuable tool.
I agree with Kelly’s thoughts about men in service. They deserve more than they get, once they come home. They are the forgotten heroes and the government doesn’t do enough for them when they are in need.
I love how Carolyn Arnold weaves reality with fiction, her ability to make me want to know the characters, want to watch them grow and struggle with their personal issues, along with the cases they work on.
As the search for the unknown subject continues, Carolyn Arnold creates a twist I didn’t see coming, a sickening twist, as the suspense builds and I read quicker. It saddens me. It can’t end good, but….the desire for the lost to be saved is still there for me.
The unknown subject is a soldier, on a mission. What happens when the mission is complete?
Past Deeds is a thought provoking story and my mind feeds on it. All our past experiences create the person we are today, but what if….
I voluntarily read an ARC of Past Deeds by Carolyn Arnold.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Some consequences canât be predictedâŚ
A sniping takes place in Arlington, Virginia, less than fifteen minutes from Washington, D.C., and nets several minor injuries but only one casualty. FBI Agent Brandon Fisher and his team with the Behavioral Analysis Unit are called in to determine if the threat is still active and whether theyâre looking at an act of terrorism, an isolated incident, or the first in a planned series of shootings. All that seems clear from the ground is theyâre looking for a skilled sniper who is former military.
As the FBI investigates, one possible motive has Brandon battling his own demons as the consequences of past choices resurface with a vengeance. He will come to discover how one decision can not only haunt us for the rest of our lives, but spread out and have long- and far-reaching repercussions we couldnât even begin to imagine.
Past Deeds will have you joining the FBI in following clues and unraveling the psyche of a killer. This book will make you think and reflectâand you just might wonder if any past decisions youâve made are stalking you, ready to strike.
ABOUT CAROLYN ARNOLD
CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction seriesâDetective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor Adventuresâand 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 ENFORCEMENTâ˘.
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
and Sisters in Crime.
The title for My Dead Blue Caterpillar by R D Murray was the first thing to hook me, then I saw the great cover and read the blurb. I got it on an Amazon free day on 1.19.18, and I am really glad I added it to my reading list.
For a debut novel, R D Murray rocks with My Dead Blue Caterpillar.
I feel we all have two sides to our personalities, sometimes more, but Karen? She got my attention quickly and I have a felling she won’t be letting me go. She scares the hell out of me, but I am looking forward to finding out what she will do.
Harold has her isolated and so in love she sees no faults…until…
Hell hath no fury like Karen when she is scorned and someone’s going to pay.
Psychological thriller fits My Dead Blue Caterpillar to a T. These characters are so twisted, I’m not sure if they are crazy or just plain evil.
Sex slaves, whether as a totally controlled wife or a kidnapped, raped and tortured underage girl, there is plenty to fill me with rage and disgust.
Oh man, the ending….I believe there will be more to come and I can hardly wait to read it.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Nothing is what it seems! No one is who they claim to be!
Everyone
has secrets but no one has secrets as big as Haroldâs. When Karen Pine
finds out her husband is sleeping with a multitude of women, and has a
book full of their names and addresses, she has to decide if she: A.)
wants to kill him. B.) wants to punish his women or C.) all of the
above.
As she struggles with the discovery of a secret book, the
reality of what it all means, and searches for answers, more and more
secrets start to come to life about her husband.
Karen is soon sucked into a mind-bending, mysterious, and devious revenge story. But it isnât until Harold suddenly disappears, that things take a turn for the worse. Leaving Karen to fight a battle she could never imagine, even in her wildest dreams.
Cracked Sapphire, Book I in the Broken Gem series, is Jane Blythe’s newest release, fresh off the press. She is an amazing author and never ceases to give me hours of reading enjoyment and book surprises. I can hardly wait for the next one.
Every time I open a Jane Blythe book, I do so with high expectations and she did not let me down in her newest release, Cracked Sapphire. The book is filled with triggers that many people will want to avoid, but NOT ME! I want to walk the dark side. I want to be disgusted and outraged…and I am. WOW. Jane can sure deliver the shock factor!
I have more than a full page of notes and I know I can’t share all my thoughts, so what do I do, other than encourage you to walk the dark side with me and find out for yourself.
Amelia…I felt something was coming, but not that. Truly frightening when I believe it can be all too true. Jane Blythe has a wonderful ability to weave ‘it can really happen’ with her fiction.
Jane’s character descriptions make them easy to visualize, bringing them to life…or in some case, death.
Now, let’s talk about the series character’s names. They are all precious gems, like the characters themselves. They have been put through a horrendous experience with human traffickers, but they are determined to have a ‘normal’ life. How they were saved was the first of many book surprises.
“I like you,” he drawled. “I like the strong ones; they always have a better chance of surviving.” What the hell does that mean? I have a feeling a twist is coming.
Sapphire has made it her mission in life to catch as many criminals as possible. She devotes her life to it. The only friends she has is her sisters. She keeps tight control of her emotions, feeling she has to be strong for them. Her life is her sisters, catching the bad guy, and then…death. No marriage. No children. But, that’s okay, until…
She doesn’t always play well with others, and definitely has no respect for shrinks. She sees Dr Gideon Barlow as a necessary evil, when he is assigned to work the serial killer case with her. Dr Barlow does like a challenge and he knows Sapphire will be a big one, considering he is immediately attracted to her.
Jane never ceases to amaze me with the depth of depravity her villains will go to to satisfy their itch. It’s not surprising that this villain is not a people person. The suspense level rises as he slips through their fingers. They had him, but…well, I can’t tell you what happens. And that makes their case even harder to solve, because, now he knows, they are hot on his heels.
I loved watching Sapphire grown and change, quit taking the blame for everything that happens, letting the ‘normal’ be a possibility.
Romantic suspense has a push/pull, give/take wrapped up in miscommunication. But, Jane Blythe has written a unique take on the issue of keeping the suspense alive, the problems coming in an original way. I didn’t find myself saying, “well, I knew that was coming.” She didn’t prolong the agony by creating the romance conflict we are all so familiar with and I LOVE IT! Kudos for handling the romance in such an awesome way!
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Cracked Sapphire by Jane Blythe.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Betrayed. Sold. Tortured. Now sheâs fighting to rebuild her life.
Detective Sapphire Hatcher was sold to human traffickers when she was sixteen. She was lucky. She was rescued, and now she has dedicated her life to saving others. When a criminal psychiatrist is brought in to work alongside her, she tries to ignore the way he makes her feel, but he wonât let her.
Gideon Barlow travels the country working with police departments on the most depraved of cases. When he meets Sapphire, the attraction is instantaneous, but if he can’t help her realize that there is more to life than her job, she might end up losing not just her chance at happiness but her life as well.
â Trigger warning – mature content, issues of sexual assault/abuse, violence â
ABOUT JANE BLYTHE
Jane
has loved reading and writing since she can remember. She writes dark
and disturbing crime/mystery/suspense with some romance thrown in
because, well, who doesnât love romance? She has one completed series,
Detective Parker Bell, and one new series, Count to Ten.
When sheâs not writing Jane loves to
read, bake, go to the beach, ski, horse ride, and watch Disney movies.
She has a black belt in Taekwondo, and a 200+ collection of teddy bears.
She has the worldâs two most sweet and pretty Dalmatians, Ivory and
Pearl. Oh, and she also enjoys spending time with family and friends!
I actually picked up Itsy Bitsy Spider by Willow Rose on an Amazon free day on 11.22.14. I didn’t read it until 6.8.19, but that’s not the books fault. LOL
I am thoroughly creeped out by spiders, so I do love this cover.
Oh Astrid. My heart is breaking and I’ve only read the Prologue. I am one of those people that love Prologues and Epilogues.
Emma Frost is new to the island due to an inheritance, a house from her grandmother. let’s see what kind of trouble will come her way, seeing I know Willow Rose from other stories of hers I have read and she tends to blow my mind.
There’s a murder next door. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”
Willow has a way of grabbing me by the throat, gaining my full attention as I struggle like the characters to survive the evil.
WTF! Sure led me down a twisted, horrifying path to the killer.
Willow Rose draws me in slowly…I know it’s hard to come up with something new..and BAM, in your face, but Willow seems able to do that many times over!
From past to present an evil secret in Emma’s family is expose.
Blew me away. Saying OMG, Omg, omg…
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Emma Frost inherits a
house on Fanoe Island when her grandmother dies. She decides to move
there with her family, much to her teenage-daughter’s regret. One
morning a wealthy old woman in her street is found murdered and soon
Emma finds herself wrapped in a mystery uncovering the island’s dark
secrets that not only runs deep within the history of the island but
also within her own family.
From the author of the International
Bestselling books, the Rebekka Franck-series comes a new Scandinavian
Mystery destined to keep you up all night. This is the first book in the
Emma Frost-series and is followed by Miss Polly had a dolly.
ABOUT WILLOW ROSE
TheQueen of Scream aka Willow Rose is a #1 Amazon Best-selling Author
and an Amazon ALL-star Author of more than 60 novels.
She writes Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense, Horror,
Supernatural thrillers, and Fantasy.
Willowâs books are fast-paced, nail-biting pageturners with twists you wonât
see coming. Several of her books have reached the Kindle top 10 of
ALL books in the US, UK, and Canada. She has sold more than three
million books.
Willow lives on Floridaâs Space Coast with her husband and two daughters.
When she is not writing or reading, you will find her surfing and
watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Welcome to my stop for Finding Lisa by Sigrid Macdonald. Which fork would you take? I love book covers and often grab a book for that reason alone. Sometimes it works against me. LOL Let’s send out a big welcome to Sigrid Macdonald.
TOPIC: MY BOOK COVER
Dear Sherry:
Thank you for having me on your blog and
for asking about my book cover. It took me a long time to choose this cover
because I wanted it to represent so many things.
Tara, my protagonist, has a dilemma.
Everything is going wrong in her life, with her marriage, on the job, and with
her moody teenage son. And, to top it off, she’s about to turn 40, and the
thought terrifies her. The only thing right in her life is her best friend,
Lisa. One night the two women have a typical night out on the town watching a
flick at the foreign film theater and going for a snack at the deli afterward.
It’s status quo. They do this all the time. But this night is different. This
night Lisa tells Tara that she is pregnant, and her partner, Ryan, may not be
the father. Tara is worried because Ryan has a history of domestic violence and
was incarcerated for assaulting his first wife. Tara doesn’t think Ryan will
handle this news well. But there is no time to find out because right after
that night at the movies, Lisa goes missing. Tara has no idea what to do.
The cover illustrates Tara’s
indecisiveness. A woman is standing, looking out into an empty field. She is at
a crossroads where she could go left, or she could go right, or she could walk
straight across the grass without a path at all. But Tara has no idea what to
do. She’s never been in this situation. It’s possible that Lisa could have
broken her sobriety and gone on a drinking binge. If that’s the case, Tara
doesn’t want to embarrass her by attracting publicity. Or maybe Lisa was too
afraid to tell Ryan about a baby that might not be his. But deep down, Tara
knows that Lisa would never take off without contacting her boss, her parents,
or Tara. She might not tell Ryan where she’s going, but she would let the
others know so they wouldn’t worry. So, now Tara is worried!
Eventually, Tara will make several
decisions, for good or for bad. It’s up to the reader to decide whether Tara
does the right thing in her search for her friend, along with her own shaky
sense of self-identity. As Charles Dickens said in the first line of David Copperfield, “Whether I shall
turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by
anybody else, these pages must show.” The same can be said for Tara.
Thanks so much.
Best,
Sigrid
PS I had a midlife crisis and pretended to
be 39 for several years! It was so much easier for me to turn 60 than 40, so I
wanted to give this particular issue to my character because we live in such a
youth-oriented culture that I think this magic number of 40 affects a lot of
people, especially women who are told that they need to stay young to be
relevant.
Finding Lisa by Sigrid Macdonald Â
GENRE: Mystery/women’s fiction
BLURB
Finding
Lisa is a character driven story about a quirky Canadian woman named Tara who
is about to turn 40. She dreads the thought. Everything is going wrong in her
life from her stale marriage to her boring job to her hopeless crush on a
24-year-old guy. The only thing right in Tara’s life is her best friend Lisa
who has just confided that she is pregnant and the baby does not belong to her
partner Ryan, who has a history of domestic violence. Then Lisa disappears and
the search is on to find her.
EXCERPT
All the carts were taken at the supermarket on Tuesday. I
found one off to the side of the vegetable aisle. It had a defective wheel,
which resulted in me almost overturning a display of cantaloupes. The cart was
also enormous. No doubt this was a deliberate ploy on the part of the
supermarket to encourage excess shopping.
“I feel as though I’m driving a school bus,” I
announced to the frail, pale orange-haired woman to my left, who was squeezing
the small, unappetizing looking cantaloupes.
She smiled faintly and nodded. I wondered how she had the
strength to push the heavy cart through the long aisles of the grocery store at
her age.
“Mum, I’ll go with you to one of those Women against
Rape meetings if you want?” Devon
said to my astonishment, his voice rising at the end of his sentence.
“Thereâs only one condition. You have to watch 8 Mile with me.”
“8 Mile? Isnât that the movie based on the book by
Stephen King?”
“Nah, youâre thinking about The Green Mile,” Devon
replied. “8 Mile is the story of a rapper in Detroit. It’s based on the
life of Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers. Eminem even stars in
it,” he said with increasing enthusiasm.
“I think itâll give you a better idea of where he’s
coming from. You know, you’re always talking about these girls who’ve been,
like, abused and what horrible lives they’ve had. You even feel bad about boys
who were taken advantage of by priests or their hockey coaches. So why don’t
you have any sympathy for Marshall? His mother was abusive. She was mean to
him, and she did drugs! Also, she, like, gave him something called Munchkins
syndrome,” Devon added uncertainly.
“Munchausen syndrome?â I asked, trying to picture the
tough guy with the tattoos and bad attitude as a small child with a
manipulative and controlling mother.
“Yeah, that sounds right. She made him feel sick when
he was totally healthy. And, Mum, I know you would respect the way Em felt
about his little brother, Nathan. He, like, didn’t wanna leave him alone in the
house with his mother when he finally split from Detroit. He’s also really keen
about his daughter, Hailie Jade. He talks about her all the time in his songs
and on TV.”
I pushed the buttons on the radio. The Steve Miller band was
singing, “Time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future.” I had a
sense of motion. The car was moving forward, and with every traffic light I
passed, I was moving farther away from Lisa and our routine evenings at the
ByTowne Theatre. The rest of us were going ahead, and Lisa had been left
behind. I wanted to go back, not just to last Thursday night, but to my university
days, so I could live my life all over again.
I wanted to be sixteen or twenty-six again, making decisions
based on what I knew now. So many lost opportunities. How had I managed to
completely screw up my life? I’d done everything wrong except that I hadn’t
become a street prostitute or a serial murderer. Too late for the formerâwho
would want me? But there was still time for the latter.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Originally from New Jersey, Sigrid Macdonald lived for almost thirty years in Ottawa, Ontario, and currently resides in Weston, Florida. She has been a freelance writer for years. Her works have appeared in TheGlobe and Mail newspaper; the Women’s Freedom NetworkNewsletter; the American magazine Justice Denied; The Toastmaster; and the Anxiety DisordersAssociation of Ontario Newsletter. Her first book, Getting Hip: Recovery from a Total Hip Replacement, was published in 2004. Her second book, Be Your OwnEditor, followed in 2010. Although Finding Lisa is written in first person, Macdonald only resembles her character in the sense that she once had a neurotic fixation on her hair, and she has always been called by the wrong name; instead of being called Sigrid, people have called her Susan, Sharon, Astrid, Ingrid and, her personal favorite, Siri.
Macdonald
is a social activist who has spent decades working on the seemingly disparate
issues of women’s rights and wrongful convictions; she has worked at the
Women’s Center at Ramapo College of New Jersey and Carleton University in
Ottawa, Ontario, and was a member of AIDWYC, The Association in Defense of the
Wrongly Convicted. She owns an editing company called Book Magic. Sigrid is a
public speaker and a member of Mothers against Drunk Driving, Ottawa
Independent Writers, the American Association of University Women, and the
Editors’ Association of Canada. Visit her website at http://bookmagic.ca/ or friend her on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/sigridmac.
Sigrid Macdonald will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Follow the tour and comment, the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. Follow the tour HERE.
Zack Daniels grew up in a rundown apartment complex off the Las Vegas Strip. At an early age, he learned to protect and support his mother and sister with determination and grit. After his sister is raped by the son of a local Russian mobster and commits suicide, he joins the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police to seek justice for her and to protect the public.
When a high-profile executive is murdered in his best friendâs hotel, Zack is assigned to track down the killer. The sole witness to the murder is a beautiful high-priced escort. He must let go of his vendetta against his sisterâs rapist to work the case.
Sonnet Banks goes to the wrong hotel room and witnesses a murder. She is stunned. She knows the killer. Heâs someone from her past. Someone she hoped to never see again.
During her police interview, Sonnet tells Zack she doesnât recognize the killer, but Zack is convinced sheâs lying. Zack needs the lovely, evasive woman to tell him what she knows and is willing to use seduction to get it. Yet, was it still seduction when all he could do was think about her?
Zack Daniels is so hot he makes Sonnetâs knees weak. He checks every box for her. Every box. But even if he wasnât her protector, she canât risk getting close to him or anyone. And she canât tell him the truth.
After a bold attempt on Sonnetâs life, Zack enlists the help of two close friends and someone completely unexpected to protect her. The countdown to an all-out war looms before them. Would they all survive? Time was running out.
Charlene is a Waynesburg, Pennsylvania native. She went to Waynesburg High School and graduated Cum Laude from Waynesburg College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts. Currently lives in Sacramento, California where she spent the last 33 years working at Northrop Grumman.
Books have always been her passion. She started reading at an early age and progressed to full-length books by age nine. The first supernatural book series she read was Dark Shadows, and it sparked her interest in all things paranormal, with a spicy touch of romance mixed in for good measure. She also started writing poetry in grade school and continues to do so today.
Being an avid reader, the consummate daydreamer and an incurable romantic with a Cinderella complex, she started creating her own characters and storylines because she realized she had her own stories to tell.
She is married and has a son, a daughter, and four beautiful grandchildren.
Besides reading and writing, she also enjoys photography, travel, music, and great movies.
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