Tag Archives: mystery

August 2, 2016 · 5:00 am

Renegade Heart by Nina Barrett (Book Review & Author Interview)

 

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As if Vegas didn’t have excitement enough, December brings the National Finals Rodeo to the city. Heading the Imperial Hotel’s participation as a host hotel, Kerstin Hennepin is rushing to a meeting when a fall sends her tumbling into a stranger’s arms and he’s in no hurry to let her go.

Jake Aaron is a troubleshooter for the rodeo Or maybe he’s just plain trouble. Their attraction is instant and one close encounter leads to another, but Jake comes with plenty of questions. True he’s busy handing the offstage antics of rowdy rodeo contestants, but does his job also include romancing a young barrel rider and carrying a concealed weapon?

With the finale of the Finals approaching, Kerstin needs answers. But when her search for the truth reveals more is going on behind the scenes than on the arena floor, she and Jake are squarely in someone’s cross hairs.


Interested?
Below is a sneak peek of Renegade Heart – Let me know what you think.
 Thanx!
 
 

“This way.”
 
It wasn’t a question.
 
Putting an arm around her shoulders, Jake steered her away from the entry to a shadowed alcove behind a pair of oversized ornamental urns. Droplets of water from the fountain misted the air. He pulled her into the dark recess as if it had been placed there for them. Kerstin flinched as the cold of the stone façade penetrated her thin clothing. The afternoon’s warmth was only a memory now. Before she could shiver, he swept her into an embrace. Her legs braced against his, he trailed kisses down her exposed neck.
 
“Jake.”
 
It sounded like she was begging.
 
Was she? Backed against the stone of the Imperial, she was trapped between fire and ice.
 
He captured her head in his hands, his tongue parting her lips.
 
Her breath caught in her throat as she melted into him. The sweetness of his mouth was intoxicating, like drowning in honey.
 
Her hands made their way around him, savoring the tight muscles of his chest and waist. It was December and she was burning up. His thumb flipped the clasp of her bra. Was the Imperial’s director of special events about to be taken up against the wall of the hotel’s entryway? Over the years there’s been similar stories about some of the hotel’s randier guests.
 
Her hands found their way under his suit coat and down his back, feeling the dampness of her shirt. She caught her breath as he cupped her breasts. He was saying something about his room.
 
She jerked her head, staring up at him. Taking both hands, she shoved back against him. Her sudden strength must have caught him off-guard. He took a step back.
 
“Kers . . .”
 
She twisted away as he reached for her.
 
His room? His room?
 
She was at the entrance and inside before the doorman had a chance to open it.
 
His room? Not until Jake Aaron could convince her he wasn’t Ginny Mathieu’s lover and explain why he carried a concealed weapon in a back holster – .40 caliber if she knew her weapons.
 
And she did.
 
PURCHASE LINKS: 
 
 
 images-15
 (review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 
 
For those who live the rodeo life or have every been to one, I know you’ll appreciate the attention to detail in Renegade Heart. She illustrated beautifully the hard work it acquires to pull off the rodeo. How much time and effort it takes to keep guests, vendors, competitors, basically everyone happy. For the most part, it appeared to be a 24-7 job but Kerstin did it with style and grace. 
 
For those not familiar with rodeos, Nina explained certain events in a rodeo without it appearing mundane. BTW, if you haven’t seen a rodeo before, check one out. It’s a helluva thing to witness — intense, on the edge of your seat action! Plus, you can’t go wrong with men or women in chaps. For that alone, I’d buy a ticket. 
 
Before I conclude this review, I want to touch a bit on the mystery portion of this western tale. For me, the mystery was boring. It didn’t hold my interest at all. The conclusion of it seemed rushed as well. Actually the last 10 or so pages seemed thrown together because the author needed to ‘wrap it up’. 
 
Hey, at least Jake and Kerstin got to ‘ride off into the sunset’ together and that’s all that matters…. Right?
 
PURCHASE LINKS: 
Kindle / Paperback (Amazon)  
The Wild Rose Press
 
Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest) 
Score: ❤❤❤
 
 
 
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Hi, I’m Nina Barrett. I’ve been a public school teacher, focusing on early childhood education and am having a blast now writing contemporary romances. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I was one of those children who loved going to bed at night because you could lie there and make up stories. I’d be out west with Roy and Dale or in Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood. It took time and persistence to gain publication. Winning a scholarship to the Antioch Writers’ Workshop gave me a boost and my forthcoming romance Renegade Heart is dedicated to them in appreciation. Musa Publishing released my first book Marriage Made in Haven in June 2012. The Wild Rose Press published Return of the Dixie Deb in December 2013 and A Man to Waste Time On in January 2015. Its sequel Renegade Heart is available April 27th.

I live in Southwest Ohio. My hometown recently was featured on the cover of Ohio magazine. I enjoy traveling – I’ve been to the top of Masada in Israel and the bottom of the great pyramid at Chichen Itza. Advocating for autism research and education is a passion.

I’m on Facebook as nina.barrett.315 and at nina@ninabarrett.net – love to hear from readers and fellow writers!

 

Tell us about your background – have you always been a writer?

(Nina) At least in my head. My mother was a great reader, reading to me nightly and on long car trips – Mother Goose, Thornton Burgess, later introducing me to the classics – Heidi, Treasure Island, Little Women. I finished my first complete story in junior high, an Agatha Christie type mystery, and continued writing through high school. College, marriage and a career in education kept me busy, but I continued writing and submitting manuscripts growing more and more discouraged. Winning a scholarship to the Antioch Writers’ Workshop re-energized me and led to the publication of my Western romance Marriage Made in Haven.

 

What lead to the writing of Renegade Heart?

(Nina) I was intrigued by the excitement and explosive energy of Las Vegas. In my previous release, A Man to Waste Time On, Cinnamon Smith is stunned to realize the general manager of the neighboring Imperial Hotel Casino is the waste of time loser who dated and dumped her sister back in their hometown. And he wants to date her. No way . . . but then securing an order from his hotel might prove salvation for her struggling teashop. And he is so good looking.

Doing research and finding out what goes on behind the scenes of a major Vegas property was so captivating it lead to Renegade Heart and Kristin Hennepin’s adventures when the National Finals Rodeo comes to Vegas and Kristin falls into the arms of a rodeo troubleshooter.

Who are some of your favorite writers?
 
(Nina) Jennifer Crusie, of course. She began by writing category romance for Harlequin while teaching English in a local school system before moving on to being the best selling author she is today. Having taken a class with her at Antioch, I can attest to the fact she is unfailingly supportive and encouraging to neophyte writers.

In historicals – Dorothy Dunnett; for mysteries James Lee Burke and for fun, Kristen Higgins.

What’s coming up for your readers?

(Nina) My work-in-progress, Deep, Dark, Delicious. And Deadly, continues my Vegas trilogy. When candy heiress Sofie Matthew wakes up from her coma in a hospital bed, there’s a strange man staring at her, a murder to be solved and a ring on her finger. What’s the story with that?

 

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July 26, 2016 · 5:00 am

Mine to Tell by Colleen L. Donnelly (Book Review)

Annabelle Crouse is determined to reopen her great-grandmother’s boarded-up house–and her shunned life. Many years earlier, after an unexplained absence, Julianne was relegated to a separate home by a rigidly unforgiving husband, and the Crouse women have suffered the disgrace of her assumed guilt ever since. Despite her family’s strong disapproval, Annabelle is driven to pursue her mission through cobwebs and dust, finding the clues and the coded story left behind by her great-grandmother — Why did she go? And why did she return? Annabelle has to know. Only one person, a man she grew up with but never noticed, stands with Annabelle as she discovers the parallels between her story and her great-grandmother’s–two women, generations apart, experiencing what love truly is.

 
 
PURCHASE LINKS —–> PAPERBACK /  KINDLE
 
 
 
(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 
 
When a reader starts a romance book, you expect a HEA (happily ever after). In Mine to Tell, more than one relationship ends with mended hearts. We even see the start of a budding romance. 
 
For me, all the love brought a smile to my face. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t want everyone around them happy and their life full of joy. 
 
In Mine to Tell, several people needed joy because they’ve lived too long in darkness. In this case the darkness I’m referring to is the shame of Great Grandma Julianne; the black sheep of the family. 
 
As we play detective with Anna and Kyle, we discover GGM Julianne’s life was full of heartbreak. She lost so much but, in the end, her story brought others together. 
 
For Anna, I wondered who Colleen would finally pair with her. She seemed to teeter on the answer herself. 
 
I found myself pleased with her choice because Anna’s true love finally displayed the “love” she was silently aching for, needed, and richly deserved. But don’t we all. 
 
As for the mystery portion of this story, there were times as Kyle and Anna were deciphering the clues and reading the letters, I thought ….”Get on with it already” and other times was like “Ooooo, and then what happened?”
 
It was the latter moments that had me flipping the pages because I had to know where GGM Julianne was those two weeks away from home. 
 
I had most of the puzzle put together but the final couple pieces eluded me and when I had them…. I had closure. Like Anna. Like Kyle. Like so many others. 
 
Heart Rating System 
1 (lowest) and 5
(highest) 
Score: ❤❤❤1/2
 
PURCHASE LINKS: PAPERBACK /  KINDLE
 
 
 
 

Colleen L. Donnelly has her roots in the rural Midwest of the US, but moved around and explored other cultures as an adult. Those other areas were fun and they were exciting, but…there’s no place like home, so she’s back in the Midwest.

Colleen works as a laboratory technician by day, but spends her evenings writing, poised in front of her laptop until she can’t think any more. Her story ideas come from observing people, pondering their dilemmas, and adding a twist of her own.

Other interests are/have been bicycling, antiquing, anything outdoors, furniture refinishing, and raising pets or small barnyard types of animals. Last thing in the world she would be caught doing – “vegging” in front of a television. She loves a good movie on occasion, but most of the time, the TV is off.

http://www.colleenldonnelly.com/
https://colleenldonnelly.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/colleen.donnelly.568
ttps://twitter.com/ColleenLDonnell

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July 24, 2016 · 5:00 am

Interview with Brenda Ashworth Barry

      Welcome, Brenda Ashworth Barry❣
 
 
1. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?
 
     (Brenda) I started my business in writing, about six years ago. However, I’ve been writing since childhood. I was always a bookworm and loved reading. I think it was my love of reading that lead to my writing my six book saga.  I have always loved, storytelling and creative writing in college. One day after having a dream over and over again about two kids on a railroad track and how they meet. A story was born.
 
2. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.
 
(Brenda) I wish I could. With my Seasons Saga, I never had it, because the story was born in my dreams and I had the entire saga inside my mind. Now, that I’m writing my new book, I am indeed having some blocks. What I do is pretend to know what I’m going to write and just start writing. I think the most important thing is to write something every day, even if you don’t know where it’s going. Pretend you do.
 
 
 
3. Contrary to what some people envision about a romance writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us. With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
 
(Brenda) Travel, playing with our two dogs, spending time with my parents and getting ready to take a long trip in our RV. I love to swim and workout. And because we eat naturally, that takes time to prepare the meals. My husband and I have a very peaceful life and we are looking forward to traveling in our motor home.
 
4. I know many writers, such as myself, keep their pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are their thoughts?  
 
(Brenda) My family has been wonderful. One of my cousins is a BETA reader, and my friends have been there, working as my street team. It’s been amazing at the support I have had around me. They know my ideas for books as soon as I get them.
 
5. Will you share with us your all-time favorite authors? If you’re like me, it’s a long list so give us your top ten.
 
(Brenda)  
  1. Louise May Alcott  
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien  
  3. Jack London  
  4. Marshall Saunders  
  5. RaeAnne Thayne (Kam: Good writer.) 
  6. Debbie Macomber (Kam: I ♥ her books.)
  7. Susan Wiggs  
  8. Joyce Sterling Scarbrough
  9. Robyn Carr.  (Kam: She proudly displayed on my bookshelf, too.) 
  10. Nickolas Sparks
6. If you could choose one book to go to the big screen, yours or otherwise, which book would you choose and whom would you love to see cast in the parts?
 
(Brenda) I would love to see Seasons of Love and War go to the big screen. The main actor would be Thor Knai as Kaylob, who is wonderful and allows me to use his pictures for Kaylob, and Bella Thorne as Beth Ann.
 
 

Seasons Of Love And War Book One, is a historical family saga and epic love story. Childhood sweethearts Beth Ann Rose and Kaylob Shawn O’Brien just want to get married and pursue their dream careers, but the Vietnam War changes everything when Kaylob is drafted into the Army and declared dead. Beth Ann has a complete emotional melt down and starts to have visions of him in the jungles of Vietnam. Is he alive or has she completely lost her mind?

 
7. Would you care to tell us what you’re working on now? That is if it’s not top-secret information. If so, just whisper it in my ear. I swear it’ll go no further.
 
(Brenda) I’m working on a book called. Finding my Heart. It’s about a young lady who is a two time survivor of breast cancer and it’s come back for a third time. There is so much more to this story than cancer. It’s about love and how healing one’s heart can often heal one’s body. The main character is Starla Moon and she is finding her way in a town that she stumbled into. It’s a romance novel, but so much more. I just signed a contract with, Satin press for that one. 
(Kam: Congrats!!) 
 
8. Where can we find your stories, and is there a particular reading order? 
 
(Brenda) Yes, you can find them at Amazon, Melange LLC, Barnes and Nobles and my website. The reading order.
(Kam: Click on the book titles to be redirected to Amazon)
 
  1. Seasons of Love and War 
  2. December Road 
  3. The Journey of Elizabeth Ann Rose(Prequel) 
  4. June’s Stolen Rose 
  5. April’s Secret Storm 
  6. The Season of Forever (Coming soon in 2016)
 
 
And there may be a book Seven in the next few years.
 
 
9. Would you please share how your present and future fans can contact you? 
 
(Brenda) They can contact me on facebook or sunsetsky52@aol.com. Also, www.brendaashworthbarry.com
 
10. Before we conclude this enlightening interview, do you have anything else you’d like to share? The stage is all yours.
 
(Brenda) Just remember if you are a writer. Never ever give up. It took me five years to get done with my Saga. Almost six. I had no idea how to write a book. So just hang in there and never be afraid to ask a friend or another writer to help you out.  I love writing so much and the only regret I have is, I didn’t start sooner.
 
Kam: Brenda, you have given aspiring writers some great advice. If you have a dream, keep pursuing it until the dream becomes reality. Never stop reaching for the stars!! 
 
Ladies and gents, I hope you enjoyed my interview with Brenda Ashworth Barry. If so, we want to hear from you. Say hi. Ask a question.  Basically, don’t be shy. 🙂
 
 

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July 20, 2016 · 5:00 am

Toxic Tide by CJ Matthew (Book Review) (CONTEST INCLUDED)

 
Dolphin Shore Shifters book 5
 
She’s on a mission…and it’s personal.
 
When Heather O’Donnell’s younger sister is murdered, and homicide detectives fail to uncover a suspect, she
abandons competitive swimming and moves to New Jersey. She stakes out her sister’s former employer, a mob-run waste disposal company. But it’s the sudden appearance of another investigator, a ruggedly handsome man, that sets off all her alarms—and more than a few pheromones. Before she’ll act on the attraction, Heather needs to unravel his true connection to her sister’s case.
 
It’s his last chance to redeem himself…no personal distractions allowed.
 
After three disastrous missions in a row, SBW shifter and field ops agent Grus Garret returns to New Jersey determined to solve the murder of Lorelei, a shifter gunned down with her whistle-blower. Grus’s gut tells him the mob boss is responsible for both deaths. But after a shocking encounter with the beautiful stranger, Grus questions
his gut. Especially when it urges him to grab the human woman and hold on forever.
 
When the mob boss decides it’s personal and sends his hit man to eliminate Heather and Grus, they’ll need to use their unique connection to save each other.
 
 
Kobo Purchase Link

 

 

(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 

If you haven’t read any other book in the Shore Shifter series, don’t worry, you won’t get lost picking up book 5 in the series. However, I do encourage you to read the others because they are that good. CJ is that good. 
 
Like the other stories in the Shore Shifter series, Toxic Tide contains plenty of action and a bit of hanky panky, too. 
In this case, the hanky panky was between a tough ass human (Heather) and a dolphin shifter (Grus). An unlikely couple who shouldn’t have found love with each other but did. And, they did so while solving the murders of two people close to them. 
 
During their investigation, they encountered many obstacles: a hitman, the mob, FBI, ATF, faced an abduction, suffered battle wounds and much more. However, everything they encountered/endured was worth it in the end because they each found the closure they desperately needed. Due to their determination to see justice served, they aided the pod and Heather’s parents in finally achieving closure, too. 
 
Trust me, you want to buy this book. It’s worth every damn penny spent. 

On a final note: AMAZING cover. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Probably my favorite one yet. 

Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest) 
Score: ❤❤❤❤1/2
 
 
 
 
 
Alrighty folks, let’s get to the main event. 
WHO WANTS TO WIN A MEGA, FABULOUS PRIZE PACKAGE?
 
Prizes included: An SBW drink container w top and straw, a SIGNED COPY of Toxic Tide, a TT book mark, a fancy TT keychain, plus trinkets: little plastic dolphin key chains, temp. dolphin tattoo, dolphin stickers. 

Contest open to anyone — anywhere!!  
 
To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below before THURSDAY (midnight, central time). 
 
FRIDAY morning, I will post the winner’s name and attempt to message you. Please
follow the comment thread or come back on FRIDAY to see if you are the lucky
recipient of this amazing prize package. 
 
Good
luck!!!
 

CJ Matthew grew up in an Air Force family traveling and living all over the US and around the world. It proved to be the perfect experience for gathering ideas and material for future books. And for meeting real life heroes and heroines in uniforms and flight-suits. She spent her high school and university years in California, which inspired her love of marine life, and the Pacific Ocean.
 
Toxic Tide is the fifth book, so far, in her paranormal romantic suspense series: Dolphin Shore Shifters. The series features a pod of dolphins living in the Santa Barbara channel off the coast of California, who are capable of shifting to human form. While posing as real humans, the dolphins work, through their oceanic conservation corporation, Save Blue Water, to protect their oceans at any cost.
 
CJ’s next series, The Paladin Group, launched with Deadly Reboot. The books are in the romantic suspense genre, set in a small southern town, and starring  wounded air force veterans, men and women warriors turned civilian attorneys and investigators determined to continue their rescue work.
 
The third series, titled The Colonel’s Daughters, is a quintet with each book featuring one of the five sister’s story. Born in different countries around the world, when each of the daughters happens to return to her country of birth, she’s meets her true love and is forced to confront her destiny. Book 1, A Major Seduction is the oldest sister Kari’s book and takes place at an air force wedding in Tokyo. 
 
A member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), Georgia Romance Writers (GRW), and Kiss of Death, CJ lives and writes near a lake in the woods northeast of Atlanta. When she isn’t writing or reading romances, CJ spends time with her two grown children, their spouses, a brilliant grandson and a feisty cat named Max.
 
Schedule permitting, CJ loves to travel, to discover new favorite places and to meet new friends in both the US and around the world.
 
Max flatly refuses to travel. 

Website Link
Twitter
Facebook
Amazon author page
Goodreads author page

CLICK ON THE TITLES LISTED BELOW TO BE REDIRECTED TO AMAZON!  
 
1.) BLOOD TIDE
2.) RISKY TIDE
3.) DANGEROUS TIDE
4.) LETHAL TIDE
5.) TOXIC TIDE

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July 18, 2016 · 5:00 am

Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters by Lida Sideris (Book Review)

 
Watch out Southern California! There’s a new entertainment attorney in town and she’s got game. Only problem is, it’s not the one she should be playing. Corrie Locke belongs behind a desk, not behind a Glock. She should be taking VIP calls, not nosing around a questionable suicide. Instead, she’s hot on the trail of a murderer.

Luckily, she’s the daughter of a late, great private eye and she’s inherited his love of sleuthing…and illegal weaponry. It doesn’t help matters that her gene for caution is a recessive one. Corrie finds herself in the center of a murder case, unearthing suspects in shocking places. With a cold-blooded killer on the loose, Corrie will have to up her game, or die trying.

 

 


I veered out of the parking lot and bounced onto the cavity-ridden dirt road. The mystery car appeared out of nowhere from beneath the tall pines, eclipsed by the darkness. Now it raced away somewhere ahead.
“Why didn’t we hear it start?” I asked James.
“It’s a hybrid.”
“We’re in a car chase with a Prius?” A car chase with a Porsche or Ferrari was respectable, but with a battery operated car? All bragging rights vanished.
I shifted into warp speed and surged downhill. Seconds later, we faced the hybrid’s rear bumper. The spot for the license plate sat empty.
“He’s not getting away,” I said.
The hybrid turned and launched up a hill, kicking up pebbles and a dusty haze. It fish-tailed and I nearly nipped it in the rear. I executed a sharp left and ran over something large. And lumpy.
“Stop,” James said.
I skidded to a halt, a cloud of dirt trapped in my headlights. The Prius escaped through an open gate and onto La Paz. My eyes cut to the rearview mirror. My tail-lights illuminated the road behind us in an eerie red glow. As I surveyed the scene, not a trace of saliva remained in my mouth.
 

 

 

(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 
 
 
Have you ever read/watched a crime show and figured out the “who” and “why” of the plot halfway through? Heck, even ten minutes into the mystery and you’re suddenly bored out of your mind because there’s no real mystery at all? Well, have no fear, Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters will keep you on your toes until the bitter end. 
 
Besides the murder/suicide case, Corrie and Michael are on a mission to retrieve a missing cat and solve the mystery of the alien abduction. Well, there weren’t really any green men but Fo didn’t know that (at first). 
 
Doesn’t this book sound delightfully crazy? Oh it is thanks to the numerous whackadoodles gracing the pages.
 
However, as much fun as I had reading this whirlwind of nuttiness, a couple things made this story’s score a 3.5
 
1.) There were a multitude of cast members introduced to us at once. In fact, I kept a list of who everyone was and a brief description of each until I really got to know them. 
2.) At certain points of the book, I wondered if there was a mini story (a .5 novella) written before this one. I actually checked because when Clayton appeared, when she thought of her father’s death (before the big unveil of what happened to him), I felt as if I missed something. So, I checked and I noticed there wasn’t anything before Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters. 
3.) Corrie was noticeable jealous of the attention women gave Michael but seemed to want James as well. She also “spoke” too much about the attractiveness of her male co-workers. 
 
So my question is…. Does she really have feelings for Michael? Want James? Both? Or is she just noticing and wondering what it would be like with any attractive male? 
 
My gut is telling me a love triangle is in the works and I can’t wait to read it. Plus, I can’t wait to watch her sleuthing ways in action again. I have no doubt book 2 will be just as entertaining.
 
Heart Rating System:
1 (lowest) and 5
(highest) 
Score: ❤❤❤ 1/2
 
 
 
 
 

Like her heroine, Lida Sideris worked as an entertainment attorney for a film studio. Unlike her heroine, she was not blackmailed into investigating the suspicious death of a co-worker. Lida resides in the northern tip of Southern California with her family, their rescue shepherds, and a flock of uppity chickens. She was the recipient of the Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers of America scholarship for her first novel, Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters. To learn more, please visit www.LidaSideris.com.
 

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