Reviews!

I am still having a difficult time concentrating on reading a book, I hope to get back into it at some point. Still doing book promotions just not reviews Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time. I appreciate all of you. Kathleen Kelly July 2024

19 June 2019

Great Summer Reads Day 13!



Marni Graff writes two award-winning mystery series: The Nora Tierney English Mysteries and The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries. She teaches writing workshops and mentors the Writers Read program, and is Managing Editor of Bridle Path Press. 

Graff also writes the crime review blog Auntie M Writes, www.auntiemwrites.com.

Facebook ~ Website ~
Twitter ~
Bridle Path Press ~


Nurse Trudy Genova is making plans to take her relationship to NYPD detective Ned O'Malley to the next level, when she lands a gig as medical consultant on a film shoot at the famed Dakota apartment building in Manhattan, which John Lennon once called home. Then star Monica Kiley goes missing, a cast member turns up dead, and it appears Trudy might be next. Meanwhile Ned tackles a mysterious murder case in which the victim is burned beyond recognition. When his investigations lead him back to the Dakota, Trudy finds herself wondering: how can she fall in love if she can't even survive?

Readers of Death Unscripted, the first book in the Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery series, will find the same pleasures in this sequel: fast pacing, engaging characters, twists and turns on the way to a satisfying close. From the award-winning author of The Nora Tierney English Mysteries, this second series is a winner. Once again M.K. Graff reveals her talents in crafting this delightful mix of amateur sleuth and police procedural.

Part procedural, part cozy, Death at the Dakota is a well-crafted and highly entertaining mystery.- Bruce Robert Coffin, #1 bestselling author of the Detective Byron mysteries.  

I fell in love -- not only with co-protagonists, Trudy and Ned, the richly detailed and historic setting of The Dakota, and the unique cast of characters, but with the unusual plot of Death at the Dakota. Sherry Harris, Agatha Award nominated author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mysteries


  
~ Universal Amazon Link
  
Top Ten List:

Top 10 Favorites, in no particular order and besides my husband and family:

My dogs, Radar, a 10 yr old Italian Spinone and our new Aussie Doodle puppy, Seamus

Mysteries to read, esp. a series

Pizza, well done with pepperoni

Vodka gimlet, heavy on the lime juice

Black and White movies from the 30-40s, esp Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn

The hour before sunset when everything it lit with a subtle glow

The UK; a real Anglophile for travel

New York City

Crisp new stationary 


Clean sheets



To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 


18 June 2019

Paranoid by Lisa Jackson Review! #SheSpeaks #ReadPARANOID


http://bit.ly/ReadParanoid
Kensington
June 2019, ISBN: 1496722469

Genre: Thriller/Suspense


About the Book

When is a weapon only a toy? In this riveting page-turner from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson, a woman haunted by guilt realizes that nothing can be trusted--not even her own memory . . .

There are people in Edgewater, Oregon, who think that twenty years ago, Rachel Gaston got away with murder.
Rachel still has no idea how a foolish teenaged game turned deadly--or who replaced the soft pellet air gun she thought she was using with a real weapon. When a figure leaped out at her from the darkness of the old fish processing plant, she fired without thinking. Too late, she recognized her half-brother, Luke, and saw the blood blooming around his chest.
Despite counseling, Rachel's horrifying dreams about that night have never stopped. In a small town like Edgewater, it's impossible to escape the past or avoid rumors and gossip. Busy raising two teens after her divorce from detective Cade Ryder, she'd rather not attend her upcoming high school reunion, though she agrees to help track down alums for the gathering. But as Rachel confronts old memories, she feels her imagination playing tricks on her, convincing her that objects in her house have moved. That there's a hint of unfamiliar cologne in the air. That someone is tailing her car. Watching her home.
Cade knows his ex is highly strung. Rachel's anxiety played a part in their split, though Cade takes his share of the blame too. Yet maybe this time, she's right to be scared. And as connections surface between a new string of murders and Luke's death, Rachel realizes that the truth is darker than her worst fears . . .
Photo by Shelby Kohler Photography
Lisa Jackson is the number-one New York Times bestselling author of more than 85 novels, including Afraid to Die, Tell Me, You Don’t Want to Know, Running Scared, Without Mercy, Malice, and Shiver.  She is also the co-author of the Colony Series, co-written with her sister, Nancy Bush. There are over 20 million copies of Lisa Jackson’s books in print in twenty languages. 

Before she became a nationally bestselling author, Lisa Jackson was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping against hope that someone would pay her for them. Today, neck deep in murder, her books appear on The New York Times, the USA Today, and the Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists.

With over thirty bestsellers to her name, Lisa Jackson is a master of taking readers to the edge of sanity – and back – in novels that buzz with dangerous secrets and deadly passions.  She continues to be fascinated by the minds and motives of both her killers and their pursuers—the personal, the professional and downright twisted.  As she builds the puzzle of relationships, actions, clues, lies and personal histories that haunt her protagonists, she must also confront the fear and terror faced by her victims, and the harsh and enduring truth that, in the real world, terror and madness touch far too many lives and families. 

My Review
Paranoid by Lisa Jackson is the story of Rachel Gaston, who lives in Edgewater Oregon with her son and daughter. She is divorced from Detective Cade Ryder but they do have an amicable relationship if only for the kids. 
Twenty years ago, Rachel along with some classmates was in an abandoned fish factory with pellet air guns when hers was replaced with a real gun, unbeknownst to her. When someone jumps out she panics and shoots, finds out that the person she shot was her half brother Luke. 
Despite counseling Rachel still feels that it was her fault that her brother is dead and blames herself after all of these years. A high school reunion is being planned, she feels that there are objects being moved in her house, whiffs of cologne and cigarette smoke is in the air. She is being tailed and feels that someone is watching her home.
Now that there are classmates being murdered her paranoia increases. 
Her ex knows that Rachel has issues but he is not sure whether to believe her or not as to her paranoia. Not only that, her daughter has been sneaking out at night to be with a guy whom Rachel is not fond of. So all of these things come to a horrifying conclusion that I did not see coming.
I had not read a Lisa Jackson novel in quite a few years and I am not sure why I haven't as I do remember enjoying them. This one was no exception. This book is character driven and is believable. I love the writing as it was pretty suspenseful and I did not see the ending coming but I like to think that the ending is such that there is another book coming with the same characters.
I think that if you enjoy a good psychological thriller that you can't go wrong with the novel. 
I received a copy of this book for review purposes. 

The Revolutionist and Burton Blake by Robert Tucker Book Tour Guest Post and Giveaway! @AuthorR_Tucker and @iReadBookTours #BurtonBlake #TheRevolutionist #RobertTucker #iReadBookTours

Book Details:

Book Title: The Revolutionist by Robert Tucker
Category: Adult Fiction, 649 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Tell-Tale Publishing Group LLC / Wise Words Publishing
Release date: 12/03/2017
Tour dates: May 27 to June 28, 2019
Content Rating: PG + M (This book does not contain any gratuitous violence. Any depicted violence is relevant to the historical period, as are scenes of white slave prostitution, sexual and physical abuse, and one of an abortion mill. They are written with sensitivity as to time and place and with appropriate literary language.)

Book Description:

Two different families escape from the political tyranny of their respective homelands, the Josephsons from Sweden and Matias and Kurt Bauman, brothers from Germany and Austria Hungary, with the aid of a Viennese opera diva, Sophie Augusta Rose, and Jean Guenoc, a former Jesuit priest, family friend and protector and partisan of the French underground. Their journey brings them to America in the throes of the industrial revolution during the 1890s and early 1900s.

Ingrid and Olaf Josephson settle on a small wheat farm in North Central Minnesota to raise their children, Newt and Julie. Among the Jewish entrepreneurs forced to leave Germany and Austria-Hungary, Matias and Kurt Bauman re-establish their transportation company in Chicago, Illinois. In search of a secret list of insurgent social democrats, the bounty hunter assassin, Luther Baggot, tracks his victims to the American heartland. Following the murder of their mother and father, Newt, Julie, and their friends, Aaron and Beth Peet, hide from the killer in a Northern Minnesota logging camp. Believing the children have taken possession of the list, Luther tracks them down and they are forced to flee again, this time to Chicago where a different world opens up to them as they are thrust into the turmoil and violence of an urban society and economy careening into the new century.
Buy the Book:
Add to Goodreads

Watch the book trailer:




The sequel to The Revolutionist. Can be read as a stand-alone novel too.



Book Details:

Book Title: Burton Blake by Robert Tucker
Category: Adult Fiction, 518 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Tell-Tale Publishing Group LLC / Wise Words Publishing
Release date: 1/06/2019
Tour dates: May 27 to June 28, 2019
Content Rating: G (Depictions of violence are minimal. No bad language, religious expletives, sex scenes, drug use or underage drinking.)

Book Description:

In this sequel to the well-received The Revolutionist, the American journey of three generations locks the neophyte company president, Burton Blake, in a vicious struggle with corporate intrigue, financial greed, and social corruption. Born to a taxi dancer at the beginning of the Second World War, Burton’s father, Elias Blake, never knows his natural father, who is killed in the South Pacific. He is raised by his mother and stepfather from her second marriage who makes his fortune during the post-war real estate boom of the ’50s. Their untimely death by his business partner leaves the boy Elias in the guardianship of his mother’s best friend and her marine vet husband who introduces him to the macho culture of guns and hunting.

Elias’s youth is influenced by the adult world’s drive for personal material gain. Over the next decades, he expands his parents’ original real estate empire into the diversified multi-divisional, multi-national corporation that he leaves to his son, Burton. Upon his forced return from traveling and working with oppressed third world people, Burton learns increasingly more about the true nature of his deceased father as he undertakes the challenges of leading the company in a new direction.

​Buy the Book:
Add to Goodreads

Watch the book trailer: 


Guest Post
Robert Tucker
The Revolutionist

The Revolutionist chronicles powerful social, political, and economic forces at the turn of the 20th Century that affect the lives of all the characters in various ways and provide the foundation for the novel. From the very beginning and throughout her story, the protagonist, Julie Josephson, encounters situations where she must make difficult choices and react in various ways to survive. As you read the book, identify at what point in the novel she realizes she does not have to be a victim, but can resist and fight against those forces. What are the circumstances and what does she do to change her life?

Julie Josephson, and her brother, Newt, risk their lives to protect a secret list that is not only a record of political resistance fighters in Emperor Bismarck's Germany (1888), but is a link to the former identity of their immigrant mother and father. The children's coming-of-age odyssey at the heart of the American Industrial Revolution follows the tradition of their parents and determines their destiny entering the 20th century. 

Robert Tucker

Guest Post
Burton Blake

Burton Blake is more than a name. He is a contemporary iconic protagonist whose father emerges from World War II and mid-century America to pass along his corporate empire to a young idealist in modern society. Not only is the novel a suspenseful entertaining story with a large cast of colorful real-life characters, it explores events and influences of the last century that resonate with the country we have become today.

The Strength of Burton Blake’s Character


Burton Blake is a likeable young man. As a generous and altruistic person, he becomes a Rhodes Scholar. In keeping with his desire and personal standards to help others and to learn about different cultures, he is committed to working with impoverished people in other countries. He does not consider himself privileged. His unselfish intent is to help people with whom he works to improve the conditions of their lives.

My research for the book placed Burton in South Africa where he works as a Red Cross volunteer. He is reluctant to leave and resentful at being called home to replace his deceased father at the head of a company in which he initially has no interest and does not share his sense of ethics and morality learned from his mother and stepfather, as well as other childhood influences. These differences are the core conflict of his story.

Meet the Author: 


 
​Robert is published by Tell-Tale Publishing Group LLC / Wise Words Publishing under a multi-book contract. The author of four previous earlier novels, Robert infuses his books with unique dynamic stories and characters that portray social and cultural conflicts of their time. His career encompasses many years as a business consultant that have given him access to a wide range of organizations and an appreciation for people in all areas of society. His life experience is reflected in the literary quality of his work. Born and raised in the Middle-West, he has traveled throughout the United States and abroad.

Now retired, he resides with his wife in Southern California where he devotes full-time to writing. Robert is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Masters Degree in Communications at the University of California, Los Angeles where he received the Samuel Goldwyn and Donald Davis Literary Awards.

An affinity for family and the astute observation of generational interaction pervade his novels. His works are literary and genre upmarket fiction that addresses the nature and importance of personal integrity.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Enter the Giveaway!
Ends July 5, 2019



Love, Lies, and Azure Eyes by Janis Thornton Book Tour and Giveaway!


Love, Lies, and Azure Eyes by Janis Thornton

 About the Book
Paranormal Romantic Suspense 
Soul Mate Publishing, LLC (June 12, 2019) 
Print Length: 267 pages 
ASIN: B07PRV6VZC 
Elated by Annie’s response, Johnny caved to his impulse and pressed his mouth to her sweet lips, sparking a surge of electricity that ricocheted through his entire body, and for one glorious moment swept him up in a wave of emotion that meteorically whisked him to the edge of the universe, past swirling spirals of brightly burning stars — white dwarfs, red giants, entire galaxies. Caught in the rapture, he shed his cocoon of darkness and experienced the light — the wonderful, warm, life-affirming light. He reveled in it, felt alive. He almost believed he was. Almost.
* * *
West Coast journalist Annie Sinclair’s career, not to mention her love life, has been on the skids far too long, when she returns to Logan Point, her small, Indiana hometown. She’s back to make amends with her elderly father, and to delve into the 25-year-old, unsolved murder of her high school classmate for a writing gig with a national tabloid.
Annie’s plans soon go awry, and her mettle is tested — first when her father warns her against digging into the past; and again, when she meets the Logan Point Ledger’s handsome, but exasperating, new editor; and again still, when she reconnects with her first love, who clearly wants to rekindle what once was.
But Annie’s most arduous test appears in the form of the earthbound spirit of a boy she once knew — the boy with the azure eyes accused of the murder she is looking into. He needs her to prove his innocence, so he can break the ties that bind him to the darkness. In exchange, he will set Annie free to realize that the love she yearns for is just within her reach … if only she will open her heart.

About the Author

Janis Thornton is the author of a true crime/oral history/memoir, Too Good a Girl, as well as two cozy mysteries, Dust Bunnies & Dead Bodies and Dead Air & Double Dares. She also is the author of two local history books and contributor to Undeniably Indiana. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Authors Guild, and the Indianapolis Writers Center. She lives in her Indiana hometown in the same house where she grew up.

Author Links
Website: www.janis-thornton.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janisthorntonauthor 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanisThornton 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6482161.Janis_Thornton
Purchase Link Amazon


TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 12 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT
June 13 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 14 – Defining Ways – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 15 – MJB Reviewers – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 16 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 16 – 4covert2overt  A Place In The Spotlight  – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 17 – Cozy Up With Kathy – SPOTLIGHT
June 17 – Books Direct – GUEST POST
June 18 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST
June 18 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 19 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW
June 19 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
June 20 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
June 21 – The Book Diva’s Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST  
June 22 – Brianne’s Book Reviews – REVIEW
June 22 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
June 23 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW
June 24 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 25 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
  Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? 
  Click Here Find Details and Sign Up Today!

 

Release Tour for Bloodsucking Lawyer by Nadia Diament Book Release Tour!

Release Tour for BLOODSUCKING LAWYER by Nadia Diament
Brought to you by Forever Write PR
Debut author Nadia Diament brings us a one of a kind paranormal romantic comedy,
BLOODSUCKING LAWYER. For Emma, working for a vampire lawyer wasn't part of the plan
...and neither was falling for him. Fans of FBI/US Attorney series by Julie James and Kresley
Cole’s Immortals After Dark series will devour this slow-burn, sexy yet humorous office romance.


Emma left her career in corporate law to pursue her passion for criminal defense, but she can’t seem to catch a break. So when she lands an interview at a small law firm, she’s more than thrilled. But she has no idea what she’s in for.


Turns out it’s not just any law firm, and Henry—her new boss—isn’t exactly, well…human.


Apparently he drinks blood instead of coffee, and his client list consists of creatures that go
bump in the night. But, the way Emma sees it, if she can get through law school, she can
handle a few pothead werewolves and shoplifting witches. So she stays.


There’s just one thing she didn’t count on, and that’s catching feelings for her new vampire
boss. Henry and his fangs become a temptation too hard to ignore, and no matter how hard
she tries, she still falls for him.


Problem is, everyone knows office romances have the tendency to crash and burn.
But when your boss is a bloodsucking lawyer, odds are it’s a disaster waiting to happen.


Add to Goodreads here!
Only Available on Amazon and FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Excerpt:
Copyright @ Nadia Diament 2019


It never hurt to have someone owe you a favor.
Emma walked away from them with a smirk. “Come on, you don’t want to be late.”
The two men scurried after her and slipped into one of the elevators just in time for the doors
to promptly close behind them. The sunburned lawyer jabbed the button for the third floor and
adjusted his bag on his shoulder.
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” The sincerity in his voice made her look up in time to see
his smile.
Emma returned the gesture but blinked in surprise when she realized that even with the
sunburn, the dude in a suit was attractive. Not just Tucson attractive, but legitimately attractive.
She’d been too distracted earlier to take a proper look. Deep blue eyes and artfully tousled
brown hair. Given the sunburn, he was obviously pale, but she couldn’t exactly judge when
she worked in an office all day and hadn’t had a proper tan since college.
He was tall and lean, and a three-piece charcoal suit accentuated his form with grace. As a
lawyer, she should’ve been immune to the precision of a tailored suit by now, but he wore
his so damn well. She’d been deprived since moving back to Tucson, whose general
population relied on a steady supply of t-shirts and shorts. She had to admit, though,
that she would happily take Tucson’s casual vibe; Phoenix’s conservative concrete jungle
had worn her out.
The elevator pinged as the doors slid open, startling Emma out of her reverie. Now was
not the time to be checking this guy out. She would do him this favor, then see if he had
connections at any criminal defense firms. But nothing else—no personal stuff. She needed
a steady paycheck before she could get lost in the mire of dating. Her student loan bills
routinely gave her heart palpitations.
They hurried through the courthouse and finally tracked down the right room. As Emma
approached, she realized she didn’t know the dude in the suit’s name.
She extended her hand for him to shake. “I’m Emma, by the way.”
“Henry.” His grip was firm, confident, and warm.
Emma didn’t put much stock in the notion that a handshake defined a person,
but she could definitely appreciate the feel of his. She was reluctant to let go
but eventually did, bound by lame societal expectations and all that.
Apparently oblivious to her inappropriate staring, he fished through the inner pocket
of his suit for a business card and a fountain pen. He scrawled something on
the back, waved it dry, and handed the card to her. “My cell phone number.”
Emma ran her fingers back and forth across the textured linen paper. Mercifully,
Wendell kept her from saying or doing something stupid—like asking Henry out for drinks.
“Er, yes. Nice to meet you, Ms. Emma. Can we go in now?”
“Of course,” she said with an encouraging smile.
Emma pulled the door open for Henry’s client and slipped inside after him. As the door
started to shut, she turned back to look at Henry. Warmth suffused her when he pressed
his hands together in prayer and mouthed a single word to her:
Lifesaver.

Author Nadia Diament:




Nadia Diament writes paranormal and contemporary romance with equal servings
of heat and humor. No stranger to a U-Haul, she’s lived in Arizona, South Dakota,
and Washington, DC. She currently lives with her husband in Chicago, where she
tinkers with fountain pens and loiters in coffee shops. Bloodsucking Lawyer is her
debut novel.



This sales blitz is brought to you by Forever Write PR. For more information,



AddToAny

View My Stats!

View My Stats

Pageviews past week

SNIPPET_HTML_V2.TXT
Tweet