Monday, September 28, 2015

REVEW OF THE DEMISE: Diane Moody


Took Me by Surprise! Truly enjoyable!
http://www.amazon.com/Demise-Mystery-Diane-Moody-ebook/dp/B00MNQH5UC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443448158&sr=1-1&keywords=the+demise+diane+moodyThe death of Peter Lanham has everyone in the town of Braxton, Tennessee understandably shaken, but then it’s not every day someone commits suicide by taking a swan dive off the water tower. Especially not the beloved CEO of Lanham’s Fine Foods. After all, Lanham was rich, handsome and a lover of life, but was he also murdered?   
That is what Matt Bryson of The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations and intrepid actress Julia Parker intend to find out. *sound of screeching brakes* Did someone just say “actress”? Yes, actress. It makes perfect sense since she played Ms. Marple on stage. It’s qualification enough, in Ms. Parker’s narrow view, but not in Bryson’s. He insists his colleagues go get a degree in criminology and learn correct police procedures before working on murder investigations, but he’s never run up against someone like the luscious Ms. Parker before … or tripped over his own tongue which is part of the problem.
This is the premise of author Diane Moody’s hilarious romp of a murder mystery. I was not expecting this and thoroughly enjoyed every second of this sparkling brew! The humor, characters, writing and plot conspired to make this an absolute winner.
Julia Parker is just the most delightful character. How can you not love a virginal aspiring actress who prays before each meal? It’s no wonder Matt Bryson can’t keep his hands off her oops did I say that? And her stubbornness in continuing to stick her pert nose in places it doesn’t belong lands her in all kinds of trouble, and that’s lucky for us! OMG, what she doesn’t do!
Ms. Moody has done a superb job—right up until the end. Yup, the ending is poi-fect! Loved it and didn’t see it coming. So if you feel a good book coming on, it’s probably this one. Curl up with a cup of tea or hot chocolate and be prepared to be entertained. Great job, Ms. Moody! I shall be reading you again. Definitely five stars!  


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

REVIEW OF HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?: Carissa Ann Lynch


HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL? 
Author: Carissa Ann Lynch
Series: Flocksdale Files #1
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
- SYNOPSIS -
Wendi Wise is a troubled young woman who snorts her breakfast through a straw and spends more time in rehab than in the real world… 

Her life is seemingly out of control.

But now she has a plan.

That plan involves a sharp set of butcher knives. 

She's going back to where all of her troubles began…

Flocksdale.

Wendi was lured away from a local skating rink, at the age of thirteen, and held captive in a place she calls 'The House of Horrors.' Dumped off blindfolded on the side of a dirt road, Wendi soon discovered that she was addicted to the drugs they fed her while she was captive. 

Too scared to go home, and having a new habit to deal with, she hopped on a bus, vanishing from the family she loved. 

Vanishing from Flocksdale…

The town of Flocksdale is littered with fliers with a grainy image of young Wendi, and the words 'Have You Seen This Girl?' written below. 

Now, eight years later, she's on a mission—a mission to find the mysterious house from her youth and the monsters who dwell inside it.

“This is the end, beautiful friend, the end…”



- PURCHASE -
★ Paperback: http://amzn.to/1Q6FAhr
- Available for FREE with #KindleUnlimited -

- BOOK TRAILER -

- TEASERS -


- ABOUT THE AUTHOR -
CARISSA ANN LYNCH

Besides my family, my greatest love in life is books. Reading them, writing them, holding them, smelling them…well, you get the idea. I’ve always loved to read, and some of my earliest childhood memories are me, tucked away in my room, lost in a good book. I received a five dollar allowance each week, and I always — always — spent it on books. My love affair with writing started early, but it mostly involved journaling and writing silly poems. Several years ago, I didn’t have a book to read so I decided on a whim to write my own story, something I’d like to read. It turned out to be harder than I thought, but from that point on I was hooked. My first and second books were released by Sarah Book Publishing: This Is Not About Love and Grayson’s Ridge. I’m a total genre-hopper. Basically, I like to write what I like to read: a little bit of everything! I reside in Floyds Knobs, Indiana with my husband, three children, and massive collection of books. I have a degree in psychology and worked as a counselor.

- SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS -

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REVIEW
A Chilling Thriller
Wendi Wise is “three minutes old of turning thirteen.” While her parents usually throw a party to celebrate her birthday, this year Wendi begs to go to a movie with her best bud Claire. The problem is that Wendi has no intention of watching a movie. Instead, she and her friend are planning on meeting Joey and Zeke, two undesirable characters that are a parent’s worst nightmare. The nightmare comes to fruition when she finds herself unceremoniously kidnapped, drugged, and held captive in the slimy underworld of sex trafficking.
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL? by Carissa Ann Lynch is quite the thriller. Ms. Lynch has created one unbelievably sympathetic character in fashioning Wendi Wise. We pull for her to survive and crawl her way out of the sewer she’s fallen into. I was very excited about reading the book and it didn’t let me down. However, there was one central problem I encountered, and it did detract from me enjoying this work as fully as I might, but let me get to the good stuff first.
The story is well-written. It’s told from a first person perspective and that choice helps make an immediate connection with the protagonist since we go through what she goes through. I also liked the use of simple, straightforward language. It lends an honest realism. The pacing is also good as is the fleshing out of the various characters entering this girl’s life. We definitely get a chance to know them, most especially how they appear to Wendi since it’s her eyes we’re looking through. All this brings me to that problem I mentioned earlier. 
The problem is the prologue. It was so amazing, so taut and compelling, that it overshadowed what came later—and what came later was the entire rest of the book. To complicate things, the prologue ended on a note of her exacting revenge. After reading it, I was so pumped up and so geared for her tracking down those responsible, that the events leading up to that moment took on an almost secondary importance. In a way, it’s an achievement and a compliment, in that, it proves what a skilled storyteller Ms. Lynch is to have engaged the reader so completely. However, that achievement unwittingly set a benchmark for what the rest of the story could have been had it continued in that vein. The style used in that opening was much darker, grittier, and did contain some memorable raw descriptive phrases. For me, it contained the promise of how this book could have been written and didn’t jibe with what was done. I think it was because the character speaking in the prologue is older, wiser, and been there and done that. What we meet next is the thirteen-year-old in the first chapter. It’s a different feel and that character never against rises to the level of commanding attention as the one in the prologue does.
That aside, I found Have You Seen This Girl? to be a gripping, action-packed thriller. The suspense is ever-present and the excitement brimming over with unexpected twists. Ms. Lynch delivers in a big way, and since it’s my first time reading her, I can honestly say that I will be seeking out her work to do it again. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a nosedive into the seamy side of life. It’s an emotional journey that is filled with the worst human beings can offer, and also hope for those battling their own personal wars. It's four stars from me.




Saturday, September 12, 2015

IN THE DARK: Chris Patchell




Suspense / Thriller
Date Published: August 2015

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Marissa Rooney stands in her daughter’s empty dorm room, a half-used vial of insulin clutched in her trembling hand. Brooke has been missing for days. Her roommate hasn’t seen her since that night in the bar. And if Marissa has Brooke’s insulin, it means that Brooke does not.

But Marissa isn’t alone in her terror. A phantom from her past is lurking in the shadows, waiting in the night, and holding her family captive…

In the dark.

"An edge-of-your-seat suspense novel. It scared the hell out of me. Read it with the lights on!" - Robert Dugoni, Amazon #1 and New York Times bestselling author of My Sister's Grave

EXCERPT

Prologue



The heavy gate groaned shut. After engaging the lock, he pulled the backpack out of his Jeep and slung it over his shoulder. It was a rare fall day in the Pacific Northwest, and he planned to take full advantage of the good weather.

He had work to do.

He walked a quarter of a mile along the fence line and stopped. Then he pulled a “No Trespassing” sign from the pack and propped it against the fence. With a few sure strokes of a hammer, he nailed it to the post. The dull blows echoed in the quiet woods.

Branches and fallen leaves popped and crackled beneath his feet as he worked his way methodically along the ridge, checking the barbed wire fence for gaps. The cinnamon smell of the turning leaves was a sure sign that hunting season would soon begin, and he couldn’t afford to have strangers stumbling onto his property.

He nailed the last sign to the post.

There. That should keep the bastards out.

He turned and started down the rugged trail carved into the steep hillside. A couple of hundred feet below, the valley floor glimmered like an emerald in the late-day sun. Three cabins stood in the clearing beside the Tolt River. A half dozen more were scattered along the upper ridge, overlooking Lake Langlois.

The place had been a youth camp once, before the drowning of a teenage girl had destroyed its reputation. Afterward the camp had closed and the cabins had fallen into disrepair.

It was a shame, really. He had fond memories of the place. While his father had spent the summer basking in an alcoholic haze, he’d spent it exploring the woods, far away from his father’s violent mood swings. By any measure it was a win-win.

Dappled sunlight shone through the thick canopy of branches overhead. He loved days like this. Alone in the woods, he felt at peace with the world.

A scream rent the air, shattering the stillness of the afternoon. It was shrill. Human.

Crows fled the safety of the trees, a torrent of black wings flooding the blue sky. Heart racing, he started to run. The uneven ground slid beneath his boots. Branches slapped at his face, and he ran faster, driven on by her panicked cries.

The valley floor was muddy after the long weeks of rain. The spongy earth slowed his pace as he raced toward the river.

Another scream. Louder. “Help me. Oh God. Please.”

It was coming from the cabin farthest from the water’s edge.

His boots pounded up the wooden steps. Hinges squawked in protest as he crashed through the door.

The stench hit him hard—stale sweat and human waste. His stomach churned.

At first he could see nothing, his eyes blinded in the dim light. Then her slender form materialized out of the darkness—a slip of a girl, barely more than a hundred pounds. She was standing near the center of the room, her hands bound behind her back. A soiled University of Washington T-shirt hanging from her skinny frame. Pink panties. And nothing else.

The relief on her face froze the instant she spotted him. A small sob escaped her lips. She stepped back, retreating into the shadows.

As if she could hide.

“Now, Kim,” he said. “What was the rule?”

Her jaw worked, but no sound emerged. She took another pitiful step back, her wide eyes brimming with fear.

“What was the rule?”

His voice boomed in the small cabin. She flinched like a beaten dog. “No calling out,” she mumbled.

“I can’t hear you. What’s the rule?” “No calling out.”

“No calling out,” he repeated, smiling thinly. “That’s right. You leave me no choice.” “Please,” she said, voice trembling, tears leaking from her eyes. “I’ll do better, I promise. I promise . . .”

He stepped toward her, his tread echoing on the bare plank floor. She shrank back, trembling, and stumbled over the bucket. Without her hands to stop her, she crashed to the floor.

He stopped. His six-foot frame loomed above her. She averted her gaze, looking anywhere but at him.

This will not do.

He hunkered down and gripped her narrow chin, forcing her gaze to meet his. “Please,” she whispered.

Her mouth trembled.

“Aw, princess,” he said, running his thumb slowly across her swollen bottom lip. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”

He reached down and unbuckled his belt.



About the Author

A tech worker by day and an author by night, Chris Patchell writes gritty suspense novels set in the Pacific Northwest that are sure to keep you up reading late, turning pages well past dark. Her debut novel, Deadly Lies, won a 2015 Indie Reader Discovery Award for best fiction. Her latest novel, In the Dark, was released on August 4, 2015 from Kindle Press.


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