Wednesday, January 27, 2016

DEADLY SERIES BLITZ: Joyce Proell




Historical Romantic Mystery
Date Published: 5/25/2015

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When Doyle Flanagan finds two strangers in his library—one dead and the other the beautiful but meddlesome Cady Delafield, his life begins to unravel as all clues point to him for the murder. As the sexual tension sizzles and Victorian conventions crumble, Cady risks job, reputation and family ties to help him clear his name. But even as his life hangs in the balance, his passion for her drives him on, but will the truth about him be the one thing to scare her away?









Historical Romantic Mystery
Date Published: 5/25/2015

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In 1881, the air in Chicago is rife with worker discontent, yet business titan Doyle Flanagan is hopeful for the future. He looks forward to a lifetime of peaceful bliss with Cady Delafield and leaving the wretched past behind. But his life is once again thrown into disarray when his office is vandalized and the night watchman viciously murdered. Clues lead to a powerful organized labor movement. Targeted in the press as anti-labor and with a big rally staged next door to his offices, Doyle must uncover the culprits before his wedding plans and his livelihood go up in smoke.

Plagued by memories of four brutal deaths, school director Cady Delafield is determined to drive the recent tragedies from her mind and enjoy being courted.  Although his commanding personality threatens to overshadow her, Doyle Flanagan is the most dynamic man she’s ever met. When another tragedy unfolds placing him at the center, she takes action—action that could shatter her future dreams.




Historical Romantic Mystery
Date Published: 9/27/2015

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The wedding date is set, and life is magical for Doyle Flanagan and Cady Delafield. Honor bound to repay an old debt, Doyle agrees to help an old friend find her sister. As he searches for the girl, painful memories surface, stunning Cady when she discovers facts about Doyle’s hidden past.

In spite of incredible odds, Cady and Doyle’s love has flourished. But in the midst of a life threatening accident, murder, and Doyle’s secrets, their wedding date and happiness are in jeopardy. Mired in tragedy, can they overcome the turmoil with a fateful decision that changes their future forever?









About the Author

Joyce grew up in Minnesota and attended college and grad school in Chicago. After working in mental health, she retired at a young age to write full-time. Her first book, Eliza, was published in 2012. The Cady Delafield mystery series followed next with A Deadly Truth, A Burning Truth and the last, A Wicked Truth published in September, 2015. When she isn’t writing mysteries or historical romances, she loves to swim, walk and is a crossword puzzle fanatic. She and her husband live in Florida and Minnesota, in her very own little house on the prairie.

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One ebook each of: A Deadly Truth, A Burning Truth and A Wicked Truth

Friday, January 22, 2016

REVIEW OF KILLER PURSUIT: Jeff Gunhus



Killer Pursuit by Jeff Gunhus
(Allison McNeil)
Adult, Thriller
Date Published: January 10th 2016

When a high-society call girl is murdered in her Georgetown home, investigators find two cameras hidden in the walls of her bedroom. One has its memory erased, presumably by the murderer. The second is connected to the Internet through an encrypted connection…and no-one knows who’s on the other end.
Special Agent Allison McNeil is asked by beleaguered FBI Director Clarence Mason to run an off-the-record investigation of the murder. The most direct path to apprehending the killer is to find the videos, but with rumors that the victim’s client list may have included Mason’s political enemies, Allison worries about the director’s motives. As she starts her investigation, she quickly discovers that she’s not the only one pursuing the videos. In fact, the most aggressive person racing against her might be the murderer himself.
REVIEW
Gripping, Taut, Suspenseful … A Fabulous Read
Uh oh, a high-priced DC call girl has gotten herself killed.  Little did her clients know that she was trying to feather her retirement nest egg by videotaping her encounters with customers—customers that included some pretty well-known politicians. In fact, one is on the fast-track to become president. A scandal could ruin him and those pesky tapes have disappeared. He launches a search, but he has stiff competition. The Director of the FBI wants those recordings for himself. He considers them job security, but who should he call for help in securing the prize? Why Alison McNeil, of course.
This is the premise of Jeff Gunhus’ KILLER PURSUIT. It’s a pretty fabulous suspense thriller that is long on action and tangled webs that scumbag politicos leave as a calling card and short on … nothing, really. It’s all there. In fact, there isn’t much negative to say except a slight continuity problem. Things like that drive me crazy because I have to leaf back through the book to make sure I’m remembering things correctly.
Other than that hiccup, the book is exceedingly well-written, the plot tight, and the tension high. It’s one of those fast reads for all those reasons and more. I’d also like to give a nod to the complexity of the plot.  I love when a book has multiple storylines going on, and this one does. I also very much liked the protagonist of Alison McNeil. Gunhus supplies her with a sympathetic backstory that explains a lot of trust and anger management issues. I adored the relationship she shares with her dad. Loved those scenes they spent together so much. As for her investigative skills, for me, Alison does some really foolish things. I don’t mind a character being hardheaded, but being stupid is ridiculous.  She teeters on the borderline separating the two, and once in a while her foot slips across that line. I forgave the missteps because she is nicely fleshed out.
I definitely recommend KILLER PURSUIT to those that like action-driven offerings that keep you on your toes. If you’re into political thrillers, then it’s even more reason for you to read. Mr. Gunhus has a unique voice, and one that’s worth hearing. I’m giving this one four stars for a job well done.
AUTHOR BIO
Jeff Gunhus is the author of thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books for adults have reached the Top 100 on Amazon and have been Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalists.
After his experience with his son, he is passionate about helping parents reach young reluctant readers and is active in child literacy issues. As a father of five, he leads an active lifestyle in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to constantly keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the City Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel.
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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

REVIEW OF GRACIE, DEAD OR ALIVE: Sofia Diana Gabel



Paranormal Romance
Date Published: September 15, 2015

A story of the living, the undead, magic, betrayal, love, more betrayal, and blueberry pancakes. Gracie Daniels has it all. She’s young, pretty, in love and about to graduate from the University of Southern California, but her world is turned upside down when she wakes up, dead, in the morgue. But that’s only the beginning of Gracie’s new undead life. She has to learn to survive impending decomposition from a Wiccan spell that went wrong and numerous betrayals, all while searching for a mysterious alchemical spell book. Then along comes handsome Troy Scott. How can Gracie balance being dead and falling in love? It would be easier to give up, 
but that’s not Gracie.
EXCERPT
Why was I in the morgue? I struggled to sit up and quickly realized I was naked. Buck naked, not a stitch on. I blinked and saw the origin of the voice, a petite young woman wearing an open white lab coat and blue scrubs. Her nametag said Sarah.
She yelped and clamped a hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe it. Talk again.”
Okay. “Hi. What am I doing here?” My voice was stronger now, and I didn’t feel quite as cold.
Sarah giggled like a high school girl. “I’m Terra.”
“Nametag says Sarah.” I grabbed the sheet that had bunched around my waist when I sat up and pulled it up to my chin.
“That’s a vanilla name. My coven name is Terra. And you’re Gracie. Nice to meet you face-to-face, Gracie.” She smiled a broad, look-what-I-did smile.Two other bodies lay on tables, their feet poking out, each with a toe tag dangling in the air. That made me think. I pulled up the sheet to expose my own feet. What the hell! I had a toe tag as well.
“Sarah, I mean Terra, what’s going on?” I brought my foot up and slipped the tag off.
Terra was still smiling. “You, um, you...I did something.” She shoved a piece of paper into her pocket.
“Why am I here, in the morgue?” I wrapped the sheet around me like a toga and swung my legs over the side of the table, dangling them over the sterile white tile floor. There were strange little glass jars around my table.
“Oh, that’s easy. You’re dead.”
“No, I’m not. I’m sitting here in a morgue talking to you.”
“Yeah, you are dead. You’ve been dead for six hours. I couldn’t wait much longer because they might start the autopsy. I had to get to you before it happened, obviously.” Terra clapped her hands together. “So, what do you feel like? Are you breathing? Do you feel like yourself, you know, before you died? What’s it like to be not dead anymore?”
“What?” It was hard to concentrate on Terra’s endless questions.
She pulled out a little compact mirror from her pocket, along with the piece of paper she’d just put in there, and held the mirror near my lips. “Can you breathe? Are your lungs working? The mirror isn’t fogging up. How are you not breathing? This is so cool. Oh my God! What’s it like?”
I shoved her hand away, making her drop the mirror. It shattered. “Can you shut up for a minute? I need to think.” Her voice was like an icepick stabbing my brain. The piece of paper was clutched in her other hand, and I wanted it. While she looked at the ground, I grabbed the paper and saw what looked like a couple of recipes and…an incantation?
“That’s mine. And you broke my mirror.” Terra pointed to the shards. “Damn it! I don’t need bad luck.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
She pouted. “You can keep the spell, I don’t need it anymore. Hey, I’d better run. Nice to meet you.”
“Wait!” I reached out and held her by the sleeve and waved the paper in the air. “You’re not leaving me here. Is this an incantation? What’s going on? Where are my parents and Raf? Are you a doctor?”
She didn’t look, or act, like a doctor. She was maybe in her early twenties, like me, but unlike me, her hair was platinum blonde with pink highlights. Heavy black kohl outlined her eyes, she had her eyebrow pierced and had two cheek dimple-piercings. Doctors didn’t look like that, did they? She looked like a groupie at a boy band concert. I hated groupies.
She giggled. “No, I’m not a doctor. I got a job here as a tech so I could be near the bodies when they came downstairs.” She tugged her arm free, bent down and picked up several of the open jars that now I could see were filled with dried plants floating in liquid; the herbs I’d smelled. “I’m kind of a Wiccan alchemist. I made up the name. But don’t tell my coven what I did! They’ll excommunicate me or whatever for practicing without a license.”
“Practicing? Practicing what, exactly?” I lifted the sheet away from my body just enough to check myself out. I didn’t have any cuts or wounds. Was this a joke? Raf had tried to prank me once, by swapping my guacamole with wasabi, but I managed to subvert it by switching it back when he wasn’t looking. He knew how much I hated wasabi and in fact, anything spicy. But this time it looked like he got me.

REVIEW
Fun, Sarcasm, Death … not in that order
Gracie Daniels wakes up naked on a table with a tag around her toe. Yup, she’s been pronounced dead and is seconds away from having an autopsy performed to determine why. We’ve all been there … or not. But then we didn’t have Terra, a member of a Wiccan coven, practicing reanimation spells. While the shock of what’s happened to her is unsettling, so is finding your boyfriend is already hooking up with a study buddy from geology. But when one door closes, another one opens and you find a hunk named Troy Scott. Unfortunately, you also find out that if you don’t do something, you’ll start to decay ... unless you find that freaking book on alchemy. 
This is the premise of Sofia Diana Gabel’s GRACIE, DEAD OR ALIVE. It’s part mystery, part paranormal, and part satire. Is satire a genre? It should be. It’s also a pretty good read. I liked Ms. Gabel’s style of spinning a tale and appreciated the imaginative twists and turns the story took. It kept me interested and laughing which are the two things I most like to be outside of caffeinated, but a book can only do so much.
I liked Grace Daniels and watching her try to find a solution to her predicament. And, of course, she makes all the wrong moves! How many people here have been dead before? A show of hands, please? I thought not. I would hazard a guess and say that it’s pretty disconcerting and would probably throw anyone off their game, so I forgave her.
The story is fast-paced and moves along at quite the clip. It’s not predictable and that’s always a plus. It’s well-written and also humorous. If those sound like things you enjoy, then I suggest you dive on in and give GRACIE, DEAD OR ALIVE a try! I’m giving this a 3.8.
AUTHOR BIO
Sofia Diana Gabel is a multi-genre fiction writer who was born in Sydney, Australia, but is now living in the United States with her family. With degrees in environmental science and archaeology, she enjoys being out in nature when she's not glued to her desk writing or researching a new story idea. Writing is a true passion of hers, born from a love of the written word that can transport the reader to different places or worlds and deliver them back to reality, safe and sound.



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Monday, January 4, 2016

PIERCE: Jolie Du Pre


Paranormal Romance
Date Published: December 5, 2015


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As fanged creatures run rampant throughout the city after sunset, the life of a young African-American woman named Alicia starts to take a dark turn that may also plunge her right into the arms of her one true love. Between all the bloodlust, deceit, heartbreak, and the taking of innocent human lives, romance and the strong bonds of friendship still prevail. But it’s a notoriously crazy vampire like Bess that has made it her eternal life’s purpose to dim that sliver of light until she gets the one thing she truly wants: Dagon. With Bess’s reckless, unrequited pursuit to make him 100% hers, who will have to pay with their lives in the process? Friendships will be tested, relationships will be challenged, and humanity will be abandoned. All in the name of love and vampiric desires.


EXCERPT

After Alicia had finished with her side work, she returned to the restaurant’s dining room. There, sitting at Table 9, just like before, was Dagon.

“Your man is here,” said Susan. Susan was a vibrant redhead who loved to gab with Gail. It was obvious that Gail had filled her in.

“Yes, I know. I see him.”

“He’s so hot. We never get any hot young things in here. Why don’t you let me wait on him tonight?”

Alicia laughed. “No way. He’s a really good tipper, and I need the money.” Even if Dagon hadn’t tipped her one hundred dollars last night, she wasn’t going to let Susan steal the moment she had been waiting for.

Susan rolled her eyes. “His name is Dagon, right?”

Alicia felt her chest tense up. “Yeah, how did you know that?”

“I told him how cute he was, and I asked him his name.”

“Oh.”

“You’re not mad, are you?”

“No, why would I be mad?” Alicia turned her head away. She was mad, very mad, but when she looked over at Table 9 again, she saw Dagon smiling at her with the same enticing look he had on his face before.

“Slip him my number, okay?”

Alicia turned around. “What?”

“Would you please give him my number?” Susan shoved a small piece of paper into Alicia’s apron pocket.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m serious, and I’m sure Dagon would go out with me if he knew I wanted to go out with him.”

Alicia reached into her pocket and handed the paper back to Susan. “No.”

“Just give it to him, okay? Tell him it’s from the hot redhead. Would you do that for me, please?”

“Why don’t you do it yourself? I’m not your messenger.”

“I don’t want to interrupt him, especially because you won’t let me wait on him.”

Alicia pushed the note back in her pocket. “Yeah, whatever.” She poured a cup of coffee and headed to his table, leaving Susan standing there.

“Hey, Alicia. It’s so good to see you again.”

Alicia tried not to smile too wide. “Hi. I brought you coffee. Do you want it?”

“Sure.”

Alicia set the coffee down, at which point Dagon handed her another one-hundred-dollar bill.

“Thank you so much.” Alicia tried not to beam. If he wanted to throw hundreds at her, she wasn’t about to complain. She dug into her pocket. “Here’s a note for you. It’s from the redhead who’s staring at us.”

Dagon glanced at the note and then dropped it on the table. He looked at Alicia again. “You’re as gorgeous today as you were yesterday.”

“Thank you.”

Dagon didn’t say anything more. He just stared, seemingly pleased with what he saw. It made Alicia almost melt into herself. He didn’t seem to care at all about Susan or her note.

“Is it just the coffee again?”

“Yes. I’ll enjoy watching you work.”

“Okay. I’ll be back to check on you.” Alicia hurried away to serve her other tables, her heart racing.

She had to leave the dining room to pick up her orders that were ready. But when she came back, Dagon was gone.






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Friday, January 1, 2016

REVIEW OF THE MURDER PIT: Jeff Shelby


Thoroughly Delightful … A GREAT Read!!!

Most people choose houses with their heart and not their head, and Daisy Gardener is no exception. She fell in love the 150-year-old fixer upper that was in need of endless repair, and selected it for her family’s new home. On one a chilly night, she and her husband try to keep an old pipe from freezing, and in the process, discover their money pit is actually a murder pit. But it’s not enough that there’s a dead body in the coal shute … the coal shute they didn’t know existed … the victim of murder might be someone she knows.

I completely, thoroughly, and utterly enjoyed THE MURDER PIT by Jeff Shelby. It’s a fantastic read that is the perfect blend of mystery, suspense and comedic fun.  Shelby has the ingredients just right and serves up a winner! The plot is intelligent and will have you guessing who put the body in the Gardener home and why? Was it an enemy of Daisy looking for a little revenge? Was it karma paying a call? Or was it a body dump for pure convenience?  After all, hefting a murder victim on your shoulder while searching for a hiding place must be mighty tiring.

For me, the first three chapters, while charming, were a little slow. Not slow enough for me to put the book aside, but not as fastly paced as the rest of the story. It was right about chapter four … right there at the end of it … that the novel really took off and never faltered, And I gotta confess … no, not to the murder … but to the fact that I had way too much fun flying through the pages! Shelby has created a wild cast of characters for us to eavesdrop on and suspect of murder. They all have those quirks that turn them into likely suspects. Of course, those idiosyncrasies also point to Moose River being a heck of a place to hang out. What with wrestling matches in the snow and neighbors that will sell out a good friend just because there’s a body found in their basement, it has a certain charm. Well, maybe not under these circumstances, but fun just the same. And as far as character development, Shelby has done a great job in giving us all the background dirt while *surprise surprise* not slowing the story down! How did that happen and could he give lessons to other authors struggling with this premise? It gives this mystery a forward momentum that keeps us on our toes. It’s very refreshing.  

What can I say? If you love mysteries that are smarty written and interspersed with laugh-out-loud humor, then download THE MURDER PIT.  I guarantee it’s even better that I’m describing. You will fall in love with Daisy Gardener and her husband Jake. You’ll find yourself rooting for them all the way and, by the way, I can’t wait to read LAST RESORT the next installment in the awesomely entertaining Moose River mystery series! Definitely giving this one five stars.

AUTHOR BIO
Jeff Shelby is the national bestselling author of the Noah Braddock books (Killer Swell, Wicked Break, Liquid Smoke and Drift Away), the Joe Tyler series (Thread of Hope, Thread of Suspicion, Thread of Betrayal and Thread of Innocence) as well as the humorous cozy Moose River mystery series (The Murder Pit and Last Resort.) He also penned the Deuce Winters mysteries (Stay At Home Dead, Popped Off and Father Knows Death, written under the pseudonym Jeffrey Allen. A graduate of the University of California, Irvine, he now divides his time between Texas and Minnesota.

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