Book Title: A Life Less Ordinary

Author: Victoria Bernadine

Genre: Chick Lit/Contemporary Fiction

Hosted by:Book Enthusiast Promotions

Synopsis

For the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her career. But now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her choices and feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she’s passed over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny’s life will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s quit her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving town on a six month road trip.

After placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she’s joined in her mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke’s true goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.

Now, armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.

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Review

I LOVED this story, probably because I could somewhat relate. I’m around the same age and was recently laid off and while I don’t think I am going through a mid life crisis, I admire Manny for deciding to take 6 months to do what she wanted and to see the world..or at least the USA. I think Manny and Zeke learned a lot about themselves and isn’t that what life is really all about?

And let’s not forget Rebecca, Daisy, Leah & TJ. They all have their own problems but learn some things about themselves during Manny’s journey as well.

We give this 5 paws and if you are thinking about having a mid-life crisis you might want to see how Manny handled hers!

About the Author

Victoria Bernadine (a pseudonym) is, as the saying goes, a “woman of a certain age”. After twenty-something years of writer’s block, she began writing again in 2008.

Victoria enjoys reading all genres and particularly loves writing romantic comedy and post-apocalyptic science fiction. What those two have in common is anybody’s guess.

She lives in Edmonton with her two cats (The Grunt and The Runt). A Life Less Ordinary is the first novel she felt was good enough to be released into the wild.

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New Orleans novelist Steven Wells Hicks recently published his latest novel Destiny’s Anvil: A Tale of Politics, Payback & Pigs.

Destiny’s Anvil is a classic tale of revenge between a sociopathic politician and the campaign puppet master who unleashes him
 on the people of Louisiana. Written from an insider’s experiences in the back rooms of hardball Dixie politics where cold-blooded payback
is coin of the realm, Destiny’s Anvil is at once a sharp-eyed examination of the seamy underside of America’s elections and a freewheeling yarn in the grand Southern tradition.

Destiny’s Anvil was published in June 2014 and is available for sale on Amazon:

Synopsis

Will Guidry’s career as a backwater lawyer is going nowhere until he has a couple of beers with up-and-coming political operative Tucker Callahan, whose family’s petrochemical fortune instills in him a confidence bordering on hubris. As Tucker explains to his rudderless brother, Carter, “Guidry and I made a deal because he needed a miracle and I wanted to play God.”

Guidry rides Tucker’s political horse sense into the office of Louisiana’s Attorney General, while Tucker capitalizes on Guidry’s victory to bolster his own political reputation. But what should become a powerful alliance deteriorates into a bitter feud when Guidry tries to flex his political muscle and Tucker suspects he may have maneuvered a calculating sociopath into the marble halls of power.

Caught in the crossfire is Carter, the story’s narrator. Devastated by betrayal at the hands of his brother and the woman he loved for a lifetime, a brooding Carter remains content to watch the power struggle between Tucker and Guidry from the sidelines. Everything changes when he stumbles on the charismatic attorney general committing a monstrous crime, and finds himself drawn into the vortex of his brother’s private war.

Racing from a bungled execution through ruthless political payback and a no-holds-barred courtroom showdown, before culminating in a bloodbath by the side of a bayou, the stakes continue to rise and Carter finds his small-town naiveté peeling away. Replacing it is a mounting dread of what will happen when the hammer of Fate meets destiny’s anvil.

About the author

Steven Hicks came to Mississippi in 1974 and spent the next quarter century writing for various advertising agencies, including his own. He wrote commercials and print ads about hot dogs and other baloney, used cars, barbecue shacks, sunscreen, banks galore, white bread, undertakers, churches, casinos, turkey calls, finger-lickin’ chicken and symphony orchestras. Some of the work was thoughtful. Some was funny. Most was neither.

During that period of time, he earned the enmity of his competitors and peers by being named Mississippi’s top copywriter nine times, winning six certificates of excellence in the International CLIO Awards, over 150 ADDY Awards, Radio Mercury honors and being included in Who’s Who in American Advertising.

A major portion of his advertising and marketing income came through his work as a political consultant, engineering the media and messaging efforts for more than six dozen campaigns, culminating with the POLLIE Award for best statewide/national commercial from the American Association of Political Consultants in 1989.

While the embarrassing abundance of honors mean next to nothing to Hicks, the education he got through the process meant everything. He learned how to write what people like. He learned to write with economy and clarity, because consumers won’t buy things from long-winded peddlers of perplexity. He learned when words have to be polished and when they’re best left plain.

Through it all, people kept telling Hicks he should write books and he kept saying, “Maybe one day,” until the day came when a near-fatal stroke in 1997 forced him into an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with his own mortality, and he realized he wanted to be remembered for something more consequential than gimmicky commercials.

There was only one hitch. The stroke had taken away his ability to read.

For the next thirteen months, Hicks stubbornly stared at newspaper letters until he could form words, read sentences, then paragraphs, and finally had the ability to once again read novels, albeit at a far slower pace and with cognitive problems enhanced by lingering reading difficulties stemming from alexia, an aphasia problem caused by brain lesions.

It made the headstrong Hicks more determined than ever to take a shot at those novels people had been encouraging him to write for years.

Ten years and eleven revisions later came his debut novel, The Gleaner, a trans-racial romance set in a sleepy Mississippi whistle-stop. In a competition of 5,000 entries, The Gleaner was named a quarter-finalist in Amazon.com’s prestigious “Breakthrough Novel” competition. Upon its heels came two comic novels in 2009, The Fall of Adam, a satire of Deep South advertising, and Horizontal Adjustment, a farce about sexual escapades among competitors for a news anchor position in a tank town television station along the Florida Panhandle.

Deciding to take a breather from novels, Hicks started publishing New Orleans restaurant guidebooks on an annual basis in 2011, all of which have become mainstays on Amazon.com’s list of the 100 top-selling books about world dining.

In May of 2014, Hicks published his fourth novel, Destiny’s Anvil, which marked a stark departure from the breezy style of his earlier works.

“The final product is the polar opposite of the novel’s original intent. It is dark, violent bordering on savage, as it strips away the veneers of not only politicians, but the entire American political system. At the same time, it moves with the furious pace of a thriller overflowing with cliffhangers,” says Hicks.

Steven Wells Hicks currently resides in Jackson, Mississippi but is in the process of moving to New Orleans.

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Title: Mad as Helen (Road River Mystery)

Author: Susan McBride

Genre: Mystery, Crime, Thriller

Publish Date: July 29, 2014

Publisher: Witness Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins

Synopsis

In the second River Road Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Susan McBride, Helen Evans must find a killer before her granddaughter is arrested for murder!

When tiny River Bend, Illinois, is hit by a string of burglaries even Sheriff Frank Biddle can’t solve, the clients of LaVyrle’s Cut ‘n’ Curl can hardly talk of anything but. There are no signs of forced entry and no fingerprints, and valuables are missing from secret hiding places, as if the thief knew what he wanted and just where to look.

Helen Evans wonders what the world has come to if even their once-quiet town isn’t safe anymore. Then Grace Simpson, a big-city psychotherapist who had opened up shop in River Bend, is found dead on her bedroom floor, and Helen’s granddaughter is caught with the murder weapon in hand.

Sure of the girl’s innocence, Helen embarks on a little investigation of her own and turns up plenty of folks who aren’t grieving a bit now that Grace is dead …

Goodreads

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes |HarperCollins

About The Author

Susan McBride is the USA TODAY bestselling author of Blue Blood, the first of the Debutante Dropout Mysteries.  The award-winning series also includes The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night of the Living Deb, and Too Pretty to Die. She’s also the author of The Truth about Love & Lightning, Little Black Dress, and The Cougar Club, all Target Recommended Reads. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband and daughter.

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Title: Meet Me in Barcelona
Author: Mary Carter
Publisher: Kensington
Pages: 352
Genre:Mainstream fiction
Format: Paperback/Kindle/MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audo, Unabridged

A surprise trip to Barcelona with her boyfriend, Jake, seems like the perfect antidote to Grace Sawyer’s current woes. The city is dazzling and unpredictable, but the biggest surprise for Grace is discovering who arranged and paid for the vacation.

Carrie Ann wasn’t just Grace’s foster sister. Clever, pretty, and mercurial, she was her best friend—until everything went terribly wrong. Now, as she flees an abusive marriage, Carrie Ann has turned to the one person she hopes will come through for her. Despite her initial misgivings, Grace wants to help. But then Carrie Ann and Jake both go missing. Stunned and confused, Grace begins to realize how much of herself she’s kept from Jake—and how much of Carrie Ann she never understood. Soon Grace is baited into following a trail of scant clues across Spain, determined to find the truth, even if she must revisit her troubled past to do it.

Mary Carter’s intriguing novel delves into the complexities of childhood bonds, the corrosive weight of guilt and blame, and all the ways we try—and often fail—to truly know the ones we love.

Excerpt

Carrie Ann. The words felt like two gunshots to the chest. Just hearing that name come out of her mother’s mouth made Grace’s heart start tripping. She almost shot out of her chair. “I’m Grace,” she said. “Gracie Ann.” Her voice cracked. “Dad?” she said.

“She’s confused, honey. The past and the present, it’s just one big, ugly glob.” Pinpricks of shame began forming at the base of Grace’s spine.

“I’m not confused,” Jody said. “Carrie Ann came to visit me.”

“My God,” Grace said. This time she did shoot out of her chair. Carrie Ann was the only girl foster child the Sawyers had ever taken in. At first she had been like a sister to Grace.

“Who is she married to now?” Jody said. “I can’t remember.”

“Pay no attention to her, Gracie,” Jim said.

“Why can’t I remember?” Jody pressed on her temples with her index fingers, as if she could squeeze the memory out of her head.

Grace took a step toward her mother. “When did she come and visit you, Mom?”
“Grace, I told you she didn’t,” Jim said. “Don’t egg your mother on.”

“I’m not egging her on, Dad, but if Carrie Ann was here, I want to know about it.”

Her father whacked his newspaper on the side of his chair. “I told you she wasn’t! And I should know. I’ve been sitting right here!”

“She’s still such a pretty girl,” Jody said. “She asked about you, Grace. She asked me all sorts of questions about you.”

Jim got up and threw up his arms. “She’s out of her mind!” He began to pace.

“Dad,” Grace said. “Hush.” Her mother suddenly became very still, which meant she was listening. Grace took her father by his arm and led him back to his chair.

“I’m sorry. She won’t remember me saying it.”

“That’s not the point.”

“I can’t help it. Carrie Ann this – Carrie Ann that. I thought we’d put that nuisance behind us for once and for all. Is this what it comes to? Reliving your worst nightmare?”

“I’ve never heard you speak so harshly about Carrie Ann,” Grace said. Her mom was the one who used to say the worst things about Carrie Ann. She said Carrie Ann was evil. She said Carrie Ann was a curse that would follow all of them to their graves. Once she even said there wasn’t enough Lysol in the world to get rid of that stain. And each insult cut into Grace like her mother was saying it about her. Her sister. Of sorts. Her own Dickens-like drama.  Carrie Ann was the best thing that had ever happened to Grace, and she was the worst. She’d been out of their lives for nearly fifteen years. And Grace had spent every one of them trying, and failing, to put the past behind her. She turned to her father.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That Mom’s been talking about her.”

“Because I don’t want to dredge up all that nonsense. It’s her damn medication. I keep telling the doctor it’s making her worse, and he won’t listen to me.” Her father slammed his fist on the arm of the chair. “These people think just because we’re old that we’re stupid. She wouldn’t be so forgetful if she cut down on some of those pills. How do I know that? Because she’s my wife.  Because I’ve been married to this woman for forty-four years. You know what he said to me?”

“Who?”

“That snot-nosed doctor, that’s who!”

“What did he say?”

“Put me in my place. In front of my wife. ‘You’re a psychotherapist, correct? Not a psychiatrist? You don’t prescribe medication?’ That’s what the snot-nosed so-called doctor actually said to me. Can you believe that? Some twenty-year-old who just started wiping his own ass. I’m telling you she’s on too many pills! Makes her soupy. He won’t listen to me!”

“It’s okay, Dad. Calm down. It’s okay.”

“I can’t bear hearing her talk about Carrie Ann.  Your mother’s the one who told us never to mention Carrie Anne’s name again.”

Forbid us. Forbid us to ever mention her name again. “I know, Dad. I’ll talk to the doctor. Calm down.”

“I always wanted to go to Spain,” Jody said. She turned off the television and patted the side of the bed. So she’d heard and understood the conversation. God, the brain was a mysterious thing.

Grace went over and sat down. “You never told me that.”

“I would hardly share that with a stranger.”

I’m your daughter! She wanted to shout. But her mother couldn’t help it.

“Just keep talking,” her father said. “At least she’s not dredging up ghosts, or drooling over naked stud muffins.”

And now  Grace couldn’t believe her father had just said “naked stud muffins.” Maybe getting away for a bit wasn’t such a bad idea. Grace turned back to her mother. “Why did you always want to go to Spain?”

“My mother went to Spain. All by herself. When she was in her seventies.”

“I know,” Grace said. It had been just after Grace’s grandfather had died. Her grandparents were supposed to take the trip together. Everyone thought Annette Jennings would cancel the trip. Instead, she buried her husband and packed her bags. Little Annette who had never been outside of her home state. Grace had had many conversations with her grandmother about that trip. She was proud of her too.

“It was really something,” Jim said. “Because in those days seventy wasn’t the new fifty or whatever the kids say today. Seventy was seventy.”

“Tell me about it,” Grace said.

Jody Sawyer straightened up, and her eyes seemed to take in more light. “Well, it’s not like it is now. Women didn’t travel alone back then. Wasn’t that brave? My mother sent me a postcard from Madrid of a beautiful tango dancer in a red dress. The dress was made of actual material—beautiful red silk right on the postcard. I’ll never forget it. She’d only written one sentence on the back. ‘Robert would’ve loved the landing.’ My father was very picking with landings and always impressed when the pilot pulled off a smooth one. Anyway. As soon as I got that postcard I knew my mother was going to be all right. ‘Robert would have loved the landing.’After she died I spent hours just touching that silky red dress with the tips of my fingers and imagining my mother dancing in the streets of Spain.”

Jody Sawyer looked up and swayed her upper body slightly as if watching her faraway self dance. Then she looked down at her hands, twisting the bed sheet. “Look how ugly and wrinkled I am now.”

“You’re not ugly and wrinkled, Mom. You’re beautiful.”

“I wish I had that postcard now.” Her mother looked up into space. “I lost it.”

Grace hesitated. Did she, or didn’t she?  Grace opened the bedside drawer and took out the postcard. Her mother was right. The dress was silky. Grace handed it to her mother and watched her eyes light up. Next her mother gently outlined the edge of the dancer’s dress with the trembling tip of her right index finger. Her fingernail was misshapen, the peach paint flaking. Grace would have to see if they could bring in a manicurist.

Jody looked at Grace, her eyes clear and bright. “Gracie Ann you have to go. Film everything. I’m dying to see Barcelona through you.” Grace must have looked stricken, for her mother laughed and then put her hand over her heart. “Sorry, no pun intended.” Like antennas being manipulated for a clearer signal, sometimes her mother tuned in perfectly. Jody Sawyer laughed again, and Grace couldn’t help but laugh with her.

“Mom.”

“Make me feel like I’m there,” Jody said, closing her eyes. “Help me shut out this hospice. Let me see beautiful Barcelona.” She took Grace’s hand and held it. “Do it for me. I’ll feel like I’m with you. Bring a camera. And your guitar,” she added. “You never know.” When Grace still didn’t answer, her mother opened her eyes, and lifted Grace’s chin up with her hand like she used to do when Grace was a child. “Be brave, Gracie Ann. Just like my mother.”

“Like my mother too,” Grace whispered back.

About the Author

Mary Carter is a freelance writer and novelist. Meet Me in Barcelona is her eighth novel. Her other works include: Three Months in Florence, The Things I Do For You, The Pub Across the Pond, My Sister’s Voice, Sunnyside Blues, She’ll Take It, and Accidentally Engaged. In addition to her novels she has written six novellas: Return to Hampton Beach in the anthology, Summer Days, A Southern Christmas in the upcoming 2014 anthology Our First Christmas, A Kiss Before Midnight in the anthology, You’re Still the One, A Very Maui Christmas in the New York Times best selling anthology Holiday Magic, and The Honeymoon House in the New York Times best selling anthology Almost Home. Mary currently lives in Chicago, IL with a demanding labradoodle. She wishes she could thank her gorgeous husband, but she doesn’t have one. In addition to writing she leads writing workshops.

Website * Writing Workshop * Facebook * Twitter * More of Mary’s Books

What are you working on now?

With the greatest respect for Jane Austen, I have taken Pride and Prejudice out for a spin. As I progress through the writing of Mister Darcy’s Dogs, I will be posting the newest chapters of on Second Act Café. I’d like to invite readers to comment as the novella progresses.

Although inspired by Pride and Prejudice, my story takes place in modern times. It’s a teeny bit like Bridget Jones Diary but my heroine tends to be feistier and the wealthy, handsome Darcy has a secret identity. If my fans enjoy this riff on a classic I may continue to pay homage to Jane Austen and create a series.

What are you reading now?

I recently read the book that inspired my journey into Austen-ville. The Trouble with Horses by Elizabeth Ann West. This is a delightful Pride and Prejudice variation novella. Elizabeth was kind enough to encourage me to take my sense of humor in a new direction. I am quite excited to see what transpires between William Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett as they encounter both pride and prejudice in the twenty-first century.

What flavor is your writing style?

I love legal thrillers, clever comedies, and noir mysteries. Over the years I was able to take workshops with Stephen King, Robert B. Parker, and other greats. I began to hone my one-liners aiming to become a female Elmore Leonard. I’m still not there, but I keep working on my adverb-lite diet. How will my style compliment Jane Austen? Stay tuned!

What books have most influenced your life most?

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon had a profound effect on me. There is something in both the tale and the telling that will forever haunt me. I have a signed copy of the book and will treasure it always.

Ghosts by Marsha Parker. The book is not about ghosts by rather about love. There is a scene in the book where the current day narrator meets her love and soulmate from the 12th century. Toward the end of the story as she questions his ethereal presence and her longing for him, he appears one night. He leads her to a Welsh meadow where under the moonlight, they lay on a sheepskin and…well, the result is the most beautiful love scene I have ever read.

Was writing always the first thing you wanted to do in life?

I spent the first four years of my life in our hall closet trying to turn into a black panther when that didn’t work I decided to become a professional majorette. Again I was met with disappointment. In kindergarten I learned to press lightly with my crayons, I then realized I was destined to become a writer.

I’ve always had a passion to write humor and horror – closely related genres. In eighth grade I started an underground newspaper patterned after Mad Magazine. Unfortunately our nun did not appreciate my demented humor. Threatened with excommunication I took my paper underground until I graduated Catholic school.

What inspired you to write your first book?

My first published book was The Adventures of a Love Investigator.

I was coming off a short marriage and a protracted divorce. I lost everything I owned prior to the marriage. I needed answers to why I continuously accepted the wrong men into my heart when my guy friends where such nice men. Why couldn’t I tell the difference?

I set out to learn about men armed only with a tape recorder and a quirky sense of humor. I wanted to learn how men really felt about love, sex, and commitment. My goal had been to conduct 1000 intimate interviews with men in their own man caves. I wrongly estimated it would take one year. Six years and 527 men later, I had become The Woman Who Knew Too Much.

During my odyssey, I met men who have sex with married women, and men whose wives have sex with other men. I listened to men who have no idea how to approach a woman, and men who have it down to a science. I discovered many men who went to unbelievable lengths in search of love.

I learned many things, one of which is that I make a much better Singleton.

While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters?

I am always my heroines. That’s why I write in the first person. I have had more the average wild and wacky adventures in my real life. These escapades color the pickles my ladies stumble into. Wendy Darlin Tomb Raider takes the physical risks I avoid. She does share a number of my phobias like fear of getting her face wet and terror of holes in fabric. This has caused us both no end of trauma.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Please join me as I pay homage to Jane Austen in Mister Darcy’s Dogs. The first excerpts will appear on the Second Act Café in August. I’d love to hear your thoughts as I progress through this first novella in a new genre.

Barbara Silkstone is the best-selling author of the Wendy Darlin Tomb Raider series that includes: Wendy and the Lost Boys, London Broil, Cairo Caper, Miami Mummies, Vulgarian Vamp, Wendy Darlin Tomb Raider Boxed Set. Her Romantic Suspense Fairy Tales series includes: The Secret Diary of Alice in Wonderland, Age 42 and Three-Quarters; Wendy and the Lost Boys; Zo White and the Seven Morphs. For a squirt of paranormal comedy try: Cold Case Morphs. True fiction fan? Try: The Adventures of a Love Investigator.

Silkstone’s writing has been described as “perfectly paced and pitched – shades of Janet Evanovich and Carl Hiaasen – without seeming remotely derivative. Fast moving action that shoots from the hip with bullet-proof characterization.”

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Synopsis

It may not be armed robbery, but the illegal business of fraudulent car accidents is a multi-million dollar racket, involving unscrupulous medical providers, personal injury attorneys, and the cooperating passengers involved in the accidents and who also receive a portion of the illegal proceeds.

What makes good people turn to crime—any type of crime? Newly engaged, Nathan and Shari are blissfully happy—but their joy is tempered by the dark cloud of mounting debt. They know it’s just a matter of time until an avalanche of bills buries them—and their future along with it.

A chance encounter with a stranger in whom Shari confides her troubles, proves fortuitous: he tells her of a get-rich-quick scheme that will put her and her fiancé on easy street. Seduced by the chance to move from hard times to good times in no time, she takes the carrot offered her, and finds herself acting as a “stuffed passenger”—the “victim” in a staged auto accident. The act goes according to plan and Shari gets her payday. She goes back for more—again and again, eventually becoming trapped in a dark and dangerous underworld, dragging her fiancé with her. Getting out and breaking free will take nothing short of a miracle.

A modern day cautionary tale, Crashers is a fascinating study in the derailing of a young couple’s moral compass.

Excerpt

Chapter 1

For KXXX TV and KXXX AM Radio News, this is Katie Carlson with your mid-morning eye-in-the-sky traffic report, and it’s an easy one: It’s messed up EVERYWHERE! So far, the 405 South is backed up all the way to the 101. So, if you are going into Hollywood this morning, you are going to be late for that audition. Also, there is an injury crash on the Eastbound 10. So, if you are heading into downtown LA, you might want to bring a magazine or get some knitting done. If you are going to LAX, forget it, call mom back east and tell her you will be driving out instead. Just Kidding! Any way, this is Katie Carlson with the Los Angeles mid-morning traffic report. Enjoy your commute everybody, NOT!

* * *

As the blare of the clock radio on the night table jolted her awake, Shari  Barnes rubbed her eyes, blew her long brown hair out of her face, and snuggled into Nathan Townsend’s chest. She curled her body around his middle and took a deep whiff of his salty, masculine neck.

But she couldn’t ignore the voice on the radio.

“Monday morning traffic,” she sighed.

Nathan matched the sigh and put his arms around her. “At least you don’t have to drive over the hill.”

“Yeah, I would just die if I had to drive into Beverly Hills every day to work in a beautiful office.” Shari giggled and disappeared under their thick blue comforter for a few more moments of sleepy-headed bliss. She felt Nathan stretch up, and a moment later the radio shut off. Then he slid down next to her in the single bed they shared in their Studio City apartment, a few blocks north of Ventura Boulevard. The constant drone and rumble of another L.A. morning came clearly through the open window: cars honking, rock music blaring, the frantic scurrying sounds of the film shoot a few blocks away. Shari ran her bare feet up the inside of Nathan’s thigh.

He jumped. “Shit, your feet are cold.” He pushed her legs off of him.

“What time is it?” she murmured between kisses.

“Um, seven.” He nuzzled her neck and she felt him becoming erect against her.

“No time for that!” She threw off the covers. “Gotta be at work on time for once; gotta get my asp out of bed.”

“There’s a snake in the bed?” Nathan grabbed her with both hands and gave her belly gentle nips.

“Yeah, of the one-eyed variety.” Shari leaped to the floor and padded naked into the bathroom. She turned the hot water in the shower to high and stepped in, filling the small bathroom with steam.

She had just poured a green drop of shampoo into her palm and was running her hands together when the flimsy yellow and white shower curtain flew back and Nathan grinned in at her. She smiled back, surprised by neither his arrival nor the partial hard-on that preceded him.

“Mind if we join you?” he asked.

“There’s enough shampoo for everybody,” Shari said as she rubbed her hands across her scalp.

He stepped into the stall, pulled the curtain closed and began to lather her hair for her. She put her hands on his back, feeling the taut muscles and the water streaming there, but did not reach down between them. It took him about five seconds to realize it and hold her away.

“You okay?”

“Fine….”

“Don’t lie; I can always tell when you have something on your mind.”

“You know me better than I know me,” she said.

“You know it.” He pushed her wet hair over her shoulders. “Come on, give.”

“I was thinking maybe I should get a second job.”

“You’re worrying about money again?”

“Well, I have to shoot my student thesis film this year or I won’t graduate. But where am I going to get the money I need?”

“How much do you need?”

“At least five figures.”

Review

Insurance fraud is real but can also be a dangerous pursuit as Bryce, Shari and Nathan come to find out in this book. Shari may not have had an easy life but it wasn’t bad…until she is fired as a waitress for being 5 minutes late (amongst other things) and involved in an accident. Her boyfriend, Nathan, is also a rising star in the investment firm he works for until a slimeball coworker changes everything.

This story looks at what life is like for those living on the edge of the law and how the thought of quick cash can turn a person from a sane normal person to one that is out of control. The author does a great job of bringing the character to life and it had me on the edge of my seat wondering how certain events were going to turn out.

There were just a few too many F bombs for my taste but I tried to ignore them because the book was really good and enlightening.

We give the book 4 paws

About the Author

Lindy S. Hudis is a graduate of New York University, where she studied drama at Tisch School of the Arts.

She is the author of several titles, including her romance suspense novel, “Weekends”, her “Hollywood” story City of Toys, and her crime novel, Crashers. She is also the author of an erotic short story series, “The S&M Club” and “The Mile High Club”.

Her short film “The Lesson” was screened at the Seattle Underground Film Festival and Cine-Nights in 2000.

She is also an actress, having appeared in the television daytime drama “Sunset Beach”. She and her husband, Hollywood stuntman Stephen Hudis, have formed their own production company called Impact Motion Pictures, and have several projects and screenplays in development.

She lives in California with her husband and two children.

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The Husband Maker by Karey White

Charlotte’s a girl with nicknames. She may not love being called Charles or Chuck, but the hardest nickname to take is the one she was given in college, the one that’s followed her now for too many years. They call her “the husband maker” and sadly, it fits. Every guy she’s dated since high school has become his next girlfriend’s husband. Not hers. Not three girlfriends down the road. The next.

Is she doing something wrong or is she just cursed?

When Kyle Aldsworth enters the picture and sweeps her off her feet, Charlotte begins to hope that maybe she’s not destined to be single forever. A senator’s son with political aspirations of his own, Kyle’s wealthy, handsome, and in need of a wife. Will Charlotte be disappointed yet again, or will she finally be able to make a husband for herself?

Get your copy of The Husband Maker for just $3.99!

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Review

Everything Karey has written I have truly enjoyed and this book is no exception. I THOUGHT I knew how the book was going to end…but boy was I wrong! In fact, there is a cliffhanger so it is good that there is going to be a book to follow this called The Match Maker. I would have been so upset if there was no follow up book to explain this ending…although now that I think about it I think I know the person in question.

I also like that these are clean books – the biggest thing is heavy kissing, and then even not much of that. It is nice to see an author that can write a story and not rely on sex scenes to make the book.

We give this book 5 paws

Excerpt

Author Karey White

Karey White grew up in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Missouri. She attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. Her first novel, Gifted, was a Whitney Award Finalist.

She loves to travel, read, bake treats, and spend time with family and friends. She and her husband are the parents of four great children. She teaches summer creative writing courses to young people and is currently working on her next book.

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Coming Fall 2014 – Charlotte’s Story continues in The Match Maker

Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 8/15/14

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Synopsis

Catch the Wave of a wild new paranormal mystery series that will leave you locked in the middle of the impact zone!

Bikinis and board shorts are all in a day’s work for surf instructor Malia Fern. Life is good on the island of Kaua’i, even if her social calendar is lacking and a big surf company is droppin’ in to steal her customers. When Malia stumbles upon the body of tourist who speaks to her from his sandy grave, life as she knows it disappears in the outgoing tide.

She didn’t expect to find herself investigating his death, she has no experience, nor any desire to work in the family business of law enforcement, but that’s exactly what she’s doing because the victim keeps asking for help and a group of mystical Menehune men need her protection. If she knew how to offer it, things would be a whole lot easier.

To make matters worse, her love life is out of control. Makaio Natua, the forbidden bad boy cop, is everything she wants and his charming, security specialist cousin, Alapai Lincoln, is everything she needs. What could be worse than meeting the two of them at the same time? A curse designed to control her future.

With life turning wacky, Malia is determined to discover if the victim’s death was an accident, a dope deal gone bad, or something more sinister than she could possibly imagine, because this time her last big wipe out may leave her
Dead On Arrival.

Review

You have to love a mystery when it is set in Hawaii and especially on my favorite island of Kauai! I would probably consider this a cozy (the author calls it a Cozy on the Edge)…surf instructor helps solve the crime while having 2 men interested in her (and what woman wouldn’t love that?!). There is a little bit of paranormal happenings – Pai can read Malia’s mind. A little more happens but don’t want to spoil that for you.

I love the nickname that is given to Windy, a woman that stirs up trouble wherever she goes and is the bane of Malia’s existence.  (you have to read the book to find out!)

As holds true with other mysteries, Malia finds herself in the middle of everything and ends up in precarious situations. I didn’t expect the killer to be who it was, but that is what makes mysteries fun….trying to figure out the “bad guy” and sometimes being right and sometimes being wrong.

We give this book 4 paws!

About the Author

Three career paths resonated for Kym during her early childhood: a detective, an investigative reporter, and…a nun. Being a nun, however, dropped by the wayside when she became aware of boys—they were the spice of life she couldn’t deny.

In high school her path was forged when she took her first job at a dry cleaners and met every cop in town, especially the lone female police officer in patrol. From that point on there was no stopping Kym’s pursuit of a career in law enforcement—even if she had to duct tape rolls of coins to her waist to meet the weight requirements to be hired.

Kym followed her dream and became a detective that fulfilled her desire to be an investigative reporter, with one extra perk—a badge. Promoted to sergeant Kym spent the majority of her career in SVU. She retired from the job reluctantly when her husband drug her kicking and screaming to another state, but writing continued to call her name, at least in her head.

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Synopsis

“D.J. Donaldson is superb at spinning medical fact into gripping suspense.  With his in-depth knowledge of science and medicine, he is one of very few authors who can write with convincing authority.” — Tess Gerritsen, NY Times best-selling author of the Rizzoli & Isles novels

Andy Broussard, the plump and proud New Orleans medical examiner, obviously loves food.  Less apparent to the casual observer is his hatred of murderers. Together with his gorgeous sidekick, psychologist Kit Franklyn, the two make a powerful, although improbable, mystery solving duo.

Strange lesions found in the brain of a dead man have forensic pathologist Broussard stumped.  Even more baffling are the corpse’s fingerprints.  They belong to Ronald Cicero, a lifer at Angola State Prison… an inmate the warden insists is still there.  Broussard sends psychologist Kit Franklyn to find out who is locked up in Cicero’s cell.  But an astonishing discovery at the jail and an attempt on her life almost has Kit sleeping with the crawfish in a bayou swamp. And Broussard, making a brilliant deduction about another murder, may soon be digging his own grave.

D.J. Donaldson’s brilliant first-hand knowledge of forensics, combined with a sultry flavor of New Orleans, equals a series that provides “sheer pulse-pounding reading excitement” (The Clarion Ledger) and “genuinely heart-stopping suspense” (Publisher’s Weekly).  With ingenuity and authentic detail, Donaldson presents a first class forensic procedural within an irresistibly delectable mystery.

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About the Author

D.J. Donaldson is a retired professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology.  His entire academic career was spent at the University of Tennessee, Health Science Center, where he published dozens of papers on wound-healing and where he taught microscopic anatomy to thousands of medical and dental students.

He is also the author of seven published forensic mysteries and five medical thrillers. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife and two West Highland terriers. In the spring of most years he simply cannot stop buying new flowers and other plants for the couple’s prized backyard garden.

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Synopsis

Recruit officer Kiley Gibbons has walked in her twin sister’s shadow her entire life—born two minutes after, she’s five inches shorter with curls gone wild and the exact opposite of her outgoing, athletic sister. But that’s exactly why she’s the one woman who caught Walt Raynham’s eye, and threatens his future in the tactical unit.

Officer Raynham is everything Kiley needs to distract her from the daily grind at the police academy, too bad his drop dead gorgeous body is wearing the uniform of her boss. And when the academy is finally behind her, Kiley must find the strength to walk away from the man she shouldn’t touch.

But when her friend’s death leaves Kiley with two children to raise and a custody battle she just might lose, there’s only one man strong enough to step in and fill the role of her fiancé. Now Kiley’s not sure she wants to resist the temptation Walt causes, and he’s not so sure a family would be such a bad thing. Together, they discover love and an engagement of convenience could be unstoppable force for happily ever-after…until a killer has another idea that may cost them everything they didn’t want.

Review

This is a great story about domestic violence and what can happen to the women that endure abuse from the men in their lives and also the children. There is so much more to this book, but this underlying story could have made the book on its own without the romance between Kiley and Walt. Part of their story is a little true based on how the author met her husband, but just a little.

The author said that an editor didn’t think the story was sexy enough…personally I thought there were a few too many F bombs (although I can see how the situations might warrant stronger language) and I skimmed over the bedroom scenes. There was some excellent “tense” scenes near the end as the story was coming to its conclusion.

We give it 4 paws up!

About the Author

Three career paths resonated for Kym during her early childhood: a detective, an investigative reporter, and…a nun. Being a nun, however, dropped by the wayside when she became aware of boys—they were the spice of life she couldn’t deny.

In high school her path was forged when she took her first job at a dry cleaners and met every cop in town, especially the lone female police officer in patrol. From that point on there was no stopping Kym’s pursuit of a career in law enforcement—even if she had to duct tape rolls of coins to her waist to meet the weight requirements to be hired.

Kym followed her dream and became a detective that fulfilled her desire to be an investigative reporter, with one extra perk—a badge. Promoted to sergeant Kym spent the majority of her career in SVU. She retired from the job reluctantly when her husband drug her kicking and screaming to another state, but writing continued to call her name, at least in her head.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads