de·noue·ment
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Word of the Day: Pretentious
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| MBPOPART: Michel Balasis is a Pop Artist with a modern edge who draws from a wide range of life experiences. His bold graphic imagery is derived from a childhood addiction to comic books and cartoons. |
pre·ten·tious
prəˈten(t)SHəs/
adjective
- attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.
- "a pretentious literary device"
synonyms: affected, ostentatious, showy
Friday, December 26, 2014
A Great Suspense Story ... In Your Sights
In Your Sights Book Description: Caroline Bready is trying to rebuild her life after the unsolved death of her husband has left her struggling to pick up the pieces. With the help of her sister-in-law, Caroline becomes involved with photography including a photography class and assignments. She shares her photos on line with her blog and follows the blogs of other enthusiasts.While taking pictures late at night, Caroline discovers a victim of a serial rapist who has begun to attack women in Sydney. Working with Detective McGraw, also a photography enthusiast, they discover Caroline in a picture in a mysterious blog. When an on-line photo appears a second time, they question whether it's a coincidence or something more. Is she being stalked and by whom?
As the police search for the rapist and her potential stalker, Caroline drifts into an affair with a colleague. The relationship begins casually, but quickly becomes intense and disturbing. As she starts to loose control over her life, Caroline finds that if she cannot discover friend from foe, it could cost her life.
My 4.0 Star Review: I received this book as an ARC from the author for an honest review.
Story Length: 280 Pages
Publication Date: December 10, 2014
Published by: Amazon Digital Services
Cost: $3.99
I really enjoyed the suspense plot that Ms. Krall created in her latest novel, In Your Sights. The lead female in this novel is Caroline Bready who while taking photographs of the moon at night discovers the latest rape victim of the “Redback Rapist”. This draws her into this case as the police work hard to capture this serial rapist. Caroline brings a lot to the plot with the unsolved hit and run of her husband, a less than honorable affair with a married co-worker and Caroline’s very real relationship with her deceased husband’s family. I enjoyed Ms. Krall’s use of photography (classes, students and websites) to propel the plot and subplots further.
In addition to having a well thought out plot, Ms. Krall has developed great cast of characters which are very well fleshed out. My favorite character is detective McGraw, but I also really appreciated how Johnny was developed. There were numerous times when I was disappointed with Caroline herself as she was shallow and involved with a married man. But she also possessed really positive traits: she was truly in love and missed her deceased husband, loved her in-laws and grew and matured as a person through the book. The person she was at the end of the novel was much more admirable and her development worked very well as part of the story.
I like having the components of a book tied out and Ms Krall did a really good job of pulling all the pieces together in the ending. I was really pulled into this book and would recommend it to those who love suspense novels. Although part of a Triptych, this is a stand alone novel.
Meet the author: Elizabeth Krall
Author Bio: Elizabeth Krall is the author of a psychological thrillers and contemporary romance novels. She grew up in Canada, and after 15 years in London, England, settled in Sydney, Australia. Her interests include travel, tall ship sailing and photography. You can find her author blog here.
She also has a Goodreads page where her other books can be discovered.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Author Blog Tour: A Winter Wedding by Tracey Smith
Reviews: A Winter Wedding by Tracey Smith
Via Goodreads I was introduced to the The Devereaux Manor Mystery Series that is written by Tracey Smith. I belong to a group that helps authors find reviewers and reviewers find authors. (Someday I hope to be on the author side, but until then that's for another blog post.) Where was I? Oh yes, The Devereauz Manor Mystery Series.
I'm pretty selective about what I choose to read and support. As anyone who knows me knows, my favorite genre is romantic suspense and when I saw Ms Smith's blog tour, I was intrigued. This is my first blog tour and I'm grateful that Tracey provided me an ARC of not just the second book which is on tour, but the first book as well. And I have to say I've been sucked right into this story and will be begging for the opportunity for an ARC for the 3rd story when it becomes available.
A Winter Wedding Book Description: Despite her dark past Kate Benson was looking forward to a very bright future. She was going to be a wedding planner and she was going to be the best. When a mysterious letter arrived offering her the opportunity to realize her dreams, it was too good to pass up. But Kate had no idea what was waiting for her at Devereaux Manor and nothing could prepare her for what she found. It had been five years since Aaron and Maggie left Devereaux Manor. Maggie hoped that returning for the wedding would give her the opportunity to get the answers she needed. But for Aaron, allowing Ms. Devereaux’s involvement in their lives again felt like making a deal with the devil. He was plagued with a growing fear that the day of reckoning was coming, the day when Ms. Devereaux’s true motives would come to light. Discover the secrets that lie within Devereaux Manor.
My 4.0 Star Review for Book 2 only: I received this book as an ARC from the author for an honest review.
Story Length: 211 Pages
Publication Date: December 10, 2014
Published by: Amazon Digital Services
Cost: $2.99
We are back at Devereauz Manor and the town of Sweetwater - nothing like a small southern town with lots of secrets. Ms. Smith is unwinding the threads that bring these characters together and this really pulls you into the novel. And yes you can see some of the answers coming, but there is still a mystery to be solved. And in a good book it is the way the plot unfolds that brings the enjoyment. The more I read, the more I was pulled into this story.
Ms. Smith has developed a really nice group of characters and provided us with a back ground of what happens when families are torn apart. Her first book in this series introduced us to Maggie and Aaron and how they found their love for each other when something more than chance brought them to the Devereaux Manor. Book two has them planning their HEA with a winter wedding and introduces us to Kate and Jason. Kate is the wedding planner and Jason is the brother of Maggie's best friend, Addie (Addie was also a great character in A Summer Romance, Book 1 in the series). Jason is more than slightly on the surly side to Kate due to a painful past, but Kate can't help herself from being drawn to him. (I was very intrigued with him as well!). We have a really nasty bad guy (or gal) making attempts on Aaron's life and our main characters are trying to stay safe and determine who the guilty party is and what the real motive is. Ms. Smith does a good job of pacing the events in the story which keeps you wanting more.
I enjoyed this book and would read more from this author and more in this series. I did like her writing style. If you like an on-going series, this would be a good read. I think this series does a really good effort in balancing the romance with the suspense. Without the final book and the main plot resolution you don't have all your answers, but the series does give a nice balance of providing the relationship subplots a Happily For Now and a Happily Ever After that provides romance readers with that nice warm fuzzy feeling that we look for. Of course, we still have one more couple to read about... If you like a serious and well though out suspense plot, this series is delivering that.
Available at Amazon and other retailers.
If you haven't read Book 1 A Summer Romance, now's your chance:
Ms. Smith has developed a really nice group of characters and provided us with a back ground of what happens when families are torn apart. Her first book in this series introduced us to Maggie and Aaron and how they found their love for each other when something more than chance brought them to the Devereaux Manor. Book two has them planning their HEA with a winter wedding and introduces us to Kate and Jason. Kate is the wedding planner and Jason is the brother of Maggie's best friend, Addie (Addie was also a great character in A Summer Romance, Book 1 in the series). Jason is more than slightly on the surly side to Kate due to a painful past, but Kate can't help herself from being drawn to him. (I was very intrigued with him as well!). We have a really nasty bad guy (or gal) making attempts on Aaron's life and our main characters are trying to stay safe and determine who the guilty party is and what the real motive is. Ms. Smith does a good job of pacing the events in the story which keeps you wanting more.
I enjoyed this book and would read more from this author and more in this series. I did like her writing style. If you like an on-going series, this would be a good read. I think this series does a really good effort in balancing the romance with the suspense. Without the final book and the main plot resolution you don't have all your answers, but the series does give a nice balance of providing the relationship subplots a Happily For Now and a Happily Ever After that provides romance readers with that nice warm fuzzy feeling that we look for. Of course, we still have one more couple to read about... If you like a serious and well though out suspense plot, this series is delivering that.
Available at Amazon and other retailers.
If you haven't read Book 1 A Summer Romance, now's your chance:
When she arrives at Devereux Manor it all seems too good to be true. The home is beautiful, the town is inviting, and the sexy gardener promises to make this a summer she won’t soon forget.
However the more she learns about the elusive Ms. Devereaux she begins to realize that the conveniently placed ad in front of her dorm room may not have been the happy coincidence that it once seemed. Maggie isn’t the only one who Ms. Devereaux has lured to the plantation, and Ms. Devereaux isn’t the only one with secrets to hide.
Read It For $.99 Now on Amazon
Meet the author: Tracey Smith
Quote from the author: Writing is my passion, my escape, and my vice. It allows me to dream with my eyes open and live many lives. I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I've loved writing them!
Author Bio: Tracey Smith grew up in Southern California, but as a teenager moved with her family to a small town in Arkansas. It was in Arkansas that she met and fell in love with the man of her dreams, who had also recently moved to the state. Fate brought them both to that small town and into each other’s lives and that is where they continue to live today raising their two children and living out their happily
ever after.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Reviews: Gone to Her Grave by Melinda Leigh
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| See it on Goodreads |
Book Description: In Solitude, Oregon, everyone has secrets…and some will kill to keep them. When she believes a teen is falsely accused of drug dealing, social worker Carly Taylor takes on a high-risk case and her estranged husband—the detective in charge of the investigation—to prove the boy innocent. A deadly new designer drug has taken hold of her small rural hometown of Solitude, Oregon, and Carly is determined to find the real dealer and clear the teen’s name. But the deeper she digs into the case, the more danger she unearths, until someone decides it’s time for Carly to move on…permanently. Investigator Seth Harding knows he can’t stop his wife when she has a child to protect. But he risks any chance of reconciliation with Carly if he can’t learn to accept her dangerous job. When a drug dealer decides Carly is getting too close, will Seth lose her altogether?
My 3.5 Star Review for Book 2 only: I received this book from Net Galley for an honest review. This was a little under 100 pages and was a pretty quick afternoon read. I enjoyed the characters and the story and wished I had read the 1st book in the series (although it wasn't necessary). I think as you get to Book 3 and Book 4 it is going to be more important that you read the books in sequence. I am not a fan of cliffhanger series and am pleased that that the subplot for this novella was resolved. There are still open relationship issues and there is still an open underlying major plot, but the thread of this novella was completed and gave you the feeling that some questions were answered. However, there is still a lot left unanswered. The top of the drug chain dealers is still an unknown and will be part of the continuing plot.
I like the development of Solitude, Oregon and I like the characters that the authors are developing. It is hard to develop a full range of plots and characters in a novella, but the authors are doing a good job and the cast of secondary characters is impressive. I like the underlying major plot line and the fight against drugs. It's a real life fight in lots of small towns across America and it feels real in the book. I do think the novella format holds the story back and it could have played out really well as a full book versus divided up into four novellas. This novella took the drug problem and showed how it impacted children that Carly, our heroine, is trying to protect in her job as a social worker. The story around the children she is trying to protect was better developed than the relationship subplot of Carly and her estranged husband, Seth. Seth didn't seem like he got the attention and development that a true H, or hero, would get.
I enjoyed this book and would read more from this author and more in this series. I did like her writing style. If you like an on-going series, this would be a good read (plus all four novellas are either written or scheduled for release). If you like romance, this novella didn't focus on the romance and left the relationship sub plot open. Without reading all four books, it is difficult to tell how the romance will be handled. If you like a serious and well though out suspense plot, this series looks like it will deliver that.
When I give a 1/2 star, I round up when I really enjoy the read and round down when I have too many conflicting feelings. I did really enjoy this read and therefore rounded up.
Summary:
Setting: A
Plot and Subplots: A
Character Development: B+
Relationships: Overall B
Romance: B-
Monday, October 13, 2014
Lisa Clark O'Neill
Lisa Clark O'Neill is one of the authors I found by electing to read a free book offered on Amazon. I have since found myself working through all of her past books. Still have a couple to go, but I am definitely enjoying the backlog. Lisa has found an excellent niche in romantic suspense by creating small towns that have a good dose of problems that need to be solved and characters that heat up the page.
Her most recent book, Mr. Write, is at the top of my "to be read" book list.
Mr. Write Book Description: They say you can’t go home again… When Tucker Pettigrew returns to Sweetwater, South Carolina after a thirty year absence, he knows that his reappearance will stir the town pot. The sole grandson of the most powerful man in town, Tucker wants to understand why his recently deceased mother fled Sweetwater all those years ago with little more than the clothes on their backs. What he discovers will rock not only his own foundation, but that of the town itself. Sarah Barnwell is a woman with her own ghosts to face, and they’re there to greet her on her first night back in town. The bully who made her already rocky childhood a kind of living hell is all grown up now, but he still has Sarah in his sites. At first antagonistic, Sarah and Tucker eventually realize that a shared property line isn’t all they have in common. And that roots, whether the plant be beautiful or deadly, run deeper than you think...
The first book I read by Lisa was Nemesis. This discovery has made me a big fan of Lisa's.
Nemesis Book Description: What happens when your childhood nemesis turns out to be the love of your life?
That’s only one of the dilemmas Sadie Rose Mayhew must face when she returns to her childhood home. Seeking a fresh start after her broken engagement, Sadie moves into the house she left behind as a teen. Neglected since the death of her grandmother, Sadie sets about putting the place back together just as surely as she’s repairing her life – the main problem at first being her next door neighbor.
Sadie remembers Declan Murphy as the pesky little brother of her best friend Kathleen, the fly in the ointment of her childhood. And when they encounter each other again on an adult playing field, the sparks they struck against each other as kids turn to full-fledged pyrotechnics – especially when Sadie’s life is threatened on one of her first nights in town by two very aggressive burglars with an agenda.
There is something in Sadie’s grandmother’s house that her last renter left behind, something valuable enough to drive men to kill.
And as both Sadie and Declan learn, sometimes your enemies are closer than you think.
Her most recent book, Mr. Write, is at the top of my "to be read" book list.
The first book I read by Lisa was Nemesis. This discovery has made me a big fan of Lisa's.
That’s only one of the dilemmas Sadie Rose Mayhew must face when she returns to her childhood home. Seeking a fresh start after her broken engagement, Sadie moves into the house she left behind as a teen. Neglected since the death of her grandmother, Sadie sets about putting the place back together just as surely as she’s repairing her life – the main problem at first being her next door neighbor.
Sadie remembers Declan Murphy as the pesky little brother of her best friend Kathleen, the fly in the ointment of her childhood. And when they encounter each other again on an adult playing field, the sparks they struck against each other as kids turn to full-fledged pyrotechnics – especially when Sadie’s life is threatened on one of her first nights in town by two very aggressive burglars with an agenda.
There is something in Sadie’s grandmother’s house that her last renter left behind, something valuable enough to drive men to kill.
And as both Sadie and Declan learn, sometimes your enemies are closer than you think.
My Four Star Review ****
I found this as a free read on Kindle and its one of my better finds. Southern suspense and great characters create a really good read. Lisa Clark O'Neill has woven together some well developed and likable characters - they have just the right mix of flaws and strengths that makes them human and likable. Even with Declan's issues (more than a little a surly) , he makes a great hero because he deals with his issues and does the right thing. It doesn't hurt that he's steeped in southern awesomeness. The author has you liking the good guys and wanting the bad guys caught. In addition to well developed main characters, the secondary characters are nicely developed but they don't overshadow the main story. The suspense plot is solid and the story moves well. I would read more from this author and would recommend this book.
Lisa has a bio and author's page on Goodreads that you might want to check out. Although she does have a BA in English she didn't put it to use immediately. All I can say is that I'm glad she is now.
I found this as a free read on Kindle and its one of my better finds. Southern suspense and great characters create a really good read. Lisa Clark O'Neill has woven together some well developed and likable characters - they have just the right mix of flaws and strengths that makes them human and likable. Even with Declan's issues (more than a little a surly) , he makes a great hero because he deals with his issues and does the right thing. It doesn't hurt that he's steeped in southern awesomeness. The author has you liking the good guys and wanting the bad guys caught. In addition to well developed main characters, the secondary characters are nicely developed but they don't overshadow the main story. The suspense plot is solid and the story moves well. I would read more from this author and would recommend this book.
Lisa has a bio and author's page on Goodreads that you might want to check out. Although she does have a BA in English she didn't put it to use immediately. All I can say is that I'm glad she is now.
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