Review: Last Train to Paris by Michele Zackheim

20 January 2014 by Melissa

About the book, Last Train to Paris

Last-Train-to-Paris-192x300

Inspired by the story of a distant cousin who was murdered in Paris in 1937, award-winning author Michele Zackheim’s Last Train to Paris is a gripping epic about a half-Jewish female reporter from Nevada who writes for the Paris Courier in the 1930’s. The sole woman in the newsroom, she lives with both sexism and anti-Semitism. Then she meets Leo, a German radical and anti-Nazi and realizes that while Paris is interesting, the truly vital historical story is taking place across the border. Rose undertakes an assignment in the Berlin press office, where she is initially happy and in love until Kristallnacht and the growing threat of Nazism. When World War II is declared, Americans are forced to leave the country and Rose must make an agonizing choice: Who will go with her on the last train to Paris?

Zackheim, acclaimed author of Einstein’s Daughter, tells her story from vantage point of Rose as an elderly woman, Last Train to Paris is at once a historical epic, a love story, and a psychological portrait of one woman’s gradual discovery of who she really is after years of being invisible to herself.

Last Train to Paris will enthrall the same large audience that made In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson and Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky bestsellers.

Buy a copy

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author, Michele Zackheim

Michele Zackheim

Michele Zackheim is the author of four books.

Born in Reno, Nevada she grew up in Compton, California. For many years she worked in the visual arts as a fresco muralist, an installation artist, print-maker, and a painter. Her work has been widely exhibited and is included in the permanent collections of The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.; The Albuquerque Museum; The Grey Art Gallery of New York University; The New York Public Library; The Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum, and The Carlsbad Museum of Art.

She has been the recipient of two NEA awards, and teaches Creative Writing from a Visual Perspective at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her first book, Violette’s Embrace, was published by Riverhead Books. That book is a fictional biography of the French writer Violette Leduc. Her second book, the acclaimed Einstein’s Daughter: The Search for Lieserl (Penguin Putnam, 1999), is a non-fiction account of the mystery of the lost illegitimate daughter of Mileva and Albert Einstein. Broken Colors (Europa Editions, 2007) is the story of an artist, whose life takes her to a place where life and art intersect. Her fourth novel, Last Train to Paris, will be published in January 2014. Zackheim lives in New York City.

Connect with Michele

Website | Facebook

My Thoughts

When it comes to armchair traveling, one of my most frequent destinations is France (in general) and Paris (specifically). Outside of my imagination, I’ve never spent much time in Paris, as most of my trips to France take me to places like Montpelier, Bezier, and Carcassone. Like most people, especially those of us who love words, Paris holds a special place in my heart, and I’ll read almost anything that takes place there.

Michele Zackheim’s novel has only increased that love. Bookended by glimpses of the main character as an elderly woman, the novel takes us to the Paris of the late 1930’s, where the echoes of Hemingway’s footsteps still ring out, though they’re being slowly overtaken by the marching cadence of black-booted Nazis.

First in Paris, and later in Berlin, we get to witness history through R. B. Manon’s eyes, to an often-chilling result, but even before things get grim there are descriptions of people and places that simply sing. In the first few pages of Last Train to Paris, for example, Zackheim describes the hotel where R.B is living, and we meet a host of people who share common spaces with her. Some of them, we may never see again, and some go one to become important, but either way, I felt as if I could see the neighbor waving, smell the cabbage, hear the cacophony of life in crowded residential hotel in a crowded, bustling city.

If you, as I did, loved Midnight in Paris, or if you’ve ever, as I have, watched old movies and fantasized about being a foreign correspondent, then you simply must read Last Train to Paris. You will not regret it.

Goes well with espresso with a twist of lemon on the side, and a butter croissant.

This review is part of a blog tour hosted by TLC Book Tours. For the tour page, click here.

Review: Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance, by Janice Gary

8 January 2014 by Melissa

Short Leash by Janice Gary

About the book, Short Leash

It’s hard to believe that a walk in the park can change a life – let alone two – but for Janice Gary and her dog Barney, that’s exactly what happened.

Gary relied on dogs to help her feel safe when walking on her own ever since being attacked on the streets of Berkeley as a young woman. This solution worked well for years until her canine companion passed on. Grieving, and without the benefit of a guardian, she encounters a stray Lab-Rottweiler puppy in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot and falls for his goofy smile and sweet nature. With his biscuit-sized paws, Barney promises to grow into her biggest protector yet. But fate intervenes when Barney is viciously attacked by another dog just before his first birthday. From that time on, he becomes dog-aggressive. Walking anywhere with Barney is difficult. But for Gary, walking without him is impossible.

It’s only when she risks taking him to a local park that both of their lives change forever. There, Janice faces her deepest fears and discovers the grace of the natural world, the power of love and the potency of her own strengths. And Barney no longer feels the need to attack other dogs. Beautifully written, Short Leash is a moving tale of love and loss, the journey of two broken souls finding their way toward wholeness.

Buy a copy of Short Leash

Short Leash at Amazon.com

About the author, Janice Gary

Janice Gary

Janice Gary is the author of Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance, which was chosen as a “Groundbreaking memoir” by Independent Publisher and a New Pages “Editor’s Pick”. She is the recipient of the Christine White Award for Memoir and the Ames Award for Personal Essay. As a writing coach, she helps others writers find their unique voice and stories.

Connect with Janice:

Website
Facebook

My Thoughts

Not only do I have three dogs of my own (all rescue mutts), but I actually work in rescue as a shelter-pet evangelist and dog fosterer, so when I was offered the chance to read and review Janice Gary’s book, Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance, I leapt at the opportunity, even though it meant reading a pdf copy.

I’m glad I did, because Janice’s story is one that almost every woman can relate to. While I’ve never been attacked, I know the feeling of vulnerability that comes with being in a dark parking lot, a questionable part of town, the last car on the subway, and I have an active enough imagination that extrapolating what Ms. Gary must have felt is an easy reach for me. I have, however, had one of my dogs attacked, and while I was fortunate in that my own pet was mostly unharmed, I know the fear that comes in that moment when an animal in your care is threatened or injured.

As well, I know the safety that comes from having a big dog. My husband travels a lot, and I feel much more secure knowing that I have 80 pounds of pointer/boxer and 75 pounds of Catahoula/Rottie/Brittany/Aussie at my back should anything happen – and I live in a relatively safe neighborhood. Every dog owner, though, can relate to the canine litmus test: if my dog doesn’t like you, I’m probably better off avoiding you entirely.

But I digress.

Janice Gary tells her story – of being attacked, of losing her canine companion, and of finding a new best friend, and almost losing him, with both candor and finesse. When you read her words, you feel like she’s sitting across the table, sharing a coffee with you, and you want to reach out and hold her hand, or pet Barney’s great, big head.

Her first walk with him had me both shaking with concern and rooting for both human and dog to do well, and my investment in her story only grew the further I read.

This is a memoir, so there isn’t a plot to discuss, and you don’t get to criticize someone’s choices. Instead, I encourage everyone to read this book, because Short Leash is beautiful, heartfelt, and truly inspiring, without ever being insipid. And when you’ve finished reading it, go cuddle your own pups. Don’t have one? Adopt one. Big Black Dogs are the best playmates and walking companions anyone can have, and they’re always the last to be adopted.

Goes well with A cold coke and two hot dogs, one of which you share with your canine companion.

This review is part of a virtual book tour hosted by TLC Book Tours. Click here for the tour page.

Review: The Tempest Murders by P.M. Terrell

6 January 2014 by Melissa

My Thoughts

The Tempest Murders was the perfect mystery to read on New Year’s Eve in Texas, even though it was set on the coast, during hurricane season. Why? Because when you’re on holiday time anyway, having a novel that is set before, during, and after a major storm just makes the world recede even further, and the story live more.

Boy did this story live.

Part of it takes place in the past, in the dreams of main character Ryan, who is reliving the events of a couple centuries before as he sleeps. The series of murders he dreams about are eerily similar to a serial killer case he’s working on in the current era, and when the woman who is his lover in his dreams appears before him in the guise of a news reporter following his investigation things get incredibly surreal.

The investigation itself was fairly obvious, which meant the puzzle part of the mystery wasn’t really “whodunnit?” but “how do we PROVE whodunnit?” and “why did he do it?” This isn’t at all a bad thing, but it means that The Tempest Murders sometimes feels more like a paranormal romance with mystery interludes than anything else. (In truth, I’m fairly certain that’s the author’s intention.)

The characters are interesting and dimensional, and I enjoyed the story immensely. This isn’t a novel for scholarly discussion or term paper fodder, but it’s definitely an entertaining read, and makes you wonder about concepts like genetic history and reincarnation. The only flaw is that we didn’t get ENOUGH of the paranormal – no explanation, and both Ryan (the detective) and Cait (the reporter) seemed to have little problem just accepting the premise behind Ryan’s dreams and the eventual resolution.

Goes well with shepherd’s pie and hard cider. Driving rainstorm optional.

This spotlight is part of a virtual tour hosted by Pump Up Your Book. Click HERE for the tour page.

For information about the author, P.M. Terrell, see the book spotlight I posted last Friday.

Review: The In-Between Hour, by Barbara Claypole White

2 January 2014 by Melissa

About the author, Barbara Claypole White

Barbara Claypole White

Barbara Claypole White writes and gardens in the forests of North Carolina. English born and educated, she’s married to an internationally-acclaimed academic. Their son, an award-winning poet / musician, attends college in the Midwest. His battles with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have inspired her to write love stories about damaged people. The Unfinished Garden, Barbara’s debut novel, won the 2013 Golden Quill for Best First Book. The In-Between Hour is her second novel.

Connect with Barbara

Website
Facebook
Twitter

My Thoughts

“Hannah sank down in front of him and eased his head onto her chest. In the distance, bottles and cans clunked into the recycling truck. Their world was imploding, and it was recycling day.”
~Barbara Claypole White, The In-Between Hour

That paragraph, from near the end of The In-Between Hour (but no spoilers, I promise), is one of the perfect human moments that made me fall in love with Barbara Claypole White’s second novel. She has these moments all through the story, and every time, they make me nod or smile, not necessarily because they’re funny, but because they come from a place of truth.

I confess I was a bit leery when I realized this was technically a Harlequin novel. Okay, it’s Harlequin/MIRA, but still…they do have a reputation for being more than a little bit, well, fluffy.

But In-Between Hour, while a romance, is anything but fluffy.

Instead, it’s a lovingly constructed glimpse at a man grieving for his lost child and coping with a father who is showing signs of either Alzheimer’s or dementia, and a woman who gives as much time and energy to saving animals as she does to caring for her (adult) children, one of whom is quite broken. It’s also the story of an aging father trying to save his memories of love and loss while still being a parent (because you never quite stop) and another woman, who is a friend to all but doesn’t always love herself as much as she should.

It’s a story about real hearts, all of which are slightly cracked or dented, as happens in this journey we call life, and it’s a story about how if we’re supremely lucky we can find a person – or people – whose damage doesn’t clash too much with our own.

Author White handles everything with finesse and an attention to detail that is both elegant and entrancing. Her dialogue feels real, and her characters feel like people you might encounter – funny, flawed and fabulously three-dimensional.

I like that she sets up a possible “perfect ending,” but leaves things loose enough that free will still plays a part, and I like that all of her characters have their own intelligence, even though some of them aren’t necessarily well-educated.

Most of all, though, I liked that even though this was a conventional romance in many ways, The In-Between Hour was unconventional enough to keep me interested from the first page to the last.

Goes well with coffee with a touch of egg nog instead of cream, and chocolate gingerbread with candycane frosting.

This review is part of a virtual book tour. Click HERE to visit the tour page and see the list of stops.

Review: Perfect by Rachel Joyce

23 December 2013 by Melissa

About the author, Rachel Joyce

Rachel Joyce

Rachel Joyce is the author of the international bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. She is also the award-winning writer of more than twenty plays for BBC Radio 4.

She started writing after a twenty-year acting career, in which she performed leading roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and won multiple awards. Rachel Joyce lives with her family on a Gloucestershire farm.

Connect with Rachel

Website: Rachel Joyce Books
Facebook: Rachel Joyce

My Thoughts

I love it when I go into a book thinking it will be one thing, only to discover it’s something else entirely. Perfect is just such a book.

On one level, it’s the story of two boys, Byron and James, and how they influence each other, especially in regard to their reactions after Byron’s mother is involved in an accident, told in alternating chapters with the story of a man named Jim, who uses his OCD to protect the world from the bad things he feels he causes, and how those two timelines eventually converge. But it’s also a story about time and youth, love and maturity, and how close each of us really is to the “insanity” side of the mental health spectrum.

Joyce’s voice for the chapters that focus on the boys and Byron’s mother takes on the quality of a fairy-tale or fable. Everything is wrapped in gauze and seen through the soft-focus filter of memory. Jim’s chapters, though, are told in crisp HD clarity, an interesting juxtaposition with the cloudiness of Jim’s mental state.

Having finished reading Perfect over the weekend, and taking a day to digest it before posting this review, I’m left feeling like I’ve read the most profound novel ever, and at the same time, like I didn’t quite get everything the author was hoping the reader would perceive.

Is it a good story? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes.

On the other hand, I’m not sure I liked all – or any – of the individual characters. I know I wanted to slug Byron’s father a lot, and wanted to shake some sense into his mother.

But you don’t have to LIKE the characters to enjoy the experience of reading a novel, and after everything, I find that I did enjoy Rachel Joyce’s novel, because it made me see things like sanity and stability a little differently.

I already knew that no one is “perfect,” but this made me realize how many people still try to be.

This review is part of a blog tour hosted by TLC Book Tours. To see the entire schedule of tour stops, visit this link: Book Tour for Perfect, by Rachel Joyce

Review: The Reckless Engineer by Jac Wright

19 December 2013 by Melissa

About the author, Jac Wright

(taken from the author’s website, with permission)
Jac Wright is a poet published in literary magazines, a published author, and an electronics engineer educated at Stanford, University College London, and Cambridge who lives and works in England. Jac studied English literature from the early age of three, developing an intense love for poetry, drama, and writing in Trinity College Speech & Drama classes taken afternoons and Saturdays for fourteen years, and in subsequent creative writing classes taken during the university years. A published poet, Jac’s first passion was for literary fiction and poetry writing as well as for the dramatic arts. You will find these influences in the poetic imagery and prose, the dramatic scene setting, and the deep character creation.

These passions – for poetry, drama, literary fiction, and electronic engineering – have all been lovingly combined to create the first book in the literary suspense series, The Reckless Engineer. There are millions of professionals in high tech corporate environments who work in thousands of cities in the US, the UK, and the world such as engineers, technicians, technical managers, investment bankers, and corporate lawyers. High drama, power struggles, and human interest stories play out in the arena every day. Yet there are hardly any books that tell their stories; there are not many books that they can identify with. Jac feels compelled to tell their stories in The Reckless Engineer series.

Jac also writes the literary short fiction series, Summerset Tales, in which he explores characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances in the semi-fictional region of contemporary England called Summerset, partly the region that Thomas Hardy called Wessex. Some of the tales have an added element of suspense similar to Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. The collection is published as individual tales in the tradition of Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers and Thomas Hardy’s Wessex Tales. The first tale, The Closet, accompanies the author’s first full-length literary suspense title, The Reckless Engineer.

Connect with Jac

Website: Jac Wright Books
Facebook: Jac Wright Books
Twitter: @JacWrightBooks

My Thoughts

When author Jac Wright asked me if I’d feature his book, The Reckless Engineer here at Bibliotica, I thought, “A mystery with an engineer as the sleuth? Interesting.” Because I’m married to an engineer, I know too well the way their brains grab onto a problem, and never let go until a solution is found. At times, I’ve felt like I was married to some weird stoic-farmboy amalgam of Data, Spock, Geordi, and Scotty, except that MY beloved engineer is a total Hufflepuff.

My point is that Jac Wright, an engineer himself, captures this personality perfectly with his lead character, Jeremy, who is called in to help a (married) friend whose lover is murdered.

Jac blends a distinctly English (with a bit of Scottish thrown in for flavor) criminal procedural with scenes that take place in a seaside town (Portsmouth) and, at times, I was as engaged with wanting to explore the town as I was with the story.

But of course, the story comes first, and in The Reckless Engineer Wright gives us dialogue that feels real, a plot that is wonderfully elegant, and characters that are both complex and interesting. In doing so, he gives us a new kind of geek detective, one who has a incredible amount of knowledge and information stored in his head, and knows just how to effectively, if somewhat reluctantly, tap into it in order to solve a crime.

I would happily read more of Jeremy’s adventures, and am eager to explore Jac Wright’s other work, as well.

Goes well with proper fish and chips and lager.

Review: The Howling Heart by April Bostic

17 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, The Howling Heart

Paige Donovan is an ambitious college graduate who aspires to reach the top of the corporate ladder. She’s climbing fast when she’s given the promotion of a lifetime at a prestigious fashion magazine in New York City. Her bright future comes to an unexpected halt after news of her father’s death. She inherits his old cabin in the Colorado Rockies, and just when she thinks her luck couldn’t get any worse, she has a car accident in the mountains and awakens in the small, remote community of Black River.

Soon, she’s engulfed in the mystical world of Varulv–wolves descended from 13th century Scandinavia and blessed by Norse gods with the ability to appear human. Paige is desperate to return home, but she never expects to fall for her rescuer, Riley Gray, a charming young werewolf from England who offers her an alternate future with his pack.

Now, she must choose between the career she’s always wanted and the love she’s always dreamed.

Buy a copy from

About the author, April Bostic

April Bostic is a New Jersey-based, Adult Romance author who enjoys unleashing her creativity and letting her imagination run wild. Her love of romance books inspired her to become not just a reader, but also a writer. In December 2008, she self-published her first novel, a contemporary romance with a supernatural twist entitled A Rose to the Fallen.

Her first short story, “Right Here, Right Now,” released in January 2012, is an erotic romance with a dash of S&M. The following year, she released two more short stories: a romantic urban fantasy inspired by the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche entitled “Eros, My Love”, and a sexy romantic comedy entitled “Love Addiction.”

After five years, she released her second novel, The Howling Heart in August 2013, a paranormal romance that delves into the mystical world of werewolves and Norse gods. To end her busiest year in publishing, April will release her fourth short story in December 2013, an 18th century paranormal romance entitled “A Dark Scandal.”

Connect with April

Website: AprilBostic.com
Goodreads: April Bostic

My Thoughts

Having spent several of my formative years in small towns in the Colorado Rockies, I had absolutely no trouble accepting that there could be a town that wasn’t easy to find, harboring a community of people who aren’t werewolves, except when they are. Actually, about the only thing that really challenged my willing suspense of disbelief in regard to The Howling Heart was that Paige could be working at Elle and getting a fat promotion so soon after college. (Kudos though, for making it Elle, I love Elle.)

But that’s a small quibble about a book that I otherwise found to be both engaging and enjoyable. As a reader, I might have questioned Paige’s choices, but when you’re young, grieving, and caught up in a combination of attraction and nostalgia, you don’t always make smart choices.

But I’m backing into this review, so let me start over:

April Bostic’s The Howling Heart gives us a new spin on werewolves. These aren’t blood-thirsty creatures out for a quick human-shaped snack, but people who live more in tune with the land, in a culture influenced by Norse mythology and shaped by the modern world. It’s an interesting juxtaposition – as the male lead/love interest Riley Gray points out – they eat spaghetti Bolognese when in human form, and take meals on the hoof when…not.

It’s also an interesting twist on the conventional romance novel tropes. Yes, Paige is young and has a career that doesn’t quite match her age, yes, Riley is hot-hot-hot and super-sensitive, but somehow it all works to create a magical bubble, a sort of wolfy Brigadoon surrounded by aspen and pine trees instead of heather.

The element of mystery – what did Paige’s father know, and when did he know it? – only adds to the story. Romance and mystery have always been compatible, however, so this should not be at all surprising.

Author Bostic write dialogue that doesn’t sound stilted, and puts enough flavor into her foreign-born characters that they don’t sound American but also don’t sound like caricatures. It’s a tough balance for any writer, but she’s nailed it.

Likewise, the supporting characters – Paige’s father, who dies before we really know him, Riley’s sister Quinn, and their father and stepmother – are all given lovely moments to show off their dimensions.

If you enjoy a good romantic romp, with a dash of supernatural spiciness, The Howling Heart is for you.

Goes well with a hearty bowl of venison stew and crusty brown bread, and a glass of hard cider.

This review is part of a blog tour with TLC Book Tours. Click here for the list of tour stops.

Review: The Seduction of Miriam Cross by W.A. Tyson

13 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, The Seduction of Miriam Cross

The Seduction of Miriam Cross

A sordid sex tape.
A venture capital firm.
A secret society of women.
A Catholic nun.

Miriam Cross, author, feminist and philanthropist, disappears from her Philadelphia home. A year later, a lonely recluse named Emily Cray is brutally murdered in her bed in a small Pennsylvania town.

The police discover that Emily Cray and Miriam Cross were one and the same, but if they know who killed Miriam, they’re not sharing. Miriam’s niece wants answers. She turns to the one woman she knows she can trust – private investigator Delilah Percy Powers.

As Delilah and her staff of female detectives – a militant homemaker, an ex-headmistress and a former stripper – delve into Miriam’s life, they become submerged in an underworld of unfathomable cruelty and greed with implications that go far beyond the gruesome death of one woman or the boundaries of one country. Eventually Miriam’s fight for justice becomes Delilah’s own . . . and Delilah’s obsession with finding the truth may prove just as deadly.

Buy a copy from

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

About the author, W.A. Tyson

W.A. Tyson

W. A. Tyson’s background in law and psychology has provided inspiration for her mysteries and thrillers. The Seduction of Miriam Cross, to be published by E-Lit Books this fall, is the first in the Delilah Percy Powers mystery series.

She has also authored Killer Image (Henery Press, October 2013), the first novel in the Allison Campbell mystery series.

Connect with W.A. Tyson

Website: WATyson.com
Facebook: Wendy Tyson, author
Twitter: @WendyTyson

My Thoughts

I love The Seduction of Miriam Cross. There, I said it. Now you know.

I admit that I was somewhat reluctant to leave the bubble of happy-cozy holiday preparation to read a mystery/thriller, but once I focused on the book (a PDF file of the ARC), I quickly became absorbed in W.A. Tyson’s story.

First, I want to applaud the author on the number of women in the story. While I’m not a particular fan of the Bechdel test, this novel passes it with flying colors. The protagonist is a woman. The main supporting characters are women. Even the titular victim is a woman. Seriously, this novel has more free-flowing estrogen than a fertility clinic, and frankly, it’s AWESOME, because not only are there a lot of women, each one is a fully-realized three-dimensional character in her own right.

Forgive me for gushing.

Then there’s the story itself. The novel opens with the death of a woman named Emily. We don’t learn for a few chapters that Emily IS the Miriam Cross of the title (hush, that’s not a spoiler, it’s in the blurb), and that means we begin with a dual puzzle: who killed Emily, and who is she, anyway? (Actually it’s a triple puzzle – why was she murdered? but I’m writing this before coffee, so forgive me for bad math.)

Very quickly, however, we’re taken into the care of one Delilah Percy Powers, who leads us on our journey to answer all the questions above, with a few side trips that explore who she is, why she does what she does, and how she acquired her team of helpers.

While it’s obvious that this novel serves not just to entertain us with this particular story, but also to introduce us to Delilah, Margot, and Barb as set-up for future visits to this corner of Pennsylvania, and more adventures with Percy Powers, this does not detract from the story. Instead, The Seduction of Miriam Cross feels complete in its own right, but still leaves us wanting to visit with the investigative team again.

W.A. Tyson, you are hereby included in my list of kick-ass women mystery writers, right up there with Sara Paretsky and Margaret Maron. Please write more.

And the rest of you: read The Seduction of Miriam Cross, you will NOT be able to put it down.

Goes well with Pepperoni pizza and Shiner Holiday Cheer beer.

This review is part of a blog tour with TLC Book Tours. They provided me with a digital copy of the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. No money changed hands. Click here for the tour page.

Review: Lethal Inheritance by Tahlia Newland

12 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, Lethal Inheritance

“Lethal Inheritance
rivals such young adult favorites as J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordian.” Tammy Dewhurst, Rabid Readers.

On a rescue mission in a mysterious hidden realm, ex-fencing champion Ariel battles treacherous terrain, vicious elementals, and wraith-like demons who feed on fear and want her dead. To defeat the demons and free her mother, she must learn a secret esoteric wisdom to awaken the dormant but potentially explosive power of her mind.

Walnut, a quirky old wise man, guides her across stone-strewn plains and wind-swept swamps, past deep ravines and quaint villages, and through a modern city enclosed in a transparent dome. Nick, the Warrior who travels with them, proves a dangerous attraction. Come too close and his unpredictable energy might wrap her in bliss, or punch her in the chest.

Can Ariel defeat the sadistic demon lord before he kills her and enslaves her mother?

The stakes are high, death a real possibility. Fail now, and she fails humanity.

This novel has received the AIA Seal of Excellence in independent fiction.

Buy a copy today:

Purchase links for Lethal Inheritance

About the author, Tahlia Newland

From Tahlia’s website:

“I’ve been writing full time since 2008, and I’m also a respected reviewer with over 300 published reviews. All my novels have been awarded a place on the Awesome Indies list of quality independent fiction, and several have received the AIA Seal of Excellence. Two of my novels, ‘You Can’t Shatter Me’ and Lethal Inheritance, also received a B.R.A.G Medallion for outstanding independent fiction.

My agent, before I went indie, was Debbie Golvan of Golvan Arts, Australia. I studied writing with, among others, Australian editor Selena Hanet Hutchins (BCA, Creative Writing), and was mentored by Catherine Hammond, (BS in Education, MA in Literature/Creative Writing)

Before I began writing full time, I taught high school visual and performing arts and wrote scripts for theatre in education as well as some unpublished short stories for children.”

Connect with Tahlia

Linked In: Tahlia Newland
Goodreads: Tahlia Newland
Website: TahliaNewland.com

My Thoughts

When Tahlia Newland invited me to be part of her blog tour for the AIA Seal of Excellence award-winning Diamond Peak Series first book, the BRAG Medallian-winning Lethal Inheritance, of course I said yes. After all, I’ve been reviewing Tahlia’s work forever, and I’m never disappointed.

This book was no different. It features a smart, spunky heroine who learns to balance her head and her heart, accept her gifts, and see herself, her family, and the world in general in new ways. What could be better than that?

Well, I’ll tell you:

Newland’s work may be geared toward the young adult/new adult market, but there is nothing juvenile about what she writes. Her books appeal to people of all ages because she takes the reality we know, injects a bit of magic, skews things just a little, and serves it back to us. More, she does with with snappy, realistic-sounding dialogue, spoken by three-dimensional characters who don’t seem all that different from people you might meet in daily life.

If her work, at times, seems to share the tone of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that’s a good thing. We need more stories about empowered women and girls, and the men who love them – women and men who will stab a demon if they have to but will look for an alternative solution first.

In Lethal Inheritance Newland gives us all of that, and more. Heroine Ariel is sweet and funny, and the people she meets, whether good, bad, or somewhat ambiguous, all teach her something she needs to know in order to continue her dual journey: the physical one to rescue her kidnapped mother, and the spiritual one toward enlightenment and self-realization.

In short, I recommend Lethal Inheritance heartily, and am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Goes well with a venti soy chai and a slice of cinnamon bread.

Diamond Peak Series

The tour includes free short stories, a ‘buy one get one free’ deal on the novels and a complete series ebook give away for those that take up the offer.

If you buy book one, Lethal Inheritance, and send the receipt to tahlia.newland@yahoo.com before the 15th of December, she will send you book 2, Stalking Shadows, free of charge and enter you in a draw to win the rest of the series.

You can also pick up two short story prequels for the series FREE anytime. These books include chapters 1 & 2 of Lethal Inheritance, so you can try before you buy.

Purchase and Download Links:

Buy Lethal Inheritance
Buy Stalking Shadows
Buy Demon’s Grip
Buy Eternal Destiny
Download “Run” – a free prequel short story
Download “Ariel’s Dream” – a free prequel short story

Review: Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot book 2) by Christine Amsden

9 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, Secrets and Lies

Cassie Scot,still stinging from her parents’ betrayal, wants out of the magical world. But it isn’t letting her go. Her family is falling apart and despite everything, it looks like she may be the only one who can save them.

To complicate matters, Cassie owes Evan her life, making it difficult for her to deny him anything he really wants. And he wants her. Sparks fly when they team up to find two girls missing from summer camp, but long-buried secrets may ruin their hopes for happiness. Book 2 in the Cassie Scot Mystery series.

Buy a copy here:

Amazon

About the author, Christine Amsden

Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams.

In addition to writing, Christine teaches workshops on writing at Savvy Authors. She also does some freelance editing work.

Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children.

Connect with Christine

Website: Into the Dreaming
Facebook: Christine Amsden, Author
Twitter: @ChristineAmsden

My Thoughts:

I want Cassie Scot to be my best friend. She’s funny, feisty and, as the only non-magical person in a family of practitioners, deliciously flawed.

Having just read both book one and book two of this series, back to back, the details are a bit muddled in my head (This, and my tendency to give spoilers, are why I never write summaries. If you want to know the story – read the book yourself), but I know that as much as I respect Cassie’s determination to make it on her own (or at least without the help of her parents), I also wish she was better at confronting them.

That said, I know all too well the way our parents continue to affect our lives, long after we’ve reached adulthood. I’m 43, have been married for almost 19 years, run a business, and own my home, and my mother still has the power to shatter my world.

Still Cassie Scot, as a character, rocks my world.

But I also like Evan Blackwood, who loves her enough to wait for her to love him back. And I thought the his-and-hers cousins were also well-written, as were both Cassie and Evan’s fathers.

As in the first book, author Christine Amsden has given us a rich world full of great characters, both magical and mundane. In some ways her work reminds me of Laurell K. Hamilton’s early Anita Blake novels (you know, before they became mostly monster porn) and that’s due to the world she’s created. There’s enough detail to make it feel real, but not so much that you start picking at the fabric of her fictional town.

Bottom line: No paranormal novel, whether it’s a romance, detective story, or even a musical, is ever going to be considered high art, but that’s okay, because literature doesn’t have to be high art to be entertaining. And the Cassie Scot stories are just that: smart, sexy, and fabulously entertaining. Can’t wait for book three.