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Books For Review – Week of June 3rd

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His Final Girl
B Mine, Book 1
Brooklyn Ann
Boroughs Publishing Group
Horror, Romance

DON’T GO IN THE WOODS

Computer nerd, Wes Carpenter, dreads having to spend ten days at summer camp with the rest of his in-coming high school senior class. But when he meets strong-willed and confident farm girl, Linnea Langenkamp, everything about being away at camp improves immediately. When a malicious prank awakens an ancient evil, turning their summer romance into a bloodbath, Wes and Linnea pray they make it home alive while fighting for the survival of their classmates. With Wes’s ingenuity and Linnea’s knowledge of the forest, together they may be able to stop the killer, save the camp, and maybe even find their happily ever after on the way.

Dogs Still Know Best
Two Angels Guide Their Human Through Grief, Learning & Love
Angie Salisbury
Annibury Publishing
Nonfiction (Adult)

“Truly heartwarming and inspirational! Dogs Still Know Best is a story of love, loss, the long road to healing, and the anti-fragility of the human spirit” ~ Jedediah McClure, Best Selling Author, Myths of Christianity: A Five Thousand Year Journey To Find The Son Of God

A must-read for dog lovers and anyone who has loved – and lost – a beloved dog! In this touching sequel to Dogs Know Best: Two Dogs’ Training Guide For Humans, follow one woman’s very personal account of how two German Shorthaired Pointers sparked her spiritual journey, one that allowed her to open her heart, open her mind and in the process, receive amazing gifts, the biggest one of all being her new love, a sweet little Pointer puppy named Minnie. Along the way, there has been a lot of grief, a lot of learning and an infinite amount of love.

The result is a dramatic shift in perspective about life, grief and embracing a new way of thinking. And with all three of her beloved Pointers by her side, every step of the journey is filled with love and support. In fact, there’s a whole cheering section along for the ride!

On the other side, love is everything.

A Readers’ Favorite 5-Star review recipient.

The Seekers
by Heather Graham
HARLEQUIN – MIRA (U.S. and Canada)
Mystery & Thrillers
Release Date: July 23, 2019

THE TRUTH IS SCARIER THAN FICTION

Keri Wolf has joined the crew of The Seekers, a show that searches for paranormal phenomena, as they explore a supposedly haunted old inn on the road between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The place is famous for its warm welcome—and infamous for being the site of an ax murder rampage in the 1920s. They’ve barely begun when a very real dead body is discovered in the basement. As a nonfiction author, Keri is supposed to be the rational one, but she can’t explain a terrifying apparition that seems to be both a threat and a warning.

Former detective Joe Dunhill knows what she’s going through—the strange gift of being able to see and talk to the dead is a struggle he shares. A new member of the FBI’s Krewe of Hunters, he’s on the team investigating the disturbing death. The town is steeped in old-fashioned superstition, and the deeper Joe and Keri plunge into the dark secrets of the inn, the closer they get to a devastating truth. Will a bloody history be repeated? Or can the spirits of the past reach out to stop a killer?

Books For Review – Week of May 6th

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Change of Heart
A Seashell Cottage Book
Judith Keim
Wild Quail Publishing
Release Date Jun 11, 2019
Romance, Women’s Fiction

Emerson “Em” Jordan always wanted a Valentine’s Day wedding. But after being dumped by her boyfriend, she spends the holiday at Seashell Cottage on the Gulf Coast of Florida with Devin Gerard, a family friend who has no interest in her or any other woman and is instead concentrating on his pediatric medical practice and continuing medical missions in Costa Rica.

Em, who’s always wanted a large family, doesn’t mind his disinterest. At thirty-two, she’s decided she doesn’t need a husband to have a child or to adopt one. First, she’s going to fulfill her dream of setting up her own landscape design business in upstate New York and has promised to continue to help run her grandmother’s flower shop.

It isn’t until Em and Devin become friends that Em realizes she might want more than friendship from him. But with his work in Miami and Costa Rica and her busy life in New York, it’s out of the question until something happens that changes everything, even a couple of hearts.

Last Ticket to Paradise
Carol Ericson
Release Date: May 14, 2019
Romance

Sent to paradise to find her missing sister, she discovers a passion that burns hotter than hell… Georgette Lawson has always been the dull, practical twin…until she steps foot on the tropical island of Palumba. Desperately searching for her missing sister,

Georgette plays a dangerous game that results in whispered threats and dire warnings. One such warning comes from sexy Jake Kincaid, the main developer of the island. Now Georgette’s life…and heart are at risk.

Jake Kincaid overcame too many obstacles to allow the silly rumors of ritual sacrifice to destroy his island paradise. He wants uptight Georgette Lawson to abandon her search for her flighty twin and go home—until the danger to Georgette becomes all too real. His fight to save the island and expose its seamy underbelly becomes an even greater fight to save Georgette and and claim her as his own.

Seven Devils
City of Angels/Dead on Arrival
Steve McManus
Mystery & Thrillers

Los Angeles crime reporter Danny Kasho is working on the unsolved murders of two women when he gets a tip about a missing couple. The tip has one thing in common with his story, but to prove it Danny will have to jeopardize his career—and his life.

Ursula Ruda discovers a friend and fellow reporter is missing. Working with only a cryptic last text and a single clue to her location, Ursula follows her friend’s trail and finds a threat greater than anything she could have imagined.

From drought-stricken LA to the snowbound mountains of Northern California where a reclusive self-help guru is gathering his followers, Danny and Ursula chase separate tragedies that could dovetail with disaster.

Pretty Reckless From Best Selling Author LJ Shen

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We were supposed to be best friends But turned out to be worst enemies…

Penn

They say revenge is a dish best served cold.

I’d had four years to stew on what Daria Followhill did to me, and

now my heart was completely iced.

I took her first kiss.

She took the only thing I loved.

I was poor.

She was rich.

The good thing about circumstances? They can change. Fast.

Now, I’m her parents’ latest shiny project.

Her housemate. Her tormentor. The captain of the rival football team she hates so much.

Yeah, baby girl, say it—I’m your foster brother.

There’s a price to pay for ruining the only good thing in my life, and she’s about to shell out some serious tears.

Daria Followhill thinks she is THE queen. I’m about to prove to her that she’s nothing but a spoiled princess.

Daria

Everyone loves a good old unapologetic punk.

But being a bitch? Oh, you get slammed for every snarky comment, cynical eye roll, and foot you put in your adversaries’ way.

The thing about stiletto heels is that they make a hell of a dent when you walk all over the people who try to hurt you.

In Penn Scully’s case, I pierced his heart until he bled out, then left it in a trash can on a bright summer day.

Four years ago, he asked me to save all my firsts for him.

Now he lives across the hall, and I want nothing more than to be his last everything.

His parting words when he gave me his heart were that nothing in this world is free.

Now? Now he is making me pay.

Reader Reviews

“A runaway train of revenge, rivalry and angst. This complex and venomous tale takes on a modern-day Cruel Intentions/Mean Girls vibe. Pretty Reckless is unputdownable and absolute Kindle Crack.” – Kindle Crack Book Reviews

“Add claws, teeth and nails to whatever you expect of a ‘high school’ romance and you’ve got All Saints High.With the first installment, Shen has crafted a story so fresh, it feels like its own new genre.” – Kennedy Ryan, award-winning bestselling author.

“My words are inadequate to describe how freaking epic Pretty Reckless is. I’m broken and destroyed for all else. The talent this author possess has once again soared to another level. LJ Shen takes us up to the stars with Pretty Reckless and I never want to come down.” – Harloe Rae, USA Today bestselling author.

“Nobody gives me the feels for a bad boy like LJ Shen! I loved every minute of this delicious read, and I went back and reread the end twice just to get the rush again and again!” – GingerScott, bestselling author.

“Each chapter was a punch, each poem was a stab, and each word was a promise. This book was everything and more, and I can honestly say, I didn’t see it coming.”– CL Matthews, bestselling author.

Buy Links:

About the Author:

LJ Shen is a USA Today and Washington Post bestseller of over a dozen books. Her books are translated into more than 10 languages.

Books For Review – Week of April 29th

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Mini Style Guide
An Introduction to Good Writing and Manuscript Presentation
Denise O’Hagan
Black Quill Press
Nonfiction (Adult), Self-Help

An easy-to-use guide for writers, editors and students

The Mini Style Guide covers the fundamentals of good writing and explains how to present a manuscript for publication. It is written in a direct and accessible manner suitable for all ages and backgrounds, and assumes no prior knowledge of the writing trade or the publishing industry. Explanations are accompanied by ‘real life’ examples, and each chapter opens with a humorous quotation.

The book consists of three parts.

Part 1 covers the essence of good writing, both factual and non-factual. It covers the principles of Plain English; words that are often misused or misspelled; and common grammatical and punctuation errors. Differences between Australian, British and American English are explored; inclusive writing is defined; and copyright law as it applies to writers is clarified.

Part 2 explains the technicalities of how to present a manuscript. It examines the advantages and disadvantages of working exclusively on computer and working partly on hard copy; outlines the structure of a manuscript and the order of its various components; and explains how to compile a contents page to reflect the heading hierarchy. It explains how to treat quotations, lists, abbreviations and numbers; offers advice on presenting illustrations, tables, charts and graphs; and discusses bibliographical material and indexes.

Part 3 explores possible publishing avenues; that is, commercial publishers, literary agents and self-publishing. It defines the role of each; explains which one is best suited to which type of writing; and includes advice on how to write a synopsis, select sample chapters and draft a covering letter.

The Appendix contains templates of standard forms and letters that can be photocopied and tailored to suit individual needs.

Booking the Crook
by Laurie Cass
Berkley Publishing Group
Mystery & Thrillers
Publication Date July 2,2019

It’s all paws on deck as a librarian and her rescue cat track down a killer in the newest book in the national bestselling Bookmobile Cat mystery series.

Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, cruise around lovely Chilson, Michigan delivering happiness and good reads in their bookmobile. But the feisty librarian is worried that the bookmobile’s future could be uncertain when a new library board chair arrives and doesn’t seem too friendly to her pet project.

Still, she has to put her personal worries aside when she and Eddie are out on their regular route and one of their favorite customers doesn’t turn up to collect her books. Minnie, at Eddie’s prodding, checks on the woman and finds her lying dead in her snow-covered driveway. Now it’s up to Minnie and her friends–feline and otherwise–to find the perpetrator and give them their due.

Window on the Bay
by Debbie Macomber
Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine
Romance , Women’s Fiction
Release Date: July 16, 2019

When a single mom becomes an “empty nester,” she spreads her wings to rediscover herself—and her passions—in this heartwarming novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

Jenna Boltz’s life is at a crossroads. After a messy divorce nearly twenty years ago, she raised her two children on her own, juggling motherhood with her beloved job as a Seattle intensive-care nurse. Now that Paul and Allie have gone to college and moved out, Jenna can’t help but wonder what her future holds.

Her best friend, Maureen, is excited for Jenna’s newfound independence. Now is the perfect time to finally book the trip to Paris they’ve been dreaming of since their college days. But when it comes to life’s other great adventure—dating—Jenna still isn’t sure she’s ready to let love in . . . until an unexpected encounter begins to change her mind.

When Jenna’s elderly mother breaks her hip, Dr. Rowan Lancaster saves the day. Despite his silent, stoic exterior, Rowan is immediately smitten with Jenna. And even though Jenna is hesitant about becoming involved with another surgeon, she has to admit that she’s more than a little intrigued. But when Jenna’s children approach her with shocking news, she realizes that she needs to have faith in love and embrace the unexpected—before the life she has always dreamed of passes her by.

USA Today Bestselling Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series!

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New Book in the USA Today Bestselling Cozy Mystery Series!!

For Southern girl Verity Long, friendship means sitting down to stories and sweet tea on the front porch. For her gangster ghost housemate, it means dragging Verity out to a remote haunted asylum during a raging thunderstorm to do a favor for a long-dead mob boss.

But Verity is always ready to help out a friend, even one as eternally eccentric as Frankie. And in the case of Mint Julep Manor, the stakes are too high to refuse. The criminally insane mob boss holds a secret to Frankie’s past, one that might set Frankie free. Do the favor–survive the favor–and they might change Frankie’s afterlife for good. Fail, and they might never leave the asylum

Buy Links:

Book Information:

The Mint Julep Murders
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 8
By Angie Fox
Publisher: Moose Island Books
Release Date: April 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1939661586 (print) Price $14.98
ISBN: 978-1939661586 (ebook) Price $4.99
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal Cozy Mystery

Other Books in the Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries

Southern Spirits
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 1

The Skeleton in the Closet
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 2

The Haunted Heist
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 3

Deader Homes and Gardens
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 4

Sweet Tea and Spirits
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 5

Murder on the Sugarland Express
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 6

Pecan Pies and Dead Guys
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 7

About the Author:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Angie Fox writes sweet, fun, action-packed mysteries. Her characters are clever and fearless, but in real life, Angie is afraid of basements, bees, and going up stairs when it is dark behind her. Let’s face it. Angie wouldn’t last five minutes in one of her books.

Angie is best known for her SOUTHERN SPIRITS™ mysteries and for her ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER series.

Angie is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She lives in St. Louis with her football-addicted husband, two kids, and Moxie the dog.

Find Angie Online:

Books For Review – Week of April 22nd

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The Winter Loon
Lori Henriksen
Cougar Creek Books
Women’s Fiction

In the shadow of the Great Depression, long before historical changes leading toward LGBTQ advocacy and equality, eighteen-year-old Ruth Thompson defies her family’s expectations to marry Duke, her long-time sweetheart. Instead, she joins a rodeo circuit in order to earn money for college and comes of age in the male-dominated culture of rodeo competition.

Ruth returns home to Minnesota a prize-winning competitor and resumes her familiar relationship with Duke. Once at college she grows increasingly restless in her role as sorority girl with Duke as her escort for all social occasions. Her safe existence is upended when she meets confident and free-spirited Gisela and then further unravels when the two women fall in love.

The lives of Ruth, Gisela, and Duke entwine while Ruth embarks on a journey of self-discovery, full of dangerous social repercussions that takes her from Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean of California. As WWII escalates, each of them faces a test of their fortitude as all three must come to grips with redemption, forgiveness, the meaning of family and how to honor their authentic truth during this perilous time in history.

Both heart wrenching and uplifting, The Winter Loon honors the strength and spirit of all those who struggle with social persecution because of who they love and how they define family whether it is their own flesh and blood kinfolk and/or those nearest and dearest to their heart.

The Scopas Factor
Vincent Panettiere
BookBaby
Mystery & Thrillers

A Hmong “story cloth,” a Revolutionary War battle flag, forged Picassos and a Russian drug dealer—finding the link between these disparate elements is the challenge Mike Hegan faces in The Scopas Factor, the latest mystery from Vincent Panettiere.After his last investigation ends tragically, Detective Mike Hegan returns to Chicago from St. Kitts, hoping to put everything behind him. But his girlfriend, Diana, has other plans, and although he has no interest in the job opportunity she presents him—in a small northern California town, no less—he wants to please her. Upon his arrival in Weedley, he’s caught up in a kidnapping and two murders. A visit to Diana’s family in San Francisco only serves to deepen the mystery, as her father might be the link to a gang of antiquities thieves that might have something to do with the crimes in Weedley. And when Diana’s father disappears, Hegan takes off for Antibes in southern France, where he discovers that the mystery has only just begun.

Lady No Says Yes
A Scandal Sheet Novel
by Jess Michaels
The Passionate Pen
Historical Fiction , Romance
Release Date May 7, 2019

Stunning heiress Sophie is known in Society as Lady No because she’s spent the past few years refusing the advances of every suitor. But when her beloved aunt challenges her to say yes for just one Season, she can’t refuse.

Rowan Sinclair has just had his inheritance stripped and is in dire straights. When he discovers Sophie’s secret reason for suddenly saying yes, he knows he can use it to his advantage, even if he doesn’t feel good about it.

Their unexpected connection quickly turns passionate and grows into something deeper than either ever could have expected. But can Sophie overcome her reasons for saying no in the first place? And when she finds out the truth about his courtship, will she ever forgive him?

New Release – Flowers over the Inferno

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Ilaria Tuti’s debut thriller explores a remote community in Northern Italy—a place of secrets, eerie folktales, and primal instincts.

In a quiet village surrounded by ancient woods and the imposing Italian Alps, a man is found naked with his eyes gouged out. It is the first in a string of gruesome murders.

Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a detective with a background in criminal profiling, is called to investigate. Battaglia is in her mid-sixties, her rank and expertise hard-won from decades of battling for respect in a male-dominated Italian police force. While she’s not sure she trusts the young city inspector assigned to assist her, she sees right away that this is no ordinary case: buried deep in these mountains is a dark history that may endanger a group of eight-year-old children toward whom the killer seems to gravitate.

As Teresa inches closer to the truth, she must also confront the possibility that her body and mind, worn down by age and illness, may fail her before the chase is over.

Reader Reviews

“Ms. Tuti’s debut, translated from the Italian by Ekin Oklap, introduces a sympathetic heroine in Battaglia, whose gruffness masks a fear she may be losing her unique abilities.” —The Wall Street Journal

“One of the best parts of Flowers over the Inferno is the older, gruff superintendent Teresa Battaglia. She is out of shape, diabetic and busy fighting the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease—on top of handling a complex case. We sympathize with Battaglia quite naturally, and it’s nice to see a cop who isn’t slim and sexy chasing after serial killers.”
—NPR

“Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a criminal profile expert, is in her sixties, overweight, lonely, diabetic, full of the ailments of aging—and delightful. It’s rare that such a character enters crime fiction for the first time, and with such gripping impact.” —The Times (UK)

“Creepy and evocative . . . But what gives this novel particular appeal is the sixty-something central character, whose abrasive manner hides a warm heart.” —The Guardian

“Ilaria Tuti’s Flowers over the Inferno is a stunning debut; a deliciously dark and action-packed thriller that is also deeply moving, even profound. With a heroine unlike any other and a beautifully crafted sense of place, Tuti’s gorgeous prose paints a compelling portrait of a small Alpine town’s secrets and the woman tasked with uncovering them. I loved this book.”
—Karen Dionne, internationally bestselling author of The Marsh King’s Daughter

Buy Links:

Book Information:

Flowers over the Inferno
A Teresa Battaglia Novel, Book 1
By Ilaria Tuti
Publisher: Soho Crime
Release Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1641290685 (hc) Price: $25.95
ISBN: 978-1641290692 (ebook) Price $14.99
ISBN: 978-1980027225 (audio book) Price $19.99
Genre: Mystery, Thriller

About the Author:

Ilaria Tuti lives in Gemona del Friuli, in the province of Udine. She has a degree in economics, has always had a passion for painting, and freelances for a small independent publisher in her spare time. She won the 2014 Gran Giallo Città di Cattolica literary prize for her short story “The Pagan Child.” Flowers over the Inferno is her debut novel.

Translation: Ekin Oklap was born in Turkey, and grew up in Italy. She translates from Turkish and Italian. She currently lives in London, where she works as a literary agent. As a translator, she was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize.

Find Ilaria Tuti Online: