2023 Associate Review – Page 4 – Rosepoint Publishing

Frank’s Shadow by Doug McIntyre – #BookReview – #ContemporaryAmericanFiction

Amazon Bestseller

Book Blurb:

We leave shadows, not footprints.

Newlywed Danny McKenna’s honeymoon ends abruptly when he learns his father has died, uncannily, on the same day as his hero, Frank Sinatra. Returning home to his knotty Irish American family, Danny is confronted with a painful truth—while he knows everything about the famous singer, his own father is a mystery. Tasked with giving a eulogy for a man he hardly knows, Danny sets out to uncover his dad’s past—an immigrant’s tale of mid-twentieth-century America and the harsh realities of WWII lived in stark contrast to Frank Sinatra’s famously extravagant life.

Along the way, Danny’s own demons nearly destroy him as he struggles to accept his father’s deepest secret—a journey that takes him into the heart of darkness before he learns to live in the light.

Fame, family, and forgiveness are among the many themes in Doug McIntyre’s debut novel, a story full of vibrant scenery, gripping characters, humor, and profound moments of self-realization. Frank’s Shadow is a deeply (sometimes darkly) human story wrapped in the trappings of a delightfully gritty love letter to New York City’s less glamorous neighborhoods.

His Review:

Growing up as the youngest son of four brothers after WW II was not easy. Francis Mc Kenna was the perfect age for induction into the US Army. He was married with children but would not abandon his country in its time of need and went to serve his country in Europe.

Frank could have had a deferment but there was no way this Irish immigrant was going to let someone else fight for him. Of course, he weathered some prejudice from others because he was the offspring of Irish immigrants. They were not gladly absorbed into the growing melting pot that was the United States of America.

He participated in the Allied landing at Normandy and he and his fellow soldiers fought to save bridges necessary for the onslaught of the German homeland. He started on the shores of Normandy and fought his way into Nazi Germany. The U.S. military utilizes a “buddy system” which endears people to each other during the war. His buddy committed a very egregious act. Frank ended his buddy’s career and then walked away from the war.

The military has no patience for someone who loses the will to fight after experiencing so many physical atrocities. Frank laying down his weapon and walking away from the battlefield is a drastic error. He is brought up on charges of desertion and put into a military stockade. He doesn’t care; he refuses to pick up a gun and fire it at anyone. Never Again!

This is a very interesting and unique narrative of one soldier’s experience during the Second World War. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my own opinions given freely.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Contemporary American Fiction, City Life Fiction
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
ASIN: B0C8PVB5DW

Print Length: 317 pages
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Doug McIntyre is the long-time columnist for the Southern California News Group which includes the Los Angeles Daily News and Orange County Register, as well as the creator of Red Eye Radio heard nationally on hundreds of radio stations. He also hosted a successful show on WABC in New York City and the long-running “McIntyre in the Morning” on KABC in Los Angeles. A television and film writer/producer, McIntyre has written for all the major networks, including the hit series, Married… With Children, WKRP in Cincinnati, Full House, Mike Hammer and the award-winning PBS series, Liberty’s Kids. As an emcee, Doug has hosted evenings with Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, President George W. Bush, Betty White, Misty Copeland, John Cleese, John Glenn, Ken Burns, Malala Yousafzai, Colin Powell, Robert Redford and many others. Doug and his wife, actress/writer Penny Peyser, wrote/directed and produced the award-winning documentary, Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon. New York born and raised, Doug and Penny live in Los Angeles.

Chill--It's Sunday

The Cove by Gregg Dunnett – #BookReview – #psychologicalthrillers

DCI Stone Crime Thrillers #1/Detective Erica Sands Book 1

Book Blurb:

Date: November 5th, 10:32pm (everyone thinks I’m asleep!)
Age: Nearly exactly eight and a half!
Dear Diary, I saw something last night. I shouldn’t even write it down, but I need to tell someone. I’m so, so scared…

Six months later. After the sudden death of her husband, Christine Harvey would do anything to give her precious children Molly and Ryan a fresh start. The huge clifftop house she’s hastily purchased has the most breath-taking ocean view she’s ever seen. Surely here they can someday be happy again?

But Christine had no idea that her family’s new dream house is right next door to where a child was abducted and murdered. And nobody told her that the father – who was the main suspect in the police investigation before it collapsed – still lives there.

Everyone urges her to move on, but Christine can’t stop thinking about that child. Fearing for the safety of Molly and Ryan, she frantically delves deeper into the old case, looking for anything that will give them some answers.

But some secrets are best left buried, and as the behaviour of their new neighbour grows increasingly unsettling, Christine wonders if digging up this one was the worst thing she could have done for her family…

From the number-one bestselling author, this is an unputdownable read with a twist that will make you gasp. Perfect for fans of JP Delaney, The Housemaid and Shari Lapena, you won’t be able to put this book down.

His Review:

This is the tragic story of an 8-year-old girl found murdered and mutilated on a beach. They recently moved to a new home overlooking a beautiful bay. The mother is very excited about the times she will have sharing the bay and the beach with her daughter. But it will never happen.

The murder is the first investigation in this locale in seven years. The mother and father are devastated. The prime suspect is an escapee from a mental institution, but the prime question is: How was he able to get into a newly built and secured house on the beach, abduct the child, and take her to the water.

The writer keeps the tension high as the investigation continues. Following the near-manic thought processes of the mother are exhausting.

A masterful switch at the end startled me and made me question what I thought I knew about the entire story. The writer has a macabre imagination regarding a very dysfunctional family. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good crime thriller saga. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my own opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Serial Killer Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers, Cozy Animal Mysteries
Publisher: Storm Publishing
ISBN: ‎1805083740
ASIN: B0C5TKWLYD
Print Length: 408 pages
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Gregg Dunnett is a #1 bestselling author of thrillers and mysteries, usually set around the coasts, oceans and beaches. His book ‘The Things you find in Rockpools’ has sold over 100,00 copies, and the series has over 20 million Kindle Unlimited page reads. In 2022 he and his family moved from the UK to live in Cantabria, northern Spain. For more information visit his website at http://www.greggdunnett.co.uk or sign up to his newsletter to try one of his books for free.

http://www.greggdunnett.co.uk/more

Enjoy Your Sunday

Night Owl by Andrew Mayne – #BookReview – #technothrillers

A Trasker Thriller

Book Blurb:

A shocking act of sabotage draws a retired spy into a deadly conspiracy in an explosive thriller by an Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

After three decades in counterintelligence, Brad Trasker is retired, disillusioned, and dealing with a tragic loss. Spy games are behind him until he attends the launch of a next-generation aircraft. When the project of innovative aerospace CEO Kylie Connor explodes on the tarmac—nearly killing her in the process—Trasker is pulled back into the line of fire.

The mystery of the sabotage quickly deepens. All Kylie’s data has been wiped from the server. One of her engineers has disappeared. A seed investor has died in a suspicious car accident. And a cold-blooded murder raises the stakes even higher.

To discover who’s pulling the strings behind a dangerous conspiracy, Trasker needs to find a motive. Corporate espionage, revenge, or something he can’t yet see? Targeted by assassins, he finds himself overmatched when he realizes he can’t trust anyone—including Kylie. Too long out of a game he no longer understands, Trasker must adapt or die.

His Review:

The rich and powerful do not want “We the People” to invent any new or revolutionary technology. They will hire infiltrators and spies to get your technology and then file patent papers to preclude you from completing your project, the concept of this novel and the beginning of a new series.

Kylie is a very rich lady who has developed a breakthrough propulsion system which uses hydrogen and oxygen and is environmentally sound. As her invention is exiting its’ hanger, however, it suddenly explodes. Kylie barely escapes with her life. Trasker is hired to assure her safety and handle security. The explosion would lead one to believe that someone was lacking in job performance.

Kylie’s technology is very valuable to the Russians and mirrors the efforts of Kylie’s group. Kylie’s life is constantly at threat and Trasker must find the culprit and stop the threat. Easier said than done!

This book illuminates the underworld of espionage and the dangers therein. It is an interesting book well paced with action including bombs, snipers, and technology. The narrative keeps the reader in suspense. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

I read Sea Castle in January and greatly enjoyed that established series. Night Owl is a strong start in his new series. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Technothrillers, Assassination Thrillers, Kidnapping Thrillers,
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: ‎ 1662506430
ASIN: B0BVCXCYH4
Print Length: 312 pages
Publication Date: December 1, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Andrew Mayne is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author whose books include The Naturalist, a Thriller Award finalist and Black Fall an Edgar Award finalist Black Fall. He’s the star of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week special Andrew Mayne: Ghost Diver, where he swam alongside great white sharks using an underwater invisibility suit he designed and also was the star of A&E’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne. He currently serves as the Science Communicator for OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT and GPT-4.

@AndrewMayne

AndrewMayne.com

Enjoy your day

The Last Ranger by Peter Heller – #BookReview – #Action&Adventure

in Action & Adventure

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

The best-selling author of The River returns with a vibrant, lyrical novel about an enforcement ranger in Yellowstone National Park who likes wolves better than most people. When a clandestine range war threatens his closest friend, he must shake off his own losses and act swiftly to discover the truth and stay alive.

Officer Ren Hopper is an enforcement ranger with the National Park Service, tasked with duties both mundane and thrilling: Breaking up fights at campgrounds, saving clueless tourists from moose attacks, and attempting to broker an uneasy peace between the wealthy vacationers who tromp through the park with cameras, and the residents of hardscrabble Cooke City who want to carve out a meaningful living.

When Ren, hiking through the backcountry on his day off, encounters a tall man with a dog and a gun chasing a small black bear up a hill, his hackles are raised. But what begins as an investigation into the background of a local poacher soon opens into something far murkier: A shattered windshield, a series of red ribbons tied to traps, the discovery of a frightening conspiracy, and a story of heroism gone awry.

Populated by a cast of extraordinary characters—famous scientists, tattooed bartenders, wildlife guides in slick Airstreams—and bursting with unexpected humor and grace, Peter Heller masterfully unveils a portrait of the American west where our very human impulses—for greed, love, family, and community—play out amidst the stunning beauty of the natural world.

His Review:

The re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995 caused some real conflict and conversation here in the United States. Many ranchers and wildlife enthusiasts thought that wild wolves would ruin the balance of wildlife in the park. Nothing could have been further from the truth or more dramatic.

Ren is a park ranger who loves living in this part of paradise. He is always surprised when people come to the park and expect to be able to walk up to the animals and pet them. He gained international fame when he rescued a little girl whose parents made the mistake of asking her to go stand by a wild animal. She was ten feet away from certain death when approaching a bison calf in front of a very agitated mother.

Hilly is a bit of a loner who wants to study the effects of the reintroduction of wolves into the park and their natural environment. A group of activists put traps on the trails where the wolves might frequent to help thin the pack. Hilly finds herself caught in one of these traps and left to die in the wilderness. Ren is able to find her and does a fireman’s carry to bring her back to safety. After the death of his first wife, he finds it very difficult to approach another woman for a potential relationship.

C E Williams One of my dream jobs as a boy was to be a ranger in Yellowstone National Park. Peter Heller points out the trials and difficulties of the job. Anyone who aspires to this type of work would do well to read this book. Awesome story and visuals! 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Book Details:

Genre: Action & Adventure Literary Fiction, Crime Action & Adventure, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
Publisher: Knopf
ASIN: B0BL6YQ61Y
Print Length: 302 pages
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Peter Heller is a longtime contributor to NPR, a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and Men’s Journal, and a frequent contributor to Businessweek. He is an award winning adventure writer and the author of four books of literary nonfiction. He lives in Denver. Heller was born and raised in New York. He attended high school in Vermont and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he became an outdoorsman and whitewater kayaker. He traveled the world as an expedition kayaker, writing about challenging descents in the Pamirs, the Tien Shan mountains, the Caucuses, Central America and Peru.At the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he received an MFA in fiction and poetry, he won a Michener fellowship for his epic poem “The Psalms of Malvine.” He has worked as a dishwasher, construction worker, logger, offshore fisherman, kayak instructor, river guide, and world class pizza deliverer. Some of these stories can be found in Set Free in China, Sojourns on the Edge. In the winter of 2002 he joined, on the ground team, the most ambitious whitewater expedition in history as it made its way through the treacherous Tsangpo Gorge in Eastern Tibet. He chronicled what has been called The Last Great Adventure Prize for Outside, and in his book Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet’s Tsangpo River.

The gorge — three times deeper than the Grand Canyon — is sacred to Buddhists, and is the inspiration for James Hilton’s Shangri La. It is so deep there are tigers and leopards in the bottom and raging 25,000 foot peaks at the top, and so remote and difficult to traverse that a mythical waterfall, sought by explorers since Victorian times, was documented for the first time in 1998 by a team from National Geographic.

The book won a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was number three on Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” of all pop culture, and a Denver Post review ranked it “up there with any adventure writing ever written.”

In December, 2005, on assignment for National Geographic Adventure, he joined the crew of an eco-pirate ship belonging to the radical environmental group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as it sailed to Antarctica to hunt down and disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet.

The ship is all black, sails under a jolly Roger, and two days south of Tasmania the engineers came on deck and welded a big blade called the Can Opener to the bow–a weapon designed to gut the hulls of ships. In The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet’s Largest Mammals, Heller recounts fierce gales, forty foot seas, rammings, near-sinkings, and a committed crew’s clear-eyed willingness to die to save a whale. The book was published by Simon and Schuster’s Free Press in September, 2007.

In the fall of 2007 Heller was invited by the team who made the acclaimed film The Cove to accompany them in a clandestine filming mission into the guarded dolphin-killing cove in Taiji, Japan. Heller paddled into the inlet with four other surfers while a pod of pilot whales was being slaughtered. He was outfitted with a helmet cam, and the terrible footage can be seen in the movie. The Cove went on to win an Academy Award. Heller wrote about the experience for Men’s Journal.

Heller’s most recent memoir, about surfing from California down the coast of Mexico, Kook: What Surfing Taught Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, was published by The Free Press in 2010. Can a man drop everything in the middle of his life, pick up a surfboard and, apprenticing himself to local masters, learn to ride a big, fast wave in six months? Can he learn to finally love and commit to someone else? Can he care for the oceans, which are in crisis? The answers are in. The book won a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, which called it a “powerful memoir…about love: of a woman, of living, of the sea.” It also won the National Outdoor Book Award for Literature.

Heller’s debut novel, The Dog Stars, is being published by Knopf in August, 2012. It will also be published by Headline Review in Great Britain and Australia, and Actes Sud in France.

Have a Great Sunday

Drowning in the Desert by Bernard Schopen – #BookReview – #murderthrillers

A Nevada Noir Novel (Western Literature and Fiction Series)

Book Blurb:

Norman “Fats” Rangle, an ex-deputy sheriff, operates a horse stabling and excursion business with his brother and sister-in-law on their family ranch in the small rural community of Blue Lake, a few hours outside of Las Vegas. But fate has other plans for him when, high on a southern Nevada mountain range, Fats discovers the wreckage of a plane that crashed two years earlier. Although he reports his find to the sheriff, he does not disclose that someone had already been to the crash site—evidence that Fats deliberately destroyed.

Soon, Fats is tracking back and forth between Las Vegas and Blue Lake in a search for a missing cousin, a briefcase full of cash, and finally, for a killer. Along the way, Fats also begins to understand that he’s searching for himself and his place in a rapidly changing West.

Angry and alienated, Fats distrusts everyone he meets, from sleaze-merchants and political power brokers to two women: one he wants to believe in, a retired judge; and one, a police sergeant, he can’t quite believe isn’t deceiving him. After all, in this Nevada, corruption is a given. Everybody lies. Much is uncertain—motives, loyalties, affections. But in Drowning in the Desert, one thing is certain: water is a precious resource that can both kill and be killed for.

His Review:

Norman “Fats” Rangle had been the sheriff in Pinenut County Nevada for over twenty years. The electorate is fickle, however, and although Fats had a very good record, a more attractive person was elected Pinenut County sheriff. He finds an old plane wreck in the mountains after a particularly warm spring and he reports it to the new sheriff. But this is Vegas. And it is Nevada.

Plans are quietly being made by a clique of people around Las Vegas to corner the water sources in the state. They are ruthless and will let nothing stand in their way.

There is missing money from the plane wreck and as evidence would have it later, perhaps a missing cousin. Someone suddenly shows up with funds to play the games.

Fats begins to suspect those he reported to might not be trusted. This is big business. Huge. It’s getting dangerous. Should he continue to look for his cousin or missing funds. Who will have his back?

The author writes an intriguing tale of the struggle for water in Nevada and the group that attempts to control the resource. There is never a dull moment in the storyline, it is fast-paced with gritty, determined characters. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Murder Thrillers, Literature & Fiction
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
ISBN-10: ‎ 1647791189
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1647791186
ASIN: B0C7VFQ8QF
Print Length: 221 pages
Publication Date: August 22, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Bernard Schopen received his degrees at the University of Washington and the University of Nevada, Reno. He held faculty positions at TMCC and at St. Anselm’s College in New Hampshire before returning to Reno to write and to teach. Since 1995 he has taught Core Humanities courses, and he is now a full-time lecturer in the program. He has taught thousands of students in all three courses, and trained other teachers in the program as well. He designed, and continues to teach, the online versions of all three CH courses for Extended Studies. In Spring 2007 he received the prestigious Alan Bible Teaching Excellence Award for the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science. The prize augmented an earlier significant award: Schopen is an inductee into the Nevada Writers’ Hall of Fame, an honor recognizing his three Reno detective novels, The Big Silence, The Desert Look, and The Iris Deception, all now available from the University of Nevada Press. When not preparing his now award-winning lectures for Core Humanities, he is at work on another novel, this one set in London. [pic and bio courtesy Goodreads]

Enjoy Your Sunday

A Sagebrush Soul by John Isaac Jones – #BookReview – #biographicalfiction

A Biographical Novel of Mark Twain (Great American Authors Series Book 2)

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

John Isaac Jones’s new biographical novel on Samuel Langhorne Clemens, A/K/A Mark Twain, brings the fascinating life of America’s most famous humorist to you in vivid, captivating detail.

His time – 1840s-1910 America. Westward movement begins; the trail of tears; telegraph is invented; California gold rush; War between the States; Lincoln assassinated; the golden spike; Custer massacred; invention of electric light, the telephone and the automobile; the Spanish American war; the tumultuous presidency of Teddy Roosevelt; events leading to WWI.

His loves – His strait-laced, highly-religious mother Jane who vowed he was “born to be hanged!”; Laura Hawkins, his childhood sweetheart whom he was unable to commit to; Ina Coolbrith, the beautiful California poetess and lover who vowed to hold him; his beloved wife Olivia who urged him to become “a serious writer;” his oldest daughter Susan whom he worshipped from the day she was born until the day of her death.

His genius – Samuel Langhorne Clemens, news reporter, steamboat pilot, gold miner, lecturer, world-traveler, adventurer, author of the classic Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books; the first man to circumnavigate the world on a steamship; singlehandedly invented the travelogue genre when he wrote Innocents Abroad; later books, including A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Roughing it, Life of the Mississippi and the short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, earned him the title “The father of American literature.”

His Review:

Growing up along the Mississippi River, Samuel Clemens was always getting into mischief. He and a boyhood friend, Tom Blankenship, are always having problems. Finally, Sam’s parents determine that Tom is leading their son down the road of perdition and forbid him to have any further contact with him. This relationship was the basis for the character Huckleberry Finn.

Sam’s boyhood town, Hannibal, Missouri, is located on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. The town is a major port city and with deep water is able to take in many of the steamboats that ply the river. Sam falls in love with the idea of becoming a steamboat captain and sailing the route between New Orleans and Hannibal.

But he becomes a newspaper reporter and decides to head west to broaden his experience. He is swept up in the search for gold and he and a couple other guys search for the elusive metal near Carson City, NV and then the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The three manage to eke out $8.00 per day after grueling twelve-hour days and decide this is not for them. They take their hard-earned savings and try to double it in San Francisco.

Sam marries a young lady and they decide to move and live back east. Life gives him many harsh lessons including losing his daughters and ultimately his wife. Life is not easy for Samuel Clemens and his alternate ego, Mark Twain, who with an abundance of life experience to write about, then becomes a great traveling orator and humorist. This book, however, reveals the difficult life that this American legend lived and the many tragedies that he experienced. 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Biographical Fiction, Biographical Fiction, Biographical Historical Fiction
Publisher: John Isaac Jones (1^st Edition)
ASIN: B0C55VKF7N
Print Length: 506 pages
Publication Date: May 12, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: John Isaac Jones is a retired journalist and novelist currently living and writing at Merritt Island, Florida. For more than thirty years, “John I.,” as he prefers to be called, was a reporter for media outlets throughout the world. These included local newspapers in my native Alabama, The National Enquirer, News of the World in London, the Sydney Morning Herald, and NBC television. His latest book, A Quiet Madness, is a work of historical fiction about the life of Edgar Allan Poe, author of the short story classics, The Tell-tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado. Jones is the author of ten novels, two short story collections and five novellas. You can find “John I.” on his website, johnisaacjones.com, or on Facebook at author john Isaac Jones.

Have a Great Sunday

The Final Frame by Harmony Reed – #BookReview – #PsychologicalLiteraryFiction

Book Blurb:

He sacrificed his family for ambition — but now they’re all he has left.

Cameron Parrish became Hollywood’s #1 action director by refusing to use AI-assist technology. Every film is a box office success, but neither fame nor fortune makes up for the fact that Cameron’s dying to make real cinema — an Oscar-worthy movie that will show the world he’s an auteur, not the clever hack that the critics make him out to be.

But mere hours after being greenlit for the film he knows he was born to shoot, director Cameron Parrish is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. There’s no treatment, and if he’s lucky, he might make it another year, but more likely, he’s got a few months left.

As word gets out about his illness, Cameron realizes he has no true friends. No real family either: his obsession with finding perfection behind the camera lens has long since alienated his ex-wife and his adult son.

Desperate to make his final days matter, he signs up for an experimental program that promises to help him discover the meaning of his life — and his death.

Accompanied by an artificial intelligence named Sofia, Cameron embarks on a bucket list journey — from the Maldives and Bhutan to Toledo and Morocco — designed to round out his unbalanced life and help him make peace with his impending death.

But what if it’s too late for Cameron to see the world through a new lens?

Eat, Pray, Love meets The Bucket List in this vibrant but poignant story exploring the possibility of second chances and the unexpected beauty of an imperfect life.

His Review:

Cameron Parrish is the premier director of films in Hollywood. Beyond the best in his own mind, he looked down his nose at anyone attempting to emulate him. After all, he had two Oscar-winning films to his credit. Everyone wanted to meet him and be involved in his next project.

But all of the fame in the world cannot overcome life’s cruel journey. Cameron is diagnosed with a very rampant stage 3 cancer which has no known cure. Yes, there are cures in the works but only signing up for experimental drugs may give him an opportunity for continued living. His doctor warns that the drug may cause side effects that will make his life worse than the disease itself. Cameron decides to forego the drug.

His final journey takes him to the far east where he makes the most out of every day he has left. His situation offers no future for any female unlucky enough to fall under his spell. The book is engaging and one cannot help but be sympathetic towards this total narcissist. Read and enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction
Publisher: Sterling & Stone
ASIN: B0BWPDYX4Y
Print Length: 297 pages
Publication Date: March 22, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Harmony Reed writes revelatory stories about what it means to live, how we can become more fully human, and how we can shed the lies we’ve been living by and embrace our truth. Her fiction melds the large-scale with the deeply-personal, yielding insight into the human psyche and the world we all must move through. If you enjoy authors like Michael Chabon and Jodi Picoult, movies like Big Fish and Little Miss Sunshine, or shows like Orange is the New Black and This is Us, you’ll love Harmony Reed.

Have a good Weekend!

Hard Country by Reavis Z Wortham – #BookReview – #crimethriller

Book Blurb:

There is no peace in the hard country

Tucker Snow is as tough as they come, hardened by decades working as an undercover narcotics agent for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Through special dispensation from the governor, he and his brother Harley cut a wide swath through the criminal element of Northeast Texas. But tragedy comes calling after taking a dream job as a special ranger with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, when Tucker’s wife and toddler are killed in a horrific traffic accident caused by a drug addled felon. Close to breaking, Tucker sets his badge aside to move his surviving teenage daughter outside of Ganther Bluff, a quiet town with enough room for them to mourn their unexpected loss.

But peace doesn’t last long for a man like Tucker Snow. Instead of settling into small-town life to heal from such an unimaginable loss, a fresh kind of hell hits them with full force.

Crimes and secrets strangle this rural community, and when a new form of meth with the street name of gravel gets too close to home, it’s enough for Tucker to put his badge back on and call Harley for help. The town will ultimately be better off with him as a resident lawman, but this unforgiving landscape will threaten everything Tucker holds dear.

His Review:

Illegal drugs have hit every population in the world. Texas is no different and the law enforcement personnel in that state are charged with helping curb the epidemic. Riches can be made in drug dealing, however, and their primary goal is becoming rich. Human life means nothing to them.

Tucker and Harley Snow are agents swept up in trying to protect the public from these criminals. A new product enters the market with terrible social consequences, but dealers and distributors will kill to maintain their territory and income.

Tucker bought a beautiful spread in the panhandle and is settling in for a well-earned retirement. Since his wife and son were killed in a tragic car accident, he is left with his daughter Chloe on the ranch. His neighbor lives in a ratty mobile home and seems to have a very profitable business. He is not about to allow this lawman to come into his territory and destroy his enterprise.

This book is very well written and harkens back to some of the old Zane Grey’s westerns. The action is fast moving and at times very descriptive. The battle to control the effects on the American public of easily accessible drugs is similar to the wild west of a century earlier. Read and enjoy for there is never a dull moment. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Murder, Police Procedurals, Crime Thrillers, Westerns
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
ASIN: B0BK2KDJYS
Print Length: (paperback) 400 pages
Publication Date: August 1, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: As a boy, award-winning writer, Reavis Z. Wortham hunted and fished the river bottoms near Chicota, Texas, the inspiration for the fictional setting for The Rock Hole and The Red River Mystery Series. He was born in Paris, Texas, but lived in Dallas. “We grew up in the city and went to school there, but every Friday evening my parents put us in the car and made the 120-mile drive to Chicota, where we truly lived at my grandparents’ place in the country until Sunday evening, when we came back to the city. Our real home was that little scratch farm in Lamar County.”

Author Reavis Z. Wortham’s first novel, The Rock Hole, is described by Kirkus Reviews as “an unpretentious gem written to the hilt and harrowing in its unpredictability.” Kirkus also listed it as one of the “Top 12 Mysteries of 2011.”

[truncated]

Reavis also penned Doreen’s 24 HR Eat Gas Now Café. More than 2,500 newspaper and magazine articles bear the byline of this award-winning Texas writer. The Rock Hole was a finalist in the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award presented by the Independent Book Publishers Association, is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the Writers’ League of Texas, International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch), and International Thriller Writers.

He lives with his wife, Shana, in northeast Texas.

Enjoy Your Sunday