#bookblog – Page 166 – Rosepoint Publishing

Time’s Up, Afton by Brent Jones – a #BookReview

Title: Time’s Up, Afton (Afton Morrison Series Book 4) by Brent Jones

Genre: Thriller, Crime Fiction, Vigilante Justice, Serial Killers

142 Pages

Publication Date: To be released October 29, 2018

ASIN: B07G25CNSF

Source: Author request

Title and Cover: Time’s Up, Afton – Love these beautiful covers

Book Blurb:

Some secrets stay buried for a lifetime, but nothing lasts forever.

Connected to a number of high-profile deaths, Afton finds herself not only under scrutiny from the chief of police, but damned in the court of public opinion, as well.

In the aftermath of the fiery assault on Wakefield, a low-level gang has infiltrated the town, flooding its streets with bad drugs, killing several teenagers. As Afton prepares for the final showdown with her tormentor, she marks each gang member as a target for elimination, in a methodical plan to gain the upper hand. What follows is a race against the clock that will keep readers guessing until the very last page, as Afton risks life and limb to fulfill her murderous mission of doing good in the world.

Time’s Up, Afton is the fourth and final part in a new serial thriller by author Brent Jones. Packed with grit and action, The Afton Morrison Series delves into a world of moral ambiguity, delivering audiences an unlikely heroine in the form of a disturbed vigilante murderess. Continue reading “Time’s Up, Afton by Brent Jones – a #BookReview”

Darkest Before the Dawn – a #BookReview

Title: Darkest Before the Dawn (Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series Book 7) by Mike Martin

Genre: Thrillers and Suspense, Supernatural, Ghosts, Cozy

Publisher: Ottawa Press and Publishing

Publication Date: September 27, 2018

Source: Publisher and NetGalley

266 pages

Title and Cover: Darkest Before the Dawn – Cover depicts coastal Newfoundland setting

Book Blurb:

Darkest Before The Dawn is the latest adventure in the Sgt. Winston Windflower mystery series, the popular Maritime tales about a Mountie who finds himself with a new family and a new life in tiny Grand Bank, Newfoundland. Ghosts, mysterious deaths, and a new, perplexing character confront Windflower, Tizzard and the other police officers in Grand Bank as they unearth secrets that have been lying hidden in the sleepy hamlet for decades. A fast-moving mystery, Darkest Before The Dawn is also a story of love, loss and learning how to grow old gracefully; a tale of family, community and looking after each other, of not giving up hope, just before the dawn. Continue reading “Darkest Before the Dawn – a #BookReview”

Overused Tropes and Clichés – Can We Get a Break?

Overused Tropes and Cliches

OMG, I’m Soooo tired of reading these same tropes and clichés. They’ve been used and abused well past the point of beating that poor horse to death. (Uh oh) Nothing new or original under the sun? (Oops!) We’re doing this again, are we?

Trope, as in commonly used theme or device–

Cliché, as in phrase or expression used for the gazillionth time into ad nauseum.

Well, is it a trope or a cliché? Has the trope been used so many times it’s beyond predictable? Past the point of boredom? Then it’s a trope that has become a cliché!

I’ve gathered a few “just off the top of my head” (chuckle), that is really beginning to set my teeth grinding (adding insult to injury). (A triple!-don’t get me started.)

Dump the Tropes:

Damaged female protagonists – with or without ginger-colored hair and all male protagonists over 6′ and hunky.
Capable female protagonists suddenly incapable or worse in the presence of the 6′ hunk (see #1).
Bad boy sheriff – but always gets his man even if he has to fight the whole town to do it.
Back to the old, small home town–couldn’t wait to get away–come crawling back.
Cop in love with the criminal–because they aren’t really guilty, you see.
Cop with troubled past, abuses alcohol and his connections, still gets his man (or woman).
The old love triangle–who to choose, eenie, meanie…
Insta-love (’nuff said)
The average, normal everyday guy (girl) who turns lucky and wins the big one–whatever that is.
The ugly one who turns beautiful. (Took their glasses off?)
Dystopian–depressing, just flat depressing.
Conspiracy theory but there’s one in the world (the protagonist) who can see and solve it.
The evil one, well, mostly evil until…
Secret witch, magician, possesses magical powers
Bad, abusive childhood, one parent household
Super conflict between male/female resulting in “heated arguments” that result in protagonist passion.
The nerd with IT that can invade any computer or the kids with more tech-savvy than their parents.
Children with witty mouths obviously smarter than adults.
Vampires, zombies
Amateur sleuths who must solve the case because the police can’t (or won’t).
The amnesiac, can’t remember or won’t?
Only child discovers they are the long lost relative of a maga-rich uncle (aunt?).
The crotchety old mentor who turns sweet and nurturing. (see #21)

Animal slap

Of course, along with the tropes, I began gathering overused clichés (in addition to the above):

He/she scrubbed her fingers through his/her hair–used his/her fingers to rake her hair.
Grabbed an errant strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear.
Is that all you got?
I’m just doing my job.
What part of [fill in the blank] don’t you understand?
Did I just say that out loud?

I know you can add many to the above lists. I actually found a website that listed almost 700 clichés not to use in your manuscript (or that are found in the books you are reading). These clichés are getting mighty tired for those of us reading the books. Going forward, can we avoid these like the plague? (Oops.)

There was a recent meme discussion that Shanah of Bionic Book Worm circulated that she included in her Top 5 Tuesday for October. You may wish to catch a few of those as well. I’ve also gleaned a number of the above suggestions from The Writing Cooperative by Zoe Nixon. Lively discussions! Do you have your particularly egregious list as well?

A Pirate’s Road to Key West by Michael Reisig – a #BookReview

Title: A Pirate’s Road to Key West – Lafitte’s Gold – Book Nine

Genre: Caribbean and Latin America, Action and Adventure, Sea Adventures, Historical Fiction, Travel

Publisher: Clear Creek Press

259 pages

ASIN: B07JHJXF6V

Publication Date: Happy Publication Day!! October 17, 2018

Source: Author request

Title and Cover: A Pirate’s Road to Key West – Beautiful cover hints at island setting

Book Blurb:

In the ninth novel of his bestselling “Road To Key West” series, Reisig once again locks his readers into a careening odyssey of hidden fortunes, mercurial romance, conscienceless villains, and bizarre friends.

From Caracas to New Orleans, into the dark fringes of Haiti, down through the Windward Islands, then back into The Florida Keys, Kansas Stamps, Will Bell, and The Hole In The Coral Wall Gang chase a stolen Pre-Columbian treasure. Then there’s the Voodoo-practicing drug boss, a vengeful Columbian Don, and a highly artful assassin. Before you can catch your breath, it all rolls together into a turbulent Key West Fantasy Fest finale.

So, sit back, pour yourself a margarita, and slide into the islands one more time. You’re on “The Road” again.

My Review:

You know it’s going to be a fun read when the name of the bar is Eddie’s Bar and Swill.

I was introduced to the author, Michael Reisig, some years ago and have been a solid fan ever since. Mr. Reisig has a poetic way with words, his prose is almost beautiful. The man can spin a yarn and has a winning series in his Key West books, this being the ninth. Once again, he brings in intrepid protagonists Will Bell and Kansas Stamps as they involve the Hole in the Coral Wall Gang in the latest crazy South American adventure.

Whether Reisig sets the scene in the Caribbean in 1821 or Key West in 1989, you get that these two have a long history of adventure and survival, finding treasure, losing it, and regaining it. Will and Kansas have each other’s back and a high standard of morals–cleaving more right than wrong. They have a wonderful cadre of close comrades, several of whom are ‘Nam veterans who have survived whatever life threw at them. In their recent adventure, they picked up a new companion (besides Shadow, Kansas’s dog) named Arturio whose method of survival included a game that well prepared him for any that Will and Kansas were involved in. Arturio is an amazing character, street smart and fast.

Sundance was also recently introduced, a figure left in the shadow who has a habit of emerging with the most propitious timing. Sundance is a confirmed hypochondriac whose constant battle with the latest that he is suffering rises to new heights of hilarity. And Sundance has a peculiar way of securing free meals. (Another testament to the sense of humor the author infuses in his novels.) Still, with characters well developed or fairly new to the series, each entry to the series are different standalone adventures with new and heinous antagonists and luscious women best kept on the outside–looking in.

No strangers to the jungles of Venezuela, the boys have retrieved a treasure previously discovered, only to lose it, and form plans to get it back–again. The fun is in the execution–and I use that term advisedly. Reisig’s books always capture your attention immediately and then prepare you for a non-stop roller-coaster adventure that includes beautiful and quotable prose along the way.

“The gladiator rarely sleeps well the night before he salutes Caesar.”

“The wind pulled at me like a desperate lover.”

“It was like doing business with a viper–you watched the head at all times and hoped it bit the enemy.”

“…as selfish as it sounded, I didn’t want someone else’s life with me in it. I wanted my life with someone else in it.”

Descriptions set such a vivid scene, the reader is caught wincing at desperate situations or melting at the sight of a gorgeous view of the ocean and the calming sounds of the sea. Dialogue sets a solid feeling of menace or tender feelings of love with unerring tenderness and believability. These characters are so real you believe this all may have happened, the characters real persons, real experiences, and you are in the middle of it. Wild escapades, sometimes laugh out loud comical situations, but always entertaining.

Each time a new Reisig book comes out, it becomes my new favorite. I truly loved this one; such a rich experience, compelling and easy to read right straight through. I received an ARC from the author and, as always, thrilled and delighted to read and review. Recommended for any who enjoy action-adventure, sea adventures, pirate and treasure adventures, travel and exotic locations, and wild tropical thrillers. Shed your old tropes and discover excitement!

Rosepoint Publishing: Five BIG Stars

The Author:

Michael Reisig has been writing professionally for 20 years. He is a former Caribbean adventurer turned newspaper editor, award-winning columnist, and best-selling novelist.
After high school and college in Florida, he relocated to the Florida Keys. He established a commercial diving business, got his pilot’s license, and traveled extensively throughout the southern hemisphere, diving, treasure hunting, and adventuring.
Reisig claims he has been thrown out of more countries in the Caribbean Basin that most people ever visit, and he admits that a great many of the situations and the characters in his novels are authentic – but nothing makes a great read like experience…
He now lives in the mountains of Arkansas, where he hunts and fishes, and writes, but he still escapes to the Caribbean for an occasional adventure.

The Enigma Source by Breakfield and Burkey – a #BookReview

Title: The Enigma Source (The Enigma Series Book 10) by Charles V Breakfield and Roxanne E Burkey

Genre: Suspense, Technothrillers

351 Pages

Publisher: ICABOD Press

ASIN: B07GD6S9SP

Publication Date: August 11, 2018

Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title and Cover: The Enigma Source – Techno-cover

Be prepared for a multi-layered sophisticated, intelligent, and well-plotted technothriller when you crack open this book! I don’t even know where to start…but if I did, and I do, it appears to begin simply enough by painting an idealistic picture of an extremely happy and peaceful couple enjoying their life down on their Georgia farm. They feel, for the most part, safe and secure in their contrived cocoon, appearing to the outside world as any other couple happy to break from the crazy world and slow the pace. Continue reading “The Enigma Source by Breakfield and Burkey – a #BookReview”

Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly – a #BookReview

Title: Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly

Genre: Thriller and Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Domestic Noir

Publisher: Grove Press

Publication Date: October 9, 2018

Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title and Cover: Open Your Eyes–great cover

This book grabs you almost immediately and doesn’t really let go the hold until the shocking but satisfying conclusion.

I can think of few scenarios more visually horrifying than that of being shot in the head. By a nail gun. Not once. Twice. Once that mental picture is captured in your own head, it’s awfully tough to get out. Left in the car with his two children in the back seat, they were momentarily stalled from leaving when the neighbor catches his attention and proceeds to vent yet another complaint about their cat. His wife, Jane, was just asked to run back in to retrieve some fortifying liquid to help Leon get through his forty-six birthday party with his mother–yet another he did not wish to attend. Jane may have stalled inside just a bit. She’s is not a person who enjoys confrontation and is tired of neighbor Lawrence’s tirades, but when Jane gets back to the car, something is wrong. Really, extremely wrong. Continue reading “Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly – a #BookReview”

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Things People Play With

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge2

Cee at Cee’s Photography hosts a weekly Fun Foto Challenge. This week’s challenge is Things People Play With. Can’t you have fun with this one!! The challenge is basically self-explanatory. If you have a photo you’d like to submit, click on her website and check it out. It’s a very simple procedure. Have fun. Let’s see how creative you can be on this challenge then link your photo(s) to the comment box on her website!

I have lots of playtime photos, motorcycling (my BIKE how I miss it!), and coming up winter projects–knitting. Painting! Both hubby and I used to paint–he inherited from his mother, me from my grandfather (author/artist Stanley McShane) and this is one of his from 1936. And then there is off-roading, rails in the Yuma desert, warm sandy hills.

Lots of fun, colorful things to play with. Toys never get old. Oh, and blogging, of course!

The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller by Cleo Coyle #BlogTour #BookReview #Giveaway

I am super-excited today to provide a review at my blog stop for The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller by Cleo Coyle on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. Please scroll down to sign up for this very special Giveaway!

Book Details

The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller (Haunted Bookshop Mystery)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Berkley (September 25, 2018)
Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0425237451
ISBN-13: 978-0425237458
Digital ASIN: B078VX9SNF

Penelope Thornton-McClure and her bookshop’s ghost-in-residence Jack Shepard are back on a new case in this delightful paranormal mystery from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.

A big bestseller leads to small town trouble.

Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure didn’t believe in ghosts, until she was haunted by the hard-boiled spirit of 1940s private investigator Jack Shepard. Now Jack is back on the job, and Pen is eternally grateful…

After an elegant new customer has a breakdown in her shop, Penelope suspects there is something bogus behind the biggest bestseller of the year. This popular potboiler is so hot that folks in her tiny Rhode Island town are dying to read it–literally. First one customer turns up dead, followed by another mysterious fatality connected to the book, which Pen discovers is more than just fiction. Now, with the help of her gumshoe ghost, Pen must solve the real-life cold case behind the bogus bestseller before the killer closes the book on her.

My Review

What a delightful and unique cozy mystery! Of course, I always enjoy a paranormal twist to the plot and this one proved a distinctive one at that. Apparently a 1940’s PI Jack Shepard was killed in the very bookstore in which the widowed protagonist Penelope Thornton-McClure joined her Aunt Sadie as co-owner. Jack Shepard totally exudes the part of a “hard-boiled” private investigator replete with period vernacular. I’ve discussed the “hard-boiled” genre previously that incorporates the noir element to novels popular in the late forties and fifties. It’s easy to conjure Humphrey Bogart in the part, though perhaps Jack has been tempered just a tad by Penelope (Pen) as she introduces her modern-day sensitivities to Jack.

A customer abruptly gasps at the back jacket of their current bestseller and flees the store with the book but without paying. Pen later finds her gloves and with the help of Jack secures the lady’s name and address. She was able to track down the lady but discovers her body, an apparent suicide. Pen doesn’t think so. She and Jack appear to have frequent conversations and this distracted me at first but not for long, as it is disclosed how Jack manifests himself; an interesting idea that!

I particularly enjoyed the appropriately named chapter titles and the little quotes to kick off the chapter. Not all from authors, the quotes ranged from George Burns to Marilyn Monroe and set a tone for the chapter, increasing expectation.

“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. Will Rogers”

“Sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made. George Burns”

“Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s headline. Walter Winchell”

“We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time. Vince Lombardi”

Besides well-known name quotes, the author(s) manages a few pearls of their own, several of which produced a chuckle. I also enjoyed the knowledge (or the thorough and effective research) imparted regarding classic books and authors, some of which I’d forgotten but produced an “oh, yeah…” There were also a couple racy innuendos and tongue-in-cheek puns, intended.

The setting is a little town in Rhode Island and although this is #6 in the series has no problem standing alone. It’s apparently been ten years since the last. The main characters from the previous series entries are back along with popular support members and each provide a rich component to the well-plotted mystery. The writing style is fun and the pace steady. The flashback dreams where Jack takes Pen back to 1947 with him to experience one of his cases has you wondering briefly about the interruption to the storyline until you see how it’s incorporated into the main plot. You may think you know who is behind the deed, but you won’t guess the entire story or motive. The story has a lot of personality and delivers a satisfying conclusion.

I was given the download by the publisher and NetGalley for this book tour and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read and review. I’ll be looking forward to #7 in the series! Recommended for readers who enjoy a different and intelligent cozy mystery with a super-natural bent in their amateur sleuths.

Giveaway

Sign up for your chance to win one (1) signed copy of The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller (A Haunted Bookshop Mystery) by Cleo Coyle + Ghost Tote Bag and $15 gift card! Rafflecopter giveaway

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five of Five Stars

About the Author

Cleo Coyle is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of the Coffeehouse Mysteries–now celebrating nearly fifteen years in print. They also write the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, which were originally published under their second pseudonym, Alice Kimberly (The Ghost and Mrs. McClure, The Ghost and the Dead Deb, The Ghost and the Dead Man’s Library, The Ghost and the Femme Fatale, The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion). Alice has worked as a journalist in Washington, DC, and New York, and has written popular fiction for adults and children. A former magazine editor, Marc has authored espionage thrillers and nonfiction for adults and children. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM. They live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together. You can learn more about Cleo, her husband, and the books they write by visiting www.CoffeehouseMystery.com.