#bookreader – Page 134 – Rosepoint Publishing

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!

Glitter Bomb by Laura Childs #BlogTour #BookReview #Giveaway

I am so delighted today to provide a review for you at my blog stop for Glitter Bomb (A Scrapbooking Mystery #15) by Laura Childs with Terri Farley Moran on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. Scroll down to enter your chance to win the Giveaway!

Book Details

Glitter Bomb (A Scrapbooking Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
15th in Series
Berkley (October 2, 2018)
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0451489543
ISBN-13: 978-0451489548
Digital ASIN: B078VVDSQT

Book Blurb

An exploding Mardi Gras float has got to be the strangest murder weapon scrappy sleuth Carmela Bertrand has ever encountered in this latest Scrapbooking Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author.

It’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans and scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is excited to be attending the Pluvius Parade along with her best friend Ava. Carmela’s ex-husband Shamus rides by the duo on his float at the head of the parade, when suddenly the revelry turns to disaster. Shamus’ float crashes and explodes, and although Shamus escapes unhurt, a member of his krewe is killed.

Carmela and Ava plunge into an investigation of the krewe member’s death, but as they dig deeper it starts to look less like an accident and more like a murder….and Shamus seems less like a victim, and more like a suspect.

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Carmela Bertrand and her bff Ava Gruiex are watching the Pluvius parade when the King Neptune float suddenly goes wonky and explodes almost in front of them. Among the krewe members on the float are her ex-hubby, Shamus Meechum, who is thrown clear but survives. One of the members who did not is krewe captain Hughes Wilder. He was close to the blast and also ingests glitter–not a good thing and no one was able to save him. It doesn’t take long before Carmela’s possibly betrothed Detective First Grade Edgar Babcock arrives on the scene and takes over, cautioning Carmela to stay out of it. Of course, knowing this is a cozy, there is no way for that to happen, especially since now it’s perceived Shamus may be a person of interest. Shamus pushes for her to clear his name while Babcock is adamant she not get involved.

Okay, I must admit the writing style, snarky and slightly immature dialogue had me flipping pages to see if it would serious up a tad. Granted, the well-plotted cozy mystery throws out a hook and ensures you’ll read far enough to engage deeply enough to see it through to the whodunit. No, it doesn’t (get serious), not really. But the back-and-forth between Carmela and Ava definitely defines their personas. Ava, the opposite of Carmela, obviously complements the friendship in a way that offsets Carmela’s shier shortcomings. While Ava, ever the bon vivant, sets a style well above the more tasteful and demure Carmela. Ava is also single, promised more, and strongly rethinking him. While both go fishing, Carmela sets small bait, Ava brings a bat.

Trying not to upset Babcock with her quiet sleuthing, Carmela goes about her business, which is a scrapbooking store (Memory Mine) cum graphic shop. She is apparently loaded with equipment and knows how to use it–and not just for photo albums. Ava is likewise self-employed. Both ladies enjoy New Orleans society and with upcoming Mardi Gras, a wealth of activities and week-long parties. Carmela gently chips away at discoveries, a few of which she shares with Babcock and gradually gains additional persons of interest.

Mardi Gras traditions, the wild and crazy jazz and zydeco atmosphere, are shared along with hints of decorating crafts (masks), and all manner of craft materials and ideas. Red herrings in the guise of unrelated pursuits take you 90 degrees out of the main plot, either putting the sleuthing on minor hold or as a way of gleaning additional tidbits about their suspects. Carmela continues to interact with Shamus while getting more and more “keep out” instructions from Babcock. (I hope he’s worth it.) Both ladies seem to have the freedom from their shops to go play (Carmela a loyal and capable assistant) and party they do. The antagonist is guessed at, not a complete surprise, but neither a #1 choice.

The author includes scrapbooking hints at the end, along with some recipes, and surprise!! A recipe for dog treats that I absolutely will try. Not my first book with this author (using another name), but with this series, I found this fairly evenly paced plot and characters could function just fine as a standalone. A fast and fun cozy that I downloaded from the publisher through NetGalley for this book tour for a read and review. Recommended for fans of Laura Child, cozy mysteries, crafts and hobbies, and women sleuths.

Giveaway

Please sign up here for your chance to win one of two (2) Print Copies of Glitter Bomb (A Scrapbooking Mystery) by Laura Childs with Terrie Farley Moran (U.S. Only). Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

Laura’s Links:

Webpage – http://www.laurachilds.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/laura.childs.31

Short-listed twice for The Best American Mystery Stories, Terrie Farley Moran is delighted to introduce mystery fans to the Read ’Em and Eat café and bookstore, which debuted with Well Read, Then Dead. followed by Caught Read-Handed and Read to Death released in July of this year. The only thing Terrie enjoys more than wrangling mystery plots into submission is playing games and reading stories with any or all of her grandchildren.

Terrie’s Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terrie.moran.9

Blog: www.womenofmystery.net

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/23186092-terrie-moran

Purchase Links:

Amazon B&N Google Books IndieBound Kobo BookBub

Thank you for visiting my stop on the tour and please visit the other stops listed below!

Tour Participants:

October 1 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

October 1 – Island Confidential – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 2 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

October 2 – Valerie’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

October 3 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST

October 3 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – SPOTLIGHT

October 4 – Community Bookstop – REVIEW

October 4 – MJB Reviewers – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 5 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW

October 5 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

October 6 – Cinnamon, Sugar and a Little Bit of Murder – REVIEW

October 6 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

October 7 – Rosepoint Publishing – REVIEW

October 7 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

October 8 – Mallory Heart’s Cozies – REVIEW

October 9 – Socrates’ Book Reviews – REVIEW

October 9 – A Blue Million Books – CHARACTER GUEST POST

October 10 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

October 10 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

October 11 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST

October 11 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

October 12 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW

October 12 – The Montana Bookaholic – SPOTLIGHT

October 13 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

October 14 – Readeropolis – CHARACTER GUEST POST

October 14 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this cozy mystery!

Hello October! Are We Reading #Thrillers?

Hello October!

Welcome October! Surely it can’t be already! Halloween, followed closely by Thanksgiving, and then we’re into the holidays. When my two babies were little, I couldn’t wait to tear into decorating for Halloween, but my daughter was born on October 14th, so I always tried to make sure we celebrated her birthday first! However, Harvest time and October can be a beautiful month with clean, crisp air, and a great time to start ripping into thrillers, horror, paranormal, and mysteries. Leave the lights on!

As you may have guessed from noting the covers in the above photo, I’ll be participating in a number of cozy mystery book tours, including Assault and Beadery by Mollie Cox Bryan, Glitter Bomb by Laura Childs, and The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller (A Haunted Bookshop Mystery #6) by Cleo Coyle (sounds perfect, huh?).

Heavier reads are interspersed with the cozies, including Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly (a thriller), The Enigma Source by Breakfield and Burkey (you’ll remember I started that last week about crypto-currency and got distracted), and Time’s Up, Afton by Brent Jones, which is the fourth and final in his spine-tingling, nerve-jangling Afton Morrison series (See my reviews for the first three on this blog). Then I’ll wrap the month up with The Long Paw of the Law (Paw Enforcement #7) by Diane Kelly. That cover is too cute to ignore and you know how much I love K-9 books!

All books noted above are from NetGalley with the exception of Time’s Up, Afton which is an author request. That’s a good start but you know I’ll be adding to the TBR as I still have a few slots to fill. I know, right?—I can’t believe it either! Seems so many of the cozies are scheduled for November book tours. (In the meantime, before the temps drop I have a quilt to finish!)

Do you have any of these novels on your TBR also? Are you recommending thrillers for Halloween? Send me your recommendations–please–and thank you!

Rosepoint #BookReviews – September Recap

Review Recap - September

Oh my gosh! Got into some super reads in September, (eleven!) stretched my reading chops with a horror, a couple thrillers, political conspiracy, and K-9 (service dog) mysteries. I really love the stories about those valiant, stout-hearted canines who do so much for us without so much as a clue what it all means. (Or maybe they do! Long as we’re happy–they’re happy.)

Greatly enjoy working on graphics and sometimes when I see a particular cover love to stretch the imagination into a bookstagram. And it’s fun heading into fall to switch themes now with harvest colors and later, Halloween. I stay on the lookout for new tutorials, but so often when I’ve tried the technique discover it’s for business or paid accounts only. (Either that or my programs are just way too old.) And “stories”? Gees, I could write a book on what I DON’T know about stories. So, no I don’t know what I’m doing, but at least I can still deliver a review on a timely basis.

My book reviews for September:

Cast No Shadow: A Short Story by Brandon Dragan

Malice at the Manor by J Marshall Gordon

Lackbeard by Cody B Stewart and Adam Rocke

How many have you read? Did you agree with my analysis? Click the links below to read any reviews you might have missed.

Sept 2 – The Forbidden Door – a #BookReview – #greatreads – Dean Koontz

Sept 4 – Nice Try, Afton – a #BookReview – Brent Jones

Sept 7 – Deadly Dram: A Whisky Business Mystery by Melinda Mullet #BookTour #BookReview #Giveaway

Sept 9 – A Borrowing of Bones – a #BookReview – Paula Munier

Sept 11-Cast No Shadow: A Short Story #Review – Brandon Dragan

Sept 14-Malice at the Manor – a #BookReview – J Marshall Gordon

Sept 16-Read and Gone – a #BookReview #BookTour #Giveaway – Allison Brook

Sept 18-Lackbeard – a Children’s Fantasy Pirate Adventure #BookReview – Cody B Stewart and Adam Rocke

Sept 21-In Cold Chocolate by Dorothy St. James #BlogTour #BookReview #Giveaway

Sept 25-Malice by Jennifer Jaynes – a #BookReview

Sept 27-High Crimes by Libby Fischer Hellmann – a #BookReview

The books above came from author requests, NetGalley, and/or part of book tours. The ole October TBR is stacking up to include a number of cozy mysteries from NetGalley for reviews and book tours as well as an author request. The Throwback Thursdays have included books published more than a year ago but reviewed this year by the CE. My conundrum has become the skewed stats on Goodreads and Amazon accounts as I receive his books through BookBub but they appear on both Amazon and Goodreads. (EEK!) Taking his reviews out of my numbers, I’m still five short of achieving my Goodreads Challenge. Yes, I’m working on fixing that…in the meantime

A big thank to all my new followers and as always so appreciate you who continue to read and comment! Thank you!

#TBR – What’s Up Next? Crypto-Currency and Crime – or Is That Redundant?

#TBR

Just a little respite from the cozies to get into some serious, intelligent reading. I’m as ignorant of crypto-currency as I am of the Amazon algorithms, but thinking I’d tackle that subject downloaded The Enigma Source by Charles V Breakfield and Roxanne E Burkey from NetGalley. Holy Moly Batman, what have I gotten myself into!? Because the blurb is almost as long as the book, I’ll just mention that so far I am greatly enjoying a very intriguing, intricate, and solid technothriller.

The world is almost ready for fiat currency to be replaced by a superior digital currency. The trouble is, which one and who will own it? The R-Group is back and trying to guide the players to a safe destination in the complex world of cryptocurrency. The Global Bank has tasked Tonya to find and hire a cryptologist to create a new global cryptocurrency, though sometimes it seems she may not be up to the task. Along the way it appears she is the one getting played.

If you’ve heard the term and wondered what is going on with our greenbacks, you might tap into this, the tenth (yeah–the 10th!!–it’s possible I’ve missed something important in the first nine! Gees, always late to the party...) The Enigma Series Book 10 released August 11, 2018. Check it out.

Add to Goodreads

Malice by Jennifer Jaynes And I was ready for a rollicking good psychological thriller again and chose Malice by Jennifer Jaynes also from NetGalley. This one will release on September 25th, which means I’ll have to switch books temporarily.

The perfect life becomes the perfect nightmare in a twisting novel of psychological suspense from #1 USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Jaynes…

Dr. Daniel Winters is living a fairy-tale life. He has a beachfront home in Malibu, a career as a respected pediatrician at a thriving Los Angeles practice, and a gorgeous new wife, Mia. For a man whose past was rife with mental illness, addiction, and thoughts of suicide, it seems too good to be true.

This little ditty has already gotten 85 reviews on Goodreads at 4.62 stars. That’s pretty good for Goodreads and I’m looking forward to tearing into it.

High Crimes by Libby Fischer Hellmann And just in case I haven’t had enough on the thriller side of political conspiracies, I also downloaded from NetGalley High Crimes by Libby Fischer Hellman, the Georgia Davis PI Series Book 5. Oh good grief! When will I learn to start with Book 1? This one will be released on November 10, 2018. From the blurb…

How do you solve a murder when there are 42,000 suspects?
That’s the task facing Chicago PI Georgia Davis, hired to hunt down those ultimately responsible for the assassination of Resistance leader Dena Baldwin at a demonstration fourteen months after the 2016 election. The gunman, on a nearby hotel rooftop, dies within minutes of the shooting. As Georgia sifts through Dena’s 42,000 Facebook followers, she discovers that unknown enemies hiding behind fake profiles have infiltrated the group…

Reviews upcoming. After that, I’ll be ready to tackle those cozies I have lined up beginning in October. I’ll get back to you on those. Stay tuned…

#ThrowbackThursday – Deer Season (Ray Elkins Thriller series) by Aaron Standler

#ThrowbackThursday-Deer Season

Renee began the #ThrowbackThursday meme on her blog, “It’s Book Talk“ to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books published over a year ago. Hopefully, you’ll find either a story or author that interests you and you’ll check them out. And, if you’d like to join the fun, you’re welcome to use Renee’s pic from her website. Just provide the link back to her please).

This week I am highlighting Aaron Standler, another prolific author who wrote Deer Season #3 in his Ray Elkins Thriller series. (He has written other series as well.) This novel was published by Writers and Editors LLC on July 1, 2009. He consistently runs approximately 3.5-4 stars for any of his books sold on Amazon.

I posted a review of Shelf Ice by this author in January 2014. Shelf Ice is #4 in the series. See that review here. That was back when I was gleaning free books from BookBub and also downloaded Deer Season as my hubby was a hunter and thought he’d enjoy. Apparently, the author has written nine in the series. The C.E. read this book and his review follows. Winter is knocking on our doors, changing the direction of the wind, and the smell of dry leaves permeate the air perhaps earlier in Michigan and parts of the north than the midwest and sunny south and west. Are you ready for some cooler temps?

Book Blurb:

It’s late November along the shores of northern Lake Michigan. Deer season has been open for a few days and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. A local TV anchorwomen is returning home from an early morning yoga class with her young twin daughters. She stops at the end of her drive and climbs out of her car to collect the mail from the box. As she turns back toward her vehicle, the bullet from a high caliber weapon tears through her chest. In this third book in this series, Sheriff Ray Elkins confronts both the dark history of his own department and powerful and wealthy adversaries who try to control the direction and reach of his investigation.

Continue reading “#ThrowbackThursday – Deer Season (Ray Elkins Thriller series) by Aaron Standler”

#ThrowbackThursday – The Hawks of Kamalon by Michael Reisig

Throwback Thursday-The Hawks of Kamalon

This week I am highlighting Michael Reisig, another terrific, prolific author who wrote The Hawks of Kamalon, which I reviewed on Goodreads. He has actually written a number of amazing books and series, many of which I’ve already alluded to on this blog, either introducing a new Key West series novel, a Caribbean Gold series novel, or another Throwback Thursday offering. This novel was published by Write Way Publishing on December 16, 2013. He consistently runs approximately 4.5 stars for any of his books sold on Amazon. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading one of his action-adventures, you owe it to yourself to check them out!

Originally posted February 20, 2015

Book Blurb:

The Hawks of Kamalon is an amalgam of gripping science fiction and wonderful storytelling, with imagery that becomes more believable with each page. A Number One Nation-Wide Best-Selling Book for Books In Motion Audio Books!
A small squadron of British and American aircraft depart at dawn on a long-range strike into Germany, but as they cross the English Channel, the squadron vanishes.

Drawn thousands of light-years across the galaxy by Kamalon’s “Sensitive Mothers,” ten men and eight aircraft are greeted by a roaring crowd in a field before the provincial capitol, on the continent of Azra; a land in desperate need of champions.

Captain Ross Murdock and the ’51 Squadron are cast into a whirlwind adventure of intrigue, treachery, and romance as they are “culled” back and forth across the universe, outwitting and outrunning the Germans, while they attempt to foil the invasion of Azra by the neighboring continent of Krete.

The Hawks of Kamalon is a heart-hammering adventure in the classic tradition of Robert Heinlein, but it also examines the parameters of faith and friendship, the qualities that define civilization, and the width and depth of spirit.

Continue reading “#ThrowbackThursday – The Hawks of Kamalon by Michael Reisig”