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Rosepoint Reviews – November Recap – Welcome Holly Jolly Season!

Rosepoint Reviews - November Recap

The snow on Halloween this year was a wake-up call that summer is over, fall is flirting with winter, and the holiday season isn’t far behind. I have always enjoyed the holiday season, particularly when our kids were little and we were able to see the excitement and enjoy the anticipation all over again through their eyes; too soon grown and the responsibilities of adulthood overshadow those innocent years.

The shift, of course, happens now from reading, reviewing, and blogging to Christmas lists, wrapping, delivering, decorating, cards (yes, I still snail mail), menu items, grocery shopping and food prep. I used to do a lot of baking and made large Christmas trays for those close, both relatives and co-workers. Not anymore. Do you still bake?

Thankfully, Punkin the Pom is bonding well to the CE. He still can’t pick her up though is getting her to follow him out on the secured deck and she is about 50/50 doing her bathroom duties outside. That’s a big one and yesterday he got a harness on her! Still running at the sight of a leash, but we continue to hope we’ll eventually be able to get her out on walks and have her totally housebroken.

Between visits to the local vet with Punkin and the transition to holiday mentality, we did manage to read and review eighteen books in November—because one post included seven short synopses of audiobooks backlogged for review, including one Christmas-themed audiobook. Looking now to line up a couple more at least for the season but perhaps not in a cozy mystery genre. (And as always, links below are to reviews that include purchase or source info.)

November Recap

Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh (audiobook)
Cruel Lessons by Randy Overbeck (CE review)
Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
The Stolen Coast by Dwyer Murphy (audiobook)
More Than a Hashtag by Penny Poulsen (5* CE review)
The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen (5* review)
The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Santlofer (CE review)
Invisible No More by Scott Pitoniak and Rick Burton (5* CE review)
Blue Ridge by Peter Malone
Trans-Mongolian Express by David L Robbins (CE review)
Mission Churchill by Alex Abella (CE review)

I also posted a group audiobook review, catching up on all those backlogged reviews—a number that surprised me when I added them up.

Audiobooks! Listen, Not Read, the Most Recent #NYTimesBestseller – included in the post are:

Favorite Book of the Month

The CE turned in two five-star reviews and I also had two, though once again, my vote wins: The Crossing: Harry Bosch, Book 18 by Michael Connelly also an Amazon Editors’ pick for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. Pretty hard to compete against two of the most widely accepted bows to excellence, his Bosch series combined with contribution by Mickey Haller. The whole thing is neatly wrapped by TV’s Bosch Titus Welliver.

Book of the Month for November—The Crossing

My Reading Challenges page… I have 141 books of a goal of 145 in Goodreads (at this point two books ahead of schedule) and at a 98% feedback ratio in NetGalley. My Reading Challenges page is suffering from neglect–again.

I never stop appreciating those who read and comment, and as always, welcome my new subscribers!

Mission Churchill by Alex Abella – #BookReview – #BiographicalFiction

Book Blurb:

In 1933 Cuba, a deadly game of cat and mouse unfolds. An IRA sharpshooter, driven by vengeance and a relentless mission, has Winston Churchill in his crosshairs. But just as the assassin is about to strike, Churchill’s tenacious bodyguard, Walter Thompson, intervenes, forcing the killer into the shadows.

Years later, amid the fiery rain of the German Blitz on London, Thompson locks eyes with a ghost from Havana—the very same assassin. But now, the stakes are higher. As Thompson dives deeper into the city’s underworld, he uncovers a chilling conspiracy within the British government, threatening to topple Churchill and hand victory to Hitler.

Racing against time amidst the backdrop of a city in chaos, Thompson must decipher the twisted web of treachery to save his nation and the man he’s sworn to protect. But at what cost?

Dive into a high-octane thriller where history hangs in the balance, alliances are tested, and one man stands against the darkness.

His Review:

This book explores the lack of popularity of Sir Winston Churchill. It was inspired by another book by Warren Alder and James C. Humes titled “Target Churchill.” The poor treatment of the Irish by the British in the 18^th and 19^th centuries has left a hate for the aristocratic British by the people of Ireland. The Prime Minister was the target of disaffected Irishmen looking for revenge for the starvation of Irish citizens during the famine years. Even food sent from Irish settlers in the United States was subject to excessive tariffs and duties as well as outright seizing!

The story begins with an accidental meeting between an Irishman tasked with killing the man in a jewelry store in Havana, Cuba! At that time Churchill was a member of Parliament and had a number of detractors who could not understand why he did not simply sue for peace and let the Nazi’s have their way with continental Europe. Their desire for peace caused resentment because they felt that Britain could have avoided the bombing and destruction of many large cities including London, Liverpool, and Manchester.

The assassin, Marcus Riley, cannot believe his luck! Running into that hated man in a jewelry shop in Havana! His attempts are thwarted by a member of Scotland Yard named Thompson. Everywhere that Winston went, he was shadowed by Mr. Thompson. Rather than a quick slitting of Winston’s throat, Riley would use a new weapon specifically designed by the Germans to kill the Prime Minister at a very great distance!

Alex Abella has devised a very intriguing and intricate plot around the killing of the perceived enemy of Ireland. The orders come from Germany as do a very sophisticated new weapon. The scope on the weapon has the ability to make objects at 500 yards seem to be across the street. Another feature of the weapon is the scope’s ability of low light viewing of a subject as easily as daylight! From a distance of nearly half a mile, how can he miss?

The end result is an example of hate and revenge at their best! Churchill’s life hangs in the balance as does the fate of the free world. This book will captivate you as a reader and raise additional questions about that time in history. 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: Historical British Fiction, Biographical Fiction, Historical British & Irish Literature
Publisher: Adler Entertainment Trusts LLC
ASIN: B0CL956SK2
Print Length: 276 pages
Publication Date: January 31, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s): Mission Churchill [Amazon]

The Author: [Alex Abella] Papá was a poet. I am not.

But I am a writer–journalist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, newswriter–I’ve tried practically everything that can be done with words upon a page, screen, or any medium, in all genres except poetry. So far.

The first time I ever wrote anything for publication–or so I thought–I was eight years old. Like most boys who want to be writers, I wrote an adventure story, about knights in armor, if I recall correctly. I thought someone somewhere would publish it but, alas, I had no agent so…

But seriously…the next time I pursued my writing obsession was in my late teens when I was determined to break into The New Yorker. I sent them a host of stories–none of which, mercifully, were published, nor have they survived.

Finally, success! I began writing film reviews for my school newspaper, The Columbia Spectator, and after graduation, became a magazine writer for a small publication in New York.

Moving to California, I joined The San Francisco Chronicle, but was fired the day after I wrote practically the entire front page. You need more ground strokes, said my editor. So I went to play for the electronic bullpen, becoming a reporter/newswriter/producer at KTVU-TV in the San Francisco Bay Area. While there I won an Emmy (group) for newswriting, was nominated for another Emmy for reporting, worked as a foreign correspondent in Central America, wrote a cookbook on bananas, drank too much, partied too much and was thoroughly miserable. I realized if I stayed a journalist I’d either burn out or commit suicide by age 50. So I quit the daily grind.

Since I speak fluent Spanish (I was born in Cuba, remember?) I became a court interpreter in Los Angeles. Based on that experience I wrote the thriller “The Killing of the Saints,” which, to my surprise, became a New York Times Notable Book. I wrote the movie adaptation of my novel for Paramount, then wrote something totally different, “The Great American,” a historical novel based on the true story of William Morgan, an Ohio-born, blond, blue-eyed American who became one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution of 1959.

I wrote two follow-ups to Saints, “Dead of Night,” and ‘Final Acts,” then, shaken up by the tragedy of 9/11, I returned to journalism. My research on terrorism led me to co-write “Shadow Enemies: Hitler’s Secret Terrorist Plot against the United States,” about the band of saboteurs that Germany sent by U-boat to the U.S. in 1941. Finally, out of concern with the expansionist policies of the Bush Administration, and wanting to explore how the U.S. had become Rome, I wrote “Soldiers of Reason: The Rand Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire,” a study of the world’s most influential think tank, and how its scientists and theoreticians laid the foundation for the modern world we live in.

Over the past few years I’ve written three more novels, two of which I’ll soon be selling as ebooks, “More Than A Woman,” and “Tainted Love.”

Oh, and since I do have a life, in between books and jobs and obsessions I married a lovely woman, Armeen, whom I met at KTVU. I have three kids–ages 21, 16 and 9–and for now I am splitting my time between the lovely beachtown of Del Mar, California and the new Athens of the Western World, Los Angeles.

Hope to hear from you soon! Take care.
http://www.alexabella.com/
Alex [Goodreads]

Have a Great Sunday

Invisible No More by Scott Pitoniak and Rick Burton – #BookReview