#igreads – Rosepoint Publishing

Meme’s Much? Book Beginnings and The Friday 56–HELLO Friday!

Today I am participating in two memes, the first called Book Beginnings who is hosted by Gillian at Rose City Readers. Every Friday you have the opportunity to share the first sentence of the book you are #currentlyreading. And as with The Friday 56, include the title of the book and the author’s name. You may wish to share your impression of the book to date as well. Also please share your post with Mister Linky on her blog site. See below for further details.

“It was two in the morning on a late September Thursday when the Father waited in the dark parking lot of a former convenience store on Rosedale.”

Because there is a natural tie-in to The Friday 56, it common to combine the two.

The only rules are for participation in The Friday 56 is to grab a book, any book or the one you are #currentlyreading, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader, and find a sentence (or a few, but don’t spoil it!), post it, then add your post URL to the Linky on the host site Freda’s Voice – and there yah go! This week I am spotlighting:

The Friday 56

“…I aimed for the People of Peace compound. As usual, I stopped at the top of the hill and pulled out my binoculars to take a peek.”

Goodreads Book Blurb:

One night, while on duty with her four-legged crime-fighting companion, Meg gets an urgent call from her boyfriend Seth, who works for the Fort Worth fire department. A baby girl has turned up at the station with only two clues to her identity: One is a peace-sign symbol stitched into her blanket. The other is a word, written in string: help.

Megan follows every loose thread and, along with Brigit, ends up on a twisted path that leads to the People of Peace compound, the site of a religious sect on the outskirts of the city. Its leader, Father Emmanuel, keeps his followers on a short leash—and his enemies even closer. Could this be the abandoned baby’s original home? And if so, why was she cast out? Now that Megan and Brigit are on the case, the secrets of this reclusive cult are bound to be dug up. . .

The Long Paw of the Law is the seventh installment in her drool-worthy Paw Enforcement series.

So what am I thinking?

Loving it so far! (How could you not? Just look at that cover!) Enjoying the author’s sense of humor and her jumps inside the head of her shepherd, Brigit. Megan is a very capable Fort Worth K-9 handler and on the road to becoming a detective. In the meantime, she has an amazing appreciation and understanding of her partner. This is a series I can follow with fervor.

Rosepoint #BookReviews – August Recap

dog days header

So great to welcome our Navy buddies in August and must admit Northwest Indiana was exceedingly cooperative with beautiful, comfortable temps. As always, Kitra was a dynamo, bundle of energy who helped me get in and FINALLY put together the 50th Anniversary quilt that sister-in-law Ann’et made for us in 2012. Yes! Can you say “winter project?” Ted made his world-class ceviche (yum!) and he and the CE shared their old Navy stories (again) and quite a number of new ones! I posted a pic of the two of them trying to sink a sub at the Science Museum in Chicago. Kitra baked a new favorite–biscotti–and the boys put together a couple flower boxes for the fairy garden!

Catching up has taken the better part of a week; the blog, reading and reviews, social media, my veggie and fairy garden. Oh my goodness! The tomatoes!! Kitra got in and froze a bunch of them for me–they’ll make a great addition to stews and soups. (Never tried freezing them before, so we HOPE they’ll work well!) When the fairy garden doesn’t look quite so desolate, I’ll take another pic to share (discovered another downed snag today).

SO! What I read before they arrived is pretty much it for August, although I was able to get in some great reads.

Midnight Snacks are Murder by Libby Klein

Burning Ridge - a Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima

Aug 3 – Knot My Sister’s Keeper by Mary Marks

Aug 7 – Death Over Easy (A Country Store Mystery #5) by Maddie Day

Aug 12 – Midnight Snacks are Murder by Libby Klein

Aug 14 – Death on the Menu by Lucy Burdette

Aug 21 – Burning Ridge – a #BookReview by Margaret Mizushima

Aug 28 – Samhain Secrets – a #BookReview by Jennifer David Hesse

The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz Nice Try, Afton All of the above were downloaded from NetGalley and/or were book tours. In the meantime, I #AmReading The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz (number 4 of 5) and will be posting my review this Sunday, September 2nd. I read and reviewed The Crooked Staircase (#3) here and The Whispering Room (2) here. Following on Tuesday, the 4th, my review of Nice Try, Afton by Brent Jones. That is the third of four in his Afton Morrison series and will release September 17th. Be aware that this gritty series profiles protagonist Afton Morrison in a frank assault of adult situations and language. Author Brent Jones paints an abstract of “moral ambiguity.” Dark and disturbing, crime fiction, vigilante justice–Afton style. I reviewed the second in the series, See You Soon, Afton in July and Go Home, Afton (#1) here.

I have a line up of cozies scheduled for September (book tours), as well as my fav (thrillers), and as always Throwback Thursdays, Cee’s Fun Fotos, or other features as captures my attention.

Hope this summer is going well for all of you: Blue Skies, Easy Breezes, Green Gardens, and nothing but GOOD books coming your way!

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

#ThrowbackThursday – Loose Ends by Terri Reid

Renee began the #ThrowbackThursday meme on her blog, “It’s Book Talk“ to share some of her old favorites as well as to share 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 Terri Reid, another terrific, prolific author who wrote Loose Ends, Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery series book 1, which I reviewed on Goodreads. She has actually written twenty in this series, but has published additional series. This novel was self-published on August 1, 2010. She consistently runs approximately 4.0+ stars for any of her books sold on Amazon and her story is as fascinating as her books. She released book 20 of this series, Clear Expectations, on November 27, 2017.

Originally posted July 8, 2015

Book Blurb:

Dying is what changed Mary O’Reilly’s life. Well, actually, coming back from the dead and having the ability to communicate with ghosts is really what did it.

Now, a private investigator in rural Freeport, Illinois, Mary’s trying to learn how to incorporate her experience as a Chicago cop and new-found talent into a real job. Her challenge is to solve the mysteries, get real evidence (a ghost’s word just doesn’t hold up in court), and be sure the folks in town, especially the handsome new police chief, doesn’t think she’s nuts.

Twenty-four years ago, a young woman drowned in the swimming pool of a newly elected State Senator. It was ruled an accident. But now, as the Senator prepares to move on to higher positions, the ghost of the woman is appearing to the Senator’s wife.
Mary is hired to discover the truth behind the death. She unearths a connection between the murder and the disappearance of five little girls whose cases, twenty-four years later, are still all unsolved. As she digs further she becomes the next target for serial killers’ quest to tie up all his loose ends.

My Review:

Obviously, Terri Reid has a winner in her Mary O’Reilly paranormal series as she’s written 15 of them successfully. I can see why. I greatly enjoyed Mary with her ghostly characters popping in and out on her, although Bradley channeling through her might have stretched the imagination a bit much. Still, it’s a ghost story–who’s to know? (Only thing I didn’t enjoy was the formatting.)

A former crack Chicago cop up for detective, Mary is killed in the line of duty and resuscitated back to life with the ability to see ghosts who are drawn to her looking to help them move into the next dimension. Most are stuck between worlds because of an unnatural death.

Mary moves out of Chicago to small town Freeport to begin anew, where Bradley comes in as Chief of Police who is also creating a new rural life and has a secret of his own. Her best buds, Stanley and Rosie, provide great sub-characters that add dimension to the story as well as police chief Bradley, who is so contrary, he’ll end up a love interest. Mary is called on to help solve the mystery of the death of a senator’s lover whose ghost is now invading their reconciled lives and discovers it is chronologically related to the disappearance of five little girls.

The dialogue is snappy and sometimes humorous and there is plenty of interaction between characters in a plot that moves along nicely and keeps you reading. I was hooked with book 1 that kept to the paranormal mystery genre, but not so favorably with book 10 where it turned romancy, planning her wedding.

I received the book through a BookBub offer. Love those free BookBub offers, they very seldom disappoint!

About the Author

(Amazon Author Page) Terri Reid has been telling ghosts stories since she was a toddler. Her mother tells of a time when two-year-old Terri would sit in her highchair, look past her mother into the dark back porch and say, “Look. Man.” When her mother would turn in horror, Terri would laugh delightedly.

Terri lives in the same area of the United States as her Mary O’Reilly character, Northwest Illinois. She lives on five acres of rolling land in a 100-year-old farmhouse, with her husband, children, dogs, cats and several dozen chickens (well, the chickens live in the barn.)

Her background is in marketing and public relations, but she has always enjoyed telling stories. For a while, she worked as a freelance journalist for the local paper and wrote the Halloween feature for many years, collecting as many local ghost stories as she could. She gave her collection of local ghost stories to the local historical society to use as a fundraiser, they are now in their third printing.

(Goodreads Author page) Terri Reid is the author of the Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mysteries. An Indie author, Reid uploaded her first book “Loose Ends” in August 2010. By the end of 2012, “Loose Ends” had sold over 82,000 copies and, as of the writing of this bio, was the number one bestselling book in Amazon’s ranking of Ghost Stories in the Book/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Horror/Ghosts section and the number two in the same area in the Kindle eBooks section. She has eight other books in the Mary O’Reilly Series and has enjoyed Top Rated and Hot New Release status for many of them in the Women Sleuths category through Amazon US. Her books have been translated into Spanish and Portuguese and are also now also available through CreateSpace and Amazon in print versions. She is also working on an audiobook for “Loose Ends.”

Reid has been quoted in a number of books about the self-publishing industry including “Let’s Get Digital” by David Gaughran and “Interviews with Indie Authors: Top Tips from Successful Self-Published Authors” by Claire and Tim Ridgway. She was also honored to have some of her works included in A. J. Abbiati’s book “The NORTAV Method for Writers – The Secrets to Constructing Prose Like the Pros.” She has also had the distinct privilege of guest blogging for Joe Konrath.

Reid is from Northwest Illinois, near the town of Freeport, the home of her fictional characters. Her background is in marketing and public relations. She is married, is the mother of seven children and the grandmother of eleven. Her constant writing companions are Riley, a Bernese Mountain Dog-Golden Retriever mix; Hans, a German Shepard mix; and McDuff, a Siamese cat.

Check out the other members of Throwback Thursday to see what classics they are highlighting this week.

More Throwback Thursday Blogs

Renee at Its Book Talk

Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe

Rebecca at The Book Whisperer

Lynne at Fictionophile

Sam at Clues and Reviews

Holly B at Dressedtoread

Deanna at DeesRadReads and Reviews

Amanda at Literary Weaponry

Annie at The Misstery

Mischenko at Read Rant Rock and Roll

Laurie at Cozy Nook Books

Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine

Go Home, Afton – a #BookReview

Title: Go Home, Afton: Afton Morrison, Book 1 (The Afton Morrison Series) by Brent Jones

Genre: Currently #3470 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Kindle eBooks, Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Suspense

Publication Date: To be released June 25, 2018

Source: Direct author request

Title and Cover: Go Home, Afton – Gorgeous cover totally reflecting tension-filled thriller

Animus: basic attitude or governing spirit: disposition, intention. 3: an inner masculine part of the female personality in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/animus (including an outrageous motivation to do…something).

The title reflects a mantra within this periodically socially unacceptable protagonist. Afton Morrison is an educated, competent small town children’s librarian, more than capable of presenting an intelligent and patient twenty-six-year-old woman within the pseudo-academic life of Wakefield. She has quashed the animus within her successfully (whom she has named, quite appropriately Animus)…until now…when the demand to kill meets reason and she’s found the perfect victim. Afton can both satisfy that persistently deranged alter-ego while ridding the public of a vicious sexual predator. Continue reading “Go Home, Afton – a #BookReview”

Better Off Read – a #BookReview

Title: Better Off Read: A Bookmobile Mystery

Genre: Currently #2790 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Books, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Amateur Sleuths

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date: To be Released June 12, 2018

Source: Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley

Title and Cover: Better Off Read – Beautiful cozy cover

Pretty hard to resist any cozy mystery with that cover! Okay, the cover and the premise. The blurb describes a septuagenarian librarian who is forced to race around in a converted school bus now bookmobile after her Catalpa Springs, Georgia library suffers major storm damage. (And she tends to speed. Who pays for her tickets?) Continue reading “Better Off Read – a #BookReview”

Blog Tour Review Stop and #Giveaway of Micromium-Clean Energy from Mars by David Gittlin

Title: Micromium: Clean Energy from Mars by David Gittlin

Publication Date: March 6, 2018

Source: Sage Adderley – Sage’s Book Tours

Publisher: Entelligent Entertainment

Genre: Science Fiction

I am thrilled to present today a blog tour review stop by both myself and my associate reviewer, the CE, promoted by Sage Adderley of Sage’s Book Tours. And please don’t miss your chance for this Super Sci-Fi Giveaway!

Book Blurb:

The year is 2038. Earth’s biosphere is on the brink of destruction from the effects of global warming and pollution. The World Energy Council has awarded a lucrative contract to a major US corporation to mine a precious ore discovered by the first manned mission to land on Mars. One kilo of Micromium can power a large city for a year without environmental side effects. Micromium promises to provide clean energy to a thirsty planet far into the future.

When two people die in a mining accident on Mars, the World Energy Council sends Commander Logan Marchant and a crack team of astronaut specialists to investigate.

Confronted with a lack of cooperation from the mining colonists, the investigation is further complicated by Logan’s growing attraction to the team’s beautiful and brainy geologist. While tensions and tempers rise, Logan and the audit team make one shocking discovery after another, until the investigation leads them into mortal danger, and ultimately, to a surprising conclusion.

Because Sci-Fi is more his genre than mine, I am presenting his review first. This is definitely a unique spin on that ole Sci-Fi tale and one you’ll be glad to have discovered!

The CE’s Review

Corporate greed combined with Martian mining makes for a fascinating tale. Four auditors and astronauts are sent to a mining outpost on Mars to investigate the mysterious deaths of a former audit team. Extra-terrestrial events embroil them in a life and death struggle with exceptionally greedy management. Access which should be totally open is suddenly restricted and robotic miners guard areas they do not want investigated.

The team discovers alien space shipwrecks and find that the mining operation is a ruse for a much more sinister endeavor. Management attempts to kill and stifle reports which may restrict their dreams of vast wealth and world domination.

World pollution and degradation of the planet’s atmosphere threaten life on earth. Micromium, a miracle heretofore unknown substance promises many years of totally clean energy and the chance to clean up the damage caused by the burning of fossil fuels and global warming resulting from their use.

The team headed by Logan Marchant include Kate Blackstone geologist, Kaneko Fukui MD and Exo-geologist and Rashawn Livingston navigator and EVA specialist. They all have advanced degrees in their fields. Their personalities are deeply vetted to make sure they fit as an audit team.

Kate studies the mineral deposits on Mars and finds that the concentration of Micromium is much smaller than she had expected. Trying to access the mines results in resistance from the Operations Manager, Oscar Kominsky. His reward for managing this Martian operation is undreamed of wealth. He will not allow anyone to get in his way.

Unexpected twists and turns in this illustrated novella along with the unexpected meeting of aliens make for a very exciting read. There are no lagging parts in this book. The audit team expands communication with them. When mining management tries to destroy the second audit team along with the aliens there is a very surprising result. I highly recommend this book. (5 stars) C E Williams

My Review:

I love it when I can find a book that I know will have the CE chomping at the bit to tear into. And he did. And, surprisingly, not a sci-fi fan, so did I. This takes place in 2038, but not much has changed in human behavior. There are still the good and the bad–and the bad can sometimes be very, very bad.

What else is the management team of Martian Mining Interplanetary hiding from the World Energy Council and their U.S. corporate bosses that have been awarded the contract for bringing back the minerals? The mining colonists are not particularly friendly and certainly don’t appreciate the investigatory team, but it definitely goes deeper than that. The death of the early audit team must be investigated.

Although the story starts off a little slow for me, the discoveries feed into an interesting mystery. And the mystery reminded me just a little of some of the old interplanetary thriller movies, as they kept finding clues and developed the cast members.

The search for precious metals or minerals in this case creates the same tension that any mining operation has created since the first was discovered. The idea is a noble one–that of becoming capable of providing the energy to the world that will help turn around the environmental disaster wrought on the earth. Mining the ore becomes technologically feasible and might serve the earth for some time to come, but then something happens when the ore is assessed by the audit team. Something isn’t right.

The little drawings added an extra little tease to the narrative, but unfortunately, there were a few edit misses that diverted my attention as well. Dialogue generally works, and the romance probably served as a slight distraction, unnecessary to the general plot. The protagonist allowed his team to use their individual expertise fleshing most of them out and the team worked well and usually successfully even as events became progressively dangerous.

I was offered this stop on the blog tour by Sage’s Blog Tours and greatly appreciated the offer to read and review, particularly sharing with my sci-fi guru for his opinion. Did it meet his expectation? Yes, and I would recommend as well to sci-fi and mystery fans, intrigue, and action-adventure fans. A mine on Mars? Certainly within the realm of imagination and an appealing concept.

Check out the spotlights and reviews of this book and don’t forget to sign up for one of the giveaways!

Blog Tour Participants

April 26th Bound 2 Escape ~ BOOK SPOTLIGHT
April 27th Storyteller Alley ~ BOOK REVIEW
April 28th Book Fidelity ~ BOOK SPOTLIGHT
May 1st Bound 2 Escape ~ BOOK SPOTLIGHT
May 2nd Rosepoint Publishing ~ REVIEW
May 2nd Shari Sakurai ~ BOOK SPOTLIGHT

About the Author

David Gittlin - author (From Amazon Author page)

After a career in marketing and business communications, David Gittlin studied screenwriting and novel writing at UCLA. His three feature length screenplays; “Love Will Find You,” “Joshua’s Decision,” and “A Prescription for Happiness” have reached the finals or placed in several major screenplay competitions. His first novel, an urban fantasy thriller, “Three Days to Darkness,” was a recent nominee to the James Kirkwood Prize for creative writing. Entelligent Entertainment recently published Gittlin’s second and third novels, “Scarlet Ambrosia” and “Micromium–Clean Energy from Mars.” I’ve put my heart, soul and guts into these books. I’d like you to read them.

(From Goodreads Author page)Only one thing stood between me and my dream of becoming a creative writer: I couldn’t do two things at once. Upon retiring from my career in marketing communications, I decided to devote my full attention to writing fiction, thereby solving my multi-tasking challenge. Mr. Gittlin is also a prize-winning citizen journalist and film maker. He lives in Aventura, Florida.

David Gittlin’s purchase and social media links:

On Amazon: http://amzn.to/2FOfg0y
On B&N: http://bit.ly/2G9H2Ea
On Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2GJoubD
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dgittlin
On Twitter: @DavidGittlin

The author will be giving an ebook copy of Micromium to the first 40 people who contact him with their name and ebook format preference (ePub or Mobi). They can enter here:

https://www.davidgittlin.com/contact

Rosepoint #Reviews – April Recap

Review Recap

My name in Gallifreyan--hint--starts with a "V". In defense of my obvious decrease in reviews this month, I’ll mention I was inexplicably inspired to write several articles regarding bookish (Family Noir) conundrums or publishing algorithms (the 1200 lb Gorilla), the last post of which included Sunday’s hesitant but fascinating introduction into Circular Gallifreyan. Before you protest that it is not a “constructed language,” I’ll agree that it probably isn’t as I couldn’t find any classification linked to the character-driven concept in any of the pages or websites I read. Remember this?

I waited all month to get my struggling seedings out and then almost immediately had frost. As always, too anxious. What can I say? I’m from California where we started seeds directly outdoors in February. Checking my fairy garden daily for any indication my plants made it through the winter–they didn’t–although I’ve been told it’s still a little early. It’s MAY! Having chopped down snags and trunks took advantage of the sunny, warm and beautiful weather today, and got out the old saw and put the fire pit to work. I have high hopes for the vegetable and flower bed this year. And bonus–both the rose bush and forsythia made it through the winter, thank heaven as DH (Dear Hubby) covered the other plants and they will apparently remain buried (I can’t find them).

We had a week-long visit from our grandchildren and together with our son who works and knows Chicago very well took us on a whirlwind sightseeing experience that crammed as much as we could in a week. We walked ten miles one day to include the Navy Pier, the Bean (see above), the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). On other days we toured the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium each requiring most of the day. (Yes, I’m exhausted.)

Absolutely outstanding world-class museum and the Art Institute houses an impressive number of masters including Van Gogh, Monet, El Greco, Picasso, Warhol and every imaginable form of art from early medieval and renaissance to impressionism. Love the Monet’s!

So, life happens along with reading and reviewing and sometimes it is the latter that takes the hit–only five reviews in April–with more read but due for review in May. (These links will take you to my review.)

The Advice Column Murders

Claws for Concern

Murder at the Mushroom Festival

A Dog’s Way Home

The Crooked Staircase

The Advice Column Murders by Leslie Nagel

Claws for Concern - a Cat in the Stacks Mystery - by Miranda James

Murder at the Mushroom Festival by Janet Finsilver

The Crooked Staircase: A Jane Hawk Novel by Dean Koontz

The CE reviewed three titles as well, one of which is due for a blog blast the middle of May. Additionally, I’ll be participating in blog tours, spotlights, and giveaways in May. I’m thrilled and excited to be participating in giveaways and I’m eager to see the response.