Tag: Its Book Talk

Holly B at Dressedtoread

Amanda at Literary Weaponry

Annie at The Misstery

Mischenko at Read Rant Rock and Roll

Laurie at Cozy Nook Books

Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine

Susan at Susan Loves Books

Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

Cathy at Between the Lines

Amy at Novel Gossip

#ThrowbackThursday – Breakthrough by Michael C Grumley

#ThrowbackThursday - Christmas time

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 Michael C Grumley, another terrific, prolific author who wrote Breakthrough, which I reviewed on Goodreads. This novel was published on March 6, 2013 and has more than 8,000 reviews on Amazon labeled technothriller-sci-fi, action and adventure, conspiracies. This is book #1 in the series, now numbering four.

Originally posted July 27, 2016

Book Blurb:

ONE OF THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS IN HUMAN HISTORY. A SECRET THAT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND. AND A CRISIS THAT CANNOT BE STOPPED.

Deep in the Caribbean Sea, a nuclear submarine is forced to suddenly abort its mission under mysterious circumstances. Strange facts begin to emerge that lead naval investigator, John Clay, to a small group of marine biologists who are quietly on the verge of making history.

With the help of a powerful computer system, Alison Shaw and her team are preparing to translate the first two-way conversation with the planet’s second smartest species. But the team discovers much more from their dolphins than they ever expected when a secret object is revealed on the ocean floor. One that was never supposed to be found.

Alison was sure she would never trust the military again. However, when an unknown group immediately becomes interested in her work, Alison realizes John Clay may be the only person she can trust. Together they must piece together a dangerous puzzle, and the most frightening piece, is the trembling in Antarctica.

To make matters worse, someone from the inside is trying to stop them. Now time is running out…and our understanding of the world is about to change forever.

My Review:

Love it when I come across a plot that you haven’t read 80 times before. “Breakthrough” by Michael C. Grumley gives us a new one, I believe. There are multi-concepts here (mash in military, tsunamis, and aliens), and they lead to a pretty suspenseful tale that moves along pretty well in this fast-paced book. Throw in one of the planet’s smartest animals (dolphins), add a LOT of sci-fi, some real technology and juxtapose some wild imagination. So you’ll have to push past some disbelief, but this is a sci-fi begging fantasy, right? So just enjoy the ride into entertainment and let your mind veg.

The characters in each scenario work pretty well and for the most part are pretty believable. How well they interact with the characters from the opposing scenarios create the tension or clash and explode (literally) into the climax. One you can’t imagine could have a good ending.

Most reviews (and the blurb) covered the plotline, so I’ll just mention that I enjoyed the dolphins albeit small portion of the plot. What bothered me most towards the climax was the transitions (or complete lack thereof) from one scene to another, the abrupt ending, and the seemingly impossible survival of several of the main characters (there was just no way). Still, a noble debut effort and fun fantasy. A free download from BookBub and appreciated the opportunity for the read and review. Recommended for light-hearted sci-fi fantasy fans.

About the Author: For years, Michael Grumley dreamed of writing thrillers the way he thought they should be written; complex, multi-genre stories with unique plots that ‘move’. Enter BREAKTHROUGH, AMID THE SHADOWS, and THROUGH THE FOG: all deeply human stories with endings you will never see coming.

Michael C. Grumley lives in Northern California with his wife and two young daughters where he works in the Information Technology field. He’s an avid reader, runner and most of all father. He dotes on his girls every chance he gets. His website is http://www.michaelgrumley.com and his email address is michael@michaelgrumley.com ASIN: B00BVFM04C

More Throwback Thursday Blogs

Renee at Its Book Talk

Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe

Rebecca at The Book Whisperer

Lynne at Fictionophile

Holly B at Dressedtoread

Amanda at Literary Weaponry

Annie at The Misstery

Mischenko at Read Rant Rock and Roll

Laurie at Cozy Nook Books

Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine

Susan at Susan Loves Books

Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

Cathy at Between the Lines

Amy at Novel Gossip

Check out the other #ThrowbackThursday bloggers and see what they are highlighting today! Did you read Breakthrough? Agree with my review?

#ThrowbackThursday – Land of Hidden Fires by Kirk Kjeldsen

#ThrowbackThursday - Fall

This week I am highlighting Kirk Kjeldsen, the author who wrote Land of Hidden Fires, which was read and reviewed by my associate reviewer this month. This novel was published by Grenzland Press on January 24, 2017.

Review posted to Goodreads September 25, 2018

Book Blurb:

“A fine wartime tale of survival and resistance.”
– Dan Fesperman, author of The Letter Writer and The Arms Maker of Berlin

Occupied Norway, 1943. After seeing an allied plane go down over the mountains, headstrong fifteen-year-old Kari Dahlstrøm sets out to locate the wreck. She soon finds the cocky American pilot Lance Mahurin and offers to take him to Sweden, pretending she’s a member of the resistance. While her widower father Erling and the disillusioned Nazi Oberleutnant Conrad Moltke hunt them down, Kari begins to fall for Lance, dreaming of a life with him in America. Over the course of the harrowing journey, though, Kari learns hard truths about those around her as well as discovering unforeseen depths within herself.

His Review:

Kjeldsen weaves an intriguing tale of rescue in Nazi-occupied Norway during WWII. Keri, a young lass, watches as an allied plane crashes into the hills beyond their farm home. Kjeldsen paints a sympathetic picture of the humanity of the occupied Norwegians population. Despite her father’s instruction to leave the situation alone, she goes out to find out the fate of the pilot.

Major Lance Mahurin is dangling helplessly from a tree by his parachute. Kari gets him down and helps to escort him through their frozen territory to neutral Sweden. She risks everything, including her life, to help him escape occupied territory. Kjeldsen carefully describes the dangers of trying to help the allies, but it is a brutal winter and a near impossible trek ahead. Young Kari is smitten with Lance and imagines him as a potential knight in shining armor.

Rewards are available to people in occupied Norway for assisting the Germans in capturing downed airmen. A local never-do-well sets out to assist the Germans in an effort to obtain the reward and in foiling Keri’s plan.

Daydreams are one thing, however, reality is another. As a boy growing up in post-war America, I had often imagined what I would do in similar circumstances. This book is a spellbinding shocker. The plot is well developed and the outcome unpredictable. Keri is remarkably sensitive and resilient and hoping to escape her harsh life with Lance to a new life. The narrative splits into separate POV’s including that of Keri and the pilot, Keri’s father’s search for her, and the German searching for the pilot. Beautiful descriptions of the Norwegian countryside and tension between their escape and the effort to find and stop them.

C.E. Williams - Associate Reviewer We received this free book through BookBub and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read and review. Recommended for any interested in WWII stories and coming of age or stories that center in Norway. You will not be disappointed in the book and find it very difficult to put down. 4.5/5 CE Williams

About the Author: Kirk Kjeldsen received an MFA from the University of Southern California and is currently an assistant professor in the cinema program at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts. He has also taught at Fudan University in Shanghai, the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb), and the Polish National Film School in Łódź. His novel “Land of Hidden Fires” was named one of the ten best books of 2017 by the New Jersey Star-Ledger. He also wrote and produced the feature film “Gavagai.” He lives in Germany with his wife and children.

More Throwback Thursday Blogs

Renee at Its Book Talk

Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe

Rebecca at The Book Whisperer

Lynne at Fictionophile

Holly B at Dressedtoread

Amanda at Literary Weaponry

Annie at The Misstery

Mischenko at Read Rant Rock and Roll

Laurie at Cozy Nook Books

Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine

Susan at Susan Loves Books

Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

Cathy at Between the Lines

Amy at Novel Gossip

Continue reading “#ThrowbackThursday – The 10th Cycle by JC Ryan”

#ThrowbackThursday – The 10th Cycle by JC Ryan

The 10th Cycle by JC Ryan

This week I am highlighting JC Ryan, another terrific, prolific author who wrote The 10th Cycle: A Thriller. This novel was published on July 22, 2014 and is the first of seven in the Rossler Foundation Mystery series of technothrillers. He has written other series as well as standalones. He consistently runs approximately 4+ stars for any of his books sold on Amazon.

This book was recently downloaded as a freebie from BookBub and read by associate reviewer, the C E. It is his review that follows.

Book Blurb:

The truth about human history is about to be revealed. . . But will we be allowed to know it?

For thousands of years the truth about human history has intentionally been suppressed and exploited.

For decades scholars have been saying that the truth about human history will be found inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, but up till now no one has ever been able to find it. Those who tried have been ridiculed and persecuted.

Will Daniel Rossler and Dr. Sarah Clarke be allowed to uncover the real and true message? As they come closer to the truth, skepticism out of the academic community is replaced by evil and malicious adversaries, dumping them into a very hostile world where violence, deceit and duplicity become their daily companions. The mysterious Orion Society with its deranged and psychopathic members, the CIA, the Marines, the Mossad and even the President of the United States become involved. Not all of them have good intentions.

THE TENTH CYCLE is a full-length novel, a provocative technothriller about human history, conspiracies and an ancient society with power and money that will stop at nothing to reach their sinister goals.

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

#ThrowbackThursday-Deer Season

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 – Riptide: a Florida Panhandle Mystery #2 by Michaela Thompson

#ThrowbackThursday-Riptide

This week I am highlighting Michaela Thompson, another terrific, prolific author who wrote Riptide: a Florida Panhandle Mystery, which I reviewed on Goodreads and received through free download from BookBub. This novel was published by booksBnimble on March 5, 2014. She consistently runs approximately 3.5-4 stars for any of her books sold on Amazon.

Originally posted October 22, 2016

Book Blurb:

As intricate as a fisherman’s net, Riptide fairly writhes with sinister delights—family secrets, family feuds, lost family fortunes, betrayals, puzzles, sunken treasure… and murder, of course. With a bit of illicit romance and treachery thrown in for seasoning. This rife atmosphere swirls around New York artist Isabel Anders, who’s summoned home to tiny St. Elmo, Florida to deal with an emergency: the aunt who raised her has been brutally—and mysteriously—injured.

Isabel arrives to find the family mansion in ruins, her aunt living in a trailer, and, dangerous as a cottonmouth, the lover she left at sixteen just where he used to be. Waiting for her. Except now he’s got a grudge against her, a secret of his own, and some unsavory companions. Just when Isabel’s aunt seems to be getting better (but before she’s able to talk again) she dies just as mysteriously as she was injured. Suspecting murder, Isabel quickly ties her aunt’s death to another.

But to find the killer, she has to hack her way through a small-town jungle of intrigue and several generations of interrelated secrets, producing hours of pulse-pounding delight for the confirmed puzzle fan.

WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Laura Lippman, Kate Atkinson, intelligent cozies like those by G.M. Malliett, Elizabeth Zelvin, and Gillian Roberts, British puzzlemeisters like the great Dorothy L. Sayers herself, all BBC mysteries, and of course, Michaela Thompson’s own Hurricane Season.

My Review:

So the story doesn’t move with the speed of a hurricane, but there is a slow building of character, setting, and backstory to clarify the reason for Isabel to reluctantly return to Cape St. Elmo and to an aunt that raised her with an iron fist.

Protagonist Isabel is a New York artist whose idea of love is an uncomplicated romp in the hay with an older French gentleman or a former high school sweetheart who she had left without so much as a kiss goodbye. Isabel is not a character that elicits a lot of empathy, though the plot does develop some side characters with enough sympathy to fill the void. Kimmie Dee seems to be the typical kid, and it’s obvious she still loves her dad, though he’s not exactly a rocket scientist. Former high school sweetheart isn’t one either and he is unhappy…just plain unhappy, so he is easy…just…easy.

The dialogue reflecting the intellect of the various characters takes on an interesting hue. Her hapless aunt, Merriam, has done the best she could and though no love lost, leaves Isabel knowing her death wasn’t a natural one. The antagonist was perhaps obvious, though certainly not the one we wanted to be the villain.

A treasure hunt begins rather early, and weaves in and out of the story, but it leaves a dissatisfying climax and a disappointing solution to characters that were hoped would fare better. A somewhat quirky, disquieting venture; but generates enough interest to keep turning pages. Mystery, treasure, and amateur sleuths, but you can’t really call it a cozy. Any redeeming qualities in the protagonist? hmm…I can’t think of any.

About the Author:

Michaela Thompson - author (Michaela Thompson) I’ve written seven mystery-suspense novels, set in wide-ranging locales: Hurricane Season and Riptide explore the beaches and swamps of the Florida Panhandle, where I grew up; Paper Phoenix features a romance between a disillusioned divorcee and a much younger crusading journalist in 70’s San Francisco; a failure analyst chases private demons to India in Fault Tree; a group of friends plays a deadly game at the Venice Carnival in Venetian Mask; and Magic Mirror and A Temporary Ghost recount the dangerous adventures of freelance journalist Georgia Lee Maxwell, who moves to France with her cat on a whim and ends up solving murders in Paris and Provence. All are now available as e-books.

I’ve been a mystery fan my entire life. I love the form because it’s endlessly flexible, yet the structure is always there.

I live in New York City, but spend significant time in the Florida Panhandle. My novels were originally published under the name Mickey Friedman.

More Throwback Thursday Blogs

Renee at Its Book Talk

Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe

Rebecca at The Book Whisperer

Lynne at Fictionophile

Holly B at Dressedtoread

Amanda at Literary Weaponry

Annie at The Misstery

Mischenko at Read Rant Rock and Roll

Laurie at Cozy Nook Books

Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine

Susan at Susan Loves Books

Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

Cathy at Between the Lines

Amy at Novel Gossip