#NetGalleyreader – Page 32 – Rosepoint Publishing

Every Little Secret by Sarah Clarke – #BookReview – #domesticthriller

Book Blurb:

From the outside, it seems Grace has it all. Only she knows about the cracks in her picture-perfect life… and the huge secret behind them. After all, who can she trust?

Her brother Josh is thousands of miles away, and he and Grace have never been close – he was always their parents’ favourite.

Her best friend Coco walked away from her years ago, their friendship irreparably fractured by the choices they’ve made.

And her husband Marcus seems like a different man lately. Grace can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something.

But when her seven-year-old daughter makes a troubling accusation, Grace must choose between protecting her child and protecting her secret… before she loses everything.

His Review:

Being the child of wealthy parents isn’t always a good thing! Childhood spent in far-away places because your parents are “traveling on the continent” can be lonesome and a totally different way of life. Ah, Paris in the spring, Borneo in the fall, and many exotic places in between. To the outsider, Grace has it all.

Adulthood comes along and the life of a constant vacation comes to an end. What can a world-traveled young woman do after that? Marriage and a happy family with the man of her dreams? Can Cinderella’s life continue ad infinitum? Perhaps Grace has a rude awakening in her future.

Sarah Clarke has created a very believable cast of characters in a very tortured life. The happy ending becomes a nightmare when an old flame shows up to be the fly in the ointment. Her teenage years best friend has also spent time in exotic countries all of her life. There is a baby involved and the protagonist is married to a wonderful young man who helps her raise a lovely child. Kaia is a very bright, precocious child who begins to come off the rails.

This novel is very engaging and my emotions were pulled every which way. The antagonist is beyond despicable and my desire was that Grace begins to take target practice. The twists and turns made me wish for any outcome that would end the antagonist’s existence. Read and see if you have the same impression! 4.5 stars – C.E. Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Psychological Fiction
Publisher: HQ Digital
ASIN: B09N14LNG4
Publication Date: February 25, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s): Every Little Secret [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: [Sarah Clarke]I love reading psychological thrillers and have always dreamed of becoming an author in the genre, but I took my time getting here. After studying for a degree in Politics & International Relations, travelling the world for 6 years, and completing 5 ski seasons, I moved to London and became a copywriter, wife and mother. In 2018 I enrolled on the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course and finally learned the craft I loved. I joined HQ Digital in March 2021 and A Mother Never Lies is my debut novel.

Enjoy your Sunday!

The Unveiling of Polly Forrest: A Mystery by Charlotte Whitney – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

Rural Michigan, 1934.

When her new husband Sam perishes in a bizarre farm accident, would-be milliner Polly soon becomes the prime suspect in his murder. As she digs for evidence to clear her name, Polly falls into a sinister web implicating her in a nefarious crime ring being investigated by White House Police. Polly’s life and those of her family are at stake.

Narrated by Polly, her self-righteous older sister, Sarah, and Sarah’s well-meaning, but flawed husband Wesley, a Methodist minister, the story follows several twists through the landscape of the rural Midwest. During the throes of the Great Depression Polly marries for money. After her husband Sam dies in a freak farm accident, new bride Polly assumes she is financially set to pursue her dream of opening a hat-making business. Instead, she becomes the prime suspect in Sam’s murder. Secrets abound and even Polly’s family can’t figure out the truth. [BookBub]

My Review:

Told in the POVs of three persons, Polly Forrest, her sister Sarah, and her brother-in-law, the Reverend Wesley Johnson, the tale is woven through the perilous, deprived times of the depression in 1934, Michigan.

Polly’s husband Sam is killed in a farm accident and it isn’t long before she becomes a suspect. Her sister, who lives up the hill on the adjacent property with the reverend is also implicated. Sarah is the typical depression era housewife and mother of two young boys and a baby daughter. The oldest of the two sisters, she was fundamentally responsible for raising her much young sister, Polly, who had been spoiled before their mother passed.

Polly remains immature, making bad decisions and one was her marriage to Sam who appeared to have money but turns out to be abusive. Polly tries to hide injuries and she denies any problem, but Sarah suspects the truth, so she quietly wonders if Polly had had enough and “helped” her husband to his death by bull.

Living on boiled potatoes and bean soup, thoroughly patched and repatched clothing, most are living hungry with the threat of losing their farms and a roof over their heads. The reverend is losing his congregation. Polly, now desperate, is beginning to discover secrets around Sam’s farm she hadn’t known about which might make a small difference in her financial recovery. But there are others who might also have interest in those as well.

I wasn’t able to really engage in either sister or the reverend. Polly feels more like Petulant Polly and Sarah as an overworked and underappreciated workmate who had put up with her sister until she could no longer—no love lost. There were themes of domestic abuse, friendship, secrets, and felonious crimes. All characters are flawed.

Chapters alternate on each perspective while events begin to occur that gradually change the demeanor of Polly. This is often illustrated by naming Polly as Patient Polly, Impetuous Polly, or Pretty Polly allowing for a slight bit of humor in a dark theme. There is a gradual softening of Sarah as she begins to see the strength and maturing in Polly.

A rather slow start, the plot picks up speed as it hurdles into an interesting conclusion. In the meantime, however, I noted a few contradictions and slightly awkward descriptions.

I received a complimentary review ARC of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Mysteries, Mystery, Domestic Thriller
Publisher: Lake William Press
ISBN: 979-8-9851601-0-9
Publication Date: March 15, 2020
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Google Books | BookBub

The Author: Charlotte Whitney‘s latest book, THE UNVEILING OF POLLY FORREST is a historical mystery set on a Midwestern farm in 1934. It follows her successful novel, THREADS A DEPRESSION-ERA TALE. The author grew up on a Michigan farm and heard her aunts and grandmother tell stories of “hard times,” and was surprised to hear that even farmers went to bed hungry. That served as the impetus for the settings for her most recent novels. She worked at the University of Michigan as the associate director of Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts before leaving to write full-time. Currently, she lives in Arizona with her husband and two Labrador Retrievers. She loves hiking, bicycling, and yoga.

To learn more about the author’s upcoming books and subscribe to her free newsletter go to: http://www.charlottewhitney.com

©V Williams –

Have a great week!

The Darkest Place: A Robin Lockwood Novel by Phillip Margolin – #BookReview – #legalthrillers

Book Blurb:

Defense attorney Robin Lockwood faces an unimaginable personal disaster and her greatest professional challenge in the next New York Times bestselling Phillip Margolin’s new legal thriller, The Darkest Place.

Robin Lockwood is an increasingly prominent defense attorney in the Portland community. A Yale graduate and former MMA fighter, she’s becoming known for her string of innovative and successful defense strategies. As a favor to a judge, Robin takes on the pro bono defense of a reprehensible defendant charged with even more reprehensible crimes. But what she doesn’t know—what she can’t know—is how this one decision, this one case, will wreak complete devastation on her life and plans.

As she recovers from those consequences, Robin heads home to her small town of Elk Grove and the bosom of her family. As she tries to recuperate, a unique legal challenge presents itself—Marjorie Loman, a surrogate, is accused of kidnapping the baby she carried for another couple, and assaulting that couple in the process. There’s no question that she committed these actions but that’s not the same as being guilty of the crime. As Robin works to defend her client, she learns that Marjorie Loman has been hiding under a fake identity and is facing a warrant for her arrest for another, even more serious crime. And buried within the truth may once again be unexpected, deadly consequences.

His Review:

Sequestered in a remote location in Oregon, Marjorie Loman was surprised by a knock on her door late at night. Two police officers were standing at her door. They give her the news that her husband’s body was found in an alley behind a trash can near Portland. Laughing might not have been the best response to the news!

Having your assets tied up in probate calls for desperate measures. Surrogates were being paid around $50,000 to carry another families’ child. The nine months would cover the period waiting for the courts to release their joint properties. She will then be well set for the rest of her life. Her husband had taken most of the couple’s assets and converted them to gold bars but no one knew where the bars were hidden.

Author Margolin always writes intricate plots with some clever twists. This book is no exception. I formed a quick empathy for Marjorie and did not understand why the people in Oregon were so caustic towards her. She wants to keep the baby after a nurse lets him sleep with her the night of his birth. The subsequent psychosis that followed that error made a very gripping tale. I was not aware of the post-partum problems associated with surrogate births.

The author held my interest throughout the book and kept me intrigued as well as educated me. I suggest the book to anyone who is considering surrogacy for overcoming the inability to have their own child. The author weaves parallel plots in a gripping manner and releases a very satisfying read. 5 stars – C.E. Williams

We’ve read two previous Robin Lockwood series novels, most recently A Matter of Life and Death, and in 2020 A Reasonable Doubt, and enjoyed both, although more so the former. We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Legal Thrillers, Kidnapping Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ASIN: B092T8M4K8
Print Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: March 8, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Darkest Place [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

Phillip Margolin - author — Phillip Margolin – author

The Author: I grew up in New York City and Levittown, New York. In 1965, I graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor’s degree in government. I spent 1965 to 1967 in Liberia, West Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer, graduated from New York University School of Law in 1970 as a night student. I went nights and worked as a junior high teacher in the South Bronx to support myself. My first job following law school was a clerkship with Herbert M. Schwab, the chief judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals, and from 1972 until 1996, I was in private practice, specializing in criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. As an appellate attorney I have appeared before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Oregon Supreme Court, and the Oregon Court of Appeals. As a trial attorney, I handled all sorts of criminal cases in state and federal court, and have represented approximately thirty people charged with homicide, several of whom faced the death penalty. I was the first Oregon attorney to use battered women’s syndrome to defend a woman accused of murdering her spouse.

Since 1996, I have been writing full-time. All of my novels have been bestsellers. Heartstone, my first novel, was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar for best original paperback mystery of 1978. My second novel, The Last Innocent Man, was made into an HBO movie. Gone, But Not Forgotten has been sold to more than twenty-five foreign publishers and was made into a miniseries starring Brooke Shields. It was also the Main Selection of the Literary Guild. After Dark was a Book of the Month Club selection. The Burning Man, my fifth novel, published in August 1996, was the Main Selection of the Literary Guild and a Reader’s Digest condensed book. My sixth novel, The Undertaker’s Widow, was published in 1998 and was a Book of the Month Club selection. Wild Justice (HarperCollins, September 2000) was a Main Selection of the Literary Guild, a selection of the Book of the Month Club, and was nominated for an Oregon Book Award. The Associate was published by HarperCollins in August 2001, and Ties that Bind was published by HarperCollins in March 2003. My tenth novel, Sleeping Beauty, was published by HarperCollins on March 23, 2004. Lost Lake was published by HarperCollins in March 2005 and was nominated for an Oregon Book Award. Proof Positive was published by HarperCollins in July 2006. Executive Privilege was published by HarperCollins in May 2008 and in 2009 was given the Spotted Owl Award for the Best Northwest Mystery. Fugitive was published by HarperCollins on June 2, 2009. Willamette Writers gave me the 2009 Distinguished Northwest Writers Award. My latest novel, Supreme Justice, was published by HarperCollins in May 2010. My next novel, Capitol Murder, will come out in April 2012.

On October 11, 2011, HarperCollins will publish Vanishing Acts, my first Young Adult novel, which I wrote with my daughter, Ami Margolin Rome. Also in October, the short story “The Case of the Purloined Paget,” which I wrote with my brother, Jerry, will be published by Random House in the anthology A Study in Sherlock.

In addition to my novels, I have published short stories and nonfiction articles in magazines and law journals. My short story “The Jailhouse Lawyer” was selected for the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 1999. The House on Pine Terrace was selected for the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 2010.

From 1996 to 2009 I was the president and chairman of the Board of Chess for Success. I am still heavily involved in the program, and returned to the board after a one-year absence in 2010. Chess for Success is a nonprofit charity that uses chess to teach study skills to elementary- and middle-school children in Title I schools . From 2007 to the present, I have been on the Board of Literary Arts, which sponsors the Oregon Book Awards, the Writers in the Schools program, and Portland Arts and Lectures.

©CE Williams – V Williams

Super Bowl Sunday

Attributes: Super Bowl Sunday logo – Wikipedia
Pic of Clydesdales horses – Wallpaper Safari

The Doomsday Medallion: A VanOps Thriller by Avanti Centrae – #BookReview – #Technothrillers

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Aikido black belt Maddy Marshall is celebrating the completion of her black ops training when news of a military takeover in the South China Sea shocks the world because it was predicted by a sixteen-year-old French student. When intel chatter spells danger to Avril, the young seer, VanOps Director Bowman assigns Marshall and her twin brother, Will Argones, to protect the girl.

Emotions between the siblings are running hot due to their aunt’s recent stroke, which has reminded them of the childhood accident that scarred both his chin and her heart. Tensions ratchet higher when they arrive at Avril’s home to find the instant social media star has been kidnapped, leaving them with only clenched fists and cryptic clues that lead to a formula encoded on an etched-bronze medallion.

While Taiwan fears an invasion that will set off an apocalyptic chain of events, Marshall and Argones race through medieval French towns, Italian cathedrals, and ancient Greek temples attempting to find Avril before their enemies use the girl to discover the Holy Grail of military intelligence. If the team fails, they won’t need a crystal ball to know millions of innocent souls will be destined to join Nostradamus in the afterlife.

The Doomsday Medallion is an electrifying, globe-trotting thriller that delves into humankind’s timeless fascination with prophecy and illuminates the mesmerizing and dangerous potential of a weaponized oracle.

Fans of Dan Brown, Steve Berry, and James Rollins will get an adrenaline rush turning the pages of this standalone thriller.

His Review:

Countries have looked for centuries for ways to predict the future. Nostradamus was a world-class prognosticator who encoded many predictions that have proven to be true. Major world powers caught wind of a walnut box left to his offspring that may hold some predictions having world affecting results. A mad scramble has begun to find the box and utilize its’ potential.

Avril is just sixteen and has been told about the box by her grandparents. Her mother was tragically lost when she was born. She made a prediction that China would attack and take control of a small island near Taiwan. This has happened and now and the major world powers want to know how she could have known! A couple of operatives are sent from the Lake Tahoe, California region to find and protect the young girl. Of course, the U.S. has a vital interest in discovering how she is able to make predictions and utilize her talents. China also sent a very skilled team to capture her and bring her back to the homeland.

Avanti Centrae is very adept at keeping and building suspense throughout her story. Young Avril, like most teenage girls, values her independence and does not wish to be controlled by any foreign power. At her age, her major fault is that she feels competent enough to do everything on her own. She ditches the people sent to protect her and rushes headlong into a foreign powers’ clutches.

Can Avril be found in time or will she disappear into the dark world of espionage and be forever lost to the world as she knows it? Ruthless bounty hunters from a number of countries confound the situation.

This saga is very entertaining and will keep most readers flipping pages of the well-plotted, fast-paced technothriller. 5 stars – CE Williams

My first book by the author and we enjoyed as a standalone. We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Occult Suspense, Technothrillers, Psychic Suspense
Publisher: Thunder Creek Press
ASIN: B09H1VHL5X
Print Length: 378 pages
Publication Date: March 8, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Doomsday Medallion [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: International multi-award-winning and Amazon #1 bestselling author who blends intrigue, history, science, and mystery into pulse-pounding action thrillers.

http://www.avanticentrae.com – First six chapters FREE!

Avanti Centrae is the author of the international multi-award-winning VANOPS thriller series. An instant Barnes and Noble Nook bestseller, THE LOST POWER took home a genre grand prize ribbon at the Chanticleer International Book Awards, a bronze medal at the Wishing Shelf Awards, and an Honorable Mention at the Hollywood Book Festival. SOLSTICE SHADOWS won a bronze at the competitive Readers’ Favorite Awards, the Global Thrillers Genre Grand Prize at the most recent Chanticleer Awards, and was a #1 Amazon bestseller in both the U.S and Canada. Her father served as a U.S. marine corporal in Okinawa, gathering military intelligence during the first decade after the Korean War. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Clive Cussler but has a voice all its own. She resides in Northern California with her family and German Shepherds.

Enjoy your Sunday

Trapped (Orca Anchor) by Sigmund Brouwer – #BookReview – Teen and Young Adult

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Matt is counting down the days until he turns sixteen.

He’s been living with his foster parents in Yukon River valley in their isolated cabin. His plan is to leave and never come back. He is done with the harsh lifestyle and helping his abusive foster dad, Dan, run the traplines so he can make money selling animal furs. He can’t wait to start a new life on his own in the city. But when Matt discovers a big and valuable gold nugget, everything changes. What seems like a dream come true and an easy way out quickly turns into a nightmare that will test Matt’s wilderness survival skills to the fullest.

This high-interest Orca Anchor title is written specifically for teens reading below a grade 2.0 level.

His Review:

At the age of 16, a young man living with a step-father really doesn’t have a life of his own. Dan, the foster father, is a trapper and makes a living selling beaver pelts to clothing companies. Matt is nearly his size and is required to keep half of the trap lines going each day. Dan has the time to check the traps down to the minute and checks the backpack of pelts that the young man carries every time they check the traps.

A trapped beaver has a broken leg and cannot get into the beaver lodge. The young man takes pity on the animal and releases it. He checks the lodge and discovers a heavy fist sized hunk of gold nugget. How can he keep this from his foster father? The nugget is the ticket to his freedom!

Dan tracks his foster son’s footsteps in Dawson and gets wind of the nugget. He bullies the young man to get the nugget. The situation turns desperate. How can the young man protect his windfall and leave the abusive foster dad?

This is a fast moving and well written drama of a young man at life’s crossroads. Sigmund Brower writes a compelling, believable page turner which is short but very believable. 5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Teen & Young Adult Orphans & Foster Homes Fiction, Teen & Young Adult Mystery & Thriller Action & Adventure, Teen & Young Adult Survival Stories
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers (High Readability edition)
ISBN-10: 1459828615
ISBN-13: ‎978-1459828612
Print Length: 96 pages
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Trapped [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble

The Author: With over four million books in print, Sigmund Brouwer is a bestselling author of both children and adults books. His novel, Dead Man’s Switch, is the winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Canada’s best young adult mystery of the year and was a finalist in the TD Children’s Book Awards. His novel for grownups, Thief of Glory was selected as the a Book of the Year for the American Christy Awards and is a winner of the Alberta’s Readers Choice Awards.

He loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show. (www.rockandroll-literacy.com)

Have a great weekend from Rosepoint Publishing

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead: A Mystery by Elle Cosimano – #Audiobook Review – #womansleuths

Book Blurb:

Finlay Donovan is – once again – struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she’s dealt with lately is that of her daughter’s pet goldfish.

On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he’s a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of soccer moms disguised as hit-women, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she’d like.

Meanwhile, Vero’s keeping secrets, and Detective Nick Anthony seems determined to get back into her life. He may be a hot cop, but Finlay’s first priority is preventing her family from sleeping with the fishes…and if that means bending a few laws then so be it.

With her next book’s deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn’t a noose at the end of it….

From Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano comes Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead – the hilarious and heart-pounding follow-up to Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

My Review:

Yes, it’s the dreaded sophomore novel, the sequel to the hilarious Finlay Donovan is Killing It, and always a nail-biter wondering if it will mirror Book 1. I was really looking forward to this one and got the audiobook (again), although this one through NetGalley. I loved that debut, the first in what appears to be a successful series in the making if you can believe the cliffhanger in this one.

My favorite characters are back—of course, Finlay and her close buddy, nanny, accountant, and crime partner, Vero. These two can get into more trouble than a gaggle of two-year-olds with a bowl of chocolate pudding.

It’s another “in the story in the story” concept, Finlay is struggling with a strong case of writer’s block. Her agent is hounding her for the book that was promised but she’s easily distracted as we know by now and discovers that “Fed Up” has posted a hit request aimed at her ex on a female chat forum. Well, not that she wouldn’t do it herself, but she needs him to hang around for his kids who truly love him. And, let’s face it, he is a good father.

In one short stint as an accidental hit woman who’s totally inept, she’s experienced Russian mobs, detectives, corpses, and a variety of threats. Somehow no matter how far afield she gets in ca-ca, she still manages to come up smelling like a rose. And Vero either assists or comes up with the next crazy idea. These two are Laurel and Hardy. It’s slap-stick comedy with virtual pratfalls.

And always, at the worst possible timing, another call from her agent, but it’s beginning to look like she’s got this. Book 2, though, just didn’t quite have that humorous level of innocent bumbling quality as the first for me. Perhaps, while they still don’t know what they are doing, they are getting better at what they don’t know?

And what of the two possible romances of the first book? Nick and Julian. There must be some sort of romance, I guess. Her sister, a cop, is a great character among a number of engaging characters. The writer levels her brand of humor at the reader in staccato-like patterns with advance and retreat schemes. I didn’t hear a lot of Fin’s two youngsters and since Vero was with her most of the time, sometimes wondered who was watching them. The narrator tended to lapse into aggravating kiddie dialogue voice when they did appear. The conclusion left an obvious in for Book 3.

Okay, novel 2 done. I’m looking forward to Book 3—the characters provide a chuckle or two, the mysteries are well-plotted and entertaining, and the tension ramps up nicely into a satisfying conclusion.

My thanks and appreciation to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the copy of the audiobook.

Book Details:

Genre: Women Sleuth Mysteries, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B094DRV832
Listening Length: 9 hrs 20 min
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

The Author: Elle Cosimano is the Edgar-nominated and award-winning author of the acclaimed young adult novels Nearly Gone, Holding Smoke, The Suffering Tree, and Seasons of the Storm. Her debut novel for adults, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, kicked off a witty, fast-paced contemporary mystery series, which was featured as a People Magazine Pick and one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2021. In addition to writing novels for teens and adults, her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Time. Elle lives with her husband and two sons in Virginia. You can learn more about her at her website: http://www.ElleCosimano.com.

Photo courtesy of Powell Woulfe Photography

The Narrator: Angela Dawe is originally from Lansing, Michigan, and currently calls Chicago home. Her work includes film, television, theater, and improvisational comedy, as well as audiobook narration.

happy thursday!

January Rosepoint Review Recap—Hello Frigid February!

Rosepoint review recap-January banner

No Christmas snow or the most part of January, but here is February and with it our heaviest snow period in the area this season. This week promises to be a douzy with a foot of snow forecast. The CE has prepared his snowblower with fresh gas and assured himself that it will start. In our mini-banana-belt, however, we may or may not get that accumulation.

This time of year has me looking at the blog and thinking of housekeeping the ole website from opening new (2022) folders to gathering old lists to archive. Seems like it’s a yearly learning process and takes me a while. I’ve opened up a couple new menus that I hope will make for easier or faster navigation.

The CE meanwhile is content to crank out most every book I send his way and is happily engaged in reading. He’s doing well with his reviews and I appreciate the help!

Between the two of us, we managed seventeen book reviews for January, most from NetGalley, several from audiobooks (local library and NetGalley), a couple from author requests as well as one blog tour. (My reviews in the links below.)

Rosepoint Review Recap-January

The Silent Sisters by Robert Dugoni
Talk by Greg W Peterson
Going There by Katie Couric
Head Shot by Otho Eskin
Diary of an Angry Young Man by Rishi Vohra
Where There’s a Will by Roland Sinclair
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Enter a Wizard by Connie diMarco
A Valiant Deceit by Stephanie Graves
Roaring Liberty by Jean Grainger
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Texas Job by Reavis Z Wortham
Red Buring Sky by Tom Young
Hidden Agendas by D Marshall Craig
Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski
The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon
Murder on an Irish Farm by Carlene O’Connor

As mentioned above, my reading challenges have all been updated and the older challenge years archived in the drop-down menu. The new challenges are all listed and linked in the widget column on the right. I hope you’ll join me in a Challenge or two! Which do you routinely join yearly? Will you join a new challenge this year? (I’ll be adding Ireland Reading Month in March.) You can check out the progress of my challenges by clicking the Reading Challenges page. (Goodreads has upwards of three million participants this year with an average challenge of 46 books. That’s impressive, huh!)

Book Club and Reading/Listening Update

As the Page Turns Book Club is well into The Song of Achilles and it appears that The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi, a Goodreads Choice Award nominee as well as a Reese Witherspoon Book of the Month back in May of 2020 is next. Reese was one of the Celebrity Book Clubs I blogged about looking into during the first burst of Covid. She has a very lively and active digital book club as well as Instagram account. The moderator of our local club works hard to entice participation, but so far for those who joined, it’s the usual few that contribute. I wonder if one of the problems is that she proposed one book a quarter rather than one a month. I’m already well into the audiobook (once again gained from my local library for Overdrive); much too soon.

Kindle is one of the sneaky little entities gathering your reading history and from time to time I get these little updates to my values. Obviously, I missed a day (or two) when we were traveling by RV in remote areas as I have successful Goodreads Challenge badges (except 2015) from 2013 with no way to include those years on my list in the widgets.

Audiobooks

I finally landed my first two audiobooks from NetGalley and discovered a few small problems with skipping or blanking dialogue. Not significant enough to lose the thread, but a glitch I’ve not encountered with the audiobooks from my library. Do you also download books from NetGalley through their NetGalley Shelf app? Have you noted any problems?

Thank you again for joining my community if you are new and much appreciation to my established followers for shares, likes, and comments. It’s not a blog without you!

Have a great week!

Murder on an Irish Farm (An Irish Village Mystery Book 8) by Carlene O’Connor – #BookReview – #cozymystery

Book Blurb:

The wedding of Siobhán O’Sullivan and Macdara Flannery in the village of Kilbane in County Cork, Ireland, comes to an abrupt halt when the skeleton of a groom is unearthed . . .

If only her mother could be here! The entire O’Sullivan brood—not to mention the regulars from Naomi’s Bistro—have gathered at St. Mary’s Church for the wedding of Siobhán and Macdara. It’s not every day you see two garda marrying each other. Only Siobhán’s brother James is missing. They can’t start without him.

But when James finally comes racing in, he’s covered in dirt and babbling he’s found a human skeleton in the old slurry pit at the farmhouse. What farmhouse? Macdara sheepishly admits he was saving it as a wedding surprise: he purchased an abandoned dairy farm. Duty calls, so the engaged garda decide to put the wedding on hold to investigate.

James leads them to a skeleton clothed in rags that resemble a tattered tuxedo. As an elderly neighbor approaches, she cries out that these must be the remains of her one true love who never showed up on their wedding day, fifty years ago. The garda have a cold case on their hands, which heats up the following day when a fresh corpse appears on top of the bridegroom’s bones. With a killer at large, they need to watch their backs—or the nearly wedded couple may be parted by death before they’ve even taken their vows.

My Review:

Here I am again with a favorite series for the #BEGORRAHTHON in honor of the annual celebration of Reading Ireland Month (March). Of course, this one lands somewhat early in the year, but no problem, I always enjoy these quirky cozy mysteries.

I began with Book 4 of the series and managed to catch each successive entry through Book 7 last year, Murder in an Irish Bookshop. The author’s sense of humor and strong Irish flavor in her writing style never fails to keep me engaged and entertained.

Book 8 finds Siobhan O’Sullivan and Macdara Flannery excited about their wedding day and poised to walk up the aisle when brother James arrives disarrayed and dirty to announce a skeleton has been found on the property Macdara just bought. Rather than proceed with the nuptials or postpone for an hour while they investigate, they totally call off the wedding. Talk about garda dedication—no way on earth I’d have done that! A skeleton?

Has been there for awhile. It’ll keep a few minutes longer.

The skeleton is in a slurry pit—oh UGH! If not before, right there, I’d have bowed out. (Where’s my gas mask?) The problem is that it is the body of a groom (Tommy) intended also to have been wed that same day—50 years ago. Uh oh. I don’t believe in coincidences. (Do you?)

As you can imagine, the storyline takes on a complicated tack and proceeds to become more complex as they find one clue only to have it open fifty more questions. They won’t want for suspects, really, and especially after a second (but fresh) body is found, the clues become more pointed, narrowed, eliminating one then the other from suspicion. (Well, still suspicious, but good alibis anyway.) And did I mention the small but poignant missing or unaccounted for 30 grand (Euros?)?

No matter. My love for this series is the two gardai, their communication with each other, the sense of humor, and the strong large family (keep them together) theme. Yes, Dara knows what he’s getting into. The mysteries are good ones, always interesting and I learn something, but I love the setting, the peek into rural Irish life, the countryside, and the food. My only reservation this time was the extended conclusion wrapping up all loose ends–every one of them.

And did they finally get married? Yes! If I’d spent boo-koo bucks getting there for the one postponed, however, not sure I’d have wanted to do that all over again. Thinking it was smaller than intended maybe? Oh yes, and I miss a pronunciation key—how in the world is Siobhan pronounced?

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

A 2-22-22 release sure to be a fun, fast hit. Currently on pre-order.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ASIN: B0964F2G1Y
Print Length: 322 pages
Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America during the Troubles, and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. Carlene currently divides her time between New York and the Emerald Isle.