#USAtodaybestsellingauthor – Rosepoint Publishing

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain – #AudiobookReview – #FlashbackFriday

Book Blurb:

In The Silent Sister, Riley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. Now, over 20 years later, her father has passed away and she’s in New Bern, North Carolina cleaning out his house when she finds evidence to the contrary. Lisa is alive. Alive and living under a new identity. But why exactly was she on the run all those years ago, and what secrets are being kept now?

As Riley works to uncover the truth, her discoveries will put into question everything she thought she knew about her family. Riley must decide what the past means for her present, and what she will do with her newfound reality, in this engrossing mystery from international best-selling author Diane Chamberlain.

My Review:

The author loves to write about secrets and I must admit, they do create interest. In this case, there are multiple secrets.

Riley MacPherson’s father died recently and she returns home to clean out and dispose of all his belongings, the collections, his house. The problem is, she stumbles upon something that has her stopped in the middle of the work to sort out what appears to be a contradiction regarding the death of her older sister when she was a toddler.

There are few she can talk to regarding what happened all that time ago, and even her brother (suffering from PTSD) is loathed to discuss it nor help with the cleanup. She does manage to glean some clues, however, and begins the slow and steady climb to the truth.

This is one where you know or can predict the secret or secrets and just wait for the main character to figure it out. Of course, there are those who push the other side, the RV people, her brother, who balances out nicely with those who would help, although the two who were supposed to help with the house were just annoying.

I had a little difficulty with the family dynamics and wondered if it could really ring true. The stories of the sister and the explanation for her suicide were an obvious diversion and a rather weak one at that but didn’t do much to cover what was really suspected. The conclusion steamed in, explained everything and was quietly swept under the rug. Yeah, not wholly satisfying.

I listened to Big Lies in a Small Town in 2021; absolutely loved it and thought the growth in her storytelling is evident. I downloaded a copy of this much earlier audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Women Sleuth Mysteries, Women’s Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B00NP9394C
Listening Length: 11 hrs 39 mins
Narrator: Susan Bennett
Publication Date: October 7, 2014
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Silent Sister [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

The Author: Diane Chamberlain is the New York Times, USA Today and (London) Sunday Times best-selling author of 27 novels. The daughter of a school principal who supplied her with a new book almost daily, Diane quickly learned the emotional power of story. Although she wrote many small “books” as a child, she didn’t seriously turn to writing fiction until her early thirties when she was waiting for a delayed doctor’s appointment with nothing more than a pad, a pen, and an idea. She was instantly hooked.

Diane was born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey and lived for many years in both San Diego and northern Virginia. She received her master’s degree in clinical social work from San Diego State University. Prior to her writing career, she was a hospital social worker in both San Diego and Washington, D.C, and a psychotherapist in private practice in Alexandria, Virginia, working primarily with adolescents.

More than two decades ago, Diane was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which changed the way she works: She wrote two novels using voice recognition software before new medication allowed her to get back to typing. She feels fortunate that her arthritis is not more severe and that she’s able to enjoy everyday activities as well as keep up with a busy travel schedule.

Diane lives in North Carolina with her significant other, photographer John Pagliuca, and their odd but lovable Shetland Sheepdog, Cole.

Please visit Diane’s website at http://www.dianechamberlain.com for her event schedule and for more information on her newest novel, Big Lies in a Small Town, as well as a complete list of her books.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn – #AudiobookReview – #WWIIHistoricalFiction

nominee

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet librarian who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.

In the snowbound city of Kiev, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son—but Hitler’s invasion of Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper—a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC—until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.

My Review:

Yes, it’s true that I’ve become a die-hard fan of Kate Quinn’s solidly amazing female historical protagonists—and BONUS—based on true stories!

I always appreciate her notes regarding the extensive and fascinating research into the woman that becomes the legend. And then Kate performs her magic.

In this case, the storyline surrounds the growth of young Mila Pavlichenko from single mother to storied war sniper. Mila carefully strives to be both mother and father to her young son after she splits from a domineering, (mentally) abusive husband. Thinking that a young man should be taught about weapons as a father would do his son, she seeks to learn enough about guns that she can share the respect as well as the skill with him.

But she quickly learns she is good at it.

Very good.

And when war with Hitler finds Russia, she joins the fight—not as a nurse or admin assistant—but as a sniper and is soon known as Lady Death.

While she decries her count, the record of 300 does not go unnoticed, by either her own country or the Nazis. It is decided she might be better (safer) sent with a delegation to the US in an effort to enlist the efforts to set up another front.

The characters are amazing. From Mila to her lovers (the soon-to-be ex, the perfect foil), as well as the snippets of Eleanor Roosevelt. The descriptions of the isolation, the targets, the atmosphere draws you in.

Much of the narrative is posed as fiction and then juxtaposed against a “memoir” that sounds directly from Mila’s pen. The difference in interpretation of the event produces a few lighter moments although this storyline presents a somber telling devoid of much of the humor found in either The Rose Code or The Huntress. I learned as much about war and what women are capable of in this as the former two novels.

I listened to The Huntress in January and was totally sold on this author’s dedication to writing strong and dedicated women warriors. They are gripping and engaging entertainment and I can’t wait until the next one. The narrator is amazing.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: World War II Historical Fiction, War & Military Fiction, War Fiction
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B09F5312NL
Listening Length: 12 hrs 51 mins
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Publication Date: March 29, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Diamond Eye [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” “The Rose Code,” and “The Diamond Eye.” All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in San Diego with three rescue dogs.

The Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld is an experienced audiobook narrator and voice-over actress based in New York City. Raised in New Zealand and France, she is highly skilled with accents and dialects, and many of her books have been narrated entirely in accents other than her own. In addition to audiobooks, Saskia’s voice can be heard in animation, video games, and commercials. She attributes her love and understanding of reading books aloud to coming from a large family where audiobooks were the only way to get through car rides without fighting! Visit saskiamaarleveld.com to learn more.

#ThrowbackThursday

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn – #AudiobookReview – #WWIIHistoricalFiction – #TBT – #HarperAudio

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

The New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.

The year 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything – beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious, self-made Mab, product of East End London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

The year 1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter – the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger – and their true enemy – closer….

My Review:

Some books are too long; others you hate to see end. This one fell under the category of the latter.

What an amazing immersion into 1940 Britain starring down the barrel of the impending fight with the Nazis!

From two wildly different backgrounds come Osla; debutante, privileged, and beautiful. She’s had the advantage of having had an exclusive education resulting in the fluency in German that puts her square into the sights of Bletchley Park. From the other side of the tracks, East End London poverty comes Mab who is hiding secrets that left scarring on her soul but not her brain and she is called to work codebreaking machines.

The two, finding a rooming house not far from Bletchley Park, are introduced to Beth—spinster, mousy Beth, kept firmly under her mother’s thumb. But she is brilliant with puzzles and both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential for her work at BP as well. It is her chance to be independent, separate from her mother, discover her worth.

The three bond quickly, each in their own niche, and find the work both incredibly difficult and rewarding at the same time. They are part of something big, monumentally big. They do astonishing work under strict secrecy laws that save a lot of lives and they manage to survive the war, their friendship intact until tragedy strikes.

The storyline splits timelines. It is now 1947 and post-war London finds the three still estranged, each having moved on in their private lives. Only Beth remains tied to the years in Bletchley Park—and she is now three years in an asylum facing a radical surgical procedure that will forever alter her life (and her memory) unless she can find the traitor that lived and worked with them in BP (and is responsible for her admission to the asylum). Osla and Mab are the only persons she can trust, who have knowledge of the conditions, and the people they worked with. She absolutely must convince them to help her.

First, the war time conditions, the rations, the bombs, even the music, and the reader is plunked into the middle of it. The three have the kind of bond somewhat experienced by their male counterparts but the rip between them was extreme. Still, something nags at them regarding the details and they all search their memories for significant moments. What if she’s right and there was a traitor? Is he still active in that position?

Was there a traitor?

The three main characters are intensely engaging and their friendship is enviable. The support characters work well, adding depth to the storyline, cementing a complete vision of the time, the area, and the tension. The well-plotted, paced narrative provides twists, snappy 40s dialogue and sensibilities. It’s complex, swinging between the timeline, and thrilling. The writing is punctuated with expressive prose.

Hooked from the beginning, you’ll find yourself lost in this book to the end. The audiobook is deliciously narrated—each of the characters so well developed—easy to visualize. I also enjoyed the epilogue—the explanation of the characters, both fictional and historical, details about the facility. The author had employed untold hours of research to make it so authentic and the narrator is amazing.

I read The Huntress in January and was totally sold on this author’s dedication to writing strong and dedicated women warriors. They are gripping entertainment.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts. Highly recommended.

Book Details:

Genre: World War II Historical Fiction, War Fiction, War & Military Fiction
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B089WHV9Y7
Listening Length: 16 hrs 2 mins
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Publication Date: March 9, 2021
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Rose Code [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld is an experienced audiobook narrator and voice-over actress based in New York City. Raised in New Zealand and France, she is highly skilled with accents and dialects, and many of her books have been narrated entirely in accents other than her own. In addition to audiobooks, Saskia’s voice can be heard in animation, video games, and commercials. She attributes her love and understanding of reading books aloud to coming from a large family where audiobooks were the only way to get though car rides without fighting! Visit saskiamaarleveld.com to learn more.

Reading Ireland Month 2023

Cold Light of Day (Missing in Alaska Book #1) by Elizabeth Goddard – #BookReview – Christian Mystery and Suspense Romance

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Police Chief Autumn Long is fighting to keep her job in the quiet Alaska town of Shadow Gap when an unexpected string of criminal activity leaves her with a wounded officer, unexplained murders, and even an attack on her own father. Despite her mistrust of outsiders, she turns to Grier Brenner, a newcomer who seems to have the skills and training Autumn needs to face this threat to her community.

Grier is in Alaska for the same reason so many others are–to disappear–when Chief Long enlists his help. He emerges from the shadows and proves his mettle, but his presence in her life could be a deadly trap for them both. If his secret is exposed, all will be lost. And he’s not sure even Autumn could save him.

As the stakes rise and the dangers increase, Autumn and Grier must rely on each other to extinguish the deadly threats.

His Review:

Shadow Gap, Alaska is the perfect remote getaway in Alaska. Grier Brenner is there getting away from an international group trying to kill him. His problem is exacerbated by rogue CIA operatives who also are hunting him. With federal credentials, they have seemingly endless resources.

Chief Autumn Long has just taken over as Chief of Police for the small town but very large area. She tries to stay aloof but has a problem with Grier, she is falling for him. He captures her heart by saving a drowning girl in the frigid waters of the sound but the rescue puts a big target on his head.

The author unwinds this tale with a master storyteller’s efficiency. Three very well-placed international agents are trying to kill Grier after they extract the location of their prize from him. Autumn works the case while trying to protect Grier from the killers. People keep dying in this small town. More in the last few weeks than in the last 20 years. Grier seems to be a murder magnet.

Autumn’s father was the former Chief of Police of the territory but has been wounded by the killers. The remote location puts Grier more and more in the cross-hairs of the trio’s sights. Can Autumn protect Grier and discover the reason for their vendetta?

This novel has no downtime. I found it difficult to take a break for supper because every page magnified the tension. Enjoy the read, you will not be disappointed! 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Book Details:

Genre: Christian Mystery & Suspense Romance, Christian Suspense
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: ‎ 0800742729
ASIN: B0B6Q6PXBQ
Print Length: 331 pages
Publication Date: February 7, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Elizabeth Goddard is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than 50 novels, including Cold Light of Day, the Rocky Mountain Courage and Uncommon Justice series. Her books have sold nearly 1.5 million copies. She is a Carol Award and Reader’s Choice Award winner and a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, traveling to find inspiration for her next book, and serving with her husband in ministry. For more information about her books, visit her website at http://www.elizabethgoddard.com.

To get book news sign up for her newsletter at her website: http://elizabethgoddard.com

Follow her on Bookbub! https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elizabeth-goddard

You can connect with Elizabeth on Facebook: http://facebook.com/elizabethgoddardauthor

or Twitter: http://twitter.com/bethgoddard

©CE Williams – V Williams

#RosepointPub

The Book Woman’s Daughter (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek-2 by Kim Michele Richardson – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

Award Nominee

Book Blurb:

Revisit the packhorse librarians of Kentucky with this stunning companion to the New York Times best seller The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.

Picking up her mother’s old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn’t need anyone telling her how to survive. But the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren’t as keen to let a woman pave her own way.

If Honey wants to bring the freedom that books provide to the families who need it most, she’s going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.

My Review:

The sophomore novel released in 2022 following The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek that I read and reviewed back in 2020 for the book club found a slightly less enthusiastic audience than did the debut. This review, also for the newly formed online book club at my library, generally confirms my view.

The follow-up focuses on Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, aged sixteen, and suddenly alone following the arrest of her parents for violation of the mixed races law. Her mother Cussy being a “Blue” sent to prison as was her father.

While Honey contends only with blue hands (and feet), she is still considered part of the race and at sixteen, a minor. In 1953 in Kentucky, Honey is abruptly staring at the possibility of being sent to a juvenile work facility.

She is not without a guardian who will provide for her though, shielding her from the courts, until the old woman dies—which isn’t long into the narrative.

Honey has resources of her own, however, having her folk’s cabin and quickly finding work as her mother did, being a book woman delivering books to the outliers.

The patriarchal society in which she lived left the men mad at her for taking a job they might have had. From one hardship to another, she manages to surmount each, finding supporters and a strong friend in the process, but another woman filling what would normally be a man’s position.

Honey solves one loggerhead only to confront another and each time finds a solution or one finds her.

I enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of life in the mountains in that still sheltered and remote area. Her experience as a packhorse librarian has her meeting and dealing with many characters, the women hungering for any conversation or communication, books from the outside world, while the men are generally begrudging the time and interest of their women.

There are themes of domestic violence, religious fervor, racism, herbal medicine. For some reason, I just couldn’t seem to get into this one; had difficulty engaging with Honey, found my attention wandering, jumping to the next obvious direction, and was usually correct. Too predictable? Honey too good, too sweet? I’m sitting somewhere in the middle with this one. If you thoroughly enjoyed the first, you may very well enjoy this one. The narrator did a terrific job and will recommend the audiobook over an ebook.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Small Town & Rural Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
ASIN: B09HY61WGX
Listening Length: 10 hrs 29 mins
Narrator: Katie Schorr
Publication Date: May 3, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Book Woman’s Daughter [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

The Author: NYT and USA TODAY and L. A. TIMES bestselling author, Kim Michele Richardson resides in her home state of Kentucky. She is the author of the bestselling memoir The Unbreakable Child. Her novels include Liar’s Bench, GodPretty in the Tobacco Field. The Sisters of Glass Ferry and The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Kim Michele latest novel, The Book Woman’s Daughter, is both a standalone and sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

You can visit her websites and learn more at:

http://www.kimmichelerichardson.com

#ThrowbackThursday

A Silent Understanding: The Kilteegan Bridge Story Book 5 by Jean Grainger – #BookReview – Historical Irish Fiction

in Historical Irish Fiction

Book Blurb:

Kilteegan Bridge, Co Cork, Ireland. 1975

Lena Kogan is thrilled when her son Emmet invites her to the opening of his first building in San Francisco. It’s awkward that she will be staying with Emmet’s father Malachy Berger, but he’s in a serious relationship now, and anyway, he knows how Lena feels about Eli, so surely they can just be friends.

Her sister Emily, is less adventurous. She’s happy to stay at home with her family and a thriving business, that is until her daughter Nellie drops another bombshell on her about what she plans to do next. A move nobody could have anticipated and few support.

Her brother Jack is living contentedly on his farm with Skipper, until a couple of late-night visitors cause them to risk everything they’ve guarded so carefully. Intervening to help could mean exposure in a state where men like them are on the wrong side of the law, but some things are just too important to ignore.

In this final book of The Kilteegan Bridge Story, the O’Sullivans come to a silent understanding of each other and of themselves.

My Review:

I’ve read each of the episodes in this series and must admit that Book 4 (When Irish Eyes are Lying) hit hard and unexpectedly. So it was with some trepidation that I began Book 5.

This installment in the Kilteegan Bridge series brings back the tragedy with Lena and Eli, the story of Nellie and her ill-fated visit to San Francisco and continued the sweet and tentative interest between Emmet and Wei. It also sees additional development with Rosa Abramson and her pursuit of WWII reparations for Jews. Following Malachy’s new knowledge of his father’s and grandparents’ involvement in the theft of property during that time, he volunteers a project that would benefit the people as well as involve his biological son, Emmet.

In the meantime, new characters Katie and Maggie O’Neill are runaways from the local Catholic orphanage where their treatment is less than loving. But they cannot continue to hide with Jack and Skipper, two bachelors, and given their relationship must find other safe quarters for the young girls.

While the author’s books can get complex with multiple sub-plots, each is interwoven within the tight family and small rural, primarily Catholic-based community. Nellie has decided on a vocation unexpected that shocks her mother. Nellie’s new BFF, Sister Martina becomes a solid sympathetic character as well as one who provides a consistent story with that sense of humor we’ve come to expect of a Jean Grainger novel. (Wish I’d known about St Columbanus, the patron saint of motorcycles, back when I was riding my motorcycle, but have to admit St Michael kept his hand on me more than once.)

The atmospheric visions of rural Irish life that include an enormous family line that extends in all directions provide a gripping and emotional plot. It is a well-paced and complicated storyline that manages to confront a number of topical domestic issues.

At this point, having fully engaged in previous installments, there are issues most readers will want to see settled as they hope. The conclusion neatly gathers all remaining strings left hanging or unresolved and carefully addresses each issue and in the Epilogue quietly closes all disturbing threads. As with all families, particularly large extended ones, there are multiple and private issues, and within the family perhaps while quietly acknowledged—still remain private.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the author and publisher that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. Currently on pre-order.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Irish Fiction, Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Gold Harp Media
ASIN: B0BRNYGRM5
Publication Date: March 1, 2023
Source: Author ARC

Title Link: A Silent Understanding (Amazon)

The Author: JEAN GRAINGER

USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

SELECTED BY BOOKBUB READERS IN TOP 19 OF HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS.

WINNER OF THE 2016 AUTHOR’S CIRCLE HISTORICAL NOVEL OF EXCELLENCE

Hello and thanks for taking time out to check out my page. If you’re wondering what you’re getting with my books then think of the late great Maeve Binchy but sometimes with a historical twist. I was born in Cork, Ireland in 1971 and I come from a large family of storytellers, so much so that we had to have ‘The Talking Spoon’, only the person holding the spoon could talk!

I have worked as a history lecturer at University, a teacher of English, History and Drama in secondary school, a playwright, and a tour guide of my beloved Ireland. I am married to the lovely Diarmuid and we have four children. We live in a 200 year old stone cottage in Mid-Cork with my family and the world’s smallest dogs, called Scrappy and Scoobi..

My experiences leading groups, mainly from the United States, led me to write my first novel, ‘The Tour’. My observances of the often funny, sometimes sad but always interesting events on tours fascinated me. People really did confide the most extraordinary things, the safety of strangers I suppose. It’s a fictional story set on a tour bus but many of the characters are based on people I met over the years.

[truncated—please see her full bio on her Amazon author page]

Many of the people who have reviewed my books have said that you get to know the characters and really become attached to them, that’s wonderful for me to hear because that’s how I feel about them too. I grew up on Maeve Binchy and Deirdre Purcell and I aspired to being like them. If you buy one of my books I’m very grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. If you do, or even if you don’t, please take the time to post a review. Writing is a source of constant contentment to me and I am so fortunate to have the time and the inclination to do it, but to read a review written by a reader really does make my day.

Enjoy your day

Hearts and Dark Arts (Mitzy Moon Mysteries Book 12) by Trixie Silvertale – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

Paranormal Cozy Mystery

Book Blurb:

When a disappearing dog leads to a decades-old feud, will this psychic sleuth settle the score?

Mitzy Moon is bending over backward to be a good big sister. Spending a day at the pet invention convention seems harmless enough. But when puppy love turns into vanishing canines and a vengeful ghost, she’ll have to bend a few laws before more furry friends are spirited away…

Ignoring the handsome sheriff’s warnings about evidence that cuts both ways, Mitzy’s desperation drives her to make daring decisions. Unfortunately, one crime leads to two and her carelessness puts Ghost-ma and her interfering feline in danger. And with her family threatened by dangerous powers, her dreams of a happy ending could become a ghastly nightmare.

Can Mitzy save the pooch and her grandmother, or will she be forced to make a deadly choice?

Hearts and Dark Arts is the twelfth book in the hilarious paranormal cozy mystery series, Mitzy Moon Mysteries. If you like snarky heroines, supernatural twists, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love Trixie Silvertale’s madcap caper.

My Review:

Intrigued with Book 1 a while ago, I then jumped into Books 2 and 3. So don’t ask me why this time I’d have jumped to Book 12—any rhyme or reason there? Then I discover it has a Valentine thread running behind it as is the next book I picked up, totally unaware it also has a Valentine thread. I wonder what the stars are trying to tell me? Should I have my cards read?

At least having gotten the beginning of the storyline and intro to the main characters, I can appreciate that Mitzy has relaxed a bit now with her newly acquired financial situation. She’s definitely a bit more confident if not still as clumsy, but enjoying her circumstances and the “new” family she’s inherited.

One new family member is step-brother Stellen. A youngster smitten with Yolo, he goes to a convention with Yolo where her pet aura photography invention goes awry with her fur baby inside. Obviously, the pet may be off in the ether somewhere and Stellen enlists the aid of Mitzy who also enlists the aid of Silas, an aging alchemist and Mitzy’s mentor.

But fixing the machine doesn’t solve all the problems as there is obviously a supernatural occurrence here that they failed to recognize and now realize it will get seriously more complicated when not only Pyewacket but her Ghost-ma also disappears.

Mitzy uses her growing sense of her paranormal sensibilities as well as those she gleans from Silas to work on returning Ghost-ma from an old enemy.

In the background is the blooming romance between her and Too Hot To Handle Sheriff Erik. You can’t fault her for the quick wit and willingness to share some of her riches where it will do the most good. She has no problem sharing. I enjoy the small quiet atmosphere of Pin Cherry Harbor and the inhabitants, going about their business rather oblivious to the paranormal maneuvering at the bookstore and her descriptive upstairs apartment. It’s magical, engaging, and very entertaining.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Animal Cozy Mysteries, Paranormal Fantasy, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries
Publisher: Sittin’ On A Goldmine Productions LLC
ASIN: B0B7SQX6QC
Listening Length: 5 hrs 15 mins
Narrator: Coleen Marlo
Publication Date: February 9, 2021
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Hearts and Dark Arts [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

The Author: USA TODAY Bestselling author Trixie Silvertale grew up reading an endless supply of Lilian Jackson Braun, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew novels. She loves the amateur sleuths in cozy mysteries and is obsessed with all things paranormal. Those two passions unite in her Mitzy Moon Mysteries, and she’s thrilled to write them and share them with you.