Review and Giveaway – Shadow Crow by Natascha Birovljev @ireadbooktours

Posted on May 12, 2023 by fundinmental

Book Details:

Book Title:  Shadow Crow of the Rocky Mountains by Natascha Birovljev
Category:  Adult Fiction (18+), 446 pages
Genre: Adventure
Publisher:  North Raven Books
Release date:  March 27, 2023
Content Rating: PG for romantic elements

MY REVIEW

I love how each book of the Rocky Mountain series starts with a Prologue and a Native story. The Prologue of Shadow Crow Of The Rocky Mountains by Natascha Birovljev is a Lenape legend. I have always been fascinated by the Natives culture and this series has been excellently translated. As far as ranch life and horses, Natascha Birovljev lives what she writes.

“Dad’s dead, Chuck muttered. “I still can’t believe it.”

Now, he is returning to Spruce View with his raggedy pickup and his best friend, Goat, his mule mare. It’s a loss, but also a blessing that he was pulled from hunting camp he was working at that had become hell for him. Chuck had up and left. No goodbye to anyone.

He inherits his fathers trapline. And thus starts the mystery.

I love books that have crows in them and they will make an appearance, here and there throughout. Are they a sign for Chuck? Are they trying to tell him something? Is he listening?

It is wonderful to be back with some familiar characters. As soon as I finished one book, I picked up the next.

Lyla is a Cree woman and has been involved with Nick, co owner of Willow Ranch. I don’t want to go into too much detail about the book because it is a series and I don’t want to give anything away, but Lyla will have some life changes. I love her dog, Mr Mud. What a fun name.

In Shadow Crow of the Rocky Mountains, Chuck doesn’t come off so well. He pissed me off, more and more. Is he really so dense he can’t see what’s coming, or is he so wrapped up in himself he can’t see past his own state of mind.? Through most of the book I was hating on the men, Chuck and Nick. Can they be redeemed, because they sure have some issues.

I am so excited that I have all four books of the Rocky Mountain series by Natascha Birovjlev. As soon as I finished one, I picked up the next one, getting more and more involved in the characters lives. I try not to judge them, because the author is the one telling the story and the characters are talking to her. Their reasons are there own, and as the story unravels, I was able to understand their reasons and motivations for their actions, right or wrong.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Shadow Crow by Natascha Birovljev.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos — 4 Stars

Book Description:

Do you believe in the power of love and ancient magic to overcome the obstacles of the heart and the wilderness?

Dive into an enchanting journey of love, adventure, and mystery set in the captivating wilderness of Canada.

In The Shadow Crow of the Rocky Mountains, Chuck and Lyla find themselves drawn together by their shared love for the Canadian wilderness. However, while Lyla embraces the strength the mountains provide, Chuck returns to his hometown a bitter man, determined to sell his inherited fur-trapper route, and leave once more.

When a lucrative offer from a cunning businessman and a chance encounter with the enigmatic Wahleeah enter the picture, Chuck’s plans for a swift exit are thrown into disarray. As the possibility of staying in his hometown starts to feel like an adventure rather than a punishment, Chuck finds himself embroiled in a whirlwind of emotion, danger, and intrigue.

Lyla, appointed by her Native American tribe as the protector of wild horses, faces her own challenges. With a tumultuous relationship and her dreams of transforming the wild horse territory into a protected reserve on the line, a mysterious figure named Lonefeather Jones enters her life, igniting a magical spark within her. But will this newfound magic be enough to overcome the setbacks and jealousy that threaten to tear her world apart?

As secrets are uncovered and lives intertwine, the Willow Ranch residents find themselves facing trials that will test their courage, love, and loyalty. With legends of the First Nations woven into the narrative, this tale of ranch life and the untamed beauty of the Canadian wilderness will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

Unravel the mysteries of the Rocky Mountains and immerse yourself in the spellbinding world of The Shadow Crow of the Rocky Mountains.

BUY THE BOOK:
Amazon ~ Amazon.ca
add to goodreads

Meet the Author:

Natascha Birovljev is a storyteller at heart and author of the “Willow Ranch” book series.

Growing up in Germany, horses were always part of her life. After getting her Master degree in Religious Studies and German Literature, adventure was calling and she traveled to Alberta. She fell in love with the wild beauty of the Rocky Mountains and immigrated from Germany to Canada in 2005.

Here she worked the first years as a guide for horseback vacations, exploring mountain trails and spending the summer months in tent camps in the wilderness.

Inspired by her adventures and connections to ranchers, cowboys and First Nation communities, she started writing her books. Natascha lives on her ranch in Alberta with her horses and dogs.

Her stories show her fascination with the beauty of the Rocky Mountain wilderness and her love for the people she encounters.

connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ youtube ~ pinterest ~ goodreads

MY NATASCHA BIROVLJEV REVIEWS

Shadow Crow (Rocky Mountain Series)

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Giveaway – Thunder Road by Colin Holmes @partnersincr1me @bycolinholmes

Posted on May 12, 2023 by fundinmental

Thunder Road

by Colin Holmes

May 1 – 26, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

In this gamble, more than a few poker chips are at stake.

When an Army Air Force Major vanishes from his Top Secret job at the Fort Worth airbase in the summer of 1947, down-on-his-luck former Ranger Jefferson Sharp is hired to find him, because the Major owes a sizable gambling debt to a local mobster. The search takes Sharp from the hideaway poker rooms of Fort Worth’s Thunder Road, to the barren ranch lands of New Mexico, to secret facilities under construction in the Nevada desert.

Lethal operatives and an opaque military bureaucracy stand in his way, but when he finds an otherworldly clue and learns President Truman is creating a new Central Intelligence Agency and splitting the Air Force from the Army, Sharp begins to connect dots. And those dots draw a straight line to a conspiracy aiming to cover up a secret that is out of this world—literally so.

Praise for Thunder Road:

“This genre-defying and enormously entertaining romp is Mickey Spillane meets Whitley Strieber meets Woody Allen. I can’t remember when I’ve had so much plain old fun reading a book and just didn’t want it to end.”
~ Historical Novel Society, Editor’s Choice

“Sparkling 1940’s dialogue, wry humor, an unpredictable yet coherent storyline, and a breezy style all his own, make Colin Holmes’ somewhat spooky novel, Thunder Road, a winner. I’ll be on the lookout for his next novel.”
~ Rob Leininger, author of Killing Suki Flood and the Mortimer Angel “Gumshoe” series

“[In this] intriguing debut . . . clear crisp prose . . . morphs from a western into a detective story with an overlay of conspiracy theories.”
~ Publishers Weekly

“. . . one of the best mysteries I’ve ever read. The plot, characterization, timing, setting, dialogue, and tension was spot on. Love the noir feel of the past. Have to admit the ending twist caught me by surprise. Well done..”
~ Larry Enmon, author of Class III Threat, City of Fear, and The Burial Place

Book Details:

Genre: Noir Mystery
Published by: CamCat Books
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN: 9780744304978 (ISBN10: 0744304970)
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | CamCat Books

Read an excerpt:

A thin flicker of flame licked the blue enamel coffeepot as Jefferson Sharp stirred life into the embers of last night’s campfire. He broke his morning stare and cocked his head as a shiver brought him fully awake. The herd was moving, shuffling uneasily through the wooly ground fog. Somewhere off in the predawn darkness, a mechanical whine spooled up, echoing across the ranchlands of the Rafter B. He shot a glance at the small oak where he’d tied Dollar the night before. The buckskin quarter horse flicked his ears and danced at the end of the lead rope, pulling the branch with him.

“Easy, fella.” Sharp tried to calm them both, but Dollar pranced and threw his head. To the west, the whine increased in volume, and the morning mist glowed with enough purple light that Sharp could make out the terrain through the patchy fog. Whatever had the livestock spooked was just beyond a small rise.

Sharp buckled on his gun belt, and his hand found his Colt. Not the six-shooting cowboy revolver of Gentry Ferguson’s King of the West movies, but a well-used Army issue .45 automatic that had followed him home from the European theater.

All through that war, Sharp had explained that, yes, he was from Texas, but that didn’t make him a cowboy. He’d walked the beat as a cop before the war—didn’t own a horse, have a ranch, or ever slept out under the stars or tended cattle. So naturally, here he was two years later, camped out on a ranch with a borrowed horse, guarding cows.

He patted Dollar’s shoulder as if that would settle the horse, then hiked up the hill in the low crouch that had been driven into him on too many mornings in the infantry.

When he was two steps up the hill, the earth rumbled with the tremor of aggravated shorthorns thundering away from the noise and light. Sharp had been a special ranger for the Fort Worth and Western Stockmen’s Association since the war, but he’d yet to be involved in a stampede.

Of course, it had to happen now, he thought. Before sunup. In the fog.

He had no place to hide as dozens of terrified red cattle came bellowing over the rise. He scrambled back to the campsite. He could see the white faces on the lead pair of Herefords when he yanked the Colt off his hip and fired twice into the air. The startled cattle reeled and parted right and left at the gunfire, the herd splitting to flow past the campsite like a stream around a rock. Luck and the good Lord favored the ignorant.

Sharp shooed the last of the stragglers past as the adrenaline drained away. “That,” he said to the nickering quarter horse, “is enough excitement for today.”

The mysterious whine disagreed. Pulsing lights strobing red, purple, and golden orange rose from beyond the hill. The apparition moved over the ridgeline, and the fog glowed. Behind Sharp, Dollar screamed a whinny and reared, trying for all his might to pull the scrubby tree out of the ground. The branch cracked. Sharp dove for the lead rope and dug his heels into the damp earth before Dollar could bolt. Something was out there with the man and horse, and the smarter one of the pair wasn’t sticking around to find out what it was.

But the light show could move as well, and it did. The brilliant colors rotated in concert with the whine as it became a deafening howl. The hovering glow spun together into an intense white circle, levitated high over the hill, and disappeared into the morning fog. Instantly, the noise changed course and roared back over the camp. The lights flashed overhead, then vanished at incredible speed, leaving a dying echo and a breeze that moved the wisps of fog.

Sharp and Dollar stood frozen as whatever the hell it was blasted above them. They shared a look, and then the quarter horse went full rodeo, bucking, jumping, and twisting—anything to get out of this halter, off this rope, away from this tree, and back to the safety of the barn. Any barn.

It took five minutes of profanity and cajoling, but Sharp finally calmed down the panicked gelding. He took a good hold on the halter and led them back to the campsite. “Look, I don’t know what it is either, but I’m pretty damn sure it doesn’t eat horses for breakfast.”

Dollar’s wild eyes and flicking ears suggested that he was not convinced.

Sharp remembered that something else was out there. Sixtyfour head of cattle the Stockmen’s Association was paying him to keep track of. Now, they were scattered from here to Mingus, and he and Dollar would be all morning rounding them up.

***

Author Bio:

Before the pandemic, Colin Holmes toiled in a beige cubical as a mid-level marketing and advertising manager for an international electronics firm. A recovering advertising creative director, he spent far too long at ad agencies and freelancing as a hired gun in the war for capitalism.

As an adman, Holmes has written newspaper classifieds, TV commercials, radio spots, trade journal articles and tweets. His ads have sold cowboy boots and cheeseburgers, 72-ounce steaks, and hazardous waste site clean-up services. He’s encountered fascinating characters at every turn.

Now he writes novels, short stories and screenplays in an effort to stay out of the way and not drive his far too patient wife completely crazy. He is an honors graduate of the UCLA Writers Program, a former board member of the DFW Writers Workshop and serves on the steering committee of the DFW Writers Conference. He’s a fan of baseball, barbeque, fine automobiles and unpretentious scotch.