Review – Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell @1pcornwell #netgalley #grandcentralpublishing

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

Kay Scarpetta has been around long enough, that many of the characters are familiar to me. I have enjoyed each and every moment with them. I want to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell.

An abandoned amusement park.

A mutilated body.

A message sent.

Kay Scarpetta finds out the victim is someone she knows. Someone she once loved. Sal Giordano. I do like when an author isn’t afraid to kill off a character that I know, as long as it enhances the story. This death hits very close to home for Kay.

Mystery surrounds Sal Giordano’s death. Does it involve aliens? Just your run of the mill human murderer? Or could it be someone from their past getting their revenge?

Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell seemed different from the usual Kay Scarpetta novels, but may I’ve just missed too many to see the storyline clearly. Either way, I enjoyed my time with the characters. The mystery is deep, complex, and I didn’t see what was coming.

I found it hard to rate Identity Unknown. I wanted to love it, but I couldn’t quite get there. Whether it’s the or me, I can’t say. I will say this, if you are a Kay Scarpetta and Patricia Cornwell fan, I recommend reading Identity Unknown

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
3 Stars

Autopsies can reveal the secrets of the dead.

And this victim is sending Scarpetta a message…

Summoned to an unnerving, abandoned theme park to retrieve a body, Dr Kay Scarpetta is devastated to learn that the victim is a man she once loved. While teaching in Rome during the early days of her career, Scarpetta had an intense love affair with Sal Giordano that led to a lifelong friendship.

The murder scene is bizarre, with a crop circle of petals around the body, and Giordano’s skin is strangely red. Scarpetta’s niece Lucy believes he was dropped from an unidentified flying craft. Scarpetta knows an autopsy can reveal the dead’s secrets, but she is shocked to find her friend seems to have deliberately left her a clue.

As the investigators are torn between suspicions of otherworldly forces, and of Giordano himself, Scarpetta detects an explanation closer to home that, in her mind, is far more evil . .

  • Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
  • 400 pages, Hardcover
  • Expected publication October 8, 2024 by Grand Central Publishing
  • Series: Kay Scarpetta, #28

Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, in 1990 while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. Postmortem, was the first bona fide forensic thriller. It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature.

Postmortem would go on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure prize – the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. To date, Cornwell’s books have sold some 100 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She’s authored twenty-nine New York Times bestsellers.

Patricia’s novels center primarily on medical examiner Kay Scarpetta along with her tech-savvy niece Lucy and fellow investigator Pete Marino. Celebrating 25 years, these characters have grown into an international phenomenon, winning Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development.

Fox 2000 bought the rights to Kay Scarpetta. Working with producer Liz Friedman, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and fellow Marvel EP and Twilight Saga scribe Melissa Rosenberg to develop the film and find Scarpetta a home on the big screen.

After earning her degree in English from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer.

Cornwell received widespread attention and praise for her series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte. From the Charlotte Observer, Cornwell moved to a job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia – a post she would later bestow upon the fictional Kay Scarpetta.

When not writing from her Boston home, Patricia tirelessly researches cutting-edge forensic technologies to include in her work. Her interests span outside the literary: Patricia co-founded of the Conservation Scientist Chair at the Harvard University Art Museums. She appears as a forensic consultant on CNN and serves as a member of Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital’s National Council, where she advocates for psychiatric research. She’s helped fund the ICU at Cornell’s Animal Hospital, the scientific study of a Confederate submarine, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and a variety of law enforcement charities. Patricia is also committed to
funding scholarships and literacy programs. Her advice to aspiring authors: “Start writing. And don’t take no for an answer.”


Social and Digital Outlets

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Giveaway & Review – Frozen Lives by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush @partnersincr1me

FROZEN LIVES

by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush

October 7 – November 1, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

Everything about Frozen Lives by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush spoke to me and I was not disappointed. A big plus, it takes place in my home state of Michigan and I felt right at home. I wasn’t able to read it in one sitting, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try.

I was immediately swept away by the story and the characters. I love that the characters flaws and foibles were on prominent display. It makes them feel more realistic. Even the villain was worthy of empathy, but that doesn’t excuse what he does.

When Jeremiah , the eleven year old son of her best friend, is taken, Emily leaves the Windy City of Chicago and returns to Michigan.

I’m trying to come up with the words to describe the story without giving anything away. It is worth finding out what is going on for yourself. It’s worth meeting the characters and finding out who is your favorite for yourself. The book may highlight Emily, but there were other characters that had as much face time as she did.

The pacing kept me engrossed, unable to stop reading, wanting to know what was coming next and what was going to happen to who. The thrills and chills never stop coming.

There was a couple of times when I questioned their actions, or should I say non action, that kept me from giving the book five stars.

Frozen Lives by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush has a fabulous ending and I must admit I thought it was a possibility.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

Synopsis:

A Coroner’s Daughter Mystery

 

Dr. Emily Hartford is back in Frozen Lives, the next thrilling mystery from Jennifer Graeser Dornbush.

Chicago surgeon Emily Hartford has never quite shaken off the dust of her hometown in Michigan. She may be a professional success and have a princely boyfriend in the Windy City, but she can’t seem to let go of being “the coroner’s daughter” from Freeport.

Once again, she finds herself pulled back upstate during a wintery late March when Jeremiah, the eleven year-old son of her best friend, Jo, goes missing on the frigid shores of Lake Michigan. Emily immediately joins the search for the boy.

To everyone’s relief, Jeremiah turns up days later, alive and unharmed. But tensions remain high, and suspicions of every sort continue to grow. Jeremiah’s account of his abduction doesn’t add up and Emily worries about Jo’s unraveling marriage. Jeremiah’s recovery, it turns out, is not the end of their terrifying tale. It’s only the beginning …

For moving among them is a devious, malevolent force. Sowing panic while seeking to fulfill his own twisted needs, this wolf in sheep’s clothing leaves a trail of rack and ruin, negligent to the damages in his wake … and the bodies he leaves behind.

Emily solidifies her role as coroner’s daughter when she puzzles out this madman’s chilling machinations. Risking everything dear to her, Emily goes the icy distance to end his killing spree.

Praise for Frozen Lives:

“Fast paced, engaging, evocative.”
~ J.A. Jance

FROZEN LIVES is what a thriller should be—dark, twisty, and oh so scary. Lock your doors and enjoy.”
~ DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Jake Longly and Cain/Harper thriller series and co-creator of the Outliers Writing University

“Jennifer Dornbush scares the living hell out of me. When I want to stay up all night, I just read one of her books, and Frozen Lives doesn’t disappoint. On par with Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, Frozen Lives weaves a terrifying tale of evil, paranoia and when you go to bed at night make sure your doors are locked tight. A terrific story.”
~ Don Bruns, USA Today Best Selling Author

“Chilling! Jennifer Dornbush has crafted a thriller that haunts the mind and can keep you deep in the pages into the wee hours! A not to miss psychological mystery with twists and turns throughout.”
~ Heather Graham

Book Details:

Genre: thriller, suspense, female detective
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: October 29, 2024
Number of Pages: 350
ISBN: 9798212638364
Series: The Coroner’s Daughter Mysteries, 4
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Blackstone Publishing

Read an excerpt:

 

 

Author Bio:

Jennifer Graeser Dornbush

The television or movie screen is the closest most people will ever come to witnessing the forensic world. But Jennifer Dornbush was raised in it. As the daughter of a small-town medical examiner whose office was in their home. There were body parts in the fridge. She investigated her first fatality, an airplane crash, when she was 8 years old. Picking up pieces of skull with her father who simply saw it as an anatomy lesson. The first of many coroner lessons she experienced over two decades.
After exploring journalism and high school teaching, Jennifer turned seriously to screenwriting where she began to connect her coroner world to her writing. She sought out a degree at the Forensic Science Academy in Los Angeles to gain more forensic training and earned a unique kinship with LA’s top CSIs, fingerprint specialists, DNA scientists, and detectives.
To share her love of forensics with the writing world, she authored the top selling non-fiction authoritative book, Forensic Speak, used by not only by show-runners and writers, but also crime investigators and law enforcement.
She created an Amazon top selling mystery novel series, The Coroner’s Daughter, which she is currently developing as a series for TV. Her crime thriller, Hole in the Woods, is currently optioned for screen. She is a contributor to mystery anthologies, Hotel California and Thriller. She has also penned two true crime books.
As a screenwriter Jennifer wrote the theatrically released film and novel, God Bless the Broken Road (2018), adapted a popular YA novel to script, and sold a children’s show. She is currently developing TV drama series and feature films with various productions companies.
As a forensic consultant, she is frequently asked to consult with TV writers on shows such as: Bull, Conviction, Hawaii Five-O, Leverage, Suits, and Rectify. She teaches screenwriting and mentors aspiring writers.
Jennifer is a member of the Writers’ Guild of America, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Crime Writers Association, & the FBI Citizen’s Academy Alumni.

Catch Up With Jennifer Graeser Dornbush:
www.JenniferDornbush.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @jgdornbush1
Instagram – @jgdornbush
YouTube – @ForensicSpeakJenniferDornbush
Facebook – @JGDornbush

 

 

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Don’t Let Her In – The Crone by Kevin Bachar @KevinPangolin

The Crone Horror Book House of Horror series Witches and scary evil in a haunted house.
The Crone Horror Book House of Horror series Witches and scary evil in a haunted house.
The Crone Horror Book House of Horror series Witches and scary evil in a haunted house.

Amazon / Goodreads

The Crone by Kevin Bachar is one of the best horror novels I have read in a while. It’s part of his stand alone Houses Of Horror series. Most people think of their home as places of comfort and safety. Not so, Kevin Bachar’s homes. They are filled with horror and terror.

The fabulous cover hints at the horror awaiting new homeowners Paul and Tina Nimos. They are house flippers. Buying homes, fixing them up, and then selling them. This time, the house is in good shape and they are going to make it their forever home…Or so they think. The Crone will have something to say about that.

A sharp piece of wood, a drop of blood, and The Crone is released. What started out as hope for their forever home quickly feels like a curse. But the Crone never faced anyone like Tina before. Tina had served in Afghanistan, and she will put up one hell of a fight to protect her family and claim the house as their own.

I had moments of familiarity, like when she goes to the grocery store and has to put items back because she didn’t have enough money. I’m happy those days are over for me, I just hope it’s over for Tina too. It is small moments like this, that make the characters relatable and realistic…even The Crone…if you believe in that sort of thing.

I found myself smiling at the cute dialogue between Tina and her daughter, Katie.

“How about the Daddy doll? Does he listen to the Mommy?”

“No, he never does…..”He’s always in time out. Not very good at listening.”

Thrills and chills abound in The Crone by Keven Bachar. Sometimes the horror is subtle and anticipatory, other times it’s in your face. To add to the ambience, cozy up in your favorite reading place, turn out the lights, and read The Crone.

The Crone was unpudownable and has a great ending. I was soon flying through the pages, I read The Crone in one sitting, so take note, once you start you may not be able to stop.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
5 Star

Paul and Tina Nimos are like a lot of young married couples, they’re madly in love but finances are putting a strain on their relationship. Their home renovation business is struggling, and with a new baby in the house, bills are piling up. When Paul finds a cheap house to buy and flip, he thinks their problems are solved. It’s an older New England home, with plenty of history and once it’s repaired it should command a great price.

But as Paul and Tina begin the daunting task of restoring the new house, they struggle with the reconstruction. It seems the home doesn’t want to be repaired. As they fall behind in their renovation they realize that unexplained forces are conspiring against them and that helpful friends might not be who they seem.

Soon the couple realizes that a Crone could be the source of their troubles. But it might be too late, as the house and the Crone prepare to extract a horrific toll from Paul, Tina, and their baby. Will they be able to fight back against a centuries-old evil? The Crone, don’t ever let her in.

  • Genre: Fiction, Horror
  • 266 pages, Kindle Edition
  • Expected publication October 30, 2024

Kevin Bachar is a national EMMY award-winning natural history documentary filmmaker and WGA writer. The elevated horror film he wrote – The Inhabitant – https://www.lionsgate.com/movies/the-inh… – was released through Lionsgate and is available on most streaming services.

If you’ve watched National Geographic, PBS, or The Discovery Channel over the years you’ve seen his work. He’s the idiot in the water filming sharks or crawling into caves to photograph vampire bats. You can see Kevin at work filming sharks here – https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2703407897/

The natural world has always captured his imagination and the supernatural world inspires his stories. Through his journeys, he’s interviewed scientists who’ve enlightened him, heard folk tales that have frightened him, and seen quite a few things that have challenged his skeptical mind.

His collection of short stories that weaves together the natural world and the supernatural world entitled, DREAD, is available on Amazon. He’s currently working on his second collection entitled – CREEP.

Complimenting his writing, Kevin has lectured and given presentations at prestigious institutions such as Rutgers University, American University, and the Rubin Museum of Art.
To keep up to date with Kevin’s movies, documentaries, and books –
www.kevinbachar.com
https://twitter.com/KevinPangolin
https://www.instagram.com/kevinbachar/
https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinbachar?l…
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjEKM_m
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1423190/

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$20 GC & Review – Silver Bells by Sandy Lender @goddessfish @sandylender

SILVER BELLS: A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY

Sandy Lender

GENRE:  Horror

Such a great cover that hides the horror inside.

Ivy Light is visiting her best friend for Christmas. She will get more than she bargained, both good and bad.

The Harris’ have a security guard by the name of John Knightley, after the husband receives a threat. He will regret allowing the rest of his team to have the holidays off.

A fire next door leads to a full house, when they open their doors to the homeless family.

The spirits have a beef against those who built their houses on sacred ground. We all know what happens when the spirits take offense. They fight back.

Silver Bells by Sandy Lender is a quick read with enough horror to keep me curious, having to know how the story will end. So, if you are looking for something wicked for the holidays, you might want to take a looksee.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
3 Star

BLURB

There’s more than the Christmas Spirit hovering around Reindeer Creek this holiday
season. An eerie backdrop to her dearest friend’s new home disturbs Ivy Light, but the Harris family’s personal security detail—the debonair John Knightley—intrigues her greatly. The handsome gentleman has his hands full with his client being stalked by more than unethical business moguls. There are hybrid wolf-bear creatures and a manipulative side chick to worry about, after all. It’ll take extra Christmas cheer for Ivy to bring comfort and joy back to her best friend amid the tragedies and paranormal threats this year. 

Join in the festivities at Reindeer Creek! And help the families at the Harris house divine what’s reality, who’s a foe, and how to thwart the evil side of a spiritual war.

EXCERPT

She clearly heard the click of the coat closet door as Harry finished depositing Professor Thackery’s outerwear and listened for their footsteps to join them. John would have a fit if he could see this. Each one of us lined up here at the window, exactly where he told me not to have us. Of course, John hadn’t indicated he was prone to fits of anger when his orders were balked. He rolled with the punches nicely. He’d probably smirk at her with that way too sexy mouth.

Enough of that thinking.

The snowman-gnome worker had made it half-way up the ladder and stopped. Because her attention was focused on Mr. Heggs, his plastic-looking hair, and the diminutive chainsaw he now fired up with a whine-and-whir, she lost track of his partner. Would that fellow try to approach the front door next? Try to breach the stronghold?

She wanted to move everyone to an interior room. “Maybe we should all—”

Lexie shrieked as a blur of gray wintery mix slammed into the worker outside. Both ladder and chunky gnome crashed over in a fast-motion slam to the ground.

Snow exploded along the footprint of the falling ladder. And as stark red sprayed up from the chainsaw’s grinding whir-and-scream against bone and metal, Ivy grabbed Lexie and spun her away from the gore. She buried the child’s face in her shoulder, away from the horrifying thrashing that ended long before the crimson shower.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Sandy Lender is an international best-selling poet and award-winning author of fantasy, literary fiction, poetry, and short story work. She’s a construction magazine editor by day and author of #GirlPower fantasy novels by night, living in Florida to help with sea turtle conservation and parrot rescue. You can follow her author page on Amazon, check her website at SandyLenderInk.com, or subscribe to her newsletter at https://bit.ly/SSReNews.

With a four-year degree in English and thirty-year career in publishing, Sandy’s successes include traditionally and self-published novels, hundreds of magazine articles, multiple short stories in competitive anthologies, a handful of technical writing awards, a handful of creative writing awards, and the 2023 Michael Knost Wings award. Sandy’s been writing stories since she was knee-high to a grasshopper when her great-grandmother shared her odd little tales of squeaky ghost-spiders around an apartment complex in Southern Illinois. The stories have developed to include strong young ladies working with dragons to save worlds from terrible fates, but those pesky spiders still show up from time to time.

There’s always something brewing at Sandy Lender Ink headquarters where some days, you just want the dragon to win.

  • Visit SandyLenderInk: www.SandyLenderInk.com
  • Subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter at bit.ly/SSReNews
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  • Follow her BookTube channel SandySaysRead on YT @SandyLender
  • Grab the ebook of Silver Bells: https://books2read.com/u/4Nlap6
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Review – I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong #netgalley #illbewaiting

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

I’ll Be Waiting is one of the best Kelley Armstrong novels I have read in some time.

“I’ll Be Waiting”, were some of Anton’s last words. Nicola had thought their short time together would be because of her illness, Cystic Fibrosis. She cannot accept that he is gone, so she hops from one seance to another.

Don’t we all know, don’t go in the basement. Yet, she does.

I didn’t trust the right person and did trust the wrong person. That’s some great writing. Sucked me right in.

I love that Kelley Armstrong had my head spinning. I couldn’t figure out if Nicola was being played or if it was true. I do love a convoluted ghost story. One that I am not able to figure out for myself. I was fooled and when I found the truth, I loved the book all the more. It’s nice to be surprised. I couldn’t figure out who to trust and was sucked into the ghostly mystery.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
5 Stars

From New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a spellbinding new tale of supernatural horror involving a haunted-house, seances, lost loved ones, and a sinister spirit out for blood…

Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future… together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press—the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn’t Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.

Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium—a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton’s family once owned.

The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter…in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she’s haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn’t her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn’t her real name.

That’s when she finds the first body….

In this atmospheric, thrilling new ghost story, Kelley Armstrong’s full talents are on display to thrill, chill and leave the reader guessing how Nicola escapes with her life–if she can.

  • Genre: Ghosts, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Thriller
  • 336 pages, Hardcover
  • Expected publication October 1, 2024 by St Martin’s Press
Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the NYT-bestselling “Women of the Otherworld” paranormal suspense series and “Darkest Powers” young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Tumbler

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Review – Poppy and Marigold by Meg Welch Dendler @MegWelchDendler

Amazon / Goodreads

My first introduction to Meg Welch Dendler’s writing was when I met Bianca. She is one of those authors that quickly added to my must read list. I am excited to be back with Poppy And Marigold, two young girls that come from two totally different worlds.

Poppy is a twelve year old Blue. All her life she was taught that Blue is superior to all the other colors. When she meets Marigold, a tangerine colored girl and her family, her world is turned upside down. She found she isn’t superior in their world. In fact, she is the ignorant one. Her eyes are opened. How can she return and obey the 50 Rules governing her world after all she has learned? If she is found out, she will be sent to the Detention Center, but how can she go back and pretend nothing has happened?

When Red attacks them the answer presents itself.

Poppy And Marigold is written for ages six to eighteen, but it is so thought provoking, for me, that I think it is a book for all ages. Anything that gets my mind spinning is a good thing, and Poppy and Marigold did just that, in a fantastic and wonderful way. I think it sends a message in an easy to understand way. Just because we’re different doesn’t mean we’re better…or worse.

I can see how there can more books in the making, as we discover how the other colors live and how they are closer than Poppy could possibly know.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
5 Stars

Blue citizens are absolutely superior to all others, especially ignorant, uncivilized Orange. Poppy has been taught this relentlessly for twelve years. But when she accidentally crosses the forbidden border and is befriended by Marigold—a tangerine-skinned girl—and her kind-but-quirky family, Poppy is forced to rethink everything. Questioning that Blue is Best or the rest of the 50 Rules governing Poppy’s world would get her sent to a dangerous Detention Center. Or worse. But how can she return to her blindly obedient, anti-Orange life now that she knows the truth?

  • Genre: Childrens, Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult
  • 218 pages, Kindle Edition
  • Expected publication October 1, 2024 by Serenity Mountain Publishing

Meg Dendler has considered herself a writer since she was honored in a picture book contest in 5th grade. Beginning serious work as a freelancer in the ’90s while teaching elementary and middle school, Meg has over one hundred articles in print, including interviews with Kirk Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. She has won contests with her short stories and poetry, along with multiple awards for her best-selling Cats in the Mirror alien rescue cat children’s book series. “Bianca: The Brave Frail and Delicate Princess” was honored as Best Juvenile Book of 2018 by the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, and “Snickerdoodle’s Shenanigans” won that same honor in 2024. Now a retired teacher, Meg holds a BA in Journalism/Public Relations, an MA in Early Childhood Education, and has been teacher certified in three states. Meg is also an editor/proofreader for independent and self-publishing authors, with over 80 books completed since 2015.

Meg and her family live in NW Arkansas. Visit her at www.megdendler.com for more information about upcoming books and events and all of Meg’s social media links.

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Does It Meet The Hype? It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover @colleenhoover

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

Does it meet the hype? Romance is not at the top of my favorites list, but It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover met all the requirements of a romance, with a little extra. I want to warn you of there is a trigger, domestic abuse.

Colleen Hoover’s writing is so good, she could probably write a menu and everyone would want to read it. Even though the story was predictable, I enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and I do like an author that spreads the flaws around.

If you are a romance lover, I can’t help but think It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover will hit all the bases for you.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

International and #1 New York Times bestselling author of romance, YA, thriller, women’s fiction and paranormal romance.

I don’t like to be confined to one genre. If you put me in a box, I’ll claw my way out.

My social media username is @colleenhoover pretty much everywhere except my email, which is colleenhooverbooks@gmail.com

Founder of www.thebookwormbox.com charity and Book Bonanza.

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Review – Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg #netgalley #ashesneverlie @LeeGoldberg

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Lee Goldberg novel and I must say, this was not one of my favorites. Every time I though it was going to ‘get there’, it didn’t. It doesn’t stop me from looking for more of Lee’s books to read. Could it be because he is a mainstream author I have high expectations?

The dialogue seemed forced. The back and forth banter seemed mean spirited, by the tone of the writing. I know it wasn’t meant that way.

We seemed to be all over the place and there was more than one bad guy doing bad things.

We have the politics of different police forces trying to run things, and that read true.

Gotta remember this is an ARC and there may be changes made, writing tightened up. The characters and mystery were fleshed out but it had an amateur feel to it, maybe a rushed feeling that I sure don’t expect from a mainstream author. That being said, I’ll still have my eye out for more of his work.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
3 Star

The secrets hidden in smoldering ashes hold the fate of a city in an explosive thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.

Vacant homes in a new housing development are erupting into flames in broad daylight with no apparent cause. It’s a perplexing mystery for dogged arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his restless new partner, Andrew Walker, an ex–US marshal who craves action.

But as they puzzle over the blazes, another home miles away burns to the ground, leaving a man’s corpse in the ashes and homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone demanding answers. The burn patterns and charred body tell Sharpe a bizarre story that only creates more questions for Eve. So the four detectives team up to find the answers. Their investigation into the two unrelated cases leads to one shocking discovery after another.

Now they must gamble their lives to unmask a brilliant arsonist, crack open a massive swindle, track down a desperate fugitive with a terrifying secret, and race against time to save thousands of people from an agonizing death.

  • Genre: Arson, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
  • 286 pages, Kindle Edition
  • Expected publication September 24, 2024
  • Series: Sharpe & Walker, #2

#1 New York Times Bestselling author Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee whose many TV writing and/or producing credits include “Martial Law,” “SeaQuest,” “Diagnosis Murder,””Hunter,” “Spenser: For Hire,” “Nero Wolfe,” “Missing.” “Monk” and “The Glades.” He’s also the co-author of the Fox & O’Hare series with Janet Evanovich (The Heist, The Chase, The Job, The Scam, The Pursuit etc), “The Walk,” “Watch Me Die,” “King City,” the “Dead Man” series, as well as the “Diagnosis Murder” and “Monk” series of original mystery novels.

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Review – The Compass Killer by Michael Geczi @MichaelGeczi

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The Compass Killer is part of The Serial Killer Anthology, which will include five books, by Michael Geczi. Each book has a unique focus and The Compass Killer is about a serial killer, Travis Newsom, who has a last wish. He wants to know more about the people he killed and all those around them who were affects. Of course, I know you can’t believe what a psychopath says, but Reverend Stan McLogan feels by helping the serial killer get what he wants, he can find out about other killings. Quid pro quo. He is interested in learning more about their emotions and spirituality of those on death row.

I love reading about serial killers, but I don’t know if the why of their killings is ever answered. I love trying to decipher their motivations, which can probably never be known.

As the deadline approaches for his execution, I can’t help but think he deserves what is coming for him. As the clock ticks down, I can only think he has overstayed his welcome on this earth. Will he give the Reverend the list of his victims before he is put to death?

We learn about his killings, how his victims were chosen and how they died, leaving a compass on top of their bodies. All except one, why was that different.

As I approached the final pages of The Compass Killer by Michael Geczi, I was surprised at the fabulous ending. I never saw it coming. Well done, Michael.

I want to thank Michael for the opportunity to read and review The Compass Killer by Michael Geczi.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

The new addition to The Serial Killer Anthology! Get it today!

Facing execution, Arizona death-row inmate Travis Newsom, “The Compass Killer,” has a last wish: he tells Rev. Stan McLogan he wants to learn more before he’s dead about the families and friends of his victims as well as the family he abandoned. McLogan thinks it’s a great opportunity to identify additional victims that Newsom may have killed beyond the ones he left small round compasses on in 1998 after murdering them. He asks his friend, Santa Monica Detective Nour El Masry, if she’ll help with the research.

The task is far from straightforward, however. McLogan’s prison discussions with Newsom take surprising psychological twists and turns, reflecting both men’s own agendas. El Masry’s research raises questions about Newsom’s background and what he’s sharing. And Arizona politics put the execution at risk.

As deadlines approach, McLogan questions his involvement with the prisoner, and Newsom discovers the young minister is a formidable adversary and not the naïve soft touch he imagined. El Masry, meanwhile, finds new information about the origins of Newsom’s life of lies and violence.

The Compass Killer, the fourth book in the Serial Killer Anthology, brings together elements of the series’ three previous stories: The Deadly Samaritan (McLogan’s parents and a 1992 serial killer case); Killer Dead, Victim Alive (Santa Monica Detectives Greg Nichols and Mollie Granger), and Hunting a Cat in Dogtown (Nour El Masry, Nichols and Granger).

Former Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Associated Press and Dallas Morning News writer and editor; Wall Street executive; best-selling author; communications/crisis consultant and university instructor (University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism). Also author of Futures: The Anti-Inflation Investment. Lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife, Lisa.

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Review – Legacy Of Blood by Heather Graham @heathergraham #netgalley #legacyofblood

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Whenever I see a Heather Graham book up for grabs, I do not hesitate. I grab it. I want to thank NetGalley and and Mira for the opportunity to read Legacy of Blood (The Blackbird Files, #3).

Special Agent Jeanette LaFarge is on her way to Paris, not for a wine tasting, but to discover why murder victims are being drained of their blood. History is repeating itself, and it’s not vampires that are running the countryside.

I am familiar with the Krewe of Hunters and am excited to meet the team of Blackbirds.

Jeanette will be paired up with Daniel Murray, who is new to being a ghost whisperer. They will need all the help they can get to discover who is behind the killings.

It didn’t take me long to single out one suspect, among the many others. I find out I am right about her and to discover those she is working with, that was not so easy.

I love ghost whisperer novels, where the ghosts are peripheral characters that help solve the mystery. To have some romance thrown in adds another element, and I am not surprised because of how closely the characters work together.

We have plenty of danger and suspense as the complex mystery deepens and I am all in.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos
4 Stars

In the streets of Paris, someone wants to paint the town red…

When Special Agent Jeanette LaFarge is called in to investigate a vineyard in the Reims region of France, the last thing she expects to find is multiple bodies with every vein bled dry. It’s yet another case tailor-made for Blackbird. Joining her is recent recruit Detective Daniel Murray, eager to use his newfound abilities to track down whoever is terrorizing Paris and its surrounding areas.

With each ashen victim grows the realization that those responsible weren’t inspired by vampiric creatures of the night but by Elizabeth Báthory herself. The Hungarian noblewoman’s unspeakable crimes against her people are being reenacted in both the City of Lights and across the French countryside. Unless the two of them act quickly, the upcoming harvest promises to yield blood instead of wine.

  • Genre: Ghosts, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
  • 326 pages, Kindle Edition
  • Expected publication: September 24, 2024 by MIRA
  • Series: The Blackbird Files, #3

 Also published as Heather Graham Pozzessere and Shannon Drake.

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell’s Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette’s Shadows, and for Harlequin’s mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.

Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children’s charity.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.

Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

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