Nicholas Ryan asked if I would be interested in reading Brink of Extinction, a full length, stand alone zombie novel…and I said YES. Would I read more of his work? You betcha!
Gideon, OMG, is evil personified. What is his motive for the havoc he is wreaking? He is brutal. Is it because of what happened to him? Does he blame the world and is going to take out is revenge of it? Whoa, it’s like someone opened the doors of the insane asylum and the inmates are running wild.
And the author…how deep did he dig to come up with these savage scenarios? I am only at 10%. I can see why the world is on the Brink of Extinction if these are the kind of people holding the power, running wild in the streets.
It has been thirty years since they faced off against the zombies. The apocalypse brought them to the Brink of Extinction. Now…to survive the human danger. Man’s true colors are exposed when their lives are on the line. Will they sacrifice for others? Are they out for all they can get for themselves, killing for sport? What happens when the Army can’t hold the line?
Nicholas Ryan has taken a great angle with Brink of Extinction. This is not your usual zombie story. An original, refreshing, down right frightening take on zombie apocalypse and what comes after. It’s hard to not give away some of the elements I feel would be best you find out for yourself.
You need eyes in the back of your head and your head on a swivel, because every step you take could lead towards capture for the slave auction or death.
A man and a boy on a journey that will bring them both to where they are meant to be by the end of the story. The journey is eye opening, brutal, dangerous and live affirming and I loved walking every step with them.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Brink of Extinction by Nicholas Ryan.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
A STAND ALONE ZOMBIE NOVEL A drifter in a savage wasteland, up against the evil that has risen from the ashes of the zombie apocalypse. In
a brutal unforgiving world one man will be called upon to take up a
fight to save those who remain. He thought his last war had been fought
in the trenches against the zombie hordes. Now there is one more bloody
battle that must be won. But the enemy is no longer undead, it is much
worse than that… A full length stand alone novel.
ABOUT NICHOLAS RYAN
Australian writer, Nicholas Ryan, is the author of four bestselling zombie novels – ‘Ground Zero’, ‘Die Trying’, ‘Dead Rage’, and ‘Zombie War’. All of Nick Ryan’s novels are full-length stand alone post apocalyptic thrillers that can be read in any order. Ryan’s first novel, ‘Ground Zero’ was acclaimed by author DJ Molles, as a “Bloody zombie smash!” and since then every book has become an Amazon horror/zombie bestseller. Several of Nicholas Ryan’s books have since been published as audiobooks. Nicholas Ryan lives on the East Coast of Australia with his long time girlfriend on a small farm.
To keep up to date with all the latest Nicholas Ryan news and new book release information visit him on: Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/nickryanauthor Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nicholas_ryan_author/
You can contact Nick directly at nicholasryanpublicist@gmail.com.
I have been following Natalie since the beginning and love this fabulous character. She is all I could hope for in a kickass woman that takes no prisoners and struggles to survive the dangerous world she lives in.
Drat! I just discovered I missed Missing. I will be reading that soon and share it with you.
And Sniper was released in May of 2018. Gotta keep up with Frank Renzi in New Orleans.
Well, I don’t know what to say. The ending for Natalie’s Dilemma by Susan Fleet blew my mind. I don’t know how I feel. Does it make you curious? GOOD!
Natalie’s Dilemma is a series, but the way Susan Fleet writes the books could stand alone, though why you would want to miss any of Natalie’s story I don’t know.
I have been traveling the world with Natalie, dodging bullets and those that either want to kill her or arrest her. I love a character that tugs at my heartstrings, and Natalie does that in spades. Just because she killed some people, we both think they deserved it, doesn’t mean she’s a bad person. Does it?
Natalie has a life she enjoys in Venice, but for how long? We all know it’s not going to last. Bad things seem to follow her around.
We have two cases going on, one with gangs and one with mobsters. It’s hard to tell which is the worst, but Natalie is caught in the middle.
Natalie is forced to work with the mobsters to save a child’s life. All she thinks of is escaping their clutches. But…what would happen to the child if she left her behind.
I have always had empathy for Natalie and I wonder if Frank will ever quit looking for her. Why can’t he understand, she did what she did because she had to. Time and time again she is betrayed by those she puts her trust in. The only one who has stood firmly at her side is Pak Lam, her adopted father.
The characters…there are so many good and bad characters and each has their place in the story, adding depth, detail and much danger.
OMG! OMG! OMG! THE ENDING BLEW MY MIND!
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Natalie’s Dilemma by Susan Fleet.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
A diamond heist, Mafia murders and a kidnapping Fleeing her criminal past, Natalie settles in Venice. But two Mafia brothers pull off a diamond heist, kill the owner and his wife, and kidnap Bianca, their 5-year-old daughter. Across the street in an art museum, Natalie hides when police chase the robbers through the museum and watches them escape via the Grand Canal.
Aware of her previous
crimes, a Europol agent forces her to spy on the Mafia brothers by
acting as Bianca’s nanny. If she refuses, Homicide Detective Frank Renzi
will arrest her. Natalie is desperate to escape. The gang leader
suspects her and Renzi is about to arrest her. But if she escapes, what
will happen to Bianca? Natalie’s Dilemma: Save herself or save Bianca?
ABOUT SUSAN FLEET
Music & Mayhem is my game. Started my trumpet career in my
teens, got into the mayhem later. My print journalist father taught me
how to play pool in the police station. Maybe that’s how I discovered
my dark side.
After
gigging on trumpet in the Boston area for many years (while teaching at
Brown University and Berklee College of Music), I moved to New Orleans,
which became the setting for my crime thrillers. Scroll down and check
the video trailers for DIVA and ABSOLUTION.
I survived Katrina, but moved back to Boston in 2010. On my website I
post profiles of women musicians and just began a blog, DARK DEEDS,
about serial killers, stalkers and domestic homicides. Please come
visit!!
The eerie cover of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell makes me think of Jack the Ripper and ghosts. Are you creeped out yet?
Jonathon has made himself a prisoner in Raven Hollow Manor, along with his daughter, Holly. He lost his love, Anna, but her ghostly presence lingers.
His past is coming back to haunt him when a serial killer goes wild in the foggy nights of London.
He is able to transform himself and I loved it. He becomes a cat, a Great Dane, or a mist in the night. Being immortal allows him to see without being seen. He is very protective of Holly and struggles to allow her some freedom. He is easily able to ‘spy’ on her, assuring her safety. After all, he knows first hand the monsters that lurk in the shadows. His oasis is by Anna’s gravesite. He reads Poe and Robert Frost to her.
Holly knows that he is an immortal. Authors have the freedom to create the immortal they want to portray, and I love Ilona Caldwell’s version.
I begin to wish for his happiness, for him to move on and create a new life, without Anna.
Enter…Walter Deverough, a detective on the hunt. I wonder….I feel we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and SHE will scorch the earth with her need for revenge.
We, also, have Leland…a hero to the end.
Fast paced. Suspenseful. A vampire of a different color. Great world building as I pictured him walking the streets of London, damp and weary. Ilona Caldwell draws pictures with her words.
I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of Beneath London’s Fog by Ilona Caldwell.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Jonathan is the immortal master of Raven Hollow Manor – a decrepit mansion riddled with superstition, murder and restless ghosts. Beneath it lies a restless malice.
Its previous owner driven mad, violently kills his guests
with a rusted ax, creating the perfect venue for Jonathan to seclude
himself in a prison of his own device.
When the streets of
London begin to run red with blood; the bodies exhibiting disturbing
signs and baffling wounds, the identity of the killer remains elusive to
police.
The bodies are just the beginning of Jonathan’s
troubles. A mysterious letter accusing Jonathan of committing the
murders appear, raising suspicion in the police. Hidden beneath the
mangled bodies, Jonathan soon realizes he is being forced to face demons
he thought died in a forlorn past he attempted to escape.
One
thing Jonathan knows for certain: He must deal with the demons of his
past if he is to survive his future. Not only him but those he has come
to love as well
ABOUT ILONA CALDWELL
My name is Iona Caldwell. I’m the author of the British Occult Fiction, Beneath London’s Fog set to be published by FyreSyde Publishing October 2019. When I’m not busy weaving worlds of the arcane and dark, I’m spending time out in nature. I love books. My biggest inspirations are H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Edgar Allen Poe. I blog about many things but mostly everything bookish.
All of my novels are stand-alone novellas, each with a cast of people I hope my readers will come to love as much as I have.
I do accept reviews but they’re very selective and I urge you to check my review policy first.
J P Choquette asked me if I would like to read Silence in the Woods and I gave her a quick yes. I love anything to do with the woods and a good scare, maybe meeting Bigfoot, gotta go for it. How about you? Would you go looking for Bigfoot?
Four went into the woods…only one came out…with a harrowing story that got him locked up in an asylum.
The group of friends had went into the woods to photograph the elusive creature that was reputed to be the cause of missing people.
The book alternates between when they went into the woods and Paul’s story after he came out…alone.
Paul is determined to return. He feels that his wife, Jane, is still alive and hopes their friends are too. BUT…there is more than Bigfoot on the loose and he will, again, have to fight for his life.
We have plenty of mystery, action and horror. Also a bit of Indian mythology going on. So all I can say is…be careful of those hieroglyphs and hikes in the woods. I love stories about the woods and I would and do enter…willingly. Would you?
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Silence in the Woods by J P Choquette.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
What Castle Rock does for Maine, Monsters in the Green Mountains does for Vermont.
In
1917, four friends and photojournalists set out in the woods looking
for answers. Why have so many hikers and hunters gone missing in the
area of Shiny Creek Trail?
The two couples anticipate a great
adventure, one they’ll tell their kids about someday. No one imagines
the evil lurking in a remote cave. A horrifying discovery leaves one
person dead and two others missing.
Two months later, Paul, one
of the four, returns to the forest to find his wife. But will he find
her before someone—or something—finds him? Silence in the
Woods is the long-awaited prequel to Shadow in the Woods and delves into
the frightening territory of the supernatural and the human mind.
Readers
of books by authors like H.P. Lovecraft and John Saul will enjoy this
twisty-turning, supernatural survival story set in the remote
wilderness. Occult horror fans looking for an edge-of-your-seat suspense
minus most of the gore will find a perfect fit with the first book in
the “Monsters in the Green Mountains,” series.
What is real and
what is folklore? Are monsters like Bigfoot still alive in the deepest
areas of Vermont’s Green Mountains, or just characters in stories told
around the campfire? Folk legends come to life in this heart
rate-accelerating suspense mystery novel by J.P. Choquette.
ABOUT J P CHOQUETTE
J.P. Choquette is the author of thriller novels set in Vermont. Her books, “turn pages, not stomachs,” and frequently tie in the themes of art, nature and psychology. A lover of Gothic books and movies, J.P. enjoys being in nature with her family, spending time in old cemeteries and visiting junk shops.
Learn more about the author at her website, www.jpchoquette.me, where you can grab a free short story and enter into a monthly book giveaway.
There are more than animals in the water, and they want YOU.
How do you protect yourself?
A little mystery and plenty of danger, as the four kids try to survive and make good their escape. I enjoyed this novella, but I was never really scared, just curious.
What is it? Who and how will they survive?
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Four teenagers. A cottage by the sea. Something comes at night. Something comes with the tide …
They Come at Night was originally published in Danish, but is now available in English.
I love to love a bad guy and Alpha Prime is one I would never want to cross paths with unless….I loved this complex novella of good and bad, but is anyone all good or all bad, not these fabulous, unique characters.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Born a demon, it took humans to transform him into a monster.
Tracy Hardwick is a wodnik, a water demon who absorbs his
victim’s souls. His parents used his gifts for their own gain. They made
him kill until he landed on death row.
The prison sold him to an
evil corporation who wiped his mind and surgically altered him to be
the perfect killing machine. He became their ultimate weapon.
Now,
Tracy’s mind is busting through their wipe. He’s waking up. And so are
all the souls of his victims. They’re talking to him, telling him what
to do. They don’t want to go back to sleep. He doesn’t want to kill
anymore.
But if he doesn’t kill, the corporation will wipe his mind again.
Tracy’s going to have to listen to the voices in his head.
Or he’ll remain a monster forever.
Download Voices of Reason now and enjoy some time with a madman.
Connect with Gwendolyn
Visit www.gwendolyndruyor.com for more about the author and her many diverse endeavors. And her dogs. Don’t forget to check out her dogs.
The Knowing by Brit Lunden is part of the Bulwark Anthology, a collection of nine novellas. Brit’s debut novella, Bulwark, gave birth to this collection that takes place in the quiet little town of Bulwark in Georgia, USA.
The novella I am sharing today is The Knowing by Brit Lunden. I am anxious to revisit Bulwark and see what will happen today.
The Knowing, the feeling that you are going to meet someone special.
Brit Lunden recaps the happenings from the first novella, Bulwark, and I always like that refresher. Sometimes it’s a long time between readings.
We met JB in Bulwark and now, his mood turns to the past and the love of his life, Ellie. He had known he would never leave Bulwark. Farm work it will be, not a football hero, even though he was that good, Bear Bryant wanted to recruit him. I love that addition to the story. I don’t believe there is a soul alive in Alabama who doesn’t know who Bear Bryant is.
So not what I was expecting, but it turned into a wonderful tale of love, second chances and maybe a little bit of magic.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Knowing by Brit Lunden.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Bulwark- a wall or stockade that protects or sometimes hides the truth from the outside world.
Bulwark, Georgia, isolated, hidden. Who knows what strange things can happen when the rest of the world can’t see you? JB Stratton is alone in the world, and all he has left are the memories of his beloved Ellie. Dirt poor JB and wealthy Ellie feel an instant connection that is as intense and primal as the blood red earth of their home. Unseen roots connect them, pulling them into an impossible relationship. Will the memories of past lives help or hinder the path of their love? Based on the original novella Bulwark, by Brit Lunden, The Knowing continues the story of a town isolated from the rest of the world where the impossible becomes plausible, and logic is determined by reality.
ABOUT BRIT LUNDEN
Brit Lunden is a prolific author who’s written over 50 books in assorted genres under different pen names. Bulwark was her first effort in adult fiction and was chosen by several of her fellow authors as the basis for a new series, A Bulwark Anthology. Using her characters, they are creating new denizens in spin-off stories to this bizarre town. Brit Lunden lives on Long Island in a house full of helpful ghosts.
Well, this is a fabulous twist on a story about amnesia. I’m loving it.
Wonderfully real characters, with all their good things and faults.
Her memories return, but the twist puts a different spin on amnesia and second chances.
“I was lost, but now I’m found,” I blurted out.
A heartbreaking and heartwarming love story that goes so much deeper than romance.
May have you asking, “What do I believe?”
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Secret Sister by Emelle Gamble.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
What if everything about you changed in an instant…
Nick & Cathy and Roxanne. Two best friends. One husband. An extraordinary twist of fate.
How much do you really know about your husband? Your best friend? Yourself? Cathy Chance knows she loves her husband, Nick, with the same passion she had when she married him seven years ago, and he adores her. She also knows that she and her best friend, Roxanne, are closer than most sisters. But on a sunny summer day, these three are hurled into an astounding new reality which forces each to reconsider everything they thought was true about themselves, and one another.
ABOUT EMELLE GAMBLE
From Goodreads: Emelle
Gamble was a writer at an early age, bursting with the requisite
childhood stories of introspection which evolved into bad teen poetry
and attempts at ‘real literature’ all copies of which she has since,
very sensibly, shredded. She took her first stab at romantic fiction in
an adult education writing class when her kids were in bed, taught by
fellow writer Carolyn Haines, in Mobile, Alabama. As M.L. Gamble, she
published several romantic suspense novels with Harlequin. She is now
contracted with Soul Mate Publishing for Secret Sister, summer of 2013,
and Dating Cary Grant, an early 2014 release.
Always intrigued by the words ‘what if’,
Emelle’s books feature an ordinary woman confronted with an
extraordinary situation. She most enjoys reading stories that surprise
and amaze her, and hopes her readers will enjoy the challenging and
exciting journeys her characters take.
Emelle lives in suburban Washington D.C.
with her husband, Phil, her hero of thirty years, and two orange cats,
Lucy and Bella. Her daughter, Olivia, and son, Allen, are happily
launched on their own and contributing great things to society, which
has always been their mother’s fondest wish.
Cagney and Lacey meet Moonlighting. That’s what I thought when I read Exercise Is Murder by Carolyn Arnold.
Sara and Sean created their PI firm, Pay It Forward, when they quit the Albany police force and came into a LOT of money. They loved the control they had over the cases they mutually agreed upon and surrounded themselves with those they trusted to help.
I can definitely relate to Sara when it comes to her car. She loves her stilettos, while I love my flip flops, though. She is a fashionista and I am a shorts and T shirt kind of gal. We both lack cooking skills, so it’s a good thing our men like to cook.
He grounded her and she gave him wings.
And that is something that leads to a great partnership.
Carolyn Arnold is a master at showing the characters and events through her ability to describe them in detail. She makes it easy to form a picture in my mind.
Exercise In Murder by Carolyn Arnold is a quick, fun, easy reading police procedural that includes enough suspects to keep my mind working trying to figure it out before she tells me. I love that Carolyn writes with a light touch, including humor with her murder.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Exercise Is Murder by Carolyn Arnold.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Getting in shape isn’t an easy walk in the park…
Running
junkie Katie Carpenter takes a tumble down a ravine and ends up
facedown in the Hudson River. The police conclude her death was an
accident, but those who were close to Katie aren’t buying that she just
tripped and fell—including her pro-athlete boyfriend. But it’s Katie’s
fitness trainer and friend who hires the McKinleys to investigate.
Anything
but an easy case to solve, Sean and Sara will break a sweat trying to
figure out who had the most to gain from the young woman’s death. Sadly
for Sean most of the evidence seems stacked against Katie’s boyfriend—a
man Sean idolizes. Can he put aside being starstruck long enough to view
things objectively? If Katie’s killer is going to be caught, he and
Sara will need to remain flexible and it might require bending the rules
a bit.
ABOUT CAROLYN ARNOLD
CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international
bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and
inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series—Detective
Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew
Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre
diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled
mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures.
Both her female detective and FBI
profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being
accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark: POLICE
PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
Carolyn was born in a small town and
enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big
city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive
imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch
the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and
empower.
She currently lives just west of Toronto
with her husband and beagle and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada
and Sisters in Crime.
Even though I have only read Book III, Killer in the Band, in the
Lovers in Crime Mystery Series, I had no trouble reading Book IV, The
Root of Murder. Lauren Carr’s books read as stand alones that have
recurring characters.
The title and cover were aptly chosen, as the bases of the murder
goes back to the beginning, or the root of the secret and all that comes
after.
Of course, Lauren Carr has some fabulous characters, people, villains and fur babies, that crack me up with their antics.
Poppy. I am so happy to read her story. She’s a good person, dealt a
bad hand, but nothing stops her from moving on. She will be a great
addition to the Thornton family.
Poppy’s faith and belief in things working out the way they are meant to be makes for a heartwarming, uplifting romance.
Gulliver, Ollie & Charley are unique characters with big
personalities, bringing plenty of smiles and chuckles to the story. Once
you meet them, I don’t think you’ll forget them.
Irving and Admiral are great manipulators and good for some chuckles at their antics.
Two murders with a spin that increases the suspect pool. And, of
course, all the things that need to be dealt with in the normal world.
Animals and people alike are great and I love visiting them all as their lives grow fuller, richer.
Well, another happy ever after filled with romance, murder and
intrigue, friendship and family, suspense and mystery, and characterless
that will filled my heart with uplifting moments and humor.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copyof The Root of Murder by Lauren Carr.
4 Stars
BOOK DETAILS
Book Title: The Root of Murder (A Lovers in Crime Mystery #4) by Lauren Carr Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 332 pages Genre: Mystery Publisher: Acorn Book Services Release date: March 20, 2019 Format available for review: print, Audible download, mobi, epub, PDF Will send print books out: USA & Canada Tour dates: September 9 to October 25, 2019 Content Rating: PG-13 (Lauren Carr’s books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Homicide Detective Cameron Gates learned long ago that there is no such thing as a typical murder case. Each mystery is special in its own right—especially for the family of the victim.The homicide of a successful executive, husband, and father seems open and shut when the murder weapon is found in his estranged son-in-law’s possession. The circumstantial evidence is so damning that when her step-son, J.J. Thornton, agrees to act as the defendant’s public defender, he assumes his first murder case will be a loss. Only the report of a missing husband proves that this case is not as open and shut as it seems. Strap on your seat belts for a wild ride in this mystery rooted in decades of deception that sprouts into murder. Fall in Love with These Other Lovers in Crime Mysteries:
Dead on Ice is the
first installment of Lauren Carr’s new series (Lovers in Crime)
featuring Hancock County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Thornton and
Pennsylvania State Police homicide detective Cameron Gates.
Spunky
Cameron Gates is tasked with solving the murder of Cherry Pickens, a
legendary star of pornographic films, whose body turns up in an
abandoned freezer. The case has a personal connection to her lover,
Joshua Thornton, because the freezer was located in his cousin’s
basement. It doesn’t take long for their investigation to reveal that
the risqué star’s roots were buried in their rural Ohio Valley
community, something that Cherry had kept off her show business bio. She
should have kept her hometown off her road map, too—because when this
starlet came running home from the mob, it proved to be a fatal
homecoming.
When Homicide Detective
Cameron Gates befriends Dolly, the little old lady who lives across the
street, she is warned not to get lured into helping the elderly woman
by investigating the unsolved murder of one of her girls. “She’s
senile,” Cameron is warned. “It’s not a real murder.” Such is not
the case. After Dolly is brutally murdered, Cameron discovers that the
sweet blue-haired lady’s “girl” was a call girl, who had been killed in a
mysterious double homicide.
Meanwhile, Prosecuting Attorney
Joshua Thornton is looking for answers to the murder of a childhood
friend, a sheriff deputy whose cruiser is found at the bottom of a lake.
The deputy had disappeared almost twenty years ago while privately
investigating the murder of a local prostitute.
It doesn’t take
long for the Lovers in Crime to put their cases together to reveal a
long-kept secret that some believe is worth killing to keep undercover.
Summer has arrived! The Thorntons expect it to be a summer of change and change it does, but not in the way Joshua had expected.
Joshua’s
eldest son, Joshua Thornton Jr. (J.J.) has graduated at the top of his
class from law school and is returning home to spend the summer studying
for the bar exam. However, to Joshua’s and Cameron’s shock and dismay,
J.J. decides to move into the main house at Russell Ridge Farm, the
largest dairy farm in the Ohio Valley, in order to rekindle a romance
with Suellen Russell, the lovely widow twice his age.
The
May/December romance, bonded by a love for music, between the symphony
conductor and young musical prodigy had bloomed many years earlier.
The
move brings long buried tensions between the father and son to the
surface–not the least of which being J.J.’s inexplicable dislike for
his stepmother Cameron. But when a brutal killer strikes, the Lovers in
Crime must set all differences with Joshua’s son aside to solve the
crime before J.J. ends up in the cross-hairs of a murderer.
Meet the author:
With over forty years of writing and publishing experience,
international best-selling author Lauren Carr has played an active role
in the revolution of independent authors.
While studying for her
college degree in English and journalism, Lauren worked as an editor and
layout design artist with the federal government in Washington, DC. It
was there that Lauren learned the foundations necessary for book
publishing.
Lauren’s debut mystery, A Small Case of Murder was
a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Awards. On the heels of
that success, she accepted an offer from a traditional publisher for A Reunion to Die For.
When
it came time to publish her third book, Lauren rejected offers from two
traditional publishers, choosing instead to independently publish It’s Murder, My Son,
which made it to #1 in sales on Amazon in cozy mysteries. She has never
regretted her decision to become an independent author.
Realizing
that she could use her experiences to help other writers achieve their
dreams to become published authors, Lauren established Acorn Book Services, offering professional services to independent authors.
The
international best-selling author of over twenty-five murder mysteries,
Lauren has gone on dozens of virtual blog tours (most with iRead Book
Tours!) and has seen first-hand that how an author publishes is
irrelevant to success. The key is exposure to potential readers. Virtual
blog tours are an excellent avenue for book promotion. Book spotlights,
reviews, author guest posts and interviews are forever, unlike
in-person book events, which become a memory as soon as they have
finished.
With her vast experience, it seemed only natural for
Lauren Carr to jump at the opportunity to join the iReads Book Tours
team. She lives with her husband, and two spoiled rotten German
shepherds on a mountain in West Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
![Exercise is Murder (McKinley Mysteries: Short & Sweet Cozies Book 12) by [Arnold, Carolyn]](https://i0.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51tboMuU05L._SY346_.jpg?w=584&ssl=1)
