Giveaway & Review – Corporate Citizen by Gabriel Valjan @GValjan @NouveauWriter

Posted on December 8, 2016 by fundinmental

I have been reading my way through the Roma series and the mystery continues in Corporate Citizen.

We are back in Boston…but the danger seems to follow them wherever they go.

This is the best one yet and it was a punch to the gut.

MY REVIEW

I was one of the herd, led down the predictable path, forgetting to read between the lines…Slapped me in the face, woke me up!

The Roma Series continues in Corporate Citizen by Gabriel Valjan and I must say, this is the best one yet. We have action and murder from the opening pages.

I am so glad I stuck with this series. Gabriel Valjan’s writing style was difficult for me to read in the beginning, but now that we are on familiar ground it has become easier…more than that, it has become fantastic.

The complex characters have captured me as they struggle to have a normal life while solving dangerous mysteries. I am very concerned for all of them. I am afraid they may not all make it out of the book alive. Especially Nate, a new member of their team. What will become of him?

I am wondering who Loki really is…and the Magician? What are their objectives? Why are they feeding her info? And the bigger question…Is it good or bad?

Murder is always a component in the Roma series, but the conspiracy is what hooks me. Now…enter a designer drug…or two. Krokodiles. Barneys.

Bianca is the main character, but all the others are vital to the story. I do wonder if her love life will survive through all her and Dante’s trials and tribulations.

WOW. I am on page 236, approaching the end and everything is becoming clearer. I can see why things were so tangled and convoluted that I didn’t see where Gabriel Valjan was taking me.

I am thinking…I must reread this series and if you believe in conspiracies, like I do, and want to find out how misdirection and rogue government agents can affect your life, you will want to read this too!

Gabriel Valjan did an awesome job of leading me around in circles, so I didn’t see the outcome. I WAS one of the herd, led down the predictable path, forgetting to read between the lines. I was smacked in the face! Could this really happen? Is it happening now?

OMG…DAMMIT…I came to the end, but Bianca’s story is far from over. I’m ready for it! Where is it?

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Corporate Citizen from Gabriel Valjan.

5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Corporate Citizen

A call for help from an old friend lands Bianca and the crew back in Boston. On a timeout with Dante, due to revelations in the aftermath of the showdown in Naples, Bianca is drawn to a mysterious new ally who understands the traumas of her past, and has some very real trauma of his own. Murder, designer drugs, and a hacker named Magician challenge our team, and Bianca learns that leaving Rendition behind might be much harder than she thinks.

ABOUT GABRIEL VALJAN

Gabriel Valjan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Roma Series, available from Winter Goose Publishing. Gabriel has also written numerous short stories and essays found online and in print.

Connect with the author: Website ~Twitter ~ Facebook..

GIVEAWAY

5 winners get a paperback copy of CC
5 winners get an ebook copy of CC
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in paperback (signed)
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in ebook format
12 winners total
Print copies open to USA and ebooks open international
Giveaway ends Dec 17

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You can see my Reviews HERE.
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My Reviews for the Roma series by Gabriel Valjan:

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Giveaway & Review – Turning To Stone by Gabriel Valjan @GValjan @NouveauWriter

Posted on November 24, 2016 by fundinmental

This is my fourth book in the series, Turning To Stone by Gabriel Valjan and each book got better and better.

If you like complex stories and characters that grow on you, this series is a must read..

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

The Roma Series continues in Turning To Stone by Gabriel Valjan and starts out with a BANG!

I am on familiar ground with Turning To Stone…The Mob. I have read a lot of organized crime novels, and Turning To Stone has everything I look for…corruption, betrayal, brutality, wholesale slaughter and assassins, female, no less. I love that twist and, for me, it doesn’t happen often enough.

But this is not the organized crime of Al Capone’s day. They are going legit and manipulating events through money, so be careful about investing in the stock market. LOL

Gabriel Valjan’s series keeps getting better and better. The writing flows smoother for me, the pacing and suspense picking up to a level that makes it hard to put the book down.

Some surprising turns at the end make me realize how strong and determined Bianca and her cohorts are. They have questions and WILL NOT stop until they have the answers, no matter the cost to themselves.

I enjoyed Turning To Stone the most…so far…and I am so glad I stuck with the series!

Action packed with OMG moments. The brutal, tragic ending left me feeling very sad and I can hardly wait to see where we go from here.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Threading The Needle from Gabriel Valjan.

4 Stars

SYNOPSIS

Alabaster Black aka Bianca Nerini returns as an investigation into a public official’s assassination pits Bianca and her friends against a backdrop of financial speculation, female assassins on motorcycles, and the Camorra—the most ruthless of Italian organized crime gangs—in Gabriel Valjan’s TURNING TO STONE, the fourth book of the highly praised Roma series (Winter Goose Publishing; June 2015; softcover $15.99; Kindle / Nook, $5.99).

En route to a secret meeting, Aldo Giurlani—the regional commissioner of Lombardy in northern Italy and a specialist on organized crime—is assassinated in the middle of a public square.

More mysterious is the package sent to Giurlani’s hand-picked team of five top investigators within the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), the Italian law enforcement agency that investigates illegal financial transactions, from money laundering to drug trafficking. Within the package are five copies of a book entitled Man of Smoke written by Aldo Palazzeschi.

Then there is Bianca’s tenuous online contact with a mysterious online contact known as Loki, who delivers a cryptic message to her, takes on a new twist with the appearance of a brilliant young obsessive-compulsive man who joins her team.

Complicating matters even further, old enemies and, more problematically, Alabaster’s former employer—Rendition, a murky covert U.S. government agency that does more than just investigate financial crimes—still have grudges to bear against her.

As new mysteries unfold, Bianca’s group quickly discovers that Naples might just be the most dangerous city in Italy.

ABOUT GABRIEL VALJAN

Connect with the author: Website ~Twitter ~ Facebook

GIVEAWAY

5 winners get a paperback copy of CC
5 winners get an ebook copy of CC
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in paperback (signed)
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in ebook format
12 winners total
Print copies open to USA and ebooks open international
Giveaway ends Dec 17

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You may see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
Problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

My reviews for Gabriel Valjan

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Giveaway & Review – Wasp’s Nest by Gabriel Valjan @GValjan @NouveauWriter

Posted on October 27, 2016 by fundinmental

I was drawn into the Roma Series because of the fabulous covers and the storyline.

It made me think of Kathy Reichs and the the TV series, Bones, with her forensic anthropology, only for a character that specializes in forensic accounting.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Bianca is back in the Wasp’s Nest by Gabriel Valjan, the second book in the Roma Series. She has returned to the States and is working for Rendition…again. I wonder if she may regret it. She is a loner and distrustful. She walked away from love, but she cannot forget him. Will he come back into her life?

A scientific element arises when Bianca investigates Nason Pharmaceutical and wasp DNA. Will it be used for a cure or a weapon? In this twisted world, who can say.

As the story grows and develops into more than one mystery to be solved, I wonder how safe any of the characters are. An assassin, corruption and greed…can anyone be trusted?

It is difficult for me to understand some of the scientific and technological references, but I do understand conspiracy, greed, betrayal and murder. The heavier reading sometimes seems like a school lesson, but I do want to know and understand, so my pace is slower than usual.

In Wasp’s Nest we are becoming more serious, more involved in the mysteries and there is less eating and traveling and more investigating. Italians do have a passion for food and their needs are a celebration of taste so I think it is a valuable component to the story. The suspense has ramped up, with danger around every corner. I was worried Bianca’s band of merry men may pay a fatal price. I have become very fond of her gang, each with their own personalities, desires and motives.

If I gave half stars, I would give Wasp’s Nest 3 1/2. The story is much better, with more action, for an action junkie like me. There will be more in this five book series and I look forward to following the gang to the very end.

I received Wasp’s Nest free of charge from the Gabriel Valjan.

You can see my review for Roma: Underground, Book I, by Gabriel Valjan HERE.

3 Stars

SYNOPSIS

WASP’S NEST (Book #2)

In the highly anticipated sequel to Roma, Underground, Bianca returns to the U.S. for her former employer, the covert organization Rendition, to investigate Cyril Sargent and Nasonia Pharmaceutical. Although ambivalent about the assignment and uneasy about her online “friend,” Loki, she is enticed into researching what Sargent is doing with insect genetics that might upset the world of cancer research and treatment. Old friends Farrugia and Gennaro uncover a twisted conspiracy from their past and join Bianca in Boston where they will experience conflicted loyalties, question allies, and confront uncertain enemies, as they’re drawn into the wasp’s nest.

“Again, Valjan successfully conflates multiple sophisticated narratives that bring the past and present together, which the archaeological theme of the last novel also helps accomplish . . . Black is back and just as entertaining as ever.”

—Kirkus Book Reviews

“…a compelling reading, action-packed and with intriguing characters. The plot had plenty of twists and turns, some surprising secrets, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing until the very end.”

—The Book Junkie

ABOUT GABRIEL VALJAN

Connect with the author: Website ~Twitter ~ Facebook

GIVEAWAY