Avonna

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Amish Newcomer, Amish Baby Lessons, and Her Path to Redemption by Patrice Lewis

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Book Description for The Amish Newcomer

Can an Englisch city girl ever become one of the Plain People?

She needed a safe place to hide.
Instead she found a place to call home…

Television journalist Leah Porte never imagined her career would end with her witnessing a murder. Now she’s temporarily living among the Amish in witness protection. Instead of feeling alone and adrift, Leah is warmly welcomed by the close-knit community–and Amish bachelor Isaac Sommer. But caught between two very different worlds, choosing love would mean leaving her Englisch life behind forever.

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Book Description for Amish Baby Lessons

They need her. But will she risk her heart?

She’s the perfect Amish nanny…until she falls for her bachelor employer.

Tall, plain and awkward, Amish maed Jane Troyer has always been “useful.” Now she’s the temporary nanny for overwhelmed Amish bachelor Levy Struder and his baby niece. But Jane’s finding it hard to resist falling for the sweet boppli and the handsome, hardworking Levy. Can this spirited Plain Jane win a bachelor’s heart…and make their temporary arrangement permanent?

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Book Description for Her Path to Redemption

Can she find forgiveness…

and a second chance?

Returning to the Amish community she left during her rumspringa, widowed mother Eliza Struder’s determined to repair her reputation. But one woman stands between her and acceptance into the church—the mother of the man she left behind. Which means Eliza must stay away from Josiah Lapp. But they’re still drawn to each other. Is it too late for the future that once filled both their dreams?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Patrice Lewis latest has three novels centering around the Amish. Each of the last three years she has written stories that allow readers to see the conflicts involving the hero and heroine. A bonus is that people begin to understand the differences between the Amish and English worlds.

The Amish Newcomer has a TV journalist, Leah Porte, witnessing a gang murder. Put into witness protection for her own safety, she is sent to live with an Amish Family. This story centers on country life versus city life as well as living independently versus relying on family and community. Leah also grapples with her feelings for Isaac Sommer who had lived among the English until he decided to return to his Amish roots and become baptized. Would their living in a different world, with different cultures, be too much for a relationship to flourish?

Amish Baby Lessons is an ugly duckling type of story. Jane Troyer sees herself as a “plain Jane” who is awkward, although useful. Deciding to have a change of atmosphere she goes to live with her aunt and uncle in a new state. After meeting Levy Struder and his infant niece Mercy, who he is caring for, Jane decides to accept his job offer of being a nanny. Caring for Mercy brings Levy and Jane together, both realizing that they have feelings for each other. Will they overcome their own insecurities to realize how much they care for each other?

Her Path to Redemption has Eliza Struder, Levy’s sister, coming back to the Amish community. She left during her rumspringa and had a baby, Mercy, out of wedlock with an English man whom she married. After he died, she gratefully accepted the charity of a Pastor and his wife, returning home. She quickly realizes that she still has feelings for Josiah Lapp, the man she left behind. Each are drawn to each other, but must overcome some obstacles including Josiah’s mother, if the bishop is willing to baptize Eliza, and will the community accept and forgive her.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Were these books a series?

Patrice Lewis: The first one, The Amish Newcomer, was a stand-alone book but the other two books, Amish Baby Lesson, and Her Path to Redemption, are related.

EC: Why witness protection in the first book, The Amish Newcomer?

PL: I was trying to figure out how an English woman would be a part of an Amish community, including her having to dress the part. The only thing I could come up with is witness protection. The Amish have been known to take people in for witness protection. How would the character settle in with no background about the Amish? Leah had to be taught by the family how do work without electricity, appliances, a learning curve. There is a lot of me in this book.

EC: How so?

PL: I wondered if I could do what Leah did. I also wondered if I could ever become Amish since I do not like modern electronics. A quote in this book, “In the world, but not of the world.” I did have the Isaac hero character publishing a magazine on a computer powered by solar panels. I would belong to a more modern branch order that is not so resistant to technology. People who like to withdraw from the modern world must conform to an extent to make a living, but they are selective.

EC: How would you describe Leah?

PL: A duck out of water because she never lived in a rural area. She was completely urban. The Amish work as a community, while Leah is used to being independent. She had to learn that labor, working with her hands, is not something to avoid. Labor with the Amish is a form of barter. She had to learn that domestic chores are not oppressive. Previously she was strong, competent, and career minded. Leah was part of the feminist culture who competed in a man’s world. She can be sarcastic, feisty, and blunt.

EC: How would you describe Isaac?

PL: He had a lot of baggage. He came back to the Amish and became baptized. He still has a lot of “English” about him. He is determined and confident, but feels he has a lot to prove.

EC: What about the relationship between Leah and Isaac?

PL: He was more interested in her. There is a massive barrier because he was Amish, and she was not. This stopped him from getting involved with her.

EC: In Amish Baby Lessons what gave you the idea?

PL: Originally, I had the idea of a plain Jane, an ugly duckling.

EC: How would you describe Jane?

PL: Originally, I had her very plain, sarcastic, and bitter. Her mom told her to travel to her aunt and uncle for a change of environment. I decided to tone her bitterness down because she was not a very likeable character. Hired as a nanny, working with an infant, the more her true spirit comes out: she cannot be beautiful, but can be useful. Jane was based on a librarian I knew years ago who was adored. Even though she was not pretty, everyone loved her. Looks are not everything.

EC: What about the relationship with Jane and Levy?

PL: He adores her. He feels Jane’s inside is pure gold. He must get over his guilt because he thinks he chased his sister Eliza away when raising her after their parents died. Jane respects him for trying to raise Eliza’s daughter. Jane drew out the best in him and realizes he is a good man.

EC: What is the role of the baby Mercy?

PL: She represents hope. She gives Levy a do-over chance. She brings Jane and Levy together. Backstory on the book cover. It shows a four-month-old but when the book begins Mercy is a newborn infant. They did alter the text on the back cover description.

EC: How about Eliza who is in this book and the main character in the next book, The Path to Redemption?

PL: Caring, has an unsettled life, rebellious, but has changed. Because of her turnaround she still has a fire in her but has become subdued. In the last book Eliza marvels how Levy has changed. She was at rock bottom and was given money to return home. She was determined to pay this debt back.

EC: In the last book, Her Path To Redemption, how would you describe Josiah?

PL: He was bitter toward the English world because it lured Eliza away. His mother was resentful of Eliza.

EC: The role of the dolls?

PL: I was surprised to learn that the Amish share medical costs, if necessary, but everyone is responsible to make their own living. The dolls grew into a business for Eliza where she could become financially independent.

EC: Next books?

PL: The Mysterious Amish Nanny is out in January. The heroine was originally raised Amish but after her parents were killed, she had to enter foster care in the English world. She had been a banker until everything comes crashing down. She takes this cross-county trip, and her car breaks down next to an Amish community. Another book is a story of three siblings, a three-book series, which will probably not come out until April of next year.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Girl from Guernica by Karen Robards

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE GIRL FROM GUERNICA by Karen Robards on this HTP Books Fall 2022 Historical Fiction Blog Tour. This historical fiction story is an emotional and suspenseful rollercoaster ride from beginning to end.

Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Summary

New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards returns with a riveting story of intrigue, deception and bravery in the face of war, inspired by Picasso’s great masterpiece Guernica:

On an April day in 1937, the sky opens and fire rains down upon the small Spanish town of Guernica. Seventeen-year-old Sibi and her family are caught up in the horror. Griff, an American military attaché, pulls Sibi from the wreckage, and it’s only the first time he saves her life in a span of hours. When Germany claims no involvement in the attack, insisting the Spanish Republic was responsible, Griff guides Sibi to lie to Nazi officials. If she or her sisters reveal that they saw planes bearing swastikas, the gestapo will silence them—by any means necessary.

As war begins to rage across Europe, Sibi joins the underground resistance, secretly exchanging information with Griff. But as the scope of Germany’s ambitions becomes clear, maintaining the facade of a Nazi sympathizer becomes ever more difficult. And as Sibi is drawn deeper into a web of secrets, she must find a way to outwit an enemy that threatens to decimate her family once and for all.

Masterfully rendered and vividly capturing one of the most notorious episodes in history, The Girl from Guernica is an unforgettable testament to the bonds of family and the courage of women in wartime.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60023127-the-girl-from-guernica?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=zDysQWerUL&rank=1

THE GIRL FROM GUERNICA

Author: Karen Robards

ISBN: 9780778309963

Publication Date: September 6, 2022

Publisher: MIRA

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE GIRL FROM GUERNICA by Karen Robards is an emotional and suspenseful historical fiction with romantic elements story from beginning to end. This standalone novel follows a young female protagonist and her family from the first unprovoked aerial bombing of civilians at Guernica which shocked the world in 1937 through the end of WWII.

Sibil “Sibi” Helenger, her mother and three younger sisters are in the Basque city of Guernica. They were taking care of their grandmother in her last days while their father, a German rocket scientist remained in Germany. With the Spanish Revolution raging around them, Sibi wants to return to Germany, but her mother wants to stay. On a normal day in April, Guernica was suddenly attacked from the air with bombs dropping and machine gun aerial strafing from German planes.

Griff, an American military attaché pulls Sibi and her youngest sister from the wreckage. As Sibi attempts to get a hold of her father, she learns that her knowledge that the planes were German and not Spanish revolutionaries, puts her and her sister’s lives all in danger from the Nazi regime. Their father finds them and takes them back to Germany, but Sibi is still in danger, not only as she lies for the Nazi’s, but also because she continues to give Griff secret information to use against them.

As the war rages on, Sibi, known as “The Girl from Guernica” is committed to outwitting the Nazi’s who threaten her family while she does everything in her power to assist the allies in defeating them.

This is my favorite historical fiction book so far this year! It is riveting and I was unable to put it down. Ms. Robards does an amazing job of researching an often-forgotten war crime in the years leading up to WWII. Sibi’s resilience and strength while still being so young herself makes her an unforgettable character that I became invested with from page one. There are times when the story brought me to tears and others when I felt such happiness for Sibi, her family, and the mysterious Griff. All the characters and the historical references and locations are realistically written and believable.

I highly recommend this historical fiction read!

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Excerpt

April 25, 1937

To laugh and dance and live in the teeth of whatever tragedies an uncaring fate threw in your path was the Basque way.

The stories Sibi’s mother told, stories handed down through generations of indomitable women, painted those defiant sufferers as heroes.

Sibi feared she was not the stuff of which such heroes were made.

She was hungry. Her feet hurt. And she was afraid. Of those things, afraid was the worst by far. She was so tired of being afraid.

A knot in her stomach. A tightness in her throat. A prickle of unease sliding over her skin. Familiar sensations all, which did not make their sudden onset feel any less dreadful. Sixteen-year-old Sibi—Sibil Francesca Helinger—pushed back a wayward strand of coffee-brown hair that had escaped from the heavy bun coiled at her nape and frowned out into the misty darkness enshrouding the Calle Fernando el Católico.

Her pulse thrummed as she clung to the desperate hope that she was not seeing what she thought she was. Since the fighting had moved close enough so that the residents of this ancient village high in the western Pyrenees could actually hear gunfire in the surrounding hills, fear had become her all-too-frequent visitor. But this—this was different. This was because of something that was happening now, right before her eyes, in the wide, tree-lined street just beyond where she stood watching the regular weekly celebration on the night before market day.

Have we left it too late? The thought made her mouth go dry.

“I want a sweet.” Five-year-old Margrit’s restless movement beside her reclaimed her attention. Gripping the child’s hand tighter, Sibi cast an impatient glance down.

“There’s no money for a sweet.” Or anything else, Sibi could have added, but didn’t.

“But I want one.” Round blue eyes in a cherubic face surrounded by gold ringlets stared longingly at the squares of honey and almond turrón being hawked to the crowd by a woman bearing a tray of them. The yeasty aroma of the pastry made Sibi’s stomach growl. For the last few weeks, she and her mother had been rationing their diminishing resources by skipping the evening meal so that the younger ones could eat.

“Ask Mama to buy you one later.”

Margrit’s warm little fingers—which Sibi kept a secure hold on because, as angelic as the youngest of the four Helinger sisters looked, she wasn’t—twitched in hers. “She won’t. You know she won’t. She’ll say she doesn’t have any money, either.”

That was undoubtedly true. In fact, Sibi had only said it in hopes of placating her little sister until their mother returned. Thinking fast—Margrit had mostly outgrown tantrums, but not entirely—Sibi was just about to come out with an alternate suggestion when thirteen-year-old Luiza jumped in.

“You know we’re poor now, so stop being such a baby.” Cross because she hadn’t been permitted to go to the cinema with a group of her friends, Luiza spoke sharply. The thick, straight, butterscotch blond hair she’d chopped to chin length herself the night before—”Nobody has long hair anymore!” she’d wailed in the face of their mother’s horror—had already lost its grip on the rag curls she’d forced into it. She looked like she was wearing a thatch of broom straw on her head, but Sibi was far too good a sister, and far too preoccupied at the moment, to point that out.

“I don’t like being poor.” Margrit’s lower lip quivered.

“None of us do.”

“I specially don’t like—”

Luiza cut her off. “You’re whining. You know what Mama said about whining.”

“I am not…”

A match flared in the street. Tuning her sisters out, Sibi focused on what the brief incandescence revealed as it rose to light a cigarette—red tip glowing brightly—before arcing like a tiny shooting star to the ground. Sibi looked beyond the cigarette to the dark shape behind it. The dark shapes behind it. She wasn’t mistaken. Soldiers—their soldiers, the loyalist Republicans, their uniforms unmistakable—poured into the street from seemingly everywhere. And the numbers were increasing…

Her heartbeat quickened. Does no one else see?

Biting down on her lower lip, she glanced around. The crowd clapped and swayed to the rollicking music of the highly prized town band and ate and danced and played games and— She concluded that no one else did. The village leaders who were present appeared unaware: Father Esteban talked to the woman behind the refreshment table as she ladled out a bowl of spicy fish soup for him; His Honor the mayor played mus, the popular card game, with three friends; the Count of Arana, the town’s most prominent citizen, stood with his arms crossed and a stern gaze fixed on his fifteen-year-old daughter, Teresa, as she walked away from him with her hand tucked into the arm of… Emilio Aguire.

Sibi’s stomach gave an odd little flutter.

Watching them reminded her of just how much of an outsider she was here in this quaint small town with its red-roofed white houses and narrow cobbled streets. Emilio was her age, he was the handsomest boy in school and he had been kind to her. She had hoped… But no. To hope for anything where he was concerned was foolishness. She and her mother and sisters were only temporary residents. She worked as a part-time waitress and her mother had worked in a dress shop before being fired three weeks ago, when the shop owner’s husband had displayed too much interest in her. And that, of course, had immediately become a topic for much discussion among the town gossips whose gleeful suspicions that the former Marina Diaitz, now Helinger, who had come home with her children but without her husband, was a floozy were thus seemingly confirmed. All those factors combined to put them near the bottom of the social ladder in this place where the wealthy local aristocracy had been comfortably in place for generations, and they, with their German father, would have been outsiders, anyway. And Teresa was beautiful and rich and— Well, there it was, foolishness.

She had no time for foolishness.

Glancing at those in her own party—Luiza and Margrit, and their other sister Johanna, all bunched close around her, and their mother, Marina, dancing merrily with the baker Antonio Batzar beneath the colored lights strung above the makeshift dance floor in hopes of securing a scarce loaf of tomorrow morning’s fresh bread—Sibi felt her heartbeat quicken.

Intent on their own concerns, they appeared oblivious to anything else. As usual it was up to her, notorious as the family worrier, to think about what might happen, to catch and make sense of what the rest of them missed.

Tonight, it was that their soldiers, their last line of defense against the surging rebel Nationalists, appeared to be coming together en masse to slink like starving cats past the Sunday night festivities.

These were the same war-weary, battle-scarred troops that had been camped out in the forested peaks surrounding the town since they had fallen back after the savage attack on the neighboring village of Durango that had brought the nine-month-old civil war as close as its ancient churches and rambling streets. In the days since, thousands of panicking refugees had flooded the town. The warships of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, commander in chief of the rebel forces, had blockaded the Basque ports. Food had become scarce: along with bread, milk and meat were almost impossible to obtain. People were hungry, frightened. The war that had been safely on the other side of the country had changed direction so fast that the residents of these sleepy villages high above the Bay of Biscay had been caught unprepared. But unprepared or not, in a new and terrifying offensive the newspapers were calling the War of the North, the fighting was now rushing like a wave toward their front door.

The soldiers were all that stood between them and the enemy forces determined to destroy them. And the soldiers were leaving.

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Author Bio

Karen Robards is the New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of fifty novels and one novella. She is the winner of six Silver Pen awards and numerous other awards.

Social Media Links

Author Website: http://karenrobards.com/

TWITTER: @TheKarenRobards

FB: @AuthorKarenRobards

Goodreads:

Purchase Links

Purchase Links

Blog Tour: Feature Post and Book Review: Wrong Line, Right Connection by Karina Bartow

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for WRONG LINE, RIGHT CONNECTION by Karina Bartow on the author’s personal blog tour.

Below you will find my author interview, a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Author Interview

Avonna Kershey: How did you get the idea for your story? And why a novella instead of a full length romance?

Karina Bartow: My mom cleaned for a family friend, Mabel, for thirty years, and she became a grandmother to my sister and me. Because of her clever wit and the deep impact she made on my life, I used to tease her that I’d write a book about her one day. She passed away when I was fifteen, but I kept my promise by putting her as a secondary character in the first book I ever wrote, Forgetting My Way Back to You. My writing coach liked her so much, though, that she worked on me for years to write a stand-alone story about her. Eventually, I conceded and used several true aspects of her life—like her career with the telephone company and her real love letters from her husband—to sculpt Wrong Line, Right Connection.

As for the length of it, I didn’t really have a plan for how long it would be. Like with my other books, I try to base it on the feel of where the plot’s going. I’d rather have a reader wishing for more rather than wishing for it to end!

AK: Was there a reason you chose the 1960’s time period and the Kentucky setting?

KB: Yes, I obviously needed a time period when the switchboard was still in service. In truth, the real Mabel worked as an operator around the 1930’s, but not being a history buff, I wasn’t too comfortable with that era. Plus, her character in Forgetting My Way Back to You was ninety when the story was set in 2013, so I had to be true to that.

Louisville was Mabel’s real-life hometown and something she was very proud of, so it was my only choice.

AK: How would you describe Mabel?

KB: In the book and in real life, she’s incredibly witty and a force of nature. She’s her own person and doesn’t compromise who she is for anyone. I gave the fictional version a bit more hesitancy to trust people because she has endured so much. Still, she loves life.

AK: Why did you give Mabel two previous relationships?

KB: Again, that was a true fact about the real Mabel. She was married twice before she met Roy, with her first husband being good but dying young and the second being…well, like No Good Ned in the book.

AK: How would you describe Roy?

KB: He’s very gentle and charming. In some ways, he’s the opposite of Mabel, having a quiet, laid-back demeanor, but he can still surprise you with his wry humor.

AK: The HEA has a mini cliff-hanger until you turn the page to the epilogue. Why did you choose that way of ending your story?

KB: I’ve done that on a few of my books now but in various ways. I don’t want it to become predictable, but I like having suspense up to the very end. Endings always intimidate me, as you want to please the reader without it being anti-climactic, so I enjoy throwing in a twist.

AK: What is your next project?

KB: While I’ve dipped my toes into love stories a bit, I primarily write mysteries. Earlier this year, my second installment of The Unde(a)feted Detective Series, Brother of Interest, came out, so I’ve been working on the follow-up to that. In the meantime, I’m writing a short story that’s a bridge between the two, which will be featured in a podcast sometime in 2023.

My 2018 novel, Forgetting My Way Back to You, which also features Mabel, will be available for $.99 on Kindle September 5-10.

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Book Description

Could a mortifying day on the job end up netting you true love?

When switchboard operator Mabel Jennings reports to work on a Monday in the summer of 1964, she doesn’t have any interest in finding love again. A visitor from Coatesville, Pennsylvania changes that. On a business trip, Roy Stentz calls her station, and his deep yet kind voice intrigues her. She tries to remain professional, but in her smitten state, she connects him to the wrong line…twice, in fact. Finally, Roy invites her out to dinner, saying he wants to see if she’s a better date than an operator.

The haphazard introduction sets an unexpected romance into motion. Going out every night while he’s in town, their bond deepens as they share the tragedies they’ve endured and observe each other’s beautiful qualities. Mabel’s past travails with love, however, hold her back from committing to anything permanent. Will she overcome her reluctance and open her heart to the love calling out to her? Or will she hang up on her chance for happiness?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59593588-wrong-line-right-connection?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=vlJVHgBT65&rank=5

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

WRONG LINE, RIGHT CONNECTION by Karina Bartow is a heartfelt, enjoyable historical romance novella set in 1964 featuring a switchboard operator who has given up on love.

Mabel Jennings is back at the telephone company as a switchboard operator after once again having to earn her own living. She is sharing a house with a close friend and more than happy to be on her own again. She is done with love after losing the first love of her life and then being in an abusive second relationship.

One day on the switchboard, Mabel receives a call for connection from a man with a deep and kind voice. She is so frazzled by her reaction to this man, she accidently transfers him to the wrong line, not once, but twice. Roy Stentz is not put off but intrigued by this operator and asks her out. Roy and Mabel quickly find their relationship is more than either expected, but Mabel’s past relationships may not allow her to believe in love once more.

I really enjoyed this romance. Even though this was a novella, it is packed with interesting characters, plenty of emotion and the HEA in the epilogue. Mabel has lived with several tragedies in her life which made her guarded and yet Roy was able to get her to open up and attempt dating again even as she kept comparing him to the previous two men in her life. The author also did a good job of immersing the reader in the 1960’s time period with the descriptions of the switchboard operators, the types of dates Mabel and Roy went on and the fact that Mabel felt her divorce would stop any man from being interested in her. The secondary characters are all fully drawn and add to the story. The only slight problem I had with this novella was Mabel’s flashbacks to her previous relationships which were necessary to understand her reluctance for another relationship, but they sometimes pulled me out of the flow of the story.

Overall, this is a fast, entertaining romance novella with a memorable heroine.

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Author Bio

Karina Bartow grew up and still lives in Northern Ohio. Though born with Cerebral Palsy, she’s never allowed her disability to define her. Rather, she’s used her experiences to breathe life into characters who have physical limitations, but like her, are determined not to let them stand in the way of the life they want. Her works include Husband in Hiding, Forgetting My Way Back to You, and Brother of Interest. She may only be able to type with one hand, but she writes with her whole heart!

Social Media Links

Book Review: K-9 Cold Case by Elizabeth Heiter

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

K-9 COLD CASE (K-9 Alaska Book #3, Unsolved Mystery Book #3) by Elizabeth Heiter is another fast-paced, exciting romantic suspense in the Harlequin Intrigue K-9 Alaska series. This book is set in small-town Alaska featuring the chief of police and an FBI Victim Specialist and his therapy dog chasing an unsub who has left the same image at all his crime scenes over the last eight years. This book is part of two series but is easily read as a standalone crime mystery.

Chief of Police Keara Hernandez moved to Desparre, Alaska after the murder investigation of her detective husband in Houston became a cold case six years ago to try and heal. When a bomb goes of in the neighboring town of Luna, Keara offers to assist the FBI agents called in to lead the investigation.

Jax Diallo is an FBI Victim Specialist who travels with his therapy dog, Patches to work with the crime victims as other FBI special agents investigate the crime. As Jax and Keara do their jobs, a second bomb is exploded in Desparre’s public park. Both times a symbol is left behind that Keara recognizes from the pictures of her husband’s cold case. But what do a bomber and a murderer have in common? Also, as they work together, they try to fight the growing attraction they feel for each other.

Jax and Keara try to discover what ties all the cold cases and recent bombings together, but the bomber has Keara in his sights, and he has plans to make Keara a cold case like her dead husband.

I love both Keara and Jax in this book. They are well written and believable with both the pacing of their investigation and their attraction. The crime/suspense plot was well paced with twists that made it exciting and I just kept turning the pages. Of course, I also love the canine companion in each book in this series. This is a gripping romantic suspense with more suspense than romance, but it works in this story.

I highly recommend this addition to the series and I am looking forward to many more by this author!

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About the Author

Publishers Weekly bestselling author ELIZABETH HEITER likes her suspense to feature strong heroines, chilling villains, psychological twists, and a little bit of romance. Her research has taken her into the minds of serial killers, through murder investigations, and onto the FBI Academy’s shooting range. Her novels have been published in more than a dozen countries and eight languages; they’ve also been shortlisted for the HOLT Medallion, National Readers’ Choice, Daphne Du Maurier and Booksellers’ Best awards and won the RT Reviewers’ Choice award.

Elizabeth graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in English Literature. She’s a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America.

Social Media Links

Facebook: www.facebook.com/elizabeth.heiter.author

Instagram: www.instagram.com/elizabeth_heiter/

Twitter: @ElizabethHeiter

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Girl, Forgotten for by Karin Slaughter

Book Description

A small town hides a big secret…

Who killed Emily Vaughn?

Prom Night. Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn dresses carefully for what’s supposed to be the highlight of any high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the night, because of that secret, she will be dead.

Nearly forty years later, Andrea Oliver, newly qualified as a US Marshal, receives her first assignment: to go to Longbill Beach to protect a judge receiving death threats. But Andrea’s real focus isn’t the judge – it’s Emily Vaughn. Ever since she first heard Emily’s name a year ago, she’s been haunted by her brutal death. Nobody was ever convicted – her friends closed ranks, her family shut themselves off in their grief, the town moved on – so the killer is still out there. But now Andrea has a chance to find out what really happened…

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Elise’s Thoughts

Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter is a follow-up to her 2018 thriller Pieces of Her. Earlier this year, Netflix produced a Pieces of Her mini-series. This book will take readers back to their high school days with a reminder of how cliquey a group of students can be. Par for the course, Slaughter has a riveting murder mystery and fascinating characters.

The plot starts out with Andrea Oliver graduating as a US Marshal. Her first assignment is to protect a judge receiving death threats, but she is also asked to secretly investigate the cold case murder of the judge’s daughter, Emily Vaughn, who died forty years ago. There are dual timelines of Emily’s past and Andrea’s present perspectives broken up by witness statements given in the original investigation. These captivating flashbacks follow Emily in the period leading up to her death as she engages in a Columbo-inspired investigation of her own.

What Slaughter does best is draw readers into the event as they sympathize with the victim. In this case, Emily had dreams and was going places after high school. But it all came to a drastic halt after she was ostracized because of what happened to her. She was also murdered because of that event and Andrea is determined to bring her justice especially since the small town moved on with Emily’s friends closing ranks, her family ignoring their grief, and no one was ever convicted.

This plot is a page-turner with many twists. As always, the pacing makes the intensity of the story ratchet up.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: What did you think of the Netflix series, Pieces of Her, based on your book?

Karin Slaughter: It is clearly different than the book. I just thought that the book is the book, and the show is the show. It was really a lot of fun to watch. We will see if they make more episodes.

EC: Is this book a continuation of your first book?

KS: They will market it when the book comes out with a sticker on the book referring to Pieces of Her. This started with a question about Andrea. In the previous book she wonders about her mom and herself. In this book she is trying to figure out how to be unlike her father, to be a good person. It is really important that she has Leonard Bible, a senior US Marshal, mentoring her. He shows her how to do things the right way.

EC: Why a US Marshal?

KS: I found writing about the US Marshals and Andy interesting. I talked with a ton of Marshals. It was fascinating to see all the cool duties they have. I wanted her to have this profession as a way to rebel against her mother, Laura. She was in witness protection and feels Andrea joined the enemy. I find it fascinating how people have one kind of life and then must have a new life. Usually someone made a deal to testify. Many times, they still must go to prison, which is what happened to Laura. I wanted to show how Andy grows up and becomes her own person. If I decide to write it as a series, having Andy as a Marshal gives me an opportunity to write about a lot of different crimes. They hunt down and keep track of pedophiles, chase after fugitives, and are responsible for security.

EC: How would you describe the relationship between Laura and Andrea?

KS: In the beginning it is a little broken. But then I think Laura does what good parents do. She accepts that Andrea will make her own choices even if she does not agree. By the end of the book, she comes around to that way of thinking. Andrea learns she can disappoint her mother and that is OK. There has been a transition from the first book to this book between the mother-daughter relationship.

EC: Do you think Andrea grew up in this book?

KS: Andrea had a lot of growing up to do. I wanted her to go through that evolution to find her strength. She blew everything up to find herself just as her mother did. There is a line by Laura, “wherever you go, there you are.” Maybe the world is not the problem, but she is the problem. She ends up as someone who is independent and a survivor.

EC: What about Judge Esther?

KS: She would tell you she is a good person who did some bad things. She only supports a certain type of woman, who must be just like her. She only gives a hand to people she approves of. She had her and her daughter Emily’s life all planned out. But after the incident, Esther only wanted Emily to disappear.

EC: Is Wexler evil?

KS: Calling him evil lets him off the hook. He is an opportunist. He tries to make his life as easy as he can that is directed toward his pleasure. Clearly a cult leader. He seems more nuanced. Like Jim Jones, Manson, and Koresh, those men in charge of a cult do it just to have sex with young girls. He is a bad guy where a lot of his actions comes from a deep hatred of women. He is a psychopath and a narcissist.

EC: Did Emily get cancelled?

KS: Everyone talks about getting canceled as if it came after the Internet. But those in high school know of someone that got canceled. Yes, because of what happened to her it put her on the outside of a group. All people wanted to do was punish her and considered her a pariah.

EC: Why did you mention dementia-like actions in the book?

KS: Esther’s husband, Franklin, did have a massive stroke. Esther kept him alive because she was under his thumb for most of her adult life and a lot of it was her wanting vengeance. There is also the fact that once she was caught in this horrible relationship she does not know how to live outside of this relationship.

EC: Why did you choose the music in the book?

KS: I grew up as a teenager in the late 1980s. I really enjoyed putting these songs in the book. I really love the Go-Gos. I thought how amazing they were considering they were the first all-female group to get to number one, playing their own music. These are all songs I liked. I am a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.

EC: Do you have any other books or characters that are going to be made into a movie or TV series?

KS: Yes. Will Trent is picked up by ABC and will be made into a TV series. It might come out in January, thirteen episodes. After watching the pilot, it captures the spirit of my books, gripping with lots of twists and turns. Will is played by Ramon Rodriguez. The earlier books did not have Sara, so they are figuring out when to introduce her.

EC: Next book?

KS: In the summer of next year will be a Will and Sara book.

THANK YOU!!

***

Feature Post and Mini Book Reviews: High Stakes and High Ground by Freya Barker

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Mini Book Reviews for book #2 High Stakes and Book #3 High Ground in the High Mountain Trackers series. These books not only feature two hot alpha heroes but also the two Freling sisters who captured their hearts.

Below you will find the book descriptions, the mini book reviews, the author’s bio and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book #2 Description

When her sister, Pippa, goes missing, Nella Freling tells her boss she’s taking time off from her job as a research librarian, hops in her sensible van, and heads south of the border to Montana. However, local police don’t seem too concerned about a missing woman living in her motorhome. So Nella will have to look for Pippa by herself, unless she can convince a highly recommended tracker to help her, but sadly the rude and angry cowboy won’t even listen to her at first.
But Nella can be persuasive.

The first time High Mountain Tracker, Fletch Boone, laid eyes on Nella, her ass was stuck in his grocery cart. The next time was at the ranch; she was wearing mud, head to toe. But when he catches sight of her a third time, hanging off a cliff, he can’t turn his back again. What Nella lacks in survival skills she makes up for in sheer determination. Unfortunately, neither of those is enough protection when bullets start flying.

Fletch has no choice but to jump in before the woman gets herself killed.
And that would be a damn shame.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60036895-high-stakes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=THQRIq9rva&rank=2

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My Mini Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

As Nella and Fletch search for the missing sister, Fletch has his hands full with the head-strong Nella who will do anything to find her sister even as she places herself in danger.

This book is another exciting romantic suspense in the High Mountain Trackers series. Nella and Fletch have a slow burn romance intertwined in a search and rescue and crime suspense plot that is full of twists. I found Nella and Fletch to be believable in their dance from self-protection to trust and love. All the characters from book one are back to watch Mr. Grumpy fall and provide some entertaining dialogue. This is a cast of characters that pull you right into their stories and I cannot wait for more.

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Book #3 Description

Not much has gone according to plan for mechanic, Pippa Freling, recently. With lots of bridges burned behind her, she decides to stick close to her sister and give Montana a try.

Things are looking up when she joins a local group of animal activists, buys an auto shop for a steal, and even tries her luck with the opposite sex. But it doesn’t take long before her hopeful new future is derailed once again.
This time permanently.

Maintaining tight control is the stronghold in Sully Eckhart’s life. It served him well during his years in special forces and has kept him out of trouble since. But his self-restraint stretches only so far whenever he finds himself faced with the one woman who has the ability to shake his determination. A woman he’s tried to avoid for months—since the first time she shook his resolve—but who now finds herself in the middle of a serial murder case.

However, when she not only ends up a person of interest to the FBI, but firmly in the crosshairs of a killer, he has no other option but to stick close.
And give up all control.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60056449-high-ground?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=lYXH7PNhjW&rank=2

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My Mini Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

Pippa finds herself being investigated as a person of interest by the FBI in a serial murder case. She has more on her plate than she can handle by herself and when the solitary Sully finds out about the news she has yet to share, he refuses to leave her side. As Pippa and Sully learn to share all aspects of their lives, their future life together is being endangered.

The High Mountain Trackers series of romantic suspense books never disappoint. Pippa and Sully are both so independent and I enjoyed their journey to becoming a couple. I loved the way both had to learn to give and take and how they did what was right for them without worrying what others felt about their choices. There is always crossover between the books in the series, but there is even more in this book due to Nella, Pippa’s sister’s pregnancy and delivery and the entire team assisting in the serial murder case. There are several plotlines in this story, but all are answered by the HEA. The sex scenes are steamy and explicit, but not gratuitous. This series has mature heroes and heroines, and the author deals with their personal problems in an adult manner and does not hesitate to give them mature love lives, also.

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Author Bio

USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.

Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.

Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!

Social Media Links

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