Tag: #aboutauthor

Feature Post and Book Review: Code Red by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for CODE RED (A Mitch Rapp Novel Book #22) by Kyle Mills. This is the last book that Kyle Mills will be authoring in this series started by Vince Flynn, but the series is continuing.

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

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Book Description

Mitch Rapp hates owing anyone a favor—especially when it’s the world’s most powerful crime lord. But when Damian Losa calls, Mitch is honor-bound to answer.

The Syrian government appears to have created a highly addictive new narcotic that it plans to distribute throughout Europe. It’s a major threat to Losa’s business and he’s determined to send someone to keep him on top by any means necessary.

Rapp is the perfect choice for the mission. Not only does he have extensive experience operating in the Middle East, but he’s also entirely expendable.

As he crosses into war-torn Syria, Rapp quickly discovers a shocking truth. The new drug isn’t being produced by Damascus to prop up the government’s collapsing finances. Instead, it was created by Russia’s asymmetrical warfare unit, not for profit but as a weapon against the West.

With far more than Damian Losa’s interests at stake, Rapp devises a desperate plan that forces him and his team onto a battlefield where the United States is virtually powerless and allegiances shift almost hourly. Further, if Russia uncovers their plot, it will set off a confrontation between the two countries that could change the course of human history.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/109238891-code-red?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=AJbfuoNeEt&rank=2

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

CODE RED (A Mitch Rapp Novel Book #22) by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills is another exciting addition to this political/terrorism thriller series. This is Mr. Mills last book in this long-standing series, but the series is continuing with another author. While this book begins with the repayment of an obligation from a previous book and the main characters continue to evolve, it is still easily read as a standalone thriller. I am privileged to be a chosen Ambassador to this series.

Mitch Rapp owes a favor to one of the world’s most powerful drug lords, Damian Losa, for the help that only he could provide in locating a threat to Mitch’s family. Losa is calling in his marker and sends Mitch undercover into Syria, but things do not go as planned. When Mitch is double crossed, he considered his debt paid and he goes after a Russian developing a designer drug that could easily destroy Western civilization as we know it.

Off the official books, Mitch and his team come together in Syria to take down this latest threat before Russia uncovers their plan and it turns into a major international incident.

I really love this series, but not this one until about a quarter of the way into the plot. I found Losa using Mitch the way he did just not what I expected, and it just did not fit the Mitch persona, so I did not really buy it and it dragged. The plot with the Russians making a new drug that could destroy Western society is when it grabbed my interest and the action took off with what I have come to expect in a Mitch Rapp book and that made it a good addition to the series for me. The book satisfied me by the end when Mitch and his team do what they do and made up for the slower beginning. I love this series for the intriguing political/terrorism plots that are not out of the headlines, but almost seem like the author can see into the horrors of the future. While I do not feel this is the best Mitch Rapp in the series, it is still an action roller-coaster thrill ride to the end.

I have loved this series since book one when Vince Flynn started it, and Kyle Mills has been an excellent choice to continue it and hopefully it will continue to be one of my favorite action thriller series as the author changes once again. Thank you for your stewardship, Mr. Mills.

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About the Author

Kyle Mills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two political thrillers, including Enemy at the Gates, Total Power, and Lethal Agent for Vince Flynn and The Patriot Attack for Robert Ludlum. He initially found inspiration from his father, an FBI agent and former Interpol director, and still draws on his contacts in the intelligence community to give his books such realism. Avid outdoor athletes and travelers, he and his wife split their time between Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Granada, Spain.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.kylemills.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KyleMillsAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleMillsAuthor

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kyle-mills

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: A White Hot Plan by Mike & Ayan Rubin

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A WHITE HOT PLAN by Mike & Ayan Rubin on this Coffee and Thorn Book Tour.

Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the authors section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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About the Book

A group of alt-right terrorists decides that now is the time–and New Orleans is the place–to make an explosive statement that will force the world to acknowledge the superiority of the white supremacist movement.

Disgraced former New Orleans homicide detective Starner Gautreaux is now a poorly paid sheriff’s deputy relegated to writing his weekly quota of speeding tickets in a sleepy south Louisiana parish. His mundane life is all-too-predictable until several unusual events cause him to suspect something is seriously amiss. While the local coroner classifies the resulting deaths as accidental, Starner’s prior experience leads him to believe that not only are they homicides, but also that they signal something far more sinister.

Taut action bubbles up from the swamps of Louisiana to the hidden haunts of underworld bosses, from small-town life to urban grit, and from a high-speed highway shootout to a terrifying confrontation in the heart of the French Quarter. White supremacists seek to impose their will on a city swamped with carefree tourists, but Starner Gautreaux is determined not to let that happen.

A White Hot Plan

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

A WHITE HOT PLAN by Mike & Ayan Rubin is an intricately plotted, gripping thriller featuring a disgraced former NOPD homicide detective now just going through the motions as a rural sheriff’s deputy in his hometown South Louisiana parish. This is a standalone thriller that does leave an opening in the final chapter for the possibility of more books featuring this protagonist in the future and I am hoping that does happen.

Sheriff’s Deputy Starner Gautreaux is leading a predictably mundane life in his hometown until people begin to disappear and others are found dead. While the coroner calls them natural deaths, Starner’s experience has him believing otherwise. Starner refuses to ignore what is happening, but he will have to move quickly to stop a plot that could destroy the French Quarter during a festival.

This is a timely plot with the rise of domestic terrorism and white supremist groups currently in the news. Starner has grown up in this racially charged area, but treats all equally, but is not blind to the racism all around him. He has had a horrific life since Katrina and yet he still has a sense of justice that he cannot let go. The parish comes to life with the author’s descriptive writing of the bayou, the small town, the corrupt sheriff, and the fanatical delusions and cruelty of the white power group. The plot is fast paced and captivating as readers get to follow not only Starner’s point of view, but also all the members of the racist group. The short chapters moved the plot quickly and made me not want to stop reading until the end.

I highly recommend this engrossing crime thriller and I hope P.I. Starner Gautreaux will be back in more new books.

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About the Authors

Mike and Ayan Rubin are a husband and wife writing team.

Their debut novel, THE COTTONCREST CURSE, is a historical thriller published by the award-winning LSU Press. Its story line takes place from the 1860’s through the 1960’s and follows the exploits and travails of several generations of five families who own, work, or reside near the eponymous South Louisiana plantation.  THE COTTONCREST CURSE garnered the Book of the Year Gold Award at an annual meeting of the American Library Association where it was named the top thriller/suspense novel published by a university or independent press. A German edition has been published by Suhrkamp and is for sale in Europe.

Their second novel, a contemporary legal thriller entitled CASHED OUT, is now in its second edition.  It won the coveted Jack Eadon award as the Best Contemporary Drama and was shortlisted for the Silver Falchion Award as the best thriller. Combining page-turning action with a distinct sense of southern locale, the Providence Journal raved that it features “a lawyer down and out enough to make John Grisham proud. He’s culled from the likes of Michael Connelly by way of James Lee Burke. A gem of a tale.”

A WHITE HOT PLAN is their third novel.

A nationally known legal ethicist, public speaker and humorist, as well as a full time appellate attorney, Mike has had a varied career. He has been a professional jazz pianist in the New Orleans French Quarter, a radio and television announcer, and an adjunct law professor. He won the Burton Award for Outstanding Writing given at the Library of Congress and is a member of the Author’s Guild, the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and the International Association of Crime Writers.

Ayan has had an equally varied career, having been a classroom teacher, an education administrator, a prolific grant writer, a developmental book editor, a nonprofit consultant, and, for almost three decades, the Coordinator of the Educational Services Division of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, a statewide television network, where she was responsible for initiating and then shepherding a wide variety of video projects from concept through script development and production to statewide and national broadcast.

Mike’s breadth of knowledge about the intricacies of the law and his penchant for devising dramatic situations, combined with Ayan’s unique ability to visualize and bring characters and scenes to life, make for taut tales with unrelenting twists and turns.

Because Mike’s full time legal career and numerous speaking engagements keep them hopping, they write early in the morning or late in the evening, often discussing plot lines and character development during their daily 4:30 a.m. power walks. They are just as apt to draft and revise chapters while sitting in airports or hotel rooms as they are to do so in their adjoining home offices.

Together, Mike and Ayan Rubin have developed a unique literary voice that has captivated devotees of their page-turning thrillers. A WHITE HOT PLAN is their third novel..

The protagonists and primary characters in each of their contemporary novels are descendants of the protagonists and primary characters in THE COTTONCREST CURSE, and the intoxicating action in all of their fiction plays out amidst the backwoods, bayous, big cities, and body politic of their beguiling home state of Louisiana.

Social Media Links

Website: https://mrubinbooks.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100036882297081

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelHRubin

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6187123.Michael_H_Rubin

Book Review: A Killer’s Game by Isabella Maldonado

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

A KILLER’S GAME (Daniela Vega Book #1) by Isabella Maldonado is a gripping crime thriller that takes off like a rocket and never stops. This is the start of a new series featuring a Hispanic female FBI agent with a unique background in the U.S. Army Special Forces. This is an author introduced to me by Amazon’s First To Read program and I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

FBI Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega witnesses a murder right in front of her on the streets of Manhattan. When the killer is caught, it is learned he is only a part of a group of killers used in a conspiracy to enrich a powerful Senator. The only way to infiltrate this group is for Dani to team up with the murderer, Gustavo Toro, and while she successfully infiltrates the group, this new mission is a trap for them all set up by a brilliant game maker set on revenge.

In an underground converted missile silo rehabbed as a labyrinth, Dani and Toro and the other assassins must now fight each other with only one allowed to survive and leave. In this game everything is real, and the logic puzzles are lethal. Can Dani survive Nemesis’ ultimate revenge?

This is one of those thrillers that pull you in and then you cannot put it down. Dani is a strong, intelligent, competent, and yet vulnerable main character. All the secondary characters were believable, from her siblings to her FBI colleagues and all the antagonists as they are fleshed out, they never slowed the pace of the story. The plot, especially once all the assassins are in the maze, kept me on the edge of my seat and I was trying to solve the puzzles right along with Dani. This is not the usual FBI investigative procedural.

I am anxiously looking forward to more books in this series to see what Dani gets herself into next.

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About the Author

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing, which includes the bestselling FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series (soon to be a Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Lopez), the award-winning Detective Veranda Cruz series, and the Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega series. Her books have been translated into 22 languages.

Social Media Links

Website: https://isabellamaldonado.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorisabella

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorbella1

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/isabella-maldonado?list=about

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Luminous: The Story of a Radium Girl by Samantha Wilcoxson

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for LUMINOUS: The Story of a Radium Girl by Samantha Wilcoxson on this Coffee and Thorn Book Tour.

Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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About the Book

Catherine’s life is set on an unexpected course when she accepts a job at Radium Dial. She soon finds out that the excellent pay is no recompense for the evil secret that lurks in the magical glow-in-the-dark paint. Catherine Donohoe takes on the might of a big corporation and becomes an early pioneer of social justice in the era between world wars.

Emotive and inspiring – this book will touch you like no other as you witness the devastating impact of radium poisoning on young women’s lives.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52288751-luminous?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=JgZAkE25ik&rank=1

LUMINOUS: The Story of a Radium Girl

  • Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Luminous-Story-Radium-Samantha-Wilcoxson-ebook/dp/B085ZWBFCQ
  • Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52288751
  • Genre:  Fictional account of real events, 1920s and 30s.
  • Print length: 321 pages (83K words)
  • Age range: This is an adult book, but may be suitable for mature older teenagers
  • Trigger warnings: Distressing medical content

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

LUMINOUS: The Story of a Radium Girl by Samantha Wilcoxson is an emotionally heartrending historical biographical fiction story that had me grabbing the tissues as the main character’s disease progresses and yet cheering her on as she fights for justice in a time when workers are considered insignificant and easily replaceable to companies in the 1920’s and 30’s. While this is a story where you know what happens to the main character in the end, it is her fighting spirit in the face of her pain that starts to bring awareness to exploitation of all workers in dangerous jobs.

Catherine is excited to get a job at Radium Dial in Ottawa, Illinois. It is the largest and the highest paying company in the city and with this job she will be able to help her aunt and uncle with their bills. It is exacting work painting the glow paint on the dark numerals on watch dials. While the young girls have fun with the glow-in-the dark paint, they do not realize the radium is poisoning them. As her friends begin to get sick and die, Catherine realizes her greatest fear…that the radium paint they use pointing their brushes with their mouths is deadly.

Catherine and her husband face her diagnosis with their faith and love, but they also want justice. Catherine becomes a determined fighter for workers, but she is also fighting against time.

The minute I read about the “pointing of the brushes”, I wanted to scream, “NO!” Catherine’s story is difficult to read and yet I feel it is necessary to honor her by reading it and continuing her fight. Our society today is once again going through worker vs. corporation upheavals and that makes this a timely inspirational read. I love history, but this story is new to me and now I will never forget it or any of the radium girls.

I highly recommend this historical biographical fiction!

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About the Author

Samantha Wilcoxson is an author of emotive biographical fiction and strives to help readers connect with history’s unsung heroes. She also writes nonfiction for Pen & Sword History. Samantha loves sharing trips to historic places with her family and spending time by the lake with a glass of wine. Her most recent work is Women of the American Revolution, which explores the lives of 18th century women, and she is currently working on a biography of James Alexander Hamilton.

Social Media Links

Feature Post and Book Review: Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon

Book Description

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of:her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does. 

Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.

With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always resisted: depend on each other.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65646968-mother-daughter-murder-night?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=BdnQ89cqIE&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT by Nina Simon is both murder mystery and multi-generational family drama combined into one heartfelt and intriguing read. Grandmother, mother, and daughter are reunited by a devastating medical diagnosis and while working through their dysfunctional dynamics they also work together to solve a murder. This is a standalone mystery that could easily become a series if the author wished.

High-powered L.A. real estate mogul, Lana Rubicon is seriously ill and now needs the assistance of her daughter, Beth who lives 300 miles north with her daughter, fifteen-year-old Jacqueline “Jack”. It is a difficult adjustment for everyone.

While Jack is leading a kayak tour of the slough, a dead body is discovered.  When Jack becomes a suspect, Beth begs Lana to hire a criminal lawyer, but the bored Lana decides this is the perfect opportunity to focus on anything but her disease and protect her granddaughter by finding the real murderer. As the women discover a web of family lies, hidden agendas, and land disputes the danger escalates, and they learn that to find the truth they must do something they have never done, depend on one another.

This is a genre mash-up that delivers on both the dysfunctional family drama with humor, tough love, and learning to understand another’s view and an amateur cozy murder mystery that has plenty of twists and red herrings that kept me guessing until the end. The first third of the book leans more towards the family dynamics and discovery of the body and then the investigation plotline of the murder becomes intertwined, and the pace of the amateur investigation increases to the climax. The characters are entertaining and unique, but the family dynamics and interactions make them come to life.

I enjoyed and recommend this unique genre mash-up.

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About the Author

I write crime stories about strong women. My first novel, MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT, about a grandma, single mom, and teenage girl who come together to solve a murder mystery, is out now.

Writing is my joy. In college, I was an electrical engineering student by day and a slam poet by night. After a brief stint at NASA, I started designing interactive exhibits and eventually became a museum director. I wrote two books of nonfiction about participatory, relevant cultural institutions. I thought of nonprofits as my “real” job and writing on the side.

Then, my mom got sick. I quit my job to help care for her, and I found myself turning to fiction–crime stories especially–as a way to escape during a hard time. My mom and I both always loved mysteries, and I decided to try to write one myself, with a detective/hero based on her. Now, my mom is doing better, and I’m gratefully spending my days writing, reading, and dreaming up new stories.

I live off-the-grid in the Santa Cruz mountains with my family.

Social Media Links

Website: https://ninaksimon.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ninaksimon

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ninaksimon

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nina-simon

Feature Post and Book Review: The Time Patriot: Episode One – Hail Mary Pass by Kim Megahee

Book Summary

A Hail Mary Pass – that’s what the President of the United States called it.

What are the chances Marc McKnight’s time travel team can convince George Washington to leave his home and travel with them to the year 2037?
Another bloody civil war is imminent in the United States. Political parties are hopelessly divided and fanning the embers of war. Can the war be prevented if George Washington tells modern America what the Founding Fathers were trying to achieve?

A Hail Mary Pass. A long shot. But it’s worth a try.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65138146-the-time-patriot?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qt5JUrkOj0&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE TIME PATRIOT: EPISODE ONE – HAIL MARY PASS by Kim Megahee is the intriguing first in The Time Patriot series of time travel/sci-fi historical episodic novellas set in 2037. With the U.S on the brink of civil war, a time travel team has been sent by the current U.S. President to bring George Washington forward in time to clarify to the people of 2037 America what the Founding Fathers were trying to achieve with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I was impressed with the believability of the worldbuilding in this novella. It sets up the series without bogging down the pace of the plot. The historical research interspersed with futuristic sci-fi imaginings are interwoven seamlessly throughout the novella and lead to an easy suspension of belief and an enjoyable read that ends too soon.

This novella does end on a cliffhanger, but the next episode is available now, so you don’t have to wait, which I didn’t. That said, it is also my only criticism. I know many people enjoy short bursts of stories that they can stop and start, continue or not, but I do not. I would have preferred all these episodic novellas were available in one full length story.

Overall, this is an action-packed, exciting sci-fi historical novella that I read in one sitting and really enjoyed. I did immediately download the next novella in the series, but this type of rolling out a story may not be for everyone.

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About the Author

Kim Megahee is a writer, musician, and retired computer consultant. He has a degree from the University of Georgia in Mathematics Education. His background includes playing in rock bands, teaching high school, and much experience in computer programming, security and consulting.

In his consulting career, Kim worked with large companies on four continents to help increase their software development throughput.

In addition to writing, he enjoys hanging out with his wife, reading, watching scifi movies, boating on Lake Lanier, playing live music, and socializing with friends. Kim lives in Gainesville, Georgia with his soulmate wife Martha and Leo, the brilliant but stubborn red-headed toy poodle.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.authorkimmegahee.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.kmega/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKmega

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kim-megahee