Tag: #aboutauthor

Book Review: Exposed: A Circle of the Red Lily Novel by Anna J. Stewart

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

EXPOSED: A Circle of the Red Lily Novel by Anna J. Stewart is the first intriguing romantic suspense in the Circle of the Red Lily series featuring a special cast of characters caught up in a murderous set of secrets from old Tinseltown that puts these friends in jeopardy in present day Hollywood.

Riley Temple is fascinated with photography from a young age and her grandfather, who was a famous Hollywood photographer taught her everything. She is fascinated with old Hollywood, so she buys old rolls of film to develop in addition to pursuing her bill paying gig as a paparazzi. When she develops a roll of film from a pawn shop, she discovers what appears to be a series of photos showing the death of a young woman. Riley does not trust the police, but as her friend is killed and more are threatened, she finds herself reluctantly turning to Detective Quinn Burton for help.

LAPD Homicide Detective Quinn Burton is as frustrated as he is intrigued by the argumentative Riley, but he discovers she will do anything to protect her friends and family even as she vows to discover the truth behind the woman in the photo. With unknown killers after the photos, Riley and Quinn work to discover why these old photos and the secrets of the Red Lily symbol are worth killing for.

This story pulled me in with two strong protagonists, all the interesting secondary characters in Temple House and a decades old mystery/secret cult/serial killings. Riley and Quinn’s relationship is plagued with a lack of trust, fractious with entertaining dialogue, and smokin’ hot when they finally make it to a bed. The first Riley ‘jumping before she thinks’ moment was believable; the second time was a bit irritating even with the given reason. I am really looking forward to discovering more about the other inhabitants of Temple house and the continuation of Riley and Quinn’s relationship. The suspense plot is limited to the killers after Riley and keeping the photos secret with just the beginning of the full horror of what has been in hiding in Hollywood for decades. Even though I usually do not like books that carry over too many plot threads to future books, I am so invested in these characters and the hint of what is to come that I cannot wait for the next book.

I recommend this first romantic suspense book in the Circle of the Red Lily series.

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About the Author

A geek at heart, USA Today and national bestselling author Anna J Stewart writes “refreshingly unique, quietly humorous, and profoundly moving romance.” (RT Book Reviews) Her books include The Butterfly Harbor series for Harlequin Heartwarming, along with the Blackwell continuity series. She also writes the Honor Bound series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense and has written in the ongoing Colton family saga. As her first love is paranormal romance, she’s published a number of novellas, including the Tome Wardens trilogy collection. EXPOSED, her first book of The Circle of the Red Lily romantic suspense series with CAEZIK Romance will be released in November of 2022. Readers can get a taste for what’s to come with her Nemesis Files Trilogy (light romantic suspense), available on audio through Scribd.

NYTimes bestselling author Brenda Novak says “The talented Anna J Stewart delivers every time!”

Anna lives in Northern California where she deals with a serious Supernatural & Jason Momoa addiction, surrounds herself with friends and family and tolerates two devious cats named Sherlock and Rosie.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.authorannastewart.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajstewartwriter

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/anna-j-stewart

Feature Post and Book Review: Hemlock Hollow by Culley Holderfield

Book Description

Caroline McAlister, college professor and life-long skeptic, is reeling from the loss of her father and her marriage. Her once promising career has come to a standstill. When her father bequeaths the family cabin to her, it comes with a ghost who haunted her childhood. When she discovers a century-old journal in the attic, she awakens the voice of Carson Quinn. The journal reveals Carson’s love for the same hollow that enthralled Caroline growing up. A little sleuthing uncovers rumors that the kind, curious boy in the journal grew up to murder his brother. Caroline plunges into the project of exonerating Carson, only to find herself in the throes of a personal past she’s spent her life trying to avoid.

Hemlock Hollow is about how we forever haunt the places we love and how they haunt us in return.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60182437-hemlock-hollow?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ovXiTGJf2L&rank=4

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

HEMLOCK HOLLOW by Culley Holderfield is a lyrical and moody southern fiction novel with intertwining murder mystery and family history storylines from the past and present set in the Northern Carolina mountains. This book is more literary than genre style of writing that I usually prefer and yet it pulled me in to every aspect of the beautiful story and place.

Professor Caroline McAlister is shocked to discover the family’s cabin in Hemlock Hollow has been left to her on the death of her father. Not only is she morning the loss of her father, but the end of her marriage which all together has left her adrift personally and professionally. She decides to return to Hemlock Hollow and have the old cabin renovated. When a tin box is discovered in the attic, Caroline discovers the century old journal of the young Carson Quinn. Carson is an inquisitive young boy who loves Hemlock Hollow but then grows into a recluse that the others in the hollow believe killed his older brother.

Caroline dives into Carson’s journal and the oral and written history of the hollow to discover if the young, intelligent and nature loving boy of the journal could grow into the killer many believed him to be and discovers many truths about herself in the process.

This is a bewitching story that mixes past and present in a deeply moving depiction of southern life. Once I started reading this book, I could not stop. The characters are fully drawn, complex and memorable. The writing took me to Hemlock Hollow in both timelines in a way that made me feel as though I was present and involved in both. The ending had me tearing up as the tragedy from the past led to the emotional discoveries in the present.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more from this author!

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About the Author

Culley Holderfield learned to love storytelling on the porch of a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, he ventured to South America, Africa, and Europe. When not writing or working in community development finance, he spends his time hiking, paddling, and wandering the outdoors. His short stories and poetry have appeared in a variety of publications. Hemlock Hollow is his debut novel. He lives in Durham, NC.

Social Media Links

Website: https://culleyholderfield.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/culley.holderfield

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CulleyHolder

Book Review: Buried Ranch Secrets by Lisa Childs

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

BURIED RANCH SECRETS by Lisa Childs is an inspirational romantic suspense with a second chance romance and a page-turning cold case investigation. This is a book in the loosely connected Love Inspired Inspirational Cold Case collection. Each book is a standalone HEA romantic suspense.

FBI agent Bethany Snow returns home for the first time in several years to spend Christmas with her parents and to decide on her future with the FBI. After being picked up from the airport, her father, the town’s sheriff, is called to the Shepard ranch where a skeleton has been unearthed. Her father asks for Bethany’s help, which she is eager to give.

Cody Shepard, after years on the rodeo circuit has returned home with his young daughter to take over the running of the family ranch when his father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. A skeleton is discovered on the ranch and Bethany, the only woman who broke his heart that he could never forget shows up to work the case.

As Cody and Bethany work to discover the identity of the skeleton, the old connection is still there but Bethany plans on leaving again, and Cody needs to protect his and his daughter’s hearts. A chain of discoveries begin to reveal secrets from the past that an unknown killer wants to keep buried at any cost.

This is an engaging romantic suspense with a believable second chance romance and a suspense plot that kept me guessing. Cody is a responsible father, and his daughter is Molly was adorable. Bethany is an interesting heroine, who is at a point in her life where she is making decisions on her future both professionally and personally which I believe many woman can relate to. All the secondary characters are well drawn and satisfying in their pivotal roles in both the romantic and suspense plots.  The inspirational aspects of this story are a romance with no sex scenes, church attendance and volunteering, and praying for the safety of others.

I recommend this inspirational romantic suspense and I am looking forward to reading more in this collection.

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About the Author

Born one dark and stormy Halloween night, Lisa Childs was predestined to write suspense novels. She loves spinning dark and twisty stories that keep readers awake because they’re either too busy turning pages or too scared to sleep. Lisa Childs is the prolific author of more than seventy published novels. In addition to romantic suspense, she also writes women’s fiction, paranormal and contemporary romance.

Social Media Links

Website: https://lisachilds.com/index.html

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lisa_Childs

Feature Post and Book Review: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

Book Description

In every person’s story, there is something to hide…

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56803179-the-woman-in-the-library?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=SrC0Nbe9xM&rank=1

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RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill is an intricately plotted and intriguing murder mystery story within a suspense story. This standalone is by a new to me author and I am very happy I took a chance on reading it.

The mystery has four strangers sitting at the same table in the Boston Public Library when there is suddenly a blood curdling scream from another room. Winifred “Freddie” Kincaid is an Australian aspiring writer in the U.S. on a scholarship, Cain McLeod (Handsome Man) is a published author, Marigold Anastas (Freud Girl) is studying psychology at Harvard, and Whit Metters (Heroic Chin) is a failing law student who wants to be a journalist. Winifred is the narrator in this murder mystery.

At the end of each chapter of the mystery, a letter is written to Hannah, who is the published author writing the murder mystery in Australia from her fellow aspiring writer, fan, beta reader, Leo who lives in Boston and is giving her information on sites for her book and other suggested corrections. What could go wrong?

Layer upon layer in both the murder mystery and the suspense story are very well written and pulled me into each and it was difficult to put this book down. I feel both stories are clever with plenty of twists and surprises, especially the mystery, but I did anticipate where the suspense plot was heading. The characters are interesting and kept me guessing.

I recommend this mystery in a suspense for a unique and entertaining read.

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About the Author

Once upon a time, Sulari Gentill was a corporate lawyer serving as a director on public boards, with only a vague disquiet that there was something else she was meant to do. That feeling did not go away until she began to write. And so Sulari became the author of the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries: thus far, ten historical crime novels chronicling the life and adventures of her 1930s Australian gentleman artist, the Hero Trilogy, based on the myths and epics of the ancient world, and the Ned Kelly Award winning Crossing the Lines (published in the US as After She Wrote Hime). In 2014 she collaborated with National Gallery of Victoria to write a short story which was produced in audio to feature in the Fashion Detective Exhibition, and thereafter published by the NGV. IN 2019 Sulari was part of a 4-member delegation of Australian crime writers sponsored by the Australia Council to tour the US as ambassadors of Australian Crime Writing.

Sulari lives with her husband, Michael, and their boys, Edmund and Atticus, on a small farm in Batlow where she grows French Black Truffles and refers to her writing as “work” so that no one will suggest she get a real job.

Social Media Links

Website: http://sularigentill.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SulariGentill

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sulari-gentill

Book Review: Slow Horses by Mick Herron

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SLOW HORSES (Slough House Book #1) by Mick Herron is a great riveting British espionage thriller and start to the Slough House series. This group of characters are unique, and the story has so many twists I was unable to put it down. Even though this is the first book in a series, it is does have a solid ending and can be read as a standalone.

Slough House is the place that washed up spies go when they can no longer be trusted and used in regular service. It is a place for the “slow horses” to either finish out their MI5 career doing endless office drudgery or quit the service entirely. All hope to one day be called back up to the big game, but none are. The Slough House is headed by the infamous Jackson Lamb.

River Cartwright has waited his entire life to be a part of MI5 like his grandfather, but after a tremendous failure on his last training assignment, he is sent to Slough House. River is determined to not only redeem himself, but prove the mistake during his assignment was not his fault. When a young man is kidnapped and then threatened to be beheaded live on the internet, River believes this is his chance to get out of Slough House, but this kidnapping is not entirely what it seems. Jackson Lamb must count on all his “slow horses”, including River, to pull together to outwit more than kidnappers.

I loved this book and cannot believe I had not already read it. I picked it up because I had heard of the Apple+ series and I prefer to read the book before watching the movie or TV series and I am very glad I did. I always enjoy finding a great story with memorable characters and that it is the first book in a series only makes it better. Jackson Lamb and all the slow horses have very interesting reasons for being sent to Slough House and even though everyone has written them off, they rise to the occasion and prove they are still able to play the game.

This plot has many unexpected twists and surprises that make this espionage thriller a great read and I cannot wait to start book #2 in the series. I highly recommend this book!

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About the Author

Mick Herron’s six Slough House novels have been shortlisted for eight CWA Daggers, winning twice, and shortlisted for the Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year three times. The first, Slow Horses, was picked as one of the best twenty spy novels of all time by the Daily Telegraph, while the most recent, Joe Country, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller.

Mick Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives in Oxford.

Feature Post and Book Review: Fallout by Carrie Stuart Parks

Book Description

Samantha Williams’s carefully crafted life is about to be demolished as thoroughly as her art classroom when a careening SUV smashes into the school.

After a difficult childhood, Samantha Williams craves simplicity: jigsaw puzzles, lectures at the library, and the students she adores in her role as an elementary school art teacher in the dusty farming community of LaCrosse, Washington.

But when an SUV crashes into the building where she teaches, her entire world is upended. Samantha manages to keep the children safe, but her car isn’t so lucky. Oddly, her purse—with her driver’s license, credit cards, and other identification—is missing from the wreckage forcing her to rely on the kindness of strangers. Never one to trust easily, Samantha is thrust into a world far different from her simple life of jigsaw puzzles, children’s books, and lectures at the library.

One of the strangers who befriends her is a reporter from Spokane who is in town investigating two sets of skeletal remains that were recently discovered. When authorities discover that the driver in the school accident was shot before the crash, Samantha quickly becomes enmeshed in strange events, which turn ominous with the discovery of blackmail, murder, an abandoned town, and a secret government project.

Those involved are determined to keep these secrets buried, and they’ll use any means necessary to stop Samantha’s search for truth.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59660453-fallout

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

FALLOUT by Carrie Stuart Parks is an intriguing Christian suspense/mystery book featuring a small-town art instructor who must face the past she is running from to be able to stop a murderer. This is a standalone inspirational suspense/mystery with just a touch of romance.

Samantha “Sam” Williams is a protagonist who has survived a terrible past, does not trust easily, but has endearing quirks. I loved her habit of quoting from famous children’s authors and books, especially Dr. Suess’ “The Sneeches”. Dr. Dustin “Dutch” Van Seters is recovered from PTSD, works with Sam to solve the mystery of the skeletal remains, uncover her past and is the tie into Clan Firinn, which is a Christian faith compound that offers hope to law enforcement and other first responders suffering from PTSD and related disorders. Both worked well together and were fully fleshed protagonists.

The suspense plot starts off with a bang, but then bogs down for a while with all the many threads of past and present that are used. It does pick up once motives begin to be sorted and ends with an exciting climax. The forensic art inclusions and the historical element of the Hanford site were both interesting. The inclusion of biblical quotes and Sam and Dutch’s religious beliefs were paced realistically throughout the plot and never felt heavy-handed.

Overall, this Christian suspense/mystery is an enjoyable twisted intricate mystery with an uneven sense of suspense in places.

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About the Author

Carrie Stuart Parks is an award winning artist, writer, speaker, and law enforcement instructor. A Certified Forensic Artist, she met her husband, Rick, in the romantic hallways of the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Together they formed a dynamic and successful team in their fine and forensic art, working on major national and international cases and creating exquisite watercolors and stone carvings. They travel internationally, teaching forensic art to a variety of participants: from the Secret Service to the FBI, from large law enforcement agencies to the smallest two-man departments in their one-week classes. They are the largest instructors of forensic art in the world. Carrie has won numerous awards for her innovative teaching methods and general career excellence and is a signature member of the Idaho Watercolor Society.

Carrie’s Gwen Marcey series chronicles a forensic artist from Montana and is loosely based on Carrie’s forensic cases. She began her fiction writing career while battling breast cancer. Mentored by NY Times bestselling author, Frank Peretti, Carrie’s debut novel, along with her subsequent novels, have been met with critical acclaim.

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.carriestuartparks.com/#:~:text=Carrie%20Stuart%20Parks%20is%20an,NCIS%2C%20and%20local%20law%20enforcement.

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

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/carrie-stuart-parks