Today is my turn on the Fallible Justice Blog Tour. I am excited to share my Feature Post and Book Review for FALLIBLE JUSTICE (Wilde Investigations Book #1) by Laura Laakso. This is an absolutely fantastic new magical world with compelling characters that I highly recommend!
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
In Old London, where paranormal races co-exist with ordinary humans, criminal verdicts delivered by the all-seeing Heralds of Justice are infallible. After a man is declared guilty of murder and sentenced to death, his daughter turns to private investigator Yannia Wilde to do the impossible and prove the Heralds wrong.
Yannia has escaped a restrictive life in the Wild Folk conclave where she was raised, but her origins mark her as an outsider in the city. Those origins lend her the sensory abilities of all of nature. Yet Yannia is lonely and struggling to adapt to life in the city. The case could be the break she needs. She enlists the help of her only friend, a Bird Shaman named Karrion, and together they accept the challenge of proving a guilty man innocent.
So begins a breathless race against time and against all conceivable odds. Can Yannia and Karrion save a man who has been judged infallibly guilty?
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
FALLIBLE JUSTICE (Wilde Investigations Book #1) by Laura Laakso is the first book in a new paranormal mystery/urban fantasy series by a new to me debut author. I was immediately immersed in this new world and all the compelling magical characters.
Old London is the domain of the magical races and New London is where the ordinary humans live. The two occasionally overlap, but the humans have a distrust of the magical beings, but they do trust the all-seeing Heralds of Justice to pronounce an infallible justice that no magic can pervert on any who commit a crime.
Yannia Wilde is a member of the Wild Folk working in Old London as a private investigator. When one powerful mage is convicted of murdering another, the convicted mage’s daughter comes to Yannia. She begs her to not only prove her father did not commit the murder, but that the Heralds have made a mistake and her father must be freed. With the help of her new apprentice, Karrion who is a bird shaman, the two set out to prove the impossible in just four short days with some help from their magical friends and Jamie, a human detective from New Scotland Yard.
Two things hit me immediately as I fell into this magical world, I could not believe this was the author’s first book and the worldbuilding was fantastic. The mystery plot in this story is as well written and paced as the worldbuilding throughout. It all flowed together effortlessly.
Yannia is such a complex protagonist needing the wild to recharge her magic when surrounded for too long in the city, running from a mysterious heritage in her Wild Folk conclave and if that is not enough she has a rare genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Karrion is a wonderful character that not only helps Yannia in her investigation, but is also a smart and caring friend as well as apprentice. All the secondary characters are as fully fleshed as Yannia and Karrion and I hope they are all carried over into future books in this series.
I highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to the next book in this series. Quite frankly, it is one of the best new paranormal mystery/urban fantasy books I have read in quite a while.
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About Laura Laakso
Laura Laakso is a Finn who has lived for most of her adult life in England. She is an accountant, dog trainer and author. Fallible Justice is her debut novel and the first in her paranormal crime series Wilde Investigations.
I am very excited to once again be on a Blog Tour for A Jordan Reed Mystery. Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for LAKE EFFECT (A Jordan Reed Mystery Book #2) by K. C. Gillis. I loved this adventure with Jordan even more than the first!
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
Mysterious marina accidents. Destroyed evidence. Can a tenacious reporter decipher the twisted clues at a small-town lake?
Jordan Reed is burned out from all the attention on her previous high-profile story. But when a new lead lands in her lap, she reluctantly postpones her vacation to investigate a classic New England marina. With hundreds of dead fish washing up on Copper Lake’s otherwise pristine shores, Jordan suspects a sinister cover-up.
But by the time she arrives on the scene, she’s surprised to discover the police chief eliminated every last carcass and seems hellbent on blocking her inquiries. And her search for the culprit takes a perilous turn when gambling kingpins descend on the city and a string of unexplained calamities plague the docks.
Can Jordan expose the corruption, or will she be the next to go belly-up?
Lake Effect is the second book in the fast-paced Jordan Reed mystery series. If you like steely female sleuths, gripping action, and clever twists that’ll keep you guessing, then you’ll love K.C. Gillis’s page-turning mystery.
Buy Lake Effect to dive into dangerous waters today!
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
LAKE EFFECT (A Jordan Reed Mystery Book #2) by K.C. Gillis is a mystery/thriller mash-up featuring journalist Jordan Reed. I have been looking forward to this addition to the series and I was not disappointed. This is the second book in the series, but it is easily read as a standalone.
Jordan Reed is tired of her celebrity status since her last adventure. All she wants is her much needed week of vacation, but her best-friend Travis asks her to check out an unusual occurrence at a friend’s family marina. East Bay Marina is a small oasis on beautiful Copper Lake in New England. One day hundreds of dead fish wash up on shore. The fish do not look normal and Jordan drops any plans of a relaxing week to investigate.
Jordan uses the location to spend some time with her sister and asks for Travis’ technical help once again. When she arrives at the marina, the fish have disappeared and she is warned by the local police chief to mind her own business. Luckily one of the marina workers, who just happened to be the chief’s son saved a fish that Jordan was able to deliver to Charlie Choi, her friend at the CDC for analysis.
Besides the troubling secrets surrounding the dead fish, there are multiple unexplained accidents occurring on the docks. An attorney for a state Senator and a fixer for a mob boss all descend on the marina. Is all of this tied together or are they separate players involved in multiple plots? Will Jordan be able to uncover all the plots and plans or will she learn too much to walk away?
I loved this adventure with Jordan even more than the first. Mr. Gillis was able to intertwine two fast-paced, unfolding conspiracies. While Jordan worked on discovering the two separate plotlines, I was impressed that even though they had separate motives, they had the same goal. I felt Jordan was more realistically portrayed as a dogged journalist in this story than the first. All of Jordan’s friends and all of the secondary characters, good and bad were fully fleshed and well written.
Jordan and Travis are great together and I am looking forward to seeing what they get up to in the future. I can recommend this book and look forward to many more in this series.
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About the Author
K.C. (Kevin) Gillis is the author of the Jordan Reed mystery series. Despite being a lifelong lover of stories and books, writing took a distant back seat as his professional career travelled through the Canadian Air Force, a decade as a chemist, followed by a long and continuing run in corporate America. With writing no longer in the back seat (but not quite yet in the front seat), Kevin how has the Jordan Reed series well under way. His personal interests focus on endurance and water sports. Having grown up in the Canadian Maritimes, he now lives in the US northeast with his wife, teenagers and a pair of black cats.
Today is my turn on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour for the first book in this new suspense/thriller saga – THE PINEBOX VENDETTA (Pruitt-Gallagher Saga Book #1) by Jeff Bond. This is a political “Hatfield vs. McCoy” thriller with hidden agendas, dirty tricks and memorable but not so nice characters.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book an about the author section and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
From the author of The Winner Maker and Blackquest 40 comes The Pinebox Vendetta: a genre-bending thriller that combines a love story, cold-case murder mystery, and political blood feud – told over the course of a single breathless weekend.
The Gallaghers and Pruitts have dominated the American political landscape dating back to Revolutionary times. The Yale University class of 1996 had one of each, and as the twenty-year reunion approaches, the families are on a collision course.
Owen Gallagher is coasting to the Democratic nomination for president.
Rock Pruitt – the brash maverick whose career was derailed two decades ago by his association to a tragic death – is back, ready to reclaim the mantle of clan leader.
And fatefully in between lies Samantha Lessing. Sam arrives at reunion weekend lugging a rotten marriage, dumb hope, and a portable audio recorder she’ll use for a public radio-style documentary on the Pruitt-Gallagher rivalry – widely known as the pinebox vendetta. What Sam uncovers will thrust her into the middle of the ancient feud, upending presidential politics and changing the trajectory of one clan forever.
The Pinebox Vendetta is the first entry in the Pruitt-Gallagher saga: a series that promises cutthroat plots, power grabs, and unforgettable characters stretched to their very limits by the same ideological forces that roil America today.
Genre: Thriller Published by: Jeff Bond Books Publication Date: February 19th 2020 Number of Pages: 264 ISBN: 1732255253 (ISBN13: 9781732255258) Series: Pruitt-Gallagher Saga, #1 Purchase Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
THE PINEBOX VENDETTA (Pruitt-Gallagher Saga Book #1) by Jeff Bond is the start of a new thriller series. This is a political “Hatfield vs. McCoy” thriller with hidden agendas, dirty tricks and memorable but not so nice characters.
The Pruitts and Gallaghers have battled for political dominance since the Revolutionary War.
Rock Pruitt left Yale under suspicion of murdering his roommate and even as his powerful family helped him then, they never publicly backed him in his future to claim political power.
Jamie Gallagher was an idealist who left Yale and joined the Peace Corp in Africa. Everyone believes he died assassinating an evil warlord.
Yale University class of 1996 is gathered for the weekend for their twenty-year class reunion. Samantha Lessing is attending with her teenage daughter. She wants her to love Yale as much as she did when she attended. Sam has come with an agenda though besides seeing old friends. She wants to interview her classmates about the Pruitt-Gallagher rivalry, also known as the pinebox vendetta to use as a radio-style documentary for her work.
This reunion weekend once again brings all the families together. Secrets will be uncovered, plots revealed and the vendetta continues on.
At the beginning I was not sure where this story was going. It has a time and scene jumping start that had me confused at first, but once the reunion starts and the characters get sorted, the plot started to intrigue me and then I could not put it down. The author’s writing style is lean and the plot moves quickly. I was not very happy when the book ended, but I did feel the author did not cheat and leave a cliffhanger because he did reveal the solution of the mystery from twenty-years-ago before the ending.
Samantha started out so beaten down and stagnant in her life and marriage, but in just this weekend she takes control of her life and I loved her life decisions at the end. All of the Pruitts and Gallaghers are twisted, corrupt, manipulative and just plain unlikable, but they were also memorable and sadly realistic.
This is a unique thriller and even though I did not like the main characters, I do want to continue reading more of this saga to find out what else Mr. Bond has planned for them.
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Excerpt
The meeting was to take place twenty minutes after sunrise. Jamie woke, having finally fallen asleep around four a.m., to the Somalis chatting in their native tongue over pieces of flatbread. He dragged himself aboveboard, feeling at once languid and jittery.
“Bread?” Abdi offered, tearing a piece from a slab.
“Thanks, no.” Jamie reached into his rucksack instead for a piece of biltong, the wildebeest jerky he’d grown fond of. “Has the general been about?”
“Yes, Josef saw him. The hat.” Abdi made a sifting gesture above his head to indicate the general’s beret.
The day was already scorching, the sky’s blue brilliance broken only by the boiling disk of the sun. The general’s yacht rocked softly in the west, appearing quite large now, its bow sleek and spear-like.
“They’re within gun range,” Jamie observed.
“Oh yes. We are in their scopes.”
As if to prove the point, Abdi raised a hand in the yacht’s direction and laughed. Nobody joined him.
The pirate named Josef, taller and broader in the chest than Abdi, loaded the ten-million-dollar briefcase into the first of three skiffs. Jamie stepped in after, fitting his rucksack into the hull—careful of the Akpeteshie inside—and tying back his hair.
Abdi took a minute instructing the two men staying back on the mothership. Was he arranging a distress signal? Telling them what to do if shots were fired?
Coordinating a double-cross?
There was no use worrying. Jamie had placed himself between dangerous people, but dangerous people performed the same calculations benign ones did. The pirates would keep up their end so long as the benefits remained clear: not only cash, but stronger ties with the general and the establishment of a new back-channel to the powerful Gallaghers.
The skiff loaded, Adbi yanked the outboard motor’s cord. The engine sputtered alive and settled to a rumbling purr. Josef untied them, flashing a grim thumbs-up to the men staying behind.
They charted a course for the general’s yacht. The sea felt choppier on the smaller craft, which didn’t bother Jamie—a lifelong boater and varsity swimmer in college—but did compel him to pull the rucksack protectively into his lap. If the Akpeteshie somehow ruptured against the hull, the mission would be lost.
As they neared the general’s yacht, the faces of his guards became visible—wary, textured faces. The carry-straps of AK-47s sawed their necks.
Abdi cut the motor and drifted in.
A section of railing was unclipped, and a ramp extended from the yacht’s stern. After helping Josef tie up, Jamie slipped the rucksack onto his back and boarded. The Somalis trailed him with the briefcase.
“Halkan, ku siin!” said one of the general’s men.
Abdi shook his head forcefully at the request—to hand over the briefcase. The guards backpedaled, their formation hemming Jamie and the pirates into a corner of the aft deck. Abdi and Josef walked with their bodies shielding the case as if it contained plutonium.
With these uneasy field positions established, the general’s men conferred briefly and parted to form an aisle to the pilothouse. General Mahad emerged.
The general wore his full dress uniform: navy blue, epaulets, ribboned medals. He lumbered forward with a mild limp, said to have originated during the Simba rebellion of 1964.
He raised his chin to Abdi, then spoke to Jamie. “Welcome to the one and true seat of Puntland, Mr. Gallagher.”
Jamie felt the man’s deep, scarred voice in his bowels. “That’s none of my concern. I’m here for Renée.”
The general smiled, his lips fat and sly. “How fortunate she is. You are the white knight, eh? Sir Jamie?”
The characterization stung, but Jamie pushed on. “I’ve been in touch with Humanitarian Dialogue—their helicopter is ready. Give me a latitude and longitude for the exchange and let’s get this over.”
“Your friends have the money?”
Every eye on the yacht turned to Abdi, whose knuckles tightened on the briefcase handle.
“Ten million,” Jamie said. “Count it if you like.”
The general crooked a finger at one of his men, who disappeared to the pilothouse. The man returned with a machine resembling a fax with bill-sized trays.
Abdi stepped forward with the briefcase. The man with the counting machine passed a handheld X-ray scanner around the case and swabbed a cloth along each edge.
He started for the pilothouse with the cloth, likely to perform a residue test for explosives, but the general stopped him. Then gestured for Abdi to go ahead.
When Abdi undid the clasp, the lip snapped open—ten million was a squeeze, even with an oversize case—and a few packets spilled out.
The counting began.
Now Jamie reached into his rucksack for the Akpeteshie.
“I’ve heard tell around campfires,” he began, gathering himself, “that you enjoy a certain Ghanaian beverage.”
The general grinned when he saw the bottle, squat, the neck’s glass bowed in the distinctive shape of a baobab tree.
“This is true.”
“Shall we drink together?” Jamie said. “It’s early, but I find a day started well nearly always ends well.”
The general palmed his jaw. There was a risk he would set the gift aside, but Jamie was counting on this subtle challenge to his manhood—in front of his crew, in front of Abdi and Josef. People like the general didn’t back down from such dares.
Jamie thought of his old classmate Rock Pruitt who’d downed a fifth of whiskey disproving a frat brother’s claim that prep-schoolers only drank martinis and smoked reefer.
“I would quite enjoy that,” the general said. “After the bottle is checked.”
Jamie raised a shoulder, feigning indifference as two men seized the Akpeteshie and held it sideways up to the sun, testing its feel in their hands, poking fingernails along the dripped-wax seal.
They would find nothing. Jamie’s sister Charlotte Gallagher, founder of internet-of-things giant SmartWidget and the eighteenth-richest person in the world, owned 45 percent of the local distillery that produced Akpeteshie. She had allowed Jamie to follow this lone bottle through the factory. At the final step, just before corking, he’d poured out 150 milliliters of liquor and replaced it with an equal amount of king cobra venom.
For fifteen months, Jamie had been inoculating himself with increasingly larger doses of the venom. He had started, after discussing the strategy at length with a Sudanese shaman, with a pinprick diluted in a pint of water. Last week, he had managed eight milliliters of venom—the amount a shot from the spiked Akpeteshie would deliver, depending on the pour—and suffered only dizziness, blurred vision, and severe cottonmouth.
When his men were satisfied the bottle was unaltered, the general took a pair of tumblers from the yacht’s fiberglass sideboard.
Tumblers, not shot glasses. Eight ounces at least.
“To finding a middle, eh?” The general poured each tumbler to the brim. “Two parties can start from opposite ends and, with good sense, find a common understanding.”
Jamie’s teeth pulverized each other in the back of his mouth. He’d always found the rhetoric of compromise disingenuous, whether it came from television pundits or the North Carolina Gallaghers exhorting the clan to give ground at the fringes of the abortion debate.
To hear it from the mouth of a man like Mahad? Revolting.
“To the middle,” he spat.
He raised the tumbler to his lips. Calculations whipped around his brain. Eight ounces divided by one point five…
Equaled six times the amount of venom his body had previously endured.
The liquid was amber, almost orange. As the glass tilted, Jamie imagined he saw currents of venom slithering among the palm wine. His fingers trembled. Some sloshed over the side, but not nearly enough.
In his periphery, Jamie became aware of Abdi and Josef arguing with the general’s men. Abdi slapped one empty well of the briefcase. The general’s men shouted. More rushed to the deck from below board.
The general balked at Jamie’s tone. “You do not like my toast. That is your right. You are the guest, so make your own.” He smirked about. “We are democratic here, aren’t we?”
Jamie ignored the low hoots. “To justice.” He regripped his tumbler. “To justice, and fair treatment for all living things.”
The general guffawed, big and toothy. “For ten million, yes. Why in hell not?”
Their eyes locked over the tumblers’ rims. Jamie perceived something in the man’s look, some hustler’s instinct, and knew if he faltered now—even for a moment—the trap would be blown.
Jamie stared into the lethal brew, waited for bright madness to rise, and drank. The Akpeteshie burned his throat. His jaw felt weak and daggers pressed into his eardrums from inside. Still, he kept his head tipped back and drank it all.
The general and several of his men goggled at the feat. When their eyes turned to him, the war criminal downed his, too.
“…no, the release!” Jamie heard behind him. “No money before release!”
“We will keep it.”
“No, us! We will hold the money.”
A guard wearing ripped denim leveled his rifle at Abdi. Josef stepped forward to push aside the muzzle. Another guard drove the butt of his rifle into Josef’s back, crumpling the pirate.
Jamie didn’t know how long he and the general had. During his inoculation, the symptoms would begin in about a minute, but he’d never ingested this large a dose.
His heartrate zoomed and breath pumped through his chest like air from a bellows—still, this could be the effects of anticipation.
“So, um…the release,” he said, feeling a vague duty toward Abdi. “If you…so I’ll call HD and be sure Renée, er…s’all okay with the money…”
Words were deserting him. The scuffle on deck was intensifying. Josef had recovered to pounce on the man in denim. Abdi was buried in a furious tangle of fists and churning hips.
Jamie didn’t understand the fight. Let them have the money—who cared?
He began to feel disconnected from his body, Abdi and Josef blending into other people he’d known in life, Gallaghers and Pruitts, senators and reporters, grad students and business titans, all fighting without reason, finding joy and enemies, grinding their life into the larger sausage.
The general unleashed a thunderous whistle and raised his hand for calm. The struggle paused. Every eye turned his way. He began to lower his hand but suddenly couldn’t.
His arm convulsed and became some bucking stick-animal beyond his control. His fingers twitched unnaturally. He grasped his throat, staggering back. Froth bubbled in his nostrils.
The man who’d retrieved the money scale from the pilothouse pointed at Jamie.
“What is this?”
Jamie tried answering, but his tongue would not obey, dead and heavy in his mouth. Pain gored his brain. Sweat screamed from his pores, a thousand beads altogether.
This wasn’t the outcome Jamie had wanted, but neither was it wholly unexpected. He thought now of life’s best moments. In Burundi, feeling that boy’s skeletal hand squeeze as he sucked a tab of enriched peanut butter. On the vineyard, fourteen years old, swinging his cousins round and round in celebration after his mother—the senior senator from Connecticut and Democratic National Committee chairperson—had succeeded in her long-shot campaign to retake majority control of the Senate.
Above all, though, he remembered kissing Sam. Seniors on their last night at Yale, about to go conquer the world, standing together in an entryway. Emotions spiked to the heavens. Their mouths came together in the gentlest, deepest touch he’d known before or since.
Samantha Lessing. God, she was it. The life he missed.
Half the general’s men were swarming the Somali pirates while the other half moved on Jamie. There was a gap between the two, but it was closing.
Jamie willed his tongue back into service.
“This was right,” he croaked. “Here, today. This was not a waste.”
And he believed this—dashing across the deck through grasping hands, over the gunwale, into the black ocean.
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About the Author
Jeff Bond is an American author of popular fiction. He lives in Michigan with his wife and two daughters, and belongs to the International Thriller Writers association.
Today I am excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blog Tour for Salt+ Stilettos (South Beach Romance Book #1) by Janet Walden-West.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section with social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Blurb
Sweet Home Alabama meets Top Chef when Miami’s most determined image consultant clashes with Samoa’s most uncooperative chef in a race to rebrand him as South Beach’s newest star.
Brett Fontaine learned early that appearance matters and not to count on anyone but yourself. Trading her red-dirt roots for the title of Miami’s go-to image consultant, she refuses to let anything jeopardize her new life.
Not an influential client-turned-stalker who’s up for parole.
Not post-kidnapping panic attacks.
Certainly not the stubborn, attention-phobic chef she’s challenged to transform into a celeb in ninety days.
Will Te’o can almost taste the dream he sacrificed American Samoa, culture, and cherished family ties for—opening a four star restaurant in the most cut-throat culinary location in North America.
Unfortunately, that requires navigating it’s equally cut-throat social scene. When his first public performance ends in a social media spectacle, his only option is turning to the stiletto-wearing nemesis who’s invaded his kitchen.
Neither expected to share anything but barbs, yet somewhere between accidentally bonding over comfort food and office-wrecking sex, they’re named South Beach’s hottest pairing. Until Brett’s stalker engineers a reputation-shattering reveal. She may be going down, but she’s not taking Will’s dreams with her. Now Will’s pulling out all his new skills and cooking up a last-ditch event. He’ll prove to Brett that relying on the right person makes for the perfect recipe—or be left heartbroken in the spotlight.
Ebook and paperback: April 21st from City Owl Press
SALT + STILETTOS (South Beach Romance Book #1) by Janet Walden-West is a new contemporary romance by a new to me author with plenty of food, fashion and love.
Will Te’o is about to realize his dream. He worked his way up from his home in American Samoa to the top of the culinary scene in South Beach. With his partner, he is about to open his first restaurant but as talented as Will is in the kitchen, he has no understanding of the social scene and celebrity status he must now achieve for his and his restaurant’s success.
Brett Fontaine worked hard to raise herself up from dirt poor and hungry to the top image consultant in South Beach. Brett knows image and clothes matter. Her best friend has hired her to take on his partner, Will and get him ready in just 45 days for their restaurant’s grand opening.
Brett and Will butt heads, but slowly they learn to trust each other and the chemistry builds to a flash point. When Brett’s stalker engineers a reputation shattering reveal, Will is determined to prove that Brett can always rely on him. Can Will prove to Brett that he will always be there for her?
I fell in love with Will and Brett. Both are such contradictions and you would think opposites, but under the shell of each is someone so ready for love. Will is six feet eight of talented chef, traditional Samoan, and chief support of his extended family back home. He was so loving and that his character started out so insecure and hurt it broke me up. I was so glad that Brett was able to understand him and build him up rather than hurt him more. Will was so full of love and Brett needed it. Brett had to deal with both her terrible childhood and a stalker which left her traumatized and yet she was still willing to let Will in. When these two finally came together the sex scenes were smokin’ hot. The romance progressed at a realistic pace and the sex scenes were never gratuitous. All the secondary characters were interesting and fully fleshed.
I can highly recommend this contemporary romance and am looking forward to many more books in this series!
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About the Author
Janet Walden-West lives in the southeast with a pack of show dogs, a couple of kids, and a husband who didn’t read the fine print. A member of the East Tennessee Creative Writers Alliance, she is also a founding member of The Million Words craft blog. She pens diverse Urban Fantasy and inclusive Romantic Suspense and Contemporary Romance.
A 2X PitchWars alum, 2019 Pitch Wars Mentor, and Golden Heart® finalist, her debut multicultural Contemporary Romance, SALT+STILETTOS, is due out April 21st 2020 from City Owl Press. She is represented by Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary Agency.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Elizabeth Heiter’s new Harlequin Intrigue – SECRET INVESTIGATION (Tactical Crime Division Book #2).
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section with book purchase links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Welcome to the Tactical Crime Division, a rapid-deployment joint team of FBI agents specializing in hostage negotiation, missing persons, IT, profiling, shootings and terrorism, with Director Jill Pembrook at the head.
In the wake of a tragedy, the Tactical Crime Division is the first call.
When ironclad body armor inexplicably fails and soldiers perish, the Tactical Crime Division jumps into action. Agent and former ranger Davis Rogers asks to go undercover to find the traitor responsible for the death of one of his friends, and Petrov Armor CEO Leila Petrov is happy to provide access to her company…especially once she discovers she’s being framed. But will their joint efforts be enough to uncover the truth?
SECRET INVESTIGATION (Tactical Crime Division Book #2) by Elizabeth Heiter is the second book in a new Harlequin Intrigue multi-author series featuring members of the FBIs Tactical Crime Division. This is a specialized unit of the FBI formed to handle the toughest cases at a moment’s notice anywhere in the country.
FBI agent and former Army ranger Davis Rogers is devastated to learn of the death of a close Army friend when her unit is killed in an ambush when their body armor fails. When Davis learns that his unit will be investigating Petrov Armor, the makers of the defective armor, he wants the assignment. Davis wants everyone responsible to pay to the death of his friend.
Leila Petrov has become the CEO of Petrov Armor after the death of her father. She is shocked when she learns it is her company’s armor worn during the ambush. She is willing to allow Davis unlimited access when he comes into the company undercover, but she also wants to know what he finds and help.
As Davis investigates, even though he blames Leila as the head of her company and responsible for the deaths, he is finding it difficult to not like her and maybe even more. He finds he is losing his objectivity as far as Leila is concerned and he knows he is going to hurt her and the company when the traitor in her company is found.
I loved this addition to the series! The plot is well paced with intricate twists that kept me guessing right up until the end. Davis and Leila are great together. The author shows both as strong and intelligent and as their feelings grow it is at a realistic pace without feeling rushed and it never overshadows the suspense plot. No sex in this book, just a budding romance. The suspense and intrigue are the focus of this story.
The sub-plot with Melinda and Kane added depth to the story and I am looking forward to more from their characters in the future.
I can highly recommend this addition to the Tactical Crime Division series. It is an intense and suspense filled read in a small package.
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Excerpt
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Leila Petrov—When defective bulletproof vests cause the deaths of an army unit, Petrov Armor’s CEO is determined to find the person responsible. But her search makes her a liability to a killer, someone who’s closer than she ever expected.
Davis Rogers—The former army ranger thinks going undercover in Petrov Armor is his chance
to prove himself in the FBI’s elite Tactical Crime Division (TCD). But it’s also deeply personal. One of the soldiers killed was a friend, and Davis won’t stop until he’s gotten justice.
MelindaLarsen—The deeper this profiler digs into the Petrov Armor case, the more unexpected threats she uncovers—putting her directly in the line of fire.
Kane Bradshaw—Ever since his last partner died on the job, the TCD agent prefers to work alone. But as he’s forced to work with Melinda, he fears history will repeat itself.
Eric Ross—Petrov Armor’s head of sales was Leila’s first love. He’s jealous of Leila’s obvious interest in her new “assistant,” Davis, but is there something more sinister behind his constant appearances?
Joel Petrov—Leila’s uncle has been an integral part of the company since Leila was a child. But is his involvement too convenient?
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As in the Bureau, dying in the field was a possibility you accepted. You did whatever you could to prevent it, but if it happened, you knew you’d be going out doing something you believed in. But not like this. Not the way Jessica had died, trusting the military, trusting her training, trusting her equipment.
“I want to take the lead on this case,” Davis blurted. Gazes darted to him: from profiler Dr. Melinda Larsen, silently assessing, suspicion in her eyes, as if she somehow knew he had a history with one of the victims. Always buttoned-up Laura Smith was quiet and unreadable, but her Ivy League brain was probably processing every nuance of his words. JC, staring at him with understanding, even though he didn’t realize Davis knew Jessica personally. No one on the team did. “Is your personal investment in this case going to be a hindrance or a help?” Pembrook asked, voice and gaze steady.
Davis’s spine stiffened even more. She was talking about his army background. She had to be. But if she thought he was going to fidget, she underestimated the hell he’d gone through training to be a ranger for the army. “A help. I’m familiar with how the army works. And I’m familiar with the product. I’ve worn Petrov Armor vests.”
Petrov Armor had supplied the body armor Jessica and her team had been wearing during the ambush. That armor—supposedly the newest and best technology—had failed spectacularly, resulting in the deaths of all but three of the soldiers and one of the locals. In his mind it wasn’t the insurgents who had killed Jessica and her team. It was Petrov Armor.
He didn’t mention the rest. He’d more than just worn the vests. He’d had a chance to be an early tester of their body armor, back when he was an elite ranger and Petrov Armor was better known for the pistols they made than their armor. He’d given the thumbs-up, raving about the vest’s bullet-stopping power and comfort in his report. He’d given the army an enthusiastic endorsement to start using Petrov Armor’s products more broadly. And they had.
“I’m not talking about the armor,” Pembrook replied, her gaze still laser-locked on his, even as agent-at-large Kane Bradshaw slipped into the meeting late and leaned against the doorway. “I’m talking about Jessica Carpenter.” Her voice softened. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
The gazes on him seemed to intensify, but Davis didn’t shift his from Pembrook’s. “Thank you. And no, it won’t affect my judgment in the case.”
Pembrook nodded, but he wasn’t sure if she believed him as she looked back at the rest of the group and continued her briefing. “Petrov Armor won a big contract with the military five years ago. The armor this team was wearing is their latest and greatest. It’s not worn widely yet, but their earlier version armor is commonly used. The military is doing a full round of testing across all their branches. They’ve never had a problem with Petrov Armor before, and they don’t intend to have another.
“Meanwhile, they’ve asked us to investigate at home. We got lucky with the news coverage. We’re still not sure how it was leaked, but not all of it got out. Or if it did, the news station only played a small part. And somehow they don’t have the name of the body armor supplier. Not yet,” she said emphatically. “Rowan, we don’t have to worry about PD this time. I’m putting you on the media. Hendrick can lend computer support if you need it.”
Rowan Cooper nodded, looking a little paler than usual, but sitting straighter.
***
About the Author
Publishers Weekly bestselling and award-winning author ELIZABETH HEITER likes her suspense to feature strong heroines, chilling villains, psychological twists and a little 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 translated into eight languages. Visit her at www.elizabethheiter.com.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Carla Cassidy’s new Harlequin Intrigue – 48 HOUR LOCKDOWN (Tactical Crime Division Book #1).
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section with book purchase links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
The Tactical Crime Division—TCD—is a specialized unit of the FBI.They handle the toughest cases in the most remote locations.
When TCD learns of a school invasion turned lockdown, every agent is ready to engage. With children in jeopardy, the stakes couldn’t be higher. But it becomes personal for hostage negotiator agent Evan Duran when he learns Annalise Taylor is one of the captives holed up with the students in a school for the gifted.
He’ll need every resource available at TCD and every ounce of his expertise to turn this disastrous situation into a rescue mission—and if he succeeds, maybe reunite with the woman he never stopped loving.
48 HOUR LOCKDOWN (Tactical Crime Division Book #1) by Carla Cassidy is the start of a new Harlequin Intrigue four book, multi author series featuring members of the FBIs Tactical Crime Division. This is a highly specialized unit of the FBI formed to handle the toughest cases at a moment’s notice anywhere in the country.
Annalise Taylor is a computer teacher at the Sandhurst School for gifted, underprivileged students. When she is with three of her most gifted young students, they are taken hostage. They are being held by an unknown armed group in their schoolroom.
Evan Duran is the best hostage negotiator in the FBI and a member of the Tactical Crime Division. When he hears of the lockdown, he is ready to go. With children in danger, he knows the stakes are high and when he learns that their teacher is Annalise, it has become personal.
This is a fast-paced romantic suspense with the introduction of the Tactical Crime Division, a second chance romance and suspense plot all intertwined well throughout the story. Annalise and Evan worked well together. The romance is what I call a cozy romance because there are no sex scenes, but the romance did progress realistically. The suspense plot through the hostage situation kept me glued to the page, but when the reason for the hostage taking was revealed, the remainder of the plot for me was not realistic. If you can suspend some belief in some of the plot in the second half of the book, you still have a fast, exciting read and are happy with the solution of the crime and the HEA.
I am looking forward to reading more about the other members of the team in future books.
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Excerpt
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Evan Duran—Special Agent Duran is a hostage negotiator for the Tactical Crime Division, a specialized branch of the FBI.
Annalise Taylor—A teacher held hostage at a private school. She’s also Evan’s ex-lover. She’d broken his heart several years before, and now he holds her life in his hands.
Jacob Noble—Is he the leader of a charitable church or the dangerous leader of a cult?
Gretchen Noble—Jacob’s wife, who is not afraid to abuse or kill. Will she kill Annalise before she can be freed?
Hendrick Maynard—Brilliant tech agent for the Tactical Crime Division. Will he be able to get the information Evan needs or will he be destroyed by old painful memories?
Walter Cummings—Chief of police in Asheville. Would his incompetence be the death of the hostages?
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As he drove he made a few phone calls, and he finally pulled up in front of the nondescript brick building where TCD’s offices were located. He parked, got out of his car and hurried inside. As he strode down the hallway toward the main meeting room, he could hear Director Jill Pembrook apparently still conducting the morning meeting.
The main conference room was the heart of the office. It was where assignments were handed out and situations were brainstormed. The agents sat at a long, highly glossed wooden table. On one wall was an oversize FBI logo, and opposite that was the TCD emblem. A large, digital flat screen was mounted on the far side of the room, and a tablet lay at the head of the table.
Evan burst through the door. Director Jill Pembrook looked at him in surprise. “Agent Duran, how nice of you to join us on your day off.”
The director was an attractive, stylish woman of substance with cropped steel gray hair and a penchant for dark, custom-tailored suits.
She’d been with the FBI for over forty years, and she was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Her blue eyes could be warm and friendly or they could frost a puddle of water into a sheet of ice.
“I just saw the news out of Pearson,” he stated. “I need to get there… It’s Annalise.”
There was a collective groan from some of the other agents. Evan ignored it. “I’ll need you to arrange a plane to be ready for takeoff. Also, I’ll need Hendrick’s help on this. And I’m taking Agents Brennan and Lathrop with me.”
“Call off the SEAL team, Duran is on the case, everyone,” “Agent at Large” Kane Bradshaw murmured as the three men headed for the door.
Evan ignored him. While he liked Kane okay, there were times in the past they had butted heads when Kane could sometimes be a bit of an arrogant jerk. Director Pembrook though tolerated his glib attitude. And while Kane had no official rank as an agent with the bureau, he had an extensive background with deep black ops.
Hendrick Maynard, the tech guru nodded. “You got it,” he answered without hesitation. “Heading to my desk now. I’ll send you any relevant info ASAP.”
The director narrowed her eyes, and Evan felt the frost radiating from her. “Agent Duran, you are way out of line.” She paused and continued to hold his gaze. “Ten minutes ago North Carolina state officials called for federal help…” She paused and he was wondering if he should offer to submit his resignation. “You will also take Special Agent Rogers along with the others. This is an all hands on deck situation. Rowan as usual will accompany you and provide team support.”
Rowan Cooper, an attractive woman with long dark hair who worked as a liaison between the local police departments and the TCD team members, also rose and followed the men out the door. She accompanied any crew that deployed to a different location. Her specialty was smoothing over any personality difference or turf wars among different law enforcement units on scene. But her main responsibility was arranging overnight accommodations and making sure the agents had what they needed in order to remain focused on the task at hand.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied to the director. He knew he’d overstepped boundaries by barging in, but he’d felt the need to act immediately when he’d heard about the situation… About Annalise…
“Plane leaves in twenty minutes. Now go,” Di-rector Pembrook said. To him she added, “Duran…don’t pull this kind of stunt again.”
Evan would have offered to quit after the assignment if he met any resistance from the director to him heading up the detail due to his personal connection to Annalise. Nothing was going to keep him from negotiating this hostage situation.
“Never,” Evan replied before turning to leave.
***
About the Author
Carla Cassidy is a New York Times bestselling author who has written more than 125 novels for Harlequin Books. She is listed on the Romance Writer’s of America Honor Roll and has won numerous awards. Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write.
