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Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: MIA by John Lansing

MIA

by John Lansing

May 20 – June 14, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review of MIA by John Lansing on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio, the author’s social media links and a Kingsumo giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!

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Book Description

Mia, is the origin story of retired inspector Jack Bertolino as a young undercover, NYPD narco-busting detective and his relationship with Mia, his confidential informant.

Mia, a former Miss Colombia, has the kind of beauty that can make a grown man contemplate leaving his wife, his job, and his kids. She’s a complex character, with a painful backstory, who signs on with Jack to help him infiltrate, and take down, a heavy hitter in the Colombian drug trade. Mia has ice water in her veins and is already responsible for delivering large amounts of cocaine, and millions of the cartels cash into the government’s coffers.

This is Jack and Mia’s story. How Mia became a confidential informant, her evolving relationship with Jack, and how the life and death case they break wide open becomes the prequel to The Devil’s Necktie.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213024871-mia?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=GprHVmTUGO&rank=1

MIA

Genre: Crime Thriller
Published by: White Street Press/ Karen Hunter Publishing
Publication Date: June 4th, 2024
Number of Pages: 252
ISBN: 979-8-89456-000-7 (Print) | 979-8-89456-899-7 (Digital)
Series: The Jack Bertolino Series, Prequel

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MIA by John Lansing is the action-packed origin story for the Jack Bertolino action/thriller series. This is the first book I have read in this series, and I am happy it was this one. Not only is this story an exciting thriller, but I cannot wait to continue with more books in the series now. I will be going into book one, The Devil’s Necktie, with even more knowledge of the main protagonist’s history.

NYPD detective Jack Bertolino heads up a special narcotics task force working to shut down all Columbian drug cartel cocaine from reaching the streets of NY and Miami. During this operation, Jack is introduced to the beautiful ex-Miss Columbia, Mia, who will be their confidential informant. Mia will do anything to bring down the Columbian cartel that has emotionally and physically harmed her in the past. The operation goes well, and Jack and Mia go their separate ways, but Jack has promised Mia to always protect her if she needs it.

Five years later, Mia is in danger and reaches out to Jack for help and when Jack makes a promise, he delivers.

This is an exciting, action-packed thriller that moves at a fast pace throughout. This story had me on the edge of my seat with the escalating tension of Mia being undercover and the violence of the cartel members. The law enforcement procedural plotline is well paced and interesting. Jack is a protagonist with a strict set of morals and while he is a workaholic, he still believes in family and loves his wife and son. The ending of this series prequel is sad and disturbing, but leaves you wanting to grab the first book in the series right away.

I highly recommend this prequel to the Jack Bertolino thriller series, and it is a great way to start the entire series which I will be doing.

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Excerpt

Jack Bertolino’s early morning shower gave up the ghost long before he swiped his long-term pass to gain entry to the Staten Island Ferry. Once he landed in the City, he headed for Tango 23’s base of operations. There he picked up his NYPD plain-wrap sedan. The ninety-degree temperature, wetted by ninety-five degree humidity, made a mockery of the air conditioner in the Ford Crown Vic as it crawled through commuter traffic headed for LaGuardia. The air was thick, the stench of exhaust on the Grand Central Parkway overwhelmed as Jack dodged a pothole, rattled into the airport parking lot and came to an engine-clicking stop next to DEA agent Kenny Ortega’s government issue.

The joint narcotics task force case was in its sixth month. Jack had agreed to meet a few old friends and a new confidential informant who had arrived from Miami via Colombia. This CI claimed to be able to provide entry into the inner workings of Manuel Alvarez’s illicit drug operation.

Alvarez, a notorious Colombian trafficker, had been on Jack’s radar for more than a year. Alvarez was responsible for importing a thousand keys of cocaine into Miami on a monthly basis, and the poison

was dripping into New York City. Jack wanted Alvarez’s head on a pike.

At thirty-eight, Jack was already a lieutenant, the boss of the narco-rangers called Tango 23. His crew had great success shutting down drug and money-laundering cells in the five boroughs, piling millions of dollars of the cartel’s money into the city’s coffers.

Jack was a handsome, unpretentious man with thick dark hair he wore brushed back. Creases on his striking face were a roadmap of years exposed to the elements doing undercover narcotics work on the streets of New York City.

As he stepped out of the car, a hot gust of wind blew grit into Jack’s eyes and mouth. It also blasted the long hair of a young woman exiting the passenger side of Ortega’s vehicle, obscuring her face. The deafening sound of a wide-body jet thundered overhead as Jack spit and wiped his stinging eyes.

The woman hand-combed strands of blonde away from her face. When Jack’s vision cleared, he was momentarily stopped in his tracks. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous.

He nodded to Sal Traina, a member of the Tango group, and shook the hand of Mia Ferrero as Ortega made the introductions. Mia, an ex-Miss Colombia, was the confidential informant. Kenny Ortega, the Miami-based DEA agent, was Jack’s partner on the drug task force.

Nick Aprea, a detective from the LAPD narcotics division, had flown in from Los Angeles, where a large quantity of the illicit drugs ended up. He ducked low as he slid out of the back seat, wearing a black leather jacket in the New York heat, and led with a wolfish grin as he proffered a hand the size of a baseball glove. “Jack, good to be back in business.” Aprea was tall, hard, and took life as it came. He had arrived with serious skin in the game. A few years back, his partner had been gut-shot in an Alvarez–Delgado operation. Nick had put fifteen hundred keys of coke on the table, and his partner had been put in an early grave. When Jack invited him to the party, Nick jumped at the chance to deliver some retribution.

Mia signed on to the joint operation between the NYPD, Miami DEA, and LAPD to infiltrate Manuel Alvarez’s operation and help put away a

heavy hitter for the Colombian cartel. She was a proven commodity, already wealthy from delivering large quantities of cocaine and cash to the United States government’s coffers in their ongoing war on drugs. The Feds had a formula in place for paying informants. The bigger the bust, the larger the payoff. A nice way to fatten your wallet, an easy way to die.

Mia started playing Jack—who had a reputation of being a straight arrow—from the moment she touched down at LaGuardia Airport. She’d been summoned for a meeting downtown, organized to get a feel for the principals, define the case, and plan a strategy.

It was time to roll. Sal was sitting in the passenger seat of Jack’s car when Mia rapped on the window. Sal slid out, and Mia stepped in seconds before Jack pulled out of the lot.

“I hope you don’t mind. It was so crowded in the other car,” she said.

Jack wasn’t thrilled. “It’s okay,” he said, always careful when spending time with a CI. First of all, rules and parameters of the relationship had to be set in place, until the informant was proven trustworthy. Too many things could go wrong. Jack was career building and didn’t need any bullshit slowing him down. He had a line in the sand when dealing with informants, and although he always treated them with respect, sharing his personal life was a nonstarter.

Mia started talking rapid fire. Her English was lightly accented but flawless, and Jack chalked her excited banter to nerves.

“I wasn’t supposed to fly first class, but I used my frequent-flyer miles, and thank God because the plane was full, and I was in the air for so many hours. Should I call you Jack or Mr. Bertolino?”

“Lieutenant works.”

“Oh, very formal. It’s so hot in here,” Mia play-whined, and undid the second button on her blouse as she turned to face Jack. “Are you a by-the-numbers kind of guy?”

“Something like that.”

“I know a lot of Italians in Medellín. Not a formal one in the mix. Very sexy though, Italians in general, don’t you think?”

—

Jack kept his eyes trained on the traffic. “Never given it much thought.”

“Oh, I have. Very much so.”

Jack wasn’t going there. He hoped Mia would lose herself in the approaching view of the New York skyline and stop talking. Instead, she seemed content to stare at Jack who was growing increasingly uncomfortable, but didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with a woman who could break his case wide open.

“And the police in general, what do they call it? Mucho testosterone. You can’t hide it, Jack—I mean, Lieutenant.” Mia’s smile was sly, and Jack kept his eyes on the road, not wanting the conversation to get out of hand.

“Your nose,” she said knowingly, “that must have hurt.”

Jack had a bump on his otherwise straight Roman nose. It was a gift from a crack dealer named Trey, who he traded punches with outside the Red Hook projects in Brooklyn. Trey went to jail, and Jack had a reminder every morning when he shaved to keep his right fist higher and jab with his left.

“Do you like sex on the beach?” Jack hoped she was talking about the cocktail and didn’t respond. “What about sex in the car?” Mia said and ran a manicured nail down his thigh. “I love giving blow jobs, I mean, giving oral sex.”

Jack shot a look in the rearview mirror, tried to remain stoic, but he was getting hot under the collar. He was doing sixty and Kenny Ortega’s car was tight on his bumper. Jack glanced in the rearview again, and saw the men in the trailing car laughing.

He’d had enough. He signaled and pulled the wheel hard to the right, sending Mia sliding against the passenger door. As horns around him started blaring, he skidded to a tire-screeching stop on the shoulder of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway. He was followed by Ortega, Nick, and a few other smirking detectives in the second car.

Jack knew he’d been set up. He picked up the radio and raised Ortega. “Get this woman out of my car.”

Mia feigned being hurt. “Is it something I said?” Over the intercom, Ortega and his crew were howling. Mia jumped out of Jack’s car, her

face split into a sultry grin, and she winked. “Just having some fun, Lieutenant.”

Jack was the only one on the crew not laughing. He pulled back into traffic, riding solo, and dialed his home number.

Jeanine answered on the second ring. “Are you all right, Jack?”

“Huh?”

“An afternoon call. It’s usually bad news.”

“Oh, no, not today. Just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Hmmm, okay… Good.” Jeannine could read Jack’s mood and wasn’t buying it.

Jack started to relax, the earth rotating back on its axis. “Actually, I just made a pickup at LaGuardia, had a moment.”

“Okay. Are you going to make it home for dinner?”

“Don’t wait on me. We have a TAC meeting, breaking in a new informant. You know how that goes.”

Jeannine knew all too well what that meant. And Jack was hit with the familiar chill on the other end of the line. “Okay, Jack. Your son’s asking what happened to his father.”

“Tell him I miss him.”

“Tell him yourself, Jack,” Jeannine said quietly before hanging up the phone.

Jack stifled his growing anger, fully aware that he was an absentee father. From his point of view, he was building a secure life for his family, and they all had to make sacrifices. It was a team effort. He knew he was being defensive, but he also knew what it took to rise through the ranks of the NYPD.

Jack snapped out of it when Kenny beeped his horn and rocketed past in the fast lane. He rolled his eyes, slightly amused as Mia, sitting in the back seat, nailed him with a look that was purely X-rated.

***

Author Bio

John Lansing is the author of six thrillers featuring Jack Bertolino—The Devil’s Necktie, Blond Cargo, Dead Is Dead, The Fourth Gunman, 25 to Life, and MIA—as well as the true-crime non-fiction book Good Cop Bad Money, written with former NYPD Inspector Glen Morisano. He has been a writer and supervising producer on Walker, Texas Ranger, the co-executive producer of the ABC series Scoundrels, and co-wrote two MOWs for CBS. The Devil’s Necktie is in development at Andria Litto’s Amuse Entertainment, with Barbara DeFina attached as a producer.

A native of Long Island, John now resides in Los Angeles.

Social Media Links

JohnLansing.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @JohnLansing
Instagram – @johnlansingauthor
Twitter – @jelansing
Facebook – @devilsnecktie

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

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KINGSUMO GIVEAWAY

https://kingsumo.com/g/5ohoqr/mia-by-john-lansing

Feature Post and Book Review: The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron

Book Description

Inspired by real accounts of the Forgotten Blitz bombings, The British Booksellers highlights the courage of those whose lives were forever changed by war—and the stories that bind us in the fight for what matters most.

A tenant farmer’s son had no business daring to dream of a future with an earl’s daughter, but that couldn’t keep Amos Darby from his secret friendship with Charlotte Terrington…until the reality of the Great War sobered youthful dreams. Now decades later, he bears the brutal scars of battles fought in the trenches and their futures that were stolen away. His return home doesn’t come with tender reunions, but with the hollow fulfillment of opening a bookshop on his own and retreating as a recluse within its walls.

When the future Earl of Harcourt chose Charlotte to be his wife, she knew she was destined for a loveless match. Though her heart had chosen another long ago, she pledges her future even as her husband goes to war. Twenty-five years later, Charlotte remains a war widow who divides her days between her late husband’s declining estate and operating a quaint Coventry bookshop—Eden Books, lovingly named after her grown daughter. And Amos is nothing more than the rival bookseller across the lane.

As war with Hitler looms, Eden is determined to preserve her father’s legacy. So when an American solicitor arrives threatening a lawsuit that could destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to preserve, mother and daughter prepare to fight back. But with devastation wrought by the Luftwaffe’s local blitz terrorizing the skies, battling bookshops—and lost loves, Amos and Charlotte—must put aside their differences and fight together to help Coventry survive.

From deep in the trenches of the Great War to the storied English countryside and the devastating Coventry Blitz of World War II, The British Booksellers explores the unbreakable bonds that unite us through love, loss, and the enduring solace that can be found between the pages of a book.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/180351949-the-british-booksellers?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=L7LIUaF4zb&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE BRITISH BOOKSELLERS by Kristy Cambron is an epic historical fiction that follows a tenant farmer to bookseller and an earl’s daughter from their innocent childhood friendship and dreams to adulthood with social restrictions and class boundaries. This is a standalone novel spanning 1910 through 1940 in dual timelines that intertwine seamlessly throughout.

The 1910 timeline is the past in this story and introduces a young tenant farmer, Amos Darby and his unlikely friendship with Charlotte Terrington, the earl’s daughter. They share a love of literature and dream of owning a bookstore. When Charlotte is engaged to the Earl of Harcourt, Amos knows his dreams are just that, dreams. He goes off to fight in the trenches of France during WWI and comes back a man troubled not only with his nightmares of the front, but also a secret he keeps from Charlotte about her husband who was killed in action.

The 1940 timeline has Chalotte and her daughter, Eden struggling to keep up the estate and their bookshop which is right across the lane in Coventry and in competition Amos’ bookshop. When an American lawyer shows up threatening the estate, Eden is determined to fight with everything she has to preserve her father’s legacy. As the German blitz on England begins Charlotte and Amos put their differences aside and work together and aid their neighbors as they can. All their lives are on the line as the German Luftwaffe plans their largest blitz to date on Coventry.

This book covers so many situations and emotions. Changing times not only between the classes, but also in the liberation of women are intertwined with the horrors of not one, but two World Wars and the loss of life both at home and away. Amos and Charlotte’s love story is heartbreaking as well as triumphant and beautifully written. Eden’s sub-plot romance displays the generational differences and changes. The terrible Coventry blitz, land girls, and battle fatigue (which we now know as PTSD) are all pieces of history in this story of love, loss, survival and triumph in two bleak times in English history.

I highly recommend this dual timeline historical fiction saga.

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About the Author

KRISTY CAMBRON is a vintage-inspired storyteller writing from the space where beauty, art, and history intersect. She’s a Christy Award-winning author of historical fiction, including her bestselling novels, THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN and THE PARIS DRESSMAKER, as well as nonfiction titles. She also serves as Vice President and literary agent with Gardner Literary.

Her work has been named to Cosmopolitan Best Historical Fiction Novels, Publishers Weekly Religion & Spirituality TOP 10, Library Journal’s Best Books, and she received a Christy Award for her novel THE PAINTED CASTLE. Her work has been featured at Once Upon a Book Club Box, Frolic, Book Club Girl, BookBub, Country Woman magazine, and (in)Courage.

Kristy holds a degree in art history/research writing and spent fifteen years in education and leadership development for a Fortune 100 corporation, partnering with such companies as the Disney Institute, IBM/Kenexa, and Gallup before stepping away to pursue her passion for storytelling. Kristy lives in Indiana with her husband and three basketball-loving sons, where she can probably be bribed with a peppermint mocha latte and a good read.

Social Media Links

Website: https://kristycambron.com/

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

Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/KCambronAuthor/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kristy-cambron

Book Tour/Feature Post and Mini Book Review: But One Life: The Story of Nathan Hale by Samantha Wilcoxson

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BUT ONE LIFE: The Story of Nathan Hale by Samantha Wilcoxson on this Coffee and Thorn Book Tour.

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

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Book Description

“If I had ten thousand lives, I would lay them all down.”

In the early 1770’s, Nathan Hale is a young philosophy student at Yale. There, he, his brother, and their friend, Ben Tallmadge, are busying themselves with intellectual debate and occasional mischief.

Only too soon, their patriotic ideals of revolution and liberty would be put to the test. Forced to choose between love and duty, young Nathan has to face the harsh personal cost of deeply held beliefs as he leaves to become Washington’s spy.

In this powerful novel of friendship and sacrifice, Samantha Wilcoxson paints a vivid portrait of a young man’s principled passion and dedication to his ideals, turning the legend into flesh and blood.

This is the touching and thought-provoking story of how an ordinary boy grew into an extraordinary man – an American hero.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199202877-but-one-life?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=aMcGb9PNdS&rank=3

Book Information

.Purchase link: https://mybook.to/But1Life

Genre: Historical biography
Print length: 169 pages
Age range: This is an adult book but would be suitable for mature older teens
Amazon Rating: 4.5*

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My Book Review

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

BUT ONE LIFE: The Story of Nathan Hale by Samantha Wilcoxson is a biographical historical fiction about the short life of American revolutionary idealist and patriot, Nathan Hale. This story is told in the first person which lends itself to the addition of personal religious beliefs as well as his belief in the revolutionary cause.

This tale begins when Nathan goes off to study at Yale College with his closest older brother, Enoch. While in college, Soon Nathan begins to form and stand up for his own beliefs through political and philosophical debates. At a time of revolutionary fervor, many tenants of religious beliefs tie in with the cause, also. Feeling the British oppression and with the convincing of one of his best friends from Yale, Nathan joins the revolutionary cause, but is soon captured and considered a spy. The British sentence for captured spies is to be hung.

This story covers Nathan Hale’s life from approximately 14 years of age to his execution at 21 years of age. I found the beginning of the story, recounting his years at Yale, to be interesting but slow paced and it also took me awhile to become accustomed to the prose which is written as if the reader is in 1700’s. As the story got into revolutionary politics and Nathan’s part in the war the pace picked up dramatically and I was more invested. In school, we were taught Hale was a symbol of patriotism and self-sacrifice and this story brings the young idealistic and religious man to life instead of a myth.

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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

Website: https://samanthawilcoxson.blogspot.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samantha_wilcoxson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/carpe_librum

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Granddaughter’s Irish Secret by Susanne O’Leary

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE GRANDDAUGHTER’S IRISH SECRET (Magnolia Manor Book #2) by Susanne O’Leary on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour.

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

Rose places her hand protectively on her grandmother’s necklace and looks up at Magnolia Manor’s vine-covered walls. The jewels are her most precious possession, but she is terrified to tell her family the truth about where they really come from…

Standing in the doorway of her grandmother Sylvia’s home, Rose Fleury thought returning here was the answer to all of her problems. She has no job and a broken heart, but Sylvia reminds her that Fleury women of the past were strong and independent, and she can be too. Clutching a family heirloom – a beautiful topaz necklace – Rose promises to be brave like her relatives. Until she finds out that the jewels hide a terrible secret…

Someone in town is claiming the necklace is fake. Rose knows Sylvia will be devastated by this news, and it could shatter their family’s reputation. For the sake of her grandmother, Rose is determined to find the real necklace and discover why it was replaced – and quickly convinces handsome local lawyer Noel Quinn to join her. Though Noel’s broad shoulders in his suit and tie remind Rose of her ex-boyfriend, he seems just as fascinated by the mystery, and she finds her heart fluttering every time he catches her eye…

But when Rose traces the real necklace to another family, and another ancestral home in a nearby village, she’s shocked to discover a forbidden love that once tore her family apart – and that Noel is connected to it. Can she really trust the man she’s been growing so close to? And will the truth about the Fleury family cause a rift between Rose and Sylvia that is impossible to repair?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205952475-the-granddaughter-s-irish-secret?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=3JMgv8bk1w&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE GRANDDAUGHTER’S IRISH SECRET (Magnolia Manor Book #2) by Susanne O’Leary is an engaging women’s fiction with both a sweet, slow-burn romance and a historical mystery set on the bucolic Irish coast. While this is the second book in the series, it can easily be read as a standalone story.

Rose Fleury leaves her Dublin job and returns home after a major break-up. Her grandmother, Sylvia offers her a place to stay in Magnolia Manor’s gate house and a management job on the transition project as she heals emotionally. She is invited to the wedding of a former work friend and asks Noel Quinn, their local family lawyer to be her plus one as a friend. At the same time, she discovers when she gets her family heirloom necklace cleaned for the wedding that while beautiful, it is a copy.

Rose is determined to discover what happened to the original necklace before telling her grandmother it is a fake. Noel is as interested in history and the mystery of the necklace as Rose. As they work together to discover where the original may be, Rose begins to look at Noel in a new way. They discover the real necklace is tied to a forbidden love that tore her ancestors apart and that Noel is connected to it.

This story has so many things happening, but not in a bad way. The sweet, slow-burn romance is appropriate after Rose’s break-up and Noel is an intelligent and steady man to count on. The mystery of the heirloom necklace is more prominent than the romance in this story and it is well paced throughout. I thought the historical mystery and search for answers is very well plotted and interesting. While all the pieces of this story blend well and I liked all the characters and beautiful scenic descriptions, I still felt as though I was only reading about the characters and their mystery and not walking in the story with them. It is hard to describe and only my personal experience, but it was still an enjoyable read.

This is an entertaining women’s fiction with an intriguing historical mystery.

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About the Author

Susanne O’Leary is the bestselling author of more than 20 novels, mainly in the romantic fiction genre. She has also written three crime novels and two in the historical fiction genre.

The wife of a former diplomat, she has also been a fitness teacher and a translator. She now writes full-time from either of two locations, a rambling house in County Tipperary, Ireland or a little cottage overlooking the Atlantic in Dingle, County Kerry. When she is not scaling the mountains of said counties, or doing yoga, she keeps writing, producing a book every six months.

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.susanne-oleary.co.uk/

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanne.olearyauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/susl

Purchase Link

https://geni.us/B0CT91DQF5social

Feature Post and Book Review: People in Glass Houses by Jayne Castle

PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES
(A Harmony Novel Book 17)
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 7, 2024
Print length ‏ : ‎ 313 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0349441812

Book Description

His name is Joshua Knight. Once a respected explorer, the press now calls him the Tarnished Knight. He took the fall for a disaster in the Underworld that destroyed his career. The devastating event occurred in the newly discovered sector known as Glass House—a maze of crystal that is rumored to conceal powerful Alien antiquities. The rest of the Hollister Expedition team disappeared and are presumed dead.

Whatever happened down in the tunnels scrambled Josh’s psychic senses and his memories, but he’s determined to uncover the truth. Labeled delusional and paranoid, he retreats to an abandoned mansion in the desert, a house filled with mirrors. Now a recluse, Josh spends his days trying to discover the secrets in the looking glasses that cover the walls. He knows he is running out of time.

Talented, ambitious crystal artist Molly Griffin is shocked to learn that the Tarnished Knight has been located. She drops everything and heads for the mansion to find Josh, confident she can help him regain control of his shattered senses. She has no choice—he is the key to finding her sister, Leona, a member of the vanished expedition team. Josh reluctantly allows her to stay one night but there are two rules: she must not go down into the basement, and she must not uncover the mirrors that have been draped.

But her only hope for finding her sister is to break the rules…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195887452-people-in-glass-houses?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=UvICp5fnGK&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES (A Ghost Hunters/Harmony Novel Book #17) by Jayne Castle is an action filled paranormal/urban fantasy romantic suspense return to the world of Harmony and this story returns to Illusion City and the Underworld tunnels. I anxiously wait for each new book in this series to once again immerse myself in the Harmony worldbuilding, each new couple and of course, the dust bunnies.

Joshua Knight is a renowned navigator in the Underworld. On his latest trip into the tunnels, he reappears on the surface without any other members of his expedition to the Glass House and has no memory of what occurred in the tunnels. With his reputation in tatters and everyone believing him to be delusional, he disappears to the mansion in the desert where the tunnels led him to the surface to hide from the world, but the mansion full of mirrors is not benign.

Molly Griffin has finally found her true talent as a crystal artist. Her talent and abilities have led her to be chosen to provide the crystal circle for the wedding of the year in Illusion City. As she prepares for the wedding, she discovers the location of the navigator who led the team, which included her sister, Leona Griffin, underground and has been lost for a month. She knows he is the key to locating her missing sister and she is willing to face anything to help him regain his memory and find her sister.

I always love returning to Harmony! The worldbuilding immerses me into a world I feel at home in as much as this reality. The paranormal abilities are interesting and believable to the environment, as well as dust bunnies that are as individual as the people they choose to befriend. I love the dust bunnies so much! Molly and Joshua may have some communication problems at first, but Molly has had to hide portions of her and her sister’s past for so long, trust is difficult. The suspense plot has a lot of action and many twists that kept me guessing to the end. Even though it is not a cliffhanger ending to this story, you discover an overall Ghost Hunters series arc plot is carrying over to the next book featuring Molly’s sister, Leona.

If you are looking for a paranormal series that has action, romance, paranormal abilities, humor, and dust bunnies, this will be perfect for you. I highly recommend this paranormal romantic suspense, this addition to the entire series, and this author!

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About the Author

Jayne Castle, the author of Guild Boss, Illusion Town, Siren’s Call, The Hot Zone, Deception Cove, The Lost Night, Canyons of Night, Midnight Crystal, Obsidian Prey, Dark Light, Silver Master, Ghost Hunter, After Glow, and After Dark, is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She writes contemporary romantic suspense novels under the Krentz name, as well as historical novels under the pseudonym Amanda Quick.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.jayneannkrentz.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JayneAnnKrentz

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jayne-castle

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Birthday of Eternity by A.D. Price

The Birthday of Eternity

by A. D. Price

May 13 – June 7, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE BIRTHDAY OF ETERNITY (A Comfort & Company Mystery Book #2) by A.D. Price on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Good luck and enjoy!

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Book Description

L.A. private investigators Kit and Henry become entangled in the city’s robust post-WWII occult trade when they’re hired to track down Lillian, the estranged wife of a prominent physician, and her spellbinding “spirit” lover Tashin. Fresh from her training in judo and “dirty fighting,” Kit poses as an eager recruit at a Hollywood cult run by the ambitious Reverend, while Henry takes on the city’s séance circuit, which has reinvented itself in the wake of war. Assisting them are Kit’s psychiatrist lover Luca and her combat veteran brother Stanley, who offer their own brand of expertise in unraveling the tricks of the conmen.

Plunged into the strange and deadly world of mediums and gurus, Kit and Henry soon discover that surviving the spirit trade will take all of their cunning and a whole lot of luck.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203611746-the-birthday-of-eternity?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=QDhFLFeiCw&rank=1

The Birthday of Eternity

Genre: Historical Private Detective Mystery
Published by: Indie
Publication Date: December 6, 2023
Number of Pages: 358
ISBN: 9798986893044
Series: Comfort & Company Book 2

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE BIRTHDAY OF ETERNITY (A Comfort and Company Mystery Book #2) by A.D. Price is a suspenseful historical P.I. mystery set post WWII in Los Angeles, California and features two memorable private investigators. This is the second book in the series, and I feel I understood and enjoyed all the characters and their motivations more by reading book one, After the Blue, Blue Rain, and book two in order.

P.I. Kit Comfort and her partner P.I. Henry Richman have barely recovered from their last case and find themselves quickly drawn into their next. Hired to track down the missing wife of a prominent L.A. physician, they find themselves involved in the world of cults and spiritualists. With the help of Kit’s psychiatrist lover and her combat veteran brother, Kit and Henry soon discover the spirits may be more dangerous than they believed.

I am really enjoying this historical mystery series. While it has a bit of a noir feel to the private investigation plot, it is not as dark or gritty as some others in this period. It has both Kit and Henry alternating the narrative of the story with the occasional insertion of the missing person’s narrative. It is a unique way of discovering the facts as the investigation gets closer to the solution. (The first book in the series was narrated in a similar way.) The investigation is interesting with none of the current advantages of technology, just plenty of personal contacts, shoe leather, ingenuity, and undercover work with some action interspersed throughout.

While the plots of both mysteries are well paced and plotted, it is the characters that I love. Kit is an emancipated woman for her times and yet she still has a very loving heart towards her brother, partner and friends and she also loves a good hat. Henry has a complicated history and an even more complicated marriage. While he gives off a hard guy persona, I felt so much sympathy for him. All the related characters in this series are fully drawn and believable for the period.

I highly recommend this compelling historical P.I. mystery series.

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Excerpt

PROLOGUE

DAIVIKA

(Preface, “Survival: My Journey to Enlightenment,” CoEB Press, 1948)

Happy New Year! Today, I begin the story of my death. The story of my death and my rebirth. The story of my journey to enlightenment. It won’t begin at the beginning. It won’t unfold in chronological order, or in subject order. Instead, it will flow in psychic order. An order marked by change—the before and the after—and its place in my eternal existence, in the circle with no beginning and no end.

Some in my position might shy away from sharing their story. They might prefer to keep their past a secret. However, from my experience—the experience that brought me to this point today—secrets destroy. They destroy trust, of course, but they also destroy hope. We can’t profess to love nature’s sunshine while keeping a part of ourselves in the darkness. Our past, our histories, are as much a part of our being as our beliefs and our actions.

Of course, it’s impossible to recall everything, and not all revelations are suitable for all audiences, but as far as common decency and memory will allow me, I will be truthful and open with my history. It’s the least I can do for my new friends and colleagues. Now more than ever, I need your trust. So, I will give you my secrets—some of them anyway.

And circle or not, I must start my story somewhere, and when I think about the past, I find myself returning to one moment, one place, one hot summer afternoon. It was a moment whose significance grew over time, like a soft mew swelling to a roar. It’s there I’ll begin the story of my life, a not-so-long-ago moment, fresh from death’s door.

Chapter 1

DAIVIKA

(Excerpt from “Survival: My Journey to Enlightenment.” CoEB Press, 1948)

Death, as a concept, bubbles up often in my current existence, but in my previous life, I did my best to keep the topic at bay, to push down my fears and ignore any pain. Months after the war’s end, I was still rationing my sadness, still offering fake smiles and unearned laughs.

That began to change with the death of my grandmother. Days before, she had taken a bad fall and her recovery had been fitful. I dropped by the hospital once or twice, but on that last Sunday, I canceled my planned visit and attended one of my husband’s archery competitions instead. She passed during the night.

Gramma had always been the kind constant in my life—more giving than my mother—and her departure from this world was a blow to my defenses. Its full impact, however—my shame especially— didn’t hit me until later. Even then, as I first stood by her open grave under that scorching sun, dry martinis in ice-cold glasses were all I was thinking about.

In her will, Gramma instructed she be buried at Forest Lawn, in the Everlasting Love section, next to her beloved husband, my grandpa. He had succumbed to a stroke a few years earlier, and his demise rendered Gramma spiritually unbalanced. Or as she put it, without him by her side, her life had no joy. At the time, I didn’t associate Gramma’s spiritual imbalance with a literal imbalance, the type of vertigo that caused her to misjudge a step, take a spill and break her hip, but the connection seems obvious to me now.

I also see now the deep imprint that my grandparents’ long and loving marriage left on my psyche. My parents’ marriage was fragile and my own romances were flops. But Gramma and Grandpa’s bond truly was everlasting—in life and beyond. Who doesn’t yearn for that?

No doubt that if my native Californian Gramma had been in charge of the matter, her burial would have taken place on a rainy dawn in winter. As it turned out, however, the fates preferred a cloudless afternoon in July. The night before, a Santa Ana wind had blown in, delivering a day of gusts so hot and dry they all but set fire to the lungs. The service at the Wee Kirk o’ the Heather Church had been reasonably well-attended, but most of the mourners, including my husband, skipped the burial. While immaculate and stubbornly green, the lawn the cemetery was famous for had absorbed the wind’s heat, making standing graveside more hellish than heavenly.

The minister-for-hire went through his rituals as quickly as was socially acceptable. But as he was delivering his final words over Gramma’s coffin, the birds and insects of Forest Lawn went abruptly silent. I felt the silence more than I heard it, but I sensed instantly that something was off and something else was eminent. And just as that anticipation hit, the sky’s light dimmed and the air dulled. We had been plunged, midday, into dusk.

During the next few seconds, my ears started to ring, or rather, hum. My heart raced, and I gasped. Then I fainted. My knees gave out and I tumbled to the ground. I toppled just inches from the open grave, my left arm dangling over the side. I quickly recovered but when I opened my eyes, the world was tinged with red and the air that swirled around me was frigid. I could hear murmurs of concern and felt someone touching my back. Embarrassed, I struggled to my feet and assured everyone I was fine.

And for a time, I fooled myself into believing that I was fine. On the drive home from the cemetery, I heard radio bulletins describing the total solar eclipse that had just occurred in the Northern Hemisphere. Everything I had experienced during the funeral was unusual but explainable. A natural phenomenon.

Or was it? Was Gramma’s funeral occurring at the same time as a rare astronomical event a coincidence? Or had Fortuna influenced the scheduling somehow? What had I seen? What had I felt? Had I felt through that cold wind Gramma’s spirit heading for the Afterlife? Or was it the stirring of my own sorrow, blowing around me in warning? Or both?

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Author Bio

A native of Washington, D. C., A. D. Price is an Emmy-winning screenwriter and author. Her publications (as Amy Dunkleberger) include educational books and feature articles on historical and arts-related subjects. In 2022, she published After the Blue, Blue Rain, her first novel and the first book in her Comfort & Company mystery series. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two dogs.