New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Estep blasts off with an exciting new science-fiction fantasy adventure with a dash
of historical romance. This action-packed space opera features a mix of magic and technology, along with a soul mates and enemies-to-lovers story.
A WOMAN WHO SEES EVERYTHING . . .
Few people know the name Vesper Quill. To most folks, I’m just a lowly lab rat who designs brewmakers and other household appliances in the research and development lab at the powerful Kent Corp. But when I point out a design flaw and a safety hazard in the new line of Kent Corp spaceships, everyone knows who I am—and wants to eliminate me.
I might be a seer with a photographic memory, but I don’t see the trouble headed my way until it’s too late. Suddenly, I’m surrounded by enemies and fighting for my life.
I don’t think things can get any worse until I meet Kyrion Caldaren, an arrogant Regal lord who insists that we have a connection, one that could be the death of us both.
A MAN WHO CAN’T FORGET HIS PAST . . .
The name Kyrion Caldaren strikes fear in the hearts of people across the Archipelago Galaxy. As the leader of the Arrows, the Imperium’s elite fighting force, I’m used to being a villain, as well as the personal assassin of Lord Callus Holloway. Even the wealthy Regals who live on the planet of Corios are afraid of me.
But everything changes when I meet Vesper Quill. I might be a powerful psion with telepathic, telekinetic, and other abilities, but Vesper sees far too many of my secrets.
Thanks to an arcane, unwanted quirk of psionic magic, the two of us are forced to work together to unravel a dangerous conspiracy and outwit the deadly enemies who want to bend us to their will.
My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
ONLY BAD OPTIONS (A Galactic Bonds Book #1) by Jennifer Estep is the start of an electrifying new sci-fi romance/space opera series with smart main characters involved in a slow burn romance and great world-building. I was completely sucked into this new world of royalty, magic, and tech.
Vesper Quill is a considered a lowly lab rat at Kent Corp., but she is able to see problems with products, fix them, and develop new designs for much more. When she discovers a flaw design in the companies new spaceships, she becomes a liability that must be eliminated.
Kyrion Coldren is the most feared warrior of the Imperium’s elite fighting force and the personal assassin of Lord Callus Holloway. When he crosses paths with Vesper on a conscript ship which is meant to be the death of her, she ends up helping them both escape death.
Due to arcane magic, Vesper and Kyrion have a psionic link that neither wants, but to survive the deadly intrigue swirling around them they must work together to uncover a dangerous conspiracy and protect the secret of their link from everyone.
I really enjoyed this new world and thought Vesper and Kyrion are both great new characters. They are smart, determined, and excel at what they do. They also both have backstories that make you feel for them and understand why they act the way they do to all the situations they face. All the psionic abilities, or lack thereof, add interesting twists to the story. The conspiracy plot investigation by Vesper and Kyrion moves at a fast pace, while their romance is a completely different story. While this book does not end on a complete cliff-hanger, it does leave you ready for remaining questions to be answered in the next book.
I recommend this first book in the Galactic Bonds series for the start of a new sci-fi romance/space opera that is riveting.
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About the Author
Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author who prowls the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.
Jennifer is the author of the Elemental Assassin, Section 47, Galactic Bonds, Crown of Shards, Gargoyle Queen, and other fantasy series. She has written more than 40 books, along with numerous novellas and stories.
In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys hanging out with friends and family, doing yoga, and reading fantasy and romance books. She also watches way too much TV and loves all things related to superheroes.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE BONE RECORDS by Rich Zahradnik 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 on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Description
NY Police Academy washout Grigg Orlov discovers an eerie piece of evidence at the scene of his father’s brutal murder: a disc-shaped X-ray of a skull. It’s a bone record–what Soviet citizens called banned American songs recorded on used X-rays. But the black-market singles haven’t been produced since the sixties. What’s one doing in Coney Island in 2016?
Grigg uncovers a connection between his father and three others who collected bone records when they were teenage friends growing up in Leningrad. Are past and present linked? Or is the murder tied to the local mob? Grigg’s got too many suspects and too little time. He must get to the truth before a remorseless killer takes everything he has.
Genre: Mystery Published by: 1000 Words A Day Press Publication Date: November 2022 Number of Pages: 338 ISBN: 9798985905649
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
THE BONE RECORDS by Rich Zahradnik is a non-stop fast paced thriller filled with Russian mobsters and government agents, corrupt NYPD police, and FBI agents, good and bad, all after a young protagonist caught up for unknown reasons in international intrigue.
Grigg Orlov has never felt he belonged in his neighborhood of Little Odessa. Born of a Russian immigrant father and a Jamaican mother, he is plagued with prejudice his entire life. His father reappears after a six-month absence only to have both chased and his father killed. Grigg finds a disc shaped x-ray of a skull on his father’s body. It has an individual old song recording on the opposite side. He learns the discs were called bone records which in the old Soviet Union were sold on the black market with banned American music, but what does this have to do with his father?
Grigg and his ex-girlfriend, Katia, discover an old connection his father had to a group of friends in Russia and bone records, but what does that have to do with the present day run for his life from Russian mobsters and government spies? With no help from law enforcement, Grigg must find the truth before he and Katia end up dead.
This is a thriller with a stubborn and flawed young protagonist that the author is able to make me still care about and follow on this harrowing investigation and run for his life. The history of the bone records was interesting and new to me. The vivid descriptions of the neighborhood of Little Odessa and Coney Island made both feel real and integral to the story. I felt at times the number of mobsters, spies and corrupt law enforcement officials was over the top, but it certainly kept the action and Grigg moving. Every plot thread is tied up at the climatic ending, I just wish a few were answered sooner in the story because for me, all the solutions were rushed into the last chapters with much of the story being threat and chase.
I recommend this entertaining thriller with its unique protagonist and plenty of action and suspects.
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Excerpt
Chapter 1
Friday, August 19, 2016
Grigg’s reunion with his father was brief—eight minutes to be exact—and ended when a man with a nickel-plated revolver shot Dad twice.
Three hours before the violence began, Grigg struggled through the crowd on the Coney Island subway platform. He was the last to reach the stairway to the station’s exit. Again. Even the old folks were gone. His wrecked knee held him back.
Outside the station, Deno’s Wonder Wheel turned slowly, towering over the amusement park that took its name from the ancient fifteen-story ride. The wheel’s spokes glowed a hot neon white. Hazy coronas surrounded all the lights.
Tick-tick-tick-tick.
Grigg had started wearing his father’s Timex soon after he had gone missing. He put the watch up to his ear, as he’d done too many times before. It wasn’t loud enough to be heard. The clockwork noise was in his head. Maybe a reminder to keep looking. Maybe a reminder that six months was already too long in missing persons cases.
His father’s watch read 8:18 p.m.
He limped away from Coney Island’s amusement parks toward his house on West 28th off Mermaid Avenue. As he did, the street darkened. He checked behind him more than once. The neighborhood became far less amusing as night came on—and the farther you went from the fun parks. Mugging wasn’t the thrill ride Grigg needed. He didn’t want any more trouble. He had a lifetime’s supply. His long days pinballed him between two jobs and the search for his father.
But despite Grigg’s best efforts, the minutes and hours and days kept spinning off the Timex, found by the police in a Howard Beach motel room, the last place his father was seen before he vanished into the thin March air. Their empty house waited to reflect Grigg’s loneliness back at him. His mother had died when he was eighteen months old. His boss at the city’s claims adjustment office rarely talked to him outside of giving orders. All of his connections—he couldn’t really call them friends—in the neighborhood he owed to his father. Dad, like the rest of them, had immigrated from Russia. Unlike the rest of them, he’d married a woman from Jamaica, a union that guaranteed Grigg would always be on the outside in Little Odessa.
The rubber soles of his cheap dress shoes slapped the wet pavement. A thunderstorm had blown through while he was on the subway, leaving behind the sticky-thick humidity. His messenger bag tugged on his shoulder.
He went over the lead he’d uncovered tonight. Going door-to-door in a Midwood apartment building full of Russians, he’d talked briefly to a tenant named Freddy Popov, who recognized Grigg’s father when shown a photo. Popov said a man—maybe a cop—had been canvassing the building with a picture of Grigg’s dad four weeks earlier. Inside the man’s apartment and shielded by Popov, someone said something in Russian. Popov got hinky, then said he didn’t know anything more and slammed the door. Grigg banged on it until a woman across the hall threatened to call the cops. He left with only the knowledge that someone else—maybe a cop?—was also searching for Dad. Still, that bit of info was his biggest lead to date.
Grigg limped up to the small, two-story brick house—kitchen, living room, two bedrooms over a garage—a duplicate of the other attached homes on the street. He unlocked the steel gate, then the front door, and stepped inside.
The thunk of the door closing echoed through the house. Two days ago, Grigg had moved everything out except for the sleeping bag in his bedroom of twenty-seven years and a blue duffel, readying the old house for its new owners. He turned the deadbolt.
He shouldn’t be staying here tonight. He’d spent all his free time on the search for Dad, right up until the closing on the sale of the house. Even at the end, he’d hoped for a breakthrough that would save him from selling. He’d signed the papers yesterday, writing a check for $1,650—most of his savings—because the house was underwater on a second mortgage his father had taken out. Grigg knew the out-of-state buyers wouldn’t be moving in for three weeks, so he’d kept a copy of the key.
Trespassing in my own house. Inviting trouble when I already have too much.
The plan was to use the next three weeks to find an apartment share, but the lead from Popov tugged at his thoughts. Would it pull so hard that he’d spend his free time searching for Dad and end up homeless? He ducked his own question and instead pictured going back to demand Popov tell him more. He shook his head. He could barely keep his mind on his housing problem for the space of a single thought. He took a beer out of the refrigerator, went up to his room, and rolled his sleeping bag into a fat pillow to lean against.
Grigg popped open the 90 Years Young Double IPA. Nine percent alcohol. The strong stuff he’d dubbed “floor softener.” He downed two sixteen-ounce cans, and the ache faded from the muscles in his damaged leg.
He took out his phone. He’d run through his data allowance last week. Three days until the new billing cycle. At least he had his music. He played the Decembrists, their songs about revenge and ships at sea set to jangly indie rock. He followed with the Killers, then Vampire Weekend.
Tick-tick-tick-tick.
His father’s watch read 11:20 p.m.
He opened his notebook and wrote down “Day 191” along with what he’d learned. It was longer than any previous entry—yet not long at all. So many days. The silence in the house chilled him, sending goosebumps in waves over his arms and thighs. He got up and turned down the air conditioner. It wouldn’t help. He missed his father’s voice, the way it had warmed their home. They could talk about everything and anything, a lot of anything, but such interesting anything. Dad was always there with his questions, his curiosity, and his deep interest in whatever Grigg was up to. There were days his father was more intrigued by Grigg’s job than Grigg was. Even that helped.
A fourth beer. He floated on the wood floor of his empty bedroom. Slept.
A thump. The floor hardened underneath him. Another thump. Half buzzed, halfway to a headache, Grigg opened his eyes. He heard it again. Not a dream. On the roof. He followed the steps above him to his father’s empty bedroom. He was about to switch on his phone’s flashlight when legs—silhouetted by the glow from the street across the way—dangled over the room’s tiny balcony. They descended slowly, inching, hesitating, as if the intruder were no expert at this sort of move. The toes stretched to touch, and finally, the person dropped, stumbled, and landed on their knees.
Grigg didn’t know whether to laugh or arm himself. If this was a robbery, then the joke was going to be on a thief who’d picked a house with nothing in it. Grigg decided discretion was the better part of whatever, returned to his bedroom, and pulled the stun gun from his messenger bag. Ever since he’d been attacked when he was in the police academy—suffering the knee injury that forced him to drop out—he hadn’t felt safe unless he carried the weapon.
He placed the messenger bag next to his duffel in the hallway in case he needed to get out fast. In the kitchen, he grabbed his second six pack as a backup weapon.
Of course, he could escape by the front and leave the intruder for the police to deal with. But if he did, then the buyers would be notified, and he’d lose the three weeks of temporary housing he’d been counting on.
He crept through the doorway into the main bedroom.
The figure, whose face remained in deep shadow because of the streetlight glow from behind, rattled the handle to the single balcony door, used his elbow to smash in the square pane nearest the knob, reached in, and turned the simple metal lock. As he pushed the door open, Grigg stepped forward, hit his phone’s light, and thrust forward the stun gun.
“Get the fuck out of my house!”
The figure froze. “I’m not going to hurt you, Grigg.”
Grigg moved closer.
“Dad? Dad!”
Full beard and longer hair, but it was him.
Grigg didn’t know whether to hug his father or scream at him.
“I came to say goodbye,” Dad said.
“Goodbye?”
“I’m leaving. For Russia. I don’t know when I’ll be able to return. It’s the only way.”
“I don’t understand.” Any of it. “You said you’d never go back.”
“It’s the only way to fix things.”
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Mystery writer Rich Zahradnik
Author Bio
Rich Zahradnik is the author of the thriller The Bone Records and four critically acclaimed mysteries, including Lights Out Summer, winner of the Shamus Award. He was a journalist for twenty-seven years and now lives in Pelham, New York, where he is the mentor to the staff of the Pelham Examiner, an award-winning community newspaper run, edited, reported, and written by people under the age of eighteen.
Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for CHAOS ON THEISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #9) by Stewart Giles on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
If there’s one thing Detective Liam O’Reilly hates, it’s bombs.
The Irishman transferred to the peaceful island of Guernsey to escape that kind of thing.
So, when random explosions start taking the people on the island by surprise, O’Reilly wonders if moving to Guernsey was such a good idea.
It soon becomes clear that the bombs are a smokescreen for something else. Something more sinister is going on, and when a gang of masked men enter the equation, O’Reilly realises this has nothing to do with blowing things up.
A team of armed men, dubbed the Fab Four Robbers by the press, soon capture the hearts of the people of Guernsey, and chaos hits the island.
O’Reilly is facing the worst dilemma of his career.
Many residents of the island are championing these thugs.
This new breed of criminals disguised as John, Paul, George and Ringo are about to educate O’Reilly in the fine art of chaos.
CHAOS ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #9) by Stewart Giles is another engaging mystery/police procedural featuring DI Liam O’Reilly and his team on the island of Guernsey. This is the ninth book in the series and while the characters’ relationships continue to grow, each crime plot is unique and is solved by the end of the book so they can be read as standalones.
April Fool’s Day is not a good day for police, and it is an especially bad day for DI Liam O’Reilly as a bomb explodes on Guernsey island. Liam hates bombs. As everyone is busy at the site of the blast, four men in Beatles masks rob a high-end jewelry store. The island paper nicknames them “The Fab Four” as they continue to cause chaos on the island. At first there are no casualties, but that soon changes with Liam and his team no closer to uncovering who they are and understanding what their motive might be.
Liam knows there must be a motive for the Fab Four’s crimes, but it will take his and his team’s usual dogged determination and out of the box investigative skills to stop the chaos on the island.
Once again, Mr. Giles has led me on an exciting chase with DI Liam O’Reilly. I love this protagonist and series. Not only is the crime mystery captivating, but there are also many changes going on in Liam’s personal life in this book. I always look forward to catching up with Liam, his daughter, and the members of his detective squad. The Fab Four disguises were an entertaining way to bring song references and debates about who you liked best of the four into the story even though these four were killers. I was guessing and surprised right up to the end in this fast crime read that I could not put down.
I highly recommend this crime mystery addition to the DI Liam O’Reilly series!
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Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey. The first 8 books in the Detective Liam O’Reilly series are now available. There are also 3 stand alone novels.
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.
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.
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.
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.
