Today is my turn on the Virtual Author Book Tour for the latest in the series of Christmas themed romance time travel books featuring Eve and Patrick Gantly. I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE CHRISTMAS EVEPROMISE – A Time Travel Romance (The Christmas Eve Series Book #4).
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the authors section and the authors’ social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Eve and baby Colleen are traveling to Ohio for the Christmas holidays to spend time with Eve’s parents.
After a few days in Ohio, they all plan to fly to Florida in Eve’s father’s private airplane. Patrick will meet them there after he completes exams for his forensic psychology degree.
Nothing goes as planned. The day Patrick is to leave for Florida, he receives a shocking telephone call from one of Eve’s cousins. Sobbing, she tells him a terrible tragedy has occurred. It stuns him and shakes him to his heart’s core.
His life shattered, Patrick knows he has but one chance: he must use the time travel lantern to return to the past in order to prevent the current tragedy.
But once again, the time travel lantern has a mind of its own, and Patrick is hurled back to a time where he must confront a strange, unfamiliar world and learn why the lantern transported him there.
When Patrick comes face-to-face with a mysterious, beautiful woman who looks and acts like Eve, and whose name is Eve, Patrick is haunted.
He recalls the promise he and Eve had made to each other on Christmas Eve the previous year—no matter what happens; no matter if they’re separated; no matter what time or place they find themselves in; no matter what obstacles they must face, they will always find each other, help each other, and love each other for all time.
The Christmas Eve Promise is a journey about the enduring promise of hope and the infinite, unbreakable bonds of love.
Publisher: Broadback (September, 2020) Category: Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Romance, Christmas Tour dates: September-November, 2020 ISBN: Available in Print and ebook, 405 pages
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE CHRISTMAS EVE PROMISE – A Time Travel Romance (The Christmas Eve Series Book #4) by Elyse Douglas is the latest in the series of Christmas themed romance time travel books featuring Eve and Patrick Gantly. While each book is complete with a HEA story, they are a continuing sequence of the main character’s adventures and journeys to find each other throughout time, so I feel they are best read in order.
It all began in book one with Eve discovering a time travel lantern which took her back in time to find her soulmate and true love, Patrick.
It is Christmas Eve, 2020. Eve, baby Colleen and Patrick are planning on a vacation in Florida for Christmas with Eve’s parents after Patrick finishes his exams in forensic psychology. First, Eve and Colleen travel to Ohio to visit relatives and then they will fly with her parents to Florida as Patrick takes the train from New York.
Then a tragedy occurs.
Patrick is devastated. He has one hope. He will once again use the time travel lantern to save his wife and child.
The time travel lantern has a mind of its own and Patrick in sent to 1925. Will Patrick find his soulmate, Eve and be able to save his family?
This is another wonderful addition to the series. The authors once again have Eve and Patrick not only searching for each other, but also changing the lives and sometimes the futures of others. Even as you need to suspend belief, it does not make the story less intriguing or heartwarming. The action is fast paced in this story and the emotional investment kept me turning the pages. I found all the details of the time-period, as in all the books, to be thoroughly researched.
I highly recommend this time travel romance and all the books in the series!
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Excerpt
Excerpt One
Eve held Patrick’s gaze, his champagne glass poised to touch hers “Patrick, before the new puppy comes crashing into our lives, I want us to toast to something else.”
“Now, there’s that mischievous gleam in your eyes again, Mrs. Eve Gantly. What are we about to toast to?
Eve worked to find the right words. “Okay, here it is. Do you believe in soulmates?”
“Soulmates?” he asked, testing the word. “Yes, you have used that word before. I know of it, but I haven’t thought about it. I assume you are about to educate me?” He sighed, playfully. “Thus, the second Christmas toast must wait.”
“I’ve done some research,” Eve said. “The term ‘soulmate’ first appeared in the English language in 1822, in a letter written by the English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.”
“I haven’t read much poetry, Eve.”
“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, some psychologists believe that it’s an unrealistic expectation to think that a soulmate exists specifically for another person.”
“What are your thoughts?” Patrick asked, shifting his feet. “And, can we step away from the fireplace? I feel like I’m being roasted as a Christmas goose.”
Eve drifted over to check on Colleen, her mind at work. Patrick moved to the couch but didn’t sit. He was intrigued by Eve’s obvious interest in soulmates.
“So continue with your interesting discourse,” Patrick said.
Eve turned to him. “According to an esoteric religious movement called Theosophy, God created androgynous souls—equally male and female. A little later, there were theories that the souls split into separate genders, perhaps because of karma. Anyway, over a number of reincarnations, each half soul seeks the other soul. And then, after all the karmic debts are purged, the two fuse back together as one. They are connected by a kind of invisible thread.”
Patrick scratched his head and took another drink from his glass. “Eve, my love, I know nothing about soulmates, reincarnation or karma. I only believe in time travel because it has happened to me, against my will, I might add. But had it not happened to me, I would never, ever, under any circumstances, have believed in it. Maybe what you say is true, I don’t know, but it seems rather airy, the stuff of dreams and fertile imaginations.”
There was a long gap in the conversation as Eve wandered the room, finally returning to Patrick, who watched her with keen interest.
“Patrick… I met you because I time traveled. We have both time traveled back and forth several times. We could have easily lost each other or never found each other.”
Patrick nodded.
“But we found each other every time. We fell in love at first sight, didn’t we?”
He leaned and kissed her wet, champagne lips and felt the same electric charge he always felt when he kissed her. That first-time burst-of-love and desire for her.
“Yes, Eve. I fell in love with you at first sight as I followed you along the 1885 New York City streets. I fell in love with you when we were across the street from Zarcone’s Tea & Coffee House and when you boldly walked up to me and said, ‘Have you been following me?’”
Eve held up her glass and touched his. “Yes! And I fell head-over-heels in love with you—and it scared me how fast and how much I fell in love with you. But that love seemed timeless, didn’t it? As if love had been just waiting for us to come together on that street corner in 1885? As if I’d known you before and you’d known me before. As if we were soulmates just waiting to come together again, to merge again. Didn’t you feel that, Patrick? Don’t you feel that now?”
Patrick narrowed his eyes on her. “You are quite the romantic, aren’t you?”
“I wasn’t a romantic before I met you. I was married to a man for a little over two years, and I never felt the love I felt for you that very first time I looked into your face.”
Patrick kissed her again. “Yes, I’ll admit it. You seemed remarkably familiar the first time I stared into your lovely eyes.”
Eve smiled knowingly. “And that’s what I propose in this toast.”
She raised her glass to his. “I want both of us to promise that no matter what happens to us; no matter if we’re separated; no matter what time or place we find ourselves in; no matter what obstacles we face, we will always find each other, help each other and love each other, for all time. Will you make this Christmas Eve promise, Patrick?”
He gave her a warm smile. “All right, Eve. Yes, I promise. But I pray to the saints in heaven that we are not separated. I’ve had enough of that.”
They touched glasses.
Colleen cried out and a burst of wind rattled the windows, making the room suddenly chilly.
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About the Authors
Elyse Douglas is the pen name for the married writing team Elyse Parmentier and Douglas Pennington. Elyse grew up near the sea, roaming the beaches, reading and writing stories and poetry, receiving a master’s degree in English Literature. She has enjoyed careers as an English teacher, an actress and a speech-language pathologist.
Douglas has worked as a graphic designer, a corporate manager and an equities trader. He attended the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and played the piano professionally for many years.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Release Blitz from Buoni Amici Press for the start of a new Rockstar contemporary romance series – EVERYTHING THAT GLITTERS (Velvet Thunder Book #1) by Emery Jacobs.
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
A decade of playing local bars and festivals with my band is over.
Just like that.
Big break? More like broke up. Broken Thunder– maybe the name was a sign.
Now I find myself at a crossroad, not ready to leave music behind.
An audition for the legendary band Reckless Fury, could change everything.
At least that’s what I hope until I see who’s calling the shots.
No names. One incredible night. It’s her!
I had no idea she was the Princess of Rock, when she was rocking my world.
All I need is a chance to prove myself.
With her.
With the band.
She thinks she knows why I’m here, she’s wrong.
Everything That Glitters is a steamy, sexy, full-length Rockstar Romance with a HEA
Everything That Glitters is the first novel in the Velvet Thunder series. All books in this series are interconnected standalones and can be read in any order.
EVERYTHING THAT GLITTERS (Velvet Thunder Book #1) by Emery Jacobs is the first book in a new Rockstar contemporary romance series.
Gracie is the daughter of the famous lead singer from Reckless Fury. She may not have inherited his musical talent, but she is great at the business and management side of the business. Her mother walked away when she was an infant, but her father devoted his life to his band and raising her. But Gracie’s current project, an all female band has broken up and she is feels lost.
For ten years, Slade has been the lead singer for Broken Thunder. Now the members are all going their own ways and Slade has no idea what to do next. Then he sees a beautiful blonde in the bar and for some unknown reason he cannot take his eyes off of her.
A one-night stand with no names and no promises.
When Slade goes on an audition several weeks later, there she is, the girl he has not been able to forget. Gracie is just as shocked, but she is not ready to fall into his arms. Both have had emotionally difficult family problems growing up and there are still some problems that may be too big to conquer.
I felt for Gracie because she was such a strong person, but she would not fully face all her emotional issues and it messed with her current relationships. Slade was a hot rocker who had it more together and after a few false steps was able to be what Gracie needed. I felt that Gracie and Slade worked well together as a couple. They had a combustible chemical attraction, but I did not feel the deep, emotional, fully fleshed out connection that I was hoping for. The sex scenes were smokin’ hot, explicit and appropriate to the story. Even though each book is to stand on its own, I wish the other band members had been introduced more fully.
Overall, a good start to the series and I would check out each new book in the series to find out about the other band members.
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About the Author
Emery grew up in Southern Arkansas and has lived most of her adult life in Northern Louisiana. She spends her days working as a Nurse Practitioner in rural health and her nights reading, writing, and occasionally sleeping.
She loves real life romance…lots of angst and heartbreak, but always a happy ending.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour for EMERGENCY POWERS (Imogen Trager Book #3) by James McCrone. While this is the third book in the series, it can be read as a standalone.
Below you will find a post from the author, a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!
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Post from the Author
Becoming a Writer – James McCrone
I’m often asked how old I was when I first realized I wanted to be a writer?
Like many writers, I had English/Language Arts teachers who were inspirational, as well as great librarians who opened up the world of books (and writing) to me. But ‘when did you realize it?’ is a difficult question for me because I honestly can’t think of a time when I wasn’t writing stories. But I think it was an assignment in 4th grade that made me see myself as a writer.
Stories are the way I make sense of the world. When I want to explain something I often end up telling a story to illustrate the point, or I relate an analogy, usually in story form. I was 9 or 10 years old before I found out that not everyone wrote stories. That not everyone kept a little journal in their bedrooms. I had thought it was normal to do so. (Of course, I thought I was normal!)
I wasn’t writing in a diary—sometimes days or a week would go by without me putting anything down. But then something would happen that impressed or confused me—someone on the bus, or an argument on the playground, or something I overheard my parents talking about—and I’d write it down.
Then I’d look at what I wrote, and I’d wonder whether it was the beginning of the story, the middle, or the end—what part was I seeing? What had led up to the argument I’d seen? Was it the beginning of something, or was it the end? Or: why was the woman on the bus muttering to herself? Did no one talk with her because she muttered to herself, or did she mutter to herself because she had no one to talk with? What else had happened? What else would happen? And I’d try to fill it in.
That day in fourth grade we were given an assignment to write a story. One of my classmates groaned about it, despairing of having to write a WHOLE story (It only had to be 4-5 pages, if I remember correctly.) I said something like “it doesn’t have to be anything new. You can just flesh out something you already have.” He looked at me like I was nuts.
Of course for me, the problem wasn’t what to write, but which story to use.
So I think it was that assignment which made me think about what I was doing as “being a writer.” All I remember now about the story I wrote then is that it was about a boy who gets lost. But the teacher liked it and praised it, and when she had me read it to the class, they liked it—even some of the kids I thought would make fun of me.
Prior to that moment, I’d looked at writing as something only for me. Now, I saw it as something to share. And I’ve been hooked on it ever since.
I’m still doing much the same thing I did when I was a boy. I write about things that interest me, that draw me in. And I wonder where else it will go… Fortunately, there are many who come along for the ride.
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Book Synopsis
The accidental president is no accident. The investigation that was FBI Agent Imogen Trager’s undoing may be the key to stopping a brutal, false flag terrorist attack meant to tighten a puppet president’s grip on power.
As the story begins, Imogen is haunted—and sidelined—by a case she couldn’t solve. When the president dies in office, she knows that the conspiracy she chased down a blind alley still has life in it—and she needs to get back in the hunt.
As bodies pile up and leads go cold, the main target from that old case reaches out to her. He’s still at large, and now he needs protection. Imogen doesn’t trust him, and it’s not only because he’s offering intel that sounds too good to be true. He’s already tried to kill her once.
Set in D.C., Seattle and small town America, Emergency Powers is a story of corruption and redemption, achieved at enormous personal cost.
Genre: Suspense-Thriller Published by: James McCrone Publication Date: October 1, 2020 Number of Pages: 300 ISBN: 9780999137727 (9780999137734) Series: An Imogen Trager Thriller
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
EMERGENCY POWERS (Imogen Trager Book #3) by James McCrone is the third intrigue filled, twisted political thriller featuring FBI agent Imogen Trager. Imogen is a brilliant analyst of political statistics who believes statistics can always be used to find hidden clues or patterns that otherwise cannot be found through straight forward investigative procedures. While this is a continuation from books one and two, the author brings you up to date quickly so this book can be read as a standalone.
After working to stop a secret group’s attempt to derail and steal the Presidential election, Imogen has been sidelined and considers resigning from the FBI and returning to academia.
And then the news…The President is dead!
FBI agent Imogen Trager, her fellow agent, Amanda Vega and her former boss, Don Weir are all immediately aware that there is more to uncover. With Bob Moore moving from VP to President, Imogen now has a new focal point for her statistical analysis and investigation to begin once again connecting the dots to uncover the remainder of the conspiracy.
While bodies pile up, a connection from the previous investigation reaches out to Imogen. While he tried to kill her previously, he now wants protection for information and Imogen does not know if she can trust him.
The powerful elite behind this plot will do anything to maintain their power now that they have everyone and everything in their control, except Imogen.
This is such an edge-of-your-seat plot which seems like it could easily happen in real world politics today. The twists and turns in the plot surprised me and were perfectly written to keep me turning the pages. Imogen is a heroine that I always love to find in fiction because she uses her intelligence above all else to uncover the plot against our democracy. All the secondary characters are fully drawn and add to the overall story without being just placeholders. This book is a full length thriller that does standalone, but I am glad that I also read the first two books which are both approximately 200 pages and give the lead-up to this plot and more background on the main characters.
I highly recommend this thought-provoking political thriller with a what-if scenario that is eerily believable!
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Excerpt
Friday, March 10
Seattle, Washington
1
Just before 5am, FBI Agent Imogen Trager gave a low growl and reached for the phone, buzzing officiously on the nightstand. She sat on the edge of the bed she shared with Duncan Calder, glowering at it as her eyes focused in the dark. Fixing a strand of red hair behind her ear, she scrolled through texts and posts from colleagues and friends. Her anger turned from dismay to sickening fear.
“Duncan!” She shook him awake and handed him the phone. He sat up and took it, scanning the news, instantly awake.
Imogen rose and picked her way to the living room in the dark where she turned on the television. The piercing glare of the screen stung the murky Northwest morning. Some 3,700 miles away, Vice President Robert Moore approached a phalanx of microphones, manfully fighting back tears:
“My fellow Americans,” he said, “it is my sad duty to confirm that Diane Redmond, the President of the United States, is dead.”
Bob Moore, a towering figure in person, looked small on screen, standing in the rain under a canopy of black umbrellas at the entrance to Walter Reed Medical Center. Duncan joined Imogen in the darkness, and she reached for his hand.
They stared, dumbfounded, as Moore continued: “Her doctors have informed me”—here he paused to clear his throat—“that the cause of death is believed to be a heart attack; that it was sudden and fatal. A full autopsy is underway, and it will give us a clearer picture. Our prayers go out to her family and loved ones.
“The Chief Justice has administered the Oath of Office to me here in the presence of cabinet members and hospital staff. The preservation of our great nation’s interests, its security and the continuity of government are assured.”
Duncan turned to Imogen: “Is it starting again?”
“I don’t think it ever stopped,” she brooded, her green eyes smoldering. “We failed. We didn’t cut the head off the snake.” Fury rose within her, sharp and raw like nausea.
Duncan handed her back the phone. It continued buzzing as reporters swarmed, asking for a quote from her as the public and photogenic face of the Faithless Elector investigation. She’d learned her lesson there and declined each call.
Their texted questions—the ones she bothered to read—were, as usual, off the mark: Would the Faithless Elector task force be revived to look into the President’s death? Would unanswered questions from the investigation strengthen or weaken support for the new President? Regarding the first: the task force was alive, if not well, she thought, and at any rate, she’d be one of the last to know about any official changes or developments. As to the second: Take a fucking a poll.
None of them asked the real questions—the ones she needed answered: Was this the final move of the conspiracy she had chased madly into a blind alley? If so, how had the dark network assassinated a President inside the White House? Who was moving the pieces, and what were the next moves? Most pressing: How would she get herself back in the hunt? From her phone, she deleted the draft email bearing the resignation she had planned to send on Monday morning.
Dawn was still some two hours away as Calder sat down on the couch next to her. “So you won’t be resigning, I take it,” he observed.
“No,” she said, not looking up from her notebook.
“How will you begin?”
She looked up. “We were digging in the wrong place. I’m going to go back over the associates and links we’ve established, see where or how any of them point at Bob Moore.”
“So Moore digging, eh?” he quipped.
Imogen sighed. She loved him, but how was he able to have distance at a moment like this? she wondered. She eyed him wearily. “Duncan, I’m going to get stonewalling from Nettie at the office about this new direction. I’m—”
He held up a hand. “What will you do?” He looked at her notebook. “And who’s Carla?”
“I’m going back to the data.”
“You’ve gotten nowhere with that,” said Calder acidly.
“Because we were looking at it in relation to other actors. Not Moore. And Carla’s not a who, but a what—short for ‘CARLA F BAD’: Character, Associates, Reputation, Loyalty, Ability, Finances, Bias, Alcohol, Drugs. It’s what you look at in a security clearance, among other things. It helps define spheres of influence and interaction. The disclosure dossiers on the men who’ve been working directly under Moore will have looked precisely at these CARLA factors. And I want to look at them, too. And his associates. So I’ll go backward, this time with Moore in mind. I want to look at his campaign finances. Who funded him early on in the race? Who else was involved or associated? Maybe something jumps out at me. Maybe that’ll point me in a direction.”
“It’s a lot of maybes, ’Gen.” He scratched at his iron gray hair.
“It’s where I’ll start. There’s always a gap in the armor somewhere. The really hard part is that I can’t just request materials the regular way through regular channels without telegraphing what I’m trying to do.”
“Or looking like you’re still part of the Faithless Elector case.”
She nodded and looked at him uncertainly. “And…I think I should cut this weekend short, if I can get a flight back to D.C.”
“I’m wondering what you’re still doing here,” he said.
Imogen leaned in and kissed him.
On the East Coast it was early morning, but across much of the country the sun was still not up. In the darkness, the announcement of Redmond’s death in office set off a series of moves seemingly unconnected and largely unremarked, as pawns were sacrificed and battle pieces were moved into place for the final gambit.
Rocky Mountains
Snow lit by headlights split the darkness, blinding the Highway patrolman who waited for the tow truck to pull out a car buried in the snow. Working in the dark about 14 miles west-by-southwest of Aspen, Colorado, the tow truck was having a difficult time dragging the car out. In what must have been whiteout conditions, the car had plunged through a guardrail and into the ravine.
As the patrolman stood at the side of the road waiting for the winch operator to do his work, he took off his right glove to read an alert on his phone. Speechless, he watched the news clip of now-President Moore at the hospital. Bewildered, numb—and not just from the cold—he stared over the still-dark, bleak expanse of mountains.
“Damn,” said the winch operator, breaking the patrolman’s reverie. The contorted steel shell of a car came into view and slowly ascended backwards up the steep hill. “You guys close Route 82 for more than half the year. Maybe you should think about closing this one, too.”
“We serve and protect,” the patrolman countered. “We can’t protect them from their own stupidity.”
Maricopa, California
Ninety-five miles northwest of Los Angeles, near Bakersfield, west of where the lush groves of San Emidio return to desert, police had responded to a call reporting shots fired.
The bodies of four men lay strewn around the living room and kitchen of a battered, double-wide trailer home, victims of an apparent drug deal gone bad. Even before forensics got to work, it was obvious the house had been used as a meth lab. An acrid stench burned the eyes and throats of the responding officers, who quickly backed out and awaited the Kern County forensics team.
As two officers sat in a squad car in the dark guarding the site, news reached them of the death of the president. They watched Moore at Walter Reed on the lieutenant’s phone. The death of these four drug dealers now seemed even less important. Desultorily, they searched the onboard police computer for information about the four corpses. Two of them had arrest records, known agitators and members of a border vigilante group.
“Right,” the lieutenant said to the patrolman. “Illegally funded law and order.”
“For some,” the officer added.
In Seattle, Imogen packed her bags, while fewer than six miles away but as blind to one another as opposite sides of the same coin, a sleek Eclipse 500 jet touched down at Boeing Field. The light jet taxied rapidly in the damp winter darkness, coming to an abrupt stop on a dimly lit portion of the tarmac at the north end of the field.
The hiss of its engines became a plaintive whistle as the doors popped open and two young men, Dan Cardoso and Eric Janssen, ran down the steps. They immediately turned round and helped close the stairs. But for this gesture of help, anyone witnessing their arrival—and no one did—might have mistaken them for two young executives returning from a casual outing.
Its doors sealed once more, the small jet in the tan-on-beige livery of Flintlock Industries, pushed on, the whistle of its engines discordantly climbing the scale as it taxied away. Cardoso and Janssen walked toward their cars parked just outside a chain link fence, fist-bumping as they separated at the gate.
“See you April 20,” Janssen said.
Cardoso gave a thumbs-up as he turned away. Though the tarmac was deserted, the bravado exchange was a crucial performance. They had each been schooled in the need for watchfulness—especially of one another. Any sign of dissent, hint of doubt or fading spirit should be reported.
Alone for the first time in more than 24 hours, each man allowed himself to think about what had just happened. On orders, they’d dispatched the members of a cell near Bakersfield, California, much like their own, though a failing one according to their handler. Although they had kept their misgivings to themselves, each had arrived at the same conclusion: when given a list of people marked for death, the quickest way to get your name added to the list was to refuse or even question the job. Each ruminated on the final step to come, and whether they would receive their just, or their eternal, reward.
Before their cars were started, and as Imogen zipped her suitcase closed, the light jet was in the air, headed east to another rendezvous.
2
Reactions to the death of the President were swift across the nation and the political spectrum. Imogen, now waiting at the airport gate, had inadvertently seated herself between two television monitors, each tuned to a different 24-hour news channel. They faced each other, across her and the political divide. At times, they seemed to be arguing with each other, and she found herself glancing back and forth like someone watching a tennis match. Travelers congregated silently at screens large and small throughout the terminal.
The remarkable unanimity of official emotion on television and across social media made it seem that everyone in Washington had been issued the same talking points memo: Redmond was praised for her “integrity,” her “dignity” and “strength,” each promising to uphold the unity she had embodied and to deliver on her legacy while offering support to Moore. There were, Imogen noted, still a few unfilled cabinet positions left. Snapchat, she mused tartly, seemed like a better venue for all the disposable preening and jockeying.
The news was rife with speculation about what had befallen President Redmond, and what a new Moore administration might look like. Between the two televisions and along the political spectrum, while politicians hewed to their “unity in adversity” tropes, the talking heads seemed to be going through their own peculiar stages of grief: conservative hosts, when not in denial about the larger implications, presented with over-modulated anger; whereas mainstream pundits registered shock and dismay, their interviews with Democratic leaders manifesting pain, and above all bargaining. Only religious leaders seemed to have progressed to acceptance and hope, anointing Moore as one demonstrably chosen by Providence. In all cases, speculation was rampant, and there were no facts in evidence, save the obvious—Redmond was dead and Moore was president.
Bob Moore was taciturn by nature, the pundits opined. He had a reputation for bloodless pronouncements, heavy on procedure and mindful of every political angle, earning him the ironic nickname “ad lib Bob.” But on the campaign trail, and during the contested fight for the Presidency, they noted, he had been a different man. All dispassion spent, he became a man of conviction. It remained to be seen, the pundits agreed, as to which version of Moore would prevail now that he was President.
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Author Bio
James McCrone has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington, in Seattle. He’s a member of Crime Writers of America (NY Chapter), Sisters in Crime (DE-Valley Chapter), Int’l Assoc. of Crime Writers, Philadelphia Dramatists Center and Int’l Thriller Writers.
He’s the author of Faithless Elector and Dark Network, the first two Imogen Trager “Noirpolitik” suspense-thrillers about a stolen presidency. The third Imogen Trager thriller, EMERGENCY POWERS, is due out in late September, 2020. His short story, “Numbers Don’t Lie” will appear in the anthology Low Down Dirty Vote, Vol.2 (M. Berry, ed.), out on July 4, 2020.
A Pacific Northwest native, he now lives in Philadelphia with his wife and three adult children.
James’s work explores characters pitted against forces larger than themselves. Both on an off the page, he’s fascinated with politics and issues of social responsibility and justice.
THE BOOKWORM’S GUIDE TO DATING (The Bookworm’s Guide Book #1) by Emma Hart is the first book in a new contemporary rom/com series. The main heroines are three friends who own a bookstore in a small town in Montana and their long-time friends. The secondary humor comes from the retirement home where all their grandparents live.
Kinsley Lane is a bookworm and proud of it. She loves analyzing relationships in romance novels and is afraid she will never find a real-life man who will understand and love her for her awkward introverted self. For her birthday, she decides to start dating. She lets her friends convince her to sign up for dating apps on-line and has her brother’s best-friend volunteer to play matchmaker. She is not sure why he is helping, but if he can find one who meets her very specific guidelines and helps her with her awkwardness, she is in.
Josh Carter offers to help Kinsley find a boyfriend. He helps set Kinsley up and even takes her on a practice date, but there is something important he is not telling her. He is hoping by finding Kinsley a boyfriend, he will quit obsessing over her. He made a pact with her brother years ago that neither of them would date the other’s sisters, but Josh finds the bookish Kinsley is the one he wants.
This is a quick read full of laughter, love and quirky realistic characters. Kinsley and Josh’s banter and texting felt pitch perfect and their relationship developed at a realistic pace. The sex scenes were explicit, but not gratuitous. I loved the scenes in the bookshop between the three friends and all the bookish references. The secondary characters are all part of the three girls lives and add to the small town feel of everyone knowing everyone else. The secondary comedy plotline of the retirement home where all the grandparents live and have their own dramas had me laughing out loud.
I can highly recommend this first in the series rom/com and I am looking forward to the next!
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Author Bio and Social Media
Emma Hart is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels and has been translated into several different languages. She first put fingers to keys at the age of eighteen after her husband told her she read too much and should write her own. Four years later, she’s still figuring out what he meant when he said she ‘read too much.’
She prides herself on writing smart smut that’s filled with dry wit, snappy, sarcastic comebacks, but lots of heart… And sex. Sometimes, she kills people. (Disclaimer: In books. But if you bug her, she’ll use your name for the victims.)
TOTAL POWER (Mitch Rapp Book #19) by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills is the latest thriller in the Mitch Rapp series and Kyle Mills continues to prove he was the right choice to take on this series after the death of Vince Flynn. The premise of the terror attack in this story is still theorized frequently and it is truly scary to picture the post-apocalyptic world in this book.
As Congress debates the perceived danger and the costs to fix and update the U.S. power grid, an expert in the field is shopping the destruction of that grid to our foreign adversaries. While he has the computer expertise, he needs some armed assistance on the ground in eliminating a few strategic power stations. When Mitch and his team are sent to intercept an international terrorist, they hope the plot is done, but it was only a decoy and the power grid goes off-line over the entire country on Christmas Eve.
Now as the government is in bunkers and the country begins to descend into anarchy as there is no longer a safety structure and it is every man for himself, Mitch and his team work to chase down the man responsible and get the codes that could begin to bring the power back on-line.
I could not put this new Mitch Rapp down! The premise is as realistic as it comes and having lived through the blackout of 2003, I could imagine each sequence of events occurring the longer the power was out. Mr. Mills research is evident throughout the story without it ever overpowering the action/thriller aspect of the story. All of the secondary characters play important roles in this story as they come together to survive the loss of power and work to navigate their new circumstances without all the state-of-the-art help that in one way or another relies on electrical power.
Mr. Mills has Mitch by the end of this book thinking several times about his future or lack thereof. He also shows Mitch becoming more comfortable with his family life and surrounding friends. Will Mitch eventually be able to retire with his loved ones or will he be taken out while once again protecting our freedom and way of life? I hope for the first with a new generation of protectors to take his place, but only Mr. Mills knows.
I highly recommend this action packed and thrilling new Mitch Rapp!
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About the Author
Kyle Mills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty books, including the latest in Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series, Total Power.
Growing up in Oregon, Washington, DC, and London as a the son of an FBI agent, Kyle absorbed an enormous amount about the intelligence community, giving his novels their unique authenticity. He and his wife live in Wyoming where they spend their off hours mountain biking and backcountry skiing.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour for Colleen Coble’s TWO REASONS TO RUN (Pelican Harbor Book #2). This is the second book in the Pelican Harbor trilogy. The mystery/suspense in each book is unique to that book, but the characters’ personal lives progress and carry over from each previous book. I feel these books are best read in order.
Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Synopsis
A lie changed her world.
Police Chief Jane Hardy is still reeling from the scandal that rocked her small-town department just as she took over for her retired father—the man who wrecked her life with one little lie. Now she’s finally been reunited with her presumed-dead fifteen-year-old son, Will, and his father, documentarian Reid Bechtol.
A crisis looms.
When a murder aboard the oil platform Zeus exposes an environmental terrorist’s plot to flood Mobile Bay with crude oil, Jane and Reid must put their feelings for each other behind them and work together to prevent the rig from being sabotaged.
A killer targets her son.
Then the terrorist puts her son Will’s life on the line. Protecting him could be the common ground they need . . . but then ghosts from the past threaten to ruin Jane and Reid for good. She’s got plenty of reasons to run. But what if she stays?
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense Published by: Thomas Nelson Publication Date: September 8, 2020 Number of Pages: 352 ISBN: 0785228489 (ISBN13: 9780785228486) Series: Pelican Harbor #2 Purchase Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook.com | Goodreads
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
TWO REASONS TO RUN (Pelican Harbor Book #2) by Colleen Coble is the second action packed Christian romantic suspense/mystery in this trilogy series. The small coastal town of Pelican Bay’s Chief of Police Jane Hardy is a 5’2” strong, determined and justice driven spitfire who also happens to be a survivor of a cult. While the suspense/mystery is unique and solved in each book, Jane and all the main characters’ personal stories carry over and are a large part of the story. I feel the books in this trilogy should be read in order.
Chief of Police Jane Hardy is now firmly in control of her small-town police department after taking over from her retired father and surviving the scandal from “One Little Lie”. While she has been happily reunited with her fifteen-year-old son Will, who she believed dead, she is still coming to terms with the betrayal she feels from his father, Reid.
A local mother has reported her son missing when he does not return from the giant oil rig in the bay. She gives Jane an email from her son that suggests there is a terrorist plot against the oil rig and he believes he is in danger. But with no other leads and no body, Homeland Security drops the case.
Reid uses his job as a journalist/documentarian to gain access to the rig. He and Jane find the missing man dead and tied under the oil rig. As Jane and Will move forward in the investigation, they receive threats that if they continue, their son Will’s life in on the line.
I loved this book as much as the first which of course makes me anxious for the third. I believe this author does a great job of balancing an intriguing investigation, building suspense and dealing with all the characters’ personal lives in this small town which comes to life in her worldbuilding. Jane is a complex character dealing with her past in the cult, her development of her current spiritual beliefs and her relationship with Reid. All the secondary characters are fully fleshed and realistic. Though there is faith-based dialogue, it never felt out of character or like you are being preached at.
I highly recommend this Christian romantic suspense/mystery and author.
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Excerpt
Was anyone watching?
Keith McDonald sat at the computer and glanced around the oil platform’s rec room, but the dozen or so workers were engrossed in watching the final game of a Ping-Pong match. He hesitated,
then hovered his cursor over the Send button. Clenching his teeth, he sent the emails. Maybe it was nothing, but if anyone could decipher the recording, it was Reid Dixon.
The back of his neck prickled, and Keith looked around again. The room felt stifling even with the AC cooling it from the May heat. He jumped up and headed for the door. He exited and darted into the shadows as two men strolled past. One was his suspect.
Keith stood on a grating suspended three thousand feet over the water and strained to hear past the noise of machinery. The scent of the sea enveloped him, and the stars glimmered on the water surrounding the oil platform that had been his home for two years now.
“Scheduled for late May—”
A clanging bell drowned out the rest of the man’s words.
“Devastation—”
The other fragment of conversation pumped up Keith’s heart rate. Were they talking about the sabotage he feared, or was he reading more into the words than were there? He couldn’t believe someone could be callous enough to sabotage the oil platform and destroy the coast on purpose. He’d seen firsthand the devastating effects from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. And what about the people living on the platform? Deepwater Horizon had killed eleven people and injured another seventeen.
He had to sound a warning and stop this, but he had no real evidence. If Reid Dixon blew him off, who would even listen? Maybe Homeland Security would pay attention, but who did he even call there? He could tell them about the pictures threatening Bonnie, but what did that prove? They might just say she had a stalker and he was chasing shadows.
He couldn’t say they were wrong.
He sidled along the railing, and the breeze lifted his hair. A boat bobbed in the waves far below, and in the moonlight, he spotted a diver aboard. Must be night diving the artificial reef created by the concrete supports below the platform. He’d done a bit of it himself over the years.
For an instant he wished he were gliding carefree through the waves without this crushing weight of conscience on his shoulders. When he was sixteen, life was so simple. School, girls, football, and good times. He’d gone to work at the platform when he was nineteen, after he’d decided college wasn’t for him.
It had been a safe place, a good place to work with fun companions and interesting work.
Until a few weeks ago when everything turned sinister and strange. He’d wanted to uncover more before he reported it, but every second he delayed could mean a stronger chance of an attack.
If an attack was coming. He still wasn’t sure, and he wanted a name or to identify the organization behind the threat. If there was a threat. Waffling back and forth had held him in place. Was this real, or was he reading something dangerous into something innocent?
Though he didn’t think he was overreacting.
He turned to head to his quarters. A bulky figure rushed him from the shadows and plowed into his chest, driving him back against the railing. The man grabbed Keith’s legs and tried to tip him over the edge.
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Author Bio
Colleen Coble is a USA TODAY bestselling author and RITA finalist best known for her coastal romantic suspense novels, including The Inn at Ocean’s Edge, Twilight at Blueberry Barrens, and the Lavender Tides, Sunset Cove, Hope Beach, and Rock Harbor series.
