Tag: #bookdescription

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Secrets of Floxglove Cottage by Rebecca Alexander

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SECRETS OF FOXGLOVE COTTAGE by Rebecca Alexander on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.

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

From her open window at Foxglove Cottage, she looks out at the garden full of wildflowers drenched in golden sunlight. Her fingers tremble as she turns the fragile page of the old diary and discovers a secret that will change her life forever…

When Zosia arrives at Foxglove Cottage holding her small son’s hand in hers, she is desperate for a new beginning. Her new job is to help seventy-year-old Hazel transform her tumbledown cottage and re-open the enchanting old café, steeped in folklore. Hazel is warm and welcoming, but Zosia can never share the truth about why she has left her own home.

When neighborly Leon, a bear of a man with deep brown eyes, arrives to help them restore the cafe, Zosia can’t help falling for his rugged charm. But her heart has been shattered before, so she distracts herself by translating an old diary that’s been in Hazel’s family for generations. She discovers an extraordinary love story hidden in the yellowing pages. It pulls her back into World War Two, as if the past is whispering through the garden’s tangled vines and the granite cottage walls. Could the old wartime romance help broken-hearted Zosia believe in soulmates again?

Zosia longs to open up to Hazel and Leon but if her past catches up with her it could ruin everything. When she uncovers the diary’s long buried secret, will it help her let go of her own past? Or, when she receives a letter that threatens everything she holds dear, will she be forced to leave Foxglove Cottage for good?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221514913-secrets-of-foxglove-cottage?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=rpC7aimiZk&rank=1

Buy Now: https://geni.us/B0DGHW81B4social

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SECRETS OF FOXGLOVE COTTAGE by Rebecca Alexander is a beautifully written, emotional roller coaster ride dual timeline women’s fiction/historical fiction read. Both timelines, present day and WWII, are set in England with each having their own dangers, losses, triumphs, and loves that pulled me in and kept me turning the pages.

Foxglove Cottage has been Hazel Wojcik’s family home her entire life. Now, seventy and after hip surgery she is looking for help to restore her home and reopen the café portion of Foxglove Cottage. Zosia Armitage is a Polish immigrant fleeing an abusive marriage with her six-year-old son, Krys. Hazel hires Zosia not only to help with Foxglove Cottage, but to translate the papers left by her Polish born father. As Zosia begins to trust again, danger comes from and unknown source.

At the start of WWII, Casimir Wojcik, a Polish pilot, makes his way across Eastern Europe to escape the Nazi’s. He is able to fly a plane to the Moors of England where he crashes and is pulled from his burning plane by Rosie, Hazel’s mother. Their love grows as Casimir joins the English pilots facing peril everyday over England and Rosie faces her own danger working in an explosives plant. With pilots and planes lost every day and horrible accidents occurring in the munitions factories full of female workers, Casimir and Rosie cling to each other and pray to get through the war.

I am so glad I gave this new-to-me author a try. Both timelines evoke so many emotions and the author’s writing was able to put me right in the middle of the danger and action, which comes from different perils in each timeline. Each timeline has a suspense sub-plot and heartwarming love stories that kept me rivetted from start to finish. All the characters are believable, fully developed, and left me feeling fully invested in their lives. The historical timeline is especially descriptive with interesting facts and dangers.

I highly recommend this wonderful women’s fiction/historical fiction book and will be looking for more books from this author.

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About the Author

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.rebecca-alexander.co.uk/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/rebalexander1

Email sign up: https://www.bookouture.com/rebecca-alexander/

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Little Island Flower Stall by Tilly Tennant

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE LITTLE ISLAND FLOWER STALL by Tilly Tennant on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.

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

Book Description

When Bella’s heart is broken by her cheating husband, she packs a bag and escapes to the little island of Jersey, to help her beloved great-aunt Celestine run her seaside flower stall.

With the sun on her cheeks, watching white-haired Celestine in her elegant patterned trouser suit beam at customers and arrange flowers in vases, Bella realizes that life is too short to feel sad. And when handsome, brooding Rory arrives at the rose-covered flower stall, and their eyes meet, she feels a sudden spark…

Inspired by Celestine’s lust for life, Bella agrees to get to know Rory better. As the two of them walk together under vast blue skies, Rory tells her of the family secret that has brought him to the island.

Bella wonders if Celestine might be able to help Rory with his quest, but Celestine warns her to be careful. Bella knows she should listen to her wise aunt, but she can’t fight her feelings. Yet when she tries to track Rory down days later, she is shocked to discover the secrets he has been keeping.

Is her hope of an island romance with a mysterious, handsome man simply too good to be true? Or can this beautiful place still bring her the bright new beginning that she so desperately needs?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220705597-the-little-island-flower-stall?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=zX14gHFSx0&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE LITTLE ISLAND FLOWER STALL by Tilly Tennant is a heartfelt women’s fiction story of healing and moving on from your past to discover what the future may hold for you. Set on the Island of Jersey with beautiful beaches and coastal cliffs, but also a tragic history of occupation during WWII. This story has an emotional journey from divorce to a friendship that becomes a slow burn romance, personal growth and discovery, familial reconnection, and an island historical mystery not revealed since WWII.

Bella discovers her husband has cheated again and she is done with their marriage. She takes off to the Island of Jersey to help her great-aunt, Celestine, who has taken a fall, with her beach front promenade flower stall. She is excited to try something new and to reconnect with Celestine who she has not seen since childhood vacations on the island.

While working at the flower stall, Bella has a run in with a handsome customer who is only visiting the island like herself. Bella is weary of any romantic entanglement and lets Rory know her circumstances, but Bella is also intrigued by Rory’s reason for being on the island and wishes to help. Rory is trying to discover information about his ancestry on the island which seems to be wrapped up in a mystery that occurred during the Nazi occupation of the island. As she helps Rory, she discovers Celestine may know more than she is willing to share.

This is a women’s fiction story with a little bit of everything that all comes together into an enjoyable read. Bella’s betrayal leads to a reconnection with family and a place she loved as a child, a hint of a second chance at romance that is all intertwined with a WWII mystery. I did find the pace a little slow when Bella first comes to the island, but as more of the island is explored, her relationship with Celestine grows, and more of the mystery elements were included, it pulled me deeper into the story.

Overall, a cozy women’s fiction that left me satisfied with Bella’s journey.

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About the Author

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop assistant, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing. She wrote a novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and hasn’t stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor and part-time lecturer.

Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. In 2016 she signed to the hugely successful Bookouture and is currently working on her fifteenth Tilly Tennant novel. Christmas bestseller A Very Vintage Christmas has just been made into a movie for Lifetime Channel.

Social Media Links

Website: https://tillytennant.com/

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

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Island-Flower-Stall-beautiful-ebook/dp/B0DKNZTLVR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=206QDSSRG9VNF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kgi3qHxRaaNA3Zi-oEwTqZb2VS

ARC Feature Post and Book Review: Head Cases by John McMahon

Book Description

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.

When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer.

Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer’s identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families…before it’s too late?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211004897-head-cases?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=j7HammCJbK&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

HEAD CASES (PAR Unit #1) by John McMahon is an engaging and exciting first book in a new series featuring a group of extremely talented and specialized FBI agents, who while brilliant in their specific areas, have had a serious misstep in their careers and are now grouped together for a last chance to keep their jobs. While the PAR (Patterns and Recognition) unit is quirky, the book’s crime plot is gripping, gritty and graphic as they chase a serial killer of serial killers.

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an eidetic memory who loves puzzles but is extremely socially awkward. The PAR unit is not deployed to the field but is used when all others have failed to solve a case by analyzing data from their office and finding that missing piece that helps solve the case.

But this case is different. The DNA of a murder victim has come back as a match to a serial killer who was presumed dead. Gardner’s supervisor and the head of the FBI have chosen him to lead this hunt in the field. While the Gardner and the team look forward to the field work, they also realize that if this case is not solved, the recriminations will blow back on them and they could be reassigned or terminated.

The killer has personal information on Gardner that could only come from his FBI file as he taunts and threatens him and his family after another kill. Can Gardner and his unit stop this killer before his endgame and final disappearance?

This is an exciting serial killer crime thriller that kept me reading from page one to the end. Gardner is such a great protagonist, and the author brings him to life as a fully developed and believable character. While not stated in the story, you realize he is somewhere on the spectrum, but his mother has taught him how to deal with his special intellect and social awkwardness from childhood. All his other teammates are brilliant and interesting in their own quirkiness and specialties and will probably be more in the limelight in future books.

The crime thriller plot in this story is perfectly paced with a God complex serial killer and the step-by-step hunt to capture him. Some of the surprises along the way come from more than just the antagonist and Gardner must make decisions that not only affect him, but his whole unit. There are graphic descriptions of blood and body parts throughout, but it is a serial killer thriller and to be expected.

I highly recommend this crime thriller police procedural with great new characters that I am looking forward to following in future books.

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About the Author

John McMahon studied Creative Writing at The University of Arizona. In his role as an ad agency creative director, his work has won a Gold Clio for Fiat, and he’s written a Superbowl spot for Alfa Romeo. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his family and two rescue animals. He’s hard at work on another P.T. Marsh book and dreams of splitting time between Cabo San Lucas and Lake Lanier.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.johnmcmahonbooks.com/

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmcmahonbooks/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/head-cases-by-john-mcmahon

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Arctic Pursuit by Anna J. Stewart

Book Description

FBI special agent Ty Savakis keeps his promises. That’s why he’s asked Wren McKenna to join him in an isolated Alaskan town: he wants her help safeguarding a witness he swore to protect. To find the assailant who tried to kill her, Ty and Wren go undercover as a married couple. These partners have always been a perfect team, but sharing an apartment makes it impossible to resist the attraction they’ve both fought to deny. Will the violent criminal they’re tracking give them a chance to imagine a future together?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Arctic Pursuit by Anna J. Stewart is a suspenseful story. The plot has FBI Agent Ty Savakis deciding to go ‘off the books’ to help a witness, Alice, he worked with years ago.  She is targeted by those she will be testifying against and is now in a coma. He asks his FBI partner Wren McKenna for her help.  Not hesitating at all, she goes to Alaska to help safeguard the witness and find those responsible for trying to kill Alice. They go undercover as a married couple and decide to share an apartment.  Besides searching for the violent criminal, they now give into their desires of attraction.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Is this a new series?

Anna J. Stewart: This is a new series called the McKenna Code.  This is the first book of four.  Aiden was in the last Honor Bound Series. He will pop up in all the books.  There will be a lot of quirky characters.

EC: Why Alaska?

AJS:  I watched a news show story on Whittier Alaska, which has a self-contained building with all the businesses in one building along with all the residences. I based the town in my story on this town. It is a small, enclosed town that lends itself to a mystery. No one will be able to disappear in a small town like this. One of my best friends lived in Alaska for several years and her parents visited there a few times. I was able to get insight in how the town operates. I also have been to Alaska.  I was able to draw upon the town, the people, and the lifestyle.  Alaska has a particular feel that I hoped I captured.

EC: How would you describe Wren, the female hero?

AJS:  She is confident, has a slight temper, tenacious, tough, cautious, defiant, and determined.  All the McKenna’s have a family code, an unwavering loyalty.

EC: How would you describe Ty, the male hero?

AJS: He can be stubborn, patient, and composed.  He is struggling with being out of control.  He is doubting himself and questions himself because the woman he asked to testify is in a coma. Ty has a lot of ghosts that haunt him. He is wondering if he will leave the FBI, trying to rediscover himself and figuring where he wants to go from here.

EC:  What about the relationship between the two?

AJS: Wren is a good foil for him because she will slap him out of his guilt feelings. This is based on trust, he things she is amazing, and both follow each other everywhere.  They are best friends to lovers. There is already an established relationship, the core of their relationship.

EC: What role does their being partners play?

AJS:  Neither was willing to act on their attraction because they were partners and were involved with others. Now they are willing to talk openly about things. Being partners is the main conflict between them. I did do research, and FBI Agents can be married to each other.  They will pop up in the fourth book. They might each work in a different section of the FBI.

EC: What was the role of Alice, the witness willing to testify?

AJS: Ty had anger, frustration, and blames himself for Alice getting hurt. He feels responsible for keeping her safe.  There is a loyalty aspect.  He questions his choices.  Wren acts as a check and balance for him.

EC: What about the role of the McKenna family?

AJS: They are tight-knit, supportive, loving, and welcoming. I pitched it to my editor as “FBI” meets “Blue Bloods” because I am a big fan of CBS law enforcement drama. Instead of a weekly dinner I made it a monthly family dinner, set in Boston. Family is everything to them.

EC: Next books:

AJS: The second book in this series will be out in December 2025. There will be two other Harlequin Heartwarming books that take place in Hawaii coming out this year as well. I am currently writing book 3 in the “Circle of the Red Lily series” hopefully coming out in early June. It will feature a forensic specialist who never leaves her apartment.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Feature Post and Book Review: The Grays of Truth by Sharon Virts

Book Description

In Reconstruction-era Baltimore, members of the city’s elite keep turning up dead. Below the polished surface of high society, there are illicit affairs, jilted lovers, financial hardships, and countless motives for murder. When Jane Gray Wharton’s husband, Ned, dies unexpectedly while overnighting at his brother’s home, Jane has no reason to question the circumstances of his death. But on a visit to the same house a few weeks later, both Jane and her daughter fall gravely ill, and Jane begins to suspect foul play. Though a trained chemist and former nurse, Jane is haunted by a history of delusion, loss, and institutionalization. As the unexpected and devastating deaths begin to multiply, Jane’s grip on reality starts to slip. When a respected army officer falls terribly ill after visiting the Wharton’s Baltimore home, Jane’s greatest fears become all too real. The time has come to act—but who will believe her? And can she even trust her own mind? Inspired by true events involving one of Baltimore’s most powerful families, The Grays of Truth is the story of one woman’s quest for answers in her fight for redemption—and to save the man she loves.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206777703-the-grays-of-truth?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=jg4LnA5DxW&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE GRAYS OF TRUTH by Sharon Virts is an intriguing historical fiction murder mystery set in Reconstruction era Baltimore and centered around multiple deaths in the wealthy Wharton family between 1867 to 1872. I enjoyed another of this author’s books, Veil of Doubt, and was looking forward to reading this book.

Former Civil War nurse, Jane Gray Wharton is a highly intelligent woman who is confined by the laws and societal norms of her time. Her abusive husband dies unexpectedly while staying overnight in his brother’s home. When Jane and her daughter visit the home a few weeks later, both become ill. While Jane survives, her daughter dies. With Jane’s training, she begins to suspect her sister-in-law of murder but with her own history of delusion and institutionalization, and the wealth, power and social standing of her sister-in-law, no one believes her.

Several more deaths follow and when one is a respected Army officer, Jane is getting ready to marry. His superiors and friends finally listen to Jane’s suspicions. Jane is on a quest and determined to get answers, but it may not be the answers she expects.

This historical fiction is inspired by true events, but the author does state that liberties were taken with some of the facts and family members. Jane Gray is very intelligent and yet emotionally fragile. The period and marital laws were atrocious and the cause for many of Jane’s problems, but I still had a hard time connecting with her in this story. Some of the decisions she makes are emotionally immature and for me did not feel believable. I did like Jane more as the story progressed.

The murder mystery plot pulls you into this story and kept me turning the pages. The author does a great job of immersing the reader in the period and I loved the discussions of poisons and the beginning of medical investigations rather than medical guessing. The upper-class life of wealth and decadence is on full display with the corruption in politics and law enforcement enabling these deaths to occur.

I highly recommend this historical fiction murder mystery which delivers not only an intriguing murder mystery, but also a look at the darker side of upper class society in this period.

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About the Author

Sharon Virts is a successful entrepreneur and visionary who, after more than 25 years in business, followed her passion for storytelling into the world of historical fiction. She has received numerous awards for her work in historic preservation and has been recognized nationally for her business achievements and philanthropic contributions. She was recently included in Washington Life Magazine’s Philanthropic 50 of 2020 for her work with education, health, and cultural preservation.

Sharon’s passion truly lies in the creative. She is an accomplished visual artist and uses her gift for artistic expression along with her extraordinary storytelling to build complex characters and craft vivid images and sets that capture the heart and imagination. Sharon and her husband Scott live at Selma, a prominent historic residence that they saved from destruction and restored to its original stature. It is out of the love and preservation of Selma that the story of the life, times, and controversies of its original owner, Armistead Mason, has given root to her first novel Masque of Honor.

Social Media Links

Website: https://sharonvirts.com/

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-grays-of-truth-by-sharon-virts

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Grays-Truth-Sharon-Virts-ebook/dp/B0CTMSK8L6/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.l98FQvJlzhAomSuz6hvNhqhbt7rWCDvuSXcoia

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Watch Your Back by Terri Parlato

Book Description

Accidents happen, no matter how careful or well-intentioned you are. Psychiatrist Eve Thayer frequently reassures her patients of that fact. There are even times when accidents have good consequences—like when Eve met her now-husband, Nathan, at his collision shop after another car ran her off the road.
 
After a whirlwind courtship, Nathan and Eve have settled into domestic life. They have a lovely home on a quiet street, a beautiful baby girl, and even the perfect babysitter to care for her. And yet, something isn’t quite right.
 
The stress in Eva’s life is mounting, both professionally and personally. Though the clinic where she works has been remodeled since its notorious days as an institution for the criminally insane, she feels increasingly uneasy there. And in her own neighborhood, a break-in at a nearby empty house hasn’t helped, either.
 
Detective Rita Myers hasn’t yet figured out whether Eve is a target or a suspect, but every disturbing discovery in this usually peaceful neighborhood seems to revolve around her. Only as a deadly ice storm crashes through does it become clear just how far from perfect Eve and Nathan’s lives really are. And as the cracks in the surface come to light, so do the sinister secrets that lie beneath.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Watch Your Back by Terri Parlato intertwines suspense, romance, retribution, and redemption in a compelling measure. It realistically shows how young couples handle stress and trying to make ends meet, which can affect their relationship. The main characters’ professions and personal lives play a significant role in the unfolding of the plot.

The two main characters, Nathan Liddle and Eve Thayer, have settled into domestic life after a whirlwind romance. Shortly thereafter they become the parents of a baby girl, Rosewyn. Due to the stresses of her job, they do not have much time together for their marriage with Nathan spending a lot of time taking care of the baby. As a psychiatrist, Eve Thayer has been tapped to lead the medical staff at a new psychiatric center in the Boston suburb of Graybridge, leaving her little time to help her husband with their infant daughter. He decides to seek companionship elsewhere by having an extramarital affair.  The cracks in their relationship become huge after their baby girl is kidnapped from the babysitter’s home and their secrets are revealed. There is a multitude of suspects including Eve, her best friend Rachel, some of Eve’s psychiatric patients, and the babysitter. The detective on the case, Rita Myers, must unravel the secrets and find out who is responsible.

The narrative is told in multiple points of view of Eve, Nathan, and Rita. This helps to make the plot fast paced and intense as well as weaving together the family’s turmoil, the detective’s ability to connect the clues, and the hunt for the culprit.

This plot will have readers guessing all the way through.  The prologue starts the story out with a bang, and it does not let up from there. The author writes very multidimensional characters, and the effective red herrings add to the twisty plotline.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Terri Parlato: I often start out with writing the characters.  I thought of my children and the young adults who seem to be working very hard with long hours.  They have a hard time balancing home, career, and family. This gave me the idea for Eve and Nathan.  Because I write thrillers, I had terrible things happen beyond the difficulties of life. The villain is out for vengeance.

EC: How would you describe Eve?

TP: She is a psychiatrist who feels overwhelmed.  She is steely, workaholic, quiet, introspective, and wants to control her emotions and keeps them in check.  Growing up she did not get a lot of warmth and nurturing, especially with her father cheating.

EC: How would you describe Nathan?

TP: Protective, attentive, down to earth, personable, and puts his child ahead of his own desires.

EC:  Do you think the relationship between Eve and Nathan has gone downhill?

TP: After Eve finds out Nathan cheated on her she becomes very distant, and he takes to drinking and smoking.  He feels very guilty, and she withdraws, becoming angry. Nathan was seeking companionship because he felt so ignored by Eve.  I wanted readers to think about this moral dilemma.  Both had a responsibility to talk it out but neither did, but because of having parents MIA, communicating was harder for them. Being from the social media generation they were not good communicators.

EC:  What kind of parents are they to their young daughter, especially after the child went missing?

TP: Nathan is very indulgent.  For Eve, she loves her daughter but is not sure how to be a mother. She struggles with ‘Am I doing this correctly?’  Then when the child goes missing both worry that the kidnapper has evil intentions. Once the child went missing it magnified the type of parents they had become.  Plus, having a child kidnapped is one of the worst things a parent can go through. It brings out their doubts as a parent and tests them to their limits.

EC: What about Eve’s best friend Rachel?

TP: I wanted her to exemplify how the relationship shifted between Rachel who was single and Eve who is now married. Eve is not as dependent on her. Relationships are difficult and tricky. They used to have good old times as single women.

EC: Was Rita, the police detective, also in other books?

TP: She is in all three books set in this fictional town. Rita is the common thread with her own narrative arc.  She is growing as a character and has her own demons that shows from book 1 to this book, 3. In this novel, Rita’s drawing plays a role in solving the crime.  The first book explained why she draws.  In elementary school, the teacher had her draw something to distract her.  This really worked and helped her to handle her life.  Being the youngest of nine children she lost her brother to leukemia and an older brother to the Vietnam War.  Drawing taught her to deal with her feelings. Now it works with her profession because as a detective she can see clues visually.  It is a coping mechanism that turned into a tool for her detective work.

EC: Is Rita a lot like Eve?

TP: Yes.  Both are lonely, workaholics, and tenacious. I wanted Eve to be a different female lead than in the first two books.  She parallels Rita’s personality in that both have demons and are not sure how to handle them.

EC: Next book?
TP: It will be out March 2026 and is a domestic thriller.  Rita will not be in it.  There will be family drama with a villain who will be causing havoc as well as a murder.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.