Feature Post and Book Review: Running Out of Time by Cindi Myers

Hi, everyone!

I am excited to share my Feature Post and Book Review for the fourth book in this Harlequin Intrigue multi-author series – RUNNING OUT OF TIME (Tactical Crime Division Book #4) by Cindi Myers.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section with book purchase links. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

Welcome to the Tactical Crime Division, a rapid-deployment joint team of FBI agents specializing in hostage negotiation, missing persons, IT, profiling, shootings and terrorism, with Director Jill Pembrook at the head.

When a terrorist is on the loose, the Tactical Crime Division is on the case.

To find out who poisoned medications, two of TCD’s agents are tapped to go undercover posing as a married couple and infiltrate the company. But as soon as Jace Cantrell and Laura Smith arrive at Stroud Pharmaceuticals, someone ups the ante by planting explosives in their midst. Turns out that the small-town family business is hiding a million secrets. Could they unknowingly be protecting a vengeful killer?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48920861-running-out-of-time?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=x26Tj13kEC&rank=1

***

My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

RUNNING OUT OF TIME (Tactical Crime Division Book #4) by Cindi Myers is the fourth book in this Harlequin Intrigue multi-author series featuring members of the FBIs Tactical Crime Division. This is a specialized unit of the FBI formed to handle the toughest cases at a moment’s notice anywhere in the country.

Family owned Stroud Pharmaceuticals is the major employer in the small town of Mayville. The TCD is called in to discover who tampered with the company’s best-selling herbal Stomach Soothers. The tampered bottles contained ricin and have so far killed six.

Jace Cantrell and Laura Smith are partnered undercover to portray a married couple working in the plant. The easy-going, rule-bending Jace is not sure how well this will work with the by-the-rules, uptight Laura. As they work to find the killer, they soon have even more to unravel as a bomb explodes by a plant door and kills an employee. They soon uncover that there were more bombs made.

The couple now needs to figure out if they have one killer or two and what is the motive before more people are killed. As the tension and suspense build to solve this case, so does the heat in their undercover marriage.

I enjoyed this addition to the series. It is a romantic suspense with a well written balance between the romance and the suspense. The ‘opposites attract’ romance is paced believably and both characters are fully fleshed for this shorter book. The sex scenes are short and just barely explicit. The suspense plot kept me guessing, not so much regarding who was guilty, but who was responsible for which criminal activity. I felt the romance was predictable, but I enjoyed the characters and the suspense kept me engrossed and turning the pages right up to ‘The End’.

I enjoyed this romantic suspense addition to the TCD series!

***

Excerpt

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Special Agent Laura “Smitty” Smith – A disciplined agent who never breaks the rules, Laura must go undercover as a newlywed to find the person responsible for a rash of poisonings and bombings in a small West Virginia town.

Special Agent Jace Cantrell – the military veteran and special ops expert has a reputation as a rebel and a rule breaker – exactly the kind of man to clash with Laura, yet the two must pose as husband and wife to solve a case that brings death to their very doorstep.

Donna Stroud – The head of Stroud Pharmaceuticals intends to keep her company going and her family together in the face of tragedy, but how far will she go to do so?

Parker Stroud – Donna’s son chafes at his parents’ unwillingness to put him in charge of the family business.

Merry Winger – Parker’s girlfriend has big plans to marry Parker, despite his parents’ disapproval of their relationship and Parker’s own reluctance to make their relationship public.

Leo Elgin – His mother was poisoned by tainted medication manufactured by Stroud. He holds a grudge against the Stroud family.

Tactical Crime Division – Rapid-deployment joint team of FBI agents specializing in hostage negotiation, missing persons, IT, profiling, shootings and terrorism with director Jill Pembrook at the head.

###

“We’ve got another tough case on our hands.” Jill Pembroke, director of the FBI’s tactical crime division, surveyed her team from the head of the conference table in the Bureau’s Knoxville headquarters. “One that re-quires a great deal of discretion.”

Something in the director’s tone made Agent Laura Smith sharpen her focus. Pembroke, with her well-cut silver hair and feminine suit, might be mistaken for a high society grandmother, but she was as hard-nosed as they came, and not prone to exaggeration. That she reminded her team of the need for discretion pointed to something out of the ordinary.

The door to the conference room opened and a man slipped in. Tall and rangy, Agent Jace Cantrell moved with the grace of an athlete. He nodded to the director and eased into the empty seat next to Laura. No apology for being late. Typical. Laura slid her chair over a couple of inches. Cantrell was one of those men who always seemed to take up more than his share of the available space.

“We’re going to be investigating product tampering at Stroud Pharmaceuticals in Mayville, West Virginia.”

Director Pembroke stepped aside to reveal a slide showing a squat factory building set well back on landscaped grounds.

“The antacid poisonings.” Agent Ana Ramirez spoke from her seat directly across from Laura. She tucked a strand of dark hair into the twist at the nape of her neck, polished nails glinting in the overhead light. “That story has been all over the news.”

“Do the locals not want the FBI horning in?” Agent Davis Rogers—the only member of the team not wearing the regulation suit—sat back in his chair beside Ramirez, looking every bit the army ranger he had once been. “Is that why the extra discretion?”

“No, the local police are happy to turn this over to us,” Pembroke said. She advanced to the next slide, a listing of the deaths—six so far, with two additional people hospitalized—attributed to Stroud’s Stomach Soothers, a natural, organic remedy that claimed a significant share of the market as an alternative to traditional antacids. “This hasn’t been released to the public, but the poison in the contaminated tablets was ricin.”

Laura would have sworn the temperature in the air-conditioned room dropped five degrees. “Any suggestion of a link to terrorism?” Hostage negotiator Evan Duran, bearded and brooding, spoke from the end of the table. “Anybody claiming credit for the deaths?”

Pembroke shook her head. “At this point, we aren’t assuming anything. Obviously, we want to avoid panicking the public.”

“The public is already panicked,” Rowan Cooper, the team’s local liaison, said. “People have been organizing boycotts of all Stroud products.” She absently twisted a lock of her jet-black hair, brow furrowed. “We’ll need a strategy for managing the public’s response.”

“The facility where the Stomach Soothers were manufactured has been closed for the time being and the product is being pulled from store shelves,” Pembroke said. “But another facility in town, which manufactures other items, remains open, and the company has reduced hours and reassigned as many employees as possible to the single plant. The company, the town, even the state officials, are very anxious to downplay this tragedy and get Stroud up and running full-speed as soon as possible.”

“Why do that?” Kane Bradshaw, Agent-at-Large, said. Laura hadn’t noticed him until now, seated as he was behind her and apart from the rest, almost in the shadows. Kane always looked as if he’d just rushed in from an overnight surveillance, all wind-blown hair and shadowed eyes. The fact that he was here spoke to the gravity of this case. While always on hand when the team needed him, he wasn’t much on office decorum.

“Jobs.” Cantrell’s voice, deep and a little rough, like a man who smoked two packs a day, sent a shiver through Laura. He didn’t smoke, but maybe he once had. “Stroud Pharmaceuticals is one of the biggest employers in Boone County,” he continued. “The coal mines are shutting down, and there isn’t a lot of other industry. Stroud has been a savior to the community. They—and the officials they elected—are going to do everything in their power to keep the company running and redeem its reputation.”

“Even covering up murder?” Laura asked.

Cantrell turned to her, his gaze cool. “I doubt they want to cover it up, but they’ll definitely downplay it and keep it quiet.”

“They want us to help, but they don’t want us to be obvious.” The youngest member of the team, computer specialist Hendrick Maynard, jiggled his knee as he spoke. A genius who looked younger than his twenty-six years, Maynard never sat still.

“Precisely.” Director Pembroke advanced to another slide of a small town—tree-shaded streets lined with modest homes, some worse for wear. A water tower in the distance displayed the word Mayville in faded green paint. “Agents Smith and Cantrell, you are to pose as a married couple and take jobs at the Stroud factory. Investigations so far point to the poisonings having originated from within the plant itself, so your job is to identify possible suspects and investigate. Agent Rogers, you’ll be in town as well…”

Laura didn’t hear the rest of the director’s assignments. She was focused on trying to breathe and holding back her cry of protest. She and Cantrell? As a couple? The idea was ridiculous. He was rough, undisciplined, arrogant, scornful…

“You look like you just ate a bug.” Cantrell leaned to-ward her, bringing with him the disconcerting aroma of cinnamon. His gravelly voice abraded her nerves. “Don’t think I’m any more excited about this than you are.”

***

About the Author

Cindy Myers became one of the most popular people in eighth grade when she and her best friend wrote a torrid historical romance and passed the manuscript around among friends. Fame was short-lived, alas; the English teacher confiscated the manuscript. Since then, Cindy has written more than 50 published novels. Her historical and contemporary romances and women’s fiction have garnered praise from reviewers and readers alike.

Purchase Links

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335136589_running-out-of-time.html

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Enemies of Doves by Shanessa Gluhm

Enemies of Doves

by Shanessa Gluhm

Tour June 1-14, 2020

Hi, everyone!

Today I am excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on this PICT Book Tour for a new historical mystery/suspense – ENEMIES OF DOVES by debut author Shanessa Gluhm.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, the author’s bio, social media link and purchase links. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

On a summer night in 1932, twelve-year-old Joel Fitchett wanders into an East Texas diner badly beaten and carrying his unconscious brother, Clancy. Though both boys claim they have no memory of what happened, the horrific details are etched into their minds as deep as the scar left across Joel’s face.

Thirteen years later, both men still struggle with the aftershocks of that long-ago night and the pact they made to hide the truth. When they find themselves at the center of a murder investigation, they make a decision that will change everything. A second lie, a second pact and for a time, a second chance.

In 1991 college student, Garrison Stark, travels to Texas chasing a rumor that Clancy Fitchett is his biological grandfather. Clancy has been missing since 1946 and Garrison hopes to find him and in doing so, find a family. What he doesn’t expect to discover is a tangle of secrets spanning sixty years involving Clancy, Joel and the woman they both loved, Lorraine.

Told in alternating timelines from World War II to 1992, Enemies of Doves is a tale of family secrets, jealousy and deception perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Katherine Webb.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51494449-enemies-of-doves

Enemies of Doves

by Shanessa Gluhm

Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Touchpoint Press
Publication Date: March 20, 2020
Number of Pages: 328
ISBN: 1946920916 (ISBN13: 9781946920911)

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

ENEMIES OF DOVES by Shanessa Gluhm is a historical mystery/suspense that spans the lives of two brothers beginning in 1932 Texas while intertwining with one brother’s biological grandson’s search in 1991 for his grandfather told in alternating timelines. The mystery and characters pulled me into the story effortlessly and there was no way I was going to stop reading until “The End”.

In a small town in East Texas in 1932, twelve-year-old Joel Fitchett carries his unconscious brother, Clancy home before he passes out. When he wakes up in the hospital, both boys tell their parents and the police they have no memory of how Joel ended up with a deep cut etched down his entire face. They have sworn to never tell about that day, but it will define them for the rest of their lives.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Joel is classified as 4F and stays at home working, while Clancy joins the Marines and is off to fight the Japanese. Clancy returns home but, he is not the same and is having difficulty adjusting back to civilian life. Then the brothers’ lives implode as one brother will be charged with murder. For the second time the brothers make a pact that will change both of their lives.

In 1991, Garrison Stark is in search of a rumor that Clancy Fitchett is his biological grandfather. Clancy has been missing since 1946 and Joel is in prison having been charged with murder, so Garrison goes to him for a lead. What he discovers is a tangled web of family secrets, jealously and lies spanning sixty years.

I found this book to be absolutely perfect. The characters in both timelines were fully fleshed, realistic, flawed human beings that drew me in and would not let me go. The author wrote family dynamics, jealousies and secrets that kept surprising me throughout. While I always felt sympathy for the life Joel had with his scar, when Clancy came back from the war I was in tears because terrible scars are not always physical. As Garrison worked to uncover Joel, Clancy and Lorraine’s past secrets in the present day, I was continually as surprised as he was by each revelation. With the complexity of the characters and the perfect pace of the mystery, I find it difficult to believe this is written by a debut novelist, and yet it is.

I highly recommend Enemies of Doves!

***

About the Author

Shanessa Gluhm works as a Librarian at an elementary school in New Mexico where she lives with her husband and children. It was during her own elementary days when a teacher encouraged Shanessa to share a story she wrote called, “Piggy the Kid” with the class. They asked for a sequel and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She began with short stories, poems and essays and wrote her first novel, a Civil War epic inspired by her first viewing of Gone with the Wind, in junior high. She revisited the novel as an adult and began an extensive edit, but eventually abandoned it when her best friend gave her an idea for what would become Enemies of Doves.

Shanessa’s previous publishing credits include piece in Holt, Rinehart & Winston’s English textbook, but Enemies of Doves is her first published novel. It was written on every park bench in her hometown while she was a stay at home mom and took over three years.

For Shanessa, the best part of the writing experience is the planning stages where she fills up notebooks about characters and outlines the plot. The hardest part is the second draft because it’s where the bulk of revisions take place and where a tangle of ideas must come together to make a coherent story.

When she’s not writing, Shanessa enjoys reading, watching true crime documentaries and spending time with her friends and family. She is currently researching her second novel with plans for a children’s book after that. Shanessa loves to hear from her readers and you can connect with her on her author Facebook page.

Social Media Link

https://shanessagluhm.wordpress.com

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: A Knife’s Edge by Eliot Parker

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn to share My Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for A KNIFE’S EDGE by Eliot Parker.

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

***

Book Description

Six months after a drug cartel infiltrated Charleston, Ronan McCullough continues to fight the drug war that plagues the city.

His investigations are halted when the body of a mutual acquaintance, Sarah Gilmore, is found in the trunk of a burning car. In an investigation that takes him deep into the professional and personal life of the victim, McCullough discovers secrets lurking in her past, and a tangled web of personal and professional conflicts, suspicion, and betrayal. Was Sarah killed for those reasons or something larger?

As Ronan seeks answers, his life and the lives of those closest to him are used as pawns in a deadly game that has no ending.

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42300996-a-knife-s-edge

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

A KNIFE’S EDGE (A Ronan McCullough Novel Book #2) by Eliot Parker is the latest edge-of-your-seat police procedural/thriller featuring Sgt. Ronan McCullough set in Charleston, WV. Even though this is the second book in the series and begins soon after the end of book one, it can easily be read as a standalone.

Sgt. Ronan McCullough has been battling the drug war in his town for most of his career. While surprising Ty at a formal function, a Hummer comes barreling through the plate glass wall of the convention center. Ty works to save lives while Ronan inspects the wreckage. A dead man is at the wheel with a gun shot to the head and the restrained and slashed body of Sarah Gilmore, a mutual friend of Ronan and Ty’s is found dead in the trunk.

Ronan and his partner Eric are not assigned the case, but he cannot stop himself from becoming involved. When Sarah was killed she was working for BTech, a new tech company which will be taking over all of the crime scene blood testing for the Charleston PD. As Ronan investigates, he discovers Sarah and BTech have secrets and the more he uncovers the more danger his nephew and his boyfriend are in.

Ronan is a veteran detective who is as intelligent as he is prickly. He has difficulty playing nice with others at work, but he is brilliant at what he does. His boyfriend, Ty is a head nurse in the ER at the local hospital and is the softer side that Ronan needs. Mr. Parker does a wonderful job of bringing them to life as well as Ronan’s partner and nephew.

The plot is well paced and intriguing. I was continually trying to figure out who I could believe and trust.The surprise twists and turns kept me turning the pages. There is a lot of action, blood and murder, but I never felt it was gratuitous.

I loved this police procedural/thriller and Ronan. I am looking forward to many more books in this series!

***

Author Bio

Eliot Parker is the author of four novels, most recently A Knife’s Edge, which was an Honorable Mention in Thriller Writing at the London Book Festival, and is the sequel to the award-winning novel Fragile Brilliance. His novel Code for Murder was named a 2018 Finalist for Genre Fiction by American Book Fest. He is a recipient of the West Virginia Literary Merit Award and Fragile Brilliance was a finalist for the Southern Book Prize in Thriller Writing. He recently received with the Thriller Writing Award by the National Association of Book Editors (NABE) for his novels.

Eliot is the host of the podcast program Now, Appalachia, which profiles authors and publishers living and writing in the Appalachian region and is heard on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network and Blog Talk Radio. A graduate of the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University with his MFA in Creative Writing and Murray State University with his Doctorate in English, he teaches English at the University of Mississippi and lives in Oxford, Mississippi and Chesapeake, Ohio.

Social Media Links

Facebook: eliot.parker.98

Twitter: E4419

Instagram: eliot.parker

Website: http://www.eliotparker.com

Feature Post and Book Review: Victoria’s War by Catherine A. Hamilton

Hi, everyone!

Today I am very excited to share my Feature Post and Book Review for the historical fiction novel – VICTORIA’S WAR by Catherine A Hamilton. I was surprised by the fact that this is Ms. Hamilton’s debut historical fiction novel because the characters come to life on the page.

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

***

Book Description

In VICTORIA’S WAR, Hamilton gives voice to the courageous Polish women who were kidnapped into the real-life Nazi slave labor operation during WWII. Inspired by true stories, this lost chapter of history won’t soon be forgotten.

POLAND, 1939: Nineteen-year-old Victoria Darski is eager to move away to college: her bags are packed and her train ticket is in hand. But instead of boarding a train to the University of Warsaw, she finds her world turned upside down when World War II breaks out.

Victoria’s father is sent to a raging battlefront, and the Darski women face the cruelty of the invaders alone. After the unthinkable happens, Victoria is ordered to work in a Nazi sewing factory. When she decides to go to a resistance meeting with her best friend, Sylvia, they are captured by human traffickers targeting Polish teenagers. Sylvia is singled out and sent to work in the brothels, and Victoria is transported in a cattle car to Berlin, where she is auctioned off as a slave.

GERMANY, 1941: Twenty-year-old Etta Tod is at Mercy Hospital, where she’s about to undergo involuntary sterilization because of the Fuhrer’s mandate to eliminate hereditary deafness. Etta, an artist, silently critiques the propaganda poster on the waiting room wall while her mother tries to convince her she should be glad to get rid of her monthlies. Etta is the daughter of the German shopkeepers who buy Victoria at auction in Berlin.

The stories of Victoria and Etta intertwine in the bakery’s attic where Victoria is held—the same place where Etta has hidden her anti-Nazi paintings. The two women form a quick and enduring bond. But when they’re caught stealing bread from the bakery and smuggling it to a nearby work camp, everything changes.

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49025048-victoria-s-war

Victoria’s War

by Catherine A. Hamilton

Publisher: Plain View Press (May 28, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632100681
ISBN-13: 978-1632100689

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

VICTORIA’S WAR by Catherine A. Hamilton is a historical fiction novel that depicts the horrific lives of Polish women kidnapped by the Nazi’s for slavery in Germany during the Second World War. Ms. Hamilton’s writing paints a picture that is emotionally disturbing and heartrending with an unforgettable protagonist.

Victoria Darski is packed and ready to leave for college as the Nazis come sweeping into Poland and her whole world is changed. Her father leaves to fight with the Polish army, her younger sister is shot to death right in front of her and she must now work at the sewing factory with her mother. After two years of occupation, one night she is persuaded by her best friend, Sylvia to attend a resistance meeting and they are captured. They are sent to Germany and Sylvia is selected to work as a prostitute in a brothel while Victoria is auctioned off as slave to a German baker in Berlin.

Simultaneously, Etta Tod a deaf/mute, amateur artist is taken to the hospital by her mother for involuntary sterilization. Etta’s family are Nazi party members and believers in the cause. Her father and brother love her, but her mother only sees her deafness as a defect and hates her for it. When her brother brings the swangsarbeit (Polish slave) home to work at the bakery, Etta believes she has found a friend to confide in.

Victoria and Etta form an ever-increasing bond. They conspire with friends in the White Rose resistance to smuggle extra bread to the nearby work camp and brothel. When their conspiracy is discovered, everything changes.

I was completely engrossed in Victoria’s story the minute I started reading. Sometimes we are so focused on the Jewish Holocaust, that we forget that the German Aryans believed they were superior to and hated everyone who was not of their race. This story portrays the atrocities perpetrated against Polish women and German’s with disabilities in a fictional history novel that brought the places and time to life and left me distressed, thoughtful and emotionally drained. All the characters were realistically written and I felt completely engaged in their life and death struggles over the six year time period of the book.

I highly recommend Victoria’s War. It is a beautiful story that is a tribute to all the women the characters represent.

***

Author Bio

Catherine Hamilton’s upcoming new release June 2, 2020, her debut novel — VICTORIA’S WAR.

In VICTORIA’S WAR, Hamilton gives voice to the courageous Polish Catholic women who were kidnapped into the real-life Nazi slave labor operation during WWII. Inspired by true stories, this lost chapter of history won’t soon be forgotten.

Her stories and articles have appeared in magazines and newspapers. Her poems were translated and published in Poland by Zeszyty Karmelitanskie. These poems were also seen in the Catholic Sentinel.

She has a chapter in Forgotten Survivors (University Press of Kansas, 2004)—an eyewitness account of Poland during World War II.

She was fortunate to meet Pope John Paul II in his private library in 2000 and presented him with some of her work.

A native Oregonian of Polish decent, Catherine Hamilton lives in Portland with her husband.
www.catherineahamilton.com

Social Media Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CatherineAHamil

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catherinea.hamilton/

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

Purchase Link

Amazon

Feature Post and Book Review: The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne

Hi, everyone!

Today I am very excited to share my Feature Post and Book Review for this fast-paced, exciting start to a new series – THE GIRL BENEATH THE SEA (Underwater Investigation Unit #1) by Andrew Mayne

Below you will find a book description, my book review and an about the author section. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

For a Florida police diver, danger rises to the surface in an adventurous thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist.

Coming from scandalous Florida treasure hunters and drug smugglers, Sloan McPherson is forging her own path, for herself and for her daughter, out from under her family’s shadow. An auxiliary officer for Lauderdale Shores PD, she’s the go-to diver for evidence recovery. Then Sloan finds a fresh kill floating in a canal—a woman whose murky history collides with Sloan’s. Their troubling ties are making Sloan less a potential witness than a suspect. And her colleagues aren’t the only ones following every move she makes. So is the killer.

Stalked by an assassin, pitted against a ruthless cartel searching for a lost fortune, and under watch within her ranks, Sloan has only one ally: the legendary DEA agent who put Sloan’s uncle behind bars. He knows just how deep corruption runs—and the kind of danger Sloan is in. To stay alive, Sloan must stay one step ahead of her enemies—both known and unknown—and a growing conspiracy designed to pull her under.

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

The Girl Beneath the Sea (Underwater Investigation Unit Book #1) by Andrew Mayne is the start of a new suspense/thriller series featuring a female law enforcement diver. This book has everything I look for in a thriller: a strong protagonist, realistic fast-paced action and continual escalating threats with surprise twists and turns. This book also has the added intensity of being set in the world of professional divers in south Florida.

Sloan McPherson comes from a long line of scandalous smugglers and treasure hunters, but she has chosen the path of law enforcement. She is an auxiliary officer who dives for evidence recovery to pay her way through school working towards her PhD. and to support herself and young daughter.

She surfaces from a dive, looking for archeological artifacts, to discover the recently murdered body of a childhood acquaintance. The former family ties set up Sloan to be considered a suspect.

As Sloan tries to find out what really happened, she finds herself entangled in a plot that involves dirty public officials, secret government agencies and a ruthless cartel with only one ally; the cop who put her uncle in prison.

This is a new-to-me author who blew me away. I was completely immersed in all the action and intrigue even though I have never scuba dived in my life. All the descriptions made me feel as though I was right there under water with Sloan while never slowing the pace and they never felt like a lecture or info dump.

Sloan is a protagonist that I hope to follow for quite a while. She is intelligent, determined and strong, has an intense need for justice no matter what and is a loving and protective mom. I am also hoping that Run will play a bigger part in her life. This is the first book in the Underwater Investigations Unit (UIU) series and I am looking forward to seeing what investigations Sloan and George Solar get involved in in future books.

I highly recommend this new book and thriller series and I cannot wait for more!

***

About the Author

Andrew Mayne, star of A&E’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne, is a magician and novelist ranked the fifth best-selling independent author of the year by Amazon UK. He started his first world tour as an illusionist when he was a teenager and went on to work behind the scenes for Penn & Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield. He’s also the host of the WeirdThings.com podcast. AndrewMayne.com

Feature Post and Book Review: Midnight Abduction by Nichole Severn

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Nichole Severn’s new Harlequin Intrigue – MIDNIGHT ABDUCTION (Tactical Crime Division Book #3).

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section with book purchase links. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

For the Tactical Crime Division, no case is left cold.

When Benning Reeves’s twins are kidnapped, the frantic father knows who can help: the Tactical Crime Division and Ana Ramirez. Even though Ana once shattered Benning’s heart, the special agent is the only one he can trust. But Ana is still tormented by the unresolved case that brought them together years before—a case somehow entangled with Benning’s children. It’s up to the TCD and Ana to discover why…before it’s too late.

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48829282-midnight-abduction

***

My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

MIDNIGHT ABDUCTION (Tactical Crime Division Book #3) by Nichole Severn is the third book in the Harlequin Intrigue multi-author series featuring members of the FBIs Tactical Crime Division. This is a specialized unit of the FBI formed to handle the toughest cases at a moment’s notice anywhere in the country.

Benning Reeves is a structural inspector who discovers a skull hidden behind drywall on his current inspection site. He hides it at his home, which leads to the kidnapping of his six-year-old twins. His daughter escapes from the vehicle, but his son is now a bargaining chip in exchange for the skull.

Ava Rameriez is told by her supervisor that she has been specifically requested by Benning to work the case to find and save his son. Seven years ago, the two parted when the case she was working ended tragically. She blamed herself and vowed to never become emotionally involved again, but she cannot turn down Benning’s request.

Ava and Benning find it difficult to fight the feelings that have been dormant during their seven year separation, but they are working against the clock to save Benning’s son and discover why the skull is so important to the mysterious kidnapper.

I loved both Ava and Benning’s backstories and how the author brought their feelings for each other out again during this case and the resolution. Olivia was adorable with her love of mysteries and crime solving. There is only peripheral involvement with other members of the TCD team, so while it is still tied into the series, it is easily read as a standalone. The sex scenes are not described even as you follow them into the shower and bedroom. Though the sex is behind closed doors, the violence is not. There are several scenes of Ava and Benning being stabbed, shot and beaten to a pulp.

The plot was very fast-paced, but because of all the physical damage taken by the H/h and they just kept going, the realism and believability become strained. It was like I was reading about an action hero and not a romantic suspense. The resolution to the kidnapping and mystery also felt rushed with a character that surprised me, but who also popped up out of the blue.

I did love the H/h and the crime story and can recommend it for a fast-paced suspense addition to this series.

***

Excerpt

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Ana Sofia Ramirez—She’s out for redemption. Recruited by the Tactical Crime Division’s director from the Bureau’s missing-persons’ division after her last case ended with a dead victim, she’s more determined than ever to recover Benning Reeves’s son.

Benning Reeves—Single father and small-town building inspector who’s come across evidence of a murder hidden on one of his construction sites; the cost of discovery has led to the kidnapping of his six-year-old twins.

Olivia and Owen Reeves—Benning’s six-year-old twins.

Evan Duran—Tactical Crime Division’s hostage negotiator, who’s fully invested in recovering Benning Reeves’s son due to his own dark past of losing his sister as a child.

JC Cantrell—Tactical Crime Division’s tactical-operations specialist, who’s good at planting bugs, leading surveillance ops or coming up with a ruse to distract someone.

###

“Well, maybe I can give her a tour of TCD head-quarters in Knoxville one day. You know, give her a chance to see what federal agents really do on the job.”Ana stilled, the weight of her attention pressurizing the air in his chest, but he didn’t miss the assumption there would be a one day for them. That she wouldn’t disappear from their lives after Owen came home, and his blood pressure spiked. She cleared her throat as though she’d caught herself making promises she might not be able to keep. Just as she had with Samantha Perry’s family. “You must be proud. She’s going to make a hell of an agent one day.”

“That’s her plan, and probably why she opened up to you the way she did. I can tell she admires you, what you do.”Benning straightened, echoes of their earlier conversation replaying in his head on a nonstop loop. He tossed the paper towel he’d used to clean his foot in the trash beside the island. “So do I, to be honest. The work you and your team do saves lives. I know I already said thank you, but I meant it.”

“Like I said, you don’t have to thank me.” She dropped that mesmerizing gaze to the counter, sweeping the spread of flour into the sink set into the island with one hand and swiped beneath her nose with the other. Toughing her face had always been a nervous habit. “All part of the job.”

“Is that what this is for you, Ana? Just another job? Because this case is definitely a lot more personal to me.” Benning maneuvered around the counter, his bare chest nearly pressed against the exposed skin of her arm. He set his hand over hers on the granite, her quick gasp searing through him. Her warmth penetrated past skin and muscle, deep into his bones. “After what you told me about the Samantha Perry case, I realize now how hard it must’ve been for you to come back here, and you’re standing there as if none of it affects you. But is that how you really feel?”

He wanted—no, needed—to know. Was this going to play out exactly as it had between them the last time? Had he made a mistake requesting her to work this case?

Her mouth parted. “I…”

Skimming his fingers along the back of her hand, he trailed a path up her arm to her jaw, and all of his thoughts burned away. There was only the two of them. The softness of her flawless skin and hardness in her invisible guard. After everything that’d happened, after everything they’d already been through in the short span of time she’d walked back into his life, he’d struggled to keep the uncertainty, the rage, the fear, at bay so he could stay strong for Olivia. To prove that he could protect her from any threat, be the father she and her brother deserved. But Ana…stripped him of all of that. With her, Benning felt raw, exposed, bare. She was real. She was here. Not a memory—a fantasy—anymore, and it took every-thing inside him to pull himself away from her. “You had some cookie dough on your chin.”

She’d left because she believed her emotions clouded her judgment on the Samantha Perry case, and he wasn’t about to complicate anything else be- tween them. Not when it was his son’s life at risk this time. Ana turned her gaze up to his, a small tremor crossing her shoulders, and an invisible anchor set-tled inside his chest in the dark, watery landscape of this case. No matter what happened, Ana would bring his son home alive. He had to believe that. He had to believe in her. Otherwise, he’d have nothing left. “Thanks.”

A soft trill broke the silence spreading between them, but she didn’t move.

“I think your phone is ringing.” He cleared his throat, trying to drown the surge of awareness burning through him, and stepped away. It was for the best. Because anything that happened between them would only take away from their focus on finding his son, and that wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.

***

About Nichole Severn

Nichole Severn writes romantic suspense with strong heroines, heroes who dare challenge them, and a hell of a lot of guns. When she’s not writing, she’s injuring herself running and practicing yoga.

Purchase links

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335136527_midnight-abduction.html