Tag: #standalone

Release Blitz/Feature Post and Book Review: Bonus Kisses by Freya Barker

Hi, everyone!

Today I am very excited to be included on this new Buoni Amici Press Release Blitz for one of my favorite romance authors! I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BONUS KISSES by Freya Barker.

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

Free-spirited black sheep, Taz Boran, has worked tirelessly as a nurse bringing efficient medical care to Africa for the past eight years. But when her sister Nicky is told she doesn’t have long to live, she immediately flies home to small-town Eminence, Missouri. 

Unfortunately, taking care of Nicky means being around her husband, Rafe; the one man Taz could never forget. Rafe is not only her brother-in-law but also took over the family veterinary clinic from her dad. 

As Taz becomes Nicky’s home health care nurse—working closely with Rafe to make her sister comfortable—their latent attraction comes sizzling back to the surface. They won’t betray Nicky, but if her dying wish is to see them get the happy ending they always deserved, can they really keep fighting what’s meant to be?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55538247-bonus-kisses

Title: Bonus Kisses

Author: Freya Barker

Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance

Release Date: December 7, 2020

Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

BONUS KISSES by Freya Barker is a contemporary romance/Women’s fiction by an author I have come to always look forward to reading. Not only is the reader emotionally involved in this small town second chance love story, but the entire family dynamic is rocked to its core as secrets are revealed.

Natasha “Taz” Boran has been working as a nurse for nine years in Africa with Doctors Without Borders. Taz is the adventurous younger sister, but there are also personal reasons for her running across the world to work away from her small-town upbringing. Veronica “Nicky” Boran was always the perfect older sister, but now she does not have long to live and all she wants is Taz to come home.

Taz agrees to take care of her sister and her two children. With that comes the problem of being around Rafe, Nicky’s husband and the reason for her leaving. As Taz cares for Nicky, secrets are revealed and Taz learns that Nicky knows and wants Taz to get what she gave up nine years ago.

When Nicky dies, Taz not only has to deal with her grief, but two young children who have lost their mother, her own mother who believes the worst of her, a father with Parkinson’s disease and the ever-increasing return attraction to the one man she ever truly loved.

Freya Barker is masterful at taking this story plotline, which could have been a disaster and written a beautiful, emotional, heartbreaking, healing and redemptive love story not only between the hero and heroine, but the entire extended family. My emotions were all over the place while reading this book. Each character, big and small is written realistically and takes the story into small subplots that give you the small town feel. Small town gossip, strained family dynamics and a love story delayed all make for a story I could not put down. (Make sure you have tissues close by.)

I highly recommend this beautiful love story!

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About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories. 

Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.

Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!

Social Media

Facebook: http://bit.ly/FreyaFacebookTwitter: http://bit.ly/FreyaTwitter
Instagram: http://bit.ly/FreyaInstagram
Web: http://bit.ly/FreyaWeb
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/FreyaGoodreads
Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/Freya_Newsletter Bookbub: http://bit.ly/FreyaBookBub

Buy Links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/33CEzgJ

Apple: https://apple.co/3lkgwJp

BN: https://bit.ly/34rddZZKobo: https://bit.ly/3d2oF2f

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: All Down The Line by Andrew Field

All Down the Line by Andrew Field

#AllDownTheLine #AndrewField @BoomslangBooks @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing My Feature Post and Book Review on the Damppebbles blog tour for a new crime fiction/mystery book – ALL DOWN THE LINE by Andrew Field.

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

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Book Blurb

MANCHESTER: Cain Bell thought he had closure over the hit and run death of his daughter. Ted Blake had confessed he was the behind the wheel just before he died.

Twenty years on and Cain’s world is thrown upside down when his fiancé claims the driver was lying. Before she says more, a savage attack leaves her in a coma fighting for her life.

To find out why Cain must uncover why four friends swore blind to never tell the truth about his daughter’s death.

Now, he must persuade Manchester’s most terrifying gangster to reveal the secrets that kept hidden for two decades. But Billy McGinty is in no mood to break his own wall of silence.

Unless Cain can persuade him to talk, even if it means putting his own life on the line.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55575775-all-down-the-line

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

ALL DOWN THE LINE by Andrew Field is a new crime fiction/mystery book by a new to me author. The story is set in Manchester and pits a grieving protagonist against an organized crime family in a fast-paced, tightly plotted standalone mystery.

Cain Bell lost his 10-year-old daughter in a hit and run on the streets of Manchester. While the driver did not stop at the scene, a man does confess to the crime before he dies of prostate cancer. The accident destroys Cain’s marriage and he lives in a fast paced limbo until he meets April.

Fast forward twenty years and Cain proposes to April in their restaurant, Red Manisfesto. April says yes, but she tells Cain she has a secret that must be revealed first about the death of his daughter, but before she can tell her secret, the two are attacked on their way home from the restaurant. April ends up in a coma and is not expected to live.

To discover April’s secret, Cain begins to ask questions that have been covered up for many years. Each discovery only leads to more danger as Cain finds himself pitted against the most feared crime boss in Manchester and his terrifying family.

This gritty crime fiction/mystery story has a crew of characters that are not very likable, but they are interesting. I did feel for Cain and his losses and I was surprised by his determination to find the truth even as he was completely out of his league. Mr. Field has written an intricate plot that has plenty of twists that lead to a surprising and satisfying climax.

This is a fast-paced gritty crime fiction/mystery with plenty of secrets, villains and violence.

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About the Author

Andrew Field has spent most of his working life as a PR consultant raising the profiles of others. Now the roles are reversed as he steps into the spotlight with All Down The Line (published in 2020).

He handled Boddingtons Bitter during its “Cream of Manchester” heyday, developing innovative sports and cultural partnerships with TV and media platforms. Clients have also included a convicted armed bank robber and another who did eighteen months prison time for blackmail, although he didn’t know about their colourful backstories at the time. “I’d quizzed them more about their experiences. After all, hard-boiled grimness all adds to the mix, even if it is anecdotal.”

“Authors are by definition are relatively introverted. They work in isolation and inhabit imaginary world of their own creation. They can spend years staring at a computer screen bringing their characters to life. Then they have to become a different person to promote their work and market themselves.” 

“Fiction is a great way to write about how you feel personally about this great thing we do called living. We disguise it by calling it crime fiction, but behind the genre there is a world view being expressed. In my eyes, the memorable books, films and music, good or bad, are the ones you’re still thinking about 24 or 48 hours after you finished reading, watching or listening.”

What can readers expect from Andrew’s work? “If you’re into noir from the likes of James Lee Burke, James Cain, James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, Elmore Leonard, Ted Lewis, Ed McBain and Jim Thompson, you’ll see where I am coming from.”

Andrew lives, works and plays in Northumberland, England, Europe, with his wife Catherine. A novella, Wicked Games was published in 2014. Without Rules in 2018 by Boomslang. All Down The Line will be published in December 2020.

Social Media Links for Boomslang Books

Website: https://boomslangbooks.org/

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

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BoomslangBooks

Purchase Links

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3eLC3II

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/35h44Vn

Publishing Information:

Published by Boomslang Books on 7th December 2020

Book Review: Trauma by Dylan Young

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

TRAUMA by Dylan Young is a new medical psychological suspense/thriller by a new to me author that I could not put down! You see the entire story through the eyes, fugues and minimal memories of the protagonist who is working to recover from a severe brain injury.

Cameron Todd and his live-in girlfriend, Emma are on vacation in Turkey when his entire world changes forever. Emma is found dead after falling from a cliff and Cameron is found almost dead having severe head trauma and multiple broken bones after falling. Cameron is pulled from the marina waters and returned to London for recovery.

The Turkish and English police have many questions, but Cameron has no memories. The doctors all believe Cameron’s amnesia is real due to his extensive brain injury, but the police and Emma’s family are skeptical.

The more Cameron recovers, the more he wants to find out what really happened on that cliff. Did he hurt Emma, or is his injured brain trying to tell him he is not responsible for Emma death and the sinister truth is in his fugue memories of that day in Turkey?

I loved this book! It starts off with a prologue that pulls you right in, but you do not know if it is a real memory or not. Then the remainder of the story’s pace is a slow burn that keeps building towards the surprising climax. Cameron is a protagonist that is written with a deep understanding of his brain trauma and its limitations without getting too technical and bogged down in medical terminology. The brain trauma is what makes you question every bit of information Cameron gives the reader. Cameron’s family and his few friends are fully fleshed secondary characters. This is also the first book I have read to include the Covid-19 pandemic and it does not take over the story.

I can highly recommend this suspense/thriller by Mr. Young! Keep a few hours free because you are going to find it difficult to stop turning the pages.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55924065-trauma

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Author Bio

Dylan Young was born in a mining village in the Swansea valley in Wales where he attended primary and secondary schools. In 1974, he was offered a place at Medical school in London and qualified in 1979. Medicine and a family followed, but writing as Dylan Jones, he published 4 novels in the nineties, two of which were filmed by the BBC. In 2011, Random House re-released two of the books in the Natalie Vine series as ebooks.

Dylan Jones now writes children’s fiction as Rhys A Jones and contemporary urban fantasy as DC farmer. But crime never went away. The first in his new series featuring Detective Inspector Anna Gwynne, is due for release in January 2018. Two more books will follow.


Dylan Lives with his wife in West Wales where the landscape (and the weather!) provide ample inspiration for his books.

Author’s website: https://jonestheauthor.com/

Feature Post and Book Review: Trial by Fire by Scott James

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for TRIAL BY FIRE: A Devastating Tragedy, 100 Lives Lost and A 15-Year Search for Truth by Scott James.

This is a nonfiction book about a horrific fire by an author who did exhaustive research for the truth which reads as smoothly as a work of fiction. I could not put it down!

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

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Book Description

In only 90 seconds, a fire in the Station nightclub killed 100 people and injured hundreds more. It would take nearly 20 years to find out why—and who was really at fault.

All it took for a hundred people to die during a show by the hair metal band Great White was a sudden burst from two giant sparklers that ignited the acoustical foam lining the Station nightclub. But who was at fault? And who would pay? This being Rhode Island, the two questions wouldn’t necessarily have the same answer.

Within 24 hours the governor of Rhode Island and the local police commissioner were calling for criminal charges, although the investigation had barely begun, no real evidence had been gathered, and many of the victims hadn’t been identified. Though many parties could be held responsible, fingers pointed quickly at the two brothers who owned the club. But were they really to blame? Bestselling author and three-time Emmy Award-winning reporter Scott James investigates all the central figures, including the band’s manager and lead singer, the fire inspector, the maker of the acoustical foam, as well as the brothers. Drawing on firsthand accounts, interviews with many involved, and court documents, James explores the rush to judgment about what happened that left the victims and their families, whose stories he also tells, desperate for justice.

Trial By Fire is the heart-wrenching story of the fire’s aftermath because while the fire, one of America’s deadliest, lasted fewer than two minutes, the search for the truth would take twenty years.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53074800-trial-by-fire

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

TRIAL BY FIRE: A Devastating Tragedy, 100 Lives Lost and a 15-Year Search for Truth by Scott James is a new nonfiction book about the horrific fire at The Station nightclub in 2003. The author uses exhaustive research and intersperses personal accounts into a work of nonfiction that reads as easily as a work of fiction. I could not put it down!

It was supposed to be a night of fun and partying watching the hair metal band Great White perform at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island. After local warm-up bands, the lights go out and suddenly the band’s road manager sets off four large pyrotechnics which catch the foam on the back wall on fire. The foam is on all of the walls and ceiling and is as effective as gasoline at spreading the fire and within seconds the inside is filled with a black fog of smoke and the entire building is engulfed in flames.

The author takes the reader through the entire tragedy and introduces the reader through family and friends accounts to some of the individuals who died that day, some of the survivor’s stories and the families of both. Then the story follows the investigations into who is responsible, while continuing to intersperse victim’s stories. The author points out the mistakes made and reported and the series of events and decisions that led to unintended consequences and the terrible number of deaths.

I was completely engrossed in this story. (I remember the terrible story when it was on the national news, but like all other news stories, unless you were personally affected it fades from your life.) Mr. James takes the reader to the very beginning and through his research and the passage of time which separates actual facts from the hype and rush to judgement immediately after an event like this, he writes a narrative that illuminates the cascade of errors made and continues to follow survivor’s stories. I believe the author does an excellent job of illuminating the truth about the good and bad of all the major players involved in this tragedy.

I highly recommend this book!

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Author Bio

A New England native, Scott James first came to prominence for exposing government waste and malfeasance by creating the long-running investigative series “You Paid for It” at WLNE-TV in Rhode Island. His work in television news received three Emmy awards and numerous journalism honors, including the prestigious Associated Press News Station of the Year, twice. He’s a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

​Since 2009 Scott’s reporting has appeared in The New York Times. His eponymous weekly column about the San Francisco Bay Area ran from 2009 to 2012, and his stories received national and international coverage from other media, including The New Yorker, The Guardian, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, “The Colbert Report,” and “Chelsea Lately.”

​In the world of fiction, writing under the pen name Kemble Scott, he’s the author of two San Francisco Chronicle bestselling novels, The Sower and SoMa, which was a finalist for the national Lambda Literary prize for debut fiction and the #1 bestseller in the Doubleday Book Club’s InSightOut division.

Scott lives in San Francisco. He’s a member of the board of directors of Litquake, the city’s literary festival, and co-founder of the Castro Writers’ Cooperative, a co-working community for writers.

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.scottjameswriter.com

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

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20273590.Scott_James

Book Review: The Fuhrer’s Orphans by David Laws

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE FUHRER’S ORPHANS: A Moving and Powerful Novel Based on True Events by David Laws is set around the year 1940 at the beginning of WWII and is the type of historical fiction I love to read.

The two main characters had been on opposite ends of the Kindertransport which transported refugee children from Prague to England before the Nazis shut down all escape of refugees from the Third Reich. Unknown to each other, they are about to come together in a critically important secret mission in Munich.

Claudia Kellner is an elementary teach in Munich who is living with several secrets. She is approached by Erika Schmidt, a mother of a student in her class, to see if she would be willing to help with children who are hiding in “The Maze”, a deserted and overgrown portion of the railroad yard in Munich. Erika does not know of Claudia’s past and that Claudia will do anything to save children.

Lieutenant Peter Chesham comes from a well-to-do family and has lived a flamboyant and adventurous life. Having been trained as a railroad engineer and having family in Switzerland, he is picked to covertly enter the Third Reich to destroy a new railroad engine designed by an American defector that could change the balance of the war in Hitler’s favor.

Peter and Claudia cross paths when Peter is told by his underground connections that the destruction of the engine could also destroy the abandoned railyard and kill the children in hiding. A plan is devised to get the children out of Munich while also still accomplishing the destruction of the new engine.

Will Peter, Claudia and their underground connections be able to pull off the ultimate escape to save the children, while still accomplishing their mission to destroy the engine that could change history?

I really enjoyed this story and the growing suspense surrounding the ultimate fate of the children juxtaposed against the intrigue surrounding the destruction of the engine all while Peter and Claudia grew to trust each other and reveal their personal secrets. For me, there was a slight lag in the beginning of the story as all of the information about the Breitspurbahn rail was explained, but it quickly took off after all the characters where put into place.

An entertaining and compelling read for all of us who crave stories set in this time-period with a different twist than what we have read before. I am looking forward to checking out other books by this author, also.

Thanks very much to Bloodhound Books for allowing me to read this ebook prepublication.

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Author Bio

I’ve been a national newspaper journalist for many years but have always nursed the ambition to write novels about my favourite historical period – before, during and after the two world wars. And now with Exit Day I’m right up to date.

Everyone has to start somewhere – and my first “journalistic” job was operating an old-fashioned plug-in telephone switchboard for a City of London financial weekly. When I’d cut off too many calls and they’d sent me on my way, I managed to secure reporting stints around the London suburbs of Wembley, Southall, Hayes and Harrow. I followed this by switching to sub-editing at an evening paper in Shropshire and then joining the Daily Express in Manchester and London.

I guess it really all began as a young teenager when I published my own magazine called Opinion, printed illicitly by a cousin on her firm’s Gestetner duplicator. It sold to school chums and I remember getting told off for writing critical pieces on the Korean War, not quite the done thing at the time.

I’ve also written for and edited magazines dealing with film, medicine, travel and finance. Highlights were interviews with Jack Higgins, Marti Caine and Robert Ludlum.

To help put my children through fee-paying schools I did a part-time bulk trucking job for a local bakery, much to the amusement of my colleagues. The bumps and mishaps along the way were many. Like the 8,000 apple tarts which hit the road – literally.

All worth the effort! I’m now the proud father of a judge and a headmaster.

My leisure pursuits have included driving for a village bus group in Suffolk, crewing and driving a steam locomotive hauling The Blues Express in Poland, rambling in Canada, the UK and Majorca (don’t try the last one, far too hot!), some gliding and a scary lesson at the controls of a helicopter – a birthday present from my son.

Plus a life-long interest in modern history, the Second World War in particular, and why we had to fight it. Hence the novel MUNICH, a key step on the run-up to that catastrophic conflict.

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: How the Wired Weep by Ian Patrick

How the Wired Weep by Ian Patrick

#HowTheWiredWeep @IPatrick_Author @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the blog tour for this new dark and gritty British police procedural mystery HOW THE WIRED WEEP by Ian Patrick.

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

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Book Blurb

The Wire crosses the pond.

Ed is a detective who handles informants. He recruits Ben, a young man, who is treading a dangerous path into the criminal underworld.

Ben’s unsure of where his loyalties lie. They have to find a way to work together despite their differences.

Both men are drawn into the world of Troy, a ruthless and brutal leader of an Organised Criminal Network.

Ben is torn between two worlds as he tries to walk the impossible line between criminality and helping Ed combat crime.


He lives in fear of discovery.


When your life is thrown upside down who do you turn to in order to survive?

Set against the backdrop of the 2012 Olympic Games, How the Wired Weep is a fast paced urban thriller where time is against both men as they attempt to serve their own agendas.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54166480-how-the-wired-weep

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

HOW THE WIRED WEEP by Ian Patrick is a new standalone dark and gritty British police procedural mystery. It takes the reader into a mystery in the world of covert police operations and how they handle the safety and anonymity of their criminal informants.

DS Ed Hunter and his teammates handle police informants out of the Metropolitan Police headquarters. Ed loves his work, but it is a tricky business. The informants are criminals and Ed does have rules and laws to work by and must also let the informants know that they cannot break them either. One of Ed’s informants, Ben is being released from prison and Ed is eager to get him back out on the streets.

Ben, a young gang member and his family have a history of being on the wrong side of the law. He likes the easy money from being an informant, but Ed is afraid Ben will end up back in prison for not being able to follow his rules. Ed needs him though to get information from the inside on a new violent gang leader.

Ben becomes more frustrated, greedy and angry at being used. Ed sees Ben spiraling out of control as he returns to the streets. Will Ed be able to continue to get Ben to walk the line and see beyond the easiest and quickest means to an end?

This story pulls you in to the two main characters lives and makes you feel everything they do. Mr. Patrick’s writing invests you in the outcome for both as the story is told in chapters related by each character. This book depicts the dark, dirty despair of the urban criminal landscape, but also has moments of friendship and humor. This is an intense, realistic and powerful read.

I highly recommend this book as a crime read that is very different from the norm.

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About the Author

Ian spent twenty-seven years in the Metropolitan police the majority as a Detective Sergeant within the Specialist Operations Command. He specialised in Child Protection and was part of a Major Investigation Team that targeted abusers and investigated the murder of children.

His last seven years were spent in the Covert Policing Command where he managed a specialist covert unit dedicated to the detection and disruption of organised criminal networks across London and the UK.


Rubicon, Stoned Love, and Fools Gold are published by Fahrenheit Press.

How the Wired Weep is a standalone novel.

Rubicon is in development with the BBC for a six part TV series.


He’s appeared at Bloody Scotland in 2018 as a spotlight author on the opening night with Val McDermid and Denise Mina.

Ian’s undertaken a mentorship with Write4Film Scotland and is developing a script for a short film. He’s also an ambassador for Muscular Dystrophy Scotland. He lives in Scotland where he divides his time between family, writing, reading and photography. 

You can follow Ian on his website https://www.ianpatrick.co.uk where you can subscribe to his newsletter and get updates on blogs, events and books.

Social Media Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IPatrick_Author

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

Website: https://www.ianpatrick.co.uk/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ian_patrick_author

Purchase Links

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/332xpRm

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3jRISKb

Publishing Information

Published in paperback and digital formats on 30th June 2020