Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for THE ANCESTOR by Lee Matthew Goldberg.
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
A man wakes up in present-day Alaskan wilderness with no idea who he is, nothing on him save an empty journal with the date 1898 and a mirror. He sees another man hunting nearby, astounded that they look exactly alike. After following this other man home, he witnesses a wife and child that brings forth a rush of memories of his own wife and child, except he’s certain they do not exist in modern times—but from his life in the late 1800s. After recalling his name is Wyatt, he worms his way into his doppelganger Travis Barlow’s life.
Memories become unearthed the more time he spends, making him believe that he’d been frozen after coming to Alaska during the Gold Rush and that Travis is his great-great grandson. Wyatt is certain gold still exists in the area and finding it with Travis will ingratiate himself to the family, especially with Travis’s wife Callie, once Wyatt falls in love.
This turns into a dangerous obsession affecting the Barlows and everyone in their small town, since Wyatt can’t be tamed until he also discovers the meaning of why he was able to be preserved on ice for over a century.
A meditation on love lost and unfulfilled dreams, The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner in present day Alaska and a historical adventure about the perilous Gold Rush expeditions where prospectors left behind their lives for the promise of hope and a better future. The question remains whether it was all worth the sacrifice….
THE ANCESTOR by Lee Matthew Goldberg is a unique suspense/thriller that merges two timelines, the past and present in one family in small town Laner, Alaska. Mr. Goldberg has written a family saga about greed, jealousy, love, sacrifice, acceptance, friendship and being a part of a family.
A man wakes up emerging from the ice in Alaska. He has no memories, but he does have a journal which the year 1898 and a mirror. He hears shots and follows the sound to find two hunters and he is shocked to find that one appears to be his identical twin. He hides in their truck and peers through Travis Barlow, the hunter’s window of his home to see a woman and child. They begin to bring back memories of his own life and he remembers his name is Wyatt Barlow.
Wyatt realizes he has been frozen since his journey to Alaska during the gold rush. He is sure he found gold, but he does not remember where. Wyatt ingratiates himself with Travis, who he realizes is his great-great grandson. Wyatt wants the gold to help his current family, but he also has a dangerous obsession which will affect of the current generations of Barlows.
I enjoyed this book on so many levels. The writing is gritty and stark as the frozen landscape of Alaska. I was always waiting for the next twist in the plot as Wyatt learned more about present time and revealed more of his true self. The characters in this book are all fully fleshed and realistically portrayed. This suspense/thriller is an original story with plenty of drama and adventure.
I highly recommend this suspense/thriller by an author who never fails to give me a unique story.
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About the Author
Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels THE DESIRE CARD, THE MENTOR, and SLOW DOWN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. The second book in the Desire Card series, PREY NO MORE, is forthcoming in 2020, along with his first Sci-Fi novel ORANGE CITY.
His new endeavor will be as the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Fringe Press and Fringe Digital, dedicated to publishing fiction that’s outside-of-the-box.
His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests.
After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City.
Today is my turn on the blog tour and to share my Feature Post and Book Review for HERE TO STAY by Adriana Herrera.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Award-winning, highly-acclaimed author Adriana Herrera delivers the sexy, modern enemies-to-lovers romance you’ve been waiting for.
Starting over is more about who you’re with than where you live…
Julia del Mar Ortiz is not having the best year.
She moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, who ended up ditching her and running back to New York after only a few weeks. Left with a massive—by NYC standards, anyway—apartment and a car lease in the scorching Texas heat, Julia is struggling…except that’s not completely true. Running the charitable foundation of one of the most iconic high fashion department stores in the world is serious #lifegoals.
It’s more than enough to make her want to stick it out down South.
The only monkey wrench in Julia’s plans is the blue-eyed, smart-mouthed consultant the store hired to take them public. Fellow New Yorker Rocco Quinn’s first order of business? Putting Julia’s job on the chopping block.
When Julia is tasked with making sure Rocco sees how valuable the programs she runs are, she’s caught between a rock and a very hard set of abs. Because Rocco Quinn is almost impossible to hate—and even harder to resist.
Format: Ebook (Trade Paperback & Audiobook formats also available!)
Ebook ISBN: 9780369700926Ebook Price: $3.99 USD
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
HERE TO STAY by Adriana Herrera is a contemporary romance that brings the heat. This is a standalone which could easily become a fun series with ethnic New Yorkers coming together for support and fun in their new surroundings of Dallas.
Julia del Mar’s year did not start out well, but she loves her new job running a charitable foundation and she is making her life in Dallas work. The foundation is run by one of the most iconic high fashion department stores in the world and which was family run, but the siblings have decided to go public.
Rocco Quinn is sent by his New York based consulting company to ready the chain to go public. Rocco is trying to stay above the family feud and do his job. The twins want the foundation to continue, but their younger brother wants it gone. And if the brother gets his way the beautiful Julia will lose her job.
Julia is tasked with introducing Rocco to all the programs the foundation runs. The heat generated between these two is explosive, but both know they are on opposite sides and in a no-win situation.
I was completely drawn into Julia and Rocco’s lives. Ms. Herrera made them come to life with not only their business dilemma, but all the family and friends that were a part of their lives. I feel Julia and Rocco’s romance built at a realistic pace as they both tried so hard to fight their attraction, but the chemistry is just too hot.
I thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary romance and its glimpse at Dominican culture.
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Excerpt
Julia
I stepped into the elevator and shoved my phone into the pocket of my dress, took a moment to send a prayer to the employee discount that let me buy bomb clothes on a nonprofit worker budget, and did some mental math of what could be going on.
Was the program really in trouble? Could we actually get shut down?
Nope, I would not go there. I would not think about what it would be like to get on a plane back to New York dumped and unemployed. Not happening.
A distraction. That’s what I needed. Just as the door to the elevator was about to close, someone got in. The fact that I was eye level with the base of his throat was a good clue as to who it was, but when he opened his mouth and the now familiar knee-weakening baritone echoed off the walls of the elevator, I got my confirmation.
“Morning, Ms. Ortiz.” That voice could be used for interrogation tactics. Every muscle in my body loosened at the same time whenever I heard it.
I squeaked out a “Morning” and took my time lifting my head all the way up to look at the last person in the world I wanted overhearing my conversation with my mother.
Him.
Rocco Fucking Quinn, otherwise known as the “Team Leader” for the consulting firm looking to bag my job. The guy with the New York City-est name on the planet. I hadn’t exactly gotten personal with Mr. Quinn, but I picked up on that accent the first time we met.
“What’s good?” I really tried to sound polite, but my Queens jumped out in situations like this. I did not gulp, because I could not let this fucker see me sweat. I managed not to cut my eyes at him, but it was a close call.
I took him in, ramrod straight, every hair in its place, not a wrinkle in sight, and decided he could not be the proprietor of the laugh-choke from before. The man seemed to be completely lacking a sense of humor. I knew he must have teeth but I’d never seen them.
Yeah, definitely not him. That fact rallied my spirits a little bit as I stood close enough to pick up on how he smelled. Like the ocean and something woodsy. That was not helpful information.
Without saying another word, I ran my eyes over him. It struck me that he was not wearing something bespoke like pretty much everyone here. Don’t get me wrong, he still looked good enough to eat, but he was clearly on a budget. And at a place where everyone looked like they were heading to a New York Fashion Week photo shoot, it was sort of jarring. Still, the suit fit him well. And there was no question, this guy could wear the fuck out of a suit. I held back a whimper when I envisioned him in a Brioni or a Zegna. They’d have to put out a heat advisory for the building if that ever happened.
“I thought I could detect a familiar accent when I was coming down the hall.” His perfectly blue eyes twinkled at what I was certain was an expression of utter mortification on my face. He sounded pleasant enough, but he was also alluding to the fact that I was yapping on my phone. This wasn’t the first time he tried to be cute. Rocco Quinn seemed to like fucking with me. And it was only a matter of time before he stepped on my last nerve and I reamed him out.
Thankfully, just as I was scrambling to respond to his comment, the elevator got to my floor. I was planning to just leave him hanging and run off, but he was hot on my heels.
Dammit.
“Sounds like your mom misses you.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Why did he have to act all fake nice?
I nodded without looking at him. “She does. Listen, Mr. Quinn—”
“You can call me Rocco.”
Nope, that was not happening. I was not letting this sexy bastard talk me into getting all chummy with him. I was already on thin ice as it was. He could keep his pheromones and his slick-as-fuck expressions to his damn self. I came to a dead stop a few feet away from the conference room door where my boss—and whatever shitty news she was about to give me—was waiting.
When I turned around, Rocco was looking down at me with an expectant smile. God he was handsome, that jet-black hair so dark it almost had a tinge of blue and those eyes, piercing. And I guess he had teeth after all, and of course they were perfect. Asshole. I shook my head hard when my traitorous brain started wondering what Pantone color his eyes would be.
Get your head in the game, Julia del Mar.
I straightened my back, determined to fight off the debilitating effects of those gleaming teeth and perfectly pink lips. I had to remember this niceness was probably his way of getting us to let our guard down. He was here to find ways to cut jobs. I was not about to mouth off and get myself fired, but I needed to get some things clear.
“Look.” I was proud of myself for not rolling my neck or pointing at his face. “I know you’re trying to be nice, but you make me nervous.” I pulled on the hem of my blue polka-dot dress and smoothed my yellow cardigan, avoiding eye contact at all costs.
“Why do I make you nervous?”
Uh, maybe because you’re here to close down as much of the foundation as you can.
I refrained from actually saying that because I had not been raised by a Puerto Rican man and Dominican woman just so I could act like I had no home training with the guy who could get me fired. But it was a close call.
“I’m sorry for saying that. You don’t make me nervous.”
Lies.
Rocco Quinn didn’t just make me nervous. He made me want to run my hands all over that big-ass body and moon over his almost but not quite curly hair and blue eyes, in spite of the fact that I knew he was out here gunning for my entire program. And yet, I still wanted to kiss the hell out of him while I climbed him like a sequoia.
Adriana was born and raised in the Caribbean, but for the last fifteen years has let her job (and her spouse) take her all over the world. She loves writing stories about people who look and sound like her people, getting unapologetic happy endings.
When she’s not dreaming up love stories, planning logistically complex vacations with her family or hunting for discount Broadway tickets, she’s a trauma therapist in New York City, working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Her Dreamers series has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and has been featured in The TODAY Show on NBC, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Library Journal and The WashingtonPost. Her debut, American Dreamer, was selected as one of Booklist’s ‘Best Romance Debuts of 2019’, and one of the ‘Top 10 Romances of 2019’ by Entertainment Weekly. Her third novel, American LoveStory, was one of the winners in the first annual Ripped Bodice Award for Excellence in Romantic Fiction. Adriana is an outspoken advocate for diversity in romance and has written for Remezcla and Bustle about Own Voices in the genre. She’s one of the co-creators of the Queer Romance PoC Collective. Represented by Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.
Today I am very excited to be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for EPITAPH by Anita Waller. I love all this author’s books!
Below you find a book description, my book review and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Pensioner and Private Investigator Doris Lester has taken a well-deserved break from work. She’s planned a holiday with her best friend Wendy on a journey across the Yorkshire and Derbyshire Dales. But before they depart a letter arrives, and the contents stir up trouble and memories of the past.
Soon Doris and Wendy are drawn into the mystery surrounding a troubled family, a missing person and gruesome murder.
When Doris and Wendy join the investigation, intriguing revelations about Doris’s past and present surface, which shock even those closest to her.
Step by step they uncover familial secrets that could tear a family even further apart. Together can Wendy and Doris solve the mystery and if they do, will their lives ever be the same again?
EPITAPH by Anita Waller is mix of cozy mystery and British police procedural that is perfectly blended and I could not put it down. This story features pensioner and P.I. Doris Lester from the Kat and Mouse Mystery series and while it is an offshoot of the series and can be read as a standalone, I was happy I already had background and a love of this main character from the series.
P.I. Doris Lester and her best friend of 40 years, Wendy Lucas are beginning a long-deserved vacation travelling throughout England visiting the graves of historically famous people. After only the very first outing of their trip, Doris tells Wendy about a disturbing letter she received. The letter is from a woman claiming to be the daughter of her husband, who has been dead for fifteen years. Wendy knows her friend well and they delay their trip and detour to meet this woman.
Doris and Wendy discover not one, but two unknown daughters. Doris becomes involved in the sisters’ families, when one goes missing and her almost sister-in-law is discovered dead. Secrets, lies and infidelities lead to another murder. When the authorities become involved, Doris once again finds herself connecting with local law enforcement, but she and Wendy are also following the clues and are one step ahead.
I love Doris so much! She is seventy, a black belt, a P.I., an IT wiz, has a past she cannot tell you about or she will have to kill you and a loving grandmother. In this book we also get to see what a close friend she has in Wendy. Even with such a small cast of characters, Ms. Waller skillfully keeps the reader guessing with plot twists and red herrings. This mystery has a steady pace as it intertwines Doris and Wendy’s investigation with the police investigation up until the climatic resolution.
I highly recommend this book and all of Ms. Waller’s books. She never disappoints.
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Author Bio
Anita Waller was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire in 1946. She married Dave in 1967 and they have three adult children.
She has written and taught creative writing for most of her life, and at the age of sixty-nine sent a manuscript to Bloodhound Books which was immediately accepted.
In total she has written seven psychological thrillers and one supernatural novel, and uses the areas of South Yorkshire and Derbyshire as her preferred locations in her books. Sheffield features prominently.
And now Anita is working on her first series, the Kat and Mouse trilogy, set in the beautiful Derbyshire village of Eyam. The first in the series, Murder Undeniable, launched 10 December 2018, and the second in the series, Murder Unexpected, launches 11 February 2019.
The trilogy has now been promoted to a quartet following the success of the first book; she is currently working on book three, Murder Unearthed. Book four doesn’t have a title, a plot, a first sentence… but she remains convinced it will have!
She is now seventy-three years of age, happily writing most days and would dearly love to plan a novel, but has accepted that isn’t the way of her mind. Every novel starts with a sentence and she waits to see where that sentence will take her, and her characters.
In her life away from the computer in the corner of her kitchen, she is a Sheffield Wednesday supporter with blue blood in her veins! The club was particularly helpful during the writing of 34 Days, as a couple of matches feature in the novel, along with Ross Wallace. Information was needed, and they provided it.
Today I am on the blog tour and sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for LITTLE FALLS by Elizabeth Lewes.
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
She tried to forget the horrors of war–but her quiet hometown conceals a litany of new evils.
Sergeant Camille Waresch did everything she could to forget Iraq. She went home to Eastern Washington and got a quiet job. She connected with her daughter, Sophie, whom she had left as a baby. She got sober. But the ghosts of her past were never far behind.
While conducting a routine property tax inspection on an isolated ranch, Camille discovers a teenager’s tortured corpse hanging in a dilapidated outbuilding. In a flash, her combat-related PTSD resurges–and in her dreams, the hanging boy merges with a young soldier whose eerily similar death still haunts her. The case hits home when Sophie reveals that the victim was her ex-boyfriend–and as Camille investigates, she uncovers a tangled trail that leads to his jealous younger brother and her own daughter, wild, defiant, and ensnared.
The closer Camille gets to the truth, the closer she is driven to the edge. Her home is broken into. Her truck is blown up. Evidence and witnesses she remembers clearly are erased. And when Sophie disappears, Camille’s hunt for justice becomes a hunt for her child. At a remote compound where the terrifying truth is finally revealed, Camille has one last chance to save her daughter–and redeem her own shattered soul.
Little Falls by Elizabeth Lewes is an intense debut suspense/thriller/mystery mash-up from this author and I would be interested in seeing it become a series. I was pulled right into the story which not only has plenty of action and suspense, but it is seen by the reader through the eyes of the main character who is still suffering from PTSD after returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Camille Waresch returned to her small hometown in Eastern Washington after serving several tours as a frontline medic. She is trying to connect with her teenage daughter who grew up with Camille’s parents while she was overseas and is always angry with her, deal with her PTSD and keep her job as a county property tax inspector. Her father also left her the local gas mart as a permanent income and place to live about the shop.
While doing a routine property tax inspection, Camille discovers a badly tortured young boy hung by barbwire in a barn. She immediately has a severe PTSD flashback to a similar scene from her time in Iraq. The two victims merge in her dreams and she does not know if she can trust her memories, but the dead boy was her daughter’s boyfriend and she becomes involved in the investigation over the concerns of her childhood friend, Sergeant Darren Moses.
The closer Camille gets to the truth the more danger she is in. The gas mart is broken into, her truck in blown up and evidence she discovers for Darren disappears. The two cases, past and present converge. Her daughter disappears and she has one last chance to save her daughter and herself.
I love a protagonist like Camille when they are trying to be “normal”, but everyone and everything is against them. I feel the author did a great job of portraying her PTSD, difficulty in returning to civilian life and the inability to tell if Camille was telling the truth, remembering something from the past or having false memories. The plot moves at a fast pace between past and present and occasionally I was confused because you are only viewing everything through Camille’s eyes. I am hoping Ms. Lewes picks up these characters again in future books because I think there is still so much she can do with Camille and the other secondary characters.
I recommend this debut suspense/thriller/mystery and I am hoping for more.
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About Elizabeth Lewes
Elizabeth Lewes is a U.S. Navy veteran who served during Operation Enduring Freedom as a linguist. A practicing attorney, she resides in Seattle with her family.
Today is once again my turn on the Harlequin Trade Publishing Mystery & Thriller 2020 Summer Reads Blog Tour. I am excited to share my Feature Post and Book Review for LIES, LIES, LIES by Adele Parks.
Below you will find an author Q&A, a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Author Q&A
Q: Please give an elevator pitch for Lies, Lies, Lies.
A: Daisy and Simon’s marriage is great. Isn’t it? After years together, the arrival of longed-for daughter Millie sealed everything in place. A happy little family of three. But Simon drinks too much and one night at a party, things spiral horribly out of control. The consequences are horrific, their little family of three will never be the same again. Lies Lies Lies explores the darkest corners of a relationship in freefall as lies are exposed and secrets will not stay hidden. A domestic noir with themes such as addiction, jealousy and secrecy raging throughout.
Q: Which came first: the characters or plot line?
A: The two things are intrinsically linked and need to work together, but for me it is nearly always plot line that comes first, a hare’s breath before characters. My domestic noir or psychological thrillers (call it what you will!) are dependent on reveals, rug-pulls and twists. They only work if the author is confident about where the plot is going from the beginning. That way every word written works harder. If the author is making it up as they go along in this genre it can get complicated at best, farcical at worst! So, I had a plot. Then I thought, ‘which people in the entire world would this be most devastating for?’ At that point I draw my characters. The same circumstances that Daisy and Simon endure would have a different outcome if they didn’t have particular character traits.
Q: Why do you love Daisy and why should readers root for her?
A: Honestly, hand in the air, time to confess – Daisy is tricky to love to start with. She’s reserved, closed, a little judgemental. However, the more you get to know her, the more you’ll understand she’s incredibly resilient, has a strong moral compass, an incredible sense of loyalty and is a fiercely strong mom! All great qualities.
Q: What was your last 5 star read?
A: The Guest List by Lucy Foley This is a classic whodunit? Set on a beautiful windswept Irish island, the Wedding of the Year is about to take place between beautiful fashion-forwards magazine editor Jules Keegan and her TV star finance Will Slater. The novel shimmers with tension: past rivalries, family rifts and barely disguised grudges. The cake has just been cut when a body is found. As a storm is raging, no one can get on or off the island, so which of the guests is the murderer and who is dead? It’s tense, brilliantly paced and keeps the reader guessing!
Q: What is one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?
A: It is an industry for the kind and patient. That is a great thing, right? Two fabulous qualities. Nearly everyone I’ve ever met in publishing has been genuinely lovely, with a sincere passion for their work, good intentions and big hearts. However, it is not a speedy industry! I worked in a global management consultancy before I became a published novelist and was used to a very fast pace in my working life. Publishing is generally rather sedate. I hope I am known for my kindness, but I doubt I am known for my patience! I’m so glad that my last three books have been published by HarperCollins. Luckily for me, they are an incredibly nimble publishing house, not only responsive and reactive, but proactive too.
Q: Can you tell us what you’re working on now?
A: The next novel of mine that will hit the States is a novel called Just My Luck. It’s about – a lottery win so big, it changes everything for a group of friends who learn to understand what money can, can’t should and definitely should not buy!
For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they’ve discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner.
But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone doesn’t tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever.
Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it.A look at the dark side of wealth, in this gripping take on friendship, money, betrayal, and good luck gone bad…
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Book Summary
LIES LIES LIES (MIRA Trade Paperback; August 4, 2020; $17.99) centers on the story of Simon and Daisy Barnes. To the outside world, Simon and Daisy look like they have a perfect life. They have jobs they love, an angelic, talented daughter, a tight group of friends… and they have secrets too. Secrets that will find their way to the light, one way or the other.
Daisy and Simon spent almost a decade hoping for the child that fate cruelly seemed to keep from them. It wasn’t until, with their marriage nearly in shambles and Daisy driven to desperation, little Millie was born. Perfect in every way, healing the Barnes family into a happy unit of three. Ever indulgent Simon hopes for one more miracle, one more baby. But his doctor’s visit shatters the illusion of the family he holds so dear.
Now, Simon has turned to the bottle to deal with his revelation and Daisy is trying to keep both of their secrets from spilling outside of their home. But Daisy’s silence and Simon’s habit begin to build until they set off a catastrophic chain of events that will destroy life as they know it.
Lies, Lies, Lies by Adele Parks is a domestic noir/psychological thriller that managed to surprise me with several plot twists. I have not had an easy time with this genre lately and been in a slump, but I was pleasantly surprised with this story.
Daisy and Simon were married young along with their circle of friends. While their friends started having families, Daisy and Simon had difficulty getting pregnant. Finally, after years of trying they were blessed with a beautiful baby girl they named Millie.
Their family of three was perfect in every way, so when Millie turned five-years-old, Simon asked Daisy if they could try for another child. Daisy does not want another child, but she will not tell Simon why. Simon’s drinking has been a problem and it is only getting worse. As they argue on their way home from a party with friends where Simon has once again been drinking and out of control, they are in an auto accident that will change the happy little family of three forever.
This is a tale of a marriage that has each partner keeping secrets that lead to lies that ultimately poison the relationship and after a tragedy, the marriage implodes. Ms. Parks does an excellent job of keeping the reader engaged with plot twists that can completely change their perspectives. I feel she also does an excellent job of describing the fall from functional alcoholic to nonfunctioning. Yes, most of the problems, except for Simon’s alcoholism could have been solved if they just told the truth as problems occurred, but that does not happen until “The End”.
I recommend this domestic noir/psychological thriller.
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Excerpt
Prologue
May 1976
Simon was six years old when he first tasted beer.
He was bathed and ready for bed wearing soft pyjamas, even though it was light outside; still early. Other kids were in the street, playing on their bikes, kicking a football. He could hear them through the open window, although he couldn’t see them because the blinds were closed. His daddy didn’t like the evening light glaring on the TV screen, his mummy didn’t like the neighbours looking in; keeping the room dark was something they agreed on.
His mummy didn’t like a lot of things: wasted food, messy bedrooms, Daddy driving too fast, his sister throwing a tantrum in public. Mummy liked ‘having standards’. He didn’t know what that meant, exactly. There was a standard-bearer at Cubs; he was a big boy and got to wave the flag at the front of the parade, but his mummy didn’t have a flag, so it was unclear. What was clear was that she didn’t like him to be in the street after six o’clock. She thought it was common. He wasn’t sure what common was either, something to do with having fun. She bathed him straight after tea and made him put on pyjamas, so that he couldn’t sneak outside.
He didn’t know what his daddy didn’t like, just what he did like. His daddy was always thirsty and liked a drink. When he was thirsty he was grumpy and when he had a drink, he laughed a lot. His daddy was an accountant and like to count in lots of different ways: “a swift one’, “a cold one’, and ‘one more for the road’. Sometimes Simon though his daddy was lying when he said he was an accountant; most likely, he was a pirate or a wizard. He said to people, “Pick your poison’, which sounded like something pirates might say, and he liked to drink, “the hair of a dog’ in the morning at the weekends, which was definitely a spell. Simon asked his mummy about it once and she told him to stop being silly and never to say those silly things outside the house.
He had been playing with his Etch A Sketch, which was only two months old and was a birthday present. Having seen it advertised on TV, Simon had begged for it, but it was disappointing. Just two silly knobs making lines that went up and down, side to side. Limited. Boring. He was bored. The furniture in the room was organised so all of it was pointing at the TV which was blaring but not interesting. The news. His parents liked watching the news, but he didn’t. His father was nursing a can of the grown ups’ pop that Simon was never allowed. The pop that smelt like nothing else, fruity and dark and tempting.
“Can I have a sip?” he asked.
“Don’t be silly, Simon,” his mother interjected. “You’re far too young. Beer is for daddies.” He thought she said ‘daddies’, but she might have said ‘baddies’.
His father put the can to his lips, glared at his mother, cold. A look that said, “Shut up woman, this is man’s business.” His mother had blushed, looked away as though she couldn’t stand to watch, but she held her tongue. Perhaps she thought the bitterness wouldn’t be to his taste, that one sip would put him off. He didn’t like the taste. But he enjoyed the collusion. He didn’t know that word then, but he instinctively understood the thrill. He and his daddy drinking grown ups’ pop! His father had looked satisfied when he swallowed back the first mouthful, then pushed for a second. He looked almost proud. Simon tasted the aluminium can, the snappy biting bitter bubbles and it lit a fuse.
After that, in the mornings, Simon would sometimes get up early, before Mummy or Daddy or his little sister, and he’d dash around the house before school, tidying up. He’d open the curtains, empty the ashtrays, clear away the discarded cans. Invariably his mother went to bed before his father. Perhaps she didn’t want to have to watch him drink himself into a stupor every night, perhaps she hoped denying him an audience might take away some of the fun for him, some of the need. She never saw just how bad the place looked by the time his father staggered upstairs to bed. Simon knew it was important that she didn’t see that particular brand of chaos.
Occasionally there would be a small amount of beer left in one of the cans. Simon would slurp it back. He found he liked the flat, forbidden, taste just as much as the fizzy hit of fresh beer. He’d throw open a window, so the cigarette smoke and the secrets could drift away. When his mother came downstairs, she would smile at him and thank him for tidying up.
“You’re a good boy, Simon,” she’d say with some relief. And no idea.
When there weren’t dregs to be slugged, he sometimes opened a new can. Threw half of it down his throat before eating his breakfast. His father never kept count.
Some people say their favourite smell is freshly baked bread, others say coffee or a campfire. From a very young age, few scents could pop Simon’s nerve endings like the scent of beer.
Adele Parks was born in Teesside, North-East England. Her first novel, Playing Away, was published in 2000 and since then she’s had seventeen international bestsellers, translated into twenty-six languages, including I Invited Her In. She’s been an Ambassador for The Reading Agency and a judge for the Costa. She’s lived in Italy, Botswana and London, and is now settled in Guildford, Surrey, with her husband, teenage son and cat.
Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour for Carrie Stuart Parks new release – RELATIVE SILENCE. This book pulled me in right from the start and is very difficult to put down.
Below you will find a note from the author, a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveway. As always, good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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A Note From the Author
Drawing on the Art of Forensics
-Carrie Stuart Parks
When I first started writing fiction, in 2004, it never occurred to me to pen anything other than the career I was already in—forensic art. Although other authors had explored different aspects of this unique field, most notably Iris Johansen’s Eve Duncan series, I knew about it first hand. By definition, forensic art is any art used in law enforcement or legal proceedings. My entrance into this career came in 1981 at the North Idaho Regional Crime Lab in Coeur d’Alene. The crime lab handled physical evidence from the ten northern counties of Idaho, the Department of Fish and Game, ATF, and the FBI. My initial duties were to prepare the court exhibits for trial, measure and diagram crime scenes, and create storyboards for juries. In 1985, I was invited to attend the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, to study composite drawing and image enhancements. In those days, image enhancements meant painting or airbrushing inks or dyes onto photographs. Photoshop wouldn’t be released for another seven years!
I was bitten with the forensic art bug and searched all over for more training. I finally located a class on facial reconstruction taught by Betty Pat Gatliff at the University of South Alabama’s school of Forensic Science. After that I was on my own, finding other artists in the field and studying directly with them.
It was the lack of training in the field and requests from officers to learn about forensic art that made me decide to become a trainer of the subject in 1988. It’s now been over thirty-three years and, with my artist/forensic artist husband, we travel across the US and Canada as the premier courses in the world. What a ride!
Along the way, the cases we’ve worked have provided a rich source of inspiration for my plots. Relative Silence, the latest novel, introduces the reader to age progression when a young mother asks a forensic artist to show her what her long-deceased daughter would look like today. The location, a fictional island off South Carolina’s shore, was chosen because we teach classes in Mount Pleasant, SC, and love the area.
I love hearing from folks about my work and books and invite you to contact me through any of the below methods.
A powerful family with lots of secrets. A forensic artist with his own tragedies. And a hurricane drawing bearing down on their private island.
Fifteen years ago Piper Boone’s only child died in a boating accident, and Piper’s almost perfect life came to an end too. After living through a divorce and losing her job, she retreats to Curlew Island and her childhood home—a secluded mansion for the politically powerful Boone family, who are practically American royalty.
But Piper’s desire to become a recluse is shattered when a mass shooter opens fire and kills three women at a café where Piper is having lunch. The crisis puts her family in the spotlight by dredging up rumors of the so-called Curlew Island Curse, which whispers say has taken the lives of several members of the Boone family, including Piper’s father and sister.
Forensic artist Tucker Landry also survives the shooting and is tasked with the job of sketching a portrait of the shooter with Piper. They forge a bond over their shared love of movies and tragic pasts. But when police discover a connection between the shooting and two more murders on Curlew Island, they face a more terrible lineup of suspects than they could have imagined: Piper’s family.
Unraveling the family’s true history will be the key to Piper’s survival—or her certain death.
Book Details
Genre: Suspense Published by: Thomas Nelson Publication Date: July 14th 2020 Number of Pages: 336 ISBN: 0785226184 (ISBN13: 9780785226185) Purchase Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
RELATIVE SILENCE by Carrie Stuart Parks is a mystery/Christian romantic suspense mash-up that pulls you in from the first page and is extremely difficult to put down. A powerful family that has known several tragic events over the years with the heroine from that family who finally decides to investigate those tragedies after she becomes a target.
Sandpiper “Piper” Boone has been told all her life she comes from the perfect family and tries to live up to that standard. When her young daughter is found dead, her marriage falls apart and she becomes a recluse on the family island compound.
Fifteen years later, forensic artist Tucker Landry is having lunch while waiting to begin his new assignment. A shooter opens fire and Tucker grabs the woman behind him and hits the patio floor. While Piper only receives a small injury, Tucker is shot protecting her as three other women are also killed. When the detective learns of Tucker’s skills, he asks Tucker and Piper to get together to produce a sketch of the shooter.
The authorities believe there is a connection between the shooting and two other murders that occur soon after. Piper and Tucker are in a race to find out who wants to kill Piper to hide long buried family secrets and a hurricane that threatens everyone.
This is a story that ticks off everything I am looking for in these genres; a mystery that keeps me guessing, action, unexpected twists, edge-of-your-seat suspense and a hero and heroine that are realistic and make me cheer for their relationship to have a HEA. Piper and Tucker are wonderful characters that have had terrible pasts that must be overcome as they struggle with the current race to reveal a murderer. I like that the injuries they received throughout the story were believable and they could overcome them or work around them without becoming fantastical super humans. Even with the small number of suspects, I was kept guessing and I always like when that happens. The religious beliefs and faith of the characters was not gratuitous or in your face.
This book is a compelling generational family mystery with a believable romantic suspense. I can highly recommend this story!
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Excerpt
Prologue
Curlew Island, South Carolina
Fifteen years ago
The piercing scream ripped up my spine. I dropped the spatula and spun.
My almost-three-year-old daughter, Dove, stood at the door to the kitchen and held out her favorite toy, a tattered stuffed bunny she’d named Piggy. Piggy’s ear was hanging by a thread with stuffing protruding from the opening.
“Mommy,” she sobbed. “P-P-Piggy’s hurt.”
I turned off the blender. I’d told Mildred, the housekeeper, I was going to make dessert and was elbow-deep in half-whipped meringue for the banana pudding now cooling next to me.
“Come here, Dove, and let Mommy see.”
Still crying, Dove launched herself at me.
I lifted her and checked my watch. No one was at the family’s Curlew Island home at the moment except my husband, Ashlee. He’d said he would look after Dove while I did some cooking. Yet here she was with a damaged toy and in need of comfort, while he, as usual, was absent.
“Sweetheart, Mommy will have to fix Piggy in a little bit. Where’s Daddy?”
She shook her head. Her sobbing settled into hiccups and loud sniffles.
Shifting her to my hip, I caught sight of movement in the foyer. “Ashlee?”
The front door clicked shut.
Still holding Dove, I charged through the house and opened the front door. Ashlee was just climbing into a golf cart, the only transportation on the island. “Just where did you think you were going? You’re supposed to be watching Dove.”
“Don’t give me a hard time, Piper.” His face was pale with beads of sweat on his forehead. “I have an errand to run on the mainland. Mildred can watch Dove.”
“Mildred’s getting groceries and I’m cooking. Take Dove with you. You don’t spend nearly enough time with your only child.”
“Look, Piper, this is important and I don’t—”
“So’s your daughter. Or maybe we should all go to the mainland together if something is that important. Better yet, you finish dessert and I’ll get to play with Dove.” I was heartily tired of Ashlee’s constant racing off to “something important.” His work as head of marketing at the family business, Boone Industries, was stressful and kept him busy, but this was getting ridiculous.
He took out a handkerchief and swabbed his sweaty brow. “N-no. I’ll take her.”
Dove had relaxed against my shoulder. “She’s overdue for her nap, and the boat always puts her fast asleep. Just be sure to put her life jacket on. There are snacks on the boat if she gets hungry.”
Ashlee opened his mouth, then shut it. A vein pounded in his forehead.
“Dove, sweetie,” I said. “Go for a boat ride with your daddy. I’ll take care of Piggy, okay?”
She nodded under my chin and allowed me to hand her over to Ashlee.
“Will you be long?”
“As long as I need to be.” Without another word he got into the cart and drove toward the dock.
The late October day was pleasantly warm, and although Dove wore a white T-shirt and short skirt, she could always crawl under a blanket in the saloon if the boat ride was too cool.
I took poor Piggy back into the kitchen and placed her on the end of the counter, hoping the meringue was salvageable. I topped the banana pudding, stuck the dessert into the oven, set the timer, and moved to Dove’s room to change the sheets. Finishing just as the pudding was ready, I placed it on the counter to cool.
After washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, I still had laundry to do. How could I be washing more clothes than we’d packed?
Once a year the entire family would gather on the private island for a stockholders’ meeting and retreat, joining the year-round staff. I’d like to say that seeing my family together in this beautiful paradise was a special treat. Unfortunately, I was closer to the housekeeper than to my own mother. At least the beach was sandy, the ocean refreshing, and the house spectacular and spacious. Dove, of course, was perfect. And Ashlee? Back to the laundry.
After shifting a load from the washer to the dryer, I made my way past the workout and sewing room toward the kitchen. Could a rabbit ear be repaired on a sewing machine? Ha! I didn’t even know how to thread a bobbin. I found Mildred in the kitchen, checking a store receipt. “I didn’t know you’d returned. Do you need help with the groceries?”
“Already done.”
“Then I timed my offer perfectly. Do you know how to thread a bobbin?”
“Have you been out in the sun too long?”
“It’s a rabbit-ear question.”
“Next time wear a hat.”
I grinned at the older woman. “To thread a bobbin?”
“You are the oddest child,” she muttered, then nodded at my banana pudding. “But you do make the most beautiful desserts.” We busied ourselves preparing dinner. The stockholders’ meeting was tomorrow, and the remaining members of the family would arrive tonight.
“Strange,” Mildred said after the pot roast had been placed in the oven.
“What?”
“I’d have thought everyone would be here by now.”
I glanced at my watch. Ashlee and Dove had been gone for five hours. Dove would be starving. “I’m sure—”
The phone rang.
“That’s probably them now.” I picked up the receiver. “Boone residence.”
“Piper!” It was my older brother, Tern. “Oh, Piper, I’m . . . I’m at the hospital. It’s Ashlee.”
I squeezed the receiver tighter. “What’s going on? Is Dove okay?”
Tern groaned.
I reached for Mildred. She took my hand, then put her arm around me to keep my knees from buckling. “Tern? Tern!”
Tern didn’t answer. A male voice took over. “Mrs. Piper Yates? This is Officer Stan Gragg of the Marion Inlet Police. There’s been an incident involving your husband. He was attacked on the dock and your family’s yacht was stolen. He’ll be fine, but we’re having the doctor check him out—”
“What about my daughter, Dove?” I tried to keep my voice under control, but the words came out shrill.
“We believe she was still on the boat. I’m afraid she’s missing.”
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Author Bio
Carrie Stuart Parks is Christy, Carol, and Inspy award-winning author, an award-winning fine artist, and internationally known forensic artist. Along with her husband, Rick, she travels across the US and Canada teaching courses in forensic art to law enforcement as well as civilian participants. She has won numerous awards for career excellence. Carrie is a popular platform speaker, presenting a variety of topics from crime to creativity.
