SOLVING CADENCE MOORE by Gregory Sterner is a mystery
written in the form of a radio podcast series intertwined with intervals of the
background workings and relationships of the main character. The podcast
scripts reveal the mystery and interviews in an attempt to solve a ten-year-old
murder mystery.
Ten years ago, Cadence Moore, a talented but troubled young
singer disappeared. After a drunken altercation with her college friends, she
was left on the side of the road while returning from a party and was never
seen again.
Charlie Marx is the host of a popular conspiracy radio show.
After the huge popularity of a movie about the disappearance of Cadence
reignites public interest, Charlie’s boss wants a special series of podcasts on
the subject. He launches his own investigation into the disappearance and claims
to have solved the mystery which he will reveal in a groundbreaking live radio
special after the podcasts run.
But is it really solved? Is there finally closure for
Cadence?
If Charlie has succeeded and truly solved this mystery, he
will be acclaimed, but if he fails and everything he is promoting are lies, his
entire career will be destroyed live on air.
I liked the mystery and the podcasts revealing the
information, speculation and characters involved. It was a unique way to let
each character reveal their versions of Cadence and the case. It was a
fictional case, but the author made feel you feel as if you were following a
true-crime case which pulled you into the mystery. Charlie Marx is a flawed
character that has everything on the line and you feel equal parts empathy and revulsion
for. I did find the sections of the book where Charlie interacts with others
outside of the podcasts realistic, but drawn out and slow. I also found the
lead section into the climax slow and unnecessary. That said, it was not enough
to stop me from reading until the end to find out both the solution to the
mystery and the resolution of Charlie’s career.
I would like to thank Kelsey Butts from bookpublicityservices.com
for the copy of this book for review.
THE REBOUND EFFECT by Linda Griffin is listed as a romantic
suspense. It is not a romance. This book is a domestic psychological thriller.
If considered in that genre, it is a high intensity read of a single mother on
the rebound and the new man who comes into her life while women are disappearing
in the area.
Teresa Lansing is a struggling single mother working as a
veterinary assistant in the small town of Cougar. She is doing the best she can
for herself and her six-year-old deaf son. Both are trying to get over the
recent break-up of Teresa and her fiancé after she found out he cheated.
While visiting her best-friend at her local family bar and
grill, Teresa is swept off her feet by Frank McAllister. Frank just moved to
Cougar four months ago. He is a cop and works on the S.W.A.T. team in the big
city near Cougar. Frank is handsome, charming and very sexy. Teresa and her
friend believe she has finally found a good man.
As the courtship progresses, Teresa at many times feels
overwhelmed by the fast pace Frank wants to set for the relationship. She tries
to draw some lines, but she always feels ungrateful for everything he is doing
for her and her son and lets Frank continue to have his way. While Frank is
pushing for a permanent commitment, Teresa’s former fiancé continues to try to
win her back.
While tensions rise between Teresa and Frank, the number of
missing women in the area also increases. Is Teresa safe or is she the next to
die?
Ms. Griffin’s characters are realistic and make you easily
understand how psychopaths and psychological abusers can overwhelm you. Yes,
there were times I wanted to smack Teresa in the head and tell her to wise up
and put her son first, but Frank knew how to tie them both together to get what
he wanted. The sense of danger and the high intensity of the emotions in this
book keep you turning the pages. As I wrote previous, this is a thriller and
not a romance. For me, a romance or romantic suspense must end with or be
leading to a HEA. The dating and sex in this book is not a romance.
If you are looking for a domestic psychological suspense, this is a fast paced, high intensity read.
I am very excited to share this Feature Post and Book Review for C.D. Reiss’ new release ONLY EVER YOU. This romance is different than the steamier, darker stories from this author. This romance is lighter and all about a reunited friendship, family, hope and love.
Below you will find an interview with the author, an excerpt from the book, my book review, an author biography and social media links, book summary and a Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card and a digital copy of the book. Enjoy and good luck on the Rafflecopter giveaway!
***
Author Interview: CD Reiss
Please introduce your newest release.
Only Ever You is about a girl who planned for everything but never
got what she hoped for, and a dweeb who hoped he’d to marry the girl, but never
planned for it.
Rachel and Sebastian have an interesting history. They were friends as kids,
but have lost touch as adults…
They’re really strangers when they reunite at 30, but they’re burdened by what
they think they know about each other. Sebastian was supposed to be an artist
and Rachel was supposed to be a screenwriter. They have to shake all that stuff
loose before they can see each other. When they do, they’re strangers.
I think attraction between strangers is real.
Sexual heat is real. But “hearts and flowers” are earned. (I know
that sounds like I’m your dad telling you to mow lawns, but that’s where the magic
is. Not the lawns.) In the time just before you’re struck by lightning there’s
a real electricity. It’s pure potential and anything can go wrong. It’s the
best thing ever.
When they were kids they made up a ‘contract’ to get married at 30—which is
pretty much panned when they do meet up and have the most awkward first kiss
EVER. How do they overcome such an incredibly uncomfortable situation?
They overcome it by running away!
Sebastian is thinking “now or never” because he thinks Rachel’s never going to
think he’s any cooler than when she sees him in the office of his own company.
And she isn’t ready because her whole idea of herself is tied up in what a
failure she is. Neither one of them is feeling good enough about themselves to
have a really hot first kiss, which is the same reason they’re not ready to get
married.
***
Excerpt: Only Ever You by CD
Reiss
After
I left her and CJ with Lucinda, I spent the weekly staff meeting wondering if
Rachel was the same warrior I’d loved or if she was more the woman who’d held
her laptop to her chest as if she needed protection.
I was obsessed.
I had to know.
Her text came in as I was
leaving the meeting.
I need
to check that we’re kidding
Before I could finish
typing a response, I caught her coming out of the bathroom with her laptop
under her arm.
Alone. Me and her. Nothing
between us but the question of who we were and how we fit.
“Seb, I—”
She didn’t have a chance
to finish. I crowded her back into the bathroom and locked the door behind us.
“Kidding about what?” I
said.
“About getting married.”
“Why would that even be a
question?”
“Our parents have been in
negotiations about it.”
My mother couldn’t keep
herself from talking if she tried, and I was her favorite subject.
“It might be a little soon
for marriage, but—”
“Soon? I don’t like you
seeing what I do for a living while you’re in a glass-walled office overlooking
the ocean. I mean, I’m not marriage material, and the odds are that’s never
going to change.”
“I don’t see why a date’s
off the table.”
“Do you know what’s going
to happen if we date?”
The list of possibilities
was as long as my arm. I could have counted them off, from “We decide we hate
each other” to “We end up in bed.” But I didn’t, because I was still trying to
figure her out.
What did she want to hear?
With her wide eyes and
parted lips, what did she want? Did she have a fondest wish where I was
concerned? Was she leaning forward? Was her expression soft and yielding?
My mind spent too long
deciding what to say, so my body spoke for me.
I kissed her hard and was
met with teeth and stiff resistance. It was a kiss I’d wanted since I’d had
hairless armpits and a voice somewhere in the low soprano range. I’d dreamed
about it. Fantasized about it. Thought about it so hard in the middle of the
night I could practically feel it.
But never, ever in my
fantasies did she push me away so hard I fell back against a towel dispenser,
watching her face twist into surprised rage as the machine spit out a ragged
rectangle of brown paper.
“That was—”
“Messed up. I know.”
“Then why? What is wrong
with you?”
She was livid, just like
she would have been. Just like she should have been.
The tiger within Rachel
was in there, and my attempt to tease her out had probably alienated her. She’d
be right to never speak to me again.
“I’m sorry,” I said with
my hand on the door lock. “I misread you. It won’t happen again.”
I started to open the
door, but she held it closed.
“If we date, my mother’s
going to get her hopes up that I’m going to settle down. And I’m sorry, Seb,
but if we break up while she’s in chemo, it’s going to crush her.”
“You don’t even know if
she’s sick again.”
“You’re right.” She
pointed a rigid finger at me as if I were her mother. “I’m going to make her
tell me.”
“You’re really beautiful
when you’re telling it like it is.”
She slid her hand off the
door. Having been called out, the warrior was sent into hiding.
No. I wouldn’t accept
that. I wouldn’t allow it.
“Let’s just go out and
catch up,” I said. “Saturday.”
“Can’t. Saturday’s the
soonest I can talk to Mom.”
I unlocked the door. “I’m
sorry about . . . the thing.”
“Kissing me?”
“No, wasting paper towels.
Of course kissing you.”
“Next time, give a girl a
little warning.”
Next time? Her eyes darted
to the door. Was she calculating the distance to her getaway? Or making sure it
was closed?
“How about now?” I asked.
“Now what?”
“Fair warning. Now.”
I stepped a little closer
and put my hands on her arms. Not right away. I let them hover an inch away
before touching her to give her the chance to move away. A chance I was sure
she’d take.
“Seb, really?”
But she didn’t move away.
Not this time. When I laid
my hands on her biceps, she leaned in to me just a little. I smelled the floral
lotion on her skin and a hint of cool water on her breath.
“Really.” I slid the
laptop from her arms and placed it on the counter. “This is your warning.”
You’re
doing this. I cannot believe you’re doing this.
“It doesn’t feel like a
warning,” she said, and again—I noted—she didn’t move away.
“Flashing red lights.” My
lips brushed her cheek, heading for her mouth. She felt better than I ever
imagined. “A buzzer, maybe.”
“Just a kiss?” she asked,
her lips moving against mine.
Before I could consummate
what she was agreeing to, I was smacked by a swinging door.
“Oh!” CJ said. “I’m sorry!
I was looking for you.”
Rachel snatched up her
laptop and walked out. CJ raised an eyebrow with good reason, since I was in
the ladies’ room. I left, and we all gathered in the hall.
Awkward.
“Well,” Rachel said.
“Thanks for showing us your tedious financial-sector company.”
“Thank you for coming,” I
said and let them walk away. I could have done or said much more, but not
without getting her into trouble. She glanced back at me when they turned the
corner, as if she wanted to make sure I was still there.
***
My Book Review:
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
ONLY EVER YOU by
C.D. Reiss is a new contemporary romance not like any previous books I have
read from this author. I think dark, erotic and intense usually when I see this
author’s name, but this romance is different. Sebastian and Rachel’s story is
lighter, full of family, hope and love. The angst and steamy is still there,
but not as often and with a twist.
When Sebastian was in school, he was a stick thin, nerd who
was bullied.
Then a beautiful girl named Rachel moved in across the lane.
She became his best friend. She defended him and included him.
As they plan their futures, they decide on a back-up plan
and write a marriage contract stating if both are single when they turn thirty
years old, they will marry each other.
The future happens and it does not always go as planned. Rachel and Sebastian are both home for Christmas. Sebastian has become an extremely successful and gorgeous man. Rachel is still struggling in her career and has dated a string of losers. Nothing has gone as she planned, but she also would not have changed the time she put her career on hold to help her mother through her cancer.
Are they really going to go through with their marriage contract?
This is a very entertaining friends to lovers contemporary romance.
Sebastian is a hero we all love to cheer for. The dweeb to heart-throb, smart
to successful, but no matter the success, he is still very vulnerable. Rachel
was strong as a young girl, but she let fear and the wrong men make her doubt
herself to the point of losing her confidence in herself. As the two reunite,
they learn how they are still alike, but also different. This is a cute couple
with crazy family members and friends that love them and only want them to be
happy. The sex scenes occur towards the end of the book and there is a very
interesting twist involved, especially from this author.
This is one of those feel good, fun romances to enjoy curled
up on your favorite chair.
***
About the Book:
Title: Only Ever You
Author: CD Reiss
Release Date: July 9, 2019
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Summary:
Rachel knew exactly
what turning thirty would be like. She had a plan, after all. First college,
then a climb up the professional ladder. Love, marriage, children. All of it
was on the schedule.
The cheap Hollywood
apartment wasn’t on the list. Neither was the string of heartbreaks. Or the
effect her mother’s cancer had on her career.
It’s hard to stay
practical and on point when everything takes a left turn.
Enter Sebastian,
the nerd across the street. The boy she defended when he couldn’t defend
himself. The best friend she promised she’d marry if life didn’t go according
to plan.
Not only is he
successful, confident, and gorgeous, but he also still has their handwritten
marriage contract.
No one goes through
with childhood wedding pacts.
That’s crazy.
But their families might just be crazy enough to rent a hall and set a date. All Rachel and Sebastian have to do is fall in love.
***
Author Biography:
CD Reiss is a New York Times bestselling
author. She still has to chop wood and carry water, which was buried in the
fine print. Her lawyer is working it out with God, but in the meantime, if you
call and she doesn’t pick up, she’s at the well hauling buckets. Born in New
York City, Reiss moved to Hollywood, California, to get her master’s degree in
screenwriting from USC. In case you want to know, that went nowhere—but it did
give her a big enough ego to write novels.
Reiss is frequently
referred to as the Shakespeare of Smut, which is flattering but hasn’t ever
gotten her out of chopping that cord of wood. If you meet her in person, you
should call her Christine. Text cdreiss to 77948 to get a
notification whenever she has a new release.
THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper is a slow burn, atmospheric
murder mystery set in the unforgiving and remote Australian Outback.
The apparent suicide of Cameron Bright seems to be just
another tragedy in this family’s story. A well liked family man, no one can
understand why he would leave his well-stocked vehicle and walk to the
Stockman’s Grave in the deadly heat of the Outback summer to die.
When Nathan Bright meets his youngest brother Bub at the
fence-line between his and the family’s properties at the Stockman’s Grave to
recover his brother’s body, Nathan has more questions than answers. The local
police believe it is a suicide, but Nathan has trouble believing. He returns to
the family homestead to help, but the past returns to haunt him as well as the
secrets his brother was hiding.
As the family grieves, Nathan’s suspicion grows that there
may be a murderer among them.
This is one of those books you start and just fall into the
intrigue of the location and mystery. Ms. Harper’s description of the heat and
dry in the Outback in the summer pulls you in and makes you believe you can
feel the isolation and danger of the location for the families that live there.
My opinion of the point-of-view main character, Nathan changes continually with
each new family revelation Ms. Harper weaves into the story. The secondary
characters are all hiding their own secrets and add to the feeling of surprise
and dread with each revelation. The resolution of the mystery was a surprise I
did not see coming which makes this a truly memorable read.
Today is my turn on the Blog Tour for a new, emotional psychological thriller THE PERFECT BETRAYAL by Lauren North. It is always difficult to tell you about a thriller without giving away any spoilers, but in this type of thriller I always suspect everyone, even the narrator so I am not usually surprised. This ending has a twist that is SHOCKING!
Below in this Feature Post you will find a book blurb, my book review and author information and social media links.
You have to read this book!
***
Book Blurb:
After
the sudden death of her husband, Tess is drowning in grief.
All she has left is her son, Jamie, and she’ll do anything to
protect him – but she’s struggling to cope.
When
grief counsellor Shelley knocks on their door, everything
changes. Shelley is understanding and kind, and promises she can help Tess
through the hardest time of her life.
But when a string of unsettling events happens and questions arise over her husband’s death, Tess starts to suspect that Shelley may have an ulterior motive. Tess knows she must do everything she can to keep Jamie safe – but she’s at her most vulnerable, and that’s a dangerous place to be.
My Book Review:
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE PERFECT BETRAYAL by Lauren North is a psychological
thriller by a new-to-me author that is absolutely perfect. This is the type of
thriller that makes you question everything everyone says and does, even the
narrator. When you believe everything is settled, keep reading. The ending is
so SHOCKING!
Tess is barely keeping herself and her seven year old son,
Jamie functioning after the death of her husband in a plane crash. Both are
depressed, angry and struggling to cope with everyday life and each other. Tess
is unwilling to ask for help from her extended family and she has never been
friendly with Ian, her husband’s brother.
Shelley is a grief counsellor assigned to help Tess. Shelley
lost her son to leukemia and believes her son would have looked just like Jamie
if he had lived. Tess and Shelley bond over Jamie and she seems to be helping
Tess to move on with her life. As much as Tess is friendly with Shelley, there
are times that Tess believes Shelley has ulterior motives.
Since Shelley and Ian have been around a series of
unsettling events have occurred that have Tess and those around her questioning
her improvement, but Tess believes Shelley and Ian have ulterior motives and
are scheming against her. Tess will do anything to keep Jamie safe, but will
pushing everyone away keep them safe?
To tell the truth, when I started this book, I thought it
was going to be another domestic psychological thriller that would be an
escape, but nothing new. I was SO WRONG! The depression and emotions are
heartbreaking. All of the characters’ motivations remain hidden throughout. The
ending had me in tears and shocked. Ms. North’s writing will pull you in, twist
you up and leave you questioning everything you just read. Tess is a character
that will stay with me for a long time.
I highly recommend this book!
***
About Lauren
North:
Lauren North writes
psychological suspense novels that delve into the darker side of relationships
and families. She has a lifelong passion for writing, reading, and all things
books. Lauren’s love of psychological suspense has grown since childhood and
her dark imagination of always wondering what’s the worst thing that could
happen in every situation.
Lauren studied psychology before moving to London where
she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the
Suffolk countryside.
THE MacINNES AFFAIR by Blair McDowell is a contemporary
romance intertwined with a historical romance with a mystery subplot. The
present MacInnes and Glendenning investigate a mystery and the history tied to
their MacInnes and Glendenning 19th century ancestors. This is a
standalone romance read.
The Present
Canadian Lara MacInnes is getting away from her broken
engagement with a trip to Athdara castle B&B in Scotland. Athdara castle
has been in the Glendenning family for generations and the current generation
has done everything to ensure it continues on for many more. None more so than
the handsome Highlander Iain Glendenning. As Lara and Iain begin to discover
how much they have in common, they also discover the journals of a long ago
Glendenning woman in love with Lara’s very great-grandfather.
The Past
Elspeth Glendenning is in a carriage accident and rescued by
a rugged Highlander named Lachlan MacInnes. While the clans may have been
feuding since Culloden, Elspeth and Lachlan fall in love. They discover the
carriage wreck was not an accident and the two are caught up in events beyond
their control.
Lara and Iain research the long ago romance and historical
events that intertwine their two families. As these two work to uncover a
murder mystery from the past, they fall in love as well. Can this generation of
MacInnes and Glendenning’s solve a mystery that persists from their clans’
past?
I really enjoyed reading this entertaining contemporary and
historical romance mix. It was not what I was expecting from the genre listings
on the description because it is not a time-travel or paranormal romance. It
has two time-lines that intertwine, but no one travels to another time. That
said, both plot-lines are well written and I never felt confused as the two
stories shift from past to present and back again. The present day romance
progresses at a believable pace and the historical romance is filled with
situations that are appropriate to that time.
This is the type of book you can just fall into and get
engrossed by the history and mystery and not want to put down. This is the
first book I have read from this new to me author, but I will definitely be
looking for others.
Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.
