Killer Date by Kathy Clark - Book Review

Killer Date by Kathy Clark Book 2 in Scandals series Genres: Action, Thriller, Suspense,     Romance

     Your typical sleazy private detective. Reno Marks, former resident of Las Vegas, has had more than his share of women and one night stands and seems proud of that fact. When Jenny Caldwell walks into the office of Scandals Investigation Agency, Reno accepts her case, free of charge, simply so he can get to know her better. But there is more to Reno than meets the eye, even more than Reno thought possible. Jenny may be petite but she is a woman of strong character that draws Reno in. He finds that he respects her as much as he yearns to feel her curves against him, and this fact alone amazes him.

Shot in the Dark - Pick of the Month Review

Shot in the Dark by Jennifer Conner Genre: Romance, Suspense,    Romantic Suspense

     Devan Burke was the kind of man every woman hates. A player of the worst kind, never open to any attachments or even bothering to stay the night after romantic interludes. When the police detective is injured in the line of duty, his mood darkens even more turning to whiskey and pain killers after a cold-hearted woman shows distaste at his marred flesh from the gun shot wound in his leg. Every night on his way home from the squad room, where he is on desk duty until he can lose the cane that aids him to walk, he stops at the Naughty Latte where he orders a coffee, ogles the bikini clad barista, and over time learns that she is more than a warm body and can actually hold intelligent conversations.

     When the coffee shop is broken into within minutes of Devan's leaving it, he feels guilty that he should have been there, or that he should have seen the thief watching the building. He takes Luci, the coffee server, under his wing and into protective custody. Sparks fly between the two when they are unexpectedly thrown together and months of harmless flirting begins to grow into something much more substantial.

QR Code Killer - Fun Read Friday Review

QR Code Killer by Shanna Hatfield Genre: Romantic Suspense

     Mad Dog Weber is a tough as nails detective hot on the trail of a psychopath named Zeus. Suddenly the tables are turned and the psychopath starts hunting the detective, using QR codes to taunt the authorites. Mad Dog, known to her family as Maddie, returns home for a sabbatical while recovering from a nasty knife wound. While visiting the family ranch, she finds the one thing that turns a hard-core detective to jelly ... a well muscled ranch hand. Maddie worries that the vendetta Zeus is carrying out will cause her new love to leave the ranch and move on to safer pastures.

     This book isn't your typical romance. Both parties involved are fairly socially inept and tend to blurt out their feelings for the other without meaning to. I found it quite comical while they were both amazed that their confession didn't scare the other one off. If nothing else, this caused the relationship to move along quickly, avoiding the whole "he loves me, he loves me not" scenario and yet they didn't just fall right into bed upon realizing their common attraction.

Divine Evil - Featured Review

Divine Evil by Nora Roberts Genre: Romance, Suspense,    Romantic Suspense

     It is quite ironic really. I picked Roberts for the featured author this month because it seemed fitting to review romance novels during the month which contains Valentine's Day. This was the first book that I randomly selected from my bookshelf in preparation for this month's reviews and it is not the typical romance novel.

     Clare Kimball has fled from the little "bo-hunk" town that she grew up in, become a successful sculptor in New York City, yet decides to move back into her childhood home for a sabbatical. Her brother's best friend had been a trouble maker while they were growing up and Clare is surprised to find that Cameron is now the town's sheriff. This isn't half as shocking to her as her reaction to seeing him again as he has aged well, like a fine wine. But evil resides in their small town, it has for generations, but as it grows more powerful it has become more convinced of it's invincibility and come out of the shadows, getting bolder and more noticeable in town.

Birthright - Featured Review

Birthright by Nora Roberts Genres: Romance, Suspense,    Romantic Suspense

     Callie Dunbrook is an archaeologist. She is passionate about her work and loves digging up the past, literally. While on her latest dig site, she is forced to deal with her own past. The anthropologist assigned for this job is her hot super hunky ex-husband Jake. Callie prefers to hold onto her anger towards him rather than admit that she still goes weak at the knees with the mere sight of him. As if this wasn't enough stress in her life, a strange woman shows up at Callie's motel room claiming to be her mother. Callie finds out that not only had her parents never told her that she was adopted, she was in fact the baby that had been kidnapped from this small town as an infant. As Callie digs into her past she turns up a black market kidnapping/adoption ring that someone wants left buried and is willing to kill in order to deter Callie from uncovering more information.

February Monthly Picks

     Welcome to February - the month of love and romance. I can't NOT review romances during the month of Valentine's Day but never fear! I will sprinkle in some books with a mixture of genres this month for those readers who prefer a little substance to their romance books. As always, these are currently* free ebooks on Amazon, Pride and Prejudice is within the public domain and is always free. Shot in the Dark is currently available for download on Goodreads, you can try looking there if it is no longer free on Amazon.

Historical Romance My Review

Contemporary Romance My Review

Paranormal Romance My Review

Romantic Suspense My Review

     *These were free ebooks on Amazon when I published this post, but as with all books on Amazon their prices fluctuate often so please double check the price before downloading!

Gingerbread Cookie Murder - Review

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanna Fluke     Laura Levine     Leslie Meier Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Cookbook

     This is a collection of three fairly short stories, all somehow related to gingerbread. Laura from A Goddess of Frugality, had sent me this book several years ago for Christmas. Since I have read it fairly recently, I remembered enough of the plots that I can't really judge how easy it was to guess the solution to the crimes committed in each story.

     The characters were entertaining and not at all tiresome. Flawless editing made it a joy to read. While none of the stories were enchanting enough for me to email or text anyone telling them "OMG, you HAVE to read this!" it still makes for festive yuletide reading, especially for those who prefer mysteries to romances, as good suspenseful holiday fare is hard to find. Holiday romance seems to be plentiful - in books at any rate.

Another Chance - Pick of the Month Review

Another Chance by Sandra Cuppett Genre: Romantic Suspense

     Jordan is a beautiful and friendly woman. Both attributes drew the unwanted attention of an unbalanced man. Lambert's delusional mind twisted her kindness into a belief that she also like him as well. When her stalker tried to kidnap/rescue Jordan from her husband, Lambert was the only one of the two men who walked away from the ensuing struggle. After stewing in prison for 5 years, Lambert escaped with only one purpose in mind - making Jordan pay for spurning his feelings.

     While the story and plot has great promise, the final confrontation is disappointingly anticlimactic. There are serious and frequent editing errors including incorrect character names, inconsistencies in the plot, awkward sentence structure and odd word substitutions scattered throughout the book.

     With some work, this novel could be a good book but in its current form it is my opinion that it unfortunately does not reach its true potential. There characters are well developed but the errors are numerous enough that this book falls flat of it's possible strength.

Cowgirl Up! - Pick of the Month Review

Cowgirl Up! by Caroline Anderson Jones Genre: Romantic Suspense

     I was prepared to criticize that this romantic suspense was a bit top heavy on the romance and light on the suspense. It seemed so cut and dried as to who the culprit was that it didn't seem like much of a challenge but in one final plot twist, I was proved wrong.

     Samantha is a gorgeous country vet who has all the cowboys falling at her feet. When she runs into her arch nemesis - the boy who pulled her pigtails in first grade and continued to torture her all through high school - after returning from college she is surprised to find that he has aged like a fine wine. I guess they don't teach cowgirls that when little boys tease and torment little girls, the boys usually have an ulterior motive behind wanting the girls' attention.

November - Monthly Picks

     As Halloween passes us, it is time once again to troll Amazon and pick new free ebooks for this month. Since this month's featured author will be award winning romance novelist, Danielle Steel, I'm going to swing a little more towards MY favorite genre, suspense, with the monthly picks. So with no further ado, here are this month's picks for November...

Romantic Suspense Read my review

Mystery & Suspense Read my review

Romantic Suspense Read ny review

Fantasy Read my review

Humor Read my review

Review of From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz

From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz

     Two women who give birth during perilous conditions result in two incredibly gifted children. One delusional psychopath with a constitution too weak for murder, but does it anyway. Add some very caring and giving people into the mix and you have the ingredients for this interesting story.

     The book is written from the viewpoint of several different characters. While it is interesting to see the delusional man's point of view, I think it would be humorous to be shown someone else's point of view around him to see what is really going on. The few times we are given this second point of view it becomes quite obvious that Junior's take on the world is a bit off.

     This book is hard to categorize. While it isn't Koontz's normal plot of horror, it does have some horror and suspense while following Junior around. It also has almost a paranormal feel to it but the seemingly unnatural occurences are actually based on real metaphysical theories. So these things could happen, but probably not within our lifetimes.

     I found the ending a little disappointing to be honest. The climax is towards the end of the story and then the plot keeps plodding along, until it just doesn't any more. The continuation of the story is pretty much anticlimactic and while not quite pointless it almost is. Even so, the book has an interesting premise and is an entertaining read.

Review of Tidewater Inn by Colleen Coble

Tidewater Inn by Colleen Coble Hope Beach Series

     The main character in the novel is Libby. Libby restores historic buildings. While researching a new project in a small town on a remote island, Libby’s business partner, Nicole, discovers that Libby’s father had not died when she was five as she had been told. Nicole is kidnapped while Libby helplessly watches via a beach webcam. Other long hidden secrets reveal themselves as Libby searches for Nicole.

Visit A Goddess of Frugality to read entire review.

Review of Hybrid by Brian O'Grady

Hybrid by Brian O'Grady

     "More than thirty years ago, Ronald Regan had advanced the premise that a biological attack would be the equivalent of a nuclear attack." How can you defend yourself against a microbial enemy that you cannot see? Biological warfare is a scary tactic that is hard to defend against, no matter the size of the military.

Darkness Under the Sun - Review

Darkness Under the Sun by Dean Koontz

     Howie Dugley was damaged. He was physycally damaged during a horrifying trauma when he was five. He was emotionally scarred to match the physical scars, not only from the trauma but from the tauntings he received daily from bullies. Howie was shy and a loner, trusting no one. Until he made a new friend. But that friend was not as he had expected.

     Koontz ... King ... Koontz ... King ... Saul ... There is no choosing a favorite. They are each masterful storytellers in their own style. Koontz weaves a suspenseful tale of a young boy's trust that is undeserved and quickly betrayed. Probably the scariest aspect is how easily this could be a true story.

     A very short book, well worth the hour it took to read. I believe this book was only published in the Kindle and audio versions.

The Orphan Sister - Review

Orphan Sister by Gwendolen Gross

     Clementine has always felt separated from her sisters. They were identical twins while she had been the third fraternal triplet. Very different in both looks and personality from her sisters, she was always a little jealous that they were a pair. As adults, she finds they had been a little jealous that she retained her own identity.

Read the entire review at Oh My Gosh Beck!

Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis - Featured Author Book Review

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King Genres: Fantasy, Romantic Suspense

     My latest and last attempt, this month at least, to showcase King's non-horror work. This book is divided into four different parts. Each part is told in the first person narrative from different people's point of view. As the parts weave themselves together to form one continuous story, it becomes apparent that they all seem to revolve around Carol Gerber, though none of the narratives are hers.

The Friend Request by Alex Ford - Book Review

The Friend Request by Alex Ford Genres: Romantic Suspense, Thriller

     If you aren't paranoid about giving out too much information on your facebook page, you should be. Alex Ford slaps us in the face with this story that points out how little privacy that we have in today's world, and it is at our own hands. How many personal items have you revealed on facebook thinking that only your FRIENDS would be bothered to read? How many people do you actually KNOW on your friends list? How often do you accept a friend request without actually knowing the person who sent it? These are all questions that we should ask ourselves.

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun - Pick of the Month Book Review

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston Genres: Mystery, Romantic Suspense

     This was a pick of the month way back in January. I had picked it because I have suffered enough burns from my own glue gun to believe that they could easily enough be deadly.

     Anastasia is having a really rough month. Her cranky communist mother-in-law moves in along with her equally hard to get along with pooch. Her husband suffers a heart attack and leaves her a widow. Her step-father suffers from an aneurysm leaving her mother a widow, again. Her mother joins the household, along with her pampered cat. With 2 mothers, their pets, Anastasia's Shakespeare quoting African Grey, and 2 teenage boys all stuffed into a 3 bedroom house things are just starting to get interesting. That's when Anastasia discovers an unpopular co-worker murdered in her very own cubicle.

Intimate Strangers by Laura Taylor - Pick of the Month Book Review

Intimate Strangers by Laura Taylor Genres: Romance, Suspense,    Romantic Suspense

     I hate to admit it, but I related more to the male character in this book. Hurt and betrayed one time too many to allow himself to trust, Nicholas was suspicious when Hannah wandered into his life.

     Did I mention that Nicholas had a dark past and built himself a fortress in the woods? Some might consider him paranoid, but he prefers to just consider himself cautious. Suddenly a stubborn, petite woman with a shapely hour glass figure arrives at his door and he finds himself aroused just looking at her.

     Hannah is fairly inexperienced with men and finds herself confronted by an adonis... tall, sculpted hard body, low deep voice that makes a girl weak at the knees, and exudes animal magnetism. Plus he's got the whole bad boy thing going on.

     It doesn't take long before they give in to the electrical charge that passes between them. The scenes depicting their carnal desires were more graphic than I am used to and I could probably have read this book in the dark, the words illuminated by the glow of the blush of my cheeks.

     I'm not a big fan of romance novels and am starting to wonder if I should stop reviewing them. I do it primarily because they are popular and many people do enjoy them and want to hear about them. But I really doubt that I do romance books much justice. The writing was good, with very few editing errors. The characters were believable and very likable. There was no guy gets girl, guy loses girl, girl hates guy because of a misunderstanding ... on and on, kind of plot.

     I guess I have just gotten too cynical in my old age to be much of a rommantic. Instead of finishing a book and envisioning the characters living happily ever after, I give them less than 12 months before her constant chattering, which he teases her about, will be driving him nuts. She will realize that she knows practically nothing about him. And the spark of chemistry that they had enjoyed at the beginning really is just lust after all.

     If you enjoy romances that border on erotica, you will probably really enjoy this book.

I give it 3 stars.

Monthly Picks for April

It is a new month, and I have actually made some decent lead way on reading my previous monthly picks. Not quite caught up yet, but I am getting there. This month I have chosen to download the following freebie books from Amazon:

Horror My review	Nonfiction/ Historical My Review	Mystery/ Thriller My review	Romantic Suspense My review
While I am NOT making this an official pick for April as there is no way I can find time to read a 4 book set, but this find is worth noting. FOUR book set by Scott Nicholson includes: The Harvest, The Vampire Club, Burial to Follow, and Drummer Boy is currently FREE on Amazon.