Review: Death I've Found Your Sting by Richard Martinus

24 April 2014 19:14 (GMT)

Death I've Found Your Sting by Richard Martinus



This is a silly story about the ludicrousness of office life. Kind of.

Clive and Sam are mates, who met when they started working together. But when they realise they don't remember much about life before the job, they come to the conclusion that they think they are dead in hell as hell is their working life.

If you work in an office you will feel their pain in dealing with bureaucracy. I enjoyed this story and Clive and Sam's attempts to escape.

Review: Look Behind You by Sibel Hodge

24 April 2014 18:48 (GMT)

Look Behind You by Sibel Hodge



Look Behind You is a departure from the normal Sibel Hodge fare of sassy chick-lit. This one is a psychological thriller that is much deeper and darker. Chloe believes she's just escaped from being kidnapped, but everyone else thinks it's all in her mind.

I love this author's books and will read anything she writes without paying much attention to what it is. So I started reading this one without knowing anything about it. I didn't like the first chapter. It was way too creepy for me, but it had me gripped. I honestly couldn't put it down.

We found out things as Chloe did as she'd lost her memory, so we were piecing things together as the story unfolded.

This was a great story and I really enjoyed this new direction Sibel Hodge has taken and hope there's more like this.

Alana Woods' book reviews: Cop's Kitchen by Emma Calin

19 April 2014 08:58 (GMT)

COP'S KITCHEN by Emma Calin
Man! Emma, Emma, what a treat. Not only the story of SHANNON’S LAW but an accompanying recipe book with the food your characters enjoyed as well! How spoiled we are.The bonus Cauliflower crisp is a real bonus—I love cauliflower! But so many others as well that I’m just going to have make: the kedgeree, the desserts, cakes and little sweet things, and Sausage toad—gotta try that. And those triple cooked chips! Yum. And those blinis and the Pimms—I absolutely love Pimms.
Fabulous idea, well done!

Alana Woods' book reviews: Shannon's Law by Emma Calin

19 April 2014 08:56 (GMT)

In the premise at least SHANNON'S LAW reminded me of The prince and the showgirl, except it’s the earl and the policewoman. And what a policewoman—every bit as feisty as Marilyn Monroe’s showgirl.
PCW Shannon Aguerri is shunted out of her London jurisdiction and into a country PC Plod situation after acting independently on a case. Immediately she arrives she meets the local lord and, boy, is he a hunk. However, he has a history. His wife died some years before in a skiing accident and his 15 year old son has a police record for possession. Sparks fly between the earl and Shannon almost from day one. But she’s a working class girl with a mechanic father and cleaner mother. How on earth is she going to get on in the earl’s world?
There’s some very steamy sex scenes and that’s usually a turn-off for me. Those I’ve read before usually have a weak storyline that seems to be an excuse for all the sex and it pulls me out of what little story there is. I’m happy to report that isn’t the case with this book. The story is so strong that I could read the sex and then get back to what was happening. Which is a lot. Murder, money laundering, slavery, trafficking, drugs, kidnapping—you name it, Shannon has to deal with it. She also has to contend with Elvis and the Royal Family.
The dialogue during the sex scenes was a bit over the top for me, but other than that, thes tory, the descriptions, the characters—I liked them all.
The strong story held me.

Gravesend (outstanding)

18 April 2014 12:06 (GMT)

Gravesend by William Boyle is a stunning read. It takes an area of Brooklyn and makes it a central character in a novel that ignites the attention from the off.
The story swirls around an incident from years earlier like a whirlpool of water preparing to disappear down the plughole. The incident in question is the killing of a young, gay man (Daniel) who was lured down to the beach for some action by a gang of thugs and bullies.
Daniel’s death has touched so many lives. Most importantly it has wrecked his brother, Conway, and shattered his father.
Things come to a head when Ray Boy, the leader of the thugs, is released from prison. This forces Conway’s hand as Conway has been planning to kill Ray Boy from the off. The only problem is the Ray Boy that Conway meets isn’t the one he hates. In a cruel twist, Ray Boy’s tattoos tell Conway of his enlightenment and this changes everything. In some ways, Ray Boy’s change also had a big impact on me as a reader, the villain coming as close to being a hero as anyone else in the book. This dynamic simply adds to the energy and the tension of the read.
Conway’s on the skids. He takes a day off to lick wounds and drink himself safe. He considers his failures: ‘It wasn’t even noon. On a Monday. Pretty much every self-respecting person was out in the world working. Hauling trash, conducting trains, butchering meat, fighting fires, teaching, doing construction, whatever. And here they were. ******. People to pity. Not even noon on a ******* Monday. No wonder the Irish girl gave them that Spaghetti Western death stare.’
Ray Boy’s change isn’t lost on his nephew, Eugene, now a feisty teenager who wants to claim a reputation like his uncle’s as his own. Eugene is devastated by the changes in the man who has returned from prison and sets up a plan that might just bring the old Ray Boy back.
There’s a whole chapter dedicated to the things Eugene hates about life. On the surface, this may seem a little negative, but it’s full of contrasting shades that it gives an incredibly detailed sense of who he is – by focusing on the darkness, it draws attention to the light and to just about everything else. It’s a fantastic piece of prose.
Allessandra is another of Gravesend’s lost souls. She’s back to live with her father after missing her mother’s last days. She’s been out in LA and is struggling to find her way in an area of town that lacks the sophistication she’s become used to. Allessandra was one of Conway’s crushes back in the day and she also happens to develop a thing for Ray Boy and his good looking, easy action. There’s a short passage that I loved in which Allesandra considers giving in to the booze. In doing so, she describes some the people of her town: ‘Drink every day at The Wrong Number. Say to hell with work. Become one of these neighbourhood ghosts, old alkies in wrinkled black clothes that just skeleton around on feet like broken shopping cart wheels. When it got real bad, she could just dig in trash bins for bottles like the old Chinese, haul them down to Waldbaum’s for drinking money, live in this house until her father died and they took it away from her and then she could go to a home, the one over on Cropsey, where she’d wear Salvation Army clothes and lose her hair and teeth in the sink. An actress? Forget it. Once maybe, in another city, another time. Just wispy bones and yellowing skin now. The old boozer that kids throw rocks at for kicks.’
The characters in the story are perfectly linked. They live in a world where ‘everything’s some kind of sad’ and do their best to stay afloat. Thing is, we know from the off that there isn’t room for everyone on the raft and that someone’s going to go under, we just don’t know who’s going to end up where.
I really loved this book. By focussing on the one area and the people brought together by the one incident, Boyle manages to talk about the whole of the human condition. There are beautifully constructed descriptions, not least when dealing with the introspections of the characters. Boyle allows the reader to get inside the minds of all who inhabit the tale and this is wonderfully handled. The stark writing style allows for a ‘warts and all’ description of a gritty environment as well as a poetic sense of the wonder and fragility of the world.
Top marks at every level. A must read from a real heavyweight.

Desperate Remedies - Thomas Hardy - book review

18 April 2014 03:23 (GMT)

It's not surprising that Thomas Hardy's books have a reputation for being depressing. He does put his characters through intense trials and tribulations. Which was why, as a new reader of his work, I opened Desperate Remedies with some trepidation. To my delight, I found Hardy's portrayal of Cytherea Graye to be packed with realism, empathy and psychological insight--although a bit melodramatic at times. This was his first published novel - definitely a good place for a first-time reader to start.

I especially enjoyed the way Hardy uses dialog to reveal character and add a some suspense, as demonstrated in the following excerpt:

"No wedden this mornen--that's my opinion. In fact, there can't be," he said abruptly, as if the words were the mere torso of a many-membered thought that had existed complete in his head.

Cytherea, who has been forced by poverty to work as a lady's maid, is a sympathetic but by now means perfect character-- her indecisiveness and tendency to jump to the wrong conclusions at crucial junctures in her life made me like her all the more. It is not easy for a first-time novelist to write from the point of view of the opposite sex, so it's "hat's off" to Thomas Hardy!

Viking's Desire - Free romance story

24 April 2014 13:52 (GMT)

Viking's Desire - A Viking Love Story




Sailing to the west of the Norse lands, the Vikings lay siege to an English castle inland. After spying a raven haired beauty, who turns out to be Lillian, the lord’s daughter, Eriik, the Viking Jarl, is determined to take more than Saxon riches back to his home. 
 
In order to save her beloved home from complete destruction, Lillian accompanies Eriik and his band of raiders to his homeland. Little does she know that not only is she losing her home and family, but will soon lose her heart to the wild, handsome Viking as well. For this stubborn, independent beauty, this might be the utmost indignity of all. 

Viking’s Desire is not only a sexy love story, but an exploration as well. It takes the reader from the quiet knolls of England to the stormy, remote terrain of the Vikings... a thrilling, romantic adventure from start to finish. 

FREE today on Amazon. 

Feedback on the story/writing appreciated.

Free E-book time :)

24 April 2014 11:07 (GMT)

Hey everyone, the second act of Maybe, misery subtitled Act II: The Document is free to download on April 25th, 26th and the 27th. It's a very adult drama about the life of a scientist trying to rid the world of cancer, you learn about his mechanisms for coping with loss, his fractured relationships and everything in-between.
I hope you enjoy it.
C.S.Bailey

Toddlers and Baby eBook Free 24 - 25 Apr 2014

24 April 2014 10:05 (GMT)

Dear All
My new ebook Visual Baby Nature  is available to download free for a couple of days.
It's a book of black and white, high contrast patterns for babies and toddlers based on images from nature.
If you enjoy the book I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review.
You can download the book here:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Best wishes
Damian Comfort

Sampler of 42 books by NY Times Bestseller

23 April 2014 17:25 (GMT)

Apparently not quite free yet-- will update when price drops to zero.

This is a FREE sample of covers, author’s notes and sample chapters taken from the ongoing 25-year career of NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer. This library sample will give you a unique and comprehensive look into the way in which Bob blends some of the most interesting facts from history with some of the most ingenious fictional worlds and characters, along with his Special Operations experience, to create a unique, page turning experience for the reader. Bob’s unique background gives his writing a sense of realism and an edge of your seat ride no matter the genre.
http://www.amazon.co.uk...

We’ve broken this sampler down by Genre and by Series. Each series sampler is in order. Each series has some bonus material about where Bob got the idea from, or some interesting fact he found during his research. This sampler is a comprehensive look into the making of Bob’s 60 book career (so far as he’s schedule to release 2 more books in 2014).

The Science Fiction Sampler contains excerpts from the #1 Amazon bestselling 6 book series, Atlantis. This series has been compared to the hit TV show Lost and as part of the bonus material, we have included a detailed outline of the Atlantis/Lost connection. Also included is Bob’s #1 bestselling 9 book series, Area 51. This book has sold over 4 million copies combined in eBook and print. Next up is the Nightstalkers Series, which is a spin-off from Area 51. This is an ongoing series that also includes characters from Bob’s Cellar Series in the Military Fiction Sampler; Hannah and Neeley. In coming Nightstalker books, Bob will be blending in characters and concepts from the Atlantis as well as the Psychic Warrior Series, which is based on a real project that Bob’s team was involved in. Also included in this section is The Rock and I, Judas The 5th Gospel.

The Military Fiction Sampler starts off with The Cellar Series, which is a two book series that was birthed from the idea “who polices the world of covert operations?” Also included is the Shadow Warrior Series, which are a series of bestselling Amazon fiction based in the world of covert operations, something Bob has experience first hand. The first book in the next series, The Green Berets, was the first book Bob ever published back in 1991. He continued the series through eight books, including Chasing the Ghost and Chasing the Lost, which introduces his main character Dave Riley to a new character, Horace Chase and anything can happen with these men. Be on the look out for the next book in this series, Chasing the Son coming fall of 2014.

And finally we have the rich in history series, Duty, Honor, County Trilogy. While Bob attended West Point, he learned that 55 of 60 battles during the Civil War were commanded by West Point Graduates on both sides. This began a long fascination with this time period. While some of the characters are fictional in this trilogy, the facts of the Civil War remain authentic.

We hope you enjoy this comprehensive look into a nearly 25 years and 60 book career of one of the truly great masters of the art of storytelling.

Free! Mistake Me Not by Scarlett Finn.

21 April 2014 21:47 (GMT)

Free on Amazon!

Mistake Me Not

Lacie Hart must be intercepted... she knows his secret; she could unravel his web of deceit and betrayal.
 
Lacie believes in loyalty above all else, so when her best friend Sorcha needs help Lacie doesn't think twice. But, following Sorcha’s instructions leads Lacie to inadvertently hire the wrong PI. Unaware of her error Lacie is horrified by her body’s overwhelming attraction to this man she has only just met. Especially since every other man leaves her less than lukewarm. Worse still, Lacie believes he is Sorcha's ex, and she would never consider betraying her friend. 
Ryder Stone wasn’t going to correct the little brunette who caught him in the middle of a little B and E; the case sounded easy enough and he wouldn’t want her to be taken advantage of – at least that was his excuse.
Except neither comprehend the danger ahead. Oblivious to what they’re walking into Ryder finds himself unconscious with only Lacie’s screams and his own imagination to torment him. Unfortunately, it’s not over for them yet.
Their one misstep leads them into a plot that extends close to home. Lacie has seen something. She’s in trouble and none of them know it until it’s too late and... she’s gone.





Check it out:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JFB762A


Enjoy!
Scarlett
Scarlett's blog