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Friday, October 30, 2015

BOOK SPOTLIGHT & REVIEW: The Cypress Trap By JC Gatlin

The Cypress Trap
By JC Gatlin
Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Release Date: August 16, 2015


A good vacation delivers you home alive. 
This is not a good vacation. 

When Rayanne commandeers her husband’s weekend fishing trip, she knows it’ll take work to adjust Owen’s attitude. She has no choice. Since the tragedy, they lost so much. They need to reconnect.

Without her knowledge, Owen texts his best buddy, Daryl, to join the getaway. The three of them aren’t alone in the backwoods of Georgia, though.

Owen took something that didn’t belong to him. Something that changed their lives. And now the owner wants it back. By any means -- including a posse led by a killer dog.


At first, Rayanne is clueless about the item and its value. One thing becomes crystal clear: If it’s not returned, they might not make it home alive.


My review:

JC Gatlin’s The Cypress Trap is a frightening story, not because there was some slasher stalking the main characters, but this plot depicts a revenge plan gone deadly. I was also taken aback by the desperation of one character as he clung to a fleeting hope of regaining the cursed rabbit’s foot. It was hard not to feel sympathy for him even though he is the main conspirator behind the retrieval plan.

If you are looking for something a bit different in the thriller genre then I highly recommend The Cypress Trap. Gatlin doesn’t hold back the suspense in this novel. Highly recommeneded and filled with twists & turns!




Author Bio

Coming from a large family with five brothers, JC Gatlin grew up in Grapevine, Texas, a small town outside of Dallas. In 1999 he moved to Tampa, Florida, where he now resides. JC’s fishing trips help him breathe authenticity into his stories, which feature the rich landscapes of Texas and Florida as backdrops.

He has written a monthly column in New Tampa Style magazine and penned several mystery-suspense stories. His first, The Designated Survivor, was published in 2013. JC invites you to visit his mystery writing blog at jcgatlin.com.








Links:

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/JC-Gatlin/e/B00ENPSDU2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJcGatlin
Shelfari at: http://www.shelfari.com/jcgatlin
GoodReads at: http://www.goodreads.com/JC_Gatlin
Book Trailer at: https://youtu.be/mCKFIdWlZUE



Thursday, October 22, 2015

BOOK SPOTLIGHT & REVIEW: The Conspiracy of Silence by Augustine Sam





















The Conspiracy of Silence
by Augustine Sam
Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Book Description

The conscience of a town steeped in sexism, vanity and hypocrisy is pricked by the brutal murder of a mysterious woman in a park in Los Angeles. But the shock is transformed into a   steamy, seductive scandal when the body turns out to be that of Susan Whitaker, the flamboyant wife of the governor of California.

Soon, a dazzlingly intricate shuffle of volatile links leads the police to the delicate theory of a secret lover/blackmailer, and to the indictment of Benjamin Carlton, Hollywood’s most influential black celebrity.

Then curious things begin to happen when Carlton’s ambitious girlfriend, Rita Spencer suddenly unearths the shocking secret that Susan Whitaker did not, in fact, exist. She little realizes however that her discovery of this colossal fraud is a mere curtain raiser to a chilling world of ugly skeletons dating back to the assassination of a U.S. senator in a Washington hotel sauna, skeletons connected to riveting sex scandals in high places, skeletons the FBI and political kingmakers will kill for…

The Conspiracy of Silence


Review

Augustine Sam has crafted a phenomenal piece of work in The Conspiracy of Silence. He doesn't hold back on detailing every angle of a criminal case. His title sums up the focus of this novel. He shows readers the intense depths that one will go to silence those who threaten to peep the truth or just hint of it. This book proves that there is a dark underworld more powerful than any law set in place for man to follow. Sam is a remarkable writer.  Five stars.





Author Bio

Augustine Sam is a bilingual Italian journalist and an award winning poet. A member of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Journalists, he was formerly Special Desk editor at THISDAY newspapers, an authoritative Third World daily first published in collaboration with the Financial Times of London. He later became correspondent for central Europe. His poems have been published in two international anthologies: The Sounds of Silence & Measures of the Heart. One of his poems, Anguish & Passion, was the winner of the Editors’ Choice Awards in the North America Open Poetry contest, USA.

Augustine’s debut novel, “Take Back the Memory,” a contemporary Women’s fiction, released last year, was awarded a Readers’ Favorite 5-star medal. His second book, “Flashes of Emotion,” a collection of poems, was selected as finalist in the 2015 International Book Award contest.

Augustine lives and works in Venice.

Amazon author page: http://goo.gl/osU1VZ
Goodreads: http://goo.gl/NjAxV9

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Uncharted Territory, An Angela Panther Mystery By Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

Uncharted Territory, An Angela Panther Mystery
By Carolyn Ridder Aspenson
Genre: Mystery

Book Description

Suburban housewife Angela Panther didn’t want to communicate with the dead, but the universe had other plans… 

When an unidentified fourteen-year-old boy takes a dive off an interstate overpass, to solve the case, Atlanta area detective Aaron Banner calls on some unlikely help–from psychic medium Angela Panther. Banner knows she’s legit, and knows she’ll get to the truth about his junior John Doe–was the boy’s death suicide, or murder? The problem is, the spirit can’t remember who he was or the night he died, and to make matters worse, he doesn’t care. Instead, he convinces Angela to focus on another spirit, one different from Angela’s usual, garden-variety ghost. 

To complicate matters, Angela’s best friend Mel, newly single and on the prowl, has her sights set on the sexy Detective Banner, and Angela’s mother drives her even more crazy dead than alive. 

To solve the dead duo’s dilemmas, armed with little more than their double lattés and a tiny pink bottle of wannabe pepper spray, Angela and her sex-starved sidekick Mel must venture into the dark underbelly of Atlanta and come face-to-face with a gang of saggy-pantsed hoodlums ready to take them out. Will they make it out alive, or end up pushing up daisies alongside the spirits they’re trying to help? 

In UNCHARTED TERRITORY, AN ANGELA PANTHER MYSTERY, Carolyn Ridder Aspenson’s witty dialog between psychic medium Angela Panther and her best friend, Mel will keep you laughing out loud, while the tear-jerking scenes between the living and dead will leave you hoping the connection with those we love is never lost.





Author Bio

Carolyn Ridder Aspenson is a freelance writer and the Amazon and Barnes & Noble best-selling author of Unfinished Business, An Angela Panther Novel, Unbreakable Bonds, An Angela Panther Novel, Uncharted Territory, An Angela Panther Novel, the contemporary romance novella The Inn At Laurel Creek and Santa's Gift, a Cumming Christmas Novella. You can find Carolyn at carolynridderaspenson.com, on Facebook at Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, Author, and on Twitter @awritingwoman. Carolyn is published through Booktrope Editions.



Author Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1GsdGGV 
B&N: http://bit.ly/1OhKHO 
iTunes: http://apple.co/1JOyNDv
Website: carolynridderaspenson.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/carolynridderaspensonauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/awritingwoman



Monday, October 12, 2015

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: What Makes It Worthy By David Paul Kuhn

What Makes It Worthy
By David Paul Kuhn
Genre: General Fiction, Political Fiction


What Makes It Worthy is the personal story of Taylor Solomon and Cait Ellis. Taylor is a rising star at America's fastest-growing political media machine. Cait is a young New York Times reporter who wrestles with the shadow of her legendary mother. 

And it is an historic--yet familiar--campaign. The Republican, who hails from one of America's power clans and has long been in the national spotlight, seeks to become the first female president. Her Democratic opponent, a State Department veteran setting the election afire with populism, hopes to make his own history as the first Hispanic president. On the campaign trail, as ethics gray and events envelop politicians, operatives, and reporters--as Cait and Taylor struggle with how much distance must be accepted between their ideals and their choices--the political not only becomes personal, but also threatens to upend their lives, as well as the presidential campaign itself.

Written by well-known political journalist David Paul Kuhn, What Makes It Worthy is "a heartfelt page-turner that proves a good novel can both entertain you and inform you," in the words of former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.

The novel is also perhaps the most accurate depiction yet written about how the relationship between the media and the modern presidential campaign shapes American politics.



Author Bio:

David Paul Kuhn is a writer and political analyst living in New York City. He is the author of the political novel What Makes It Worthy—an “absorbing novel” that is “all too real” (political strategist James Carville), “captivating” (novelist Matthew Thomas), “a genuinely tender love story” (Kirkus Reviews).

Kuhn has held senior writing positions across the political-media landscape, from Politico to RealClearPolitics to CBSnews.com. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, among other publications, and regularly appears on networks ranging from BBC to Fox News. As the Macmillan Speakers Bureau described him, “David Paul Kuhn is an expert analyst of presidential and gender politics.” He is also the author ofThe Neglected Voter, which General Wes Clark called “a brilliantly insightful analysis of American politics.”



Links:

Website: www.DavidPaulKuhn.com
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Nx3dkX
FB: http://on.fb.me/1LtBQFa 
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1ERAkrv



The author is giving away a $20 Amazon Gift Card: 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, October 10, 2015

GUEST POST: The House on Sunset by Lindsay Fischer

GUEST POST: The House on Sunset by Lindsay Fischer


The House on Sunset
By Lindsay Fischer
Genre: Memoir

Lindsay Fischer was once a high school English teacher with dreams stretching far outside the classroom. When her boyfriend of a year-and-a-half cheated on her, Lindsay found herself alone, looking online for a replacement. His name was Mike.
That’s where the nightmare started.
The House on Sunset is a memoir, a collection of reminiscences, scattering the ashes of two broken homes and putting them to rest. Each chapter offers a different glimpse inside the cycle of intimate partner violence, where honeymoon phases and traumas coexist.
Everyone could fall victim to abusers. This book bravely displays the reasons a quirky, twenty-something teacher would, and did.






You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better – Anne Lamott

It’s easy to say you’ll give your guts with the world, but a strong desire to tell your reality doesn’t always make it simple to detail the hardest moments in your life.

Especially for trauma survivors.

There’s a guilt associated with giving away intimate family secrets or, in my case, moments that diminished my tough façade for the softer, more vulnerable me. I survived an abuser who wrecked my life in far more ways than just emotionally.
Physical, sexual, financial and spiritual abuse all intermingled in such a disastrous way I didn’t realize they were happening until it was too late.

Yet when it came time to heal, I was terrified to share my story. Maybe my family and friends wouldn’t understand why they needed to be a part of my abuse memoir, especially when
I’d pushed them out of my life (read: he alienated me from everyone who kept me strong).
And then there’s the part of owning up to my mistakes, my imperfections and shame and regret.

Yeah.

Writing what’s scary is telling the truth, but in some ways I felt I was betraying others, and I debated the value of putting my story out there. Was it really worth all of the emotional aftermath I might face?
With a commitment to finish my first draft, I told myself I didn’t have to publish if I didn’t want, and that helped ease the tension enough to get the pain out of my head. Butt in chair. Just write already, okay?

Fast forward to six months later, after a bit of editing and a ton of shitty moments of self-doubt, and I was going through the motions of cover design, finding a formatter, and creating a book trailer. Though it seemed the book would breathe on its own, fears of what if still harassed me.
I think every writer deals with this in some way, even if their books are fiction: we question our bravery and conviction as much as we question syntax or plot lines.

Here’s what I know:
Writing The House on Sunset was difficult, but not nearly as hard as actually publishing it. I say this, however, with the reality of publication behind me and a much larger appreciation for what delving into the blackness provides, because as soon as I faced my fear, wrote, and published anyway, the real magic happened.

All of the stress, the heartbreak and trauma, all of the resentment I might have had for other people or situations, vanished.

For the first time since leaving my abuser, I truly felt free of the shame I’d carried on my back. No more hiding, no more secrets.

Just me being authentic, raising awareness, and providing what I knew I could contribute to the world.

Did every person on each page love what was written? No. But they behaved appropriately, asking me questions about their participation and we squashed their anger or confusion as fast as it came, and some of the relationships I questioned the most have been repaired or even grown strong.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you can and can’t write. Never stop yourself from the generosity of sharing your story, because there are people who need to read yours before they are ready to share their own. If someone has a problem with what you’re writing, it’s more than likely a them issue, something you can’t control one way or another, and there’s always time to heal whatever negativity pops up (or not, your choice).

You own your story so what you do with it should always be up to you, and if you’re authentic and your heart is in the right place, nothing should stop you from helping the people who need to hear your voice so they can begin to use their own again.




Author Bio:

Lindsay Fischer graduated from Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in secondary education, English. An avid reader and learner, Lindsay took her passion for words into a classroom before starting a writing career. Life pulled her from the classroom, providing an opportunity to use her voice against domestic violence, blogging under the pseudonym, Sarafina Bianco, since 2009.

You can find her words at survivorswillbeheard.com and speak directly to her when she hosts #domesticviolencechat on Twitter. Lindsay hopes to be an advocate for women, men and children who still live inside the nightmare of their abuse.

She currently lives with her husband and three dogs, including Watson, in St. Louis, Missouri.


Links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/survivorswillbeheard
Twitter: @LinsFischer
Author Site: survivorswillbeheard.com
Instagram: @lindsaycapo
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1QPucX0 
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1N9cHDu 


Monday, October 5, 2015

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Taking on Water By David Rawding

Taking on Water
By David Rawding
Genre: Mystery, Thriller


When James Morrow, a social worker, first meets Kevin Flynn, he suspects the teen is being abused. To learn more about Kevin’s home life, he gets to know the boy’s father, Tucker, who’s a lobsterman. James is able to put his suspicions to rest, and the two families begin to form a friendship.

When a kid at the local recreation center dies of an overdose, Detective Maya Morrow adds the case to the long list related to the drug problem plaguing the small New Hampshire coastal town of Newborough. But her investigation gets her much too close to the dangerous players. 

Both the Morrows and the Flynns are holding dark secrets, and when their lives collide, tragedy is inevitable.  







My Review:

Taking on Water is a fast-paced and intense thriller. I was lured into the dark world of the fishermen and drug runners. Mr. Rawding’s vast experience in the world of commercial fishing shows through in his writing. This novel screams of desperation and survival. I want the poor to thrive, but to what degree? Rawding isn’t afraid for his readers to feel the pain as he leads us into deadly situations. I am excited to read more work by David Rawding. Brutal and shocking. Loved it. Five stars.







Author Bio

David Rawding has a BA in English from the University of New Hampshire and an MFA in fiction from Southern New Hampshire University. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and his short stories have been published in numerous literary journals and magazines.  

David spent three years as a fly-fishing guide in Alaska, worked several years at a non-profit for at-risk youth, was an online adjunct professor, and has a litany of other jobs in his wake. When he’s not writing, he enjoys traveling the world with a backpack and a fly rod.




Follow David online








Thursday, October 1, 2015

BOOK SPOTLIGHT & REVIEW: Time’s Alibi By Husky Harlequin

Time’s Alibi
By Husky Harlequin
Genre: SciFi, political thriller, alternate history, mystery


Description

Cancer.  Undetected, it relentlessly devours its host until there is nothing left. Andrew Acheson's grandfather has been searching for a cure since a rare blood born pathogen claimed the life of his beloved wife.

Family. If damaged, it can be the breeding ground for social disease. Greed infected the Acheson clan long ago.  David Acheson, the patriarch, has been missing for over a year and is presumed to be dead. Murdered? Kidnapped? The FBI has no leads. David's heirs can't wait to get their filthy fingers on his pharmaceutical empire.  


Discovery.  If misunderstood, it has the power to destroy.  Andrew desires the success and love that have painfully eluded him.  Without his grandfather's guidance, he may never find it.  Suddenly thrust into the center of a conflict with historic consequences, Andrew might be able to survive if he can overcome his flaws, both inherited and self-inflicted.  But first, he must find his grandfather and deal with David's most dangerous invention yet:  time travel.


My Review:


This is a cool saga, and I was intrigued from the very first page! It opens on the Acheson family waiting to get their collective dirty hands on Grandfather’s fortune. Then comes an exploratory into the Acheson's history, through the eyes of grandson Andrew. The author's colorful narrative and rich descriptions examines this familie's secrets, hopes, tragedies, and the mystery surrounding a missing father. It’s tough to give a synopsis of the plot of this fine book without giving anything away, and my recommendation is to read it right away! I loved it, and Husky Harlequin’s writing is exemplary!  4.5 stars.



Author Bio

Husky is a lawyer, poet, musician, chemist, and writer from the Philadelphia area.  His high school literature class blew up his brain, exposing a love for story telling.  He's circling back now.  He can't argue in court like Mitch McDeer, drop rhymes like Mother Goose, rock like Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, or leverage his skills in the lab like Walter White, but he can write better than Kilgore Trout.  Husky is a lover of ideas, progressive thoughts, and mankind.


Links:

Twitter:  @HuskyHarlequin
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1Hjspq9
Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1KyiZe3
Goodreads:  http://bit.ly/1HCB7D7
Website:  www.HuskyHarlequin.com
Blog:  http://blog.huskyharlequin.com




BOOK BLITZ: The Grand Dissolute By Joel Van Valin

The Grand Dissolute
By Joel Van Valin


The year is 1998 and Jimmy Pagley is falling in love—with a pretty, foreign cafe waitress named Haydee. What he doesn't know is that Haydee is a temvelar, a time traveler from the 29th century, on a mission to find her old mentor. Soon Jimmy and Haydee find themselves caught up in a dark conspiracy of rogue temvelars and government agents, on a search that leads through airports and space stations, art museums and suburban bakyards, Greek temples and Medieval castles, and beyond time itself. The Grand Dissolute is a traveler's portrait of a tumultuous, romantic age—our own.


Author Bio

Joel Van Valin is the author of the fantasy novel, The Flower of Clear Burning and the publisher of Whistling Shade literary journal.  He lives with his wife Lisa, a veterinarian, in St. Paul.



Links:

Author Page on Publisher site: http://www.5princebooks.com/joelvanvalin.html