Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W. Ihli New Book Release

 

Help me congratulate Noelle on her newest release! Here’s the blurb:

Ten children, abducted in broad daylight—and buried alive.

Sage and her sister won’t make it home from school today. Neither will the other children on Bus 315. But that’s only the beginning of the nightmare.

New bus driver Jessa blames herself for what happened. She couldn’t protect the kids she was supposed to deliver to daycare, just like she couldn’t protect her own daughter three years ago. But this time, everything will be different. It has to be.

Trapped in a shipping container buried twenty feet underground, Jessa and the children do their best to stay calm. The kidnappers insist that if everyone behaves, they’ll be freed when the ransom is paid. But Sage isn’t sure they’ll last that long. Neither is Jessa. It’s dark and cramped, and with every passing minute it’s getting harder to breathe.

With time—and air—running thin, Jessa and the children must find a way to outsmart their captors, or face an unthinkable fate.

Such Quiet Girls was inspired by actual events.

The Broken Ones by Carla Kovach Book Review

DI Harte seems to have her hands full with this one. She and PC Wyre have just returned from an uneventful weekend, other than PC Wyre having undergone a relationship breakup. This tale centers around a dating app – AppyDater. There are crimes, there are smiley faces given through the app, there are personal relationships that are being looked at, there are trying to be helpful but not helpful young adults.

There is also a definite vibe to this tale … and not in a good way. I liked that aspect of this particular read. I mean … black boots suddenly appearing when a character least expects them … someone lurking in the bushes just out of sight, or was there? Red herrings all throughout, making me think the whodunnit was X and then thinking it was Y. I was off base in my thinking of who did it.

This is book eight in this 17-book (so far) series. My first in this series. For you series readers, I suspect these can all be read as standalones as this one was, with everything tied up in the end … well, other than DI Harte’s personal relationship with Briggs.

The Organ Broker by Deven Greene Blog Tour and Book Review

 

I picked this book out to read because I was intrigued by the title – kind of gives you a sense of what you might find between the pages. Essentially, I wasn’t wrong.

Derek and Crystal, a married couple, are involved in an organization they started called STOP, an organization that was created to Stop Transplants of Organs from Prisoners. Pretty good premise, right? It sure made for a different kind of read, and not in a bad way. Broker Al is the one who organizes who the organs go to, which inmates to target, essentially the (ahem) organ broker. His angle – money – to help finance his other organizations – basically, Broker Al has the rich folks in his pocket helping pull some strings.

Immediately upon starting this tale, I did not like Derek … at all. I did not find him to have any redeeming qualities. I was not wrong in my assessment of him. I normally don’t feel that way so strongly about a fictional character, but Derek … he definitely gave off some bad vibes.

Crystal, Derek’s wife. She was faced with some pretty tough decisions. This story calls into question the lengths of what a mother would go through to help her own child, especially being a founder of STOP. She also was faced with what to do about Derek when she started discovering things she never knew. Crystal was feeling all sorts of stuck in place until she met Britt, a journalist who was hoping to write an uncovering the truth kind of story about the above-mentioned organ transplants. Britt and Crystal, not to spoil anything, were given the opportunity of a second-chance romance.

Cordelia, Derek and Crystal’s daughter. At the introduction of Cordelia and what happened to her, I kind of figured out how this story would go. I wasn’t wrong. The more her story unfolded, and the more Derek’s story unfolded, I kind of figured out what path this story would go down.

But here’s the thing … Crystal’s moral dilemma. That facet really calls into question what someone would do when faced with the decisions Crystal was faced with. It really made me stop and think – what would I do? Was Crystal wrong in her choices? Overall, I liked all the backstories, the animosity between characters, the good guys, the bad guys, Cordelia’s story, Derek’s unraveling (he’s just not a nice guy). All of these combined kept me turning the pages to see how things turned out.

Find Ms. Greene:

Website: https://www.devengreene.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DevenGreeneFiction/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/deven-greene

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17491802

 

Purchase Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Organ-Broker-Deven-Greene-ebook/dp/B0DSKRWKWD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=N6MAG5VFGUQ7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qei1569kzaitgVSF-9xw9w.a65-rjGFxTss4HCc3Q37Z8uFbkS4lt7EHhNHO5Wz4G8&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+organ+broker+deven+greene&qid=1742824688&sprefix=the+organ+broker%2Caps%2C213&sr=8-1

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-organ-broker-deven-greene/1146979492?ean=9781964620060

 

Interested in your own book tour?

Partners in Crime: https://www.partnersincrimetours.net/

Need a proofreader? I’ve got you covered - https://www.melissaproofs.com/

 

 

 

The Other Sister by Jessica R. Patch New Release and Book Review

 

Help me congratulate Jessica on new newest release! Here’s the blurb:

She thought she was the only one lying about her identity. Until she stepped into her sister’s life.

Charlotte Kane has always dreamed of a different life, one where she isn’t living paycheck to paycheck. An existence worlds away from the chaos of her own. Then her estranged mother dies, and Charlotte makes a stunning discovery—she has an identical twin who was given up for adoption.

Acelynn Benedict is polished, successful and seems to have everything Charlotte yearns for—a wealthy, doting family in Savannah, a handsome boyfriend, a great career. She’s just as surprised as Charlotte to learn she has a sister. But when tragedy hits and Charlotte is forced to assume Acelynn’s identity in a desperate moment, she uncovers something altogether darker…

No one in her sister’s life is quite who they seem to be. And every discovery leads Charlotte deeper into a web of deadly secrets. Charlotte may have wanted Acelynn’s life, yet now that she’s living it, she wants out. But if she reveals the truth about herself, it will mean returning to her old life—and she’s already a dead woman there.

 

MY REVIEW:

This is the kind of book I like to read – one that keeps you guessing.

I liked the twisted and somewhat dark narrative to this tale of Charlotte (Char) discovering a truth about herself – the truth that she had a twin sister. Obviously, this came as a shock to her and apparently to her twin – Acelynn.

Acelynn Benedict … the rich one, the sister who seemingly had it all.

Wait until you meet Acelynn’s friend group – the group calls themselves The Pinks.

There are the brothers and the parents. Each of them holding onto their own secrets.

Along the way of meeting her twin, Charlotte finds herself in a situation she never thought she’d be in, so she had to run, which is something Charlotte was very good at. She had to leave behind her best friend, Tillie, because of what happened to Tommy, the third friend in this circle.

There are a lot of characters that make up the pages of this tale, but they each have a role in the telling. I found there to be quite a lot of ups and downs, twists and turns, dark vibes, lying, family discord … the big reveal was not what I was expecting at all. And that ending? There has to be more to this tale. I found the ending to be a cliffhanger that I was not expecting. A double twist for an ending, to me, for sure.

 

The Day She Died by Shannon Hollinger New Book Release

 

\Help me congratulate Shannon on her newest release! Here’s the blurb:

Maggie’s heart pounds as she clutches the autopsy report. What she’s reading is impossible. Yesterday, a woman died in a fire. But her remains belong to someone who died twenty years ago.

When the body of Ruby Anderson is found in a burnt-out trailer, Chief Maggie Riley is called to solve the biggest case Coyote Cove has ever seen. Ruby supposedly drowned on a kayaking trip twenty years ago—how could she have been alive today?

For years there have been whispers about how Ruby died. There was one witness who swore they saw the river drag Ruby away. Ruby’s body was never found, and she was presumed dead.

But when the autopsy report is returned, Maggie makes a shocking discovery. It shows that Ruby never drowned at all. She’d been hiding in plain sight for the past twenty years. Who was she hiding from and why would they want her dead?

As Maggie unravels the web of lies around Ruby’s murder, she discovers that the witness to Ruby’s drowning is her closest colleague at the Coyote Cove Police Department. And they’re protecting a dark secret from Ruby’s past that Maggie must uncover before anyone else loses their life.

But how deep do the lies around Ruby’s death truly go? With no one to trust, Maggie needs to uncover a deadly secret alone and it lies at the heart of the police force. How much will she have to sacrifice to discover the truth?

Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray Blurb and Book Review (Re-Post)

 

BLURB:

She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it…

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.

Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.

When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.

But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.

Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.

 

MY REVIEW:

I am not a history buff by any means. And, I usually do not like reading in the historical genre. To me, a historical read needs to be interesting to hold my attention. I don’t like books that are filled with so many facts and figures that my mind spins.

I found myself to be quite invested in the tale of Miss Frances Perkins whom I have never heard of until now. This book documents her personal life as well as her life in the political world, which was quite unheard of back in the early 1900s. This book really sets a tone for the time period and brings to life Miss Perkins and her struggles.

To say I really enjoyed the reading of this tale would be an understatement. I was able to get a ‘real feel’ of Miss Perkins and her personality, her struggles with the political world and her home life. I liked the fact that her husband’s illness was handled delicately and with discretion as was appropriate to the time. I even enjoyed reading about her reactions when she would be offered a job because, again, it was unheard of for a woman to be in the political realm in the time period.

We have Miss Perkins to thank for a lot of things that women are entitled to in this day and age. Read it … you won’t be disappointed.

Her One Mistake by Heidi Perks Book Review

It would appear I now have another go-to author on my growing list of favorite authors. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I’m sure it won’t be my last. I devoured most of this one in one sitting. I was that intrigued and invested in the story of Harriet and Charlotte.

Charlotte is the best friend of Harriet, in fact the only friend of Harriet. Harriet moved to Dorset at her husband Brian’s insistence. It all started when Charlotte was tasked with taking Alice, Harriet and Brian’s daughter, to a school fair. How wrong that went! Charlotte herself had some issues that she also kept buried.

Harriet asked Charlotte to take Alice to the fair because she was enrolled in a bookkeeping class. These two things, leaving Alice with someone else and the class, were different for Harriet being somewhat of a recluse. Why did Harriet ask Charlotte to watch Alice when she had never left Alice with anyone before? Harriet also found out a truth that she was least expecting.

Brian … the husband. He certainly gives off some vibes that are none too pleasant.

Angela … the police liaison. I think she was picking up more going on in Brian and Harriet’s relationship than she actually admitted to.

Detective Rawlings … she sure had some eyerolling moments trying to get to the truth.

This tale is told in the voice of Charlotte and the voice of Harriet, and I was impressed with the differences in the two voices but the same storyline as to what happened. This is the kind of book I like to read – one that keeps you guessing until the end. I thought I had this one figured out, wrong. Then, I thought I had it figured out again, wrong.

I will add that this tale of master manipulation may be triggering to some readers who have ‘been there, done that.’ I found myself relating to Harriet regarding being manipulated by Brian with words alone, not many books have affected me on that level. Please know if you have experienced anything like that you are seen, you are heard, you are valued.

What's Left Unsaid by Emily Bleeker Book Review

 

Hannah … I had to admire this journalist’s persistence and resilience. She found herself without a job, without a boyfriend, without a steady place to be. Off she goes to Senatobia to take care of her mamaw (grandmother). Along the way, she finds a new job, a few new friends, and a story she cannot let go.

Hannah was ‘banished’ to the basement to put all the old files into a computer system. In the boringness of doing this task, she ran across a letter from a woman named Evelyn. To say it piqued her interest is mild. This was it! This was her chance to redeem herself.

Senatobia is a town in Mississippi, and Evelyn’s story was from the 1930s. Way back then … well, let’s just say some folks haven’t changed their minds in today’s world about certain things, so when Hannah forms a friendship with Guy, the local schoolteacher, some folks didn’t approve. I, personally, was rooting for them! I enjoyed reading about the attraction these two had for each other, yet they didn’t know what to do about it. Their budding relationship was full of ups and downs.

Hannah also was dealing with a lot of self-doubt which would throw her mind into a bunch of chaos.

But, chasing Evelyn’s story gave her purpose, gave her something to cling to, gave her someone she could relate to (granted Evelyn was long-since gone).

I had no idea that this story was actually based on a true story from the author’s own family tree until I read the Acknowledgements. That made it, to me at least, more interesting. What happened to Evelyn way back then, or to anyone, should not have happened. I was actually shocked when the big reveal of what happened to her was revealed.

In this story, you’ll find politics, broken relationships, healing relationships, major family dynamics, an attraction between two people who didn’t know what to do with that attraction, healing for Hannah, personal growth for Hannah, the closing of the newspaper the Record which was kind of healing in a sense, and a perseverance to find a truth that no one wanted exposed.

Murder in the Appalachians by Susan Furlong New Release and Book Review

 

Help me congratulate Susan on her newest release! Here’s the blurb:

On the run in the mountains…

with a killer on their trail.

After unearthing secrets from her late brother’s police notebook, journalist Emma Hayes discovers his death was no accident—he was murdered. Only someone doesn’t want Emma to find out the connection to the cold case her brother was investigating…and they’ll kill to keep it that way. Now Emma must rely on local ER doctor Logan Greer to help her stay alive and follow a trail of elusive evidence. But as they unravel a conspiracy, they realize that the killer could be anyone hiding in the mountains…

 

My Review:

This book started out like I like mysteries to start … with Emma getting right into the heart of matters. Her twin brother, Daniel, has left her some clues in a notebook in one of their childhood hiding spots and someone decided they wanted the information contained within said notebook.

Following her brother’s clues, Emma finds herself in all kinds of trouble and meets the handsome Logan Greer, the local ER doctor, but Logan has his own set of issues and wasn’t expecting to meet anyone as captivating to him as Emma.

I enjoyed reading about how Emma and Logan went in search of clues, how Sheriff Pruitt was getting exasperated with these two amateur detectives, how some of the local characters were involved, and finally who the whodunnit turned out to be. I liked all the intertwining backstories and how each of these characters battled with their faith, coming full circle to an ending that was satisfying to me as a reader. Emma and Logan have just the right amount of attraction for my particular reading taste, the right amount of inner struggles with their faith. I also liked the pacing of this tale and all the ‘smaller’ characters that helped bring color to the telling of this tale.

Tempest of Annabel's Lighthouse by Jaime Jo Wright New Release

 

Help me congratulate Jaime on her newest release! Here’s the blurb:

Where the lighthouse no longer illuminates, ghostly lore and legends emerge . . .

1874
A battered woman awakens atop a forgotten gravesite by Lake Superior's southern shore. Identified only by the locket around her neck inscribed with the name Rebecca, she seeks refuge with an elderly lighthouse keeper. But as Rebecca struggles to remember who she is, she finds herself haunted by the lingering memories of Annabel, a mysterious woman who perished in the lake's unforgiving waves years earlier. With the spirit of Annabel seemingly reawakened, and an unknown adversary on the hunt to silence Rebecca once and for all, more is at stake than reclaiming her own memories. Rebecca must reclaim Annabel's as well.

Present Day
Author and researcher Shea Radclyffe escapes to the lighthouse outside a historic Michigan mining town to seek clarity about her failing marriage. Instantly drawn to the lighthouse's landlord, Shea contends with the legend of Annabel's vengeful ghost and a superstitious community that has buried the truth about a current murder. As the secrets harbored around Annabel's lighthouse unravel, Shea must navigate a fight between torn loyalty, self-discovery, and the haunting forces of love.

. . . demanding vengeance for secrets that should have drowned a century before.

No Rest for the Wicked by Wes Blalock New Release

 

Help me congratulate Wes on his new release! Here are the details:

National Parks are thought of as places of safety, right before people disappear into the woods, run off the edge of a cliff, or find themselves impaled on the wrong end of an elk. But while tourists may view parks as nothing more than playgrounds or theme parks with more mosquitoes, the wilderness offers ample shadows where motives can be hidden, evidence can be lost, and dangerous people can conduct their nefarious affairs. Accompany Cary Valley National Park Law Enforcement Park Ranger Huittsuu “Birdie” McLaren as she protects visitors to California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains and:

• Rescues CalFire Firefighters cut off—accidentally or by design—by a raging wildfire.
• Hangs off the side of a mountain after the rescue of a climber goes horribly wrong.
• Recovers the body of a woman who died in a suspicious fall.
• Finds footprints in the snow that lead to a deeper, darker secret.
• Tracks a mysterious, deadly animal loose in the park, its presence already responsible for one visitor death.
• Moonlights as a dishwasher following a traumatic event, only to discover a newer, uglier truth.
• Finds a special young woman searching for answers to a century old mystery.
• Leads a posse of deputies into the burning wilderness to capture a group of runaway prisoners.
• Is snatched by sadistic killers and must fight to find a way out.
• Learns the depths of love and loss while investigating the death of a family in the park.
• Assists in tracking a kidnapper and his victim in a desperate race to save a young girl.

Plus, join some of Birdie’s allies, acquaintances, and friends as they feature in their own stories included in this collection.