Couldn't Wait to Read Maze of Souls

Well I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning last night.  Not to work on my upcoming release.  Not to edit.  No, I discovered right before bedtime that the latest Ellie Jordan novel had been quietly released.  No big announcement.  No fanfare.

So I thought I'd create a little of my own.

Once again, I posted a review this morning/noonish on Amazon and am cutting and pasting said review here.  Enjoy!

Book Blurb:
It's October, and down at newly opened Pine Hollow Farm, the ghosts are running wild!. This “genuine” old-time family farm offers a big heap of fun fall activities. You can drink cider fresh from the orchard, enter a pumpkin-carving contest, and explore the five-acre corn maze. At night, if you aren't too scared, join the haunted hayride through the woods, featuring a genuine eighteenth-century cemetery. According to local legend, the ghost of a horseman has ridden the old dirt road through the woods for nearly two centuries, menacing travelers. Hayriders beware!

Then the real ghosts start to come out, threatening visitors to the farm and the family who live there. Paranormal detective Ellie Jordan travels out to the remote farm to root out the dangerous spirits. Ellie and her assistant Stacey must move fast, because the night is coming when all ghosts will be at full strength and free to roam—the night of Halloween.

My Review:
I just saw the book was available last night, bought it, and stayed up half the night reading it. One thing I like about this series is that they are not so short you feel ripped off, and yet they are long enough to give you a good flavor of the story and the characters within the situation they find themselves. They can easily be read in a handful of hours or less - and I enjoyed this one better than book 5, though still not as much as the earlier novels.

Ellie continues to wrestle with fevered dreams of Anton Clay, the pyromaniac spirit who killed her parents when she was younger, and he will never stop until he has Ellie too. Working to trap or chase off other ghosts helps to keep her mind off of this one particular ghost. But work also has complications of its own when Calvin, her boss, tells her the sale of the business to a paranormal investigating conglomerate is a go. Now her surrogate father is moving far away, and Ellie feels as if she's being fed to the wolves.

Thank God she still has sidekicks in Stacey, her technical assistant, Jacob, their accountant psychic, and Michael, her firefighter boyfriend. But in this segment, many of the relationships are about to change.

About an hour from Savannah, a family farm near a small town has seen the ghostly activity pick up when they decide to try to make the inherited farm profitable by hosting a Halloween oriented pumpkin patch, corn maze, and haunted woods, turning the once sleepy property into the latest in agri-entertainment. But the ghosts are not happy about the hundreds of roaming strangers or the family occupying the farmstead and interrupting their nocturnal activities - and things become so dangerous the family has to close up shop. Ellie, Stacey and Jacob definitely have their hands full with this one, and with so many ancient ghosts Ellie begins to wonder if this will be a haunting the spirits will win.

Like I said, I enjoyed this story more than the last one because we once again were brought back to Ellie's personal struggles with the mystery surrounding the loss of her parents, the ghost of Anton Clay, and the question of what will happen to her now that Calvin has made the sale of his business official. We are nicely led along as the mystery unfolds by showing the reader instead of resorting to too much telling.

However, to a weirdo like me who reads too much and who knows too many things about history, the mystery was very easy to deduce. And the other situation (sorry, can't say anymore without giving something away) was so obvious from the start that I couldn't believe Ellie or Jacob didn't pick up on it at all, what with Jacob being psychic. In other words, there was little here that didn't turn out as expected. But I still enjoyed the story and was rather freaked out by how a couple of things were portrayed. Shiver me timbers!

There was also a sense that this story was rushed without fully fleshing out some of the characters (particularly the family and that whole dynamic) as in previous books, situations that weren't adequately investigated, etc. But the biggest issue I had with this novel is that editing appears to have been quite rushed. I was very surprised at some of the more basic mistakes such as words missing, transposed, or the wrong word used (like bad instead of bed for one). There were also two very glaring continuity issues that stuck out. On one page, we're told Ellie heard back from Grant and that the property was too far away to be part of the Savannah area historical records. But then a few page turns later, Ellie is still waiting to hear back from Grant. Then toward the end, Calvin is driving his specially rigged truck and the next page Ellie is turning the corner and is now driving. Easy fixes, but not up to the standards previously set by this series, and that is the only reason I bring them up.

Did I like this story better than the last one? Yes. As much of the first four? No. Do I wish some of the characters and situations were a little better fleshed out? Yes. But did I enjoy reading the story and getting another little taste of history? Yes. And for that I give this sixth novel in the Ellie Jordan series four stars.

Purchase by clicking here on Amazon Barnes and Noble and wherever else eBooks are sold.

Author Bio:
J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on the English Renaissance and the Romantic period. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He enjoys remixing elements of paranormal, supernatural, fantasy, horror and science fiction into new kinds of stories. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, his son, and some dogs and cats.

To hear about future books by J.L. Bryan, sign up for his new release newsletter: http://eepurl.com/mizJH

Website: www.jlbryanbooks.com

Twitter: @jlbryanbooks

Reviews Announcement

After four years, I will no longer accept unsolicited requests from other authors for reviews and interviews concerning their novels.  It is unfortunate so many do not understand the subjectivity of reviews and the constructive and helpful feedback I've endeavored to offer free of charge.  However, I will continue to work with a select few authors with whom I've developed relationships and whose novels I know are well-written and have enjoyed (you know who you are).  I will also continue to post reviews of novels I have personally purchased and liked.  For now, it is time for me to focus on my editing services and my own writing.

Life is Never Easy in Desiree Prosapio's MATCHBOOK

Last post we discussed in one book that current and rather divisive topic - illegal immigration.  Since we're on sensitive issues, why not discuss another dicey subject for today's post?

That of the plight of the homeless.

You may have your idea and ideals all wrapped up in a nice big bow, however this is another issue that has no real easy answers.  There are a myriad reasons people and families end up on the streets - and none of them are pretty.

So with that in mind, let's experience life on the street through the pages of Desiree Prosapio's recent psychological thriller release MATCHBOOK.  Take a deep breath.  Ready?  Set?  Dive in!

Book Blurb:
"I didn't have the attitude for the world's oldest profession. Or the shoes."

Meet Carol Lassiter, wisecracking, streetwise heroine of Matchbook. Emotionally lost after her daughter Ella's alleged suicide, Carol goes deep underground with no plans of resurfacing. But when a matchbook with a phone number scrawled inside is dropped into her "donations" box, Carol is plunged into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a mystery man who dangles a dramatically different story of Ella's death. But could he have a more sinister agenda? Carol wanders the underbelly of the city in search of the truth—and a nice rum and Coke—until Ella's secrets catch up with her and she must question her tenuous sanity.

Set on the streets of San Antonio, Matchbook is a compelling psychological thriller, as witty and entertaining as it is gripping.

A psychological thriller that will take you on an emotionally immersive ride with hope, friendship, humor, and gripping action set on the streets of San Antonio.

My Review:
Some heavy material here, folks.  Even so, there are moments of witty humor - Carol hasn't completely lost herself to the mean streets of homelessness and despair yet. 

After losing her daughter in a supposed heroin overdose, Carol's world crumbles.  The police close the case, but a mother's heart can't let it rest - especially because Ella was always championing those lost to drugs and booze.  Ella use drugs?  Not a chance.  So what really happened?

A year later, Carol is destitute after spending everything she had on a private investigator, whose only interest in the case was milking a grieving mother dry.  The mortgage turned upside down.  The credit cards maxed out.  Then the proverbial final straw hit the haystack and Carol lost her job.

Whoosh!  In one fell swoop, Carol is thrust into the streets.  Two years later, she's finally learned a few things about survival - if you want to call it that.  But she's jarred from her bottled bereavement when someone leaves a book of matches in her donation box while she lay passed out on the sidewalk.

Inside is a phone number.  On the line is a voice.  Something familiar about it niggles the dark recesses of her mind, but Carol isn't sure she's ready to tackle the demons that surface until the voice mentions the one person she can't forget.

"...I knew Ella.  I know what happened..."

When the voice begins to lead her on a path around San Antonio, retracing the last moments of her daughter's life, Carol's world is once again turned upside down - and this time, she may not have the strength to claw her way back from the truth.

Like I said - some heavy material here, however presented with some colorful characters to keep Carol teetering on the edge to avoid falling over the cliffs into insanity.  We're immediately thrust into the homeless world in the opening pages then follow along with Carol's discovery of what happened to her daughter.  A nice job of showing, weaving the past into the story along the way and making Carol a sympathetic figure without making her a pathetic soul.  There's still humanity and a tenor of true strength beneath that hardened exterior.  The world hasn't claimed her yet.

Point-of-view stays with Carol in first person, and we get a clear picture of who she is now and gradually see who she used to be.  Along the way we get to see several of her fellow homeless, Maurice being my absolute favorite.  He was such a hoot! 

Though the plot was mostly engaging, the pace was uneven and plodding at times - not a true thriller and more in line with the suspense/mystery genre.  This uneven pacing was especially the case once we finished Part One and switched over to Part Two.  For the first several scenes of P2, it felt like a different novel entirely, which pulled this reader from the story for far too long and caused me to almost quit reading.  However, eventually the main storyline did pick back up, though it remained somewhat disjointed.

The ending was a bit of a disappointment.  We had the old hat of the tired and overused antagonist's reveal where he explains why he did it - which was really no surprise.

Content Warning:  Some occasional rough language, but used sparingly.  The subject matter of homelessness and drug/alcohol abuse probably would be too heavy for young teens, but older teens (16+) might be okay if they enjoy reading about deep subjects and a middle-aged mother's insights.

Overall a thought-provoking read, but not a thriller.  A definite genre misclassification.  Good POV and characterization with nice showing are pluses.  I really enjoyed the first half of the novel, however very uneven pacing in the second half and a trite ending leave me with a rating of three stars.

Pick up a copy at Amazon.

Author Bio:
Desireé Prosapio is an award-winning writer, humorist, and a force for good in the universe. She writes in multiple genres including mystery, thriller, humor, and parenting.

In life, Desireé is novel, yet approachable; weird, but not in a way that frightens small children or dogs. She has, at one point in her life worked in a planetarium, been a test rider on the world's tallest waterslide, jumped out of a perfectly functioning airplane, and ridden a bucking horse across a field without being thrown (though it was touch-and-go for a few moments).

Her novels strike a chord with readers by creating a compelling connection between readers and the characters who live in her work; characters whose words linger in the night air like passionate fireflies, seeking union with the like-minded.

And they are page turners to boot.

Sign up for the mailing list for news on events, funny stories, links to resources, and general mayhem. http://eepurl.com/AL-RX

Or visit her website at http://www.wdprosapio.com

Three-For-One Night with Liz Coley

Don't you find, dear readers, that sometimes living gets in the way of even the most carefully laid plans?  But when loved ones call, we must always be available to answer.

I guess that's my excuse for not posting reviews these last couple of weeks.  In that case, get ready for a three-for-one moment.  That's right!  Today's post includes not just one but three reviews - one for each of the first three books in Liz Coley's Young Adult series about the greatest teen-aged heroine of our time.

Or at least that's probably the way Tor Maddox sees it.

So get ready to enjoy a three-for-all with the first book in the series TOR MADDOX:  UNLEASHED.

Book Blurb TOR MADDOX: UNLEASHED:
When sixteen-year old Torrance Olivia Maddox, self-confessed news junkie, figures out that the mysterious and deadly New Flu is being spread by dogs, she has one question—if the danger is that obvious to her, why hasn’t the government revealed the truth and taken action?

Her search for the answer will take her farther than she ever imagined. But then again, she never imagined that man’s best friend could become public enemy number one, that men in black might show up in her cozy suburban neighborhood, that she’d spend her sixteenth birthday as a teenaged runaway, and that her effort to save one dog would become a mission to save them all.

My Review:
Let me start by saying that I typically steer away from the YA genre.  The angst-ridden, besotted, silly fluff just doesn't do it for someone who is used to reading hard mysteries and thrillers.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find our heroine, Tor Maddox, to be a sharp thinking teen beyond her years - and the fact that she is a ballet dancer rather endeared her to this former pointe shoe clad girl.

So Tor, full name Torrance - yes, after the Southern California beach known for gnarly waves - is fifteen going on sixteen, who actually thinks like a woman going on thirty and is addicted to the news.  She has her nose to the grindstone at Poway High and surfs the news feeds for information in her off time where she stumbles across a blog supposedly about U.S. government secrets.  Her first instinct is to ignore the latest post about man's best friend soon to become enemy numero uno, but then strange things start to happen.

And her chocolate lab, Cocoa, becomes a target.

So when a strange and deadly flu virus makes the jump from canine to human, Tor is the right girl to piece the puzzle together as mandatory visits to the veterinarian lead her to do the unthinkable in order to save Cocoa's life - placing her in the sights of government officials and earning her a meeting with one of CNN's top journalists.

But it all goes horribly wrong.

In order to know more, you will have to read the book - and I highly recommend you do.

Yes, there are moments that are utterly ridiculous for a sixteen-year-old to accomplish - but hey, isn't it every teenager's dream to best the adults and save the world?  Tor uses her reasoning skills along with her physical skills to move the story along in a way that you forget you are dealing with a bunch of teenagers and simply allows the reader to enjoy a good story.

Plotting and pacing are excellent, the story opening with a layer of suspicion as Tor reads the most recent secret blog post.  The novel is told in first person and properly maintains Tor's POV throughout without devolving into more than just a basic level of telling to provide necessary backstory to our characters.  Once that is over, showing instead of telling moves along quickly as we follow the events as Tor experiences them, involving some hilarious moments when she is faced with her first government official meeting.  I don't remember a single issue with editing, so thumbs up from me.

Content Warning:   Except for perhaps one swear word and some sad moments involving canine companions, there is virtually nothing objectionable in this novel.

Teens of all ages will love living large and dangerous through Tor's antics.  Adults will enjoy the smart moments where Tor more than adequately puts the grey matter to the test.  Overall, this outing earns a well-deserved five stars from me.

Book Blurb TOR MADDOX: EMBEDDED:
Tor's adventures continue in this second book in the series.

Life has been way too quiet for Tor Maddox since her fifteen minutes of CNN fame. Then agent-in-training Rick Turner reappears with what sounds like a simple assignment—to embed herself as his eyes and ears in her own high school. When she agrees to keep tabs on high school state swim champ Hamilton Parker for the Feds, she is plunged into the deep end of a sinister plot. Knowing that freedom, justice, and lives are at stake again, Tor jumps in feet first, but has she gotten in over her head this time?

When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor’s first mission may blow up in her face.

My Review:
We're back at it with Tor in this second installment.  Along with turning sixteen comes that coveted little piece of plastic that screams FREEDOM like William Wallace never could.  You remember, don't you?

A driver's license!

But Tor's first outing behind the wheel without her parents ends in a multiple mishap she could never have foreseen - and brings hunky college boy and junior government agent, Rick Turner, striding back into her life to save her road privileges.  This time, he needs her sharp-thinking skills to assist him.

Oh boy, oh boy - Tor's first, real, live, government agent-type assignment.  To get close to a fellow student in her high school.

Boring!  But hey, this is Tor Maddox we're talking about.  The girl who thinks on her feet (and in her size eight pointe shoes).  The girl who finds trouble where none could possibly be found.  The girl who can't help but get everyone around her in trouble when they try to help, much to her parents' chagrin.

Tor's second adventure involves an issue straight off of the news screens - illegal immigration.  No matter which side of the fence you're on, this is not an issue with a straight black or white answer.  I have friends that immigrated here and spent years and thousands of dollars to do it in the legal manner.  Then I know several people who were brought here by their parents when they were young and had no say in the matter, living life along the periphery with children now of their own - and living in fear of what will happen to their legal children if they are discovered as being here illegally.  But then terrorists are known to use illegal immigration routes and team with coyotes, whose interests end with the money, to infiltrate the U.S. in order to wreak havoc.  It can be an emotionally charged issue, one Tor finds herself facing when the grandfather of her dancing nemesis is shipped back to Mexico and in Tor's pursuits, finds herself crawling through a tunnel underneath the border.

The story is again exciting and we get to see more of the interactions of high school life without it becoming too much of an angst-ridden hormonal mess.  Tor inserts herself into the lives of the swim team, specifically Hamilton, in order to discover what it is Hamilton's dad has in play concerning what's happening across the border.  In the process, her best friend Sasha's dance legs are ripped out from beneath him - quite literally - and he ends up spending most of this book in the hospital, which was a disappointment for me because he provided some necessary breaths of humor in book one.  Tor's brother, Rody, continues to show how capable he is in trying to keep his sister out of trouble while doing a lot of CYA for her with the parents.  And sparks continue to fly between Tor and Rick - which is a little difficult for me at times since he's twenty-one and she's barely sixteen.  At least this problem is addressed and dealt with early on in the book, though the connection these two have made the ending rather nice.  Just when you thought it was over, surprise!

Plotting and pacing are again handled well.  We follow along with Tor during her adventures, keeping the story moving along in showing mode instead of resorting to telling, which can be difficult to do in first person narration.  There's a little more teen angst here than in the first one, but the more mature subject matter of dealing with illegal immigration kept it from devolving into fluff.  I did find the characters of Hamilton and his dad to be a little extreme, falling into the caricature of bigoted redneck as very one-dimensional.  Maybe I just haven't been exposed to such an extreme in real life, but it felt to me a bit overwrought with no balance or redeeming qualities.  Only one or two minor editing errors revealed in this one.

Content Warning:  There are a few more and varied cuss words in this second outing, but probably much less than anything teens already hear in school.  There's the whole lying to parents thing and using one's siblings and friends for CYA that rubs me a little the wrong way - then again, I'm a parent. :-)  A potential relationship between a twenty-something and teenager is probably many girls' dreams, but it isn't gratuitous.

Overall, another smart read for teens and adults.  I give this one four stars.

Book Blurb TOR MADDOX: MISTAKEN:
Tor's investigations and adventures continue in this third book in the Tor Maddox series.

Eight leotards and a ball gown—that’s what Tor Maddox packed for her summer ballet intensive in New York. Pity she never arrived. Kidnapped once by the good guys and once by the bad ones, Tor finds herself involved in a high seas adventure featuring princesses and pirates, a wedding ring, and the guy she thought she’d never be allowed to see again, junior man-in-black Rick Turner.

Tor's employee ID promises, "Your Fantasy Starts Here." It couldn't be more mistaken.

Grab a flotation device, and welcome aboard for more shenanigans, villainy, and romance.

My Review:
In a remarkable twist of events, Tor is on her way to spending the summer in an intensive course with the Joffrey Ballet in New York City.

Oh, how I envy her!

The only problem?  She is intercepted by none other than Agent Hunky to join him on a secret assignment aboard a cruise ship when his co-agent is injured in an accident.  So now she's not only a sixteen year-old going undercover, but no one knows where she's gone.

And this time she has to share cozy accommodations with the man who shares the beat of her heart.

So while pretending to be a young newlywed couple hired to entertain cruise guests, Tor and Rick are charged with protecting a pair of royalty so they can safely arrive at their island destination for their planned nuptials.

I must admit, this third book was the least enjoyable for me.  It was very difficult to stretch my imagination to where a sixteen year-old could pass herself off as twenty-three.  The "mission" was never made clear to Tor, much less the reading audience.  Rick continued to keep her in the dark for no real reason, and their tasks aboard the cruise ship really didn't warrant the need for Rick to have taken Tor away from her Joffrey experience.  There was no clear motivation for anything that happened, which muddied the waters of what might have been worked into a somewhat interesting story.  It seemed the only real purpose here was to satisfy the budding romantic arc between these two characters.

Which kinda creeped me out - I mean, again we have a twenty-one year-old MAN playing house with a sixteen year-old GIRL.  Things went waaay too far in this outing for my comfort.  Yes, Tor is a bit more smart and savvy than your average teenager, but she's still that - a teenager.

Speaking of which, the royal engaged couple most times acted more like teenagers than adults.  Odd.  There was way to much angst in this third novel of the series, with Rick being so wishy-washy at times I thought HE was the girl, not some extremely intelligent government agent.  There was no mystery to solve here.  No smart and sassy characters.  No intelligent plot.  The ending was almost an exact replica of the end of the second novel.  Same dance, change locations.  I was quite disappointed.

The other thing that bothered me with this one was the fact that time after time, throughout all three novels, Tor uses her brother, Rody, and those closest to her to do her dirty work - mainly lie to her parents.  However, never once does Tor pay the price for her deceptions and manipulations.  By this third book, she's coming across as not a very nice young lady to use her brother like this and to constantly get him into trouble.  Rody is the one who suffers from Tor's manipulations and lies.  Tor never does.

With the plot so convoluted and muddy, this made for slow and/or uneven pacing.  POV was still first person with Tor.  Mostly showing instead of telling allowed me to follow along as the story unfolded.  It just wasn't the story I'd come to expect in this series.  Will those who enjoy the romance genre find it a good read?  Possibly.  Editing errors were kept to a minimum, but there were once again a few more in this novel than the previous two.

Content Warning:  Stronger language is a bit more prevalent throughout this third novel, as well as the age factor and these two characters sharing close quarters.  I'm probably showing my age (and the fact that I'm a parent) here, but it was enough to make me uncomfortable - and I've read and written some pretty uncomfortable things in my arsenal.  There's also a lot more moral ambiguity in this novel, which makes it questionable for younger teens.  Like I always say, know your kids before they read this book.

But for once again having a mostly well edited novel, solid first person POV throughout, and for showing instead of telling, I'll give this third outing three stars.

Take advantage of the TOR MADDOX series by picking them up at Amazon (one, two, and three) and Barnes & Noble (one, two, and three).

Author Bio:

Liz Coley writes fiction for teens and for the teen in you.

"Pretty Girl-13" from HarperCollins US and UK is available in eleven international translations and audiobook."There are secrets you can't even tell yourself."

Her first published work was science fiction short stories, published in Cosmos magazine and several anthologies. Self-published YA novel "Out of Xibalba" features a contemporary teenager thrown back to ancient Mayan times. "The story starts when the world ends."

Her latest "Tor Maddox" teen series, including short story prequel DISARMED, as well as UNLEASHED (1), EMBEDDED (2), and MISTAKEN (3) represents the lighter side of Liz.

Liz lives in Ohio, where she is surrounded by a fantastic community of writers, beaten regularly by better tennis players, uplifted by her choir, supported by her husband, teased by her teenaged daughter, cheered from afar by her two older sons, and adorned with hair by her cats Tiger, Pippin, and Merry.

Liz invites you to follow her @LizColeyBooks on Twitter and Instagram, like LizColeyBooks on Facebook, and explore her website at lizcoley.com, where you can watch the book trailer, download editing tips, and read her confessional blog postings "Scenes from a Life."

Liz loves reading aloud.

Returning to Reviews with STAY OF EXECUTION

It's been awhile, dear readers, but today I'm returning to the reviewer's saddle and mounting up for a good ride through mystery, intrigue, and murder.  What better way to do that than visit a new release from an author previously highlighted here.

With her sophomore release of the Detective Cancini Mystery series, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to bring author Kellie Larsen Murphy to you once again.  My review of A GUILTY MIND, her debut novel in this series, can be found HERE.  Ms. Murphy is no stranger to gut-wrenching situations and hard-boiled police procedure and brings that to us once again in STAY OF EXECUTION.

Book Blurb:
Little Springs was just a small college town, the kind of town where everyone knew everyone and violent crime was nonexistent—until a series of rapes and murders at the college. After an outbreak of fear and hysteria, only the arrest and conviction of Leo Spradlin, the "Co-Ed Killer," could end the terror.

Years later, Spradlin is suddenly cleared based on unshakable DNA evidence, and no one is more surprised than Detective Mike Cancini. As new questions surround the identity of the true "Co-Ed Killer," Cancini struggles to accept his role in the conviction of an innocent man. Suspicions mount when Spradlin’s release coincides with a fresh wave of rapes and murders at the college, eerily reminiscent of the original crimes. Cancini is drawn back to Little Springs, caught in a race against time to uncover the identity of the latest "Co-Ed Killer" before the next girl dies…

A tension-filled psychological mystery, STAY OF EXECUTION is also a novel about loyalty, deceit, and the darker side of truth.

My Review:
The novel opens in a world of chaos as an imprisoned killer is released when the DNA evidence in the case initially used to convict him is retested and unmistakably exonerates him.  The media feeding frenzy begins.  The political points are pursued.

And a small town is once again shaken to its core.

Not to mention the detective who almost single-handedly placed this supposed killer behind bars, launching him into the nation's eye.  Now Mike Cancini calls into question every case, every lead, and returns to the small town to retrace his steps and pick up the cold trail of a murderer - even though his boss has forbidden him to do so.

So what does Mike do?  Takes vacation and returns to the hamlet of Little Springs, Virginia, revisiting old haunts, old acquaintances, and the ghosts of a gruesome past he'd thought long buried.

Until the murders start all over again.

Once again, we have a novel well plotted and paced, with characters you at times want to love AND strangle.  Detective Cancini is still a bit of an enigma with challenges, self-doubt, and personal family issues that help connect this reader to him.  However, I had trouble connecting with Julia Manning, the intrepid reporter inserting herself into this story.  She didn't feel fully fleshed out and did some things that just made me roll my eyes.  She seemed inconsistent, though will perhaps return as a love interest for Cancini in the following novel.  There also was an overabundance of pronoun usage and quite a few more editing errors that jumped out and bit me - mainly a lot of missing small words and punctuation.

But the tension at times was thick.  You could feel Cancini's absolute frustration.  The fear of the townspeople was palpable.  The sneers and snide sense of "justice" on the part of certain media personalities and politicians was almost visible and made me want to slap someone - emotion is always good in a novel.  The details in the police procedure (like the minutiae in the DNA testing) was very interesting.

After being so pleasantly surprised by the twist at the end of A GUILTY MIND, I'd hoped to get something similar in STAY OF EXECUTION.  However, before I even hit the 20% reading mark on my Kindle, I had every detail figured out, which left me a little deflated by the end.  I'd hoped I was wrong.  I'd prayed I was wrong.  But everything was exactly as expected when I turned the final electronic page.

Then again, I'm just a little weird that way.

Will most readers have it all figured out by the end?  Maybe not.  Is this a well-crafted story?  Yes.  Can you get a good sense of the fear permeating the atmosphere?  Absolutely!  And for that I'll give STAY OF EXECUTION four stars.

Content Warning:  There is occasional use of strong language in STAY OF EXECUTION.  Some subject matter may be offensive or disturbing to some readers, including the rape and murder of a couple of victims (though these are not drawn out to the extreme).

Pick up a copy at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Author Bio:
Kellie Larsen Murphy is the author of A GUILTY MIND and STAY OF EXECUTION, the first two books
in the Detective Cancini Mystery series. She has written for several mid-Atlantic magazines and resides in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, four children, and two very large, very hairy dogs. She would be happy to hear from readers through her website, www.kellielarsenmurphy.com.

You can also visit her on Twitter @aguiltymind.

Another Review of PIERCING THE DARKNESS

Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Hump Day!

I'm still hard at work on RISING FROM THE DARKNESS and have made substantial headway the last couple of weeks.  The cover reveal is coming up soon!

In the meantime, check out the latest review of the second book in the Deepest Darkness series PIERCING THE DARKNESS, once again from Action Girl Books.  Find it by clicking here on the LINK.

A Review of RUNNING INTO THE DARKNESS

Over the last couple of years, I've been learning the way of the Twitter-pated when it comes to social media marketing.  As most regular readers know, tech savvy I am not.  But throughout my learning curve, I've 'met' other writers, readers, and just regular folk who enjoy the social networking world.  Along the way I've given advice and received help through countless sources.

One such fellow author actually took time to download and review RUNNING INTO THE DARKNESS for his blog - and a generous review it is.  Reviews are what make all of the solitary moments of an author's life so much more worthwhile.

So if you have time in the next few days, take a moment to run over and check out Action Girl Books' review of my novel by clicking HERE.  Be sure and let him know how much it is appreciated.

Going Backward - A Review of NEXT EXIT, THREE MILES

Ah, a new year.  Fresh snow on the ground.  Fresh promises for the future.  Fresh books to read.

Well, sort of.

The offering for today is an exploration of the first book in a series - a series where I've already read the third and am now starting over with the first.  Does working my way backwards have the potential to color my view?  Perhaps.  But it's a nice view nonetheless.  Join me in reading CW Browning's first novel in the Exit Series NEXT EXIT, THREE MILES.

Book Blurb:
Alina Maschik was one of the best. She never missed. Yet, two years ago in Cairo, she missed her shot at one of the world’s most wanted terrorists. Now, he’s back. This time, he’s on US soil.

Given the opportunity to redeem herself, Alina’s objective is simple: find the terrorist and complete her mission. But when the target leads her back to her hometown in New Jersey, the situation is anything but simple. Confronted with old girlfriends, her ex-fiancé and the Jersey mob, Alina must face her past as she races against an invisible clock.

But as bodies start to pile up, a cunning and invisible assassin threatens to destroy everything she holds close. Accustomed to working alone, Alina must now rely on old loyalties and new partnerships to help her defeat this new threat, and save the lives of thousands of Americans, without failing a second time.

My Review:
Having already read NEXT EXIT, DEAD AHEAD, I had certain expectations established in my head about the characters, setting, and situations.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see more background and obtaining a better understanding of these characters and how they ended up where they were within the pages of NEXT EXIT, THREE MILES.

Especially the dynamic between a certain Viper and Hawk.

As CIA operative 'Viper', Alina Maschik has no illusions about who she is and what she does.  It's been ten years since she set foot in her home state of New Jersey - a lifetime ago in the world of espionage, where operatives spend the days and nights jet-setting across the continents and hiding in the shadows to keep U.S. interests abroad controlled and safe.  Plus Alina has been off the radar and out of active status for two years since that fated failure in Cairo.  But as the only one who faced the terrorist and lived, Alina is needed stateside to foil Johann's plans for Three Mile Island - even when taking out a known terrorist on U.S. soil could send her to jail.  Oh, and one of her best friends is a curious FBI agent.

Then there's the other complication.  Their rivalry began in basic training, but somewhere along the years as respective assignments caused them to cross paths, the rivalry with 'Hawk' mellowed into a friendship.  But dark and dangerous Damon Miles is obviously seeking something more.  Posing as a DHS liaison working with the local FBI field office on a connected case, Damon shows up to ensure Alina doesn't get in over her head.  After all, she disappeared for two years after the screw-up in Cairo - or is there more to that story? 

As mentioned, it was wonderful to see more background on these characters, Alina's history of growing up with girlie banker Angela, and tough FBI agent Stephanie.  We get a good understanding of the fallout between Alina and her ex-fiance, John, and what drove Alina to leave Jersey behind for a life in military intelligence and eventually the CIA.  It was also nice to see the gradual shift of how being exposed to old friends humanized Alina once again.

Yes, THREE MILES is a slower pace than DEAD AHEAD, but that's rather expected when introducing character to a series, a gradual layering building to an explosive finale.  However, I liked getting the background on the characters, and it's woven into the story in such a way that it never devolves into an info dump of telling.  Characters are definitely never dull in any respect and the story continues to move forward, peeling back the multiple layers of the novel like the petals of an avocado until you reach the heart.  It's the characters that embed into your mind.  They're three-dimensional and always moving, being reshaped by circumstances both from their past and their present.  That's what keeps me coming back to this series.

Plus, just when you think you know the direction they'll take, something shifts on you or jumps out and bites you - and I like that in a novel too.

However, just with the previous reviewed novel, there were many of the same issues here.  Point-of-view shifted between characters within a scene.  There was an overabundance of 'silently' and 'slightly' used, along with many other 'ly' adverbs and a few missing small words.  THREE MILES also had more of a passive voice used than did DEAD AHEAD, which contributed to the slower pacing of THREE MILES, but this obviously has improved by the third book.  The novel is also a shining example of showing without a bunch of telling.  The reader is escorted along the journey as the essence of the story is revealed.

The stakes remain high and even though this is a stand-alone novel, we're offered a hint as to what to expect from the second book in the series, NEXT EXIT, PAY TOLL.  I look forward to reading it.

Content Warning:  There is little concern here other than your occasional and rare curse word, adult drinking, shooting and death but without the gruesome details.  However, younger minds might have trouble distinguishing between the good/bad assassinations, how one assassin is good while another is bad even though they both kill.  Simply put - know your teen.  Otherwise it's fine.

Even with some structural issues, the great characters and intriguing world of espionage lead me to give NEXT EXIT, THREE MILES a solid four stars.

Pick up a copy today by clicking on Amazon.

Author Bio:
CW Browning was writing before she could spell. Making up stories in the backyard with her childhood best

friend, imagination ran wild from the very beginning. When she moved to New Jersey from Kansas at the age of seven, those tales became written words as she adjusted to life on the East Coast. Her first full-length novel was printed out on a dot-matrix printer at the age of eight. Through the years, the writing continued as an enjoyable past-time while she pursued other avenues of interest, attending Rutgers University and studying History. In time, though, it became apparent where her heart truly lie. CW still makes up stories in her backyard, but now she crafts them for her readers to enjoy. She makes her home in Southern New Jersey, where she loves to grill organic steak and sip red wine on the patio.

Visit her at: www.cwbrowning.com
Find her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CW-Browning
Follow her on Twitter @cw_browning

Forget the Nutcracker - Try "Danse Macabre"

It's always nice to revisit familiar characters to see how they've grown and changed over time, to discover what's happened to them during the interim and to see the impact events have had as life gradually takes its toll.  That's what we have today in the third book of the Neve & Egan Cases - Danse Macabre.

I've had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the prior two novels in Cristelle Comby's series, so when Tribute Books contacted me about reviewing the third, I jumped at the chance.  Plus, as a former ballet dancer myself, the cover intrigued me with where the case would lead.  Hmmm...

So with no further wondering, let's get started.

Book Blurb:
Private investigators Alexandra Neve and Ashford Egan are hired to succeed where the police have failed, to safely return home a missing ballerina. With no lead to pursue and no idea who could be behind the young woman’s kidnapping, they soon find themselves at a loss as to what to do.

To make matters worse, the heart of England seems to be caught in the middle of a little Ice Age. With snow endlessly falling and Tube lines either too cramped up to use or out of service, it is a pain to do any legwork in the huge metropolis.

Oh, and because trouble never comes alone, there may also be a serial killer on the loose in the streets of East London...

My Review:
From the outset, I have to tell you that of the three novels released thus far in the Neve & Egan Cases, Danse Macabre is my favorite.  The characters have gelled together as a team and have each come into their own as individuals as they've faced their own demons.  The case they find themselves on this time is also much deeper, darker, and more complex.

And we all know I like deep, dark, and complex.

Alexandra Neve (Lexa to her friends) and Ashford Egan (who has few friends) are coming to the close of their first year as a private investigative team with twenty-four solved cases.  As winter sets in upon the streets of London, their most horrific and gruesome case comes home to roost.

A desperate mother has nowhere else to turn after the overworked Metropolitan Police Department classifies the case involving her missing daughter as a simple runaway.  But why would a young twenty-something dancer, with the world waiting to worship at her talented and pointe-shoe clad feet, run away when everything is so right with her world?  The mother is convinced something more sinister is afoot and hires Lexa and Ash to discover the truth and bring her daughter home.

When Lexa's budding relationship with DS Matthew Stenson reveals connections to other kidnappings and murders, she realizes they have a serial killer on their hands - and her client's daughter may just be the next victim.  Thus our reluctant duo trudge through the snowdrifts of London and into the underbelly of life beneath the streets in search of a kidnapper, racing against the clock before time runs out on the life of a starlet.

All the while, they've got someone on the force working overtime to foil their efforts - and the Sorter reveals his hand once again.

In Danse Macabre we once again have a stand-alone novel of mystery and intrigue.  The bringing forward of just enough information from the previous novels, and how Lexa and Ash developed the unlikely friendship of university student and professor turned PI team, provided appropriate background for any new readers coming into the series without bogging pacing down.  However, I still recommend reading the Neve & Egan Cases from the start just because it is a wonderful little series (Russian Dolls, Ruby Heart).  There is also a tiny thread woven as a continuum, hanging out along the periphery throughout the stories - the mysterious Sorter.  Also, there is something that occurs at the end of this novel that will make you want to read the next - this was new to the series, but now I'm dying to know what transpired (though I have my suspicions already).

We also find out additional information in our characters' backgrounds - particularly Ash, the cantankerous, middle-aged former university professor whose blindness becomes particularly useful for discerning the lies surrounding this case.  With Ash having left the security of his university position in book two, he's now much more involved in the day-to-day of each case - and I liked that because one of my complaints about book two was that there was little of Ash's involvement with that case.  Now that they're both working the business full-time, it's also added a new and fun layer to their interactions - a great repartee that adds some laugh-out-loud humor to this novel that was not present in the first two.  This element was fabulous, refreshing, and added twinges of lighthearted moments necessary to keep this much darker case somewhat balanced.

Pacing moved along at a steady (heart-pounding at times) clip and, as mentioned above, these characters really came into their own within the pages of this particular novel.  Good showing instead of telling, with first person point-of-view once again from Lexa's continual perspective.  There were only a few instances of missing small words, unnecessary commas, and one incorrect word used (rapport instead of report), but these were not enough to detract from the story.

Content warnings:  There are few concerns with this series, usually just your typical few curse words, so it's appropriate for all teens in that regard.  However, this particular novel contained some particularly gruesome murder scene details that might cause a few nightmares.  No sex, drug use, or anything else some might consider offensive.

Like I mentioned, Danse Macabre is my favorite thus far in this mystery series - for that I'll give it a rare five stars.

Available on paperback or as an eBook by clicking on Amazon

Author Bio:
Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where

she still resides.

Thanks to her insatiable thirst for American and British action films and television dramas, her English is fluent.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.

Danse Macabre is her third new-adult novel, and she’s hard at work on the next titles in the Neve & Egan series.  Visit her website at http://cristelle-comby.com/

Follow the Tribute Books blog tour:

http://dansemacabreblogtour.blogspot.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Exploring Genetics in "Enhancement"

It's a cold and wintery fall day here in the good ol' U- S of A.  What better than to stay indoors and read a book?

Play in the snow!  There's little I like more this time of year than the anticipation of wallowing across a winter wonderland as we sail into the Christmas season.

But until such time as the wintery precipitation decides to arrive, let me take a few moments and introduce you to a book set the the future.  In Anthony J. Melchiorri's Enhancement we explore the world of genetics and biochemistry on the black market stage in the year 2058.  Join me as we step into these pages.

Book Blurb:
In the year 2058, Baltimore's latest crime epidemic is illegal genetic enhancements. Convicted dealer Christopher Morgan swears off black market genetics for good. Before he's even released from prison, he finds himself on a hit list. Someone wants him dead and he has no idea why.

Once released, Chris takes the first job he's offered. But, soon after, the new boss at his lab is murdered. Chris fears it has something to do with his past—and so do the police. He enlists the help of a close colleague, Tracy Harrow, to clear his name and search for answers. They discover a shocking connection between Chris and the other names on the hit list. In a perilous race against time, Chris and Tracy realize that far more is at stake than just Chris's life.

My Review:
The story opens during a prison riot where our protagonist, Chris Morgan, is desperate to escape the melee.  In the process, he is stabbed repeatedly before a fellow prisoner shows up to protect him from further onslaught.  After recuperating in the prison medical ward, Chris returns to his cell to discover a new bunkmate.  Unlike his previous companion, who listened to Chris' ramblings about genetics and biochemistry and spent his own time endlessly journaling, the newcomer gives Chris cause for pause.  However, just when he's convinced he'll never get another full night's sleep, the warden announces an early release.

The one caveat?  He must either take a questionable position offered by a mysterious businessman or secure gainful employment within the next thirty days or he'll be right back with the terrifying cellmate.  With a conviction involving black market genetics hanging over his head, Chris finds himself nearing the end of freedom when no one in the field will hire him, thus forcing him into accepting the businessman's proposition.

Yet things aren't so bad.  Chris quickly delves into the lab work, finds friends among co-workers, and soon garners a girlfriend.  But it all dissipates when the past returns to haunt him.  One-by-one friends old and new turn up dead.  The only common link?  Chris.

Or so he thought.

Enhancement starts off well.  The prison riot, Chris' stabbing and sudden release, revisiting the past with determination not to repeat it - all came together to immediately offer up Chris as the sympathetic character who wishes to right the wrongs in an industry run amok, where men and women can become physically stronger and more attractive than nature intended.  But only for a price.

Soon, however, this thriller loses direction and focus.  I personally think suspense would be a better genre fit than thriller because after the opening events little exciting occurs.  Chris and his girlfriend, Tracy, simply run back and forth between Chris' apartment, Tracy's apartment, the lab, and friends' apartments.  The supposed bad guys are so far off in the periphery, they seem more a pair of bumbling afterthoughts when they do show their hands.  The point of the story is easy to deduce and the real baddie is quite obvious early in the novel.

Pacing never picks up steam after the beginning sequences.  Cutting numerous unnecessary scenes would helps this somewhat, and adding in some thoughts that were merely alluded to and never fully developed might give an adrenaline shot to move the story along.  The style is written in very passive voice, which bogs pacing down as well, but it's a pretty easy editing fix to rewrite sentences to make them more active.

As far as editing goes, very similar issues pop up here as in many indie books - missing small words, duplicate words, transposed phrases, misplaced comas, then instead of than and the like.  There are far too many pronouns and overuse of the protagonist's name multiple times in a sentence, even when we're supposed to be in Chris' POV (i.e. "He didn't expect the man to answer honestly if the intent was to have Chris killed but at least, the man would know Chris was suspicious"). 

Chris was the only character who received any fleshing-out.  Most of the side players never received any further attentions other than mentions, which left them feeling very one-dimensional.  Motivations among the characters were murky at best.  We never find out the reasons behind the bad guys' actions.  At times even Chris' actions left me scratching my head as he allowed Tracy to simply lead him by the nose (or other body parts).  Then when certain characters face danger and death, there's no evoking of emotion because there is no connection with the character.

Point-of-view, however, remained constant with Chris without straying here and there into other character's heads.  I enjoyed the genetics references and actually could've used more.  Setting was handled well in many scenes without becoming overly descriptive.

The only issues of concern for younger audiences are the plentiful rough language, scenes involving drinking/partying by adults, and consensual sex between adults.  I would say this is a novel best left to those 18+.

For the promising opening suspenseful scenes, the interesting exploration of genetics, and the sympathetic character of Chris, I'll offer up a rating of three stars.

Purchase by clicking on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google, and Apple.

Author Bio:
Anthony J Melchiorri is a writer and biomedical engineer living in Maryland. He spends most of his time developing cardiovascular devices for tissue engineering to treat children with congenital heart defects when he isn't writing or reading.

Read more at http://anthonyjmelchiorri.com and sign up for his mailing list at http://bit.ly/ajmlist to hear about his latest releases and news.

What Happened to the Amber Room? - Gil Cope's "The Amber Conspiracy"

All my life I have studied and read about the historical accounts of tsarist Russia, from the love affairs of tsar and tsarina alike to palace intrigues and revolutions that turned rule and ruler on its head, but most of all to the multitude of treasures created and confiscated during the Romanov dynasty.  My dream is to someday tour the palaces of St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo and see her treasures up close and personal.

But most importantly, to someday know what happened to the infamous wonder of the world - the Amber Room.

Was it destroyed in the closing days of Nazi Germany like many scholars believe?  Does it still exist, hidden away in some secret underground Nazi fortress or cave or buried deep in the earth like so many other discoveries by allied troops?  Will I and the rest of the world ever have a chance to behold its awesome beauty?

When author Gil Cope approached me about reading his fictional tale The Amber Conspiracy, I subtly responded with a resounding YES!  Yes, it is fiction.  Yes, it strays from science.  No, it isn't an accurate representation of what really transpired.

But it's a novel about the Amber Room!  How could I possibly say no?

Book Blurb:

The Amber Conspiracy follows famed antiquities hunter Jack Monroe as he searches for the truth behind the

murder of renowned Amber Room expert Urie Roskopf.  Jack soon begins to suspect that Roskopf's death is somehow connected to the missing eighth wonder of the world, The Amber Room.  It's his belief that the priceless treasure, created by the Prussian King Frederick I in the 18th century, has ties to a sinister secret society, the Illuminati.  

If Jack's suspicion is correct, then there's little doubt that the Illuminati are responsible for Urie’s death, which leaves Jack and Urie's granddaughter, Kira Solomon, to solve the question of how to penetrate the most secretive society in the world.  

Simultaneously, we go back in time to track the story of a sacred relic, which we first discover being rescued by a band of warrior monks during the sack of Constantinople, then later as it comes in and out of the possession of the Knights Templars, the Freemasons and the Nazis before eventually making its way to the Illuminati and the Amber Room. 

The tenacious duo's dogged persistence in locating the Amber Room and unraveling the mystery surrounding Roskopf's murder places them in the crosshairs, as their investigation threatens an audacious plan by the Illuminati to bring down their centuries-old nemesis, the Catholic Church.

My Review:
UPDATED 3/29/15 - After an extensive re-edit of this novel, the majority of the issues cited in my original review have been fixed and/or restructured. Therefore, I am changing my ranking from a four to five star. Highly recommend The Amber Conspiracy!

ORIGINAL REVIEW - First off, I want to say that I have never read any of Dan Brown or the myriad other Catholic conspiracy thrillers out there.  However, I've read a multitude of World War II, Russian and Amber Room historical accounts.  I'm also a huge thriller buff, so I will approach this review from that of an historical thriller.

And in that context, I really enjoyed reading The Amber Conspiracy.

Our story opens in Constantinople in the year 1204 where a priest is desperate to save the Relic from marauders and crusaders.  From the hands of a cowering, young boy to those of William de Chartress, the Relic is placed into the protective custody of The Order while a forgery is sent to the Vatican.

Forward to present day, Jack Morgan, author, explorer, and treasure-hunter extraordinaire, is hired by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to assist in sagging attendance by announcing an expedition to trace, discover, and retrieve the long-lost Amber Room, panels and furniture constructed in the 1700's entirely out of rare and precious amber.  However, on the evening of this glorious announcement, Jack's long-time friend and fellow researcher is murdered on his way to their rendezvous - in his briefcase a small piece of crafted amber.

With the assistance of Urie's granddaughter, Kira, a former Mossad operative, Jack sets out to discover not only the final resting place of the Eighth Wonder of the World, but who killed his dear friend - and why.

There were so many aspects I loved about The Amber Conspiracy.  The historical reality of what is known about the Nazi's and the Amber Room's last known location in the final days of World War II and the speculative fictional pieces were woven very nicely throughout this story to give a seamless account in that regard.

Intrigue about who killed Urie, the why's and how he came to possess a piece from the Amber Room's panel led our characters on an exploration of explosive proportions (literally).  From the lecture hall at the Met to Urie's study to an underwater dive and a hijacking amid the high seas, the thrills and chills ramped up and kept pushing our hero and heroine across the globe.

The slips back in time to follow the path of the Relic from the hands of the Knights Templar to the Freemasons and into the hands of those known as the Illuminati never felt jarring and wove through the overall tale in such a way to keep you guessing - for the most part.

I do have to admit, it was pretty easy to figure out who was in charge of the Illuminati and their ultimate goal, but the action amid the journey was still a rush.  I got a good chuckle of the intended irony when introduced to the character of Mary-Jo.  Read it and see if you catch the little funny there.

Even with the good story, there were still some issues with structure.  Point-of-view within a scene slipped in and out of so many characters sometimes it was hard to engage with them, to feel what they felt and to see what they saw.  Much of the time I felt like I was merely watching events from afar instead of embodying the characters.  Many times even scene went from one locale to another without any sort of scene break.  These were especially jarring and more numerous toward the novel's end.  However, pacing moved along at a nice clip throughout most of the story, with only a few bog-downs when it deviated from the main storyline and action too long or description grew overlong.

Editing needs a second round, though much of this is easily fixable.  Periods instead of comas were used most of the time to separate dialogue from the corresponding dialogue tag.  At one point Jack and Kira checked into a hotel as Mr. and Mrs. Johnson but on the very next page turn the concierge called them Mr. and Mrs. Baxter.  Several times a correctly spelled but wrong word was used (ie. prosperity instead of posterity) and small words missing or needing an 'ed' on the end.

Lastly, there was one thing that stuck in my craw - probably because I'm a woman.  I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but skip this paragraph if you don't want to know even the teeniest smidge of something in the story.  About a third of the way into the novel, a couple got engaged during the first week of July and then the two women are on their honeymoon in Europe for a certain procedure (that in itself would probably take months of screening) not even a month later???  Two wealthy women.  No wedding planning.  No time allotted for preparations for either the honeymoon or the procedure.  Nuh-uh.  The time scale didn't compute in my book - though I do understand the necessity to rush this for the story to work.  It just left me shaking my head - and yes, I know I'm being picky here so again, chalk it up to my being a woman and the ingrained need to 'plan' to the nth detail when it comes to such events. :-)

But like I said, I still enjoyed The Amber Conspiracy overall - a nice action/adventure conspiracy thriller.  Just as a caution - there is plentiful usage of the f-word and lots of assorted rough language.  A few gruesome scenes and a couple of tame sexual situations.  If you don't think you can read a novel for the story only and are concerned about getting caught up on philosophical or theological entanglements, this probably isn't something you'll enjoy.  But if you like a novel that speeds through, has lots of action, murder and mayhem and engages the brain with intriguing historical elements, then The Amber Conspiracy might just be for you.

Even with the aforementioned structural issues, the solid and engaging plot (and my love of Amber Room lore) lead me to a solid four-stars.

Pick up a copy for yourself on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  At over five hundred pages, be ready to invest some time.  Check out the two different covers and let me know which one you like better.

Author Bio:
Mr. Cope stared his photography career in New York City where he apprenticed under world-renowned

fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo before opening his own studio. Mr. Cope was soon in high demand by such clients as Revlon, Christian Dior, Dewar's, IBM, Chivas Regal, Concord Watches and Clairol, to name a few. His photographs have appeared in countless major magazines, and have earned Mr. Cope numerous advertising awards.

Turning his attention to directing commercials, Mr. Cope has shot hundreds spots for some of the world's leading advertisers: Levis, General Motors, Coke, Pepsi, Hilton, Boeing, Anheuser Busch and Mercedes, to name but a few. Mr. Cope's commercials have run on such high-profile broadcasts as the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, and the MTV music awards.

As well as shooting commercials, Mr. Cope wrote, directed and was the cinematographer on "pain angel", the award-winning short film produced by Neil Moritz of Original Film (“The Fast and Furious,” “XXX”). Mr. Cope broke into Hollywood when his pitch for the action/adventure movie Archangel 3 was picked up by Joel Silver, Silver Pictures (“Lethal Weapon,” “Die Hard,” “The Matrix”). With writing partner John Massé, Mr. Cope recently completed the movie script "Nobody's Hero”.

Visit his website at www.theamberconspiracy.com 

How To Garner Reviewer Interest - Part Four

Well congratulations!  You've followed this four-part article all the way to the end.  Give yourself a big 'ol pat on the back - if you can reach it.

Thus far we've looked at a day in the life of a reviewer, the wrong way to go about asking for reviews, and then the right way to go about asking for reviews for your glorious masterpiece.  In this final segment, we're going to look at what you need to be prepared for when those yes's to your request start coming in.  Quick response is key.  Do you have print copies available?  Every eReader edition available?  Good.  Now let's spend our final moments together as we take a gander at how to respond to a reviewer who says that special word.

***

So you’ve created a clean, concise email template and sent out your request to blogger after blogger searching for takers.  What do you do when the acceptances begin floating in?

Reply to that email ASAP and send them every single, little bitty thing they ask for, exactly how they ask for it.

The worst thing you could do for yourself after working so hard to find reviewers is to be unprepared – the proverbial caught with your pants down moment.  When those acceptances begin coming in, you need to have everything necessary at hand and reply in one email response as quickly as possible.  Do not piecemeal and send a whole bunch of emails with one or two things at a time.  All together in one email please.

You ask – then what will a typical reviewer want?  That’s a good question. 

1.         Copy of your novel:  It’s important to have as many digital forms as possible available for a variety of eReaders.  If your novel is available in print, be sure to keep a few on hand at all times.  Again, check their website before you even send an initial request to ensure what formats they accept.  Some only take Kindle while others only Nook, etc.  Many still only accept print copies.  Do your homework ahead of time to ensure you are prepared to send a reviewer’s individual format preference.  UNLESS otherwise stated, submit this as an attachment.  Second best would be to forward a coupon code and the direct link for said coupon code or gift a copy directly.

2.         Cover photo:  Self-explanatory – but make certain to reduce/compress the size if it is a large file.  Again, include this as an attachment.

3.         Author photo:  Yep, people want to see you.  If you’re going to publish, you’re going to have to be ready with a professional public image.  I know one author who even uses a cute image of his dog with a pair of glasses on while reading a newspaper.  It doesn’t really matter, as long as you consistently utilize the same image everywhere.  It’s called branding.  Just attach it and stop belly-aching.

4.         Book blurb/description/synopsis:  It’s best to utilize the same description for your book as what is on sales channels.  Consistency is the key.  Include either in the body of your email or as an attachment.

5.         Author bio:  Again, utilize the same bio as what is posted on your sales channels.  If you have never written one, then do so.  Make sure it is written in third person.  Garner assistance from someone who has known you awhile if needed.  Just be brief – this isn’t a resume.  Include either in the body of your email or again as an attachment.

6.         Links:  Provide a link to your author website/blog, social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and any or all sales channels where your novel can be located.  Many reviewers are specific about which links they want, so only provide those they ask for.  Otherwise it is carte blanche!  Just don’t overdo it.  Include these links in the body of your email.

Some reviewers may ask for additional items.  The key here is to research and be prepared up front BEFORE beginning your email campaign.  Make the review process as easy on the reviewer as possible.  No unnecessary fodder.  Always include each item as requested in one reply email.  Count ‘em – ONE!

If you haven’t already, be sure and keep good notes when you start that email campaign.  I write it all out on a yellow legal pad and then transfer everything into an Excel file on my computer (backed up to my external hard-drive and flash-drive).  Be sure and notate the website address, the name of the reviewer, the email address of the reviewer, and the date your initial request was sent.  When you get any sort of response, it is easy to go into your template and notate whether you received a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and the date you forwarded the requested items and then the date your review was posted (and the direct link to said review).  This may seem rather elementary, but I receive multiple requests sometimes from the same authors for the same novels over the course of a year, and I suspect it is because they have no idea to whom they’ve already forwarded requests.  Always keep good records because then you’ll be ready to forward the next release to those who enjoyed your first.

And lastly, as an author don’t make the mistake I’ve seen so many times of simply sending an accepting reviewer a bunch of links for them to go out there and gather your bio, photos, descriptions, etc.  Most likely they will email you back and say “thanks, but no thanks” and you’ll have just destroyed an opportunity out of sheer laziness.  It is not the responsibility of the reviewer to go searching out the web for your information.  That’s 100% your job.  It’s your responsibility to make the process as easy on the reviewer as possible.  It’s your responsibility to provide the reviewer with everything exactly as they requested.  Remember – you’re the one asking for a review.

Get it?

Got it?

Good.

***

That's all folks!  Thank you for sharing this journey with me.  I hope you got some useful information out of it, as I've enjoyed sharing this time with you.  If you ever have questions about writing, reviewing, or just plain need to connect with a fellow author, drop me a line.

I always respond.

Happy reading and writing!