Month: February 2018

Kill Shot by Susan Sleeman

Book Review Graphic

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from First Words in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Kill Shot by Susan Sleeman was a book that left me wondering if something like this could really happen.  I love books like this that make me stop and think about whether or not things like that could really happen.  I was a huge fan of this book right from the start, and I didn’t even mind the romance parts that were in the book.  I really like Rick right from the start, and Oliva did grow on me throughout the book.  I really enjoyed the plot and even though I was able to figure out what was going to happen before the book ended.  This is book two in the “White Knight” series, and I am for sure going to go back and read book one because I am sure I will love that book just as much as I enjoyed this book.  I also hope that she writes more books in this series because I can’t wait to read them in the future.

About The Book

Some fears haunt you …

When ballistics and weapons expert Rick Cannon learned the Department of Defense had developed self-steering bullets that show 100% accuracy and make even a gun novice a lethal sniper, he feared they would eventually end up in the wrong hands.

Until they become reality.

That fear comes true when a vet is killed with stolen “smart bullets.” Rick and his FBI task force, nicknamed The White Knights, are soon charged with finding and stopping the killer. Rick enlists the help of the victim’s therapist, Olivia Dobbs, who is well known for her success in counseling military vets with PTSD. But when the killer sets his sights on their key witness, Rick must rely on the skills he learned as a Marine sniper to make sure the next bullet fired isn’t a
kill shot to take Olivia out.

About The Author

SUSAN SLEEMAN is a bestselling and award-winning author of more than 30 inspirational/Christian and clean read romantic suspense books. Readers love her romantic suspense series for the well-drawn characters and edge-of-your-seat action. She graduated from the FBI and local police citizen academies, so her research is spot-on and her characters are real. In addition to writing, Susan also hosts thesuspensezone.com. She has lived in nine states but now calls Oregon home. Her husband is a retired church music director, and they have two beautiful daughters, a very special son-in-law, and an adorable grandson.
To learn more about Susan’s books sign up for her monthly email that includes exclusive excerpts, giveaways, and other goodies. http://www.susansleeman.com/susans-ne…

Or stop by any of these locations on the web.
Website – http://www.susansleeman.com
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Review Site – http://www.TheSuspenseZone.com

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret

Valentine Countdown Blitz – 12 Days Of Clean Romance

 

 

When she was in Paris, Kimberley Montpetit spent most of her souvenir money at the La Patisserie shops with their beautiful and delicious pastries. She grew up in the fabulous city of San Francisco, loves all things chocolate, and now lives in a small town along the Rio Grande with her engineer husband and three sons.

She once stayed in the haunted tower room at Borthwick Castle in Scotland and didn’t sleep a wink, sailed the Seine in Paris, rode a camel in the ancient world wonder of Petra, shopped the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and spent the night in an old Communist hotel in Bulgaria.

Kimberley also writes Award-winning Middle-Grade novels with Scholastic and Young Adult novels with Harpercollins under the name, Kimberley Griffiths Little.

Connect with the Author here:

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~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ 

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 A makeup artist for the Phantom of the Opera with a tragic past. A mysterious man hiding a scar worse than the phantom from the Broadway show.

Linden Adair is a talented makeup artist on the New York Broadway show, Phantom of the Opera, creating the hideous scar for the actor who plays the phantom every night. But nobody knows the deep scars Linden carries after the divorce from her husband, Mark Denly—the famous director of Phantom.

Why didn’t somebody ever tell her that marrying your director was a bad idea, especially when he has a wandering eye?

Desperate to get away after enduring several years of heartache and scars, Linden takes a cross-country trip to visit her best friend in Seattle. While driving on a deserted stretch of highway late at night, she hits a deer and crashes the rental car into a gully outside of Snow Valley, Montana.

A devastatingly handsome stranger with a tow truck rescues Linden and her smashed vehicle, but when she catches sight of him in the light, she’s shocked. Anton Baldwin possess a terrible scar on his face—just like the phantom she created every night for the theater.

But Anton is hiding more than the truth behind his scar, and during a whirlwind week while being recruited for a television show being filmed in Snow Valley, the secrets of this enigmatic man turn her world upside down.

When Anton helps Linden open up to the world around her, Linden wonders if the small town of Snow Valley might hold the magic she needs to heal the scars on her broken heart.

If you like sweet romance and second chance love stories, then you’ll love THE SECRET OF A KISS, A Snow Valley Romance.

~ Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ 

Q&A With The Author:

  1. Tell us about things you enjoy — what you do for fun or personal satisfaction besides writing?

It’s easy to be a workaholic in this business and your mind is always going, going with ideas and deadlines so to relax I have to leave my workspace completely. My kiddos are super fun and funny. We love to snuggle, make cookies, read books, go to the movies, go out to eat on the weekend, tell jokes, and can’t wait for family reunions with cousins far away at the beach or in the mountains. I also love having lunch with writer friends, or attending writer retreats.

  1. What is the thing you struggle with the most while writing? And how do you defeat it?

The biggest thing I struggle with is to actually get writing for the day. Inertia* is the HARDEST THING TO OVERCOME – IT IS EVIL! Of course, every day 10 new things come up that have to be done right away, or someone calls with a new crisis. Can I please have just ONE DAY where there are no appointments, broken cars, errands, appliances that need fixing, dental appts, shopping, bills to pay, or emergencies, and I can JUST WRITE ALL DAY LONG. It has yet to happen . . . I guess it’s called life!

*Inertia: Overcoming the terror of opening the Word document and begin typing actual words

  1. What are your future projects?

After my trilogy with Harpercollins was completed in 2017, I’m focusing on my sweet adult romance. My Secret Billionaire Romance series has been hugely popular and I have plans for at least two more titles this year. I’m also excited about a secret project I’m doing with Heather Moore Brown that will launch this summer. Gothic Romance! It’s going to be super fun, super awesome, and super romantic!

  1. What is the “message” of your writing?

I love writing clean romance about couples overcoming life’s struggles and griefs. Stories that inspire and uplift while delivering a heart-pounding adventure and swoony romance. It inspires me to know that I can push back against the raw and often insane world we live in and flood reader’s Kindles with good entertainment that people are craving. 😊

  1. Are your characters/stories/scenes, etc. based on anything in real life?

All writers draw from personal experience with loss, disappointment, love, discouragement, and self-doubt. I like writing about characters who are often braver and more courageous than I am when they take their life by the reins and plow full-steam ahead to create the life they dream about.

  1. Have you done anything writing-related, besides actually writing your books, that seemed to get a lot of positive response? Something that encouraged you?

I do a hands-on writing workshop called The Creative Diary that has turned out incredibly successful in schools. In only one hour using my Imagination Box and vivid story imagery, the students have written two complete stories. After leading them part-way through a story that they have to finish, the kids gasp with excitement and begin writing like crazy. It’s awesome to see their enthusiasm and how much they write in just ten minutes at a time – sometimes 2 whole pages! When I invite a few to come up and read their story aloud, I’m always impressed with how terrific and imaginative their stories are.

 

 
To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 

 

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret

Valentine Countdown Blitz – 12 Days Of Clean Romance

An award-winning author, Jordan McCollum can’t resist a story where good defeats evil and true love conquers all. She writes stories about love, lies, secrets and sometimes spies, and she helps writers craft their fiction to make their stories and their prose more engaging.

All four of the novels in her Spy Another Day series were named finalists in the Whitney Awards, a juried prize. Spy by Night is a prequel to the other novels in the series.

Connect with the Author here:

~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~

~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~

 

“After watching her parents’ marriage crash and burn, CIA operative Talia Reynolds doesn’t believe in “happily ever afters.” Besides, her job entails eighty-hour weeks, juggling a dozen covers and disguises, and tracking down a dangerous Russian spy ring. She hardly has time for romantic entanglements, even if she could let her guard down enough to get close to anyone. But all the rules she lives by could be broken when she meets aerospace engineer Danny Fluker.

Danny moved to Canada for a great job — and a chance to start over after a bad breakup. Dating definitely isn’t in his plans . . . until beautiful and enigmatic Talia throws a perfect storm right in his flight path. When he catches a glimpse of the real woman behind her façade, he has to get to know her better.

Talia has to find a Russian spymaster before he figures out she’s not who she claims, and failing to keep her two lives separate in the process could mean the death of more than just her budding relationship. Danny has to decide if a future with Talia — and facing the past — is worth the risk of getting hurt again. If they can break through the barriers keeping them apart (and avoid a major international catastrophe), they just might have a chance at being happy together.”

 

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 Q&A With The Author:
  1. Tell us about things you enjoy — what you do for fun or personal satisfaction besides writing?

Besides . . . writing? I don’t understand the question 😉 . Writing really is my favorite. I also like to read, knit and make music.

  1. What is the thing you struggle with the most while writing? And how do you defeat it?

Probably self-doubt. I try to channel it into a drive to make my story better!

  1. What are your future projects?

I’m working on the third book in my Saints & Spies series (different series than Spy by Night) as well as a contemporary YA novel.

  1. What is the “message” of your writing?

I believe that fiction can entertain and change lives. I believe in real characters who grow and change, and that they can help us become better people, too. I want to make the world a brighter place one story at a time.

  1. Are your characters/stories/scenes, etc. based on anything in real life?

The setting of the Spy Another Day series was inspired by a vacation I took to Ottawa as a teenager. My contemporary YA was inspired by a true story (but isn’t that story) about an excellent mountaineer who died while climbing. And then of course everything from expressions to phrases to personalities of people I’ve known shows up in my characters! (If someone is blinking in a way that sends a message? That’s me. I have a whole blink language.)

  1. Have you done anything writing-related, besides actually writing your books, that seemed to get a lot of positive response? Something that encouraged you?

I’ve presented classes on writing craft at several writing conferences. The highlight of these was being the keynote speaker at the American Night Writers’ Northwest Writers Retreat at a beautiful spot on the Washington coast!

 
To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 
Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret

Soul Mirrors by Wiley A Haydon III

My love of storytelling traces back to my step-mother, who spun wonderful fantasy stories when I was child. I finished my first novel at sixteen. That first attempt was terrible, but taught me quite a bit about story construction. Though I would start numerous other projects in the following years, I wouldn’t actually complete another book for another 21 years.

I wasn’t idle in that time, though. I earned a degree in engineering, married the love of my life, worked as a semi- truck driver crisscrossing the country, moved from Texas to North Dakota and then came back home.

It’s been a fun and interesting journey. I really enjoy engineering, but writing was my first passion, and I’m excited to share it with you.

I currently live in West Texas with my wife and our two adorable (but weird) cats.

Connect with the Author here:

 ~ Website ~ 

“No one knows how human genetics evolved to create Mirrors. No one knows how the evidence of a criminal’s last horrendous act can be confirmed in a single gaze of a child’s silvered eyes. But just because science can’t explain something doesn’t mean it can’t be used, and this gift is simply too valuable to ignore.

Twins Thomas and Ashley Ross have grown up knowing they would be used as Mirrors for the “good” of humanity. When their powers mature at age twelve, they are taken weekly to fulfill their role. By reliving the most heinous crimes from a perpetrators’ perspective, they alone can assure that no innocent people will be executed, and that the worst offenders are not set free due to lack of evidence.

Justice is not without cost, however. Taking on the memories of others is a destructive process, one that quickly consumes the children involved until most take their own lives. As despair threatens to drown Thomas and Ashley, a distant hope keeps them from succumbing: If they can make it to their eighteenth birthday, their contract with the government will be fulfilled. Changing views on the morality of their role threatens to tear them apart, but the twins struggle to cling to each other and try to construct a fragile life above the weekly flood of horrors.

As their work takes it toll, however, a new question emerges: does survival even matter when you’re already broken beyond repair?” 

 

Snippet: 

 “Why do you think I do this?” Sam demanded suddenly. His voice was hard, almost angry.

“It’s a paycheck.”

Sam shook his head firmly. Even in the dark, Thomas could make out the gesture. “I told you the day I met you that I could make more money doing something else.”

Memory of a conversation floated to the surface, and instinctively Thomas pushed it away before realizing that this time the memory seeking his attention was his own. He remembered sitting in the plane, talking after that first Reflection.

“To make a difference,” Thomas said. “And you don’t think you’d have done that today.”

“Yes, Thomas. Someday I’ll lose this job by caring too much for one of my kids, but it wasn’t today. I’m not going to sacrifice everything when it won’t make any difference.”

For a long moment, Thomas processed that. Then, quietly, he said, “It would have made a difference to me.”

To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 

 

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret

Valentine Countdown Blitz – 12 Days Of Clean Romance

Alison is the author of the White Rose series and the New London books, and is a member of the Australian Crime Writers Association.

She has served in both the Australian Army Reserve and the Royal Australian Air Force, and now lives in Tasmania with her family.

Alison is a self-confessed stationery junkie, loves forests, and drinks too much tea.

Connect with the Author here:

~ Facebook ~ Website ~ Amazon 

Have you ever enraged a murderer?

Redhead Nell, a civilian psychologist with the US Navy, takes her dream job at a submarine base to escape a protective family and build a life of her own. Meeting James, the handsome skipper of the submarine Scottsdale, is a bonus she hadn’t expected.When Nell is attacked after a body is pulled from the local river, two investigations swing into motion, with no obvious link between them. The killer plots to keep the cases separate and conceal the damning secrets from his past that would lead to a connection, and his demise.

As his attempts to complete the cover-up fail, his frustration and rage turn toward the person who stands in his way.

The redhead shrink

~ Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ 

~ Amazon Canada ~ Amazon Australia ~

Q&A With The Author:
  1.      Tell us about things you enjoy – what do you do for fun or personal satisfaction besides writing?

I love to visit the botanical gardens in the city where I live. My favourite section of the garden is the woodlands, which is full of trees from around the world. It’s beautiful at any time of the year and I find it relaxing and uplifting to spend time with nature.

  1.       What is the thing you struggle with the most while writing? And how do you defeat it?

I have a tendency to spend time too much time going through scenes in my head before writing them – otherwise known as daydreaming. I have to force myself back to earth and to my desk – it’s all about will power!

  1.      What are your future projects?

At the moment I’m editing the third and final book of the New London series (Seeing Red is the first) and then I’ll be writing a book based around motorsport. I also have another manuscript waiting to be edited. Plenty to do!

  1.      What is the “message” of your writing?

The overall message of my stories is good always wins and love can overcome any obstacle if you give it a chance.

  1.       Are your characters/stories/scenes, etc based on anything in real life?

I quite often find inspiration for the crime aspect of my books in news reports. I don’t use the exact same event, but it will trigger an idea based on the general scenario, e.g. espionage involving selling secret plans. Seeing Red was a result of my love for the movie The Hunt for Red October. I wondered about the lives of those who are left on shore when sailors go to sea, and the story grew from there.

  1.       Have you done anything writing-related, besides actually writing your books, that seemed to get a lot of positive response? Something that encouraged you?

I get great support from my work colleagues and they threw me a little party (during one of our breaks) when I launched my latest book. It turned into a short book talk and discussion, and their genuine interest and comments are something I’ll never forget. It was both humbling and inspiring to be honoured in such a way.

 
To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 
Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret

The Long Lost by Tom Nixon

 

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Long Lost by Tom Nixon was a book I struggled staying interested in while I was reading it.  I am not sure why this book was so hard for me to read because I did enjoy the plot and the characters in this book.  I think because the book was slow moving I just got bored and I found that I kept just wanting to just skim the pages and only really stop and read parts that caught my attention.  I also don’t like when books bounce back in forth between current time and the past.  I have a hard time keeping straight what is going on when authors writing like that.  This book wasn’t sure suspenseful for me because like I have said it just wasn’t the right fit for me, but I know that other people will probably enjoy it more than I did.

If you have read it what did you think of it?

About The Book

Title: THE LONG LOST
Author: Tom Nixon
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: 418
Genre: Suspense

The sudden and strange disappearance of Joel Thomas brings together his ex-wife and best friend in a search for answers. As Mary and Jason seek out the truth, their quest consistently turns up more questions than clues. In another time, the story of a long-time group of college friends plays out across 30 years of history, revealing the highs and lows of a group that vowed to maintain their friendship until death. Is the answer to Joel’s mysterious departure found in a simple note sent to Mary, or is it locked somewhere back in time? Told in alternating voices and timelines, Nixon’s The Long Lost tells a story of both intrigue and suspense — along with sentimentality and introspection — as he examines the painful discoveries realized when childhood friends grow up…and grow apart.

About The Author

Tom Nixon is an author and entrepreneur with writing credits to his name that span artistic genres. He has written multiple novels, two screenplays, several short stories, a children’s story, and has five music albums in his catalogue, for which he wrote both music and lyrics. He discovered his passion for writing and reading at an early age, going on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Michigan. He resides in Michigan with his wife and children, along with a couple of the canine variety.

His latest book is the suspense novel, The Long Lost.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Margaret Margaret