Book Review

Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse 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.

Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer was a book that I fell in love with.  This book combined two of the things that I currently love.  It combined reading, and it also combined my love for real crime / cold cases.  I also love this author writing, so this book had quite a bit to live up to, and I am happy to say that I enjoyed this book and was sad when I was done reading it.    I loved trying to figure out what happened to Maggie right along with the characters in this book.  I wasn’t able to figure it out before we find out the whole story so I loved that about this book.  Since this is Christian fiction, you don’t have to worry too much about what is going to happen during the book.  There is one thing that bugged me throughout the book and was Meghan’s mom Diane.  She reminded me of a pissed off teenage throughout the book, and I spend more time annoyed with how she acted and the things that she said to Hazel and Meghan.  All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and I am sure anyone who loves cold cases would also like this book.

About The Book

Decades of Loss, an Unsolved Mystery,
and a Rift Spanning Three Generations

Hazel DeFord is a woman haunted by her past. While berry picking in a blackberry thicket in 1943, ten-year old Hazel momentarily turns her back on her three-year old sister Maggie and the young girl disappears.

Almost seventy years later, the mystery remains unsolved and the secret guilt Hazel carries has alienated her from her daughter Diane, who can’t understand her mother’s overprotectiveness and near paranoia. While Diane resents her mother’s inexplicable eccentricities, her daughter Meghan—a cold case agent—cherishes her grandmother’s lavish attention and affection.

When a traffic accident forces Meghan to take a six-week leave-of-absence to recover, all three generations of DeFord women find themselves unexpectedly under the same roof. Meghan knows she will have to act as a mediator between the two headstrong and contentious women. But when they uncover Hazel’s painful secret, will Meghan also be able to use her investigative prowess to solve the family mystery and help bothwomen recover all that’s been lost?

About The Author

Kim Vogel Sawyer is the author of twenty-nine novels, including several CBA and ECPA bestsellers. Her books have won the ACFW Book of the Year Award, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, and the Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Kim is active in her church, where she leads women’s fellowship and participates in both voice and bell choirs. In her spare time, she enjoys drama, quilting, and calligraphy. Kim and her husband, Don, reside in central Kansas, and have three daughters and nine grandchildren.

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The Black Market Concierge by Barry Oberholzer

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from iRead Book Tours 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 Black Market Concierge by Barry Oberholzer was a fascinating book.  I am always a sucker for books like this because I love reading books about things that actually happened.  I loved this book right from the start of the book.  I was able to get through this book in about a day because of how short it is.  This book was really well written, and I wished that it had been longer because I want to more about the things that happened and more about Barry in general.  I am always a sucker for books that have to do with spying so I knew going into this book that I was going to like it and I am so glad that I wasn’t let down.  If you are looking for a quick book to read or if like me, you love real stories then I think this is one book that you will enjoy as much as I did.

What biography book do you love?

 

About The Book

Book Title: The Black Market Concierge: Sanction Busting, Smuggling & Spying for America
Author: Barry Oberholzer
Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 177 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Amazon
Release date: November 2016
Tour dates: Sept 25 to Oct 13, 2017
Content Rating: PG (Violence)



Barry Oberholzer’s secret life as a confidential informant, infiltrating international organized crime syndicates and sanction-busting activity hit headlines in 2012. Oberholzer reported an array of vital intelligence to the CIA and multiple intelligence agencies across the world. For years, he has worked across the Middle East and behind the scenes as a confidential informant making connections, extracting valuable intelligence, and facing off against America’s greatest enemy at every turn.

In The Black Market Concierge, he opens a window into his double life as an informant; informing on the role of key players including major corporations, crime syndicates, politicians and government officials in high-value international smuggling operations.

After exposing corruption at the highest levels of government in South Africa, he is ready to give a no holds barred account of what it is like to live the life of a high-level, confidential informant.

His memoir is a searingly honest account of a boy aviation enthusiast who cascaded into the world of international espionage and how it ultimately sent him in search of salvation in his devout Christian faith. It is a testimony that will move even the most cold hearted.

About The Author

Born in Houston, Texas, a former professional rugby player and current CrossFit and Ironman athlete, Barry is the founder of TerrorMate app and is a counter-terrorism and intelligence expert. Formerly Barry served as a confidential informant for Department of Homeland Security, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Belgium Customs Intelligence and HM Revenue & Customs Intelligence in the United Kingdom.

One of his most impactful successes was in his identification of Iranian sanction busting syndicates who smuggled US manufactured aircraft and parts to Iran which led to the arrests of several prominent international businessmen. He also had numerous successes in major illicit cigarette seizures in Europe.

Connect with the Author: Website ~ Twitter

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

The Names Of Dead Girls by Eric Rickstad

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Parters In Crime Tours 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 Names of Dead Girls by Eric Rickstad was a great book.  This is the second book in this series and the first one that I have read.  That being said I didn’t feel lost and I was able to pick right up with what was going on.  If you want to read both books, I would read them in order because this book will spoil certain things in the first book if you read this one first.  I do know that I will go back and read the first book because I was in love with this book and I want to know what happened in the first book.  From the first page of this book I was hooked and didn’t want to stop reading it until I finished the last page.  This book had everything that I like for books in this genre to have which is the reason I am still going to go back and read the first book and any other books that he has written or will write in the future.  If you love thriller type books than I am sure you will love this book as much as I did.

If you have read it what do you think about it?  What books are you currently reading and loving?

About The Book

Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: September 12th 2017
Number of Pages: 400
ISBN: 0062672819 (ISBN13: 9780062672810)
Series: The Silent Girls #2
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

William Morrow is thrilled to present the sequel to the New York Times and USA Today mega-bestseller The Silent Girls, which went on to sell more than 300,000 copies. The Names of Dead Girls is a dark, twisty thriller that once again features detectives Frank Rath and Sonja Test as they track a perverse killer through rural Vermont. By popular demand, the story picks up after the shocking cliffhanger on the last page of The Silent Girls and reveals what exactly happens between Rath and his nemesis, Ned Preacher. Although The Names of Dead Girls is a sequel, it reads perfectly as a standalone – new readers can dive in seamlessly.

After years spent retired as a private investigator, Frank Rath is lured back into his role as lead detective in a case that hits far too close to home. Sixteen years ago, depraved serial rapist and killer Ned Preacher brutally murdered Rath’s sister and brother-in-law while their baby daughter, Rachel, slept upstairs. In the aftermath, Rath quit his job as a state police detective and abandoned his drinking and womanizing to adopt Rachel and devote his life to raising her alone.

Now, unthinkably, Preacher has been paroled early and is watching—and plotting cruelties for—Rachel, who has just learned the truth about her parents’ murders after years of Rath trying to protect her from it. The danger intensifies when local girls begin to go missing, in crimes that echo the past. Is the fact that girls are showing up dead right when Preacher was released a coincidence? Or is he taunting Frank Rath, circling his prey until he comes closer and closer to the one he left behind—Rachel? Rath’s investigation takes him from the wilds of Vermont to the strip clubs of Montreal, but it seems that some evil force is always one step ahead of him.

Eric Rickstad is a master of the bone-chilling, nightmare-inducing thriller, and The Names of Dead Girls is one you won’t want to miss.

 

About The Author

Eric Rickstad is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of The Canaan Crime Series—Lie in Wait, The Silent Girls, and The Names of Dead Girls, psychological thrillers set in northern Vermont and heralded as intelligent, profound, dark, disturbing, and heartbreaking. His first novel Reap was a New York Times Noteworthy Novel. Rickstad lives in his home state of Vermont with his wife, daughter, and son.

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This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Eric Rickstad and HarperCollins Publishers. There will be 3 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on September 16 and runs through October 4, 2017.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

The Pretender by Ta’Mara Hanscom

The Pretender Ta'Mara Hanscom

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse 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 Pretender by Ta’Mara Hanscom was a book I thought I would really enjoy but in the end, I was bored throughout most of the book.  There were parts throughout the book that I did like but they never lasted long, and I always ended up bored and wanting to pick up something else to read.  This is the first book I have read by this author, and I don’t know that I will get any others to read.  This book was well written, but I just didn’t connect with the author and the characters in the book.  This does happen from time to time, and it makes me sad when it does happen, and I have to review the book because I hate having to leave reviews like this one.  Like I said it was well written and I am sure that it will be a great book for other people it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

About The Book

Set in South Dakota in 1975, where eighteen-year-olds could order 3.2 beer in a bar, and loaded guns were kept under the counter.
Frankie Valli sang “My Eyes Adored You,” and American soldiers returning from Vietnam struggled with their new reality.
It’s within this tumultuous season of American history that Tillie Caselli meets Noah Hansen, and they are never the same again. Their lives were mysteriously intertwined-and had been for many years-yet they had no idea.
From the moment they met, Tillie and Noah wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, but a deliberate omission will keep them apart—and that same omission will be responsible for the escape of a murderer, and a bride’s deception.

About The Author

Born and raised in South Dakota, Ta`Mara loves to write about the Great Plains and the beauty and people of Italia. While her husband and children manage their two pizza ristoranti, Ta`Mara works full time on The Caselli Family Series, and ministers to women. It is Ta`Mara s prayer that as the readers explore the truths in these volumes, they will come away with a new perspective on love, forgiveness, obedience, and God’s plan for marriage
Find out more about Ta’Mara at https://www.tamarahanscombooks.com.
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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

Many Sparrows by Lori Benton

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse 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.

Many Sparrows by Lori Benton isn’t one of my favorite historical fiction books that I have read in the past year or so.  I had a tough time getting into the book, and I also had a hard time wanting to read this book.  I found that when I would put it down that, I wouldn’t go right back to it.  I read several other books while I was reading this one which isn’t something that I usually do.  I think my biggest problem was how slow this book seemed to go.  There were quite a few places that I wondered why they didn’t cut them out.  I felt bad for Clare throughout the book because of all of the horrible things that she had to go through.  I know that they only reason I kept reading what because I wanted to know what going to happen to Clare and how things were going to turn out for her.  If you love historical fiction novels than I would pick this book up or at least read other reviews to see if it would be a right for you.  If you have read this book what did you think of it?

About The Book

Either she and her children would emerge from that wilderness together, or none of them would. . . .
In 1774, the Ohio-Kentucky frontier pulses with rising tension and brutal conflicts as Colonists push westward and encroach upon Native American territories. The young Inglesby family is making the perilous journey west when an accident sends Philip back to Redstone Fort for help, forcing him to leave his pregnant wife Clare and their four-year old son Jacob on a remote mountain trail.
When Philip does not return and Jacob disappears from the wagon under the cover of darkness, Clare awakens the next morning to find herself utterly alone, in labor and wondering how she can to recover her son . . . especially when her second child is moments away from being born.
Clare will face the greatest fight of her life, as she struggles to reclaim her son from the Shawnee Indians now holding him captive. But with the battle lines sharply drawn, Jacob’s life might not be the only one at stake. When frontiersman Jeremiah Ring comes to her aid, can the stranger convince Clare that recovering her son will require the very thing her anguished heart is unwilling to do-be still, wait and let God fight this battle for them?

About The Author

Lori Benton was raised east of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by early American history going back three hundred years. Her novels transport readers to the eighteenth century, where she brings to life the Colonial and early Federal periods of American history. When she isn’t writing, reading, or researching, Lori enjoys exploring and photographing the Oregon wilderness with her husband. She is the author of “Burning Sky,” recipient of three Christy Awards, “The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn,” Christy-nominee “The Wood’s Edge,” and “A Flight of Arrows.”
Find out more about Lori at http://loribenton.blogspot.com.
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Dead Cold by Jennifer Chase

 

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.

Dead Cold by Jennifer Chase was a good book.  It actually reminded of the “King and Maxwell” books that David Baldacci wrote.  I loved those books so when this book reminded me of that series this book had a lot to live up too.  I am happy to say that it did live up to what I hoped it would.  I really enjoyed watching Emily and Rick because they reminded me characters that I loved from another series of books.  I am happy that I found this book because I can’t wait to read more books in this series.  This book didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat, but it did keep me interested.  I was able to read this book enough fast which I always enjoy.  If you love thriller type books than I am sure you will enjoy this book and series as much as  I did.

 

About The Book

Title: DEAD COLD
Author: Jennifer Chase
Publisher: JEC Press
Pages: 326
Genre: Crime Thriller

What happens when one California community has a disturbing spike in homicides? It catapults cops into a deadly game of murder. Frozen human body parts hideously displayed at the crime scenes offers a horrifying interpretation that only a sadistic serial killer could design—and execute.

On the hunt for a complex serial killer, vigilante detective Emily Stone must face her most daring case yet. Stone’s proven top-notch profiling skills and forensic expertise may not be enough this time.

Young and ambitious, Detective Danny Starr, catches the homicide cases and discovers that it will test everything he knows about police work and the criminal mind. Can he handle these escalating cases or will the police department have to call in reinforcements—the FBI.

Emily Stone’s covert team pushes with extreme urgency to unravel the grisly clues, while keeping their identities hidden from the police. With one last-ditch effort, Stone dangles someone she loves as bait to draw out the killer. She then forces the killer out of their comfort zone with her partner Rick Lopez, and with help from a longtime friend Jordan Smith. A revelation of the serial killer’s identity leaves the team with volatile emotions that could destroy them.

The killer continues to taunt and expertly manipulate the police, as well as Stone’s team, and as they run out of time—they leave behind everyone and everything—in Dead Cold.

About The Author

Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning crime fiction author and consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent sociopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling.  She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists.

Her latest book is the crime thriller, Dead Cold.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret