Contemporary Fiction

The Murder at Astaire Castle by Lauren Carr

 

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FTC: I received a free copy of this audio 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 Murders at Astaire Castle by Lauren Carr was a good audiobook. I don’t listen to many audiobooks, so this was a nice change of pace for me. I like the narrator’s voice in this book, and I felt like he really could have been the main character in the book. I did at one point have to make it go faster because at times I felt like he was just talking to slow that I got bored or distracted as I will listening to it. After I had turned up the speed of the book, I did enjoy this book even more than at the start. I am starting to love listening to audiobooks like this one while I am driving to and from work each day. I have a pretty long commute, and I find when I am listening audiobooks I don’t get as angry at other drivers. I have read one other book in this series, but with that being said you don’t have to read them in order or even read them all if some of the books don’t interest you. At times I thought this book was trying too hard to be scary and I didn’t like that about the book. All in all, it was a good book and I am sure I will be checking out other books in this series because I am a huge of Gnarly in the series. If you love mystery books than I know, you will enjoy this book as much as I did.

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About The Book

Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something.

Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop – even though he owns the property. It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!

Topping the list of the 10 top haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago – and Mac Faraday owns it!

In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.

What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet – including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.

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About The Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries. The twelfth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder will be released June 2016.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with Lauren: Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Margaret Margaret

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

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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 Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter was a great book. I was hooked on this book right from the first page. This is the typical book that I usually love so I wasn’t shocked that I like it as much as I did. I was shocked at how fast I was able to get through this book though. It is a bigger book and I was still able to get it read in a few days which was nice. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Will during the first few chapters of the book but when I four and five chapters in I really started to like him. I really liked Sara right from the start because she seems like someone that I would get along with in the real world. There are parts of this book that were pretty graphic but that didn’t bother me at all. I know that I will be reading other books by this author because I loved this book that much. If you love mystery/thriller books than you will love this book as well and you need to pick up a copy for yourself. If you pick it up to read let me know how you like it.

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About The Book

Husbands and wives. Mothers and daughters. The past and the future.

Secrets bind them. And secrets can destroy them.

The author of Pretty Girls returns with an electrifying, emotionally complex thriller that plunges its fascinating protagonist into the darkest depths of a mystery that just might destroy him.

With the discovery of a murder at an abandoned construction site, Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is brought in on a case that becomes much more dangerous when the dead man is identified as an ex-cop.

Studying the body, Sara Linton—the GBI’s newest medical examiner and Will’s lover—realizes that the extensive blood loss didn’t belong to the corpse. Sure enough, bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim—a woman—who has vanished . . . and who will die soon if she isn’t found.

Will is already compromised, because the site belongs to the city’s most popular citizen: a wealthy, powerful, and politically connected athlete protected by the world’s most expensive lawyers—a man who’s already gotten away with rape, despite Will’s exhaustive efforts to put him away.

But the worst is yet to come. Evidence soon links Will’s troubled past to the case . . . and the consequences will tear through his life with the force of a tornado, wreaking havoc for Will and everyone around him, including his colleagues, family, friends—and even the suspects he pursues.

Relentlessly suspenseful and furiously paced, peopled with conflicted, fallible characters who leap from the page, The Kept Woman is a seamless blend of twisty police procedural and ingenious psychological thriller — a searing, unforgettable novel of love, loss, and redemption.

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About The Author

Karin Slaughter is the #1 internationally bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including the Will Trent and Grant County series and the instant New York Times bestselling standalones, Cop Town and Pretty Girls. There are more than 35 million copies of her books in print around the world.

Visit her at http://www.karinslaughter.com

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Margaret Margaret

The Things We Said Today by Lise McClendon

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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 Things We Said Today by Lise McClendon was a great book that I loved from the first page. While I was reading this entire book I had a smile on my face because of some of the things that the characters were doing throughout the book. I also loved that this book takes place in Scotland. I have always wanted to travel there and after reading this book I know that at some point I will have to go.   I loved all the crazy personalities that are in this book because you never knew what was going to happen and I loved that about this book. I am usually not a huge fan of romantic comedies but I loved this book and I know that I will be picking up the others books in this series because I loved everything about the characters and their personalities. The characters are people that I would want to hang out with in real like which means that the author did an excellent job of making the characters come to life as I was reading this book. If you love romance novels that leave you smiling after the book is over than I know this is the right book for you.

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About The Book

Five sisters, all lawyers, well-trained in the art of demanding what’s necessary.It’s enough to drive a wedding planner to tears. Then add in a European venue, a Scottish hunting lodge, and a reluctant bride, and things get dicey. Can the middle sister, Merle, rally the troops, deal with the in-laws, and stop a powerful storm from ruining everything? Merle has powers of persuasion, especially when it comes to her French beau, Pascal, but in Scotland she has no clue how to corral her out-of-control sisters who are hellbent on wringing every bit of drama from a bad situation.

Annie Bennett is getting married…. At the ripe old age of 55. She’s turned down a few proposals over the years and stayed true to her motto: Stay single, stay happy. When she met handsome Scot Callum Logan she had no intentions beyond her own personal Highland fling. Then it happened: she fell in love. Annie’s doubts about marrying a much-younger man continue to plague her. Callum wants to get married in the bluebells of his native Highlands. But does Annie want to get married at all?

Join the Bennett Sisters in their third rollicking novel, after Blackbird Fly and The Girl in the Empty Dress, in another summer adventure with romance, intrigue, men in kilts, plus wine and whisky, as they navigate the treacherous waters of middle-age, self-discovery, and understanding your fears.

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About The Author

 Lise McClendon writes fiction in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. She has been a film reviewer, a film maker, a journalism professor, and a PR flack. Since her first novel, The Bluejay Shaman, was published in 1994, she has served on the national board of Mystery Writers of America and the International Association of Crime Writers/North America, as well as on the faculty of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference where each year she critiques, speaks, and learns from writers new and old.

Lise McClendon also writes as Rory Tate.

Her latest book is the women’s fiction, The Things We Said Today.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Margaret Margaret

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Harper Collins 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 Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan was a fantastic book. From the first page of this book right through the end, I didn’t want to put this book down. I saw a lot of myself in Nina and the fact that she loves books just as much as I do. I have never thought about getting a job at the library but after this book, I am going to consider it. I have read one other book by this author, and if you want to see what I thought of that book, you can click here to check it out. I am pretty sure that I was going to like this book because I loved the other book of hers that I read. I also love these books because of the take place somewhere other than the United States which I like because I love learning what it is like living in other places in the world. If you love contemporary fiction books than I know, you will love this book just as much as I did.

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About The Book

Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

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About The Author

Jenny T. Colgan was born in 1972 in Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK. After studying at Edinburgh University, she worked for six years in the health service, moonlighting as a cartoonist and a stand-up comic, before the publication of her first novel Amanda’s Wedding in 2000. In 2013, her novel “Welcome to Rosie Hopkin’s Sweetshop of Dreams” won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She is now working on her next novel.

She mostly lives in France, with frequent visits to London. She occasionally writes for The Guardian newspaper, as well as a TV series.

Her Doctor Who novel Dark Horizons is published under the name Jenny T. Colgan.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Margaret Margaret

The Ride Of A Lifetime by Kitty McGregor

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look 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 Ride of a Lifetime by Kitty McGregor was am an okay book. I did enjoy this book but at times I found myself getting bored with the story. When I do get bored with a book, I just put it down and come back to it later which I was able to do with this one. I usually really enjoy books like this one but for some reason I think that this one tried too hard to be something that it wasn’t. There are parts where it seems like there are devil worshipers and that just rub me the wrong way with this book. I think that is because I wasn’t expecting that to happen with this book. Other than feeling like this book was trying to be scary it was an okay book. I would also be willing to check out other books by this author in the future. If you love Christian fiction, then I recommend you pick this one up and check it out.

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About The Book

When Lucas McCade retired from the PRCA rodeo circuit, he was an internationally famous rodeo star. In a life of conquering hard bulls and harder men, he had rarely known defeat and never given into fear. Little could he have known that as he left the arena of wild-eyed bulls and slashing hooves, he was stepping into a life filled with real danger. Once he rode for gold-buckle dreams, now ride with Lucas McCade as he scouts the back trails over the rolling hills of Oklahoma and encounters the paths of the powers of darkness. In a culture where a man’s word is still his bond and a handshake seals a deal, McCade leads his family in a walk with Christ that causes outrage in the spiritual realm. Once again, ancient battle lines are drawn between the powers of the Prince of Darkness and the Heavenly forces of Jesus Christ. It promises to be the ride of a lifetime!

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Margaret Margaret

Secret Crush by Victoria Pinder

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

Secret Crush by Victoria Pinder was an okay book. I had a hard time getting into this book. At times it felt like the author was rushing things and then at others times I was left wondering why some parts were left in the book. I enjoyed the plot and the characters but like most books I was able to figure out what was going on by the end of the book. I did like the characters and the story line of this book. Like I said before I had a hard time getting into the book, so I was glad that it was a shorter book than some of the others I have read lately. If you love chick lit books, I am sure you will like this book.

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About The Book

Billionaire’s second son John Morgan comes home to his father’s funeral. He joined the FBI to prove his father caused his sister’s death, but now he needs to find out who he is and what’s left of his family that he can trust.

Alice Collins grew up on a farm, but she was best friends with Victoria Morgan before she died. She decides to go to the Morgan family’s funeral to pay her respects.

Surprises ensue as they usually do for the Morgans at the funeral. Alice gets caught in the crossfire of family drama and intrigue, and it’s John’s duty to protect her. While they reconnect, feelings surface. But can a farm girl truly ever capture the heart of a billionaire? Could their love be real? Or is this all just a fantasy while she’s involved with one Morgan plot after another?

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About The Author

Victoria Pinder grew up in Irish Catholic Boston before moving to the Miami sun. She’s worked in engineering, after passing many tests proving how easy Math came to her. Then hating her life at the age of twenty-four, she decided to go to law school. Four years later, after passing the bar and practicing very little, she realized that she hates the practice of law. She refused to one day turn 50 and realized she had nothing but her career and hours at a desk. After realizing she needed change, she became a high school teacher. Teaching is rewarding, but writing is a passion.
During all this time, she always wrote stories to entertain herself or calm down. Her parents are practical minded people demanding a job, and Victoria spent too many years living other people’s dreams, but when she sat down to see what skill she had that matched what she enjoyed doing, writing became so obvious. The middle school year book when someone wrote in it that one day she’d be a writer made sense when she turned thirty.
Besides her full-time job of teaching, in 2013 and 2014, she sold her sold books to three different publishers. The Zoastra Affair, Chaperoning Paris, Borrowing the Doctor, and Electing Love will be published by Soulmate Publishing. Anything the Throne will be published with Double Dragon Ebooks. Favorite Coffee, Favorite Crush will be published with Jupiter Press.
Now she is represented by Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency, and she hopes to continue selling her novels that she writes. Moving up to the next level from hard work and determination is rewarding, and partnerships bring new opportunities.
Also, she’s the Vice President of Programs for the Florida Romance Writers. She’s gone to multiple conferences and intends to continue. She learns and meets so many people at conferences. Her website is here, http://www.victoriapinder.com, and she’ll continue to grow my web presence. She is working hard on other projects and found the time to plan her wedding this year.
Before writing, her father had taken her to many star trek conventions and on her own, she grew up as the only girl in the 90s at the comic book store. Science Fiction was her first love, but contemporary romance was her second. She’s sticking with contemporaries for the near future.
Member of Florida Romance Writers, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal chapter of RWA, Celtic Hearts and Savvy Authors.

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