Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman

June 15, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Blogging For Books 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.

Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman wasn’t the right book for me. When I first started reading this book, it reminded me of the book “Defending Jacob by William Landay” even though they aren’t about the same things the writing reminded me of that book but that is about all because I found myself getting lost in all the details. I couldn’t sit down and read this book for extended periods of time because I got distracted and just couldn’t keep my focus on this book. I am sure this book will be great to some people but for me it just bored me, and I couldn’t wait until it was over.

About The Book

A tour de force about three friends affected by a campus murder, for readers of Donna Tartt, Meg Wolitzer, and Jeffrey Eugenides

Georgia, Charlie and Alice each arrive at Harvard with hopeful visions of what the future will hold. But when, just before graduation, a classmate is found murdered on campus, they find themselves facing a cruel and unanticipated new reality. Moreover, a charismatic professor who has loomed large in their lives is suspected of the crime. Though his guilt or innocence remains uncertain, the unsettling questions raised by the case force the three friends to take a deeper look at their tangled relationship. Their bond has been defined by the secrets they’ve kept from one another—Charlie’s love and Alice’s envy, Georgia’s mysterious affair—and over the course of the next decade, as they grapple with the challenges of adulthood and witness the unraveling of a teacher’s once-charmed life, they must reckon with their own deceits and shortcomings, each desperately in search of answers and the chance to be forgiven.

A relentless, incisive, and keenly intelligent novel about promise, disappointment, and the often tenuous bonds of friendship, Bradstreet Gate is the auspicious debut of a tremendously talented new writer.

From the Hardcover edition.

About The Author

ROBIN KIRMAN earned a BA in philosophy from Yale College and an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, where she served as a writing instructor in the English department. Robin lives in New York City and Tel Aviv.

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The Question by R. Breuer Stearns

June 9, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from iReads 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 Question by R. Breuer Stearns was an interesting book. When I read the back of this book, I was super interested to see what it was all about but after the first couple of pages, I was worried that I wasn’t going to like it. After I was a couple of chapters into the book, I didn’t want to put it down. It was a book that I would take breaks from because it did make me think and that didn’t bother me at all. I love that I spend a good amount just thinking while I was reading this book and in the end, I enjoyed the story and the characters in the book. I also wanted to say that it is an easy read even though it did make me think. If you love books that make you think but also have a great story to go along with than I know you will love this book as much as I do.

About The Book

THE QUESTION invites readers to consider this premise:

If you could have the answer to one question, and only one question, what would you ask… and who would try to stop you from asking it?

To what extremes would they go?

THE QUESTION is a thriller that explores a new way of thinking, a method powerful enough to answer very complex questions . . . perhaps powerful enough to solve the universe’s most fundamental mysteries . . . perhaps powerful enough to resolve religions’ most beguiling unknowns.

THE QUESTION is an adventure story . . . fiction that you may wish, may believe, may know, is true. The narrative occurs in the present, with scenes in California, Washington, D.C., Paris, Shanghai, New York, and Afghanistan.

THE QUESTION is ideal reading for anyone who is curious . . . for those who gaze into the cosmos at night and wonder . . . for those who look into the mirror and imagine . . . for those whose hearts beat faster when confronting the unknown . . . for readers who enjoy a fast paced, contemporary thriller that inspires them to think.

About The Author

R. Breuer Stearns is an investor and author.

Mr. Stearns graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover (1970), Harvard University (AB, 1974), University of Chicago (MBA, 1977), and DePaul University College of Law (JD, 1979). He rapidly ascended on Wall Street in the 1980’s, serving as Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions at Lehman Brothers and Head of Investment Banking (North America) at UBS Securities. While living in New York, he founded “Terrific Teachers, Inc.,” a foundation dedicated to identifying and rewarding the best of the best of the city’s public high school teachers.

Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mr. Stearns launched a private investment bank in the former Soviet Union. He spent the early 1990’s seeking to marry emerging science, primarily emanating from Russia’s Defense sector, with Western capital. During this period, Mr. Stearns made a small fortune, albeit from a larger one. The venture provided a remarkable lesson in hubris, a tremendous reservoir of internal strength, and first-hand source material for Mr. Stearns’ first book, Winning Smart After Losing Big (Encounter Books, Beijing University Press).

Subsequently, Mr. Stearns served as Chief Financial Officer of The Dial Corporation, Chief Financial Officer of Columbia/HCA Corporation, Chief Financial Officer of PacifiCare, Inc., President and Chief Operating Officer of Vascular Genetics, Inc., and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quepasa Corporation (QPSA:Amex).

Mr. Stearns is a Founder of VestaPoint Capital LLC, a family of investment funds focused on real estate development. He lives in Arizona with his wife, two dogs, two cats, and a horse. He travels extensively and is intensely curious.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Facebook

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Song Of The Blackbird by DB Michaels

May 28, 2016

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

Song Of The Blackbird by DB Michaels was a book I knew I would probably like right from the start. I am a huge fan of TV shows that take place in jails and prisons, so when I got offered this book to review, I knew I had to check it out. I did enjoy the book but at times it was slow for me, and that made it hard for me to read it for long periods. This is a book that I had to read a little bit at a time and take a break from time to time. I did enjoy the authors writing, and I loved the characters in this book. The author made me feel as if I was in prison with Emma and I love when authors can make me feel like I am with the characters in the book. I think most people would enjoy this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for something different to read.

About The Book

Healing must start from within…

Desperate to reconnect with her half-brother, Emma Edwards takes her new medical training and secures a doctor’s job at the prison where he’s serving a sentence. But what she finds there is worse than she ever imagined…tough rules and even tougher men, gangs powered by drug money and corruption. Emma must find a way to keep her brother alive until he’s freed even if that means lying to the one man she should be able to trust….

Unless you find someone to share your pain….

Warden Maxim Chambers doesn’t believe a woman should be working in a penitentiary, especially one like Emma – a woman even a hardened man like him can’t get off his mind. He’s spent too many years building walls around his heart to let himself care about anyone. But when Emma is almost hurt in a prison assault, Maxim can’t deny his feelings for her. But what is the connection between Emma and the prisoner named Sam?

And accept your past.

When secrets are revealed, danger and death run through the prison. Only the truth can save Emma and Maxim…if it’s not too late.

Song of the Blackbird immerses you in a whole new world – a gritty, violent world where things you have always believed turn out not to be true. It is a compelling story of sorrow and loss, of hope and second chances, and most of all, of the power of love.

About The Author

DB Michaels is a life-long reader who fell in love with the field of medicine during college. Double boarded in internal medicine and emergency medicine, she enjoys using her skills to help those in need. Working as a doctor in the prison system inspired her to write Song of the Blackbird, the first installment in her Albatross Prison Series. Though the book is fictional, it illustrates the power of love, hope, and second chances.

DB’s first passion has always been books and she is happiest when she is absorbed in a great novel or writing. When she has time off, she likes to watch old movies, dally in the sun, and spend time with her family.

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Sister Eve And The Blue Nun by Lynne Hinton

May 23, 2016

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.

Sister Eve And The Blue Nun by Lynne Hinton was interesting, to say the least. This is the third book in the series, and this is the first one I have read. You don’t have to read the other two first, but it might help, and I know I wondered from time to time what had happened before, but you don’t need to read them to understand this book. This book has one of the unique stories I have read in a while because of the main character is a Nun and also investigates murders. The only reason I got this book is that of the fact that Eve is a Nun and rides a motorcycle, and I had to know more. I enjoyed this book because even though it is a typical mystery book I like that the Eve was different from any other main character that I have ever read about. I enjoyed this book so much so that I am going to pick up the other books in the series and read them. If you are looking for something a little different to read this summer then I would tell you to pick up this book and give it a try. If you have read it what did you think of it?

About The Book

When Sister Eve returns to the monastery, the last thing she expects there is murder.

After solving several mysteries with her father at the Divine Private Detective Agency, Sister Eve finds herself torn between her calling as a nun and the thrill that comes with detecting. She knows she’s been using her father’s health as an excuse to extend her leave of absence from the monastery, but that excuse is running thin. She prays that a return visit to the monastery for a conference on the Blue Nun will help bring clarity to her calling, but when the conference speaker is murdered, Sister Eve’s two worlds collide.

Sister Eve knows the number one suspect, the victim’s brother and monk in residence, couldn’t possibly have committed the crime, and she’s determined to find the real killer. To do so means she must track down some mysterious newly discovered writings from the Blue Nun, said to date from the 17th Century, when the sister bi-located to the New Mexico region from her home in Spain. Could these texts from long ago be the key to today’s mystery? And will they offer any guidance to Sister Eve as she chooses which calling to follow?

About The Author

Lynne Hinton is the pastor of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The author of numerous novels including Friendship Cake, Hope Springs, Forever Friends, Christmas Cake, and Wedding Cake, she lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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The Inheritance by Michael Phillips

May 1, 2016

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 Inheritance by Michael Phillips was a super long book. I liked the book for the most part, but it is super long, and the font isn’t the biggest so at times it was hard to me to read. Had I know all of that before I would have requested the ebook version because that way I could have made the font bigger and easier for me to read without straining my eyes. With all that said I loved the story and how it was written. I did feel at times that there were almost too many details, and I found that I got bogged down in all the details. I did enjoy this book for the most part, but I don’t think that I will check out any other books by him. I enjoyed how the author wrote like people from Scotland talk. I did have to read it out loud so that I could figure out what was being said but I enjoyed those parts of the book. It is a book that I would recommend to people, but I would recommend getting a digital version of the book if your eyes get strained easily.

About The Book

The death of the clan patriarch has thrown the tiny Shetland Islands community of Whale’s Reef into turmoil. Everyone assumed MacGregor Tulloch’s heir to be his grand-nephew David, a local favorite, but when it is discovered that MacGregor left no will, David’s grasping cousin Hardy submits his own claim to the inheritance, an estate that controls most of the island’s land. And while Hardy doesn’t enjoy much popular support, he has the backing of a shadowy group of North Sea oil investors. The courts have frozen the estate’s assets while the competing claims are investigated, leaving many of the residents in financial limbo. The future of the island–and its traditional way of life–hangs in the balance.

Loni Ford is enjoying her rising career in a large investment firm in Washington, DC. Yet in spite of her outward success, she is privately plagued by questions of identity. Orphaned as a young child, she was raised by her paternal grandparents, and while she loves them dearly, she feels completely detached from her roots. That is until a mysterious letter arrives from a Scottish solicitor. . . .

Past and present collide in master storyteller Phillips’s dramatic new saga of loss and discovery, of grasping and grace, and of the dreams of men and women everywhere.

About The Author

Michael Phillips has been writing in the Christian marketplace for 30 years. All told, he has written, co-written, and edited some 110 books. Phillips and his wife live in the U.S., and make their second home in Scotland.

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Dark Money by Larry D. Thompson

April 29, 2016

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

Dark Money by Larry D. Thompson was an interesting book, to say the least. This book has to do with politics which is very ironic if you ask me. I liked the premise of the story, but I had a tough time staying interested in the book, and it got hard for me to keep reading it from time to time. A book like this one will have a particular type of people who will love it but for me, I did find it somewhat boring and hard to get through. There were times in the book that I was totally into what was going on, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me. This book is well written, and I could totally see something like this happening in this country. If you love politics and corrupt politicians than I think this book would be perfect for you.

About The Book

Title: DARK MONEY
Author: Larry D. Thompson
Publisher: Story Merchant Books
Pages: 420
Genre: Legal Thriller

DARK MONEY is a thriller, a mystery and an expose’ of the corruption of money in politics.

Jackson Bryant, the millionaire plaintiff lawyer who turned to pro bono work in Dead Peasants, is caught up in the collision of money and politics when he receives a call from his old army buddy, Walt Frazier. Walt needs his assistance in evaluating security for Texas Governor Rob Lardner at a Halloween costume fundraiser thrown by one of the nation’s richest Republican billionaires at his mansion in Fort Worth.

Miriam Van Zandt is the best marksman among The Alamo Defenders, an anti-government militia group in West Texas. She attends the fund raiser dressed as a cat burglar—wounds the governor and murders the host’s brother, another Republican billionaire. She is shot in the leg but manages to escape.

Jack is appointed special prosecutor and must call on the Texas DPS SWAT team to track Van Zandt and attack the Alamo Defenders’ compound in a lonely part of West Texas. Van Zandt’s father, founder of the Defenders, is killed in the attack and Miriam is left in a coma. The authorities declare victory and close the case—but Jack knows better. The person behind the Halloween massacre has yet to be caught. When Walt and the protective detail are sued by the fund raiser host and the widow of the dead man, Jack follows the dark money of political contributions from the Cayman Islands to Washington to Eastern Europe, New York and New Orleans to track the real killer and absolve his friend and the Protective Detail of responsibility for the massacre.

For More Information

Dark Money is available at Amazon.
Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

About The Author

Larry D. Thompson was first a trial lawyer. He tried more than 300 cases throughout Texas, winning in excess of 95% of them. When his youngest son graduated from college, he decided to write his first novel. Since his mother was an English teacher and his brother, Thomas Thompson, had been a best-selling author, it seemed the natural thing to do.

Larry writes about what he knows best…lawyers, courtrooms and trials. The legal thriller is his genre. DARK MONEY is his fifth story and the second in the Jack Bryant series.

Larry and his wife, Vicki, call Houston home and spend their summers on a mountain top in Vail, Colorado. He has two daughters, two sons and four grandchildren.

For More Information

Visit Larry Thompson’s website.
Connect with Larry on Facebook and Twitter.

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