Speak No Evil by Liana Gardner

October 3, 2019

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Partners In Crime 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.

Speak No Evil by Liana Gardner left me feeling very broken because of everything that happened to Melody throughout the book. I read through this book really quickly because I had to know how it all worked out or if it even did work out at the end. If abuse and things like that bother you then I wouldn’t read this book but if you are okay reading the kind of stuff than I think you might like this book. Even with me saying that there aren’t a ton of details about the abuse but it does go into a few of the details. I also had a rough childhood so I felt like I could relate to Melody and understand some of the things that she went through. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am pretty sure I will pick up other books by her in the future because I enjoyed this book so much. I love when an author tackles tough subjects as this author did because it shows that they will talk about things that can help people. If you are looking for a quick but amazing read than I would pick up this book because I am sure you will love it as much as I did.

About The Book

Genre: YA Mystery Published by: Vesuvian Books Publication Date: October 1st 2019 Number of Pages: 285 ISBN: 1944109366 (ISBN13: 9781944109363) What if every time you told the truth, evil followed?

My name is Melody Fisher. My daddy was a snake handler in Appalachia until Mama died. Though years have passed, I can still hear the rattle before the strike that took her from me.

And it’s all my fault.

Since then, I’ve been passed around from foster home to foster home. I didn’t think anything could be as bad as losing Mama.

I was wrong.

But I will not speak of things people have done to me. Every time I do, worse evil follows. Now, the only thing I trust is what saved me years ago.

Back when I would sing the snakes calm …

About The Author

Liana Gardner is the multi-award-winning author of 7th Grade Revolution (most recently the recipient of a 2018 Nautilus Book Award) and The Journal of Angela Ashby. The daughter of a rocket scientist and an artist, Liana combines the traits of both into a quirky yet pragmatic writer and in everything sees the story lurking beneath the surface. Liana volunteers with high school students through EXP (expfuture.org). EXP unites business people and educators to prepare students for a meaningful place in the world of tomorrow. Working in partnership with industry and educators, EXP helps young people EXPerience, EXPand, and EXPlore. Engaged in a battle against leukemia and lymphoma, Liana spends much of her time at home, but her imagination takes her wherever she wants to go. Liana is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Catch Up With Liana Gardner On: lianagardner.com, Goodreads, BookBub, Twitter, & Facebook!

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This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Vesuvian Books and Liana Gardner. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card and 2 winners of a signed print copy of Speak No Evil by Liana Gardner. The giveaway begins on October 1, 2019 and runs through December 2, 2019. Open to U.S. addresses only. Void where prohibited.

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Appointment in Prague by Michael McMenamin & Kathleen McMenamin

September 6, 2018

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.

Appointment in Prague by Michael McMenamin & Kathleen McMenamin was a quick read for me and it is one that I really enjoyed. I am a huge fan of books that take place during WWII, so I really enjoyed that about this book. I was able to read this book quickly because it is shorter than some of the books that I have read lately. This is a book that I think most people would enjoy because it isn’t a heavy book like some other books are that have to do with WWII. I think that this book would be good for teenagers to read if they are wanting to learn more about WWII. I am going to go back and read the other books in this series because I really did enjoy this book and the author’s writing. Have you read this book and if so what do you think of it?

About The Book

Title: APPOINTMENT IN PRAGUE: A MATTIE MCGARY + WINSTON CHURCHILL WORLD WAR II ADVENTURE
Author: Michael McMenamin & Kathleen McMenamin
Publisher: First Edition Design Publishing
Pages: 160
Genre: Historical Thriller

In the novella, Appointment in Prague, one woman, a British secret agent, sets out in May 1942 to single-handedly send to hell the most evil Nazi alive—SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the SD, the domestic and foreign counter-intelligence wing of the SS; second in rank only to the head of the SS himself, Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler; and the architect of “The Final Solution” that will send millions of European Jews to their doom.

When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill authorizes the SOE—the ‘Special Operations Executive’— in October 1941 to assassinate Heydrich, he is unaware that the entire operation has been conceived and is being run by his Scottish goddaughter, the former Pulitzer Prize-winning Hearst photojournalist Mattie McGary. The SOE is Churchill’s own creation, one he informally describes as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and, at his suggestion, Mattie becomes one of its Deputy Directors.

Mattie has a history with Heydrich dating back to 1933 and a personal score to settle. In September 1941, when the man known variously as ‘The Blond Beast’ and ‘The Man With the Iron Heart’—that last coming from Adolf Hitler himself—is appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, the remnants left of Czechoslovakia after the Germans had dismembered it in 1939, Mattie is determined—now that he is no longer safely within Germany’s borders—to have him killed. She recruits and trains several Czech partisans for the task and has them parachuted into Czechoslovakia in December 1941.

An increasingly impatient Mattie waits in London for word that her agents have killed the Blond Beast. By May 1942, Heydrich still lives and Mattie is furious. The mother of six-year-old twins, Mattie decides—without telling her godfather or her American husband, the #2 man in the London office of the OSS—to parachute into Czechoslovakia herself and “light a fire under their timid Czech bums”. Which she does, but her agents botch the job and Heydrich is only wounded in the attempt. The doctors sent from Berlin to care for him believe he will recover.

On the fly, Mattie conceives a new plan to kill Heydrich herself. With forged papers and other help from the highest-placed SOE asset in Nazi Germany—a former lover—Mattie determines to covertly enter Prague’s Bulovka Hospital and finish the job. After that, all she has to do is flee Prague into Germany and from there to neutral Switzerland. What Mattie doesn’t know is that Walter Schellenberg, Heydrich’s protégé and the head of Foreign Intelligence for the SD, is watching her every move.

About The Authors

Michael McMenamin is the co-author with his son Patrick of the award winning 1930s era historical novels featuring Winston Churchill and his fictional Scottish goddaughter, the adventure-seeking Hearst photojournalist Mattie McGary. The first five novels in the series—The DeValera Deception, The Parsifal Pursuit, The Gemini Agenda, The Berghof Betrayal and The Silver Mosaic—received a total of 15 literary awards. He is currently at work with his daughter Kathleen McMenamin on the sixth Winston and Mattie historical adventure, The Liebold Protocol.

Michael is the author of the critically acclaimed Becoming Winston Churchill, The Untold Story of Young Winston and His American Mentor [Hardcover, Greenwood 2007; Paperback, Enigma 2009] and the co-author of Milking the Public, Political Scandals of the Dairy Lobby from LBJ to Jimmy Carter [Nelson Hall, 1980]. He is an editorial board member of Finest Hour, the quarterly journal of the International Churchill Society and a contributing editor for the libertarian magazine Reason. His work also has appeared in The Churchills in Ireland, 1660-1965, Corrections and Controversies [Irish Academic Press, 2012] as well as two Reason anthologies, Free Minds & Free Markets, Twenty Five Years of Reason [Pacific Research Institute, 1993] and Choice, the Best of Reason [BenBella Books, 2004]. A full-time writer, he was formerly a first amendment and media defense lawyer and a U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent.

Kathleen, the other half of the father-daughter writing team, has been editing her father’s writing for longer than she cares to remember. She is the co-author with her sister Kelly of the critically acclaimed Organize Your Way: Simple Strategies for Every Personality [Sterling, 2017]. The two sisters are professional organizers, personality-type experts and the founders of PixiesDidIt, a home and life organization business. Kathleen is an honors graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and has an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University. The novella Appointment in Prague is her second joint writing project with her father. Their first was “Bringing Home the First Amendment”, a review in the August 1984 Reason magazine of Nat Hentoff’s The Day They Came to Arrest the Book. While a teen-ager, she and her father would often take runs together, creating plots for adventure stories as they ran.

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The Nephilim Virus by John T. Prather

January 30, 2018

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

The Nephilim Virus by John T. Prather was a book that I didn’t think I would enjoy reading but in the end, I loved the book. I requested a copy of this book because I knew it would either be really good or terrible and I knew I wanted to find out which way it was going to go. I had no idea who the author was when I saw this book and to be honest I still haven’t really looked him up because I couldn’t be careless that he is an actor. I know I judge the book from the start because I was skeptical when it came to him being a writer and I loved that I was proved wrong because he is a fantastic author and I can’t wait to read more books by him in the future.

Anyway, let’s get on to talk about this book and my thoughts and feelings about it. Like I said before I loved this book and I think I may like just as much like the book “1984”. I can’t pinpoint what I want about this book, but I really did enjoy just about everything. I really liked Nick right from the start but it did take some time for me to want Faith but by the end of the book I had fallen in love with her. I didn’t like when they quoted big chunks of the bible because it just bored me. Once I was in the middle of the book I just skipped those parts because I didn’t want to waste my time on those parts. Other than that I loved this book. If you like dystopian novels, then I would for sure check out this book.

Do you like dystopian novels?

Who is currently your favorite author?

About The Book

Nick Reese wakes from a three-year coma to find the world he once knew is gone. An ancient virus has infected two-thirds of the world’s population, turning humans into either incredibly intelligent super-humans or large and indestructible animalistic creatures. For the survivors, there is no government, no antidote, and no safety. With the help of a beautiful hematologist named Faith and a man they call the Commander, Nick must survive long enough to discover the origin of the virus and learn how his blood could hold the key to a cure. But he has to do it while being hunted by the infected. And failure means the extinction of the human race.

Author and Hollywood actor John Prather intertwines history, science, and the Bible to create a plausible post-apocalyptic tale. The Nephilim Virus is an intense thriller implementing spiritual ideas and subtle Christian symbolism. The Nephilim Virus is a nonstop race against time from beginning to end.

About The Author

I’m John Prather. I grew up in the Bluff City of Memphis, Tennessee on a diet of Bar-B-Q and southern values. In my late 20’s I moved to the City of Angels to try the adventure of acting and modeling and brought my southern values with me. Now, other than the lack of quality BBQ, Los Angeles feels like home.

I’m a writer, actor, and fitness model. I love to encourage, motivate, and inspire people to do great things. I believe you and I can take an active role in choosing who we become. And my goal is to be a positive influence in your life.

Life is an adventure and I hope you will join me in learning how to do it right. Please comment and share, and together we can grow into the people we are made to be.

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Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

January 23, 2018

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

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp was a different book compared to books that I have been reading lately. I did read another book by this author last year you can click here to check out that review and book if you missed it. This book was different from the other one, and I think I liked this book even more than the first one I read by her. This book kept me on the edge of my seat throughout most of it because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen or where this book was going to end up. I spent most of the book wanting to know that why everyone in the town of “Lost” was acting so strange. There were quite a few spots in this book that made me take a step back and wonder what was really going on. Like when Corey was looking at a painting that Kyra had done before she died and in the painting, she (Kyra) was under the ice and come to find out that is how she actually died, so it took me by surprise. If you like YA fiction than I would for sure read this book because I am sure you will enjoy it.

About The Book

Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return.

Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she’s a stranger.

Corey knows something is wrong. With every hour, her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets―chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter…

About The Author

Marieke Nijkamp a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, geek. She’s the author of THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS and the forthcoming BEFORE I LET GO.

Her short stories can be found in: PILGRIM PLAYWRIGHT GENIE GUARD, FERAL YOUTH, and THE RADICAL ELEMENT.

***

Please note I don’t respond to friend requests or messages on GR, but you’re always welcome to tweet or email me. 🙂

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The Breathless by Tara Goedjen

December 20, 2017

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.

The Breathless by Tara Goedjen was a book I picked up on a whim because I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. That being said I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book and I am glad to say that in the end, I did enjoy the book. There were times that I was bored with what was going on in the book but those times passed quickly, and I wanted to keep reading so I could figure out what was going to happen next. I know that one of the main reasons I like this book so much is because I wasn’t able to figure out how it was going to end and what was going to happen next. This book did make me want to read other books in the genre because I really enjoyed this book. If you are looking for a book in the horror genre that would be appropriate for teenagers, I would pick this one up and give it to them for Christmas.

About The Book

No one knows what really happened on the beach where Roxanne Cole’s body was found, but her boyfriend, Cage, took off that night and hasn’t been seen since. Until now. One year—almost to the day—from Ro’s death, when he knocks on the door of Blue Gate Manor and asks where she is.

Cage has no memory of the past twelve months. According to him, Ro was alive only the day before. Ro’s sister Mae wouldn’t believe him, except that something’s not right. Nothing’s been right in the house since Ro died.

And then Mae finds the little green book. The one hidden in Ro’s room. It’s filled with secrets—dangerous secrets—about her family, and about Ro. And if what it says is true, then maybe, just maybe, Ro isn’t lost forever.

And maybe there are secrets better left to the dead.

About The Author

Tara Goedjen has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama and grew up in the South. The Breathless is her debut novel. She lives and writes in Monterey, California. To find out more about Tara and her novel, follow @TaraGoedjen on Twitter.

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All Things Now Living by Rondi Bauer Olson

December 1, 2017

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.

All Things Now Living by Rondi Bauer Olson was a good book. I really did enjoy this book but I found that I was always comparing it to 1984 by George Orwell and Divergent by Veronica Roth. Those are my favorite two books in this genre so I always end up comparing them all when I am reading. Now with that being said I really did enjoy this book and I can’t wait to more books in this series. Unlike the other books that I mention this book didn’t have anything it in that might offend people and I think it would be great for teenagers of all ages. I really enjoyed this authors writing and like I said I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. This book didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat and I was able to figure out how it was going to end but that didn’t bother me in the least. If you love dystopian novels I am sure that you will enjoy this book as much I have.

About The Book

Her whole life Amy has been taught the people of New Lithisle deserve to die, but when she falls for Daniel, she determines to save him.

Sixteen-year-old Amy doesn’t like anything to die, she won’t even eat the goats or chickens her mama has butchered every fall, but she can’t let herself pity the inhabitants of New Lithisle. In a few short months the dome they built to isolate themselves from the deadly pandemic is predicted to collapse, but her whole life Amy has been taught it’s God’s will they die. They traded their souls for immunity to the swine flu virus, brought God’s curse upon themselves by adding pig genes to their own.
Then, while on a scavenging trip with her father, Amy is accidentally trapped in New Lithisle. At first her only goal is to escape, but when she meets Daniel, a New Lithisle boy, she begins to question how less-than-human the people of New Lithisle are.

Amy’s feelings grow even more conflicted when she learns she didn’t end up in New Lithisle by mistake. Her father is secretly a sympathizer, and was trying to prevent the coming destruction.

Now time is running short and Amy has to decide if she will bring the computer program her father wrote to his contact or save herself. Installing the program could prevent the dome’s collapse, but if Amy doesn’t find her father’s contact in time, she’ll die, along with everyone else.

About The Author

Rondi Bauer Olson is a reader and writer from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where she lives on a hobby farm with her husband, Kurt. She has four grown children, works as a nurse, and also owns a gift shop within view of beautiful Lake Superior.

Find out more about Rondi at http://rondibauerolson.weebly.com.

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Catch Up With Liana Gardner On: lianagardner.com, Goodreads, BookBub, Twitter, & Facebook!

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