PERSONAL THOUGHTS

Mayhem, Murder and the PTA by Dave Cravens

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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.

Mayhem, Murder and the PTA by Dave Cravens quickly became one of my favorites.  I loved Parker right from the start of the book. There were so many times that I was left laughing at things that Parker would say and do.  I loved that this book’s main character is a strong female. I don’t think authors do that enough so when I see that an author does that I always like to bring it up.  I can say that if strong language isn’t something you are okay with then this isn’t the book for you. I did feel bad for Parker and her kids because of everything that they had gone through before the book started because I don’t know if I would be able to deal with it all.  This was a longer book but I was able to read through it pretty quickly. I also didn’t want to put this book down because I never knew what crazy thing Parker was going to do or say next. This book wasn’t super suspenseful or anything like that but as I have said several times now I was always waiting for Parker to act crazy and she never did let me down.  If swear words don’t upset you then I would for sure pick up a copy of this book because I know you enjoy Parker as much as I do.

About The Book

Book Title:  Mayhem, Murder and the PTA by Dave Cravens
Category:  Adult Fiction, 434 pages
Genre:  Mystery / Thriller
Publisher:  Amazon
Release date:   May 20, 2019
Format available for review:  print, ebook (mobi, gifted Kindle copy, ePub, PDF)
Will send print books out:  USA & Canada
Tour dates: August 19 to September 13, 2019
Content Rating:  R (Rated R mostly for language. There are adult topics of conversation, a brief scene depicting two adults having consensual sex that becomes interrupted, a murder, and several themes that touch upon drug use, adultery, pedophilia and human trafficking.)

Parker Monroe is a tough-talking investigative reporter used to writing headlines, not being the subject of them. When a key source vanishes on a politically toxic story, this single mother of three finds herself at the center of a media storm and out of a job. Ready to reset, Parker moves her family back to the rural town where she grew up. But a gossip-filled PTA, a tyrannical school principal and a gruesome murder make adjusting to the “simple life” anything but. Parker Monroe is about to chase the story of her lifetime…

About The Author

As a child, Dave Cravens planned to grow up to be a superhero, the first person to capture Bigfoot and Nessie on film, pilot experimental aircraft out of Area 51, develop cold fusion, and star and direct in his own blockbuster action movies so he could retire at the ripe age of twenty-five and raid tombs the rest of his life. Instead, he got a degree in journalism, which he hasn’t used at all other than to justify his incredibly insightful and valid complaints about the state of journalism. During his twenty-two years in the video game business, he’s written for award winning franchises, directed TV commercials and movies, sprained his ankles numerous times in ultimate frisbee games and published three original novels.

Connect with the author:   Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook 

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Prizes: ​ First Prize: $20 Amazon GC (10 winners); 

Second Prize: $10 Amazon GC (10 winners);

Third Prize: Paperback copy of MAYHEM, MURDER & THE PTA (10 winners);

Fourth Prize: Kindle copy of MAYHEM, MURDER & THE PTA (10 winners)

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Margaret Margaret

Secrets Never Die by Laurie Lewis

 

Tallie Brown’s life has never made sense. Raised in isolation by her mother, Julia, Tallie was dragged suddenly and without explanation from one third-world outpost to another until life normalized seven years ago when Julia took a position on a mountaintop in the Pacific northwest. But when Julia unexpectedly dies, Tallie uncovers clues suggesting that Julia had a secret life. Journalistic phenom Jackson James is still recovering from the devastating mistake that flatlined his promising career. Now he’s paying the price, working as the editor of a syrupy community rag in a posh D.C. suburb. But when the very man who destroyed him drops a tantalizing lead about a potential D.C. scandal, the reporter sees his chance for redemption and sets off to chase the story. Jackson’s investigation leads him to Cutler’s Ridge, a dying Virginia coal town, and directly into the path of the mysterious and beautiful Tallie. As these two mistrustful loners follow their leads, their stories begin to intertwine until they reach an alarming conclusion – something terrible happened in Cutler’s Ridge. As they doggedly pursue the story, the town’s cold reception spirals into threats and danger, proving that there are those who will stop at nothing to keep the past hidden forever –because secrets never die.

 

 

 

 


 
Laurie (L.C.) Lewis will always be a Marylander at heart—a weather-whining lover of crabs, American history, and the sea. She admits to being craft-challenged, particularly lethal with a glue gun, and a devotee of sappy movies. Secrets Never Die is Laurie’s twelfth published novel.
Her women’s fiction/romance novels include Love on the Line, (2019), Awakening Avery, (2018), Love on a Limb, (2017), Sweet Water, (2017), The Dragons of Alsace Farm (2016), and
Unspoken (2004), written as Laurie Lewis. Using the pen name L.C. Lewis, she wrote the five volumes of her award-winning FREE MEN and DREAMERS historical romance series, set against the backdrop of the War of 1812: Dark Sky at Dawn (2007), Twilight’s Last Gleaming
(2008), Dawn’s Early Light (2009), Oh, Say Can You See? (2010), and In God is Our Trust, (2011).
Laurie Lewis is a RONE Award Winner (The Dragons of Alsace Farm) and was twice
named a New Apple Literary Award winner in 2017 (The Dragons of Alsace Farm), and in 2018, winning Best New Fiction (Love on a Limb.) She is also a BRAGG Medallion honoree, and she was twice named a Whitney Awards and USA Best Books Awards finalist.
Laurie loves to hear from readers, and she invites you to join her VIP Readers’ Club, or contact her at any of these locations.

Julia heard the pleading in his voice, and finally she understood what her choices
had cost this man. As the casualties had mounted over the years, she had wondered if
protecting these secrets would all be worth the cost. Now she would never know. She
took a deep breath in preparation for another step, feeling another violent lurch as the
frayed lower rope broke free. Julia clenched the remaining upper rope, determined to
hold on, while dancing her feet along the remaining lower line in the hopes of finding
some support there. There was a momentary calm as she hung by a literal thread
above the jagged trees in the gorge. Looking at her horrified former colleague, she
quietly said, “Go. There’s nothing you can do. If you get caught here, it will all have
been for nothing.”
She watched a sorrowful acceptance slacken his face. His outstretched hand
lowered as he offered a few words of comfort. “I’ll watch out for Tallie.”
Julia jerked her head right, gesturing for him to go and leave her alone.
With a final nod, he turned and walked away without looking back.

 

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Margaret Margaret

Cover Reveal: Grace Without Grace by Susan Tietjen


Susan was born and raised a Southern California girl but is grateful to have lived on the Oregon coast and in the Rocky Mountains of northern Utah. She’s now enjoying living with her husband in the incomparable beauty of the Redwood forest, nestled against the rugged coast of Northern California.
Susan raised a tribe of children, making ends meet as a registered nurse and lactation consultant, and now her tribe members have tribes of their own and she doesn’t get to see enough of them. She loves to travel and is thrilled with a good movie or a great book, but writing is her passion. She writes almost anything, especially epic fantasy and romance.


Susan would love to hear your comments. Please review her book at your favorite retailer or at Goodreads. Take a peek at her website, susantietjen.blogspot.com, and/ or drop her a note at:
stietjen.author@gmail.com.

 

~ Facebook ~ Website ~
~ Twitter ~ Amazon ~
Grace has given up on romance, on almost everything, since Rick Fleming betrayed her faith in him five years ago. Given her constant struggle with bad luck (her friend Murphy), being insanely accident prone, and having been the target of endless ridicule growing up, she has no reason to trust anyone.
Rick made some mistakes as a boy, and as a young man, his worst was hurting Grace Evans. His heart still belongs to her, even if she doesn’t know it. Unfortunately, in the last confrontation between them, she demanded he never speak to her again.
Now, Grace’s best friend (and Rick’s sister) Hannah has invited her to a ten-day summer work-vacation to babysit Hannah’s teen cousins. A palatial cabin, a patio boat on the lake, and all the comforts of the rich and famous at their fingertips? A vacation made in heaven.
At least until they arrive and Grace finds Rick there. And neither can leave. Rick’s car is in pieces in the garage, and Grace forgot her driver’s license at home.
How will Grace survive it? Can she find a way to forgive? Can Rick learn to take
responsibility for his past mistakes? And even if they succeed, what will they do when Rick’s most recent wantabe girlfriend shows up on their doorstep, determined to make Rick hers?

 

And now for the Cover
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SET TO RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 6TH!
Preorder Available Now on Amazon!
Join us for the upcoming tour featuring this wonderful book HERE!
Find all of Susan Tietjen’s books here
~ Universal Amazon Link ~ 
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To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 

 

 

 

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Margaret Margaret

Cover Reveal: Capturing the Heart of the Rock Star by Nomi Summers

 
Cover Reveal for CAPTURING THE HEART OF THE ROCK STAR 
 by Nomi Summers
Brought to you by Forever Write PR
 
We are excited to share the cover for Nomi Summers’ CAPTURING THE HEART OF THE ROCK STAR. Keep scrolling to take a closer look at the cover, and don’t forget to add CAPTURING THE HEART OF THE ROCK STAR to your Goodreads TBR shelf or even pre-order!
 

 

 
 
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Even rock stars are haunted by the one that got away…
Chasing music and freedom, Shane Knox left Arbor Shores nine years ago and never looked back… until now. With his best friend, Dax, getting married, Shane is coming home to face his past as well as Avery, the girl he left behind.
The second he lays eyes on her, all of his long suppressed feelings come rushing back in a tidal wave of regret. For him, it was never truly over. But is it too late for a second chance?
Despite being bitter over Shane’s abrupt exit, Avery has bigger problems on her hands than drama with her ex. Her family’s hotel, Arbor Shores Resort, is struggling. Financial difficulties have landed the business in prime position for a real estate buyout, which would destroy all Avery and her family have built.
Putting his career on the line, Shane comes up with a plan that could save the resort. But will it be enough to redeem himself with Avery?
Or is it time for him to leave Arbor Shores for good?
Pre-Order on Amazon Today!
 
Author Nomi Summers: 
 
Nomi Summers is a clean contemporary romance author with a flair for taming bad boy heroes readers swoon over.
 
When she’s not dreaming up her next sweet small-town romance, you’ll find her at the beach devouring the latest new release on her Kindle. Her other guilty pleasures include getting lost in mindless reality TV and spending far too much time talking to her dogs, as she’s convinced they understand every other word!
 
Nomi’s living her own “happily ever after” with her loving husband and their two fur babies in Tampa Bay, Florida. However, a piece of her heart will always belong in Michigan where she’s originally from–the inspiration for the settings in her novels. 
This blogger event is brought to you by Forever Write PR. For more information, visit our Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/ForeverWritePR/
Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Margaret Margaret

The Experiment by Robin Lamont

 

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.

The Experiment by Robin Lamont was an amazing book.  This is the first book that I have read by this author and I can’t wait to read more books by her in the future. There are two other books in this series and I can’t wait to read them. This book included two things that I am interested in animal rights and mystery books.  I really enjoyed this author writing and she had me hooked right from the start of this book. This book kept me on the edge of my seat as I was reading it which hasn’t happened for me in quite a while.  I fell in love with Jude right from the start of the book and I was sad when the book was over because I was sad to say goodbye to Jude. I love when authors make me fall in love with the characters because it means the book really came alive to me. If you are looking for a different type of mystery book to read I would pick this one up and give it a shot.

About The Book

Genre: Suspense

Published by: Grayling Press

Publication Date: May 15th 2019

Number of Pages: 288

ISBN: 0985848588 (ISBN13: 9780985848583)

Series: The Kinship Series

Jude Brannock is a brash and single-minded female protagonist for today’s readers who believe that nature and animals deserve our respect and must be protected. In The Experiment, author Robin Lamont brings these forward-looking themes to her newest suspense novel.

Jude is an investigator for an animal protection organization. When the young man she has trained for an undercover job suddenly vanishes after a tantalizing text that he’s “on to something,” Jude rushes to the quiet, farming community of Half Moon, only to discover that her trainee might have perpetrated an elaborate con job on her. Determined to get to the truth, she unearths a biopharmaceutical company’s deadly secret, and in doing so, comes up against dark secrets of her own.

About The Author

Before becoming a novelist, Robin was a popular Broadway actress and singer, turned private investigator, and then New York prosecutor. She draws on these diverse careers for her work, infusing suspenseful plots with character-driven drama. Robin’s prior work has garnered awards and recognition, including Suspense Magazine’s Best of the Indies and a Gold Medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards for her novel If Thy Right Hand. Her book The Chain, which introduced Jude Brannock to readers, was a Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalist. Her screen adaptation of the book, Six Seconds, is currently under option.

Catch Up With Our Author On: thekinshipseries.com, Goodreads, BookBub, Twitter, & Facebook!

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This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Robin Lamont. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on August 1, 2019 and runs through September 2, 2019. Void where prohibited.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Margaret Margaret

Unbreak Me by Michelle Hazen

 
Release Tour for UNBREAK ME by Michelle Hazen
Brought to you by Forever Write PR

 

Find out what a big city musician and a lonely cowgirl have in common in Michelle Hazen’s UNBREAK ME from Berkley Publishing. Andra Lawler must decide if she’s brave enough to leave the shelter of her family’s ranch for an uncertain future with Haitian-Creole cowboy, LJ Delisle. Fans of Emily Giffin and Colleen Hoover will devour this sweet, heartwrenching yet hopeful diverse romance. 

 

UNBREAK ME was named one of Amazon’s Best Books of the month of August and was the winner of RWA’s Lonestar Award. 

 

“A seductive, slow-burn romance brimming with tenderness, hope, and transformation.”—Tammara Webber, New York Times bestselling author

 

“Hazen writes with grace and compassion about life after trauma, smoothly addressing racism, sexual assault, and large-scale disasters without pat answers or platitudes. This is a sure tear-jerker for any romance fan.” —STARRED Publisher’s Weekly review

 

What could two troubled souls from different walks of life have in common? Maybe everything.

Andra Lawler lives isolated at her family’s horse ranch, imprisoned by the memories of an assault in college. When she needs help training her foals, she hires a Haitian-Creole cowboy from New Orleans with a laugh as big as the Montana sky.

 

LJ Delisle can’t stand the idea that Andra might be lonely—or eating frozen TV dinners. He bakes his way into her kitchen with a lemon velvet cake, and offers her cooking lessons that set them on the road to romance. But even their love can’t escape the shadow of what they’ve been through. Despite their growing friendship and his gentle rapport with the horses, LJ is still an outsider facing small-town suspicions.

 

Before they can work through their issues, LJ is called home by a family emergency. In the centuries-old, raggedly rebuilt streets of New Orleans, he must confront memories of 

 

Hurricane Katrina and familiar discrimination. And Andra must decide if she’s brave enough to leave the shelter of the ranch for an uncertain future with LJ.

 

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Excerpt from Unbreak Me
Copyright @ Michelle Hazen 2019

 

Andra opened her front door, and the frown froze on her face as LJ’s shoulders filled the doorframe.

 

He was holding . . . a cake?
“Um, hi,” she managed.

 

Oh crap, she’d promised to talk to him about the horses.

 

“Look, I’m sorry. I know I said I’d come talk to you a couple days ago, but then Socks kicked one of the grooms, and Mary Kay lost a shoe, and I completely forgot.” She hadn’t forgotten, so much as she was . . . working up to it. Giving him a few days of seeing her around the ranch when she was in control of herself, before she got close enough she’d have to see his opinion of her in his eyes.

 

He shrugged, careful not to tip the tall cake off its platter. “I think we got off on the wrong foot the day we met, and our do-over didn’t really stick.”

 

Oh God. Apparently, he wasn’t tiptoeing around anything today.

 

LJ grinned—a playful, twinkly-eyed one that made him look like he was just having more fun than everyone else. “Besides, nobody’s afraid of a guy with a cake.”

 

A smile tugged at the edges of her mouth. “I’ve never heard that.”

 

“No? It’s completely true. Not to mention, bringing a cake is the best excuse to eat some. I mean, it’s yours. You don’t have to share. Of course, if you don’t, you may want to pass a tissue or two my way, is all I’m saying.” He widened his eyes mournfully.

 

She glanced at the cake, the white icing whipped into gorgeous swirls. “Did Stacia make that? She used to be terrible at baking.” She gripped the edge of the door a little tighter. Maybe her friend had been practicing. It wasn’t like she knew what Stacia was up to these days.

 

“I’m a little offended. A man doesn’t bring a borrowed cake for an apology.” He lifted the platter and gave it a waggle. “We’ve got lemon velvet with French buttercream here. You oughta get it out of the heat soon, though. The sun melted the frosting some on the way over. It’s a hike to get up over here, you know it?”

 

Oops, he was feeling around for an invitation. Duh, and she was still standing in her door like some kind of freak. “Um, come in.” The least she could do was feed him some cake and try to act like a normal person. She stepped aside and racked her brain for small talk that didn’t involve anything on four hooves. “You know, I can’t quite place your accent. You said you were from Louisiana, but I’ve met lots of people from there at rodeos, and they didn’t sound quite like you.”

 

“Well, you can tell I’m from the South because I interrupted your workout with dessert.” He tipped his head toward the yoga mat she’d left by the couch. She smiled, and his grin brightened a couple more watts. “Seriously, though, I think I’ve got a little bayou country from my days on my uncle’s horse ranch, cut with the rhythm of the Lower Ninth, maybe some southern drawl creeping in from the Mississippi border. And New Orleans has a sound all its own, always has.” Between one word and the next, his words straightened to all square corners instead of luscious curves. “Then again, if my mother is listening, I sound strictly like the Yankee university she helped pay for.”

 

“Your mom doesn’t like your accent?” Andra frowned. “Doesn’t she have one?”

 

“Mama thought I wouldn’t get a decent job unless I talked like a white banker from Wisconsin.” He shrugged.

 

Her eyes widened. “That’s not fair. Why should you have to fake an accent to get a job?”

 

“That’s the way the world works. People have ideas about what intelligence should sound like, and I don’t expect I’m going to change all of them on my own.” He winked. “I tutored English composition for work study all through college, so I can play the game. I have to admit, though, sometimes it’s nice to sound like home.”

 

Andra laughed, a little self-consciously. “I don’t think I even realized we had an accent up north until you imitated it.”

 

“Oh, it’s an accent all right, sweetheart. And you’ve got it thick as anything.”

 

Heat crept into her skin at the endearment, though she didn’t get the feeling he was really flirting with her. She glanced away, the afterimage of him seared on her lids. His deep-brown eyes were a couple of shades darker than his skin, and they always seemed to be laughing. He was handsome, with high cheekbones and sensual lips. The kind of man she would have looked twice at, once.

 

ABOUT Michelle Hazen
 
Michelle Hazen is a nomad with a writing problem. Years ago, she and her husband swapped office jobs for seasonal gigs and moved out on the road. As a result, she wrote most of her books with solar power in odd places, including a bus in Thailand, a golf cart in a sandstorm, and a beach in Honduras. Currently, she’s addicted to The Walking Dead, hiking, and Tillamook cheese.

 
















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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Margaret Margaret