Book Review and Giveaway Link: Easter Bunny Murder by Leslie Meier

Easter Bunny Murder by Leslie Meier

Publisher: Kensington

Publish Date: January 29, 2013

Hardcover, 256 pages
Fiction, Mystery, Cozy

 ISBN: 9780758229359
A Lucy Stone Mystery #19

My Review:
This was my first Leslie Meier Lucy Stone mystery and it won't be my last.  Even though I started with book #19 I didn't see it as a problem.  Yes I would have known a little more about the characters if I would have read the previous 18 books, but since this is a mystery and the books are focused on the mystery plot it wasn't too much of a problem coming into book #19 and learning the characters on the fly.  I felt like Ms. Meier gives good background into each of the main characters so that I never felt lost in Easter Bunny Murder and that it felt like a stand-alone.  With that being said, after finishing this one, I want to go forward with the series as new books are released and also read from the beginning of te series as well.

The plot starts as the annual Easter Egg hunt seems to be a no-go and a man dies in front of everyone on the lawn of prestigious Pine Point.  Lucy, the main character of this series, is a reporter for the local paper which is just a weekly and she mainly handles features not investigative reporting, but she just can't seem to help herself and she has to get to the bottom of what is going on at the local mansion and what is happening to resident millionaire VV.  This starts the book and her sleuthing. With the help of others in the town, Lucy starts to get to the bottom of things.  I like this book because she doesn't seem to always be in danger like in some books.  This was what I really think of as a cozy mystery.  She's solving the crime, but kind of out-of-the-way.  But as she gets closer and closer things get more and more interesting.

I was drawn in by Lucy and her friends and the other people that populate the town.  I love small town settings, I'm from a small town.  I'm familiar with knowing most everyone and having everyone know your business.  I like how Lucy is proper and nice and tries to go about solving the murders in a way that doesn't hurt anyone.  She's just a nice lady.  I also like the slices of her family life that are shown.  The mystery was interesting and it kept me guessing.  By the end I was able to see the clues that were there, but I missed them when I read, so that was good.  Some may find it predictable but I didn't.  I found it to be a very enjoyable read.

Over the last year I have started to read more and more cozy mysteries and I am glad I got the chance to try out Leslie Meier.  The Lucy Stone series has great promise for me and I look forward to reading more books in the series.  Easter Bunny Murder was a strong entry in the series at least for me, but I have nothing so far to judge it against.  It was an enjoyable read, fit the full bill of a cozy for me and kept me entertained for hours.  I found it hard to put down and it was another book I found easy to read even with life and TV going on around me.  I felt like I was right in the middle of the chaos and mystery that surrounded Lucy.  I also loved the Easter theme, and Lucy's grandson Patrick,  he reminded me of my boys when they were just a little smaller.  Kudos to Ms. Meier on a job well done! 


My Rating: 4.5/5.0


About the Book:

Lucy Stone’s on the hunt for a killer with a deadly case of spring fever…

Spring has sprung in Tinker’s Cove, and Lucy Stone has a mile-long to-do list. From painting eggs with her grandson, to preparing the perfect Easter feast, to reviving her garden after a long, cold winter, she hardly has time to hunt for a killer with a deadly case of spring fever… 

Lucy has always loved covering the annual Easter egg hunt for the Pennysaver. Hosted by elderly socialite Vivian Van Vorst at Pine Point, her luxurious oceanfront estate, it’s a swanky event where the grown-ups sip cocktails while their children search for eggs that are as likely to contain savings bonds as they are jelly beans. But when Lucy arrives with her three-year-old grandson, VV’s normally welcoming gates are locked, and a man dressed as the Easter Bunny emerges only to drop dead moments later…

Lucy discovers that the victim is Van Vorst Duff, VV’s grandson, and soon learns that not all is as it seems at idyllic Pine Point, where the champagne and caviar seem to be running dry. Always a social butterfly, VV has been skipping lunch dates with friends, and her much-needed donations to local charities have stopped with no explanation. Maybe she’s going senile, or maybe her heirs are getting a little too anxious to take over her estate…

As Lucy gathers a basketful of suspects, she’s convinced someone’s been hunting for a lot more than eggs, and she’ll have to chase the truth down a rabbit hole before the killer claims another victim…

About the Author: 

LESLIE MEIER is the acclaimed author of eighteen Lucy Stone mysteries and has also written for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. She is currently at work on the next Lucy Stone mystery coming in October 2013.

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Giveaway (Click to go to the site to enter)

***I received this book from the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  ***

Book Excerpt and Author Guest Blog: Heaven Should Fall by Rebecca Coleman

Today I am the tour stop for the BookTrib tour of Heaven Should Fall by Rebecca Coleman.  Up first I have today's excerpt and I also have a guest post from author Rebecca Coleman on the development of the character of Cade in the book.  To check out the rest of the excerpts, guest posts, interviews and reviews, make sure to have a look at the main tour page at BookTrib.  The tour is going on from October 1 - 31.  My review of Heaven Should Fall is coming later today and let me tell you this is one interesting book.  Told from the point of view of several characters, it is a story that I found hard to put down, so make sure you stop by later to find out my full thoughts on this great book.

Excerpt:

“I bet he’s dying to get off that plane,” said Cade. “It’s a fifteen-hour flight from Kabul to Baltimore. That’s a crapload of Nicorette.”

I grinned. “So if he seems really cranky, I shouldn’t assume

that’s his normal personality.”

Guest Post by Rebecca Coleman:

Cade’s takes a dramatic turn after Elias’s tragedy – can you tell us a little more about how you developed his character?

There's a certain type of guy who makes a good romantic hero: good-looking (of course), ambitious but willing to set aside quality time for the woman he loves, passionate, principled and charming-- well, you know the drill. When I go into middle schools for Career Day-- amazingly, they still let me do that after The Kingdom of Childhood-- I hold up a copy of Twilight and talk about how the two romantic heroes, Edward and Jacob, are conflations of everything women stereotypically love about men. And on the surface, Cade-- the guy who loves my protagonist, Jill, in Heaven Should Fall-- is a guy like that, too.

            But as the reader slowly discovers, a man like Cade-- one who feels things deeply, is driven to feel relevant in the world, and believes he is a notch above most people he meets-- is especially vulnerable when things don't go his way. He wants to feel in control of his world, and believes he deserves to. As he feels his influence slipping, the ability Jill once observed in him-- to "find his passion and follow the prize of it like a polestar"-- corrupts into a desperate determination to matter, at whatever cost.

            And so the "dramatic" turn that Cade takes after a crisis strikes his family is not as jarring as it first appears. He's the same guy as ever, only angry now, and with his judgment clouded by grief. This is an aspect of characterization that has long fascinated me. No real human being is entirely good or entirely evil; each person has something they want-- out of life, or out of a particular situation-- and will act, sometimes in ways that conflict with the values they profess, in the service of that goal. That's not inconsistency-- that's humanity. And so while Cade spends most of the book dismissing his brother-in-law Dodge as an ignorant redneck, when Dodge provides him with a route to his goal, the desires of Cade's ego trump his opinion of the man.

            To me, the more deeply conflicted the character, the easier they are to write. A sense of uncertainty and struggle is something I understand, while moral certainty can feel foreign and even false. Like Zach in The Kingdom of Childhood, I saw Cade as a man wrestling with the angel; it wasn't hard to get inside their heads, because in one way or another, I've been there, too. And I think that's what the writing gurus really mean when they say, "write what you know." Every time I sit down to start a new novel I must research places and people, hobbies, music and occupations. learning it all from scratch. But a protagonist who struggles between love and anger, one who means well but often stumbles-- ah. I write what I know.

Book Tour, Excerpt, Interview & Giveaway: Big Sky Mountain by Linda Lael Miller

First up I have today's tour excerpt from Big Sky Mountain.  Make sure to check out the tour website for more excerpts, interviews, reviews, giveaways, guest posts and more fun.

Then he opened his collar halfway to his breastbone and sucked in a breath. “I tried to tell her,” he muttered. He knew it sounded lame, but the truth was the truth.

Although he and Slade shared a father, they had been at bloody-knuckled odds most of their lives. They’d made some progress toward getting along since the old man’s death and the upheaval that followed, but neither of them related to the other as a buddy, let alone a brother.

“Come on out to our place,” Slade said, surprising him. “You’d best lay low for a few hours. Give Brylee—and Walker—a little time to cool off.”

Hutch stiffened slightly, though he found the invitation oddly welcome. Home, being Whisper Creek Ranch, was a lonely outpost these days—which was probably why he’d talked himself into proposing to Brylee in the first place.

“I have to talk to Brylee,” he repeated.

“There’ll be time for that later on,” Slade reasoned.

Follow the tour at BookTrib and make sure you enter to win a necklace and a paperback copy of Big Sky Mountain at BookTrib's site!

Enjoy this interview with Linda Lael Miller:

1.      Do you allow friends or family to read early drafts of your work?

Yes.  My cousin, Mary Ann, reads all my manuscripts as I’m writing them.  We’ve been close all our lives and have a lot of the same memories, but she’s pretty objective and bone practical.  I take her comments seriously.

2.      What sparked your interest in Tarot card reading?

I’m not sure, but it was probably the beauty of Tarot decks in general.  I read them from a sort of Joseph Campbell/mythological point of view, and I believe the images stimulate ideas and insights because they are all archetypes.  I don’t read the future, but I can get a pretty good take on an individual I’m reading for or for a character in a book.

3.      If you could go back and change anything about Big Sky Mountain, would you?

Well, there’s one thing I’d change—I got so wrapped up in the excitement of the story that I forgot to let the cat, Lucy-Maude, have her kittens.  Rest assured, in Big Sky world, those kitties are all thriving in loving homes.

4.      What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

See number 2.  I LOVE to read and also to listen to audio books—I’ve always got a couple of volumes going at once.  I can get lost in my craft room downstairs, and not just because it’s usually a mess.  Spending time with my horses, dog and cats are high priorities, too.

5.      How long does it take you to write a novel, from initial idea to finished manuscript?
Wow, that is a hard question.  I think the ideas for some of my books were sparked when I was a child, listening to all those great stories about cowboys and rodeos and horses, not to mention the ones my grandma told me about Jessie James sleeping in her family’s barn and the day the Dalton brothers tried to rob the bank in Coffeeville, Kansas.  I probably spend between three and six months on the actual writing process.

The “First Lady of the West,” #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller, brings you back to Parable, Montana-where love awaits in the second book of her new Big Sky Series!

With his rugged good looks, vast wealth and family name, hell-raiser Hutch Carmody is still the golden boy of Parable, Montana. But he’s done some growing up, making peace with his illegitimate half brother and inheriting half of Whisper Creek Ranch, which should have been all his. These days, Hutch knows there are some things money can’t buy: like the heart of loving, ladylike divorcé Kendra Shepherd.

Kendra’s quiet mansion reminds her of what she wants most – a devoted husband and the pitter-patter of little feet. She can’t get Hutch Carmody out of her mind. But a rough-and-tumble cowboy like Hutch, coming home for family dinner? Seems crazy! Then again, crazier dreams have become reality under the vast Montana sky.



Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than one hundred historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West. Raised in Northport, Washington, the self-confessed barn goddess now lives in Spokane, Washington. Linda hit a career high in 2011 when all three of her Creed Cowboys books—A Creed in Stone Creek, Creed’s Honor and The Creed Legacy—debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  To learn more about Linda, visit www.LindaLaelMiller.com.

Giveaway:
The publicist is offering one copy of Big Sky Mountain by Linda Lael Miller to one lucky reader.  Open to US/Canada, and mailed from the publicist.  Ends 8/13.  Simply fill out the Rafflecopter below.


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Book Review: The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane

The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane
Publisher: Mira
Pub Date: June 19, 2012
Hardcover, 400 pages
ISBN: 9780778313373
My rating: 4.25/5.0

****  Be sure and check out my author interview & giveaway (ends 8/1) here.  ****

****  Check out the rest of the BookTrib tour for The Line Between Here and Gone for other great reviews, features and giveaways! ****

My Review:

I really enjoyed The Line Between Here and Gone. It's the second in the Forensic Instincts series, but it's the first one I have read and while I can see where reading the first in the series can give you a greater understanding of the main players behind Forensic Instincts. I didn't have any problem reading the second book without reading the first book.

The Line Between Here is Gone is very exciting and Ms. Kane keeps up the suspense plot until just about the end, but near the end everything is explained and then the final 1/8 of the book is kind of filler. Yes it was important filler (I liked the epilogue the best, I found it to be essential). But for some reason I felt like the book ended too soon or could have been wrapped up earlier. Honestly I'm not sure what I felt about the end. I'm happy, I like it, but I'm not sure if I felt it was wrapped up too quickly or just too early. But it only gets minor takeaway points because the other 7/8 of the book is just plain amazing. I wanted to get the negative out of the way first so I could focus on the positive.

So what was positive. I love the Forensic Instincts team. Love the banter and attraction between Claire-voyant (as Ryan calls her), who is the psychic in the group and Ryan, the general computer guru and tech everything. Love Marc and his love of his children and his ability to soothe Amanda. I also enjoyed getting to know Amanda's father figure Patrick, whose FBI background keeps the whole team in line at times. Then there is Casey, who heads up the entire team. Casey is tough as nails but sometimes these cases get to her. And actually my favorite member is not human at all, but is Yoda. I love Yoda, he is so cool and you'll have to read the book to find out about Yoda. This group will handle the tough cases that haven't been solved and since they aren't the police or a government entity they can cross lines sometimes to get the job done.

And this case falls right into Marc's lap and he just can't say no to the upset mother who just wants to save her baby by finding the baby's father that may or may not be dead. When Forensic Instincts gets involved they begin to learn there is much more to this than meets the eye and that the death that did not happen may go higher than they are allowed to touch, yet they will stop at nothing to save baby Justin and find Paul and bring him home to make all of this possible.

The intrigue was well-plotted. The skipping around from scene-to-scene and person-to-person, sometimes not even letting the reader know who was in the scene was very effective for building the suspense during the story. I loved watching the members of Forensic Instincts slowly put the pieces together. But what I loved even more than that was watching them fall for baby Justin and realize there was more to this case than bringing down the big dogs, that this case was about saving a baby. That was really great to see.

The Line Between Here and Gone is a well-crafted novel balancing the creation of characters with the execution of a suspense plot. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book and I had a hard time putting it down. I wanted to know what happened to Paul and would baby Justin be saved. I felt myself pulled in and pulling for this baby, and feeling the emotions of Amanda. Ms. Kane knows how to play the readers emotions and make them feel a part of the book. If you enjoy a good suspense thriller then this is the book for you. AS for me, I'm going back to find The Girl Who Disappeared Twice Now because I don't think I can wait much longer for the next Forensics Instincts book.

About The Line Between Here and Gone:
Each day is a struggle for Amanda Gleason’s newborn son as he battles a rare immune deficiency. Justin’s best chance for a cure lies with his father, who was brutally murdered before Amanda even realized she carried his child. Or was he?

One emailed photo changes everything, planting a seed of doubt that Amanda latches onto for dear life: a recent photo of a man who looks exactly like Paul. Could Justin’s father be alive? The mother in her is desperate to find out. But tracking down a ghost when every second counts is not for amateurs.

Forensic Instincts is the one team up for the challenge.
The manhunt is on for the elusive father. Yet the further the team digs into Paul’s past, the more questions are raised about whether the man Amanda fell in love with ever really existed at all.
Dark secrets. Carefully crafted lies. From the Congressional halls of Washington D.C. to exclusive Hamptons manors, there are ruthless people who would stop at nothing to make Forensic Instincts forget about the man Amanda desperately needs to find.

Little do they realize that once Forensic Instincts takes the case, nothing will stop them from uncovering the shocking truth that transcends THE LINE BETWEEN HERE AND GONE.

***I received this book from BookTrib for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  ***

Author Interview & Giveaway: The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane

Today I welcome Andrea Kane, author of The Line Between Here and Gone, which is her newest thriller and is currently touring with BookTrib.  I have a great Q&A with her and also a giveaway of The Line Between Here and Gone.  You can check out the full schedule here.  Make sure to visit the other sites to read excerpts, other author interviews, reviews and giveaways.  And stay tuned later today for my review.

1.      Which author inspires you most?
It depends on when you catch me. There are so many talented authors, each mastering an element. I go back as far as Carolyn Keane, when I first started reading mystery novels as a kid.  I was a big mystery reader, so later it was Agatha Christie and on to Robert Ludlum.  Now I read all genres, and my most memorable ones are the ones that are character based.

2.      What, do you feel, is your biggest success?  
From a professional standpoint, hitting the NY Times Bestseller list and hearing from my readers about how I’ve impacted their lives. But on a personal note, being a mother is the most rewarding role I fill.

3.      What are you in relation to your siblings? Are you the middle child? The baby of the family?  
I’m the baby of the family.  Establishing my own identity was the challenging part, but being referred to as “baby” when you’re an adult has its perks!


4.      Describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer.  
A mother is desperately searching for the father of her newborn baby – hoping that he’s alive and is a donor match to save her critically ill son.


5.      What inspired you to write THE LINE BETWEEN HERE AND GONE?  
As with all my books, THE LINE, started out as flashes of the characters' lives playing out in my head. I saw a flash of an important male character who vanished without a trace and a critically ill infant whose life was integrally tied to his.  But I didn't know why or how that would factor into FI's caseload.  Those answers came later, after the baby’s mother crystallized in my mind.

About The Line Between Here and Gone:
Each day is a struggle for Amanda Gleason’s newborn son as he battles a rare immune deficiency. Justin’s best chance for a cure lies with his father, who was brutally murdered before Amanda even realized she carried his child. Or was he?

One emailed photo changes everything, planting a seed of doubt that Amanda latches onto for dear life: a recent photo of a man who looks exactly like Paul. Could Justin’s father be alive? The mother in her is desperate to find out. But tracking down a ghost when every second counts is not for amateurs.

Forensic Instincts is the one team up for the challenge.
The manhunt is on for the elusive father. Yet the further the team digs into Paul’s past, the more questions are raised about whether the man Amanda fell in love with ever really existed at all.
Dark secrets. Carefully crafted lies. From the Congressional halls of Washington D.C. to exclusive Hamptons manors, there are ruthless people who would stop at nothing to make Forensic Instincts forget about the man Amanda desperately needs to find.

Little do they realize that once Forensic Instincts takes the case, nothing will stop them from uncovering the shocking truth that transcends THE LINE BETWEEN HERE AND GONE.

Giveaway:
I have one copy of The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane to give away courtesy of BookTrib.  Open to US/Canada, ends 8/1.  Book will be mailed from the publicist.  Fill out the rafflecopter below and if there are any problems with the rafflecopter please email me at crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com.  Thanks!

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One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf Scavenger Hunt, Review & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the One Breath Away Scavenger Hunt.  Check out my excerpt, then you can visit this link to see other  tour stops and keep up with the excerpts.

“He has a gun. He has P.J. and he has a gun.”

“Who has P.J.?” Terror clutches at my chest. “Tell me, Augie, where are you? Who has a gun?”

“I’m in a closet. He put me in a closet.”

My mind is spinning. Who could be doing this?

If that has you intrigued then let me tell you, you need to get this book.  I have loved Heather's first two books and from the start One Breath Away is no different.  Scroll down more to find my review.  But first check out the Live Chat coming up later in the month at BookTrib.com

ONE BREATH AWAY 

By Heather Gudenkauf

MIRA; July 2012

384 pages; $15.95 U.S./$18.95 CAN.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-1365-6

My Review:

Heather Gudenkauf has now hit three out-of-the-park home runs for me with her books.  After the first two and how blown away by them I was I was almost afraid to open and read One Breath Away.  I mean can she really do it three times in a row, and using a gunman in a school too?  Well let me tell you, if you have any doubts, put them away because Ms. Gudenkauf has managed to do it again.  She manages to take this story and turn it into something completely fresh and unexpected.  So much tension, so many interesting storylines and how they intersect is  just amazing.  She managed to completely take my breath away with this book in a great way.

Ms. Gudenkauf returns to the varying points of view again in One Breath Away and I love that. It's especially important in this book since there is the parent in Arizona, the grandfather whose two grandchildren are trapped in the school in Iowa, the police officer on the outside, and the teacher who is right there in the middle of things.  All the characters are different and Ms. Gudenkauf crafts them to be so real. The struggles of single parenting.  The struggles of teaching and growing older.  Just everyday struggles.  They are all there and add such dimension to each character.  I felt like I got to know each one of them and could really hear their voices in my head.

The plot will just blow you away.  The gunman is not brutal, doesn't go in guns shooting and blazing, but he doesn't have to. That is really not the focus.   I won't giveaway too much. The suspense in this book is tyring to figure out who the gunman is and why he is doing this.  In the beginning Ms. Gudenkauf keeps adding to the list of suspects, but then as the book wears on the suspect list starts to wittle down.  Story lines intersect, things get intense and One Breath Away becomes very difficult to put down.  I think Ms. Gudenkauf will leave you guessing right up until she gives it away, I know I was and I kept trying to figure it out.  I loved it though, the guessing and the story were intense and while there is some violence it was nice to have an intense story without too much violence.  

Extremely well crafted with characters that I cared about as I got to know them through the book, One Breath Away will leave you breathless up until the end.  Ms. Gudenkauf knows how to create suspense and characters that involve you in the book.  She's been on my to-buy list since The Weight of Silence and I believe One Breath Away has moved her to one of my top authors.  Heather Gudenkauf has a gift and I am glad she is sharing it with the world.

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

About One Breath Away

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf follows the phenomenal success of her first two books with her most emotionally charged novel yet. ONE BREATH AWAY (Harlequin MIRA; July 2012; $15.95 U.S./$18.95 CAN.) is a gripping story of a small town caught in the midst of a deadly crisis, as experienced from the points of view of five different people.

On a bitter March day, as a sudden snowstorm envelops the small town of Broken Branch, Iowa, an unknown man with a gun enters the town’s only school and takes a classroom of children hostage. As awareness of the situation spreads, the panicked community is ready to do anything to protect their children, but can only watch and wait.

As a teacher with a long career behind her, Evelyn Oliver is ready to enjoy retirement with her loving husband. But now, faced with a crazy man armed with a gun, terrorizing her classroom, she’d rather die than fail to protect any of her students. But why is he doing this? Evelyn’s been scouring her mind but doesn’t recognize the intruder. Maybe one of the students is the key?

Holly Thwaite left Broken Branch and her family behind without a word eighteen years ago, vowing never to return. But after a debilitating accident leaves her recovering in a hospital in Arizona, she’s forced to send her children to her hometown to be looked after by their grandfather, the man she never wanted them to meet. Will Thwaite never understood why his estranged daughter, Holly, ran away all those years ago. But now that her children are in his care, he refuses to fail his daughter again. One way or another, Will is going to get his grandkids, P.J. and Augie, out of that school safely even if he has to go in and get them himself.  What Will doesn’t know is that thirteen-year-old Augie is just as determined to rescue her little brother from the killer and help her classmates, even if it means putting herself in the crosshairs of the gunman.

Police officer Meg Barrett wants to know who the intruder is and why he’s doing this. Whoever it is, there’s no excuse for this. Meg should know. She’s had plenty of hardships herself. But with innocent lives at stake, Meg is prepared to risk her own life to save these hostages, although it means disobeying orders and taking on the gunman face-to-face.

As the standoff progresses and the snowstorm rages outside, anxiety and frustration start to build to dangerous levels. But everyone knows how precarious the situation is. One wrong move, even a breath, could have the most devastating of consequences. 

Heather Gudenkauf is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels The Weight of Silence and These Things Hidden.  She lives in Iowa with her family.  Visit her website, HeatherGudenkauf.com.

Giveaway
Thanks to Kate at BookTrib, I have one paperback copy of One Breath Away for giveaway in the US/Canada.  This will be mailed by the publicist.  Ends 7/13.  Fill out the Rafflecopter below.


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***I received this book from the publicist (BookTrib) for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  ***

Book Excerpt & Giveaway: Love is Murder Anthology - Wed to Death by Vicki Hinze

Today is the stop of Vicki Hinze and her story Wed To Death on the Love is Murder anthology tour.  I love Vicki Hinze and picked her as my author and I loved this story.  It's short, sweet, has great suspense and great romance.  Everything you come to expect from Vicki Hinze in a very small package.  So enjoy a small excerpt and make sure you follow along with the blog tour.  Also make sure you enter my giveaway below and come back later for my review of the whole anthology.

Vicki Hinze – Wed to Death

Her mother screamed.

Startled, Sara English paused in the middle of refilling her maid of honor’s champagne flute. She shushed her mother and followed her horrified gaze around the table past her groom-to-be, Matthew, to his uncle Paul. Why was he listing in his chair? Paul’s skin was as gray as winter sleet. Chills streaked up her spine. “Matthew, what’s wrong?”

“I –I don’t know—“

Paul crumpled, fell nose down onto his plate.

                       

Bio:
Vicki Hinze is an award-winning author of twenty-five novels, four nonfiction books and hundreds of articles published in as many as sixty-three countries. She’s recognized by Who’s Who in America and in the world as an author and an educator. Her first published novel, a romantic suspense, was a bestseller that sold in nearly a dozen foreign countries. Since then, she’s shifted writing focus several times. After cocreating the first single-title open-ended continuity series, she turned to military life and has been credited with a Career Achievement Award for being one of the first to write military romantic suspense, military  romantic intrigue and military romantic thrillers. Three years ago, she shifted her focus to Christian fiction, blending romantic thrillers with spiritual elements. Her willingness to take risks and blaze trails has won her many prestigious nominations and awards, though she does it because she loves the adventure of stretching boundaries. Learn more about Vicki at www.vickihinze.com and visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Vicki.Hinze.Author.

Giveaway:

BookTrib is giving away one copy of Love is Murder to a reader of my blog.  Fill out the Rafflecopter below, the only entry is a free entry, all other entries are optional.  Open to US/Canada only, the book will be mailed by the publicist.  Ends 7/3/12.










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***I received this book from the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  ***

Come Chat with Steve Berry at BookTrib.com

Do you love suspense thrillers?   Do  you love Steve Berry?  If you answered yes to either one of these, I suggest you join in on the chat with Steve Bery at the BookTrib on Wednesday.  Just click below to RSVP!  They are giving away 10 copies of The Columbus Affair during the chat.

A Perfect Storm Excerpt and Shedding Light on Human Trafficking by Lori Foster

 Excerpt from A Perfect Storm by Lori Foster

She had a need to even the score with people already dead, the monsters who’d hurt her badly.

Suddenly she leaned forward. “Can you keep a secret?”

Damn, he didn’t want to play these games. “Depends.”

She scowled. “On what?”

“On whether or not keeping it is in your best interest.”

Sitting back in irritation, she demanded, “Why does that concern you?”

He countered with, “Why do you want to tell me?”

For long moments they stared at each other, and then she broke. “Fuck it. I don’t. Not anymore.” After downing the rest of her coffee, she scraped back her chair. “I’m outta here.”

Spencer caught her wrist. And of course, that got her going. 

My review of A Perfect Storm will be coming later today. 

The next stop on the Scavenger Hunt is: http://www.bookish-brunette.com/

Shedding Light on Human Trafficking by Lori Foster

 

I can’t say that any particular series has affected me in a great way. I’m a writer – I “make up stuff.” I know evil exists, but I also know love is there to help balance it. That said, obviously, after all the research, I’m more aware of human trafficking. It’s HERE, in our cities, our towns, sometimes our own neighborhoods. People you thought were safe, are not. Careers you considered mundane are intricately involved.

I have truck drivers in my family. GREAT guys. Totally trustworthy. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, and would do what they could to defend anyone abused.

Yet in my research I found that many sales of underage girls and captives happen at truck stops. Obviously, all truckers don’t take part, but enough do that it’s a key spot for surveillance when breaking down trafficking rings. I don’t know if the men are ignorant of the girl’s age and/or circumstances. Maybe they think these women are willingly taking part. Maybe they think the underage girls are older. Regardless, it’s unforgiveable.

I also learned that Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have a *wonderful* organization. http://demiandashton.org/  “We are committed to forcing sex slavery out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom. No one has the right to enslave another person. Freedom - It's in our DNA.”

These days, I stop in to get my nails done, and I notice closed doors in the back, women who look like they’ve just awakened. I pass by shabby hotels or read about issues at restaurants, and wonder if one of the rooms is used to house innocents caught up in forced labor. I see kids on the street, and pray that they’re just out and about having fun, getting into the same mischief common to many youths. But I always worry now. 

Book Tour & Review: Hybrid by Brian O'Grady

Hybrid by Brian O'Grady

Publisher: The Fiction Studio

Publish Date: March 16, 2011

Paperback, 368 pages 
Fiction, Suspense/Thriller
ISBN: 978-1936558049



Review:
Why I read this book:  I love Michael Crichton and I love medical thrillers so this sounded like something I would love.

My Thoughts:  Wow, this is a very exciting book from the very first page.  I love how the story unfolds right before your eyes, letting you see the characters layer by layer.  Every time you think you understand the characters, you learn just a bit more about them to add more and more to the suspense plot.

The characters are very well done in Hybrid.  I felt like I got to know each of the main players pretty well.  Enough to empathize or hate each one of them.  None of them felt half-developed to me and I thought they were done really well.

The plot is amazing.  Both the characters and the plot move this book along and it's a great balance.  I never felt like the science was too much either.  It was a good balance of making the science understandable and making it interesting and moving the story along at a breakneck speed.

I really can't think of anything bad about the book.  There were a few typos, but nothing that made it impossible to read.  Other than that, Hybrid is a pretty amazing medical suspense/thriller and I will definitely look for more of Dr. Brian O'Grady's work in the future.  He made Hybrid extremely exciting from first page to the last and that is what I love in a book from this genre.

My Rating:  4.5/5.0
About the Book:

What sort of untapped abilities lie within the human brain? Could we summon the powers of telepathy, telekinesis or mind control if we only knew how? Dr. Brian O’Grady, a Washington neurosurgeon, explores these intriguing questions in his pulse-pounding medical thriller HYBRID (The Fiction Studio; April 2011). “We have limitless connections between the nerve cells in our brains, yet we only use about 10 percent. Imagine if we could unlock our vast potential?” he asks. The key in Dr. O’Grady’s debut novel is a virus, which unleashes a chain of events in same spine-tingling spirit of suspense as The Andromeda Strain and the X-Files.

Seven years ago, everyone died in the Honduran camp from the EDH1 virus, but Red Cross worker Amanda Flynn. Airlifted home to America, medical professionals tried to identify why Amanda survived when others died gruesome, agonizing deaths or became violent savages. Little did they know that anyone who survived…changed.

Since her escape from quarantine, Amanda has been in hiding slowly realizing the powers that could have only come from her infection. She can sense things, do things using her mind, things that are incredible and sometimes incredibly dark. But as she resists the pull toward violence, a new survivor has entered her consciousness – one without her will to block evil impulses. One who revels in bloodlust and seeks to expand his mastery by forcing the end of human society. And he’s coming for Amanda.

A sharply written and engaging cast of characters adds to the fever excitement and suspense – Dr. Phil Rucker, the coroner whose Asperger’s syndrome comes complete with its own demons; Father John Oliver, the kindly priest whose faith is brutally tested; Rodney Patton, the homicide chief who sees what others miss; and Greg Flynn, Amanda’s father-in-law and the man whose moral center guides others in the storm.

About the Author:

Brian O’Grady follows in the tradition of Michael Crichton as a physician who brings his in-depth medical knowledge to his craft. A practicing neurosurgeon from Richland, WA, O’Grady is a graduate of the University of New Mexico who completed his residency in neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic. His deep insight into the mysterious workings of the human brain brings HYBRID realistically to life. 




Other Tour Stops:

April 14 The Megalomaniac Mommy
April 15 Bibliophilicbookblog
April 15 True Crime Book Reviews
April 16 Reading Without Restraint
April 19 Today’s Adventure
April 20 CMash Loves to Read
April 22 Game Vortex & PS Illustrator
April 23 Outnumbered 3 to 1
April 25 Happily Blended Family
April 26 Book Lovers
April 27 Broken TePee
April 28 My Reading Room
May 04 Proud Book Nerd
May 21 Rundpinne
May 23 songberries