Book Promo: Girls' Weekend by Cara Sue Achterberg

Title: Girls’ Weekend

Author: Cara Sue Achterberg

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Publisher: The Story Plant

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Format: Ebook/Paperback

Dani, Meg, and Charlotte have bonded over babies, barbeques, and backyards, but when they escape for a girls’ weekend away, they can’t bring themselves to return to lives that don’t seem to fit anymore.

Harried Dani can’t explain why she feels so discontented until she meets a young gallery owner who inspires her to rediscover the art that once made her happy.

Dependable Meg faces up to a grief that threatens to swallow her whole and confronts a marriage built on expectations.

Flamboyant Charlotte, frustrated with her stagnated life and marriage, pursues a playboy Irish singer and beachside business opportunities.

All three of these women thought they would be different. None of them thought they’d be facing down forty and still wondering when life starts. What they do when they realize where they’re headed is both inspiring and wildly entertaining.

GIRLS’ WEEKEND is a fun, yet poignant romp through the universal search of who we are, why we love, and what makes us happy by an author who is quickly emerging as one of our most incisive storytellers.

Book Links:

~ Goodreads - Amazon - B&N - Kobo ~

About the author: Cara Sue Achterberg is a writer and blogger who lives in New Freedom, PA with her family and an embarrassing number of animals. Her first novel, I’m Not Her, was a national bestseller. Cara’s nonfiction book, Live Intentionally, is a guide to the organic life filled with ideas, recipes, and inspiration for living a more intentional life. Cara is a prolific blogger, occasional cowgirl, and busy mom whose essays and articles have been published in numerous anthologies, magazines, and websites. Links to her blogs, news about upcoming publications, and pictures of her foster dogs can be found at CaraWrites.com.

Author Links:

~ Cara's Blog - Goodreads - Twitter - Facebook ~

The Rockin' Chair by Steven Manchester (Book Review)

The Rockin' Chair
by Steven Manchester
on Tour July 1 - August 31

Book Details
Genre: Fiction
Published by: The Story Plant
Publication Date: June 18, 2013
Number of Pages: 242
Purchase Links:

Synopsis: Memories are the ultimate contradiction. They can warm us on our coldest days – or they can freeze a loved one out of our lives forever. The McCarthy family has a trove of warm memories. Of innocent first kisses. Of sumptuous family meals. Of wondrous lessons learned at the foot of a rocking chair. But they also have had their share of icy ones. Of words that can never be unsaid. Of choices that can never be unmade. Of actions that can never be undone.Following the death of his beloved wife, John McCarthy – Grandpa John – calls his family back home. It is time for them to face the memories they have made, both warm and cold. Only then can they move beyond them and into the future.

A rich portrait of a family at a crossroad, The Rockin’ Chair is Steven Manchester’s most heartfelt and emotionally engaging novel to date. If family matters to you, it is a story you must read.

My thoughts:  If you have spent anytime on book blogs this summer, I am sure that you have seen this book crop up.  I am not sure what I can say about it that hasn't already been said.  It was a wonderful read, with Grampa John imparting wisdom - wisdom that should be obvious, but sometimes it takes someone to point it out to us.

The family has scattered across the U.S. - well, really the world - with George being in Afghanistan, but as Alice, John's wife, continues to worsen, he puts out a call to bring the grandchildren home.  Even though his son Hank lives within an arm's reach, he might as well have been across the world with the distance that has separated him and his father John for many years.

I loved the way that the other drew everyone's sorrows out in their own time, without judgment and how Grampa John orchestrated the time they needed to share that sorrow with him.  It is a really good story about family - their struggles, their mistakes, the lines that separate and the bonds that draw us back together.

~I received a complimentary ecopy from Partners in Crime  Book Tours and Providence Book  Promotions in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Read an excerpt:

Elle picked up Evan, Tara and Lila at the airport. As she approached the threesome, she gasped at the sight of her emaciated daughter. For a few moments, Tara’s eyes scanned every inch of her mother’s face before she spread her twig-like arms. Elle hugged her, then pulled away and peered into her sunken eyes. “Are you sick?” she asked.

While Tara shrugged, Elle grabbed Evan for a hug. “I’ll explain it on the way,” he whispered in her ear.

Lila stood there, looking up at her grandmother—curiously.

Elle bent down and smiled at the baby. “Hello, my love,” she whispered, “Grandma’s waited much too long to meet you.” The little girl was a living doll. She had Tara’s strawberry blond curls and the same dark eyes as Alice.

Lila grinned. “Hi, Gramma,” she said, and never flinched when Elle scooped her up and kissed her cheek.

Elle looked back at Tara and could feel her eyes swell with tears.

“Grandma?” Evan asked, grabbing her attention.

Elle shook her head, the tears beginning to cascade down her tired face.

“When?” he asked.

Elle reached for his hand. “Last night…right in Grampa’s lap.”

“In the rockin’ chair?” he asked, his voice cracking.

Elle nodded again.

Evan’s eyes filled. “Where else?” he said.

Elle noticed the confusion in her daughter’s eyes and thought, She’s so out of it.

Before Elle could explain, Evan leaned into Tara’s ear and filled it with the bad news. “We’re one day too late. Grandma passed away last night.”

Though delayed, Tara burst into tears.

As they left the airport terminal, Elle walked alongside Evan. “How did you find her in New York?” she asked in a whisper. “Her cell phone’s been turned off for weeks.” She looked back at her daughter, who was already lagging behind.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said, and shook his head. “Let’s just say…thank God I did.”

Author Bio:

Steven Manchester is the author of the #1 bestseller Twelve Months, Goodnight, Brian, and several other books. His work has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s The Early
Show, CNN’s American Morning and BET’s Nightly News. Recently, three of Manchester’s short stories were selected “101 Best” for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Catch Up with Steven:

Tour Host Participants:

Back From the Dead by Peter Leonard (Book Review and Interview)

TOUR SCHEDULE

Feb 2 - Review by Krystal @ Live To Read

Feb 5 - Guest Post by Jodi @ Words by Webb

Feb 23rd - Review by Gautami @ Everything Distils Into Reading

Feb 25th - Showcase by Kate @ Read 2 Review

Feb 26th - Review by Athena @ The Stuff of Success

Mar 1st - Review by Misty @ The Top Shelf

Mar 3rd - Review by Kim @ Bookishly Me

Mar 4th - Guest Post by Mason Canyon @ Thoughts in Progress

Mar 7th - Guest Post & Review by Lori @  Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

Mar 30th - Review by Gina @ Hott Books

Apr 1st - Guest Post & Review by Kathleen @ Jersey Girl Book Reviews

Apr 2nd - Interview & Review by  Kristi @ Books and Needlepoint

Apr 3rd - Review by Susan @ My Cozie Corner

Apr 7th Interview & Review by Jean BookNerd

Apr 10th - Review by Kathleen @ Celticlady's Reviews

Apr 11th - Review by Mary @ Mary's Cup of Tea

Apr 12th - Review by Victor @ Vic's Media Room

Apr 14th - Review by  Tammy @ The Self-Taught Cook

Apr 15th - Review by Rick @ Rhodes Review

Title: Back From the Dead
Author: Peter Leonard
Publisher: The Story Plant

About the Book: Peter's jaw-dropping Voices of the Dead introduced us to two mortal enemies:  Holocaust survivor Harry Levin and Nazi death angel Ernst Hess.  Now, their struggle reaches its dramatic conclusion in Back From the Dead. 

Bahamas, 1971.  Ernst Hess, missing and presumed dead, regains consciousness to find himself stuck in a hospital bed on a strange ward in a foreign country.  He must do what he needs to do to get his life back and to finish the job he has been doing for decades.

Harry believes he has already stopped Hess.  When he finds out that the war criminal has somehow survived, Harry must do the only thing he can do -- kill Hess again -- even if it means crossing continents and putting his life and the lives of those that matter to him on the line.

Action-packed and darkly humorous, Back From The Dead is the unforgettable conclusion to a story that launches Peter Leonard into the pantheon of great suspense novelists. 


My Thoughts:  Just as in his previous book about Harry Levin, Voices From the Dead, you jump right into the action on the first page.  I really liked that this book picked up immediately from where the last one ended.  It had been awhile since I read Voices, so it took me some time to get familiar with the characters again.  They are all back - even the despicable Ernst Hess - whom we thought we had seen the last of. 

It was a fast paced story with the characters doing a lot of world traveling in their game of who can kill whom first.   I was rooting for Harry, of course, as this all started with the loss of his daughter in the first book.  He doesn't mince words when he writes and it is all very much action driven.  The characters are all forces to be reckoned with and it is just a matter of time before someone comes out on top.  Finding out who that is will keep you on the edge of your seat!

I guess you could read this one as a stand-alone - but why would you want too?  Pick them both up - you will be glad you did!

Read my review of Voices From the Dead.

 

~I received a complimentary eCopy of Back From the Dead from Partners in Crime Book Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

About the author: Peter Leonard lives in Birmingham, Michigan. He has published five novels: QUIVER, TRUST ME, ALL HE SAW WAS THE GIRL, VOICES OF THE DEAD, and BACK FROM THE DEAD.


Visit Peter on his website: http://www.peterleonardbooks.com or on facebook. 



 







I was very lucky to have Mr. Leonard answer some questions for me!  Please enjoy the interview below.

1. How do you typically write? Do you plot it all out beforehand or do you just let the story pour out?

 

I’ve written books both ways. I’ve outlined stories where I know the starting point and the end, but not how I’m going to get there. The book I’m currently writing is free form. I don’t know where I’m going or what is going to happen.

I think it’s more fun this way.

 

2. Do you have much say in the title or covers of you books?

I’ve only had to change one title. The original was: As The Romans Do, which in retrospect didn’t have much attitude. I changed it to: All He Saw Was The Girl.

 

As for covers, the answer, strangely enough, is yes. I was a partner in an ad agency when I wrote my first novel Quiver, and St. Martin’s, my publisher at the time, showed me half a dozen covers. I didn’t care for any of them, so I asked Jim Tocco, an art director and one of the partners at the agency to come up with a couple ideas. His first cover design was unanimously chosen. Since then Jim has designed three more covers for my current publisher, The Story Plant.

3. What would you tell a beginning writer?

 

Find a writer you really like, and copy him/her until you develop your own sound and style. Every writer is influenced by someone.

4. Do you have a favorite quote?

“If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.” This is from my father, Elmore Leonard. If you’re telling the story through the eyes of your characters in shifting points of view as I do, the writing has to sound like the characters.

5. Do you have a favorite place to write or “must haves” while writing?

 

I write in a wood-paneled den with a fireplace in my house in Birmingham, Michigan, now looking out at the snow-covered front lawn. My dog, Sam, a miniature Pincher, sits in a little chair next to me. I write in longhand on lined legal pads, and then I transpose that to an Apple MacBook Pro. I try to write four pages a day. The most I’ve ever written in a day is six.

 

6. Where/when do you brainstorm best?

 

The best idea time for me is first thing in the morning, laying in bed, thinking about what I wrote the day before, and what’s next.

7. What is your favorite way to promote a book?

 

Talking about it, whether it’s a broadcast interview, speaking at a local library, or college/university. I enjoy interacting with readers, talking about writing, answering questions.

8. How long do you think about a story before starting to write the book?

 

It varies, a week, a month, typically when the proper research is finished. The inspiration for the book I’m writing, Unknown Remains, came from a lunch conversation with an old friend. I was writing another book at the time and put it aside and wrote the first chapter, which amazingly still sounded interesting to me when I picked it up a year later.

9. Do you have any hidden talents?

 

I think I’m a pretty good cook. I’ve been the main cook in the family since I got married thirty years ago. I make dinner after writing all day. A few evenings a week, my newly single father, Elmore comes over and we eat, drink wine and talk about writing.

 

 

Back From the Dead

Publisher/Publication Date:  The Story Plant, Jan 2013

ISBN: (P) 978-1-61188-063-2 (E) 978-1-61188-064-9

282 pages

Love Thy Neighbor by Mark Gilleo (Book Review)

Title: Love thy Neighbor
Author: Mark Gilleo
Publisher: The Story Plant


About the book: CLARK HAYDEN is a graduate student trying to help his mother navigate through the loss of his father while she continues to live in their house near Washington DC. With his mother’s diminishing mental capacity becoming the norm, Clark expects a certain amount of craziness as he heads home for the holidays. What he couldn’t possibly anticipate, though, is that he would find himself catapulted into the middle of a terrorist operation. As the holiday festivities reach a crescendo, a terrorist cell – which happens to be across the street – is activated. Suddenly Clark is discovering things he never knew about deadly chemicals, secret government operations, suspiciously missing neighbors, and the intentions of a gorgeous IRS auditor. Clark’s quiet suburban neighborhood is about to become one of the most deadly places on the planet, and it’s up to Clark to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in the nation’s capital.


Fast, acerbic, wise and endlessly exciting, Love thy Neighbor marks the unforgettable debut of a startling new voice in suspense fiction.

My thoughts:  Clark is definitely somebody I would like living next door to me!  He is smart, loves his parents, and isn't afraid to stand up for what he knows is right -- even if it might cost him his life!  It is a series of "dumb luck" instances that begins to feed his growing suspicion that not everything is as it appears in his humble neighborhood.  He begins to follow his gut and it leads him on a journey from the IRS to the CIA to the FBI and from Washington, DC to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.  Stumbling over dead bodies and random misinformation, he starts to piece together what he believes to be terrorist activity that is being spearheaded by his next door neighbor -- who has seemingly disappeared.  He is desperate to find her, either to prove he is wrong -- or worse -- to prove he is right.


I generally don't read books that are  about terrorists or political involvement, but for some reason this one prompted me to take a look.  It then kept me riveted for the better part of two days as I dealt with a cold-induced headache and mother's day!  I am glad that I was able to finish it though as it took me for one heck of a ride.  If you like suspense, then you must read Love they Neighbor!    Please enjoy the excerpt below. 

~I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from Partners in Crime in exchange for my unbiased review.~

AUTHOR'S NOTE

(This part is true.)

 

In late 1999 a woman from Vienna, Virginia, a suburb ten miles from the White House as the crow flies, called the CIA. The woman, a fifty-something mother of three, phoned to report what she referred to as potential terrorists living across the street from her middle-class home. She went on to explain what she had been seeing in her otherwise quiet neighborhood: Strange men of seemingly Middle-Eastern descent using their cell phones in the yard. Meetings in the middle of the night with bumper-to-bumper curbside parking, expensive cars rubbing ends with vans and common Japanese imports. A constant flow of young men, some who seemed to stay for long periods of time without introducing themselves to anyone in the neighborhood. The construction of a six-foot wooden fence to hide the backyard from the street only made the property more suspicious.

 

Upon hearing a layperson’s description of suspicious behavior, the CIA promptly dismissed the woman and her phone call. (Ironically, the woman lived less than a quarter of a mile from a CIA installation, though it was not CIA headquarters as was later reported.)

 

In the days and weeks following 9/11, the intelligence community in the U.S. began to learn the identities of the nineteen hijackers who had flown the planes into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. In the process of their investigation they discovered that two of the hijackers, one on each of the planes that hit the World Trade Towers, had listed a particular house in Vienna, Virginia as a place of residence.

 

The FBI and various other agencies swooped in on the unassuming neighborhood and began knocking on doors. When they reached the house of a certain mother of three, she stopped them dead in their tracks. She was purported to have said, “I called the CIA two years ago to report that terrorists were living across the street and no one did anything.”

 

The CIA claimed to have no record of a phone call.

 

The news networks set up cameras and began broadcasting from the residential street. ABC, NBC, FOX. The FBI followed up with further inquiries. The woman’s story was later bounced around the various post 9/11 committees and intelligence hearings on Capitol Hill. (Incidentally, after 9/11, the CIA closed its multi-story facility in the neighborhood where the terrorist reportedly lived. In 2006 the empty building was finally torn down and, as of early 2011, was being replaced with another office building).

 

There has been much speculation about what the government should have or could have known prior to 9/11. The answer is not simple. There have been anecdotal stories of people in Florida and elsewhere who claimed to have reported similar “terrorist” type activities by suspicious people prior to 9/11. None of these stories have been proven.

 

What we do know is that with the exception of the flight school instructor in Minnesota who questioned the motive of a student who was interested in flying an aircraft without learning how to land, and an unheeded warning from actor James Woods who was on a plane from Boston with several of the purported terrorists while they were doing a trial run, the woman from Vienna, Virginia was the country’s best chance to prevent 9/11. To date, there has been no verification of any other pre-9/11 warnings from the general public so far in advance of that fateful day in September.

 

For me, there is no doubt as to the validity of the claims of the woman in Vienna.

 

She lived in the house where I grew up. She is my mother.

 

Mark Gilleo. October, 2011. Washington DC.

 

* * *

 

Ariana turned on the nightlight and closed the door to her daughter’s room.  She walked down the carpeted hall towards the light stretching out from the plastic chandelier over the dining room table.  Her husband’s chair was empty and she quietly called out his name.  No response.  As Ariana turned the corner to the kitchen and reached for the knob on the cabinet over the counter, eight hundred pages of advertising crashed into her rib cage, sucking the wind from her lungs.  As his wife doubled over, Nazim raised the thick Yellow Book with both hands and hit her on her back, driving her body to the floor.

 

“Don’t you ever disobey me in front of others again.”

 

Ariana coughed.  There was no blood.  This time.  She tried to speak but her lips only quivered.  Her thick-framed glasses rested on the floor, out of reach.  Her brain fought to make sense of what happened, what had set her husband off.  It could have been anything.  But every curse had its blessing, and for Ariana the blessing was the fact that Nazim didn’t hit her in front of Liana.  A blessing that the child didn’t see her mother being punched.  The reason was simple.  Nazim was afraid of his daughter.  Afraid of what she could say now that she could speak. 

 

The curse was that Ariana never knew when she had crossed the line.  She never knew when the next blow was coming.  She merely had to wait until they were alone to learn her fate for past indiscretions.

 

Ariana gasped slowly for air.  She didn’t cry.  The pain she felt in her side wasn’t bad enough to give her husband the satisfaction.

 

“When I say it is time to leave, it is time to leave.  There is no room for negotiation in this marriage.”

 

Ariana panted as her mind flashed back to the Christmas party.  She immediately realized her faux pas. “I didn’t want to be rude to Maria.  She spent days making dessert.  She is old.  Do we not respect our elders anymore?”

 

Nazim pushed his wife onto the floor with his knee, a reaction Ariana fully expected.  “You are my wife.  This is about you and me.  Our neighbor has nothing to do with it.”  Nazim looked down at Ariana sprawled on the linoleum and spit on her with more mock than saliva.

 

“Maria is my friend.”

 

“Well, her son is coming home and she doesn’t need you.”

 

Nazim dropped the yellow book on the counter with a thud and went to the basement.  Ariana gathered herself, pushing her body onto all fours and then pulling herself up by the front of the oven.  She looked at the Yellow Book and her blood boiled.  It was like getting hit by a cinderblock with soft edges. When it hit flush, it left very little bruising.  As her husband intended.   For a man of slight build, Nazim could generate power when a beating was needed.

 

Ariana took inventory of herself, one hand propping herself up on the counter.  She had been beaten worse.  Far worse.  By other men before she met her husband.  Her eyes moved beyond the Yellow Pages and settled on the knife set on the counter, the shiny German steel resting in its wooden block holder.  She grabbed the fillet knife, caressed the blade with her eyes, and then pushed the thought from her mind.

 

Her husband called her from the basement and she snapped out of her momentary daze.  “Coming,” she answered, putting the knife back in its designated slot in the wood.   She knew what was coming next.  It was always the same.  A physical assault followed by a sexual one.  She reached up her skirt and removed her panties.  There was no sense in having another pair ripped, even if robbing Nazim of the joy would cost her a punch or two.

 

Christmas, the season of giving, she thought as she made her way down the stairs into the chilly basement.

About the author:   Mark Gilleo holds a graduate degree in international business from the University of South Carolina and an undergraduate degree in business from George Mason University. He enjoys traveling, has lived and worked in Asia, and speaks fluent Japanese. A fourth-generation Washingtonian, he currently resides in the D.C. area. His two most recent novels were recognized as finalist and semifinalist, respectively, in the William Faulkner-Wisdom Creative writing competition. The Story Plant will publish his next novel, SWEAT in 2012.


You can connect with the author at  Love Thy Neighbor page    www.thestoryplant.com

 

Love Thy Neighbor
Publisher/Publication Date: The Story Plant, March 2012
ISBN: 978-1611880342
438 pages

Purchase - Amazon - Barnes and Noble

Gods and Fathers by James LePore (Book Review)

Title: Gods and Fathers
Author: James LePore
Publisher: The Story Plant


About the book: Matt DeMarco is an accomplished Manhattan attorney with more than his share of emotional baggage.  His marriage ended disastrously, his ex-wife has pulled their son away from him, and her remarriage to a hugely successful Arab businessman has created complications for Matt on multiple levels.  However, his life shifts from troubled to imperiled when two cops -- men he's known for a long time -- come into his home and arrest his son as the prime suspect in the murder of the boy's girlfriend.


Suddenly, the enmity between Matt and his only child is no longer relevant.  Matt must do everything he can to clear his son, who he fully believes is innocent.  Doing so will require him to quit his job and make enemies of former friends -- and it will throw him up against forces he barely knew exited and can only begin to comprehend how to battle. 

My thoughts:  Initial reaction on reading the first few pages - I couldn't wait to keep going!  It was one of those books that the minute you have any free time you want to pick it up because you have to know what is going on.  I liked that it was fast paced, meaning there was always some action going on, but that the passage of time seemed likely.  It didn't all happen in a week but was spread out from January to March.

I liked Matt right from the start, even though he had anger management issues that flared into some bad consequences.  I think it was because he didn't accept things that he felt were wrong, was loyal even when it wasn't deserved, and he wasn't afraid to take a hard stand against things that could even get him killed.

I think Mr. LePore did a great job of delineating the good guys from the bad guys without actually telling you who they were.  He let you come along for the ride as Matt started to figure out on which side everyone stood.

There were so many different ways that the story could have played out, just depending on what choice the players would make in each situation.  I will be surprised if anyone can predict the ending to this one!  If you have read it and did, or do read it and figure it out before the end - then my hat's off to you!  I loved the ending.

This was my second book that I have read by James LePore, the first being a short book called Anyone Can Die, that contained three short stories.  I enjoyed that one as well and am looking forward to what Mr. LePore will be writing in the future.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Partners in Crime and The Story Plant in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Gods and Fathers

Publisher/Publication Date: The Story Plant, Feb 7, 2012

ISBN: 978-161188029-8

300 pages

Voices of the Dead by Peter Leonard (Blog Tour and Giveaway!)

Title: Voices of the Dead
Author: Peter Leonard

Publisher: The Story Plant

About the Book: The year is 1971. The place is Detroit. Harry Levin, a scrap metal dealer and Holocaust survivor, has just learned that his daughter was killed in a car accident. Traveling to Washington, DC to claim the body, he learns that the accident was caused by a German diplomat who was driving drunk. This is only the beginning of the horror for Harry, though, as he discovers that the diplomat will never face charges he has already been released and granted immunity. Enraged and aggrieved, Harry discovers the identity of his daughter’s killer, follows him to Munich, and hunts him down. What Harry finds out about the diplomat and his plans will explode his life and the lives of everyone around him.

Brimming with action and dark humor, Voices of the Dead, firmly positions Peter Leonard as a writer ever suspense fan needs to read.

My thoughts: Since I started blogging I have began reading the introductions and acknowledgements a lot more.  In the introduction to this book, Elmore Leonard states about Peter Leonard's writing "...no long-winded parts of it overwritten, no show-off descriptions that say, "Hey, look at my writing,"  so I was thinking about this as I read the book.  I have to agree with that statement and I found it refreshing.  Much of the book is set in Germany and surrounding locations and I think some writers would have spent some time describing the countryside, but this is not one of them, and it is not missed.  But enough about what the book wasn't.

What it was was a great page-turning suspense novel.  You are introduced to the main characters immediately and the ball gets rolling within the first few pages.  Slowly you begin to see how the characters are intertwined and to what extent.  You can't help but feel sympathy for Harry, upon learning that his daughter was killed by a drunk driver.  And imagine his outrage when he finds out that nothing is going to be done about it!  Though not really in his nature, he takes it upon himself to track the killer down, not really knowing what he will do if he finds him. 

Well, he finds him and suddenly past and present come together in ways no one can imagine.  While in Munich he meets Cordell, a recently discharged serviceman who also happens to be from Detroit.  I loved Cordell and found myself laughing at some of his thoughts and interactions with Harry. 

The book moves along very quickly, and I think the majority of it takes place in about two weeks time.  Sometimes I would get some of the characters mixed up, but would soon be back on the right track.  The author wraps it up satisfactorily, but in my mind, leaves some wiggle room - maybe for another book?

I was provided a complimentary PDF of this book from Partners in Crime Tours, as well as the excerpt below for your enjoyment:

Hess found out the woman lived on P Street in Georgetown, not far from the consulate. He told the ambassador he was having dinner with potential clients, and wanted to drive himself. It was unorthodox, but plausible. He had been issued one of the embassy’s Mercedes sedans. He stopped at a bookstore and bought a map of the area, and located P Street. He drove there and saw the Goldman residence, a federal-style brick townhouse.

Hess went to a restaurant and had dinner and a couple drinks. At ten o’clock he drove back, parked around the corner on 32nd Street between two other vehicles so the license plate was not visible to anyone driving by. He walked to the Goldmans’, stood next to a tree in front of the three-storey townhouse. There were lights on the first floor. He walked to the front door and rang the buzzer. He could hear footsteps and voices inside. A light over the door went on. Hess stood in the open so whoever it was would see he was well dressed. The door opened, a man standing there, assumed he was Dr. Mitchell Goldman, dark hair, big nose, mid-forties, top of the shirt unbuttoned, exposing a gold chain and a five-pointed star. Hess smiled. “My car is on the fritz. May I use your phone to call a tow truck?”

Dr. Goldman stared at him with concern.

“I am staying just down the street at the consulate,” Hess said, smiling. Now the door opened and he stepped into the elegant foyer, chandelier overhead, marble floor.

“Mitch, who is it?” a woman said from a big open room to his right.

Dr. Goldman looked in her direction. “Guy’s having car trouble, wants to use the phone.”

“It’s ten o’clock at night.”

“He’ll just be a minute,” the dentist said.

Hess could see the woman sitting on a couch, watching television.

“The phone’s in here.” The dentist started to move.

Hess drew the Luger from the pocket of his suit jacket,and aimed it at Goldman.

The dentist put his hands up. “Whoa. Easy.”

“Who is in the house?”

“Just the two of us.”

“Are you expecting anyone?”

He shook his head.

“Tell her to come in here,” Hess said.

“What do you want? You want money?” He took his wallet out and handed it to him. “There’s eight hundred dollars in there.”

“Call her,” Hess said.

“Hon, come here, will you?”

“I’m watching ‘All in the Family.’ Can you wait till the commercial?”

Hess could hear people laughing on the television.

“Just for a minute,” the dentist said.

Hess saw her stand up and step around a low table in front of the couch, moving across the room, still looking back at the television. She turned her head as she entered the foyer and saw him holding the gun. Her hair looked darker in the dim light but he had only seen her briefly that day.

“Oh-my-god,” she said, hands going up to her face.

“We’re reasonable people,” the dentist said. “Tell us what you want.”

“The pleasure of your company,” Hess said. “Where is the cellar?”
(from Voices of the Dead by Peter Leonard

Author Bio: Peter Leonard’s debut novel, QUIVER, was published to international acclaim in 2008 (“A spectacular debut...you will be holding your breath until the final page.”– The New York Sun). It was followed by TRUST ME in 2009 (“TRUST ME is fast, sly and full of twists.” – Carl Hiaasen, New York Times bestselling author). The Story Plant will publish Leonard’s newest novel, ALL HE SAW WAS THE GIRL, in the spring of 2012.

 

 

You can find out more about Peter Leonard and his books at http://peterleonardbooks.com/ and also at The Story Plant.

Now for the giveaway!  I get to giveaway one copy of Peter Leonard's newest book - All He Saw Was the Girl. To enter the giveaway, please fill out rafflecopter below - US only - ends March 1, 2012.

 About this book - Rome: McCabe and Chip, two American exchange students, are about to become embroiled with a violent street gang, a beautiful Italian girl and a flawed kidnapping plan.Detroit: Sharon Vanelli's affair with Joey Palermo, a Mafia enforcer, is about to be discovered by her husband, Ray, a secret service agent.Brilliantly plotted and shot through with wry humour, All He Saw Was the Girl takes place as these two narratives converge in the backstreets of Italy's oldest city. A thrilling ride, it once again displays Peter Leonard's genius for exploring the wrong turns that life can take.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway







Voices of the Dead
Publisher/Publication Date: The Story Plant, Jan 2012
ISBN: 9781611880328
320 pages

Promissary Payback and Unrevealed - Two by Laurel Dewey (Book Reviews)

Title: Promissory Payback

Author: Laurel Dewey

Publisher: The Story Plant

Laurel Dewey’s Detective Jane Perry is quickly becoming one of the most distinctive, dynamic, and unforgettable characters in suspense fiction today. She’s rock hard, but capable of extraordinary tenderness. She’s a brilliant cop, but she’s capable of making life-altering mistakes. She’s uncannily talented, and she’s heartbreakingly human.

In PROMISSORY PAYBACK Jane is called in to investigate the gruesome murder of a woman who profited greatly from the misfortunes of others. The case leaves Jane with little question about motive...and with a seemingly endless number of suspects.

Title: Unrevealed

Author: Laurel Dewey

Publisher: The Story Plant

In UNREVEALED, Dewey gives us four indelible portraits of Jane Perry:

ANONYMOUS: One of Jane's first AA meetings leads her to an encounter with a woman in need of her detection skills...and a secret she never expected to uncover.

YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER: Forced by her boss to speak at a high school career day, Jane meets a troubled boy and finds that his story is only the beginning of a much more revealing tale.

YOU'RE ONLY AS SICK AS YOUR SECRETS: An early-morning homicide call introduces Jane to a mystery as layered as it is unsuspected.

THINGS AREN'T ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM: Jane finds herself sharing a 2:00 am conversation at a downtown bar with an old acquaintance. Will the bloody night that proceeded this moment complicate Jane's intentions?

 About the author: Laurel Dewey was born and raised in Los Angeles. She is the author of two nonfiction books on plant medicine, a Silver Spur-nominated Western novella, hundreds of articles, the Jane Perry novels, PROTECTOR, REDEMPTION, and REVELATIONS, and the Jane Perry novelette, AN UNFINISHED DEATH. She lives in Western Colorado with her husband, where she is currently working on a standalone novel.

You can find Laurel at her website and on facebook.

My thoughts: At 80 and 96 pages, I read both the novelette and the collection of stories in one sitting.  It was a great way to become immersed in the life of Jane Perry and make me hungry to read the series about her. Though Jane comes across as a tough as nails police detective, I believe that she has a softer side that allows her, through her "observations" to see more than other people. I probably saw this most in the short story - You Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover.  This is a good adage for Jane as well as the woman and boy in the story.

I have to laugh as I did a cut and paste on the above descriptions from the press package that I received, and as I just went back and read the Promissory Payback one, I realize that I wrote the same thought about Jane expressed there! 

In Promissary Payback, I like the way that Jane looked beyond the obvious and took her time putting together the clues to solve the homicide.  She noticed peoples behavior and their "tells" to figure out what they weren't saying. It was fast paced and didn't string you along before coming to a quick conclusion. 

Each of the short stories either took place in hours or days, but you still get some of Jane's backstory to help you know a little more about her. I also liked that each of the stories were very different from each other.  They weren't so much about the crimes as they were about the people who committed them and what led them to their behavior.  

On a side note - these read well as stand alones - you do not need to have read the series to enjoy them, but as a stated before, beware if it makes you hungry for more!

~I received a complimentary E-copy of these from Partners in Crime Tours and The Story Plant (through Net Galley)  in exchange for my review.~

Read on for an excerpt from Promissory Payback:

Detective Jane Perry took another hard drag on her cigarette. She knew she needed to quiet her nerves for what she was about to see.

Another victim. Another senseless, gruesome murder that she would add to the board at Denver Headquarters. When Sergeant Weyler called her half an hour ago, she hadn’t even finished her third cup of coffee. “This one is odd, Jane,” he told her with that characteristic tone in his voice that also suggested an evil tinge behind the slaying du jour. “Be prepared,” he said before hanging up. It was a helluva way to start a Monday morning.

As Jane drove her ’66 Mustang toward the crime scene in the toney section of Denver known as Cherry Creek, she tried to look on the bright side. If she’d still been a drinker, she’d be battling an epic hangover at that moment and doing her best to hide it from Weyler. But since becoming a friend of Bill W., her addictions involved healthier options such as jogging, buying way too many pounds of expensive coffee and even briefly joining a yoga group. She stopped attending the class only because the pansy-ass male instructor wasn’t comfortable with her setting her Glock in the holster to the side of her mat during class. Since she was usually headed to work after the 7 AM stretch session, Jane was obviously carrying her service weapon. She wasn’t about to leave it in her car or a locker at the facility. Nor would she be so careless as to hang it on one of the eco-friendly bamboo hooks that lined the yoga room.

So for Jane, it was obvious and more than natural for the Glock to lie next to her as she attempted the Salutation to the Sun pose and arched into Downward Facing Dog. In her mind, there was no dichotomy between the peacefulness of yoga and the brain splattering capacity of her Glock. As the annoying, high-pitched flute music played in the background—a sound meant to encourage calmness but which sounded more like a dying parakeet to Jane—she felt completely safe knowing that a loaded gun was inches from her grasp. The other people in the class, however, did have a problem and they showed it by arranging their mats as far from Jane as humanly possible. None of this behavior bothered Jane until the soy milk-chugging teacher took her aside and asked her to please remove the Glock from class. Since Jane wasn’t about to take orders from a guy in a fuchsia leotard who had a penchant for crying at least twice during class, she strapped her 9mm across her organic cotton yoga t! op and quit.

That’s what predictably happened whenever you shoved a square peg like Jane Perry in a round hole of people and situations that don’t understand the real world. Crime has a nasty habit of worming its way into the most unlikely places—churches, schools, sacred retreats and possibly yoga studios. The way Jane Perry looked at life, yoga might keep your flexible but a loaded gun kept you alive so you could continue being flexible. She knew what it felt like to be the victim of circumstance; to be held hostage by another person’s violent objective. Even though it was a long time ago, she’d never wash the stench from her memory. Her vow was always the same: Nobody would ever make Jane Perry a victim again.

But somebody apparently had made the old lady inside the Cherry Creek house a victim. Jane rolled to the curb and parked the Mustang, sucking the last microgram of nicotine from the butt of her cigarette. Squashing it onto the street with the heel of her roughout cowboy boots, she flashed her shield to the cops standing at the periphery and ducked under the yellow crime tape that was draped between the two precision-trimmed boxwood shrubs that framed the bottom of the long, immaculate brick driveway.

Promissory Payback

Publisher/Publication Date: The Story Plant, Aug 2011

ISBN: 978-1611880076

80 pages

Unrevealed

Publisher/Publication Date: The Story Plant, Oct 2011

ISBN: 978-1611880236

96 pages

Flavors by Emily Sue Harvey (Book Review)

Title: Flavors
Author: Emily Sue Harvey
Publisher: The Story Plant

Emily Sue Harvey's first novel, Song of Renewal, was praised by New York Times bestselling author Jill Marie Landis as "an uplifting, heartwarming story," by bestselling author Kay Allenbaugh as a work that will "linger in the memory long after readers put it aside," and by Coffee Time Romance as "a must-read book for anyone doing a little soul searching."  New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry said, "It captures your attention, and whets your appetite for more," while Peeking between the Pages called it "quite simply a beautiful book."

Now, in Flavors, this master storyteller of the human heart sweeps us along with twelve-year-old Sadie Ann Melton as she enters a life-altering season.  The summer of 1950 will change everything for her.  For in that summer, she will embark on an odyssey at once heartbreakingly tender and crushingly brutal.  At times, she will experience more darkness than she has ever witnessed before.  At others, she will thrill to lightness and joy she never imagined.  By summer's end, the Melton women in Sadie's journey -- loving her, coaxing her, and commanding her -- will help shape her into the woman she becomes.  And they will expose Sadie to all of the flavors of life as she savors the world that she brings into being.

Filled with charm, wisdom, and the smorgasbord of emotions that comes with the first steps into adulthood, Flavors once again proves Emily Sue Harvey's unique ability to touch our souls with her unforgettable stories.


My thoughts:  This short book highlights the summer of Sadie's life that she turns the corner into adulthood. It is a quick enjoyable read and brought back memories of my own teenage years in which I spent a lot of time at my best friend's farm. 

She highlights the title, Flavors, by associating flavors with different seasons of life. Such as: "To me, life is a huge pie, each slice a different flavor.  Childhood is definitely lemon.  Yet youth cannot completely contain it because a bit of its tanginess pops up still, a half century later." (p19) And when talking about her cousin Conrad: "How quickly my period of grace had expired.  But with Conrad, I was totally okay.  That was my first whiff of strawberry-flavored pleasure, a prelude to the age of teens." (p33)

This book has the capability of bringing nostalgic memories back to mind.  Do you associate flavors with different memories? 

About the author: Emily Sue Harvey is a past president of the Southeastern Writers Association.  She has contributed to several volumes in the "Chicken Soup" and "Chocolate for Women" series and has published articles in multiple venues.;  She is the mother of grown children and lives with her husband in South Carolina.  You can find her at www.emilysueharvey.com or on Facebook.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review from Pump Up Your Book Tours. ~

Flavors
Publisher/Publication Date: The Story Plant, Mar 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-161188003-8
115 pages