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My ReviewThis was a story that needed to be told. It was entertaining, fun, and real. I loved the structure of this story as it had intermingling perspectives following both the law and the lawless at times with a combination of long and short stories all balancing each other out. It was a complex feat made to look easy. It was beautifully constructed and very educational for someone who has never read a police orientated book. You were not overwhelmed with the lingo and policies as you were introduced to it all as you started your first day at the police academy with K.W. Some of my favorite movies are the ones that are based off of real life events because as soon as the movie ends the facts flash across the screen as to where these people are at in life now and that is just another thing I love about this book. You get to hear all these adventures and then the epilogue contains the briefing of where each of these stories ended up even the 410 gauge shot gun that is now in the hands of K.W.'s grandson. It just creates even more excitement for what you just finished reading. The story introduces you to a small town boy and the struggles and heroism of a town as they are drawn together to raise this boy. It was an inspirational, heartwarming story that could easily be portrayed into a movie. As the boy grows up, he becomes a police himself and the story then follows both sides of the law. The reader becomes immersed in the drama of the day to day life or death scenarios that arise. He includes rotating sections from both his and the criminals point of view that had you realizing just how hard being in law enforcement really is. You got to know the armed robber that was shot down on his first offense, the drug addict that would do anything for his next hit, and even the addict that was high and on a stabbing spree. The story line followed K.W. as he becomes a guardian and the good, the bad, and the ugly that goes along with that responsibility. K.W. has the perfect balance throughout the story so that you really understand all the scenarios that shaped him, from the ones he was fully immersed in to the ones that he tipped his toes into because of his snitch or happenstance. I loved this story and enjoyed sharing tidbits as I read with others about some of the bizarre scenarios that arose. The more you read, the more you fall in love with this story. I'd highly recommend this to any audience. Check out the other great blogs on the tour! 06/28 My Book Fix Blog – Review 06/29 Books and Broomsticks – Excerpt #1 06/30 Missus Gonzo – Review 07/01 The Crazy Booksellers – Promo 07/02 StoreyBook Reviews – Author Interview #1 07/03 The Librarian Talks – Review 07/04 It's a Jenn World – Guest Post 07/05 The Page Unbound – Excerpt #2 07/06 Country Girl Bookaholic – Review 07/07 Margie's Must Reads – Author Interview #2 I attended by first Book Club a.k.a. "Read It & Eat It Book Club" at my local Library, Octavia Fields yesterday. It was my first time to get out in my new community and meet and mingle with some people and it was a bonus we all shared a passion for books. The attendance ranged from people who brought detailed notes on every character to someone who read it two months ago and at the end of the meeting stated that "she was finally starting to remember the story" and might have possible just come for the "Eat It" part of the book club. I was hoping that someone would have brought hummingbird cake, but we ended up with Pineapple upside down cake, some super good chocolate cookies, and barbecue sandwiches. If I'm not traveling next month, I'm going to try to make something homemade to bring that directly ties to one of my favorite scenes from the book. Anyways, so it was a small turn out, consisting of eight women including myself, which I thought wasn't so bad, but according to the Book Club organizer was smaller than usual. The general consensus was that everyone enjoyed the book. I might have been the only one not enthusiastically phrasing it because I came with questions and concerns that I wanted to hear other peoples take on before I could truly judge and understand my perspective of some of the events in the book. Two questions that everyone in attendance had to answer was who their favorite and least favorite characters were and why, so I've included my own survey below to see what everyone else thinks. The winner for favorite character in our group was Win Coffey, who stood against the grain and didn't judge someone on past transgressions. The winner or perhaps loser to win the least favorite character was by far Mr. Coffey, who was still holding strong on a grudge from decades ago and confronted and yelled at a teenager for her mothers mistakes. There was one person who voted the grandfather as their favorite character because his soft spoken demeanor and how excited he was planning Emily's future at the end, but there was also someone who voted him their least favorite because he shut down emotionally after his wife died and threw money at his daughter and spoiled her, forgetting to raise her right. Vote below and leave a comment with why you picked your two answers. Next month is another book with a hint of magic: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Even if I'm out of town for the book club I will still be reading and posting my review on the day they hold the meeting, which is the fourth Wednesday of each month. I will be taking character notes this time and come up with a few questions of my own just in case I don't make it to the discussion group and I will host our own book club online. Thank you for reading and stopping by! In her latest enchanting novel, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world—no matter how out of place they feel. Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. Such as, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? And why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew—a reclusive, real-life gentle giant—she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes. Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson’s cakes—which is a good thing, because Julia can’t seem to stop baking them. She offers them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also in the hope of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Flour, eggs, milk, and sugar . . . Baking is the only language the proud but vulnerable Julia has to communicate what is truly in her heart. But is it enough to call back to her those she’s hurt in the past? Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in. Hardcover, 269 pages Published March 16th 2010 by Bantam Current GoodReads Rating: 3.97 Stars My ReviewThe story hinted at several leads that could have held deeper developments but with so many different directions it was hard to go into enough detail about any of them in such a short book. The story introduced changing wallpaper, a missing child put up for adoption, and a man seeing through the wall to watch the woman he loved bake. I started to conceive all these directions and possibilities where not a single one played out. Each detail seemed to be a teaser and I was disappointed in the author not going into further detail, but a pro to that is that it was a simplistic story line that kept you guessing, but never went it the direction you though it would.
Once it revealed that Win Coffey boy appeared in Emily's bedroom the first night she was in town and made constant appearances after to watch her sleep, that screamed Twilight awkwardness. I was amused when he finally revealed why he couldn't come out at night, that after generations of this genetic mutation the best title they could come up with for it was something still so femininely dry, "the glowing". 6/21/2016 THE DARKNESS THAT COULD BE FELT: Treasure of the Raven King Book One by C. Wayne Dawson Excerpt + GiveawayRead NowGenre: Historical Military Fiction / Mystery Publisher: White Bird Publications, LLC. Date of Publication: May 22, 2016 # of pages: 304 Women are disappearing off the streets of Vienna in 1684 and Captain Mathis Zieglar vows to find out why. Defying orders to break off his investigation, he discovers they are being trafficked into the Muslim slave market. His only hope of ransoming them from a life of abuse is to find the treasure of the Raven King. The treasure is a secret code lodged inside an ancient text that will rock the Ottoman and Holy Roman Empires to their foundations. November, 1462
Wallachia, near Castle King’s Rock “The Mohammedans have found us, Sire.” Vlad Dracula, War Lord of Wallachia and Transylvania, jerked his horse to a stop. Dracula snapped his head around to look at his companion. “How close, Grigore?” An excited buzz broke out amongst the warlord’s ten bodyguards. They came to a halt, sending up billows of dough-colored dust that contrasted with the forest’s darkness. Sweat dripped down their leather armor. Their horses pawed the ground impatiently, straining to resume their canters. Grigore steadied himself with one hand against the back of his panting horse and caught his breath. He turned his steed around and pointed to a mountain pass five hundred feet up the road. “They’re there, Prince. If we pause for a short rest, they’ll be upon us and have our necks.” “Never forget that I was your first real kiss. Never forget that you’ll be my last. And never stop loving me between all of them. Never stop, Charlie. Never forget.” Silas races against time as more truths unravel, while others twist tighter together. And now, the stakes are higher as Silas’ control slips and others begin to point fingers. Charlie is in trouble and he must be the one to bridge the chasm between their past and their present. Because somewhere between I love yous and Never Nevers and Never Agains, a truth they can't imagine, beckons to be found. “Where are you, Charlie?” ebook, 158 pages Published May 17th 2015 Current GoodReads Rating: 4.17 Stars My Review: Once again I'm left deep in thought by these dang "to be continued..." teasers. This story felt like the most bad ass, detailed trailer for the most epic movie ever about to come out. You are left contemplating the scenes and anticipating what's to come. This series is the first where I have felt so lost in the events and characters that I blur my reality with the story line. I finish the book and am left dizzy when I look up.
These little details that are starting to unravel and the new twist in direction the audience gets to think about now is epic. Pieces are starting to fit back into the puzzle and it's painting one beautiful, complex picture. I love this story because it keeps introducing hints of new information to the reader and it's up to you what to make out of it, which is why it feels like your a character in their adventure. The characters are just as clueless as the reader is and together we shall figure this thing out. It's a race to the answers! P.S. I'm so glad I waited to read this series till all the books had been released because most of the negative reviews are just because how pissed the reader is with how much of a teaser is. This book provides more questions than it does answers, so my suggestion is to have Part Three close. I'll post my review for that soon and by golly it better have some answers! Trama, isolation, courage, love. . . Anxious Love Hopeful about his future after overcoming loss, Ryan Ware is living his dream life as a first round draft pick. He’s enjoying every crazy minute of fame, fortune, and gorgeous women. Despite being the most sought-after writer in romance, severe anxiety keeps Leah Jones isolated. Having a regimented life keeps the triggers at bay that could put her back in the hospital, perhaps permanently. A chance meeting in New Orleans, Leah’s brown eyes capture Ryan’s heart, and he vows to learn more about this reclusive beauty. Can Leah’s anxieties withstand Ryan’s crazy life? Can Ryan learn enough about real love to be the right man for Leah? Anxious Love contains explicit scenes of a sexual nature and is not suitable for readers under 18 years of age. Published June 9th 2016 by SAM & Associates, LLC Current GoodReads Rating: 4.62 Stars My Review:I love when a main character has a mental hardship because they immediately become so much more real and relatable to me. I started reading this story as the news of the outside world was covering a parallel story about a girl who was raped while on the Stanford campus. While the outside world was furious with how the situation was handled, I was getting the girls perspective of the aftermath to how the situation had affected her now years later.
Genre: Mystery Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press Date of Publication: October 27, 2015 # of pages: 306 1959. Delpha Wade killed a man who was raping her. Wanted to kill the other one too, but he got away. Now, after fourteen years in prison, she’s out. It’s 1973, and nobody’s rushing to hire a parolee. Persistence and smarts land her a secretarial job with Tom Phelan, an ex-roughneck turned neophyte private eye. Together these two pry into the dark corners of Beaumont, a blue-collar, Cajun-influenced town dominated by Big Oil. A mysterious client plots mayhem against a small petrochemical company-why? Searching for a teenage boy, Phelan uncovers the weird lair of a serial killer. And Delpha — on a weekend outing — looks into the eyes of her rapist, the one who got away. The novel's conclusion is classic noir, full of surprise, excitement, and karmic justice. Sandlin's elegant prose, twisting through the dark thickets of human passion, allows Delpha to open her heart again to friendship, compassion, and sexuality. PURCHASE LINKS: AMAZON CINCO PUNTOS PRESS
Read More for Giveaway + Review6/3/2016 FINDING DOROTHY SCOTT: Letters of a WASP Pilot by Sarah Byrn Rickman Blog Tour Author Interview + Giveaway!Read NowGenre: Military History / Biography Publisher: Texas Tech University Press Date of Publication: May 30, 2016 Number of Pages: 288 More than eleven hundred women pilots flew military aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. These pioneering female aviators were known first as WAFS (Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) and eventually as WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). Thirty-eight of them died while serving their country. Dorothy Scott was one of the thirty-eight. She died in a mid-air crash at the age of twenty-three. Born in 1920, Scott was a member of the first group of women selected to fly as ferry pilots for the Army Air Forces. Her story would have been lost had her twin brother not donated her wartime letters home to the WASP Archives. Dorothy's extraordinary voice, as heard through her lively letters, tells of her initial decision to serve, and then of her training and service, first as a part of the WAFS and then the WASP. The letters offer a window into the mind of a young, patriotic, funny, and ambitious young woman who was determined to use her piloting skills to help the US war effort. The letters also offer archival records of the day-to-day barracks life for the first women to fly military aircraft. The WASP received some long overdue recognition in 2010 when they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal-the highest honor that Congress can bestow on civilians. PURCHASE FROM TEXAS TECH PRESS: http://www.ttupress.org/ email: [email protected] phone: 800.742.2982 Rickman Author Interview #1How long have you been writing? Since I was 5. I started by making up stories in my head. What kind(s) of writing do you do? I wrote for the high school newspaper senior year after taking an excellent journalism course from an extraordinary high school teacher in my junior year. I went literary in college and wrote short stories; but I returned to journalism after graduation, going to work as a reporter on first a weekly newspaper and then a metropolitan daily. Spent 20 years in the newspaper business as a reporter, columnist and editor, then took my skills freelance, became my own boss, and wrote, edited and produced newsletters for non-profits. I also wrote my first novel. I went back to school to get my Masters in Creative Writing and wrote my second novel as my thesis. I have now written 4 novels. The last two are published. They are all good, but not the Great American novel. I hope to publish the other 2 novels some day. I think I am a better nonfiction writer. I write creative nonfiction, which is a good marriage between my journalistic background and my creative side expressed in my four novels. With this biography, Finding Dorothy Scott, I now have seven published books. Five are nonfiction— three of which are biographies — and two are fiction. Read More for Giveaway!Genre: Historical Western Romance / Inspirational Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Date of Publication: June 7, 2016 Number of Pages: 368 Men are optional. That was the credo Emma Chandler's suffragette aunts taught her and why she established Harper's Station, a women's colony that offers a fresh start to females in need. But when a dangerous and shadowy assailant tries repeatedly to drive the women out, Emma is forced to admit they might need a man after all. One who can fight. And there is only one man she trusts enough to ask. Malachi Shaw has finally earned the respect he's always craved by becoming an explosives expert for the railroad. Yet when Emma's telegram arrives, he rushes back to Texas to repay the girl who once saved his life. Only she's not a girl any longer. She's a woman with a mind of her own and a smile that makes a man imagine a future he doesn't deserve. As the danger intensifies, Emma, Mal, and the ladies of Harper's Station must choose between safety or risking everything to fight for their future.
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