Wednesday, August 24, 2016

The Body Reader by Anne Frasier (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept from the outside world. Held in an underground cell, her only contact was with her sadistic captor, and reading his face was her entire existence. Learning his every line, every movement, and every flicker of thought is what kept her alive.

After her experience with isolation and torture, she is left with a fierce desire for justice—and a heightened ability to interpret the body language of both the living and the dead. Despite colleagues’ doubts about her mental state, she resumes her role at Homicide. Her new partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, doesn’t trust her sanity, and he has a story of his own he’d rather keep hidden. But a killer is on the loose, murdering young women, so the detectives have no choice: they must work together to catch the madman before he strikes again. And no one knows madmen like Jude Fontaine."


This book would be the perfect start to a new mystery series!  Please, please, please let there be more books featuring Jude Fontaine because I want more.  I've read a ton of thrillers and mysteries already this year and this may be one of the most intense ones so far!  Every time I say that I fly through the pages of a book from beginning to end it is the mark of a good read.  I just could not stop reading this one.  It's funny because sometimes I feel like I say that a lot...the "I couldn't put this book down" or "I couldn't read it fast enough" spiel (which is true at the time) and then a book like this comes along which makes those two sentences feel like not enough.  The intensity of this book at times took my breath away.  It was heart pounding and there were times that I had to set the book down just so that I could calm myself down.  I was that into this book and to be honest if life had let me this is one of those rare books that I could have just sat down and read in one sitting.

One of the things that made this book stand out for me was Jude Fontaine.  Her character has gone through the unimaginable and is now trying to figure out how to live afterwards.  Everything that she has gone through in the past three years is still affecting her and then to have to deal with her first murder investigation since returning to the police force.  It isn't a good combination and I loved that her mental stability almost added another layer of intensity to the story.  I could never guess how she was going to act or what she was going to do.  I just loved her character and wanted to see her solve this case and prove everyone wrong.  I'm telling you again that this could be the start of a really great mystery series just based off of the characters alone.  Add in a dark, twisted story line and you have a real winner!

Overall, I was completely stunned by just how good this book was.  It wasn't perfect (I found the ending a bit predictable if I'm being honest) but it sure was close!  I picked this book up based off of another's bloggers recommendation and I am so glad that I listened.  Isn't that just the best part of the reading world? I so do love when that happens! I already had it on my to be read list but moved it up to the top, and I'm so glad that I did.  I think that fans of thrillers and mysteries should definitely check this book out.  It won't be for everyone as it is very dark and there are many triggers that might turn some readers off.  But I'm here to say that I loved every minute of it!

Bottom Line:  Heart pounding and intense....enough said!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The Buried Book by D.M. Pulley (Spotlight and Giveaway)



Summary from Goodreads:

"When Althea Leary abandons her nine-year-old son, Jasper, he’s left on his uncle’s farm with nothing but a change of clothes and a Bible.

It’s 1952, and Jasper isn’t allowed to ask questions or make a fuss. He’s lucky to even have a home and must keep his mouth shut and his ears open to stay in his uncle’s good graces. No one knows where his mother went or whether she’s coming back. Desperate to see her again, he must take matters into his own hands. From the farm, he embarks on a treacherous search that will take him to the squalid hideaways of Detroit and back again, through tawdry taverns, peep shows, and gambling houses.

As he’s drawn deeper into an adult world of corruption, scandal, and murder, Jasper uncovers the shocking past still chasing his mother—and now it’s chasing him too."



D. M. Pulley’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, August 22nd: Patricia’s Wisdom
Tuesday, August 23rd: Booked on a Feeling
Wednesday, August 24th: Wordsmithonia
Thursday, August 25th: FictionZeal
Thursday, August 25th: Write Read Life
Friday, August 26th: Bloggin’ ‘Bout Books
Monday, August 29th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Tuesday, August 30th: Reading Reality
Wednesday, August 31st: Dwell in Possibility
Thursday, September 1st: A Bookaholic Swede
Tuesday, September 6th: Kahakai Kitchen
Wednesday, September 7th: Brooke Blogs
Thursday, September 8th: Readaholic Zone
Monday, September 12th: Bewitched Bookworms
Wednesday, September 14th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Thursday, September 15th: A Book A Week
I'm thrilled to be able to host a giveaway for this book although it is open to only US/Canada residents.  All that you have to do is enter is leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner before the tour ends.  


Thursday, August 18, 2016

The Drafter by Kim Harrison (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Detroit 2030. Double-crossed by the person she loved and betrayed by the covert government organization that trained her to use her body as a weapon, Peri Reed is a renegade on the run.

Don’t forgive and never forget has always been Peri’s creed. But her day job makes it difficult: she is a drafter, possessed of a rare, invaluable skill for altering time, yet destined to forget both the history she changed and the history she rewrote.

When Peri discovers her name on a list of corrupt operatives, she realizes that her own life has been manipulated by the agency. She joins forces with a mysterious rogue soldier in a deadly race to piece together the truth about her final task, unable to trust even herself."


My Thoughts:

The Drafter is one of the most original  science fiction/urban fantasy series that I've read in a long time.  I loved the world that Harrison created with this book and am very eager for more.  I always talk about those books that you can just sink down into and that is exactly what I found myself doing with this book.  It wasn't one of those books that I could set down so instead I found myself reading and saying "one more chapter" for long stretches at a time.  I really liked the fact that this book is so completely different from any other book that I've read.  The idea of being able to alter time but then to just forget what they have altered while also losing stretches of time was so unique to any other books that I've read.  The author used this to add such a thrilling layer of intensity to the book and it was just one of the reasons that I couldn't set this book down.

I'm trying very hard not to give too much away here but warning now for a slight spoiler.  One of the things that I loved most about this book is that the author wasn't afraid to make difficult choices in regards to her characters and the overall plot.  There were times that I was so frustrated but just made me want to keep reading even more.  It felt like a must to see how this would all play out and end.  Would Peri be able to figure everything out in time?  That was the question and it is what kept me reading late into the night.  I loved both her character and also Silas' character as well.  I liked that there is a hint of something more there and am hoping that we get to see more of it in future books.  I really don't think that we have learned fully all about Peri's abilities and that is also something that I'm hoping the author will explore more.  Excellent secondary characters also helped to make this book stand out for me.  The ending of this book left me unready to see it end.  I am absolutely pining for the second book at this point.  I'm also kicking myself a bit for waiting so long to read this one.  I loved the way the author ended this book and won't say more than that (other than it fit perfectly with the book in my opinion).

Final thoughts can be summed up as "Read it!"  A page turning read would be the perfect way to describe this book as well.  Obviously I don't have anything but good things to say about it.  I would love to find more books like this so I'm thinking that I need to stick my toes more in the science fiction genre.  I'm also planning on reading this author's Rachel Morgan series while I wait for book two to release in this one.  It is another series that I've always meant to read and put off but no longer.  If that series is half as good as this book was, then I'm in for a real treat!

Bottom Line:  A thrilling and great beginning to this new series!  I need more!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book for the publisher.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Camilla Graham’s bestselling suspense novels inspired Lena London to become a writer, so when she lands a job as Camilla’s new assistant, she can’t believe her luck. Not only will she help her idol craft an enchanting new mystery, she’ll get to live rent-free in Camilla’s gorgeous Victorian home in the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana.
 
But Lena’s fortune soon changes for the worse. First, she lands in the center of small town gossip for befriending the local recluse. Then, she stumbles across one thing that a Camilla Graham novel is never without—a dead body, found on her new boss’s lakefront property.
 
Now Lena must take a page out of one of Camilla’s books to hunt down clues in a real crime that seems to be connected to the novelist’s mysterious estate—before the killer writes them both out of the story for good..."


My Thoughts:

A Dark and Stormy Murder is easily one of the best beginnings to a cozy mystery series that I've read in a long time.  It was pretty much a given that I would adore this one after I realized that it paid homage to older gothic romances.  Barbara Michaels anyone??  I have a special place in my heart for her books and for many other authors like her so I was just thrilled to find this book.  I loved how the author made this book almost feel like one of those books with the large, rambling house and the mysterious but handsome neighbor.  Plus the author included at the beginning of each chapter a part of the book that Camilla was currently working on (which of course is a gothic romance).  I'm grinning even now just thinking about how perfectly this book was set up.  Then you factor in that there is a mystery as well and you probably can already see why I loved this book so much!

I also really enjoyed the characters in this book.  Lena is an aspiring author herself but it was her love of Camilla's books that really helped me to connect with her.  It was all so bookish and perfect and I loved every minute of it.  I loved the parts of the book where Lena and Camilla were working together on Camilla's current work in progress.  I liked that we were given a chance to see the writing process but through this book as well.  I also enjoyed the mystery which was just suspenseful enough to help me want to read this book even faster.  I tried to go slowly with this one since I was enjoying it so much but I also didn't want to stop reading.  I found myself finishing it way too quickly for my taste but also very excited for the next book.  I feel like I desperately need the next book because I loved this one so much.  I really liked how the author ended this one because there was a complete ending but she also set up book two perfectly.  And left me wishing that I had book two in my hands right now!

Overall, it should be easy to tell that I just loved this one.  I am really excited about it and am already thinking of some of my blogging friends that I want to recommend this one to.  If you love Mary Stewart, Barbara Michaels, or Phyllis Whitney then give this book a try.  I'm betting that you will enjoy it as much as I did.  I am just pumped about this series, and since I have a wait until book two, I've decided to try this authors other books in the meantime.  I've got a list of favorite cozy mystery authors and Julia Buckley is going on this list.  Highly recommended!

Bottom Line:  I adored this book from beginning to end!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.