Tuesday, June 25, 2019

A Savage Kultur

Inside the Book


A Savage Kulture
Title: A SAVAGE KULTER
Author: Monique Roy
Publisher: BookBaby
Genre: Historical Fiction
BOOK BLURB:
In Oxford, England, Ava, a Jewish art student at Oxford University, receives a heart-wrenching letter from her grandfather after he dies. From the letter, she learns that her grandfather has given her his London art gallery, which he says will secure her future, as well as provide a place for her to grow her artistic talents and follow her passion for art. The letter also describes his one last wish—that she find a treasured Vincent van Gogh painting, The Lovers: The Poet’s Garden IVthat belonged to her grandparents and was deemed degenerate and looted by the Nazis in 1937.
Arriving for the first time at the gallery, she discovers old photographs in a secret room that recount the harrowing past—a Nazi propaganda parade in 1937. She quickly becomes aware that the room and the gallery, with an empty frame for the missing van Gogh, hold such rich memories of her grandparents. As conversations with her family members and those connected to the painting spur memories, the book switches back and forth between the current timeline and the timeline during the war to tell the stories of those affected by the painting and its fate.
On the train to her grandfather’s funeral, she meets Gordon Rose, an FBI agent, disguised as an art restitution lawyer. He helps her track down the missing van Gogh, while at the same time, he goes after an Neo-Nazi albino art forger named Luther.
Ava pays several visits to her grandmother, her only living relative who lived through the war, hoping she remembers something about the past that will be a clue to the missing painting and their lives in Germany during the war. It is in these hours that she sits with her grandmother that she learns about her grandparents finding refuge on an Austrian farm after they flee Munich and of Charlotte, a local farm girl who lives at Lake Toplitz.
Ava’s grandmother who struggles with dementia recalls Charlotte’s last name. With this information, Ava tracks down Charlotte at her home at Lake Toplitz and questions the old woman about what happened at the lake. On her last breath, Charlotte speaks of the secrets hidden in the lake.
When Gordon breaks into Luther’s Austrian hideout, he believes Luther has forged the missing van Gogh painting. Luther claims it is the real deal. To right a wrong and under the duress of Gordon and law enforcement, Luther returns the painting to Ava.
Ava takes the van Gogh painting to her grandmother. Still not sure if it’s the real thing or not, Ava wants to bring her grandmother closure during her last days. Gordon wonders if they should call an art expert to examine the painting. She believes it was meant to be there, whether real or fake. In the end, Gordon and Ava reveal their true feelings for one another.

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Meet the Author


Monique Roy
Monique’s passion for writing began as a young girl while penning stories in a journal. Now she looks forward to deepening her passion by creating many unique stories that do nothing less than intrigue her readers.
Monique holds a degree in journalism from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and is the author of a middle-grade book Once Upon a Time in Venice, historical fiction novel Across Great Divides, and historical fiction novel A Savage Kultur.
Monique was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and her grandparents were European Jews who fled their home as Hitler rose to power. It’s their story that inspired her to write Across Great Divides, her first historical novel.
Historical fiction lets you escape to another time and place; and Monique likes to explore the past so that we can potentially better understand the future.
Monique resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband and son. She also works as a freelance writer.
Website: www.monique-roy.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MonWriter1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AcrossGreatDivides

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My Review
A Savage Kultur was a great read that stayed true to the time period. I really liked how it switched between time periods as Ava searched for the missing painting. This book was filled with historical information, yet it was far from boring and the story was rather moving.

WINTER FROST

Winter Frost by Lauren Carr

Book Details:

Book Title:  Winter Frost (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery Book 2) by Lauren Carr
Category:  Adult fiction, 290 pages
Genre:  Mystery, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Cozy
Publisher:  Acorn Book Services
Release date:  January 28, 2019
Content Rating: PG (It's a murder mystery and there is mild violence. Very mild swearing no F-bombs. No on-stage sex scenes.)

Book Description:

It all started with a chance encounter in the city with Blair, his late wife.

Chris Matheson and the Geezer Squad, working under the guise of a book club, dig into the events surrounding his late wife’s supposed death halfway around the globe. A state department employee shoots himself in the back three times. A CIA operative goes missing. A woman is targeted by an international assassin three years after being declared dead in a terrorist attack overseas. 

Nothing is as it seems. 

In his most personal cold case, Chris fights to uncover why the state department told him that Blair, the mother of his children, had been killed when she was alive. What had she uncovered that has made her a target? Who terrified her so much that she had gone into hiding and why are they now after him?
Buy Winter Frost:
​Amazon ~ Audible
Add to Goodreads
Ice by Lauren Carr
Book Details:

Book Title:  ICE by Lauren Carr
Category:  Adult fiction, 380 pages
Genre:  Mystery, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Cozy
Publisher:  Acorn Book Services
Release date:  April 25, 2018
Available for review in:  ebook (mobi, ePub) & Audible
Tour dates:  May 1 - June 28, 2019
Content Rating:  PG (It's a murder mystery and there is mild violence. Very mild swearing no F-bombs. No on-stage sex scenes.)

Book Description:

The clues for a close-to-the-heart missing person’s case heat up when Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on the cold case.

When Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappear, the court of public opinion finds young Chris Matheson guilty. Decades later, the retired FBI agent returns home to discover that the cloud of suspicion cast over him and his family has never lifted. With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on this cold case to uncover what had happened to Sandy and her baby and the clues are getting hot!

Picture
Book Details:

​Book Title: It's Murder My Son by Lauren Carr
Series: A Mac Faraday Mystery  (Book 1)
Category:  Adult fiction, 288 pages
Genre:  Murder Mystery
Publisher:  Lauren Carr
Release date:  June 23, 2010
Format available for review:  ebook (mobi, ePub) & Audible
Tour dates:  May 1 - June 28, 2019
Content Rating: PG (It's a murder mystery and there is mild violence. Very mild swearing no F-bombs. No on-stage sex scenes.)

Book Description:
What started out as the worst day of Mac Faraday’s life would end up being a new beginning. After a messy divorce hearing, the last person that Mac wanted to see was another lawyer. Yet, this lawyer wore the expression of a child bursting to tell his secret. This confidence would reveal Mac as heir to undreamed of fortunes, and lead him to the birthplace of America’s Queen of Mystery and an investigation that will unfold like one of her famous mystery novels.

Soon after she moves to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, Katrina Singleton learns that life in an exclusive community is not all good. For some unknown reason, a strange man calling himself “Pay Back” begins stalking her. When Katrina is found strangled all evidence points to her terrorist, who is nowhere to be found.

Three months later, the file on her murder is still open when Mac Faraday, sole heir to his unknown birth mother’s home and fortune, moves into the estate next door. Little does he know as he drives up to Spencer Manor that he is driving into a closed gate community that is hiding more suspicious deaths than his DC workload as a homicide detective. With the help of his late mother’s journal, this retired cop puts all his detective skills to work to pick up where the local investigators have left off to follow the clues to Katrina’s executer.
Buy It's Murder My Son:
Amazon ~ Audible
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Crimes Past by Lauren Carr
Book Details:

Book Title: Crimes Past by Lauren Carr
Series:  A Mac Faraday Mystery (Volume 13)
Category:  Adult fiction, 322 pages
Genre:  Murder Mystery
Publisher:  Acorn Book Services
Release date:  October 16, 2018
Format available for review:  ebook (mobi, ePub) & Audible
Tour dates:  May 1 - June 28, 2019
Content Rating: PG (mild violence and sexual suggestion)


Book Description:

It’s a bittersweet reunion for Mac Faraday when members of his former homicide squad arrive at the Spencer Inn. While it is sweet to attend the wedding of a former colleague’s daughter, it is a bitter reminder that the mother of the bride had been the victim of a double homicide on her own wedding night.

The brutal slaying weighing heavy on his mind, Mac is anxious to explore every possibility for a break in the cold case—even a suggestion from disgraced former detective Louis Gannon that one of their former friends was the killer.

When the investigator is brutally slain, Mac Faraday rips open the cold case with a ruthless determination to reveal which of his friends was a cold-blooded murderer.

Buy Crimes Past:
Amazon ~ Audible
Add to Goodreads

Lauren Carr
Meet the Author:  

​Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Now, Lauren has added one more hit series to her list with the Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries. Set in the quaint West Virginia town of Harpers Ferry, Ice introduces Chris Matheson, a retired FBI agent, who joins forces with other law enforcement retirees to heat up those cold cases that keep them up at night.

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor.

​Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with the author: Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook  ~  Instagram

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Nightfall (Book 1 in the Clemhorn Trilogy) By Andrew J Harvey

Clemhorn Nightfall Andrew J Harvey

​Book Details:

Book Title:  Nightfall (Book 1 in the Clemhorn Trilogy) By Andrew J Harvey
Category:  Adult Fiction, 250 pages
Genre:  Science Fiction Military, Alternate History
Publisher:  Zmok Books, an imprint of Pike and Powder Publishing Group LLC
Release date:  February 2019
Content Rating: PG-13 (My book includes some violence and adult themes including one off-camera torture scene)


Book Description:

After eighty years of war the remnants of humanity on the Nayarit Line struggled to survive in sealed domes, surrounded by radioactive wasteland and genetically engineered viruses. It was in the last, desperate years of the war that the first trans-temporal portal was developed at Chiqu, a small research facility on the west coast of North America. As the domes finally failed and civilization collapsed around them, Iapura led fifty-three survivors to found a new empire on a parallel Earth; an Earth where, in 1884, Russian and English armies faced each other across America’s Great Plains, totally unprepared for the technology of the invading Nayarit. The Cross-Temporal Empire now encompasses fifty-four parallel Earths. But with its ruling Council riven by dissent the death of First Leader Manet, sets the Council into a slow and irrevocable slide into civil war.

A war that threatens not only the lives of the Clemhorn siblings: Conrad, Arnold, Donald, and Ivy; but the very future of the Empire.
Buy the Book:
Amazon ~  iTunes ~ Google Play
Add to Goodreads

Watch the Book Trailer:

Andrew J Harvey
Meet the Author:  

Andrew spent his high-school years in the school's library lost in the worlds of Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov.

​His first novel to be accepted for publication was originally completed to be read to his two sons at night. Now his children have left home he lives in Perth, Western Australia, with his wife, one dog, and sixty-four goldfish.

Connect with the author:  Website  ~ Twitter ~ Facebook 

Friday, June 14, 2019

THE STORYTELLER'S SECRET

The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani

Book Details:

Book Title:  The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani
Category:  Adult Fiction, 399 pages
Genre:  Literary
Publisher:  Lake Union
Release date:  September 2018
Content Rating: PG-13 (There are some non-explicit sex scenes)

Book Description:

An Amazon Charts, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller!

From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.

Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past. Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation.

​Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.
Sejal Badani
Meet the Author:

​A former attorney, Sejal Badani left the law to pursue writing full time.

She is a USA Today, Washington Post & Amazon Charts bestselling author, Goodreads Fiction Award Finalist and ABC/DISNEY Writing Fellowship Finalist.


Connect with the author:

Website  ~ Twitter ~ Facebook 
~ Pinterest
Instagram

My Review
THE STORYTELLER'S SECRET was a great book that may have been adult fiction, but I felt like it also taught me about India as well. I really enjoyed the way that the author explored the culture and appearance of India while also keeping the story the focus of the book.
I really liked Jaya and she was my favorite character, yet Ravi also made for an interesting character and served as a guide to Jaya. The heartbreak of losing a child really effect Jaya's character in a realistic manner which I thought was well written.

Good amount of battery

Good amount of battery

I found that I am able to charge my iPhone two times using this battery pack without recharging it, which was a nice surprise. For the amount of battery power it has it is super light weight!



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PD9NLDG/

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Off Shore Secrets

Inside the Book


off_shore_secrets_fin_E-BOOK_KRIVULJE_v2
Title: OFF SHORE SECRETS
Author: Maya Berger
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 252
Genre: Chick Lit
BOOK BLURB:
Single again, Maya and her bestie, Una, make plans to sail around the beautiful Adriatic Coast on board a luxury yacht. Fun in the sun with friends is just what these two need this summer.
Maya shouldn’t be attracted to Adrian—the cocky, handsome Spaniard on board—especially when after a passionate night, he calls out another girl’s name in his sleep.
Una, who is supposed to be in a long distance relationship, hooks up with a stranger and sneaks him on board. The next day, the stranger is gone and so is some very expensive jewelry. When Una goes missing too, Maya wants to help her, but what is Una’s involvement?
And who is the mysterious girl Adrian mumbles about in his sleep? Perhaps it is something to do with Una’s secretive and reckless behavior. Maya has a lot of questions, but no one seems ready to give her the answers.

ORDER YOUR COPY:


Amazon2

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Meet the Author


Maya Berger
Maya Berger is the author of a memoir focusing on women’s personal growth called Luna Tree and its sequel In the Pursuit of Change. She took a break from writing about life and personal growth to write adventure stories about two young women just out of university trying to make important decisions in their life like who to date, who to socialise with, how to travel with no money and how to act in potentially dangerous situations. The most important lessons they learn are how to depend on each other and rely on themselves.
Maya is a 44-year-old living in Zagreb, Croatia with her husband and their three-year- old daughter. She is a marketing graduate, pilates instructor, she promotes Croatia as a tourist destination and she loves to read and write.
Website: www.mayabergerauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/maya___berger
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MayaBergerTheAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maya_berger_author

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My Review
Maya and Una were my favorite characters in Off Shore Secrets, though of the two I liked Maya the best as her personality just pulled me in. I really liked the way the story was a slow build to start and then picked up the pace once the air of mystery set in!

Friday, June 7, 2019

Velvalee Dickinson: The "Doll Woman" Spy by Barbara Casey

Velvalee Dickinson: The

​Book Details:

Book Title:  Velvalee Dickinson: The "Doll Woman" Spy by Barbara Casey
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction, 184 pages
Genre:  
True Crime / Historical / Biography
Publisher:  Strategic Media Books
Release date:  April 2019
Content Rating: PG - 
Velvalee Dickinson is appropriate for all ages.

Book Description:

Velvalee Dickinson was born in Sacramento, California, graduated from Stanford University, married three times, and then in the early 1930s moved to New York City where she eventually opened her own exclusive doll shop on the prestigious Madison Avenue. It was there that she built her reputation as an expert in rare, antique, and foreign dolls. She traveled extensively around the country lecturing and exhibiting her dolls while building a wealthy clientele that included Hollywood stars, members of high society, politicians, and other collectors.

​When medical bills started to accumulate because of her husband’s poor health and business started to fail with the onset of World War II, she accepted the role as a spy for the Imperial Japanese Government. By hiding coded messages in her correspondence about dolls, she was able to pass on to her Japanese contacts critical military information about the US warships. After surveilling Velvalee for over a year, the FBI arrested her and charged her with espionage and violation of censorship laws. She became the first American woman to face the death penalty on charges of spying for a wartime enemy.

Velvalee Dickinson: The “Doll Woman” Spy is a carefully researched glimpse into the “Doll Woman’s” life as a collector of dolls, and as the highest paid American woman who spied for the Imperial Japanese Government during World War II.
Buy the Book:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Books-a-Million
Add to Goodreads
Barbara Casey
Meet the Author:  

Barbara Casey is the author of several award-winning novels for both adults and young adults, as well as book-length works of nonfiction, and numerous articles, poems, and short stories. Her nonfiction true crime book, Kathryn Kelly: The Moll behind Machine Gun Kelly, has been optioned for a major film and television series. Her nonfiction book, Assata Shakur: A 20th Century Escaped Slave, is under contract for a major film. In addition to her own writing, she is an editorial consultant and president of the Barbara Casey Agency.

Established in 1995, she represents authors throughout the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2018 Barbara received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas. Barbara lives on a mountain in Georgia with her husband, and three pets who adopted her: Benton, a hound-mix; Reese, a black cat; and Earl Gray, a gray cat and Reese’s best friend.

Connect with the author:  Website
My Review
Velvalee Dickinson: The "Doll Woman" Spy by Barbara Casey was an intriguing non-fiction True Crime / Historical / Biography. I liked the way that the book focused not just on Velvalee Dickinson, but also on the time period.
Velvalee Dickinson was a very interesting and pragmatic woman who managed to have a large impact on the war. I found myself disagreeing with her choices, but also understanding them and sympathizing with the position she was placed in.
Overall, I felt like I learned a lot about Velvalee Dickinson who I did not even know existed before reading this book.

WHAT WE DO FOR LOVE

What We Do for Love by Anne Pfeffer

​Book Details:

Book Title:  What We Do for Love by Anne Pfeffer
Category:  Adult Fiction, 227 pages
Genre:  Contemporary Women's Fiction
Publisher:  Bold Print Press
Release date:  May 21, 2019
Content Rating:  PG-13 + M (My book has a few instances of the F-word and Sh--- and one somewhat explicit sex scene)

Book Description:

“If Lorelai Gilmore of Gilmore Girls was dropped into a thriller, it might resemble this appealing novel.” --Kirkus Reviews
Thirty-eight year old Nicole Adams has given up on finding love. Instead, the single mother focuses on the things she cherishes most—her sixteen-year old son Justin, her friends, and her art. When she convinces a prominent Los Angeles museum to feature a piece of her work, a large-scale installation, she thinks her life has finally turned a corner. Then Justin brings a girl, Daniela, home to live with them. Daniela’s angry parents have thrown her out of the house, because she’s pregnant with Justin’s child.

​Shattered, Nicole takes Daniela in and, in so doing, is drawn into the inner circle of Daniela’s family—a frightening world of deceit and violence. Nicole struggles to keep life going as normal. Forced to deal with people she doesn’t trust or like, fearful for the future of both her son and the grandchild they’re expecting, Nicole wonders if she can do what she tells Justin to do: always have faith in yourself and do the right thing. ​
Buy the Book:
Amazon
Add to Goodreads
Anne Pfeffer
Meet the Author:  

Award-winning novelist Anne Pfeffer grew up in Phoenix, Arizona reading prodigiously and riding horses. After working in Chicago and New York, she escaped back to the land of sunshine in Los Angeles.

​She has worked in banking and as a pro bono attorney, representing abandoned children in adoption and guardianship proceedings. Anne has a daughter living in New York and is the author of four books in the YA/New Adult genres.

Connect with the author:  Website ~ Twitter

My Review
What We Do for Love by Anne Pfeffer was an enjoyable contemporary women's fiction book that clearly showed off the value in having faith. I really liked Nicole Adams as I felt like I could connect with her on a personal level. I especially, loved how she opened her heart and home to Daniela. Overall, I liked that this book had elements of faith, suspense, and mystery to it. 

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

PAINTING THE PSALMS

Inside the Book


Painting the Psalms
Title: PAINTING THE PSALMS
Author: Cherie Burbach
Publisher: Bonjour Publishing
Pages: 104
Genre: Christian Nonfiction
BOOK BLURB:
In Painting the Psalms, artist Cherie Burbach shares original, mixed-media paintings that contain a positive, faith-filled message. Each painting contains inspiration from the Psalms in some way, through the imagery, words, or emotion contained within the verses. Cherie uses a variety of mediums and techniques to create art that is filled with depth and whimsy. It is her hope that this book will inspire you to look at the Psalms in a new way so you can celebrate your faith and believe in the message. Some of the paintings were created during Cherie’s popular “Painting the Psalms” series of ecourses, where she demonstrates step-by-step progress from start to finish, including all the small details that make mixed media paintings come alive with texture and color.

ORDER YOUR COPY:

  

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Meet the Author


Cherie Burbach
Cherie Burbach is a poet, mixed media artist, and freelance writer. She has penned and contributed to articles for Readers DigestFamily CircleAbout.com (NY Times), NBC/Universal, Match.com, Christianity Today, and more.
Cherie also likes to express herself with mixed media art, combining Bible verses and her own poetry with special papers, acrylics, oils, ink, and more. She includes book pages, music sheets, and other random things in her art to create something that celebrates a hopeful, faith-filled message.
Cherie has been especially inspired by the Psalms, and has created a series of ecourses called Painting the Psalms, which includes mixed media painting projects all inspired by the Psalms in some way. Each project is diverse in terms supplies, technique, and composition.
She is also the author of Painting the Psalms, which is part art book, part devotional.
Website:    https://www.cherieburbach.com/
Twitter:     https://twitter.com/CherieBurbach
Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/CherieBurbach/

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My Review
PAINTING THE PSALMS was an inspiring book that I really enjoyed. I was surprised by the emotions I experienced while reading this book as I did not expect the words and images to be as moving as they were. This was a pleasant surprise that I am glad I took the time to enjoy!