Sunday, February 24, 2013

Angel Heart by Marie Laval




Devonshire, January 1815.

Marie-Ange, the young widow of an English officer, accepts an inheritance in France only to find that everything in Beauregard is not as it seems. Why is the sinister Malleval so obsessed with her family? And could her darling Christopher still be alive? Marie-Ange finds herself trapped in a dangerous web of lies, intrigue, and mystical possession, and the only person to whom she can turn for help is Capitaine Hugo Saintclair. Yet the enigmatic Hugo represents a danger of a different kind…


Angel Heart was good read, although it seemed a bit long.  It seemed as though the book could have been over half-way through, and I wondered why it continued.  It wasn’t quite over.  There were more adventures for Marie Ange and Saintclair, and loose ends to tie up.  I won’t ruin the ending by telling you what they were.  While, I recommend it, you probably won’t burn through Angel Heart in one marathon sitting.  It may take a bit longer.

Length:  337 Pages
Price:  $5.95

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.  RIW

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Dark Series by Gail Roughton




The Color of Seven. Deep in the woods that slide off into Stone Creek Swamp, two teenage drug dealers retrieve their stashed merchandise and receive an unexpected dividend – the unwitting resurrection of the powerful Bokor Cain, practitioner of Black Magic trained in the darkest rites of Voodoo. His unceasing efforts to increase his strength have transformed him into an entity with vampiric power. Entombed for a century, he arises determined to exact revenge on the young doctor responsible for his long and unwilling incarceration. After all, no mere mortal could have defeated him. If he himself still exists, so must his nemesis. On the older city streets of Macon atop Coleman Hill, two young attorneys have renovated an old, shabby house on Orange Street for their home and office. The house, perhaps in gratitude for its restoration, engages in replay mode for rising young attorney Ria Knight, presenting tantalizing scenes of a most private movie just for her, a movie featuring the daily drama of the household of Dr. Paul Devlin. These scenes from the house are extraordinary, but not as extraordinary as the resemblance between the living man she meets in the Mall’s bookstore who introduces himself as Paul Everett and the scenes her house persists in showing her of its first master, Dr. Paul Devlin. Determined to explain the coincidence, Ria tracks Paul Everett, formerly known as Dr. Paul Devlin, to ground in his own mausoleum. In a night that changes both their lives forever, Paul shares the story of the long, hot summer of 1888, forging between them the bond that offers the resurrected Cain a chance for revenge he will use to the fullest as the battle resumes. After all, there is no threat as great as the threat to the one you love.

The Color of Dusk concludes the story of the epic battle that raged in 1888 between Cain, powerful Bokor of Black Magic, and Dr. Paul Devlin, the man who finally banished Cain to the dank cave out by Stone Creek Swamp. In The Color of Dusk, Ria offers Cain, now resurrected from that cave, his perfect revenge against Paul Devlin. The past, like evil, never dies. It just—waits.



I’ve become a fan of Ms. Roughton.  She’s an excellent writer, and I’ve loved every one of her books.  This is her masterpiece.  All of Ms. Roughton’s character’s are finely drawn, sucking the reader into their lives, but these people exist in different worlds—different times.  Ms. Roughton takes us on a journey from Macon, Georgia in the late 1800s to the present and back again, ending up…  Yeah—ya have to read the book/s to find out.  I suggest reading them together as one book, which is how Ms. Roughton wrote the manuscript.  Her editor thought it was too long to be one book.  She apparently didn’t read the last few Harry Potter books in pretty much one sitting, which I tried to do.  Not being a page-at-a glance reader, the final one took me about thirty-six hours and included a nap, which I took rather grudgingly with the book in my lap.  I don’t have the stamina I did when I was a kid.  But, I digress.

Cain will chill your blood.  “My name be Cain.  My color be sebben.”

And Paul and Ria will warm your heart.  But not unless you buy this amazing book.

Length:  389 Pages
Price:  $5.99

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Murder in the Buff by Maggie Toussaint





With her marriage in the toilet and her reporter job dangling by a slim thread, conservative Molly Darter can’t refuse her latest assignment, that of collecting the family-placed obituary of a dead nudist. To her chagrin, she discovers she knew the dead woman, Barbara Jean McAllister, as the nice lady at the Marshview organic produce stand.

The head nudist insists Barbara Jean’s death was murder, but Molly has no intention of writing more than that obit. Her mind changes when revealing photos of her father and other community leaders consorting with Barbara Jean come her way. To protect her father and save her job, she delves into the dead woman’s life.

Things heat up when her estranged husband’s undercover drug ring collides with Molly’s dead nudist investigation. Will Molly find the woman’s killer, or will the killer find Molly?


I need to stop reading at bedtime when I have to be somewhere the next day.  These authors are keeping me up at night.  I know, kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.  Maybe I should read War and Peace.  I need to get back to a schedule where I’m getting to sleep at a reasonable hour—like two or three a.m. instead of five or six.  I know, Anna Karenina’s coming out soon as a movie.  Maybe I should try to read the book first.

Meanwhile, Molly Darter’s adventures with the nudists—’scuse me—naturalists, kept me guessing who dunnit, while cracking up at her attempts to juggle her family, and life in a small town.  Yes, one where the sneeze analogy I used a couple of weeks ago definitely applies.  If someone at one end of town sneezes, someone at the other end yells “bless you,” and everyone else discusses your sinuses.  Although how those men managed to get away with their antics with Barbara Jean for so long without being discovered is beyond me.  Well, obviously someone knew

The funniest part was her son’s sex education.  Where do kids pick up the things they learn?  And aren’t they great at saying the wrong thing at just the right time?  Ms. Toussaint captures that perfectly.  I’m sure every parent will identify.  Definitely a must read.  Add this one to your TBR list.

Length:  217 Pages
Price:  $5.95

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Animal Crackers by Elle Druskin




You’re fired.  Manhattan workaholic Hayley Weaver is out of work, out of money and out of luck.  Facing eviction, she grabs the first job offered, house-sitting movie star Paulette Stone’s New Jersey home.  Hayley swore she’d never go back to Jersey but she’s hit rock bottom.  The job sounds like a snap and the answer to her prayers. She should have known Jersey would throw a curve ball. Paulette neglected to mention her exotic menagerie and more critters than the Beverly Hillbillies in residence.  Small town Jersey veterinarian Jake Marx is desperate to meet a woman he hasn’t known since kindergarten.  Animal phobic Hayley has Jake on speed dial and the whole town is backing Hayley as their candidate to solve Jake’s love-starved life.


What can be worse than losing your job, home and boyfriend all in one day?  You could get hit by a car.  Check.  Driven by a clown.  Check.  You could be animal-phobic and find yourself house-sitting at Neverland, where a foul-mouthed parrot calls you names in French, and a huge dog traps you in the bedroom.  Triple-check.  Day Two.  You wake up with a raging hangover and a new haircut, courtesy of a playful chimp named Pansy and your own manicure scissors.  And your best pearl earrings are gone.  Not being familiar with baby chimps, it doesn’t occur to you they put everything in their mouths, just like human babies—until Pansy writhes in pain and you have to call that cute veterinarian.  Yeah—the one who laughed at you when he rescued you from the bedroom last night. And then after he got the beast into the basement, he offered you wine on an empty stomach.  Funny how he knew right where everything was in the bimbo starlet’s house.  Not that it should matter.  You’re outa here, as soon as you land a job back in Manhattan.  Or so you think…

I love animals, so I would probably have scratched Henry (the huge dog) behind the ears, cuddled Pansy, and since I never took French I would have thought the foul-mouthed bird was quaint and not realized he was cussing.  The hot vet would have been young enough to be my son, so I would more likely have schmoozed with his aunt and joined the local Stitch ’n’ Bitch club.  But that’s me and Ms. Druskin would not have had a book if her house-sitter had been my age and loved animals, or if she had loved New Jersey for that matter.  But Hayley doesn’t, and her struggles to survive Neverland East kept me laughing my derriere off, as I read the book.  This is the first book in the Liberty Heights series.  I can’t wait to see what that town gets up to next.  Meanwhile, if you want a good laugh and a feel-good plot, check out Animal Crackers.

Length:  153 Pages
Price:  $5.50

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.