War-N-Wit, Inc.—Mean Street, LLC by Gail Roughton

 

Blurb:

Another wedding day dawns for the ever-growing Garrett-Forrester Coven as Spike and Stacy get ready to say “I do”! Don’t expect weddings bells and white gowns, though. It’s off to the Drive-Thru Tunnel of Love at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Vegas. Again. It’s sort of a family tradition. But what’s supposed to happen in Vegas just refuses to stay in Vegas. And you’re not going to believe this side-trip!

Review:

I love the Garret-Forrester Coven, and Gail Roughton is a good enough writer to keep a series fresh, so the reader stays engaged. War-N-Wit, Inc.—Mean Street, LLC does not disappoint. When Stacey’s sister, Ariel met Chad’s brother Spike, it was love at first site and they knew they’d have a marriage made in …somewhere. They invite Stacey and Ariel’s parents to the wedding, knowing what a shock the whole thing will be for their gently-bred, Southern mom. Grace Anson always envisioned either church or garden weddings for her daughters, with flowing white gowns, flowers, ribbons, and crystal flutes of champagne afterward either still in the garden, or at a country club, or a very nice hotel—not a Vegas drive-thru wedding, and certainly not on the conveyances her daughters have in mind.

But, the girls are not the only ones having family problems. War-N-Wit, Inc. often works for a concern called “Mean Street, LLC,” a family-owned company run by a man named Gabe Smith. He calls Chad and asks him and Stacey to, “Check out a magic act on the Strip. No big deal.” Gabe and his brothers Mike and Raph are having problems with their brother, “Lucy” (a childhood nickname he hates), and it turns out to be a very big deal. Good thing Stacey’s cat, Micah has managed to “follow her” to Vegas—again.”

Gail Roughton is great at creating characters who are engaging. They keep you laughing, on the edge of your seat, rooting for them, and then laughing some more. While Ms. Roughton didn’t exactly write this as a Christmas/Yule tale, I think it kind of fits this week. Like most of her War-N-Wit novellas, it’s way too short. Oh, it’s complete. It stands well on its own. But it’s only a little over a hundred pages, so it goes really fast and leaves you wanting more.  I would have give the book five roses, but I found some comma splices.  Et tu, Ms. Roughton?  Aw me-ann!

Length:  111 Pages

Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/War-N-Wit-Inc-MeanStreet-Gail-Roughton-ebook/dp/B00F5BVQKC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387140329&sr=1-1&keywords=gail+roughton

Thanks for visiting. RIW

"More Please, Ma'am..." The Coven—War n Wit, Inc., Book 3 by Gail Roughton

Blurb:

 

Daytona Bike Week. Biker’s paradise. The perfect place for Chad and Ariel Garrett to take a few days off and relax with Chad’s buddy Spike and Ariel’s little sister Stacy. But nothing ever goes as planned with that magical duo. Trouble just stalks them like a black cat. Maybe because a black cat is stalking them. A missing agent riding with an outlaw biker gang, a call from Chad’s past, and War-N-Wit, Inc.’s riding again. On Harleys! 

Review:

Writing a series is darned difficult.  People keep asking me when the next book in my Moon Rock series will be coming out and I don’t know.  I think my characters have said all they want to say, and they’re just going about their everyday lives now, and nothing exciting is happening to them.

So when someone doesn’t just manage to keep a series going, but also keeps it fresh, exciting, funny, and so- entertaining-I-couldn’t-put-The Coven-down-even-though-I was-on-deadline.  (Take a long, slow, deep breath.  There ya go.)  I only planned to take a few minutes to gulp down a quick lunch, but I sat for an hour reading and made myself go back to work.  Well, kudos to Ms. Roughton.

My only complaint is that the story wasn’t long enough.  I forgot the War N Wit series were novellas and was really disappointed at how quickly I got through it.  I worked until 11:30 that night and then finished The Coven before I went to sleep.  I highly recommend this book, but be warned—it’ll leave you wanting more! 

Length:  100 Pages

Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/War-N-Wit-Inc-Coven-Book-ebook/dp/B00C6QUK38/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2 

Thanks for visiting.  RIW

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

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Series-Color-Seven-ebook/dp/B009SCZ19Q