Windy City Heat by Remi Hunter

 Blurb:

When one of Officer Gina Aletti's informants goes missing, Gina's search for him unwittingly exposes secrets within the Chicago Police Department that may cost her job, her newfound love, and even her life.

Chicago Police Department Tactical Officer Gina Aletti employs a maverick style of police work to get the job done—but in the end she always brings down the bad guys. Sparks fly between Gina and her new boss Lieutenant Sean O’Connor over rules, procedure, and ultimately over much more, but her record is beyond reproach. When Gina is arrested for taking money and providing protection to the very drug dealers she seems so passionate about bringing down, will the truth cost Gina her job, love, and ultimately her life?

Review:

Okay, I’m prejudiced.  I think Chicago is the most beautiful city in the world, so when I see a book cover with even part of the skyline on it, I’m hooked.  When work on the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter took me to the Musa Publishing website and I saw the cover and blurb for Windy City Heat, I had to read it.

They say we should write what we know.  Ms. Hunter obviously knows the Chicago Police Department, and Chicago’s Southwest Side.  She apparently has worked in an area of Chicago I have studiously avoided.  It’s not safe down there, and I salute her.  Our men and women in blue put themselves in harm’s way protecting the citizens of my beloved home town every day, and I thank them.

Gina Aletti’s a good cop, if a bit headstrong.  She first meets her new Lieutenant, Sean O’Connor after chasing an armed suspect into a project building without back-up, a procedural taboo, and her first words to him are something like, “Hey, back off, buddy!  That’s my collar!”  He promptly writes her up, and they’re off to a rather negative start, despite the sparks flying between them.  Her next faux-pas comes as the result of a promise she makes to an informant and his mother.  Despite orders to stay on the north end of their district, Gina strays into the south end, where her informant lives.  Her team is supposed to stay in Ganster Disciple territory, but Gina keeps straying into Latin Kings’ territory, where she doesn’t just get into trouble with Sean, she gets into trouble with the District Commander, Bill O’Leary and the King’s themselves.  Things heat up when people start trying to kill her.

Ms. Hunter kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the book, even though I figured out who did it fairly early in the book.  But again, that’s me.  You may not realize it as soon as I did.  Still, it was fun reading how they brought the bad guys down.

My only problems with the book were somewhat stilted dialog, and a lack of hyphens.  Ms. Hunter needs to learn about adjectival and adverbial phrases, which need to be hyphenated, and she needs to run lines with someone.  The cops I know are more likely to say, “You’re gonna go down for this,” than “You’re going to…”  What struck me as downright funny was, Ms. Hunter has the gang-bangers’ slang down pat, but then the cops would speak more formally.

This book was not self-published.  Her editor at Musa Publishing should have caught these problems.  In fact, this was the second book I’ve read from Musa, and both books had similar editing problems.  It’s a shame when authors suffer from the deficiencies of their publishers.

Otherwise, I highly recommend Windy City Heat—especially if you grew up in Chicago.  I may be a Northwest Sider, but I know where Kedzie and Pulaski are.  I went to Girl Scouts a block off Pulaski, and I worked for Ma Bell (before the phone company broke up) two blocks from Kedzie.  It’s so cool to read familiar street names in a book.

Length:  181 Pages

Price:  $5.99

Buy Link:  http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=681

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

Killer by Jonathan Kellerman

 

Blurb:

The City of Angels has more than its share of psychopaths, and no one recognizes that more acutely than the brilliant psychologist and police consultant, Dr. Alex Delaware. Despite that, Constance Sykes, a sophisticated, successful physician, hardly seems like someone Alex needs to fear. Then, at the behest of the court, he becomes embroiled in a bizarre child-custody dispute initiated by Connie against her sister and begins to realize that there is much about the siblings he has failed to comprehend. And when the court battle between the Sykes sisters erupts into cold, calculating murder and a rapidly growing number of victims, Alex knows he’s been snared in a toxic web of pathology.

Nothing would please Alex more than to be free of the ugly spectacle known as Sykes v. Sykes. But then the little girl at the center of the vicious dispute disappears, and Alex knows he must work with longtime-friend Detective Milo Sturgis, braving an obstacle course of Hollywood washouts, gangbangers, and self-serving jurists in order to save an innocent life.

Review:

I normally don’t review best-sellers like Killer, because they don’t need a boost in sales from reviewers like me, but when you pull a book off the Net Galley website, you’re required to review it. Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware books are among the books I would recommend to new authors who want to write series. I believe I first picked up a book somewhere in the middle and then went back to the beginning—not because I felt I’d missed anything, but because I liked it. I read every book in the series and then waited for each book to come out until I got too busy with my own books, editing jobs, my review site, and the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter to read much for pleasure. I’m not sure how many Delaware books I’ve missed, but when I picked up Killer, it didn’t matter. Each book stands on its own as books in a series should.

What can I say about a master storyteller who just gets better with each book he writes? Mr. Kellerman drew me back into Dr. Delaware’s life on the first page of Killer, and kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole book. It was so nice to revisit Alex, Milo, Alex’s girlfriend Robin, and their French bulldog, Blanche. And I can’t believe I’m saying this two weeks in a row, but I didn’t know who did it until Mr. Kellerman revealed it. I usually figure these things out at least half way through, but he threw in enough red-herrings that I truly did not know who the Killer was.

Length:  353 Pages

Prices:

Print (Hardcover):  $28.00

Print (Paperback Lg. Print):  $28.00

Kindle:  $12.99

Audible (Unabridged):  $26.95

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Delaware-Novel-Jonathan-Kellerman-ebook/dp/B00EMX9QQA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393703709&sr=1-1&keywords=killer+jonathan+kellerman

Thanks for visiting. RIW

Entangled Minds by Roseanne Dowell

Blurb:

Strange, realistic visions and dreams invade Rebecca Brennan’s mind. When she experiences someone’s pain, she’s determined to find out who shares her mind. Her search leads to a small town filled with Victorian homes and interesting people and puts her life in danger.

Review:

Rebecca Brennan wakes up screaming, “No!” and then feels a burning pain in her shoulder and something warm and wet running down her arm. Has she been shot? No, but someone has—someone whose feelings she’s been sharing for the past few years, someone with whom her mind appears to be linked. He lives in a small town filled with Victorian homes and she thinks he must be a cop. At least she hopes she's linked to a cop and not a criminal.  She decides she has to find him, because whoever wounded him isn’t finished.

Hooking a reader on the first page is an important tool for a writer, and Ms. Dowell really pulls you in with Becca’s rude awakening in Entangled Minds. Is she linked to a cop? A civilian? Or a killer? Or is she linked to both the shooting victim and the shooter? You’ll have to read the book to find out, because it’s too good to give away any of the plot, except to say Rebecca searches for the town in which this mystery takes place and finds it full of Victorian homes, quirky people, and plenty of suspects—enough to keep even me guessing until the very end. I really did not have the perpetrator anywhere on my list of suspects! If you’ve read my reviews, you know how difficult I usually am to fool. Brava Ms. Dowell.

Length: 136 Pages

Price: $2.99

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Entangled-Minds-Roseanne-Dowell-ebook/dp/B00H8XP5IY/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393700024&sr=1-3&keywords=entangled+minds

Thanks for visiting. RIW

A Small Story for Page 3 by John W. Germond

Blurb:

Harry Fletcher can’t for the life of him figure out what exactly the ‘nugget’ of information his colleague, Eddie Concannon, uncovered prior to his death is. Picking his way along the threads of information, Harry soon finds himself at odds with government officials and his own newspaper seems to be involved in the collusion. Join Harry as he deciphers the clues and enjoy a journey into the world of investigative reporting set against a colorful back drop of characters and locations.

Review:

Although I wrote fiction as a child and teenager, I didn’t seriously consider writing as a career until I worked at the National Public Radio affiliate in Charleston, South Carolina.  I was hired as the secretary/receptionist fresh out of secretarial school, and I practically venerated the four journalists for whom I worked.  They talked about how great it was working in Public Radio where they didn’t have to worry about their stories clashing with the interests of advertisers or sponsors, because at the time PBS and NPR were supported entirely by government grants.  My bosses had complete Freedom of Press.

Harry Fletcher does not have that freedom.  His colleague, Eddie Concannon, was working on “A Small Story for Page Three” prior to his death.  A gurbernatorial candidate led a commission investigating corruption in the judicial, State’s Attorney’s and police departments that led to several indictments.  It was that commission that catapulted him into favor for the candidacy for governor.  Concannon told his wife he’d uncovered a “nugget” prior to his death, and Harry decides to follow it up before writing the story.  As he follows the leads, he clashes with his publisher who makes it clear—the editors and reporters do not determine what goes into the newspaper; he does.  It doesn’t matter who has corroborated the story—if the candidate says it didn’t happen; it didn’t.  Printing it could hurt the man’s candidacy.  (And Richard Nixon never had any tape recorders in the Oval Office because he said he didn’t.  Printing the Watergate story could hurt Nixon’s presidential legacy. Really?)  Why is Marcotte so invested in killing this story?

Harry is an old-fashioned newspaper man.  He’s more interested in writing the whole story than in finding a sound-bite or grabbing the front page.  He tracks down leads and corroborates them with more than one source, and he protects his sources.  But we don’t just see him at work.  We see him at home where his marriage to a younger woman is going through a rough patch, which doesn’t help matters.  One of his sources is an attractive woman whose husband is also out of town, and an envious colleague reports a bit of flirtatious banter during an interview as a full-blown affair.  While the story is told in first person, Mr. Germond’s characters are all fully-drawn, interesting, and engaging.  The story is fast-paced and a real page-burner.

I would love to see more from this retired newsman who finally wrote that novel so many journalists have stuffed in a drawer, but he left us three days before this book was released.  At least he got to see the galleys.  RIP Mr. Germond, and thank you.

Length: 224 Pages

Price:  $5.95

Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/now-available-in-ebook/a-small-story-for-page-3-detail

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

If Only by Lisa M. Owens

Blurb:

An accidental slip on a patch of ice gives Bree Sexton the opportunity she has always dreamed of—a chance to go back in time and make things right, changing her life and her future. A poignant tale of second chances, and a woman’s fight to find her happily-ever-after.

What would you do if you had the opportunity to go back and relive your greatest mistake?

Five years ago, Bree Sexton walked out on her fiancé and into the arms of a charming and handsome stranger. She has regretted her decision ever since. Instead of a fairy-tale marriage, her “prince” shattered her dreams and her spirit with physical violence and emotional cruelty she barely escaped.

She then mysteriously wakes up in bed with the fiancé she loved and left, the life she’d dreamed of now a reality, until her cruel ex-husband reappears to destroy her new life. But what is real, and what is make-believe? Is she really getting the chance she has always dreamed of? And when it is all said and done, will she finally end up with the man she has always regretted leaving? Or will she wake up to discover herself alone?

Review:

If Only is dedicated to battered women and in the Dedication Ms. Owens says that if she can help even one woman to escape her abuser, she will be happy.  She then starts the book with her heroine, Bree Sexton, out with friends celebrating her divorce from her abuser becoming final.  How did Bree escape her abuser?  If her ex-husband, Bryan is as angry, violent and possessive as Ms. Owens portrays him, not to mention being a trust-fund baby with a father who will bail him out of any situation, how has Bree managed to get out of the house, live in the same town, under the same name, and divorce this madman?

Just two nights ago as I write this, a guy violated an order of protection, took his ex-girlfriend hostage, shot and critically wounded a cop, and was finally killed by members of a SWAT team.  Fortunately, the girl survived.  The way Ms. Owens wrote Bryan Sexton, I could see him pulling something like that if Bree tried to divorce him without running as fast and as far away as possible.

Ms. Owens does not explain any of that, which in my opinion is what an abused woman needs to read in order to free herself from a similar situation.  Instead, she starts the story when the divorce is final.  Bree slips on a patch of ice and wakes up in the arms of “the one who got away,” and the book becomes urban fantasy—pure escapism.

This is a first novel, so I could maybe forgive the fact that it is badly written with major gaps in continuity, major head-hops and poor grammar.  I can only forgive this because Ms. Owens actually went through a reputable publisher that is recommended on Preditors and Editors and not mentioned at all by Piers Anthony.  So, what became of her editor?

She keeps describing Scott Weston, the hero of the book as having calloused hands.  In her ideal life, Bree writes children’s books and Scott illustrates them.  How would his hands get calloused?  An artist might have a callous on his middle finger from holding a pencil or paint brush.  These days an illustrator would more likely get carpal tunnel syndrome from drawing on a computer with a mouse.  But calloused hands?  Not unless he does carpentry or brick-laying in his spare time.

Bryan Sexton is their publisher’s son and tries to beat and rape Bree at work.  She escapes and makes her way to the ER, and then home.  The next day during a snowball fight, Scott wonders why she left work early.  It took him a whole day to wonder about it?  He even takes her face in his hands being careful of her bruises when he kisses her.  She’s pregnant with their first child—he didn’t rush home to see what was wrong and how she was the minute he heard she left?  He never even asks her why she left work early or where the bruises came from.  That was a huge hole—one any editor worth his or her salt should have made sure got plugged.  What’s going on at Liquid Silver Books that they let something this bad get out the door?  As for head hops, Ms. Owens changes points of view in the middle of paragraphs, not just scenes.

It’s the job of the editor to fix these things.  Ms. Owens had really good intentions for this story, but she missed the mark by several miles.  It’s a shame she didn’t have an editor who was capable of reeling her back in.  Had she published independently, I would chide her for these problems.  Instead, I’m chiding Liquid Silver Books, whose job it was to see she received that quality of editing.

I’m sorry, Ms. Owens.  I don’t see how If Only can help anyone get away from her abuser, aside from helping her to dream of a better life.  Maybe that’s a first step, but it’s not practical.  Perhaps your next book will give more detail about how you filed for orders of protection, where you went when you left your abuser, and how you managed to stay safe from him if he came after you when you finally got away.  But I would request a better editor for that one.

Length:  147 Pages

Price:  $4.99

Buy Link:  http://www.lsbooks.com/lisa-m-owens-c343.php

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