Exclusive Author Interview Annoucement

Coming up tomorrow-December 1st- on my Layered Pages WordPress is my interview with best-selling author C.S. Harris! She will be talking to me about her book, Good Time Coming.

Layered Pages WordPress Link

Book Review

Today I have a new book review at my WordPress. To check it out, click on the link here. 

Manic Monday & Bookish Delights

Today at Layered PagesWordPress, I am sharing with you David Morrell’s Opium-Eater (Thomas De Quincey trilogy) a Victorian mystery trilogy, is truly brilliant. Every historical detail is impeccable; you hang on to every word. His characters are unforgettable and he transports to you the Victorian London streets with vivid imagery, as if you were really there. Murder mysteries at its finest! Also, I share weekend happenings, thoughts and discovery of a show on Netflix! Be sure to check out my post and support book bloggers! We support you.

Click here for the post at my Layered Pages WordPress! 

Bookish Things & Reflections

Today over at my Layered Pages WordPress  I have shared some bookish happenings and some reflections about what has been going on this week during election time. Click on the link here to check out what I have to say. Also, I mention some great posts from my fellow book bloggers! I hope you all join me in supporting book bloggers, authors and great reads!

Now I am going to take a short break and enjoy a quick cup of tea before getting back to work. Enjoy your weekend and thank you for visiting Layered Pages! Many blessings.

Book Review: I See You by Clare Mackintosh

When Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it’s there. There’s no explanation: just a website, a grainy image and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it’s just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that.

Is it a mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make . . .

I See You is an edge-of-your-seat, page-turning psychological thriller from one of the most exciting and successful British debut talents of 2015.

**********

Three sentences that grabbed me in the book description not mentioned above:

You do the same thing every day

You know exactly where you’re going.

You’re not alone.

My Thoughts:

How much privacy do you think we really have? With social media-it’s next to none. Imagine opening a newspaper and finding your picture shown big as a day on it with no explanation. There are no words to describe how one would feel. Or is there? Did Clare Mackintish accomplish that goal in, I See You?

I am absolutely fascinated with psychological thrillers. Why? I am curious about the human condition and what makes people tick. What motivates them to commit the acts they do. I do- however- think there is a fine line writers should not cross in this genre. Some things are too dark and disturbing for the average reader to venture to or for anyone for that matter. Clare Mackintosh is one of the few writers who can get into the mind of a psychopath or sociopath-if you will and stay in the boundaries just enough to not leave you feeling physically ill. She gives you the right amount of tension and chill factor to leave you totally creeped out. She has you thinking about just how much information do you put out there and what could happen. The ramifications in this story are mind-boggling and so intense!

I love how she has you thinking throughout the whole story-guessing-who is the perp. Who is the mastermind behind these unnerving and horrible acts? I was quite surprised the end but started to have my suspicions about a little over halfway through. I admired how she ended the story and I wanted more! I would also like to mention I was really intrigued with how the detectives handled the case and their process.

Be sure to check out I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh as well! Fabulous read.

I rated this book four and a half stars!

I received an ARC Copy from the publishers through NetGalley for an honest review.

Book Publishing Information:

Berkley Publishing Group/Berkley/Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 04 Apr 2017

Stephanie M. Hopkins

 *You can find this review and other great posts at my WORDPRESS!

#supportbookbloggers #bookreview #thriller 

Waterstone's Bookstores

B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree Authors-

Here is some info on getting your book into Waterstone's bookstores. If you are attempting to get your book into a bookstore or library, be sure to ask us for a letter from indieBRAG explaining why this award is important for your book. Click on the link here

IndieBRAG Site click here 

Historical Mysteries At Its Best!

The Sin Eater by David Penny has just been awarded the B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree and I am really curios about it. This story looks seriously good! Adding it to my wish-list! For more information about David Penny and his other books click here. Be sure to check out other posts by me at my WordPress here! Happy reading!

Synopsis

Moorish Spain, 1484, and no-one is innocent.

Thomas Berrington, emigre Englishman who has made the doomed city of Garnatah his home, is once again attempting to solve a series of mysterious deaths. Accompanied by his companion, the palace eunuch Jorge, Thomas struggles to discover the truth while those in power seek to distract him. As his investigation continues, his personal life splinters into chaos and he finds the Spanish once more demanding his presence.

As Thomas and Jorge draw closer to their quarry, the killer’s attention turns on them and those they love. The pair must race to unmask the sin eater before the lives of those close to them become forfeit.

The Sin Eater is the follow up to The Red Hill and Breaker of Bones, stunning historical mysteries set in a time and place coloured by intrigue and battle.

Calling All Readers!

Are you passionate about reading and discovering new authors? Join a global group of readers at indieBRAG and help us discover talented self-published authors! Find out more information about indieBRAG and how to become a reader by clicking on the link here

Bookish Delights at Layered Pages and indieBRAG!

I've got a TON of bookish delights over at my WordPress! Be sure to check the posts out here 

Also, don't miss the exciting indieBRAG Halloween Event and enter your chance to win an Amazon Gift Card! There is some great guest posts and book deals as well.

indieBRAG Halloween Event here 

New Book Release!

Karen Aminadra has announced her newest book release, The Suitable Bride! The eighth boo she has published in four years.

The Suitable Bride is book 2 in The Emberton Brothers series and is a clean Regency romance novel.

In the first novel, we followed the story of Richard, the eldest of the three brothers. In this book, we follow Edward the middle one.

Edward is the driven one out of the three. He has spent years working hard at achieving his dream. He’s a politician and dreams of being Prime Minister of Britain one day. He knows the advantages there are to be had in marrying and is eager to find a bride from amongst the set who will help advance his career.

Frances Davenport is the daughter of a lord. She is privileged and has led a life that has had its ups and downs…literally speaking. She’s a little naughty. She doesn’t believe there is one single man out there who can please her as a husband and is resigned to that fact. Until she meets Edward, that is…

THE SUITABLE BRIDE!

Edward Emberton wants to be Prime Minister. He has a passionate vision for the future of England, which includes the abolition of slavery. As the son of a tradesman, his journey to Parliament has been a difficult one, but there is only one thing left to cement this foothold on the steps to Parliament – a suitable bride. She must be of noble birth, reasonable intelligence, mild temperament, and extraordinary beauty.

Frances Davenport is most of those things. And a suitable marriage to Edward isn’t only the answer to her prayers; it’s a way to keep her secrets. Edward is handsome, driven, and better still, enchanted by her beauty. It’s more than a suitable match; it couldn’t be more perfect.

But appearances are often deceiving, and Frances’ beguiling beauty comes with its own set of problems. Edward and Frances are about to discover that there’s more to marriage than suitability because neither is as suitable as they seem…

AMAZON LINK – http://amzn.to/29yA0FP

Author Bio:

Karen is a multi-genre author who writes novels within many different genres; Historical Romance, Historical Crime, and modern Chick-Lit.

She can usually be found sat at the computer either writing a novel, writing down new ideas or on social media chatting!

Her love of reading, writing short stories, and her childhood imaginary world led quite naturally to writing novels. Encouraged to read by her bookworm father and grandmother and by winning a writing competition in just her first year of secondary school, she was spurred on, and she has been writing stories ever since. Her love of mystery and plot twists that she put into that first story continues today.

She has travelled to and lived in many countries, not just in her imagination, and has gained an insight into people’s characters that shines through in her work. Today, with her feet firmly back in the United Kingdom, she travels the world, the universe and in time through her imagination and her novels.

She is now the author of eight novels;

Charlotte – Pride & Prejudice Continues,

Rosings – Pride & Prejudice Continues book 2

Relative Deceit – Death in the Family,

The Uncanny Life of Polly,

It’s a Man’s World – Lettie Jenkins Investigates,

Wickham – Pride & Prejudice Continues book 3,

The Spice Bride – The Emberton Brothers Series book 1.

The Suitable Bride – The Emberton Brothers Series book 2.

In 2012 she received a B.R.A.GMedallion ™ for her debut novel Charlotte – Pride & Prejudice Continues.

In 2013 she was once again honoured with a B.R.A.GMedallion ™ for Rosings – Pride & Prejudice Continues book 2.

In 2016 she received another prized B.R.A.GMedallion™ for Wickham -Pride & Prejudice Continues book 3.

For more information and to download a free book visit  www.karenaminadra.com

Interview with M.J. Neary

I’d like to welcome, Marina Julia Neary to Layered Pages today. A self-centered, only child of classical musicians, Marina spent her early years in Eastern Europe and came to the US at the age of thirteen. Her literary career revolves around depicting military and social disasters, from the Charge of the Light Brigade, to the Irish Famine, to the Easter Rising in Dublin, to the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl some thirty miles away from her home town. Notorious for her abrasive personality and politically incorrect views that make her a persona non grata in most polite circles, Neary explores human suffering through the prism of dark humor, believing that tragedy and comedy go hand in hand.

Her debut thriller Wynfield's Kingdom was featured on the cover of the First Edition Magazine in the UK and earned the praise of the Neo-Victorian Studies Journal. After writing a series of novels dealing with the Anglo-Irish conflict, she takes a break from the slums of London and the gunpowder-filled streets of Dublin to delve into the picturesque radioactive swamps of her native Belarus. Saved by the Bang: a Nuclear Comedy is a deliciously offensive autobiographical satire featuring sex scandals of Eastern Europe's artistic elite in the face of political upheavals. Her latest Penmore release, The Gate of Dawn is a folkloric tale of conspiracy and revenge set in czarist Lithuania.

Tell me about your premise. 

Saved by the Bang is an autobiographical satire and certainly a change of pace for me. I gained moderate notoriety as an Anglo-Irish historical novelist.  Even though I don't have an Irish or English strain of DNA in me, I have been writing about the Anglo-Irish conflict. My readers have been nagging me to write something autobiographical, so I gave them what they wanted. Don't tell me I didn't warn you! As one of the readers mentioned, this book is "not for the faint of heart".

Describe Gomel, Belarus.

Gomel is a waterfront Central European city founded by at the end of the first millennium AD by Radimich tribes - East Slavic people notorious for their flashy jewelry. Gomel took a beating during WWII - like most of Belarus. Much of the original architecture was obliterated, and the city had to be rebuilt from scratch. Among the surviving landmarks is the Paskevich Palace and a gorgeous Orthodox Church. The city is very green in the summer and very white in the winter. All four seasons are clearly fleshed out.

The city mascot is a bobcat. It's on the city crest! 

 The Paskevich family palace

The river front park

The music academy where the illicit affair develops

A coveted housing development

Gomel also was affected heavily by the Chernobyl disaster.

Most of the events described in the novel take place in Gomel, but some take place in other cities like Minsk (capital of Belarus) Smolensk (Russia), Gurzuf (a resort in the Crimea), Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) and New Canaan, Connecticut.

What is the mood that Maryana conveys and how does this affect the story? 

Throughout the novel, Maryana is portrayed as a victim who does not really behave like one. In a way, she is a magnet for hostility and she derives sick pleasure out of it. Maryana was the name my father wanted to give me, but my mom had a fit. She thought it sounded to quaint and folksy. When you hear "Maryana" you think of an anthropology major who wears a long skirt with tennis shoes and writes a thesis on the matriarchy within pagan Slavic tribes. My mother opted for a more cosmopolitan Marina. When you think of Marina, you see a multilingual interpreter prancing around in patent leather pumps. Maryana conveys the sentiment of self-mockery. I don't know how else to describe it. The girl revels in her suffering and gets inspiration and sick pleasure in it. She is a professional victim. 

How do you/or talk about how you flesh out the moment of greatest sorrow in Maryana? 

Given that the girl is a professional victim, she makes most of every opportunity to be miserable. She's a magnet for antagonism. As a writer, I find that understatement is a powerful tool. I try to avoid hand-writing and wailing and keep the diction matter-of-factly, not sensational or melodramatic. In one of the scenes Maryana gets kicked off the gymnastics team for developing a crush on a female teammate. She gets a hearty beating at the park for her dual transgression: being Jewish and a lesbian.

Describe a humorous scene in your story. 

I realize that not everyone shares my sense of humor, but I believe that humor and tragedy go hand in hand. It has to be obscene, and awkward.  In Saved by the Bang there is a scene where Maryana is her older cousin are on their way to Vilnius to sell their grandmother's famous cranberry-and-vodka marmalade. They are both heavily made up and decked out in finest Polish denim. They get pulled over by the cops, who assume that the two girls are child prostitutes taken to the city. Maryana's alcoholic uncle Alexander spends some time explaining to the law enforcers that the girls are not being sexually exploited, they were just experimenting with cosmetics.

What is the Crimean Sanatoriums? 

Oh, so glad you asked. The Crimean Peninsula was a sought-after vacation site for the Soviet hot-shots. Most people could not afford to travel there and stay on their own dime. If you kissed the right behind, or if you were in a position of influence yourself, you could get a travel voucher - a room at a resort, a beach sticker and a basic meal plan. One of the most enchanting places was Gurzuf, a Tartar village where Asiatic, Slavic and Greek folklore combined. In Gurzuf there was a military sanatorium. It was utilized by military officers. During the 1980s, while the USSR was engaged in a conflict with Afghanistan, there was an influx of wounded soldiers who came there to recover. My main character, Antonia, strikes a brief platonic romance with one of such soldiers. 

Crimean sanatoriums

This is the Goddess of the Night fountain. Thousands of couples have kissed in front of that fountain. It's like Juliet's balcony in Verona. It has the same romantic connotation. 

What are the different emotions you had while writing this story? 

Revenge, revulsion and sick amusement. You have to realize, I have very mixed feelings towards my country of origin and my former compatriots. There is no warm and fuzzy nostalgia. There's a fair amount of anger that I'm still trying to work through. I turn that anger into humor.

Any conspiracies in this story?

There is no conspiracy per se, but there's plenty of corruption. The extent of damage was covered up by the authorities. The deformed children born as result of the radiation leakage were swept under the rug. I wanted to share a few pictures from my home town. I took American and British journalists to expose the full extent of the damage. So as you can see, the tragic and the mundane exist side by side. You have a gorgeous historical park with flower beds, and just a few miles away, inside a clinic, you have children with severe birth defects and radiation-related cancer. I want my readers to see these images.

Review: A Death Along the River Fleet (Lucy Campion Mysteries #4) by Susanna Calkins

Lucy Campion, a ladies’ maid turned printer’s apprentice in 17th-century London, is crossing Holborn Bridge over the vilest portion of the River Fleet one morning when she encounters a distraught young woman, barely able to speak and clad only in a blood-spattered nightdress. The woman has no memory of who she is or what’s happened to her, and the townspeople believe she’s posessed. But Lucy is concerned for the woman’s well-being and takes her to a physician. When, shockingly, the woman is identified as the daughter of a nobleman, Lucy is asked to temporarily give up her bookselling duties to discreetly serve as the woman’s companion while she remains under the physician’s care. As the woman slowly recovers, she begins-with Lucy’s help-to reconstruct the terrible events that led her to Holborn Bridge that morning. But when it becomes clear the woman’s safety might still be at risk, Lucy becomes unwillingly privy to a plot with far-reaching social implications, and she’ll have to decide how far she’s willing to go to protect the young woman in her care.

My thoughts:

A Death Along the River Fleet is the first book I have read by Susanna Calkins and probably the first historical fiction book I have read that takes place soon after the great London fire. The title of the book, the cover and the premise really drew me in. I was completely absorbed in the story from the very beginning.

I’d have to say that Lucy Campion is now one of my favorite female heroines. She is strong, intelligent, wise even. I love her process of thought and her desire to help people. The fact that she works as a printer’s apprentice helps a great deal too! Also, how the people around her respond to her is fascinating. Really strong character development here.

There are solid historical aspects to this story and I was thrilled with the intrigue! How the story unfolded and how the clues were stacking up was brilliant! This is about the best mystery story I have read in a long time. I really can’t say enough great things about this book. I highly recommend it. Now I will be sure to go back and read the other three books that came before this one!

Rated: Five Stars!

I obtained a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review.

This review was previously published on my wordpress.

Stephanie M. Hopkins

I’ve Got My Eye On You!

I have been over the moon about the titles I have been spotting lately. Who am I kidding, I’m always over the moon when it comes to books. One of my greatest frustrations as an avid reader is finding more time in the day to read. I know many of you can relate. So why am I tempting you all with great looking book?! Because I can’t help myself and I am so excited about theses, I had to share!

Here are just a few of the books I have an eye on hundreds! Maybe thousands. But who’s counting? All these titles are available to purchase on Amazon.  I hope you enjoy!

London, 1885. Three years before the Whitechapel killings, London is a city of fog and darkness. A severed head is dredged from the Thames; ten miles away, a woman's body is discovered on Edgeware Road. The famed American detective William Pinkerton is summoned by Scotland Yard to investigate. The dead woman fits the description of a grifter Pinkerton had been pursuing for a long time--someone he believed would lead him to a man he has been hunting since his father's death.

Edward Shade is an industrialist without a past, a fabled con, a thief of other men's futures--he seems a ghost, a man of smoke. The obsessive hunt for him that began in the last days of the Civil War becomes Pinkerton's inheritance. What follows is an epic journey of secrets, deceit, and betrayals. Above all, it is the story of the most unlikely of bonds: between Pinkerton, the greatest detective of his age, and Shade, the one criminal he cannot outwit.

Steven Price's By Gaslight is a riveting, atmospheric portrait of a man on the brink. Moving from the diamond mines of South Africa to the fog-enshrouded streets of Victorian London, the novel is a journey into a cityscape of grief, trust, and its breaking, where what we share can bind us even against our better selves.

In the tradition of The Paris Wife and Mrs. Poe, The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. tTis is the story of Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated and may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight.

Mitza Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. And then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.

After her father dies, March Middleton has to move to London to live with her guardian, Sidney Grice, the country’s most famous private detective.

It is 1882 and London is at its murkiest yet most vibrant, wealthiest yet most poverty-stricken. No sooner does March arrive than a case presents itself: a young woman has been brutally murdered, and her husband is the only suspect. The victim’s mother is convinced of her son-in-law’s innocence, and March is so touched by her pleas she offers to cover Sidney’s fee herself.

The investigations lead the pair to the darkest alleys of the East End: every twist leads Sidney Grice to think his client is guilty; but March is convinced that he is innocent. Around them London reeks with the stench of poverty and gossip, the case threatens to boil over into civil unrest and Sidney Grice finds his reputation is not the only thing in mortal danger.

Political unrest permeates York at the cusp of the fifteenth century, as warring factions take sides on who should be the rightful king--Richard II or his estranged, powerful cousin in exile, Henry Bolingbroke. Independent minded twenty-year-old Kate Clifford is struggling to dig out from beneath the debt left by her late husband. Determined to find a way to be secure in her own wealth and establish her independence in a male dominated society, Kate turns one of her properties near the minster into a guest house and sets up a business. In a dance of power, she also quietly rents the discreet bedchambers to the wealthy, powerful merchants of York for nights with their mistresses.

But the brutal murder of a mysterious guest and the disappearance of his companion for the evening threatens all that Kate has built. Before others in town hear word of a looming scandal, she must call upon all of her hard-won survival skills to save herself from ruin.

In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there's an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers...

Providence is giving Lenka and Josef one more chance. From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the Occupation, to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit- and the strength of memory.

Be sure to check out my wish-list 5 on Layered Pages this month by clicking here

INTERESTED IN MORE WISHLISTS?
CHECK OUT WHAT MY FRIENDS HAVE BOOKMARKED:

Erin at Flashlight Commentary
Magdalena at It's a Mad Mad World
Heather at The Maiden's Court
Colleen at A Literary Vacation (coming the 27th)
Holly at 2 Kids and Tired (coming the 27th)

Hello New Books!

These are some titles I recently acquired on my shelf at NetGalley to review. So many books…So little time…But I can’t help want more!

Pub Date 12 Jul 2016

A tragedy from the past resurfaces in this tale of family secrets and reignited love.

After her mother's death twelve years ago, Lynette Carlisle watched her close-knit family unravel. One by one, her four older siblings left their Nantucket home and never returned. All seem to harbor animosity toward their father, silently blaming him for their mother's death. Nobody will talk about that dreadful day, and Lynette can't remember a bit of it.

But when next-door neighbor Nicholas Cooper returns to Nantucket, he brings the past with him. Once her brother's best friend and Lynette's first crush, Nick seems to hiding things from her. Lynette wonders what he knows about the day her mother died and hopes he might help her remember the things she can't.

But Nick has no intention of telling Lynette the truth. Besides the damage it might cause his own family, he doesn't want to risk harming the fragile friendship between him and the woman he once thought of as a kid sister.

As their father's failing health and financial concerns bring the Carlisle siblings home, secrets begin to surface—secrets that will either restore their shattered relationships or separate the siblings forever. But pulling up anchor on the past propels them into the perfect storm, powerful enough to make them question all they ever believed in.

Pub Date 04 Jan 2016

What if your lover betrayed you, crowning you with sorrow? What if you were then kidnapped, threatened with death? Brokenhearted, you almost wish that the kidnappers would kill you. You wish your world would come to an end. Only, you slowly realize, your world is everyone else's. This is Fernanda's story.

Fernanda first met Randy when he and his friend Chance came to Mexico to celebrate graduating high school. It was love at first sight. After a marvelous time together and a single kiss, Randy smuggled Fernanda across the border, at her request, to start a new life. But after coming to America she lost contact with Randy. Ten years passed before he tracked her down again, and reclaimed her heart.

They now live in a cabin next to a quartz crystal mine in Arkansas. Fernanda has Randy's baby, a daughter, and all seems well, if not for certain rumors on the internet. Rumors that Fernanda is more than she appears to be. One of the rumors says that she is actually Fernanda the Ripper, member of a thousand-year-old Indian cult of murderers. Another rumor says the opposite, that she is actually Fernanda the Innocent, born to be sacrificed, that she is perhaps even the long-awaited Christian Messiah. In any event, the FBI are involved, are watching the cabin and Fernanda's every movement. When Randy takes Fernanda to Paris on their second honeymoon, the FBI follow.

Meanwhile FBI agent Ed Pushkin, on loan to INTERPOL, is pursuing another case. He is told to go to the Saint Anthony Chapel in Pittsburgh to investigate the theft of a holy relic, a thorn from the Crown of Thorns. The investigation leads to London, where another holy thorn has been stolen from an exquisite reliquary in the British Museum, and a guard killed. In London Ed meets Chief Investigator Phoebe Mullins, who has a preposterous theory that leads them to Paris, to the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where the original Crown of Thorns is kept under lock and key.

After a series of events in Paris that bring the individuals involved in these two FBI cases together, Fernanda is taken by strange men on a train to Istanbul, followed by Ed and CI Mullins and Randy. In ancient Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, Fernanda must make a decision that could impact not only her baby but all mankind.

Pub Date 14 May 2009

Renée is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building, home to members of the great and the good. Over the years she has maintained her carefully constructed persona as someone reliable but totally uncultivated, in keeping, she feels, with society's expectations of what a concierge should be. But beneath this façade lies the real Renée: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives.

Down in her lodge, apart from weekly visits by her one friend Manuela, Renée lives resigned to her lonely lot with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever.

Review: A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain

When brilliant FBI agent Kendra Donovan stumbles back in time and finds herself in a 19th century English castle under threat from a vicious serial killer, she scrambles to solve the case before it takes her life—200 years before she was even born.

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates. While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact. Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.

My thoughts:

I’d like to start off my mentioning the whole concept of time-travel story. Sometimes it works in stories and sometimes it does not. In this story, it works and the author gives such a brilliant and believable description of Kendra being pulled through time. For me that was pretty intense. I could almost feel the physical pain she was going through.

I really dig the premise of an FBI Agent traveling through time and ending up working a case of a 19th century murder that turns into much more. You also meet some other great characters that race to help her solve the crimes. For starters, Rose, Rebecca, Molly, Alec and Duke Aldridge are about the best written supporting characters I have read in a good while. Most of all I was so fascinated with Kendra’s process in trying to solve these murders and some of the other characters thought process. I believe Kendra really brought that out in them and she really got them to think outside their 19th century minds.

The killings are graphic, there is profanity in this story. Quite a bit of it in the beginning actually. I’m not one for profanity but I understand the scenario the author was portraying. Intense situations cause people to react in all kinds of ways. For many, profanity is one of them. Even though the killings are graphic, this gives you a real sense of what the victims are going through, which makes the story all the more intense. I think that was brilliantly done and gives you a real understanding of that type of evil in the world.

I found this story to be atmospheric, packed with lots of action, high-energy situations and such intense and real emotions. I couldn’t put it down. I loved it and I hope there will be a sequel!  I’ve rated this book four and a half stars.

I received a copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

You can find other great reviews and posts at my Wordpress here. 

Stephanie M. Hopkins

New Book Release: Tempest by David Cook

TEMPEST has received this fabulous review from Jim Stempel, the author of seven books, including Windmill Point released in March, 2016 by Penmore Press. He has this to say:

''It is February, 1797, and the French are up to great mischief along the southwestern coast of Wales. At Fishguard – a sleepy fishing village featuring a small harbor where a stone fort looms above – a force of some 1500 of the French Black Legion is rowed ashore disguised in British uniforms, dyed dark brown for purposes of deception. Sent by the French Directory, and led by the ex-patriot American, Colonel William Tate, their objective is to generate a general revolt against the king’s authority in the region. The mission’s progress, however, has been watched closely by Major Lorn Mullone, an Irish officer in the British Army of considerable experience, who has accurately gauged the true and sinister purpose of the landing.

Thus begins Tempest, David Cook’s sixth entry in his Soldier Chronicles Novella Series, and as Major Mullone rides into Fishguard, the reader rides with him into a seething cauldron of international intrigue, regional animosities, and personal vendetta that all soon conjoin to explode in violence. Cook, a master of the time period, brings this true story to life with a historian’s eye for the facts coupled with an artist’s fine touch. His scenes of battle are gripping and accurate, just as his descriptions of the Welch countryside – the wildlife, vegetation, and the locals themselves – are wonderfully evocative of both time and place. Indeed, it is Cook’s skillful juxtaposition of these disparate elements that brings Tempest to life for the reader, ultimately vaulting this fascinating story from the realm of mere historical fiction into that far rarer sphere of true art. For anyone interested in a vivid and captivating tale of international intrigue during the Napoleonic era, Tempest is highly recommended.''

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Author Bio:

David Cook has been interested in history since his school days, and developed a love for the Napoleonic Wars era from his father, who painted and amassed a lead model army of the Battle of Waterloo. From there David became fascinated with The American Civil War, The English Civil Wars and English medieval history, particularly the legend of Robin Hood. David is writing a novel entitled The Wolfshead, a story of Robin Hood, but based on the original medieval ballads as the source.

No One Knows by J.T Ellison

Book Description from Goodreads:

The day Aubrey Hamilton’s husband is declared dead by the state of Tennessee should bring closure so she can move on with her life. But Aubrey doesn’t want to move on; she wants Josh back. It’s been five years since he disappeared, since their blissfully happy marriage—they were happy, weren’t they?—screeched to a halt and Aubrey became the prime suspect in his disappearance. Five years of emptiness, solitude, loneliness, questions. Why didn’t Josh show up at his friend’s bachelor party? Was he murdered? Did he run away? And now, all this time later, who is the mysterious yet strangely familiar figure suddenly haunting her new life?

The element of surprise is important in mystery thrillers. Did I get that from this book? Find out April 12th HERE!

Stephanie M. Hopkins

A Murder in Time by Julie Mcelwain

Book Description from Goodreads:

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.

While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.

Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman. 

Interview with Julie Mcelwain coming April 8th HERE

My review coming April 9th HERE

Stephanie M. Hopkins

SAWBONES by Melissa Lenhardt

A writer breathes life into characters with words and their book is their canvas. A writer’s art is to gather elements of life and situations and weave them into words. To design a story that draws a reader in and leaves an impression that has the reader emotionally invested.

A book blogger’s blog is their canvas to express the feelings that they come away with in those stories. We want to be impressed with the narrative’s story-telling, themes and all other elements of the story. I want a writer to ignite my imagination. I want the characters to haunt me. Humans are multi-dimensional. I want that shown in stories. I want happy, raw, sorrowful, honest and REAL emotions.

Does SAWBONES do this for me? Find out when I post my review on April 2 HERE!

Previously published HERE

Stephanie M. Hopkins

Loving Eleanor by Susan Wittig Albert

When AP political reporter Lorena Hickok—Hick—is assigned to cover Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential campaign, the two women become deeply involved. Their relationship begins with mutual romantic passion, matures through stormy periods of enforced separation and competing interests, and warms into an enduring, encompassing friendship documented by 3300 letters.

Set during the chaotic years of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Second World War, Loving Eleanor reveals Eleanor Roosevelt as a complex, contradictory, and entirely human woman who is pulled in many directions by her obligations to her husband and family and her role as the nation’s First Lady. Hick is an accomplished journalist, who, at the pinnacle of her career, gives it all up for the woman she loves. Then, as Eleanor is transformed into Eleanor Everywhere, First Lady of the World, Hick must create her own independent, productive life.

My thoughts:

I have to say I am selective in what I read about political figures or their families. Often times I find them to be completely one-sided or bias. When I came across this story, I became intrigued with the premise and not having read historical fiction before on Eleanor Roosevelt, I decided to take the chance…

Read more of my review and other great posts at my Wordpress!