#Review: Compendium by Alia Luria

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On the heavily forested planet of Lumin, the Network has slept, dormant, for over six hundred cycles. Only a select few remember that it resides beneath the crust of the planet, waiting, and for those, the battle for Lumin’s future has raged in the shadows.

When Mia Jayne’s path crosses with an ancient volume in the Archives of the Order of Vis Firmitas, this ancient battle moves from the shadows into the light. Compendium opens up a world of knowledge, and, for the first time since arriving at the Order, Mia has the key to reclaim the freedom she has lost. To do so, she must choose between her conscience and her heart. Conceived against an ailing world of fantastical beauty where long-lost technology tips the balance between extinction and survival, Mia must remember that there is always a choice, and that makes all the difference.

#Review: Bum Rap by Paul Levine

NFL linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter has had it with shifty clients, dirty prosecutors, and a legal system out of whack. It’s enough to make a man want to leave Miami and never look back—until he gets a call from Victoria Lord, the better half of hot local legal team Solomon & Lord. Her partner in life and law has been arrested for murder. What’s worse: the only person who can clear him has fled the city. Now it’s up to Jake and Victoria to track down the witness—a stunning “Bar girl”—before she’s roped in by the feds…or eliminated by the Russian mob.

Jake knows that if he doesn’t get to the witness first, his client’s case is lost. Luckily, he’s got some good advice from his college football coach: “Buckle your chin strap and hit somebody.” And sometimes, the only way to win a tough case is to do just that.

#bookreview Killer Wedding Cake by Gayle Trent

Daphne Martin’s wedding to Ben Jacobs is only a couple of weeks away. An award-winning cake decorator, Daphne is busy designing their wedding cake. Her twin nephew and niece, Lucas and Leslie, are excited about being in the wedding party. And Daphne’s brother-in-law Jason is planning a bachelor party for Ben. Everything is going beautifully until Daphne’s ex-husband Todd shows up. Just released from prison after serving a sentence based on his shooting a gun at Daphne, Todd comes to Brea Ridge to profess his undying love for her.

Despite Daphne’s attempts to make Todd leave town, he insists on hanging around to reconnect with people he used to know. When he’s found murdered, Daphne finds herself at the center of the investigation. Now she must track down Todd’s killer before she becomes the next victim. Can she still make it to the church on time?

Friday 56/Book Beginnings

The Friday 56 is a bookish meme, hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice.  It's Friday, let your hair down and play along by clicking on the logo at the top of this post!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader

(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)

*Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it)

*Post it.

*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.

*It's that simple.

 

SYNOPSIS
 
A boy receives a very large parcel from his grandpa, and inside is the biggest cheese he has ever seen. The giant cheese soon attracts the attention of people from near and far who all want to taste it. Will the boy get to taste a teeny, tiny bit of his giant cheese before it all runs out?

My Friday 56 is taken from about 53 pct on the Kindle Reader:

"After the glitz and glamour of the red carpet even, the boy decided it was time to go home but he suddenly remembered something.

His Uncle Tony, who lived in the middle of the desert, wanted a teeny, tiny bit of his giant cheese, too.  The boy nearly forgot!"

I know, I know, a children's book (suitable for readers ages 3 and up)?  Well, it's a cute story, for one, and nice to read after so many books about how we adults mess up our world.  'Nuff said.

~~~oOo~~~

I don't think I've done a BBoF before, but saw it on Sherry's blog  Fundinmental.com and it looked like fun, so here I am!  Click the linkup button to join in the fun and find out what other folks are reading this week!  

Gilion, the hostess at Rose City Reader invites readers with:

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.  

  So here goes!

 

SYNOPSIS

Daphne Martin’s wedding to Ben Jacobs is only a couple of weeks away. An award-winning cake decorator, Daphne is busy designing their wedding cake. Her twin nephew and niece, Lucas and Leslie, are excited about being in the wedding party. And Daphne’s brother-in-law Jason is planning a bachelor party for Ben. Everything is going beautifully until Daphne’s ex-husband Todd shows up. Just released from prison after serving a sentence based on his shooting a gun at Daphne, Todd comes to Brea Ridge to profess his undying love for her.

Despite Daphne’s attempts to make Todd leave town, he insists on hanging around to reconnect with people he used to know. When he’s found murdered, Daphne finds herself at the center of the investigation. Now she must track down Todd’s killer before she becomes the next victim. Can she still make it to the church on time? 

 

The beginning:

For what seemed like the millionth time, I sat at my computer, scrolling through images of wedding cakes.  I decorate cakes for a living, but this was my wedding cake.  And Ben's, of course.

I'll be posting my full review of Gayle Trent's book, Killer Wedding Cake, this coming Monday, and y'all are invited the the Back Porch to have a look see!

~~~oOo~~~

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today.  Which book grabs your attention more?  Let me know in the comments.  You can also check out more books at the other link-up participants by clicking on either of the relevant buttons above.  Have a great weekend! 

#Review: A Good Kind of Trouble by Ellie Ashe

Beacon news reporter Lindsey Fox is on the verge of breaking a huge story of political corruption that will make her career and make her famous journalist parents proud—or she could be thrown in jail and fired. It really could go either way.

Her recent streak of bad luck continues when Lindsey finds herself facing a bogus contempt charge—and attorney Ben Gillespie is appointed to get her out of the slammer. They once had a bad date of epic proportions—stilted conversation, food poisoning, burglary, towed car. Then there was the incident with the pepper spray. Lindsey never believed she’d see the sexy lawyer again.

Ben can totally believe that Lindsey is behind bars. The woman is trouble. Now he has to get his new client out of jail, keep her out of the grasp of a crazed bike messenger and a shady P.I., help her save her job, and convince her to put down the pepper spray and give him another chance.

#Review/#Giveaway: Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About by Joyce & Jim Lavene

Richmond attorney Sarah Tucker returns to sell her family’s abandoned farm in Misty River, Virginia despite unanswered questions about her grandparents’ disappearance sixteen years earlier. Sarah was only twelve when she went to visit and found her grandparents had vanished. No amount of searching has brought answers.

Now Sarah is faced with other issues when a man is killed who claimed to have information about what happened to her grandparents. She learns of a Confederate chest of gold that is said to be buried on the property, and treasure hunters who are willing to do anything to get their hands on it.

Were her grandparents murdered for the gold? Sarah can’t sell the land and go back to her life until she has answers. But the cost of the answers may be her life.

Includes farm-fresh recipes!

Mailbox Musings on Monday

Musing Mondays, hosted at A Daily Rhythym, is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…Up next I think I’ll read…I bought the following book(s) in the past week…I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…I can’t wait to get a copy of…I wish I could read ___, but…I blogged about ____ this past week…

So here goes:

I'm super excited to tell you about the song lyrics I made up to the tune of "Something to Talk About" (performed by Bonnie Raitt).  Only my version is called "Pumpkin to Talk About", some words I made up to the tune that go along with the story of Joyce and Jim Lavene's new book (out tomorrow!) called "Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About" (link goes to GoodReads).  Bear in mind that the lyrics I wrote are far more in line with the book than the music:

People are talkin' 'bout people

That disappeared long ago, no one knows

Where they went but the time has come now

Their grandkid is grown and she wants to know

How and why they disappeared

She has friends she needs to clear

Danger’s not gone; in fact it’s near

As near as the pumpkin patch maybe, Darlin’

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

Down to the barn raisin’ we’ll give ‘em out

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

Talk about pumpkin bread?

He looked so scruffy, not her kind of guy

He sabotaged her

Efforts to sell the house

But for her grandparents he helped her out

She started thinking he’s not so bad

For her he even shaved his beard

They faced some danger side by side

Once or twice they almost died

Now that the murders are solved, they thought, Darlin’

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

Down to the barn raisin’ we gave ‘em out

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

How about pumpkin pie?

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

A little mystery to figure out

Let's give them pumpkin to talk about

How about pumpkin cheesecake?

~~~oOo~~~

From the Mailbox Monday site (click the button to go there):

Here at Mailbox Monday, we want to encourage participants to not only share the books they received, but to check out the books others have received.

One of these days I'll keep a running draft post during the week, but until then, here's some Kindle books I got during the last couple of days:

  

  

  

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Since I didn't do a little bit of work on this post each day, I won't put up links but you can find any of them on GoodReads