Death on the Prairie by Kathleen Ernst - #review #giveaway

Chloe Ellefson and her sister, Kari, have long dreamed of visiting each historic site dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder. When Chloe takes custody of a quilt once owned by the beloved author, the sisters set out on the trip of a lifetime, hoping to prove that Wilder stitched it herself.

But death strikes as the journey begins, and trouble stalks their fellow travelers. Among the “Little House” devotees are academic critics, greedy collectors, and obsessive fans. Kari is distracted by family problems, and unexpected news from Chloe’s boyfriend jeopardizes her own future. As the sisters travel deeper into Wilder territory, Chloe races to discover the truth about a precious artifact—and her own heart—before a killer can strike again.

The Color of Clouds by J.C. Whyte - #review #interview #giveaway

Pedro’s on a mission. But not your everyday, run-of-the-mill type mission. Because Pedro is dead.

That’s right. Dead.

Spirit guide Pedro normally busies himself with conveying messages from departed loved ones through a psychic named Gwen. But when he encounters a recently deceased teenager, the boy’s anguish just about breaks Pedro’s heart. So the spirit guide decides to try and help this boy. Yet meddling in the affairs of the living is a troublesome business, as Pedro soon discovers.

Nevertheless, he convinces Gwen to take an ocean voyage, and that’s when the trouble begins. Within days of leaving port, two passengers on the cruise ship fall into a mysterious coma. Gwen seeks Pedro’s help to restore these passengers, but natural as well as unnatural obstacles keep getting in the way. And by the time the ship docks in Honolulu, the still-living are flat out scrambling for their lives!

A playful blend of science fiction and the paranormal, The Color of Clouds offers a glimpse into the unseen world while taking the reader on an extraordinary ride. The adventure includes danger, mystery, humor, sweet romance and even a dash of thriller.

But the clouds are not what you think.

Guaranteed to Bleed by Julie Mulhern - #review #giveaway

With his dying breath, Bobby Lowell begs Ellison Russell, “Tell her I love her.”

Unable to refuse, Ellison struggles to find the girl the murdered boy loved. Too bad an epically bad blind date, a vindictive graffiti artist, and multiple trips to the emergency room keep getting in the way.

Worse, a killer has Ellison in his sights, her newly-rebellious daughter is missing, and there’s yet another body in her hostas. Mother won’t be pleased.

Now Ellison must track down not one but two runaway teenagers, keep her promise to Bobby and elude the killer—all before her next charity gala committee meeting.

GoodReads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

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MY REVIEW

The 1970s.  What a decade.  I started the 70s at the end of grade school and graduated high school in 1979.  I even kind of remember them ... which is good for me, because sometimes last week is a little fuzzy.

Let me state right off that I liked this book.  I wanted to say that up front because some of what follows may seem otherwise.  But like in Guaranteed to Bleed, things you think you know ... will turn out to be neither simple nor direct.

Ms. Mulhern works considerable magic for me to have empathy for Ellison.  Let me explain.  I normally would have little good will toward someone who wants to 'wrap up an investigation' before her next charity committee meeting.  It seems to Hyacinth Bucket.  And it reminds me of that story in the news recently about a woman who was suing her 12 year old nephew $127,000 for 'hugging her too hard' at his 8th birthday party and making it difficult for her to hold her hors d'oeuvres plate at cocktail parties.

So, maybe my prejudices caused me to start reading Guaranteed to Bleed with a chip on my shoulder.  It would be awful to find a young person stabbed to death under the bleachers at a football game, even if the only reason you went down there had been to retrieve an expensive French lipstick.  But appearances can be deceiving and I give Ellison big props for taking off her shirt to try and stem the flow of blood from the victim, despite what the other parents at the game might think.

The good and the evil things uncovered in this story have existed in every age, but I've never seen such an accurate 70s stamp on a book.  Having lived through the decade, it was a stroll down memory lane.  It was like looking at the years as a visitor and looking for clues to solve a puzzle.

Guaranteed to Bleed was both entertaining and educational for me.  The story kept me engaged and I got a reminder that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.  (Sorry, couldn't resist that one.)  I look forward to reading other books in this series and by this author.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

 

Website *  GoodReads * Facebook * Twitter

Julie Mulhern is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean–and she’s got an active imagination. Truth is—she’s an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

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GIVEAWAY!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Click the banner above to go to the tour page, where you will find a lot more reviews, as well as an interview and several guest posts.  You can also find out how to apply to become a tour host for GEVBT!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours

Short & Tall Tales in Goose Pimple Junction by Amy Metz - #review

This is not your average Southern town. With a hint of mystery, a lot of laughs, and unique charm, you’ll catch a glimpse of everyday life in Goose Pimple Junction in this short story compilation. Short & Tall Tales occurs chronologically between Murder & Mayhem, book 1, and Heroes & Hooligans, book 2, in the Goose Pimple Junction mystery series. Book 1.5 is a fun escape that will answer questions readers may have about the residents of this quirky small town.

How did Johnny Butterfield become police chief?
How did Tess and Jack get engaged?
How did Ima Jean come to live with Louetta?
How do you celebrate an Apple Day?

These questions and more are answered in Short & Tall Tales in Goose Pimple Junction. Five short stories, one novella, and three recipes will give you more of life in Goose Pimple Junction, make you laugh, and have your mouth watering. If you want a feel-good read, you’ve come to the right place. Grab some sweet tea and escape to Goose Pimple Junction.

Goodreads * Amazon

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MY REVIEW

I felt right at home in Goose Pimple Junction, TN, from the get go, probably because I live in the same small town in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky.  I smiled and nodded my head all through the book because I know these people (or, their counterparts 'round these parts.)  I even have a Southern certitude to match the quotation at the beginning of Short and Tall Tales, because my husband's Mamaw used to say it about our younger son, "He don't care which way the wind blows."

Ms. Metz expertly treads the high wire between portraying the traditions, language, names, mannerisms and warmth of the small-town South while avoiding turning the characters into charicatures.  That is very important to me - treating the characters (and real people) with respect.  

What a treat to get more stories about this town that take place between books one and two of the series!  It's like getting to see out-takes at the end of a movie or finding all the 'Easter eggs' in a video game.  But for me, since these come in a book, it's even better.

Anyone who has pride in their 'home' (as opposed to their house, or simply the area where they live) will enjoy this bonus visit to Goose Pimple Junction.  I know I did.  And as Tennessee is not far from my home, I know I will be visiting Metz's colorful town again!

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MEET THE AUTHOR

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter * GoodReads

Amy Metz is the author of the Goose Pimple Junction mystery series. She is a former first grade teacher and the mother of two sons. When not actively engaged in writing, enjoying her family, or surfing Facebook or Pinterest, Amy can usually be found with a mixing spoon, camera, or book in one hand and a glass of sweet tea in the other. Amy lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Click the logo above to go to the tour page, where you will find more reviews, a guest post, an interview with the author and everyone's favorite - giveaways!

(Disclsoure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.)

Freedom's Island by Sabra Waldfogel - #review

When Ambrose Byrd, retired Buffalo soldier, arrives in the all-black town of Willow Bend, Mississippi, he’s looking for peace, but he walks into trouble.

The town’s mayor, Jim Truehart, bought the land from his former master Hiram Little and transformed the Delta swamp into the best cotton land in the county. Now Little wants the land back, and he hires a man for the job that everyone in Willow Bend knows too well—former Klansman Benjamin Loveless, who carried out a massacre in the neighboring county ten years before.

Byrd thought he was done with being a soldier. But his friendship with Truehart—and his love for Truehart’s eighteen-year-old daughter Bernie—pull him into Willow Bend’s fight. As danger comes ever closer, Byrd decides to join with Willow Bend for battle.

Will it be a fight for freedom…or a massacre?

GoodReads * Amazon (Kindle) * Amazon (Paperback)
 
Barnes & Noble (Nook) * Chapters * iTunes * Kobo

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MY REVIEW

First off, I loved Freedom's Island.  Having said that, this was not an easy read. The indignities committed by one person or group on another person or group simply because she/he/they are different somehow should anger all of us with a soul or an ounce of goodness in our veins.  And for such petty reasons:  a nationality, a religion, a physical disease or mental illness, a gender, a race.

Ambrose Byrd has been a soldier, first for the Union forces, and then for the US Army for about 20 years.  At first, even in the North, black men were not allowed in combat as soldiers, I suppose until things got bad enough that some generals sat around and said, "Hey, we have all these able-bodied men working with us...." and the rest was history.

Before that, he was a slave.  The first time he ran away he got 10 lashes.  The second time, he got 25 lashes and an "R" branded into his cheek for 'runaway'.

He's seen too much and done a few things of which he is not proud.  Adjusting to civilian life after a career in the army can be rough on anyone.  Ambrose travels with a comrade to that man's home in Mississippi and is surprised to find an all-black town, with a black mayor, no less.

But old prejudices die hard.  The white former slave owner who sold the mayor (Jim Trueheart) swamp land wants it back now that he's learned Jim has turned it into profitable cotton fields.  He feels it is his due.  When black farmers bring in their cotton for him to gin, he cheats them on the price and weight of the product, because hey, they're 'only' black folks.

But there are more than racially motivated prejudices in Freedom's Island.  When it becomes apparent that the town will have to fight to maintain, not only their land, but their lives, one of the better shots is forbidden to fight ... because she is a woman, and 18 at that.  As a woman, that is hard for me to understand.  If someone told me I could not do something because I am a woman, well, I'd have some choice words for them which I would probably have to repent of later.

But as a parent, part of me understands Jim and Ambrose forbidding Bernie (Jim's daughter) to fight.  About the worst thing you can do to a parent is to put their child in harm's way.  If you want to see the true meaning of 'going medieval on someone' (a la Pulp Fiction), mess with one of my kids.

While Freedom's Island is a work of fiction, some of the events in the book actually took place in the American South after the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression as some folks around here still call it).  The story is amazing - and it will make you think.

When you reach the last page of Freedom's Island, and finally close the cover, you will sigh - partly in sadness because you still wonder what happens to Ambrose and Jerusha, Jim and Bernie and the other citizens of Willow Bend.  But you also experience the deep satisfaction of having read a tale of incredible substance.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter * GoodReads

Historical novelist Sabra Waldfogel, author of Slave and Sister and Freedom’s Island, grew up far from the South in Minneapolis. She studied history at Harvard University and received her Ph.D. in American History from the University of Minnesota, and since then, has been fascinated by the drama of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. In her free time, not tired of history, she collects antiques and helps her husband sell them.

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Click the link to visit the tour schedule, where you will find more reviews and guest posts and well as interviews!  You can also find out how to apply to become a tour host for HFVBT!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.)

Story Starters - "It Felt Like All Hope Was Lost"

STORY STARTERS is a weekly meme at A Daily Rhythm, where you’re given a writing prompt to play with. You can do a paragraph, a short story, whatever!

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It felt like all hope was lost.

You see, I had just found out at the week before that I was pregnant for the 3rd time at 40 years of age.  The day before I had had my first ob-gyn appointment where the pregnancy was confirmed.

Two nights later, on my overnight shift transcribing officers' reports at the local police department, I went to the restroom.  There was blood.  I had spotted the first time a little bit, but nothing like this.

Luckily, my senior tech was cool and when I explained what was happening, she handed me the form that needed to be filled out for my leaving work to be 'approved' and said, "Just sign it.  I'll fill out the rest."

So I drove myself to the nearest hospital that accepted my insurance.  (Luckily, there was no shortage of hospitals in this major Texas city.)  I parked in the garage and made my way into the building, trying to hold back the tears.  I had no idea where the ER was from there, but luckily a nurse wearing scrubs noticed my near-hysteria and pointed me in the right direction.

I got there, finally, and waited and waited.  It seemed like an awfully long time to wait to someone worried about possibly being in the middle of a miscarriage.

When I finally got to see the doctor, he said it looked like I was on my period.  I told him I had taken a home test and that the pregnancy had been confirmed by my ob-gyn less than 48 hours before.  He stated since they were urine and not blood tests, they were 'probably not right' anyway.  He ordered an ultrasound and a blood test before he would make a decision from his exalted position.

During one of the many times I was alone in the exam room, trying to cover up as best I could in that awkward position, tears started streaming from my eyes.  It almost felt like I was 'talking to God', instead of 'praying'.

"What am I supposed to hope for here?

That I'm not really pregnant when I had wanted for so long to have one last chance at a little girl?

Or maybe that I was pregnant, but might having a miscarriage?

Or that I was pregnant, but there might be something 'wrong' with the baby?  Sometimes I felt like I had trouble taking care of myself and the two children Chris and I had already, let alone taking on a baby with medical or developmental challenges."

I turned to the one piece of scripture I had memorized years before (specifically for the dentist's chair), Psalm 23.  Over and over again, I silently choked the words out through my tears.  Then the answers started:

"I would be really disappointed if I wasn't pregnant after all.  How can those tests and an ob-gyn be wrong like that?  If that is the case, I will get through it somehow.

I would likewise be heartbroken if I was in the middle of a miscarriage.  But I knew I could lean on God for support.

And although I doubted my own abilities, I had little doubt (being honest here) that somehow I would be the best steward of the precious life entrusted to me, no matter how that life was expressed."

And I surrendered to God's will for myself and my family.

Immediately, the sweetest peace I have ever known flowed through my body, warming me as it went.  The feeling was almost indescribable (but that won't stop me from trying to use words to do just that).

I had some 'splaining to do when I got home early Sunday afternoon.  You see, we didn't have a phone at the apartment at that time, and cell phones were still in the 'too-soon-to-be-cheap-enough-for-us' stage of technology.  Normally, I would have been home by 8:00 am, and I got back sometime between noon and 1:00 pm.

Long story short, about 7 months later (at approximately 32 weeks), this happened:

Since I had no idea I would be writing about this this morning, I don't have a picture of my daughter as an infant to hand.  She was born at 32 weeks gestation, and weighed 3 lbs .4 oz, and was 13.5" long at birth.  She was in NICU for 22 days.

Although this picture is a little old, my little bunny is closing in on the teenage years now at an alarming rate:

She is one of my four favorite miracles in the entire world.

The Great Christmas Knit-off by Alexandra Brown - #giveaway #review #excerpt

The perfect seasonal tale of how laughter, friends and wacky Christmas sweaters can mend a broken heart.

Heartbroken after being jilted at the altar, Sybil has been saved from despair by her knitting obsession and now her home is filled to bursting with tea cozies, beanies, and sweaters. But, after discovering that she may have perpetrated the screw-up of the century at work, Sybil decides to make a hasty exit and, just weeks before Christmas, runs away to the picturesque village of Tindledale.

There, Sybil discovers Hettie’s House of Haberdashery, an emporium dedicated to the world of knitting and needle craft. But Hettie, the outspoken octogenarian owner, is struggling and now the shop is due for closure. And when Hettie decides that Sybil’s wonderfully wacky Christmas sweaters are just the thing to add a bit of excitement to her window display, something miraculous starts to happen…

GoodReads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Kobo * iTunes

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Excerpt

PROLOGUE

Hettie Honey picked up a lovely lavender lace weight that a customer had abandoned by the till after pondering for what seemed like an eternity that, actually, it wasn’t the right shade of lavender after all. She then walked across the shop floor of her House of Haberdashery to repatriate the ball into its rightful place—a wooden, floor-to-ceiling cabinet comprising twenty-four cubbyholes inset over three shelves crammed with every color, ply and type of yarn imaginable. Hettie smiled wryly, remembering the program she had listened to on the radio not so long ago. Knitting! It was all the rage nowadays and she hoped it would finally catch on in Tindledale, her beloved picture-postcard village and Hettie’s home for the eighty-three years of her life to date. She ran the timber-framed, double-fronted shop adjacent to the wisteria-clad roundel of the oast house her father had built before she was even born. 

Hettie lifted the tray on which sat the last remnants of her afternoon tea; a cheese sandwich minus the crusts because her teeth weren’t as strong as they used to be plus a pot of tea and a pink iced finger that had only cost ten pence on account of being past its best. Kitty, in the tearoom up on the High Street, had tried to give her the bun for free, but Hettie hated taking charity, especially when she felt there were other people in far more need. Hettie moved to the back of the shop, swept the curtain aside and went through to the little kitchenette area. Years ago this had been her mother’s sewing room, and the wooden Singer machine with its rickety foot pedal still lived there, with a multitude of multicolored bobbins all piled up high on the shelf behind it.

After placing the tray on the draining board next to the age-veined Belfast sink and carefully wrapping the crusts in plastic to dunk into her warming homemade soup the following afternoon, Hettie picked up the picture frame on the mantelpiece above the fire and ran a finger over the faded black-and-white autographed photo. She allowed herself an enormous sigh. She wasn’t usually one for self-pity or hand-wringing, but another one of the letters had come this morning, with FINAL DEMAND stamped across the top in ugly red type. Business had been so slow these past couple of years, and now, with her dwindling savings and pittance of a pension, she had come to realize that it was going to take a darn miracle this Christmas for Hettie’s House of Haberdashery to remain afloat come the new year.

 There had been talk of retirement; of closing down the House of Haberdashery; of putting her feet up and going “into a home.” Hettie’s nephew, her brother Harold’s son and last of the Honey family line, was all for it. On one of his rare visits, on the pretext of seeing how she was, he’d told Hettie he was concerned about her living on her own, that she needed the rest and that “it’s not like you’ve got that many customers these days, is it?” He said he’d make sure she had her own bedroom or at the very least, a twin sharer. “And besides, it might be nice for her to have the company of people her own age.” He’d put forward a strong case and had already contacted the council to inquire about a suitable place. But Hettie wasn’t losing her marbles and she knew that what he was really after was to bulldoze her beloved home—the oast house surrounded by a meadow of pretty wild flowers, and the place where she grew up. There’s her cozy bedroom suite, set upstairs in the roundel with its magnificent view of the valley, the lovely farmhouse kitchen with the walk-in pantry, the sunroom, the snug—it’s got the lot, and that’s on top of all her memories wrapped within its circular walls. Not to mention her beloved little shop, right next door, crammed full of all her favorite knitting and needlecraft goodies.

Then he’d be able to get his hands on the land for one of his building projects. He’d told her all about the one with ample parking and plastic windows that his company had created in the town where he lived, over fifty miles away. Seventeen months it had taken, he’d said, to fight all the objections from the local residents’ association, and he had puffed on about it for the entire hour of that tedious visit. But Hettie isn’t ready to be written off; to be carted away to an old people’s home like a nag to a glue factory, not when there is plenty of life still left in her sprightly body. Besides, “going into a home” would mean leaving Tindledale behind, and Hettie knows more than anything that this is where her heart belongs. It always has, even when she’d had the chance of a different life, far, far away.

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MY REVIEW

The Prologue of The Great Christmas Knit-off made me feel very protective of Hettie and Chapter 1 found me feeling the same way about Sybil.  You see, Hettie is getting on in years and her nephew is trying to get her to go into a home, so he can take the land her knitting shop is on and build the kind of thing that makes some people money and ruins the tone of the village.  Sybil was left at the altar by her Star Wars-obsessed intended, Luke, who runs off with her twin sister, Sasha.

And, as if being thoroughly abused by her twin sister and her ex, her parents look disappointed and embarrassed because Sybil has let them down in front of their friends?  What planet are these relatives from?  You do a bride wrong around my part of Kentucky and the woman's relatives run the runaway groom out of town, all the while shouting things after him that will not be quoted on the society pages, if you get my drift.

With the handy dandy map of Tindledale at the front of the book, I was able to 'see' the action taking place around the town.  I am a very visual reader, so this really increased my enjoyment of the book.  Extra points for that.

I also heard the opening song from 'Vicar of Dibley' playing as I visualized coming into Tindledale, so I was tickled pink when the author mentions, through Sybil, that Sybil's mother reminds her of Hyacinth "that's boo-kay" Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances.  My feet may actually have done a little happy dance under my desk, as I am a near-rabid fan of Brit-coms going back to "Are You Being Served?" and "To the Manor Born", to name but a couple.

Do you think people will call me old-fashioned when I reveal that reading the English term for the mess Sybil left behind at her city job brought up the pink in my cheeks?  (I'm laughing at myself, here.)

Before I started reading Knit-off, I was tempted to peg the book as a cozy mystery.  It had the crafting, the catchy title and the young heroine going to a small town.  But no matter what Sybil might have liked to do to Luke, there was no dead body.  The tour site (Tasty Book Tours) listed the genre as Contemporary Women's Fiction.  There's also a holiday angle to the work.  I don't care what genre you call it, this book is heart-warming!

The Great Christmas Knit-off takes the best elements of all these genres and gives us a very cozy purl (get it?) of a read!

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MEET THE AUTHOR

 Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * GoodReads

Alexandra Brown began her writing career as the City Girl columnist for The London Paper - a satirical diary account of her time working in the corporate world of London. Alex wrote the weekly column for two years before giving it up to concentrate on writing novels and is now the author of the Carrington’s books. Set in a department store in the pretty seaside town of Mulberry-On-Sea, the series follows the life, loves and laughs of sales assistant, Georgie Hart. The Great Christmas Knit Off is Alex’s fourth book and is the first in a new series set in the fictional village of Tindledale, following the lives of all the characters there.

Alex lives in a real village near the south coast of England, with her husband, daughter and a very shiny black Labrador.

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GIVEAWAY!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Click the logo above to go to the tour page, where you will find links to numerous reviews over the course of the tour, find some really great blogs!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Tasty Book Tours in exchange for my honest and unbiased review)