HERO IN WAITING by Andrew Grey

Fiction, Contemporary Romantic Suspense, M/M (95 pages)

4****

Blurb: Wells Barnaby is in danger and he doesn’t even know it. After leaving the Marines, he came to live with his sister and is helping to care for his niece. When a threat from his past rears up, it puts them all in danger… and brings the one who got away back into his life. Miller Washington served with Wells, and the two men shared an attraction that neither of them acknowledged. When Miller learns that an old enemy is on the loose and that he may come after Wells, he makes a beeline to help. But he doesn’t expect repressed desire to blaze back to life. Between renewed attraction and an enemy who will stop at nothing to get even, Wells and Miller must navigate the heat of passion too strong for either of them to contain while not letting their guard down, in order to protect Wells’s family and their second chance.

Thoughts: Wells and Miller were Marines together in the Mideast. Now, Miller works security and Wells plays manny to his 5-year-old niece for his doctor sister. When Miller shows up to warn Wells that a psycho killer is coming for him, sparks fly between the two men. They go into Marine mode to protect Wells’s sister and niece while they also try to figure out what they mean to each other.

The characters are good – especially the niece as she tries to wrap everyone around her little princess finger. I loved the living room tent (and how it played into the end!). The romance is sweet (but hot!) as the two men try to figure out what they mean to each other and how to work things out. There is a high level of suspense with not only the sister’s nasty ex, but the psycho killer stalking them too.

Recommendation: This is a short, quick read with a high level of suspense and romance. If you like Andrew Grey’s books, you’ll enjoy this one.

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Birthdays: George Orwell (1903), Elizabeth Jones (1910), P.H. Newby (1918), Dorothy Gilman (1923), Nicholas Mosley (1923), Peyo (1928), Eric Carle (1929), Charles Sheffield (1935), Bert Holldobler (1936), A.J. Quinnell (1940), Linda Spalding (1943), Anthony Bourdain (1956), Ricky Gervais (1961), Yann Martel (1963), Martha McPhee (1964)

George Orwell is best known for his books “Nineteen Eighty-four” and “Animal Farm”

Elizabeth Jones won the 1945 Caldecott Medal for “Prayer for a Child”

Peyo was a Belgian who created the Smurfs.

Bert Holldobler co-wrote the Pulitzer Prize book “The Ants” (with Edward O. Wilson)

Eric Carle was best known for his book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”

Yann Martel is best known for his book “Life of Pi”

Quote: “I write at any time of day in any place, so long as it’s quiet and I can set up my computer. I’m a slow writer, given to playing Spider Solitaire when stuck. Otherwise, my writing habits are blindingly boring. I just sit down at the computer and write.” – Yann Martel

Tip: Don’t overuse backstory, especially in the first chapter. Weave it in through the story, don’t “info dump” on the reader.

Jumpstart: Your character just found out she was adopted, and she never knew. What does she do? How does she feel?

Birthdays: Rebecca Harding Davis (1831), Ambrose Bierce (1842), Mary Wesley (1912), Fred Hoyle (1915), Norman Cousins (1915), Anita Desai (1937), Lawrence Block (1938), Kathryn Lasky (1944), Jean Marzollo(1942), Mark Helprin (1947), Clarissa Dickson Wright (1947), Mercedes Lackey (1950), Rebecca Solnit (1961)

Fred Hoyle is credited for coining the term “Big Bang”.

Quote: “If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.” ― Mercedes Lackey

“Usually a feeling of disappointment follows the book, because what I hoped to write is not what I actually accomplished. However, it becomes a motivation to write the next book.” – Anita Desai

Tip: Author intrusion – if it’s something *you* would say and not your characters, then don’t use it. Some authors call this foreshadowing, but it’s really not. It often shows up as “she didn’t know that the next day, it would happen” type of writing.

Jumpstart: You have won a five-minute shopping spree in a bookstore. What section do you go to first? Why?

The Mortician’s Wife

by Jody Wenner

Category: Mystery & Detective / General

In 1912, as the new wife of the local mortician, Beatrice is settling in at the funeral parlor, but soon after, the death of a young boy sweeps a cold chill into the warmth of her new home as well as her marriage.In 2022, fledgling author Maddy Barton isn’t surprised to discover someone was murdered in her 1912 era home. The old mansion has been giving her bad vibes ever since she moved in. But after learning who the victim was, she is determined to figure out what happened so she can put the unsettled spirit at ease.Maddy’s husband isn’t terribly supportive of her efforts, and many of the people in the small town of Pine Grove, Minnesota have ideas—and secrets—of their own, but she’s determined to solve the gothic crime the only way she knows how—to write about it.

ISBN: (digital) 9781509249633  ISBN: (print) 9781509249626

Available through these fine retailers…

Amazon

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Google Books

ITunes

Walmart

Target

BooksAMillion

Indie Bound

Birthdays: Henry Rider Haggard (1856), Erich Maria Remarque (1898), Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906), Octavia E. Butler (1947), Dan Brown (1964), Jason Goodwin (1964), James Forman Jr. (1967), Kambri Crews (1971), David Rees (1972)

James Forman Jr. won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction

Quote: “It is very queer that the unhappiness of the world is so often brought on by small men.” ― Erich Maria Remarque, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

 “I don’t start writing until I have a very solid outline. Or else I’d get to the end and find out there is no ending, and that I just wasted three years of my life. The Da Vinci Code outline was a hundred pages.” – Dan Brown

Tip: Plot is what your story is about. There has to be something there for it to work.

Jumpstart: Your best friend has invented something that would change the world forever. What has s/he invented? Would it change the world for the better or the worse? What do you do?

A Sour Note

by Jill Piscitello

Category: Mystery & Detective / General

Series: A Music Box Mystery

On the heels of a public, broken engagement, Maeve Cleary returns to her childhood home in Hampton Beach, NH. When a dead body turns up behind her mother’s music school, three old friends land on the suspect list. Licking her wounds soon takes a back seat to outrunning the paparazzi who spin into a frenzy, casting her in a cloud of suspicion. Maeve juggles her high school sweetheart, a cousin with a touch of clairvoyance, a no-nonsense detective, and an apologetic, two-timing ex-fiancé. Will the negative publicity impact business at the Music Box— the very place she’d hoped to make a fresh start?

ISBN: (digital) 9781509249183  ISBN: (print) 9781509249176

Available through these fine retailers…

Amazon

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Google Books

ITunes

Walmart

Target

BooksAMillion

Indie Bound

DEATH BY SURFBOARD by Susie Black

Fiction, Cozy Mystery, (232 pages)

5*****

Blurb:  No one is more stunned than Mermaid Swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik when a fisherman hooks her unscrupulous colleague’s battered corpse attached to a surfboard and hauls it onto the Washington Street Pier. The coroner ruled that while Jack Tyne drowned, he “had help dying,” and Holly’s boss is wrongly arrested for the crime. To save the big cheese from a life behind bars, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur detective dons her sleuthing hat to find Jack’s real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a pretzel, and nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.

Thoughts: Are you ready for sarcasm mixed with murder? If so, you found the right book (series/writer). The third book in the series centered on the fashion industry—specifically the swimsuit fashion industry. Holly Schlivnik is sarcastic, witty, and smart. The story moves quickly and there are a ton of suspects for the murder. You’ll have fun trying to figure out whodunit before Holly does. 

I love the characters (even Holly’s dog Sigmund). And the world building is great—you’ll read all sorts of stuff about the swimsuit fashion industry – but not in a boring way! It’s interesting and works so well with the story.

Overall, this is a great addition to the series – oh, and it’s a stand alone so you don’t have to have read any of the others to understand what’s going on in this one. 

Disclaimer: I received a copy from the author in the hopes I’d review it. All opinions are my own.

Birthdays: Blaise Pascal (1623), Elbert Hubbard (1856), Laura Z. Hobson (1900), Pauline Kael (1919), Tobias Wolff (1945), Salman Rushdie (1947), John Ralston Saul (1947)

Quote: “Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn’t exist in any declaration I have ever read. If you are offended it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people. I can walk into a bookshop and point out a number of books that I find very unattractive in what they say. But it doesn’t occur to me to burn the bookshop down. If you don’t like a book, read another book. If you start reading a book and you decide you don’t like it, nobody is telling you to finish it. To read a 600-page novel and then say that it has deeply offended you: well, you have done a lot of work to be offended.” ― Salman Rushdie

“The last thing we decide about a book is what to put first.” – Blaise Pascal

Tip: You should be able to answer any question about your main character, and by the end of the book, you reader should know them almost as well as you do.

Jumpstart: You’ve been locked in a store overnight and can’t get out. What do you do? Does the kind of store make any difference (department, grocery, book)? Why? What about security?

Birthdays: Philip Barry (1896), Gail Godwin (1937), Russell Ash (1946), Chris Van Allsburg (1949), Vivian Vande Velde (1951), Richard Powers (1957), Angela Johnson (1961), Lidia Yuknavitch (1963),

Chris Van Allsburg is a two-time winner of the Caldecott for “The Polar Express” and “Jumanji”.

Quote: “I write for what’s left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head.” – Chris Van Allsburg

Tip: Don’t be afraid to promote your books in unconventional places. Link your story to something or somewhere special and use that for promo purposes. I have a friend whose cozy mysteries center around a funeral home. She’s made friends with them and they have been promoting her work. Do you have dogs or cats in your book? Go to vets, animal shelters, pet stores and see if they’ll promote your stuff.

Jumpstart: It is the middle of the night and your phone rings. The voice on the other end says: “You won’t get away with it. I’ll see that you pay.” There is a scream and a loud crack… and the line goes dead. Caller ID is “unknown”. What if anything do you do? Did you deserve the call? Why?