Review of Atonement by B.J. Daniels

Welcome to the February 20 stop for the Atonement Blog Tour.

Dillon Lawson lost his twin brother, Ethan, a year ago in fiery car cash. As Sheriff, he does his best to protect the citizens of Beartooth, Minnesota but feels extreme guilt for not being able to protect his brother.

When Tessa Winters arrives in Beartooth, Dillon starts to wonder what Ethan is in fact dead. Theresa is nine months pregnant and he can’t figure out whether the woman is trying to con him or if she is speaking the truth.  What is interesting is that she first believes that Dillon is Ethan.

Now Dillon must find out the truth but in the process of doing so, he finds himself falling for Tessa.  As Dillon and Tessa search for Ethan, they find themselves and Tessa’s unborn baby in danger and Dillon is forced to trust a woman who views as a con artist.

Atonement is also about Frank and Nettie who loved each other for decades and after many disappointments, they finally see themselves working out.  And things are finally starting to look up until Frank is accused of the murder of his ex-wife.

Atonement is the 4^th installment of the Beartooth Mountain series. B.J. Daniels has taken suspense and romance in a whole new direction.  While I am new to the Beartooth Mountain series, I really enjoyed Atonement and I look forward to reading the prior installments.

Atonement is available for purchase and download on February 25. You can read the first three chapters at the author’s blog for a preview.

B.J. DANIELS, a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author, wrote her first book after a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist and author of 37 published short stories. That first book, ODD MAN OUT, received a 4 ½ star review from Romantic Times magazine and went on to be nominated for Best Intrigue for that year. Since then she has won numerous awards including a career achievement award for romantic suspense and numerous nominations and awards for best book. Daniels lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and two Springer Spaniels, Spot and Jem. When she isn’t writing, she snowboards, camps, boats and plays tennis. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Thriller Writers, Kiss of Death and Romance Writers of America.

ATONEMENT

(Beartooth, Montana 4)

Harlequin HQN, February 25th 2014

Paperback, 384 pages

PURCHASE ONLINE

   









I did not receive any compensation for this review. I did, however, receive a free copy for my review from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.

Review of Nothing Personal by Mike Offit

NOTHING PERSONAL

A Novel of Wall Street

By Mike Offit

Thomas Dunne Books; February 11, 2014

352 pages; $25.99 U.S./$29.99 CAN.

ISBN-: 978-1-250-03542-4

Welcome to the February 10 blog tour stop for Mike Offit’s Nothing Personal. 

Nothing Personal takes place in the early 1980s. It is a story of a young Warren Hament who after finishing business school lands a job as a bond trader.  He rapidly rises to the top of the banking world and becomes a part of a wealthy and privileged world that is also crude and unethical. 

Everything seems to be going well for Warren until bad things start happening to people he cares about, including the murder of his mentor.  Warren does not see these events as coincidental.  He finds himself at the center of a murder investigation.  He also finds himself in control of a huge fortune due to his mentor’s death and in a relationship with a very ambitious woman who holds the key to solving the mystery.  He needs to figure out what is happening before someone else is hurt or killed.

Mike Offit uses his own experiences on Wall Street to make Warren Hament’s story believable.  In fact, Offit does a great job building suspense on the trading floor or Hament’s company and even provides a good look at how greedy and self-egocentric Wall Street is.

Mike Offit began a Wall Street real estate trading career after graduating from Brown University and obtained significant success on the Street. After his departure, he turned back to his original passion: writing. He lives in New York City.

Nothing Personal is available through Thomas Dunne Books starting February 11, 2014.  You can purchase a copy through the following book retailers:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound

Books-A-Million

Kindle

Nook

I did not receive any compensation for this review. I did, however, receive a free copy for my review from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.

Review of Stress Free Kids by Lori Lite

About the Book

Bedtime was a stressful time for Lori Lite’s children.  It took a demanding two hours to get her son to sleep and her daughter was dealing with night terrors. These stressors were making parenting hard for Lori. To help herself and her family, Lori started to practice stress management techniques throughout her day. The techniques worked so well for her that she started to incorporate these when she told her children bedtime stories. The result – her children followed along and fell asleep more easily and stayed asleep.

Children deal some of the same issues that adults deal with such as bullying, body image, and societal demands. These issues affect children more than they ever did in the past. Stress Free Kids gives parents the tools they need to help their children deal with life’s stresses.  Lori shares relaxation and breathing therapies and positive affirmatives to help children learn to lessen stress and anxiety as they deal with difficult circumstances.

My Take

As a single working mother, I know that when I am stressed so are my kids. I was able to take Lori’s book and relate it to some of my experiences.  I know that what I feel and how I respond affects my kids.  I now find myself more aware of my children copying my behavior and responses toward stressful situations and I am working to set a better example.  I appreciated the tips that were offered to parents and I also found great benefit in the approach Lori took to teaching my children how to emulate good habits and stress management.

About the Author

Lori Lite has created a line of books and CDs designed to help children, teens and adults to manage stress, lower anxiety levels and control anger.  For more about Lori and Stress Free Kids® , visit the Stress Free Kids®  website at http://www.stressfreekids.com.

Review of The Last Savanna by Mike Bond and Adventure Kit Giveaway

THE LAST SAVANNA

By Mike Bond

Mandevilla Press; January 15, 2014

$15.99; 253 pages

ISBN: 978-1-62704-008-2

REVIEW
Welcome to the January 2 BookTrib blog tour stop for Mike Bond’s The Last Savanna. 

Mike Bond is back in with his latest ecological thriller, The Last Savanna with Ian MacAdam, an ex-SAS officer,who joins a commando team to hunt down ivory poachers. Learning that the poachers have kidnapped archaeologist and Ian’s former love, Rebecca Hecht, Ian embarks on a quest to save Rebecca in a country torn by war, overpopulation and wildlife slaughter.

Mike Bond uses his own experiences pursuing elephant poachers in East Africa. In The Last Savanna, Mike Bond shares a personal journey through East Africa’s heartland, its people and animals and its beautiful deserts, savannas, and jungles.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Bond is a bestselling author and an adviser to the US and foreign governments.  He is also a human rights and war correspondence, an award winning poet and internal energy expert. His books are often based on his own experiences in dangerous regions of the world. You can find more about Mike Bond at his website.

You can purchase The Last Savanna through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or other fine online book retailers. 

GIVEAWAY 
As part of The Last Savanna  blog tour, Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. is giving away an Adventurer’s Kit. The Kit includes survival card multi-tool by Kikkerland, drawstring bags, utensils, fold-able cups, Coghlan’s fire starters and assorted camping items, water purification tablets, electrolyte tablets and more. 

Just leave a comment below with your email address if you are interested in winning the kit and I will pick on winner on January 9 through Random.org. U.S. Addresses Only. 

I did not receive any compensation for this review. I did, however, receive a free copy for my review from Alissa Letkowski at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.

Review of Behind the Scattered Glass by Tasha Alexander

I received a terrific audio book from Macmillan Audio. It is Tasha Alexander’s #8 book in the Lady Emily series.

Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves are in the drawing room of their estate in Anglemore Park when their neighbor, Lord Archibald Scolfield, the Marquess of Montague staggers in, collapses and dies. Colin is an intelligence agent for the British Crown so he and Emily are no strangers to murder investigations.

It is not long before Colin and Emily begin to suspect four people. The first of those is Lady Matilda, Archibald’s cousin who shared his estate with him and who feared his upcoming marriage would leave her homeless.  The second possible suspect is a former friend from college who Archibald accused of cheating and as a result was kicked out of school.  The third suspect is the vicar’s daughter who was supposedly secretly engaged to the former Marquess of Montague. The last suspect is Rodney Scolfield, a distant cousin whom no one knew existed and has laid claim to the title of Marquess of Montague.

Each suspect appears to have a motive and an alibi. But what is interesting is that the murderer happens to be the last person you would suspect or that even Lady Emily could suspect. 

I really loved this audio book because it takes you through the glamour of the upper-class as well as through the servant quarters of a fine English estate. Being a murder mystery fan, it kept me at the edge of my seat until the very end.  At some point, I realized who the murderer was and I kept praying I was wrong since I really liked that character. 

Behind the Scattered Glass by Tasha Alexander is the 8^th book in the Lady Emily series.  It was a fun read with Emily being a tongue in cheek character.  I also enjoyed reading about the investigation and the light flirtation between Colin and Emily. I particularly loved the love/hate constant bickering between Lady Matilda and Rodney Scotfield.  Despite being set in in Victorian times, it was an enjoyable novel.

Title:  Behind the Shattered Glass

Author:  Tasha Alexander

Series:  Lady Emily Ashton Mystery #8

Publisher:  Minotaur Books

Publication Date:  October 15, 2013

Pages:  304

Genre:  Historical Mystery

Get It:  Amazon; Barnes & Noble

I did not receive compensation for this review.  I did, however, receive a free audiobook for my review. 

Review of The Russian Endgame by Allan Topol

The Russian Endgame is the third and last book in the Craig Page trilogy. Craig Paige is the Director of EU Counterterrorism who is out to get revenge on Chinese General Zhou. He is also trying to stop a former KGB agent by the name of Dmitri Orlov who is trying to assassinate the President of the United States.  

Orlov is a man with connections and good fortunate and among his connections are General Zhou and Russian President Kuznov.  He wants Kuznov and Zhou to assist his efforts in an alliance against America between Russian and China.

At the beginning of the novel, Craig Page is trying to extradite General Zhou to Spain to stand trial. In the second book of the Craig Paige trilogy, Zhou tried to overthrow Spain’s government.   Unfortunately, there is no extradition treaty to back up Paige so he gets a team together and they work to kidnap Zhou and bring him back to Spain.    General Zhou is able to elude Paige and Paige decides that now is the time to get revenge on Zhou for murdering Paige’s daughter, Francesca.  In the process of trying to do so, he finds himself dealing with a threat on the U.S. President’s life and trying to prevent Orlov from gaining advanced military technology.

The Russian Endgame concludes the Craig Paige trilogy.  Allan Topol has pulled together a roller coaster of a thriller just for the occasion which I swear will keep you at the edge of your seat.  The story takes place in several parts of the world: Washington, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Bali and Indonesia.

If you love political thrillers filled with espionage, The Russian Endgame is the perfect book for you.  You can enjoy it even if you have not read the first two Craig Paige novels: The China Gambit and The Spanish Revenge.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Allan Topol is a national bestselling author whose novels have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Hebrew.  He is a graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology and has a degree in law from Yale.  He also works as an attorney for a Washington law firm.  For more about Allan Topol, please visit is website at www.allantopol.com. 

I did not receive any compensation for this review. I did, however, receive a free copy for my review from Tracy at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.

Review of Saving Paradise by Mike Bond

Special Forces veteran, Pono Hawkins, now known surfer and writer for surfing magazines, finds a mysteriously drowned journalist on the beach of Waikiki, Hawaii. Sylvia Gordon’s murder intrigues him and he is head strong on finding out how she died.   Pono is also haunted by his memories in Afghanistan and is determined to keep dirty politics out of the place he now calls home.

What Pono finds out is very disturbing. The reporter was on her way to exposing a billion dollar taxpayer funded scam that includes powerful corporations, corrupt politicians, and foreign killers.  Pono feels like he is in Afghanistan all over again but instead of drug lords, he is fighting dirty politics and crooked corporations.

Saving Paradise paints a beautiful picture of what Pono calls the seamy side of paradise with an exciting page turner of lies, murder and corrupt politics.  

Mike Bond is a bestselling author and an adviser to the US and foreign governments.  He is also a human rights and war correspondence, an award winning poet and internal energy expert. His books are often based on his own experiences in dangerous regions of the world. You can find more about Mike Bond at his website.

Saving Paradise is available at your local bookstore and online at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

I did not receive any compensation for this review. I did, however, receive a free copy for my review from Alissa at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.