Books
Willow Pond : Carol Tibaldi
Willow Pond
The Roaring Twenties crumble into the Great Depression, but Virginia Kingsley, New York’s toughest and most successful speakeasy owner, is doing just fine. Now that the world is falling apart, bootlegging is a flourishing business, and she’s queen of that castle.
Then her infant nephew is kidnapped. Her niece, Laura, and Laura’s philandering movie star husband, are devastated. The police have few leads, and speculation and rumors abound in the media circus that follows the celebrity abduction.
Only one reporter, Erich Muller, seems to care enough about the child’s welfare and the parents’ feelings to report the case responsibly. Over the course of the investigation, Erich Muller and Laura fall in love, but their relationship is doomed to failure since he suspects her beloved aunt Virginia is behind the kidnapping. Laura, jaded when it comes to men, sides with Virginia.
But Virginia has figured out the truth, and she can’t tell anyone for fear of losing her niece’s affections and having the police ransack her life. So she pursues her own investigation, shaking down, threatening, and killing one petty crook after another during her search.
Little Todd’s absence shapes everyone’s lives. When he is finally found, the discovery will bring disaster for some and revelation for others.
Book Links
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
Consequences : Emeka Egbuonu
Consequences – Breaking The Negative Cycle
Concern about gang culture is on the rise. Gangs lead young people into danger and lead to community division, fear and deep distrust.
However the friendship and support the security and sense of belonging they give young people is a powerful draw. Through his Consequences Programme Emeka Egbuonu aims to give young people a real sense of the consequences of their actions.
Taking a group of young people from London to Los Angeles he looks at how life in gangs has ruined lives in the ‘gang capital of the world’. Emeka examines the pain of families who have lost young people to knife crime on the streets of London and tries to identify what drives young people into the viscous cycle of gang culture.
Starting from the slave trade, Emeka’s insightful look at the breakdown of the family unit, peer pressure, stereotyping and racism is an uncompromising message to us all.
With interviews and powerful accounts of knife crime on both sides of the Atlantic, this book pulls no punches.
Book Links
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon UK
On Amazon
SufferStone : Stella Atrium
SufferStone – Book 1 of the Dolvia Saga
On Dolvia the women of the savannah serve under the burka, but Kyle Le was denied that covering by tribal leaders. Only her gift of second sight and the mortgage on her father’s land protects her and her three sisters.
Working alongside Brian Miller from Earth, who manages a textile factory, and the warrior Cyrus, she labors against the mining enterprise that robs the savannah of its mineral wealth and leaves the tribes with only the scarred and suffering land.
Review from Lisa DuMond, online reviewer of science fiction:
“… an intriguing tale. The struggle to overcome oppression, to preserve a way of life, to maintain compassion in a cold and hateful conflict, is always interesting and involving … Atrium has a fl air for creating and maintaining an atmosphere of mysticism and mystery … she stays true to the situation, never slipping out of the frame she has set.”
“SufferStone is definitely in the top ten of all I have read this year. Your use of the different belief systems and cultures was marvelous. Thank you for a very literate book and a great read.” -Steve Algieri, Editor at Eternity Online
From the Author:
“I was a great reader of science fiction as a young person, but I began to wonder why the protagonist in a sci-fi or fantasy story was always a man, even when the writer was female. Where were the stories that presented a woman as the problem solver?
A real heroine cannot call on armies to follow her, or pay assassins for special work. She may have children already, so adventure is out of the question, and family must be secure before she can enter the public square where she has no voice. I could find no books that started with this premise, so I had to write some. And that was my first reason to write.”
Book Links
Website
Blog
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
Kiss Me Slowly : Amber Lea Easton
Kiss Me Slowly
Neck-deep in a set-up that could have him in jail or dead by Monday, Jonathan Alexander trusts no one in his inner circle. It’s Saturday. His only hope is Grace Dupont, the best forensic accountant in Miami. But there’s a glitch with that idea. She’s also his ex-girlfriend who would rather watch him drown than throw him a life vest. Going to her feels desperate…because he is.
Grace enjoys seeing Jonathan squirm. On your knees boy, she thinks as he pitches for her help. Always a sucker for the dark-haired-blue-eyed boys, she risks her precariously balanced life of secrets to help him. Helping him slaps a target on her back–she’s the key to proving his innocence and that’s a bad, bad thing.
Trapped in whirlwind of conspiracy, murder, million dollar money trails and diamond smuggling, Jonathan and Grace flee to the sea to stall for time to prove his innocence. Romance sizzles beneath Florida Keys’ sunshine. Both scoff at happy endings. Both doubt justice. Both know each kiss could be their last.
Book Links
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
Brazil : Errol Lincoln Uys
Brazil
‘Brazil’ is the first work of fiction to depict five centuries of a great nation’s extraordinary history. With a stunning cast of real and fictional characters, this unforgettable epic unfolds in South America, Africa, and Europe.
Two families dominate this extraordinary book. The Cavalcantis are among the original settlers and establish the classic Brazilian plantation – vast, powerful, and built with slave labor. The Silva family represents the second element in both contemporary and historical Brazil: pathfinders, prospectors and entrepreneurs. For generations, these adventurers have their eyes set on El Dorado, which they ultimately find in Brasília, city of the future.
An intensely human story, brutal and violent, tender and passionate. Perilous explorations through the Brazilian wilderness . . . the perpetual clash of pioneer and native, visionary and fortune hunter, master and slave, zealot and exploiter . . . the thunder of war on land and sea as European powers and South American nations pursue their territorial conquests… the triumphs and tragedies of a people who built a nation covering half the South American continent, all are here in one spellbinding saga.
“A masterpiece! Brazil has the look and feel of an enchanted virgin forest, a totally new and original world for the reader-explorer to discover.” — L’Express, Paris
“Pulsing with vigor, this is a vast novel to tell the story of a vast country. Uys recreates history through the eyes and actions of an awesome cast of characters.” – Publishers Weekly
“Uys has accomplished what no Brazilian author from José de Alencar to Jorge Amado was able to do…He is the first outsider with the total honesty and sympathy to write our national epic in all its decisive episodes…Descriptions unsurpassed in our literature evoke the great passages of War and Peace.” – Professor Wilson Martins, Jornal do Brasil
Book Links
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
The Breath of Allah : Steven W. Ritcheson
The Breath of Allah
The United States has no shortage of enemies. Some attack with technology, others attack in spite of it. If successful, either attack could be devastating. Even if our heroes are flawed and our enemies are sympathetic, our battles must still be fought – and won. Today, we look for our heroes wherever we can find them. Many times, they can be found in the shadowy world of private defense contractors.
Comprised of elite intelligence, defense, and technology experts, the Technology Applications Group – known as TAG to its government handlers – creates and deploys tomorrow’s solutions to today’s problems.
Through the eyes of its head of operations, Charles Rayson, TAG races from Europe to the Middle East to thwart an attack that could kill thousands and destroy the government of a fragile but critical ally while overcoming treachery from within their ranks, investigation by self-interested politicians, and bureaucratic back stabbing.
“Ritcheson’s exceptional debut novel features technology as the strongest weapon… Rayson is a James Bond in a new, technological world… Constantly advancing and infinitely invigorating…” – Kirkus Reviews
Steven W. Ritcheson is an avid writer, reader, and traveler. An attorney for 17 years, he has represented numerous clients in the communications and technology sectors. The Breath of Allah is a novel that draws on his personal experiences during international work and personal travels throughout Europe and the Middle East. Steven is influenced by his love of travel and history, interest in cutting edge technology, and his family’s experiences in government service.
Steven can be found in Southern California sharing his unending knowledge of movie quotes with his wife and two teenage sons.
Book Links
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
Embattled : Darlene Jones
Embattled
Em sits at her desk, her hands soaked in blood. No wounds, no pain, and no idea where the blood came from. The reds and greens swirling across her computer screen scream jungle battle. She’s certain she was there. Fighting through the jungle to stop a battle, storming into a courtroom to save the accused, facing a firing squad of armed ruffians…
Are her “three wishes” coming true?
And, Yves? He is there to arm her with special powers, to send her into battle, to watch over her. His first assignment as a supreme power is to clean up the mess on Earth without going down there himself. Meeting his superior’s expectations is a huge challenge. Falling in love with Em threatens to ruin everything.
Book Links
Blog
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon
Kabul Gold : Darren Rodell
Kabul Gold
A thrilling, fast paced adventure.
It’s perhaps the perfect crime, undetected and untraceable or is it?
When on a routine observation, SAS officer Dan Temple sees three giant red trucks on the mountain roads of the Hindu Kush, but he doesnt realise that his report has set into motion a chain of events that will threaten his life, and the lives of those he loves.
Following an assignment which leaves him disillusioned by his brutal career, and oblivious to what he knows, Daniel retires to his newly purchased farm in Buckhorn Abbas to live in peace. Leaving his brother, James, to run Temple Stamford, the prosperous and successful company their father left behind when he died, Daniel starts a normal life and a romance with psychology lecturer Caroline Ranger.
All seems calm,until his life is shattered by Salim Oma Asgari and the assassination squad hired by Abbas Abdul Malik, the multibillionaire owner of AAM industries. A drugs lord, arms dealer and owner of one the worlds largest private arts and antiquities collections, Maliks legitimate businesses earn him billions his criminal operations even more. His only weakness is the witness to the one illegal transaction that leads straight to him. His only option is to protect himself, kill Daniel Temple, and those around him. But Daniel Temple isn’t ready to die…
Book Links
Goodreads
Troubador
Amazon Author Page
On Amazon UK
On Amazon
Princes Gate : Mark Ellis
Prince’s Gate: A DCI Frank Merlin Novel
London January 1940. A brilliant scientist is killed by a hit and run driver and the body of a woman employee of the American Embassy is washed up in the Thames. DCI Frank Merlin and his team must investigate.
The American Ambassador, Joseph Kennedy, is a well-known supporter of appeasement and, in common with many influential Britons, favours the pursuit of a negotiated peace settlement with Hitler. Against a background of diplomatic intrigue and duplicity, Merlin’s enquiries cause alarm at the Embassy and the Foreign Office.
The death of another Embassy employee leads Merlin down into the murkier depths of London wartime life, his investigations hampered by interfering superiors fearful of his impact on Anglo-American relations at a time when America represents to many Britain’s only hope of salvation.
Book Links
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
Amazon UK
On Amazon
Forbidden Love : Michelle Grogan
Forbidden Love
Forbidden Love is the story of Jessica Alvarez, a young woman determined to take control of her life from a father who spent who has protected her and shielded her from the dangerous world he inhabits. It’s about Jake Rousseau, a man who does what he does out of loyalty; a man who isn’t ready to give his heart to another woman after losing the one he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. It is about Luis Alvarez, a father intent on keeping his daughter safe at all costs – even if she hates him for it. It is the story of a man willing to do anything it takes to wrest a small town from the clutches of organized crime.
In this modern play on William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, one young woman will be forced into a tug of war between the man she loves, the father who wants to protect her, and the man who will do anything – anything – to get what he wants . . . no matter the consequences. But in the end, will she succumb, much like her Shakesperean counterpart, to the ravages of two warring families, or will she rise above it all in order to have the life and love she wants?