We View Reviews Wednesday

Back with more reviews to help you find new authors you like or discover new sites that do reviews.  Either way, it's a win/win.  I've picked the "glowing" parts of the reviews and given you the link if you'd like to read more.
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C.L. Shore

Shore sets us an exciting mystery where the characters are vulnerable and seeking out the truth is dangerous. What a thrill ride that Shore provides you will leaving you wanting to read this cover to cover. Detective Jed McCracken is called to the scene to investigate what he think is a crime and turns into a hunt to find a killer. One that involves an old friend that is now a nun. Together they will try to catch a killer, but is that enough? Pick up this book to find out. Shore provides interesting characters who are vulnerable and who give us a glimpse into their worlds. Although I found the use of a nun a bit off, Shore does make it work in her favor. I find that sometimes you have to have an open mind to mystery stories and go along the journey wherever it may take you. Those who love a good mystery will enjoy this read and it will keep you on your toes, trying to guess what may befall the detective and Sister Lucie.

Review done by The Pen and Muse.

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 J.R. LINDERMUTH

The complex mystery elements of the plot here are layered in nicely and then brought to a satisfactory conclusion. But, as always, the real treat in reading this series is Lindermuth's use of locale and the colorful cast of characters --- each given distinct and memorable features, even when they are only "on stage" a brief amount of time. Anchoring all of this, of course, is the cast of recurring characters we have been introduced to in the previous books. Spending time with them is like spending time with old friends. And, much to his credit, Lindermuth has allowed this recurring cast to evolve and change as the series progresses. In BEING SOMEONE ELSE, for example, we see the new chief, Brubaker, starting to come into his own, gaining more self assurance and no longer wanting to be so reliant on Sticks. And we see Sticks, a widower since the beginning of the series, nervously on the brink of a new romance and at the same contemplating a career move that seems to bode well for the continuation of the series and perhaps even broadening its scope a bit.

Good stuff all the way around. Highly recommended. - Reviewed on Amazon by Wayne D. Dundee

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MIRIAM NEWMAN

Story: 8.5
Presentation: 9
Total: 17.5
Publisher: Dark Castle Lords Publications
Historical

Blurb: An ambitious young Norman knight, Neel, is seriously wounded at the Battle of Hastings and nursed back to health by a Saxon girl, Rowena. For her, it is only a matter of Christian duty and she is shocked to receive his proposal of marriage in return. She dares not refuse, but how can she love a Norman?

Review: As a general rule…well not really a rule but anyway…I don’t normally read stories about knights and the like. Not sure why. They just never have really jumped out at me from the bookstore shelves. I am THRILLED that I nabbed this one :)

Jam packed with emotion you can feel weeping off the pages. Desperation and choices that will tear you apart. This story kicked it hard.

A strong heroine, a sexy hero and a love that bloomed in the face of war. Knock out :) 

Reviewed by Seriously Reviewed

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  VONN LANE

Lane’s An Ocean Apart has us journey back to 1840′s England. Lane presents to us a love story between two characters who have their love tested and a mad man on the loose who threatens their love. Lane provides us with a wonderful love story that will pull at your own heart strings as you fall in love with both main characters. Both in plot, dialogue, and characterization does Lane bring you back to that time. Lane also provides picturesque scenes that make you fall in love with the time period and not only just the characters. If you are looking for a wonderful, historical, love story that can take you back time then look no further that Vonn Lane’s An Ocean Apart.

http://thepenmuse.net/?s=an+ocean+apart to view the whole review.

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Vivianne Brentanos

Written in Stone is a wonderfully written contemporary romance story by Brentanos. It follows the story of Cassandra Hall who is dumped five days before her wedding. Not wanting to deal with her horrible fiancee and her shattered heart, she takes it upon herself on the honeymoon. She ends up in London and meets James, who is just captivating and sweet. I really did enjoy Cassandra’s character, I admire her although broken hearted taking it upon herself to just get up and go somewhere. Most women might have just dealt with it differently and moped. Meeting James does Cassandra a lot of good, besides friends, she is beginning to like him more, but the sad case is that James is a taken man. It’s not to stop her from admiring him. James although taken has an attraction for the saddened beauty in front of him. Will he want to be more than friends and will he share his secret with Cassandra? Brentanos creates wonderful torn characters and a wonderful structured story. You will not be dissatisfied with this love story of losing love and finding in the unexpected places.  Reviewed by The Pen and the Muse.

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 Sharon A. Donovan

Sharon’s particular forte seems to be writing suspense. In Charade of Hearts

 she really showcases this talent. I absolutely loved this story, but may have developed a certain level of catoptrophobia. The antagonist, Kelekona, uses a triple-paneled mirror. And no, it’s "not" so the heroine can check her make-up. It’s for something far more sinister than helping her correct a make-up faux pas. While I’m discussing the antagonist, let me touch upon characterization. Donovan is really good with character descriptions.

This story packs great characterization with intensifying suspense. A perfectly well-rounded

novella with amazing imagery…I mean it! I felt as if I was swimming among the sea life and admiring the Hawaiian flora on land. I visualized the author’s every word.

Reader Warning:

 Keep your feet off the floor! There’s a dragon moray eel on the loose. And although his owner is this sexy tattooed Polynesian man, he’s as deadly as his pet.

Recommendations:

Recommended for readers who run for their lives when they see a 500 paged novel. Charade of Hearts

 is a novella. Great for readers who over-indulge on romantic suspense, mysteries, Harlequin Intrigues, and anyone who likes a story with a bad guy and the cop who’s trying to stop him.

Reviewed by Love Romance Passion.

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Nancy Damato

This book is top notch. The characters are all well rounded and real. We immediately sympathize with our heroine's plight and hope for a relationship with the sexy hero. The plot is complicated and delicious, maintaining a high level of tension from the suspense and the sexual tension between the two main characters. They do more than just feel tense about it and the results are electrifying. The really hot sexual encounters fit seamlessly into the natural flow of the story, the inevitable result of the constant danger and their burgeoning attraction. I enjoyed this book right from the beginning, the action starts immediately as does also the sexual tension. The surprises near the end and the ending itself are wholly satisfying; a story like only Ms. Lloyd can spin. You have to read this one; it's a really, really good book. I highly recommend it. Reviewed by The Romance Studio.

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 Linda Rettstaff

What do you do when you're tired of lying to the boss' wife, tired of being the taxi service, gourmet chef and personal valet for your entire family? You quit! That is exactly what Janet DeMarco does - she quits her job with her husband's brother (gives herself a month's severance pay, too), she posts cleaning, laundry and cooking class schedules for the household and expects results. That's the calm part.
Janet decides her new life needs a new name. She becomes Hope. Hope becomes a blonde, goes walking in the park, meets new and unique people and discovers that her mother-in-law isn't near as foreboding as Hope/Janet once thought. Her grandma-in-law is a wonderful gal, thin, Italian, up for anything. When Hope shows her how to use her new laptop; Carmela immediately puts in "Bad Boy," looking for a horse. That isn't what she gets, believe me!
Finding Hope is one of the best books I've read this year. The scenarios of the family dealing with revolt from Mom, the renaming plan goes much farther than just Janet/Hope—all of it is just wonderful. Not only will you find Hope, you will also find Joy and sofialoren. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a warm, funny story to pass a wintery afternoon with—you'll love it! 

Reviewed by Manic Readers 

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Stephen Wytrysowski

 

It’s an odd, brave book, I said, but a breeze of a read. Wytrysowski’s as disarming as he is discerning, and the trouble he has with big concepts is as reassuring as the covers of those Total Moron’s Guides to Just About Everything.

Humor is a tricky thing to pull off in a novel, but Echterling manages to coax from us, if not outright laughter, an occasional smile of recognition that, yes, in fact, this is how we humans would behave in front of intergalactic company.

Wytrysowski is never quite sure what’s happening, and neither are we; consequently, much of the action feels as if it occurs off the page. His directness is such, however, that we never feel any more left out of the loop than he is, at least, and so the “what-nextness” of the story remains intact. He grapples convincingly with the nature and the substance of what is done to, for, about, and even by him—so much of which occurs somewhere in the sub-basement of his own awareness. We understand almost subliminally that we, too, are learning by incremental leaps and bounds to communicate with those regions of the sentient universe that we experience as alien only to the extent that the “Polishness” of our jokes exposes us to our own presumptuous innocence, to the comfortableness of underacheivement and to the willful suspension of belief in who we are.
Reviewed by Best Damn Creative Writing Blog