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Please welcome our guest reviewer today! Let’s see what she has to say. Take it away, Virginia… Thank you! ♥ Rosemary's Beach House by Linda Heavner Gerald  https://books2read.com/u/4EEd6o I wish I knew what work this book was based on or mimics. I would classify it as suspense or romantic suspense. Rosemary grew on me over time, and Malcom was a charmer. Lucy and Josh are notable characters as well. I enjoyed watching Rosemary and Malcom’s romance grow while the mystery and tension grew. The first three-quarters of the book are about Rosemary’s life and then her life with Malcom. The last quarter covers her devastation after Malcom’s death. The suspense starts when she and Malcom marry, and the danger is only revealed when the “intruder” finally comes to finish Rosemary off. The mystery is solid. Bountiful clues and foreshadowing keep you guessing. The characters feel real and play their parts well. Also, there was a lot of referring to God, and a thread of Him keeping Rosemary safe by “closing her mouth,” but I wouldn’t call this an inspirational mystery. I recommend reading this book for the story—just to see how it turns out in the end. The writing was a bit tedious for me to read. The MC tells us the whole thing. Only the dialogue feels natural. The rest is a narration. The one POV we never get is Malcom’s. We get his words and actions, but I’m not really sure he loved Rosemary. I think he did, and she “said” he did, but we get none of his thoughts. This could be my bias. I was so busy looking for clues in the mystery that I became suspicious of the love story. Finally, I’m tired of vilifying mental illness by making the murderer “crazy.” Anger, betrayal, and jealousy are all good enough reasons to kill. That said…I know that plenty of “craziness” causes death, but using a diagnosis to explain “why” cheapens the worth of those diagnosed as such. NOTE: I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I give this book 3 stars because the MC survived awful events with her soul intact, and supported those around her.  Image by Masadepan on Freepik. Book Blurb: Rosemary Lewis divorced her husband after she discovered him with another woman. Suffering from depression at her loss, the young woman threw herself into work as a registered nurse. Then, she met Malcolm Beach who represented her dream. Together, they did enjoy a perfect life. Devotion from her new husband thrilled her as they traveled all over the world. Sailing became their pastime until the sudden death of her love. Once again, Rosemary found herself devastated and alone. Suddenly, an unknown foe threatened her very life. Why did this begin after the death of her husband? Slowly gleaning bits of information, she discovers that Malcolm's previous lover was insane. Is this the one who makes her life hell? Now, a wealthy widow, Rosemary must fight to survive in the beautiful home named 'Rosemary's Beach House'. Universal Reader link: https://books2read.com/u/4EEd6o Here’s an excerpt from the book… Although I attempted to appear as confident as I looked, my hands shook. Before Malcolm arrived, I cut fresh flowers to display on the foyer table. They were beautiful. My problem was I forgot to lay the scissors down, so I held them in my left hand. Just as I opened the door with my right hand, my left one tried to hug Malcolm. Instead, the scissors became entwined in the strap of my dress. Panic overcame me. Spastically, I pressed the blades of the scissors together cutting the strap of my new dress. It was slightly large on me. The entire right side of the stunning dress fell exposing my nakedness. I didn’t wear a bra. Since the outfit was strapless, my breast glowed innocently at Malcolm from my red doorway. My prince looked from my face to my right boob in shock. Moments passed as we stared at each other unsure of the correct response. “Oh, well, I say, RM, you have a welcoming way about you. Never, in my life did I receive this sort of welcome! It is the best! Way to go, RM! I have to say that your boob, which you seem proud to display, looks as succulent as my gift to you. This was a joke, my bag of onions, but your boob outdoes my meager attempt at humor. I mean, I guess this is supposed to be funny, right?” Gently, he smiled while thrusting a huge bag of Vidalia Onions in my face. I knew that I should have closed the door and let this relationship melt away. We weren’t meant to be. Instead, I threw both arms around the good doctor’s neck. Malcolm smelled faintly of intoxicating cologne. Staggering into him with the scissors still in hand, I jabbed them into his right temple. Not very far, mind you, but enough to nick the skin. Now, his beautiful white shirt displayed pinpoints of bright red blood. Will he still smile at me? Dumb as this sounds, that was my thought. I pulled from Malcolm’s embrace to see him hesitate. Oh, no, this is it. My dream is going to walk away. Not knowing what else to do, I cried. This brilliant man was not only famous and accomplished, but he was kind. “Now, now, RM, these things happen. Don’t cry. Someday, we will laugh at all the drama.” Did he say someday? Do we still have a future? I promise not to make another mistake. BOOK INFO: AUTHOR: Linda Heavner Gerald TITLE: Rosemary’s Beach House GENRE: Mystery/Suspense RELEASE DATE: January 9, 2019 PUBLISHER: Lime Pie Publishers ISBN/ASIN: B07MM67SCH OUR RATING: 3 Stars REVIEWED BY: V.B. “Can Do Indie Author” Guest Blogger/Reviewer Bio:  VB is an indie author who writes romance and Sci Fi and voraciously reads anything (with some limits). When she’s not reading and writing, she’s working a day job to pay for her truck habit and puttering around her house. Awesome. Thanks for this, V.B., and for stopping by the blog! :) Check out our latest Writing in the Modern Age blog post here. 
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Please welcome our guest reviewer today! Let’s see what she has to say. Take it away, Jamie… Thank you! ♥ Miscreants, Murderers, and Thieves anthology - organized by Samuel W. Reed  https://books2read.com/u/boqXR1 A little suspense, a little tiny bit of romance, a lot of plot twists, a little sci-Fi maybe. This anthology has a little bit of everything for everyone. Lots of didn't-see-that-coming moments too. Quick short stories. I did feel as if some of the stories left out some important details and may have been rushed to "finish". NOTE: I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I give this book 4 stars.  Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay. Book Blurb: Take a tour through the minds of thirteen of today's most talented independent authors in a crime anthology like no other. Miscreants, Murderers, and Thieves hosts a cross-section of indie writers from all across America in a unique compilation of diverse voices set to take you on a journey beyond your wildest imagination. From aging detectives trapped in a magic house of hell, to a doctor with a fascination for the macabre, to New Century City, where superheroes and supervillains battle it out for supremacy, this is a genre-bending short story collection guaranteed to thrill. Featuring contributions from award-winning authors, screenwriters, and wordsmiths such as Don Bapst, David Beeler, Shawn D. Brink, Dori Ann Dupre, Gabriel DiDomenico, Dane G. Kroll, Ethel Lung, Casey Mensing, Suzanne Crain Miller, Samuel W. Reed, Katherine Tomlinson, Will Wallace & Nicholas Zeman, with illustrations by Jared Sloger. Universal Reader link: https://books2read.com/u/boqXR1 Here’s an excerpt from the book… With a last look around, Jonathan exhaled a sigh and trudged back up the walkway to the front door. He was mildly surprised to find it wouldn’t open. One of the first things he’d done when he and Kaye had moved into the house was change the lock so it would shut but not latch unless turned with a key. Probably it’s just frozen in the cold, Jonathan decided. It’s an old house. But after he jiggled the handle and pulled and tugged, it became clear that the door was, in fact, locked. Jonathan was irritated, but not yet concerned. They kept a spare key to the front door beneath a fake rock hidden in the rose bushes that bracketed the front porch like a pair of parentheses. It took him a while to find the fake rock and he scratched himself on the thorny branches of the winterized rose bushes in the process. When he reached down to pick up the phony stone one of the thick, hard thorns embedded itself in his forearm, drawing a single tear of blood, which he ignored as he stared below at the cold, bare dirt. He was puzzled at first, but that soon gave way to a feeling that he identified as … panic. He patted the pockets of his robe, unconsciously searching for a phantom key but finding only a random cough drop wrapped in sticky paper. “Fuck,” he said out loud, closing his robe a little tighter. He considered lobbing the fake rock at his bedroom window but knew Kaye would never hear it. She was a heavy sleeper and she’d been snoring when he left their bedroom. Jonathan climbed the steps back onto the porch and considered his options. The house was at the end of a cul-de-sac, small enough that he and Kaye knew all their neighbors. But the housing crisis had taken its toll on the neighborhood and only two of the houses were occupied. Their nearest neighbors had gone to visit their children for the holidays and the man who lived in the house across the street worked the night shift. Jonathan sighed. The windows on the first floor of his house were all covered by iron security grates. Even if he managed to break the glass, it wouldn’t do him any good; the openings were too small to wriggle through. He walked around the house toward the garage, wondering if he could pry the roll-down door open wide enough to crawl under it. He knelt on the damp, cold concrete to get some traction on the door handle but couldn’t budge it more than an inch. Fuck, he thought again, and then, it’s getting cold. In fact, it wasn’t actually getting colder, but the wind had picked up significantly, making it feel like it had. Jonathan stamped his feet to warm them up, and then tried jumping jacks to get the blood flowing in the rest of his body. The exercise didn’t help. He began to shiver, at first imperceptibly and then so violently that his teeth began to rattle. He started next door with the vague notion of breaking into the neighbor’s house, but halfway across the lawn he tripped on one of the pop-up sprinklers that kept their grass green in summer. He fell heavily and by the time he’d gathered himself, he’d forgotten his plan and returned to the house. He was beginning to have a hard time thinking straight. A few minutes later, it seemed like a good idea to shuck his robe and kick off the slippers, which were now loose on his cold, shrunken feet. By the time he stepped out of his boxers, he was feeling light-headed and calm. He didn’t even see the shadow lingering in the window. *** Inside the house, which she kept heated to 78 degrees against the Minnesota winter, Kaye watched as her husband peeled of his boxers in what she had learned was known as “paradoxical undressing.” It was a sign that the body and mind were starting to shut down in the cold, a symptom of extreme systemic distress. It was 23 degrees outside and the forecast called for sleet and possibly snow before the night was over. The wind was from the north, sweeping down from Canada and dropping the perceived temperature to somewhere around minus 15. That was cold, but not spectacularly cold. Kaye had read that in parts of Siberia empty plastic bags would freeze within minutes in the frigid temperatures; freeze and then crack like glass. She’d seen movies where people were flash-frozen by liquid nitrogen and then shattered like fine china. She’d have liked to have seen Jonathan break into a million frozen shards. But that might have looked suspicious to the police. Better to keep it simple. A lot of people simply freeze to death every winter. She’d looked it up. There’d be no reason for the police to question her story that she’d found him dead on the front lawn after he’d inexplicably wandered out into the cold. They’d find the 25-year-old scotch in his belly in the autopsy and nod knowingly. Most cold-related deaths involved alcohol, Kaye had read. Jonathan always had a drink or two before bed. She knew it was the only way he could stomach lying so close to her night after night. The police probably wouldn’t check his cell phone but if they did, it would be a bonus. The text had come from a burner phone Kaye had picked up the day after their last anniversary, the anniversary where he’d gotten her a $50 gift certificate to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It had been easy enough to schedule the text to arrive in the middle of the night. The number wouldn’t track back to Lila, of course, but Kaye had attached one of the nude pictures she’d found in Jonathan’s computer. Lila’s skanky face had been clearly visible. It wouldn’t take the police long to find her and to ask her why she’d enticed her lover out of the house on such a cold night. Kaye had watched a lot of Forensics Files. The police wouldn’t find the photo on Jonathan’s computer. Kaye had replaced his hard drive after duplicating everything on the system except for the pictures and the incriminating emails. It had taken her close to a month, but she was nothing if not patient. Kaye really didn’t bear her rival any ill will, but if Lila was implicated in Jonathan’s death, well, it’d be gravy. At the thought of gravy, Kaye's stomach growled. Maybe I’ll make some ham and red-eye gravy, she thought. Once all the commotion dies down. Maybe some biscuits, too. Something that’ll stick to my ribs on such a cold morning. Kaye smiled as she turned back to her cozy cotton bed. She had always loved the cold. BOOK INFO: AUTHOR: Samuel W. Reed (editor, organizer) TITLE: Miscreants, Murderers, and Thieves GENRE: Crime Fiction Anthology RELEASE DATE: January 25, 2020 PUBLISHER: Reed Press ISBN/ASIN: B0846Y2J51 OUR RATING: 4 Stars REVIEWED BY: Jamie M. Guest Blogger/Reviewer Bio:  My name is Jamie Manous. I am a single mom with two adult kids, both in college. I also have three fur babies, two dogs, and one cat. When I am not working or caring for my family, I spend my downtime reading and writing reviews for books and products I like. I like reading because it allows me to escape the world for a couple of hours and destress. I have done countless reviews for Amazon, and I have reviewed many authors including Michelle Major, Jo McNalley, Eva Moore, and E.M Shue. Most of the authors I review write Romance/Harlequin. But I enjoy reading genres like Romance/Harlequin, Murder Mystery, True Crime, Historical Nonfiction, and Historical Fiction. On very rare occasions, I read Fantasy Literature like Harry Potter or Twilight. I have reviewed for many years and still prefer a good ole paperback any day and own a personal library with about 7,000 books. Awesome. Thanks for this, Jamie, and for stopping by the blog! :)  |
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