In the year 2444, two noble sisters, Sasha (15) and Adrianne (11), have survived a nuclear fallout, only to be torn apart.
The ground splits open and Adrianne is thrown from her horse, plummeting into the ravine. Spurned on by the hope that Adrianne lives, Sasha embarks on a journey through the desert to face the ravine that claimed her only sister. Meanwhile, deep within the earth, Adrianne is running for her life. She took something that did not belong to her.
In The Intra-Earth Chronicles; Book I: The Two Sisters by Kara Jacobson we experience a fast-paced fantasy adventure woven within the earth, and the unshakeable bond between two sisters.
Kara Jacobson resides in the beautiful, rolling hills of Red Wing, MN with her husband and young son, Logan. She and her husband both work at the local hospital, where they first met. Born with an insatiable appetite for science fiction, Kara has always been intrigued with the notion of entire civilizations existing within the earth. She was a New Media Film Festival (2021) nominee for The Intra-Earth Chronicles, Book I: The Two Sisters.
Giveaway: 5 signed copies of The Intra-Earth Chronicles; Book I: The Two Sisters to give away, and two $25 Visa Gift Cards!
My thoughts: this is a fun adventure for 8-12 year old readers, featuring two sisters fighting against the odds to find one another in a post-apocalyptic future.
Adrienne has fallen into a world beneath the Earth’s crust and is held prisoner, things are very different where she’s ended up and she struggles to escape their hold.
Her sister Sasha is racing towards her, confronted with dangers at every turn but determined to save the only person she has left. Sparky and brave, these sisters share a strong bond. Both will learn a lot about themselves in their adventures.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Jenna is trying to rebuild her life after a series of disastrous relationships. Luke is struggling to provide a safe, loving home for his deceased partner’s young son, following a devastating tragedy. When Jenna and Luke meet and fall in love, they are certain they can achieve the stability and happiness they both desperately need. And yet, someone is watching. Someone who has been scarred by past events. Someone who will stop at nothing to get revenge… Dark, unsettling and immensely moving, Quicksand of Memory is a chilling reminder that we are not only punished for our sins, but by them, and that memories left to blacken and sharpen over time are the perfect breeding ground for obsession, and murder…
Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and the critically acclaimed House of Spines, After He Died, In the Absence of Miracles and A Song of Isolation soon followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr.
My thoughts: this was a brilliantly clever tale of the past, how we interpret our memories, those we choose to preserve, and redemption. Both Luke and Jenna are trying to build new lives, falling in love could be part of it, but there share a connection in the past and someone is determined to drag it all into the light and seek revenge.
It’s so subtly done – you feel sorry for the characters but then a new piece of information might change that, even Jamie, who isn’t a good person in this book, my opinion of him changed a few times, although not his sister, pulling his strings, she was a bit less multi-faceted. She refused to face up to reality, cherry picking her memories and believing everyone else to be lying. Her idol couldn’t slip from his pedestal, her warped view of the past caused a lot of harm.
Luke and Jenna were complicated people, Luke in particular had a pretty dark past and some things he wasn’t proud of, but in training as a therapist and in raising Nathan, he was trying to be a better man – to be someone his son could be proud of. Being dragged back into the messy history of his life before could destroy that. When he and Jenna realise what’s going on, they don’t seek to take revenge and cause more harm, because some things need to stay safely in the past.
Really interesting and compelling, I was rooting for them and for Nathan to have a happier time of it, losing his mum so young must have been awful. Thankfully it ends on a positive swing for him, and some of the other characters. After the repercussions of past events, you need the knowledge that things can change.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
When Jennifer goes up to Cambridge University with her head full of the Romantic Poets, she never dreams that she will find her very own Byron. But then she meets gorgeous actor Laurie Lewis, and finds herself living a real-life love poem.
Fifteen years and two children later, Jennifer and Laurie’s relationship is starting to feel more like an epic tragedy. After a series of revelations turn her world upside down, Jennifer will do anything to keep her family together – even if it means moving hundreds of miles away to Laurie’s childhood home in Westenbury, Yorkshire.
As she reluctantly enters into village life – complete with interfering in-laws, new friends and a surprise delivery of alpacas – Jennifer is amazed to find herself feeling happy for the first time in years. But the village holds one last, devastating secret.
Julie Houston lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire where her novels are set, and her only claims to fame are that she teaches part-time at ‘Bridget Jones’ author Helen Fielding’s old junior school and her neighbour is ‘Chocolat’ author, Joanne Harris. Julie is married, with two adult children and a ridiculous Cockerpoo called Lincoln. She runs and swims because she’s been told it’s good for her, but would really prefer a glass of wine, a sun lounger and a jolly good book – preferably with Dev Patel in attendance.
My thoughts: I love this series, it’s a lot of fun and although the characters from the other books are only briefly in this one, it’s still really enjoyable. Westenbury gets new residents and one old one – in the form of not particularly successful actor and total cad Laurie Lewis and his family, after he spends all of their money and loses a court case.
His wife Jenny is amazing but I don’t know why she puts up with his crap -she thinks she’s doing it for her kids but even they would rather have a happy divorced mother and not be trapped between two unhappy parents. Their daughter doesn’t even want to live with them.
Luckily Westenbury works its magic and Jenny starts to believe in herself a bit more, she starts to write a Regency romance, her son blossoms at the brilliant village school and even Laurie’s terrible secrets don’t do as much harm as they could. Although I still wanted to boot him into a cowpat repeatedly!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
When Anna Matheson fails to collect her son from the babysitter after a works party, the police are swiftly called. Anna is a stickler for time and a good mother – she would never abandon her baby. Her disappearance is totally out of character and DI Isabel Blood and her team soon suspect foul play.
CCTV footage shows Anna was last seen at precisely 11.11pm, as she collected her coat to leave the party. But the cameras outside the venue have failed to pick up her exit from the car park – how could she have vanished in plain sight?
Rumour has it that Anna was set to make big changes in the workplace, and Isabel can’t help but think someone wanted her out of the way.
Everyone at the party is a suspect, and all the clues point to murder…
My thoughts: I like this series, I like Isabel and her team, especially Zoe, who came to the fore in this book, working as the FLO (Family Liaison Officer) and getting crucial information from the victim’s mother that helps steer the investigation in the right direction – towards a killer.
As the police gather information, and interview suspects, you’d think the killer would show themselves, give themselves away, but this one is stone cold.
There are some distractions for Isabel too – her son still hasn’t found a job or an idea of what to do, the family’s beloved dog disappears and her boss is breathing down her neck – wanting her in the office and not out investigating crimes.
The revelations keep coming about the victim – her baby’s father, her own father, she’s been well trained in keeping secrets by her mother, who has a fair few herself. But it’s time for them all to come out and allow the team to get some justice.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
What if you lost the memory of who you are? What if you had to pick up the loose ends of life that wasn’t yours? What if you had to fight somebody else’s battles? What would YOU do ?
Camilla’s life will never be the same after her beloved son Christopher is sent to prison .
Father Joseph’s faith is sorely tested when a deranged psychopath uses the sanctity of the confessional to gloat about his most heinous crimes.
Both Camilla and Joseph are paralysed by doubt and inaction.
But then their lives collide…
BROKEN explores where it takes a stranger to break through one’s bindings and inhibitions in order to do the right thing. It is a story of a mother’s love for her son and a priest’s blind adherence to the seal of confession. It is a story about Fate’s intervention.
Anna Legat is a Wiltshire-based author, best known for her DI Gillian Marsh murder mystery series. Murder isn’t the only thing on her mind. She dabbles in a wide variety of genres, ranging from dark humorous comedy, through magic realism to dystopian. A globe-trotter and Jack-of-all-trades, Anna has been an attorney, legal adviser, a silver-service waitress, a school teacher and a librarian. She has lived in far-flung places all over the world where she delighted in people-watching and collecting precious life experiences for her stories. Anna writes, reads, lives and breathes books and can no longer tell the difference between fact and fiction.
My thoughts: this was very clever and went in a direction I couldn’t have guessed at. Camilla is a woman at war with herself, her son has committed a terrible crime and been imprisoned and she’s picking up the pieces by taking care of her grandson.
Meanwhile, Joseph, a Catholic priest, is making decisions about his future. He’s frightened of one of his parishioners, who uses the confessional to tell Joe all about the murders he’s committed. He seems to think he and the priest are one and the same.
After a shocking accident, things change for both Camilla and Joseph. But they don’t realise at first just how much. Both are seeking redemption.
This was a really clever premise and once it got going absolutely gripping, I wanted to see what they would do, how they would fix things, what new lives they might lead.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions
Two weeks, four friends and one big bucket list of secrets to unravel… Val Murray and her best friend, Josie had been planning a ‘Thelma and Louise’ bucket list style holiday. Now Josie is gone, and Val needs to make the trip before it’s too late. But Val doesn’t want to do it alone, so she enlists the help of her nieces, Carly and Carole, and their best pal, Jess, who jump at the chance to join Val on a trip of a lifetime. What Val doesn’t realise is that Carly, Carole and Jess are all at turning points in their own lives, nursing crushing secrets, lies and betrayals. Somewhere between Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York they all hit a crossroads and have to decide if they want to return to the lives they left behind or let Josie’s last wishes take them on a brand new adventure. Purchase
Shari Low is the #1 bestselling author of over 25 novels, including One Day In Summer and My One Month Marriage and a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. She lives near Glasgow.
My thoughts: this series is reliably funny and full of heart, and this might be my favourite yet! I certainly laughed out loud and trying to explain Auntie Val to my husband was not easy, he just looked confused. With Carly and the gang in tow, Auntie Val has rocked up from Glasgow for the trip of a lifetime, in honour of her best pal Josie.
There are movie themed crazy moments, a pair of granny pants on display, almost getting arrested in New York, actually getting arrested in LA, rescuing a woman in Sarah’s name in Las Vegas, and all manner of craziness.
The gang have grown up and their lives are changing as their kids fly the nest (straight to Carly’s house in some cases) and they’re adjusting to getting older. But the bond between them is strong, there’s adventures to be had and love to be cherished. A really fun, lovely read perfect to enjoy while eating all that Easter chocolate!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Four old friends. Thrown back together after forty years apart. What could possibly go wrong? In the 1970s, The Girls were best friends sharing a house and good times: Zara the famous diva actor, Val the uptight solicitor, Jackie the wild child and Pauline the quirky introvert. Now they’re in their twilight years, and Zara suggests that they live with her to support each other through old age. Initially, being housemates again is just as much fun as in their heyday. But then Zara reveals the real reason she asked them to move in with her, and suddenly things take a sinister turn. As the women confront their demons they come under the spotlight of the press, the police and an angry parrot. With their lives spiralling out of control can they save their friendships and each other?
Bella Osborne has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember but decided that 2013 would be the year that she finished a full length novel. In 2016, her debut novel, It Started At Sunset Cottage, was shortlisted for the Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year and RNA Joan Hessayon New Writers Award. Bella’s stories are about friendship, love and coping with what life throws at you. She likes to find the humour in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories. Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz and planning holidays. She lives in the Midlands, UK with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping). Follow Bella: Twitter: @osborne_bella Facebook: @BellaOsborneAuthor Instagram: @bellaosborneauthor
My thoughts: this was interesting, I don’t think I’d want to be thrown together with people I hadn’t seen or spoken to in years like this. All the old scars and disagreements, the personality clashes are still there, but all of the characters are also pretty set in their ways and some find it harder than others to get along.
Zara is very manipulative, these are her oldest friends, the ones she claims she wants to spend however much time she has left with, but she’s playing a long game and has been for some time. She’s not really kind and has secrets of her own. Who makes their friends their staff.
Val doesn’t really want to be there, she went along with it for Pauline, who she can see has some pain and needs a supportive pal, rather than freewheeling Jackie who’s a little oblivious but not malicious.
There’s lots of secrets and years of their lives missing that they need to catch up on, but as the pals spend time in the French sunshine, they get distracted by other things, like Brian the cat, the obnoxious parrot, the overly chummy gardener and trying to riddle out Vera. It’s a fun book but lifelong friendships take a fair amount of work. Luckily this book is a nice gentle read and I really came to like Val and Pauline, even Jackie.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
If you knew how your love story ends, would you dare to begin?
From the outside, Lorelai is an ordinary young woman with a normal life. She loves reading, she works at the local cinema and she adores living with her best friend. But she carries a painful burden, something she’s kept hidden for years; whenever she kisses someone on the lips, she sees how they are going to die.
Lorelai has never known if she’s seeing what was always meant to be, or if her kiss is the thing that decides their destiny. And so, she hasn’t kissed anyone since she was eighteen.
Then she meets Grayson. Sweet, clever, funny Grayson. And for the first time in years she yearns for a man’s kiss. But she can’t…or can she? And if she does, should she try to intervene and change what she sees?
Spellbinding, magical and utterly original, With This Kiss is one love story you will never forget.
My thoughts: Lorelai avoids falling in love – when she kisses someone she can see how they’ll die, which is a pretty traumatic super power quite frankly and I don’t blame her for being wary. But then of course she meets the one person who could be the love of her life and runs away from him. Literally. Bits of this book are really funny, as is her hilarious best friend.
It’s also a sweet love story about finding the person you love and deciding to be with them regardless of any hardships that might come your way – which is what we all do really. It’s why the traditional marriage vows include “for better, for worse”, love is a decision. A risk, and one Lorelai realises she can take even if she knows how it ends.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own persona
CSI Ally Dymond’s commitment to justice has cost her a place on the major investigations team. After exposing corruption in the ranks, she’s stuck working petty crimes on the sleepy North Devon coast.
Then the body of nineteen-year-old Janie Warren turns up in the seaside town of Bidecombe, and Ally’s expert skills are suddenly back in demand.
But when the evidence she discovers contradicts the lead detective’s theory, nobody wants to listen to the CSI who landed their colleagues in prison.
Time is running out to catch a killer no one is looking for – no one except Ally. What she doesn’t know is that he’s watching, from her side of the crime scene tape, waiting for the moment to strike.
My thoughts: I’m very familiar with North Devon as part of my family comes from there and several relatives still live there. I’ve spent many holidays down there visiting my rellies, and am weirdly familiar with supermarkets and traffic queues of the area, it’s what happens when you’re staying with residents, not in the more “Holiday” areas.
Breakneck Point is set in that world, the part tourists don’t see, the rundown estates and unlovely bits in which real people live their whole lives, not eating fish and chips washed down with a Mr Whippy for every meal.
I liked Ally, she’s very dedicated and dogged when it comes to her work, she doesn’t like people who break the rules and won’t lie to get a conviction, even if she knows the scumbag’s guilty. But that backfires on her and leaves her without a friend in the police when she spots inconsistencies and evidence they’ve overlooked that could have prevented further deaths.
But when it comes to her daughter, she’s not as focused as maybe she should be and I get that too. It can be hard, teenagers are secretive and don’t share, she and Megan have lost some of their closeness – which is normal, but the fact she’s been a little distracted means she’s even more passionate about solving this case when Megan becomes a victim.
The writing was really clever, flipping between viewpoints and tenses – you get a really disturbing insight into the mind of a violent criminal as well as the attempt to stop him. The author worked as a CSI and draws on her knowledge here, and that adds a layer of expertise and insider details to the story.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to the book tour for The Discontent of Mary Wenger by Robert Tucker. Read on for more details!
The Discontent of Mary Wenger (Paper Dolls #1)
Publication Date: February 3rd, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Tell-Tale Publishing
Emotionally torn between the conflicting historical social forces of feminism and the traditional roles of women in post-World War II society, Mary Wenger struggles with a deep sense of despair. Spanning the continent during the decades of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s to the turn of the century, her compulsive lifelong odyssey in search of an acceptable house in which to realize her personal and economic goals throws her out of balance with her family.
A master wordsmith tells Mary’s story with a subtle touch of humor only an actual descendant could wield with success. Her fictional memoir is based on historical facts and bravely reveals Mary’s discovery and fear of separation from her children. The existential examination allows Mary to finally understand how her personal discontent, obsessions, internal demons, and depression affect her husband and children, as they mature and independently react to her attempts to mold them to her vision of how they all should be as a family. The life of every character is determined by his or her delusions and how they clash or compromise with one another.
Since I was a young girl, I have always believed that death is stalking me. It lurks and hovers in the dark recesses of my mind like a virus waiting to strike and destroy when I least expect it.
When I was eight years old, I wrote a poem about myself and death.
My name is Mary
Sounds airy
Death is scary
It makes me wary
Being wary makes me carey
All my life, I have developed defenses and tried to be a protector of the people I love. They often didn’t see things the way I did and they didn’t agree with me. But I knew what was best for all of us.
I always have.
My mother told me the first night when she and Dad moved in, the wail of an infant floated up to their bedroom. Eyes wide open with fear, she lay listening as the weak cry faded to silence.
“Mike, did you hear that?” she whispered and poked Dad in the ribs. “It came from the cellar.”
“Just a cat. I’ll chase it out in the morning.”
Shaking his arm, she insisted. “It sounded like a baby. You must go down and look.”
“I’m tired. I look in the morning.”
“Please, Mike, I scared.”
“Aah! All right.” He touched a lighted match to their bedside candle. The electricity had not yet been connected. He went down the creaking stairs into the cellar.
Unseen by him, a woman’s bare foot and leg were pulled out through the window. The glow of the candle light was reflected by the wet shine of an object in one corner. Dad approached it and his blood chilled.
A newborn infant lay curled, the blood and mucous of the afterbirth still clinging to its blue body.
In horror, he fumbled his way back up the stairs to the bedroom where he blew out the candle and set it on the dresser.
Mother pulled the blankets close around herself. “What was it?”
Dad quickly climbed into bed. “Nothing but cat. I get rid of it in the morning.”
Before Mother awoke, Dad buried the infant in the back part of the yard farthest from the house in a corner of what would be a vegetable garden.
Many years later, when I was a young woman, Mother told me she knew Dad had lied to her to shield her from the grotesque reality of what he had found in the basement. She knew the difference between the wail of a newborn infant and the wail of a cat.
She never asked him where he had buried the infant. She suspected she knew from the unusual growth and size of tomatoes she had planted in that section of the garden. The thought of the child as fertilizer sickened her. Believing the soul of the infant existed in the ripe red fruit, she buried the tomatoes in a field far from the house and dug up and destroyed the plants.
Refusing to explain why, she avoided planting any other vegetables in that part of the garden. The spot of untilled soil was a silent message to Dad that she knew what had lain buried there.
I was sitting between Ruth and Nina clinking ice in our glasses of lemonade. I slowly turned the pages of the latest Sears & Roebuck catalog while they chatted about the clothes and merchandise they would buy if they had the money. We all did a lot of wishing in those days. Wishing didn’t cost anything, but left us with an aching malaise and a shared emptiness that our imaginations could not fill.
Since we had little in the way of personal possessions, we shared everything. If one of us even bought a candy bar, we wouldn’t think of eating it all. We would divide it up so each of us had a taste.
Author of 27 novels and a retired business and management consultant in a wide range of industries throughout the country, I reside with my wife in Southern California.
I’m a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles with Bachelor’s and Master Degrees.
A Pulitzer nominated author, I am a recipient of the Samuel Goldwyn and Donald Davis Literary Awards.
An affinity for family and generations pervades my novels. My works are literary and genre fiction that address the nature and importance of personal integrity.
As the grandson of immigrants who fled persecution in Germany and Austria-Hungary and came to America during the early 1900’s, the early history of our country and the rise of the middle-class have always held a fascination for me. The dramatic depiction of fictional characters placed in actual events sharply and realistically bring alive the harsh times and adversity of the multitude of people who sought freedom and a better way of life and demonstrate that only a little over one-hundred years have passed to bring us to where we are as a struggling society today.
The chronology and events of history have captured and held my interest for many reasons, among them being stories that entertain, educate, and inform. Learning about the lives of my immigrant grandparents coming to America from Czechoslovakia during the early 1900s and the lives of my parents during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s provided the initial motivation. Researching and writing historical fiction is a way to learn more about myself and my origins and the social, political, and economic influences related to my generation.
Whether writing historical fiction or non-fiction or fantasy, I’m drawn into the societies and cultures of a particular period that inspire the creation of characters who bring that era to life. Not only do I experience this dynamic in books, but in films, plays, dance, music, and other art forms.
Researching history takes me into the exploration of new territory perhaps outside of my own life experience through reading other sources, interviews, travel, and films. Although a number of fine books are written from personal experience by authors who lived through those times, much of the historical writing by contemporary authors is dependent on secondary sources. Forays into the past for story material is a rewarding part of the creative process.
ramblingmads 