Saturday, April 21, 2007

Edgar Font's Hunt For A House To Haunt Adventure One


Edgar Font’s Hunt For A House To Haunt
Adventure One: The Castle Tower Lighthouse
by Patrick H. T. Doyle

An enchanting story that introduces Garrett and Audrey to some pretty wondrous adventures that delivers a positive message to children everywhere. Garret and Audrey are brother and sister, and as they head to China to join their father they have no clue of the great adventure that lies ahead. The children usually stay with their aunt while their father is off on his trips as an architect but this year the children’s aunt is asked to join their father for the summer in China. The children end up spending most of their time with Edgar Font, their grandfather. Edgar is on a quest of finding the perfect place to haunt when he passes away, and their summer adventures begin, their adventures will be remembered a lifetime. Their first adventure begins at an abandoned lighthouse which is full of puzzles, ghosts and mystery. As their adventure continues through the lighthouse they must rely on everything they know and the lessons that they have learned along the way to ensure they will make it out without being harmed.

The Castle Tower Lighthouse is a children’s book that everyone will fall in love with no matter your age. The author writes with such skill that lights an imaginitative spark in the reader. The illustrations are absolutely wonderful and the message the story delivers is of a positive one. This is sure to be a series you will want to keep and treasure for years to come. I intend to collect each in the series for my grandson to enjoy, which I am sure will ignite another book lover in our family. I cannot wait until Edgar Font’s Hunt For a House To Haunt Adventure Two: The Fakersville Power Station comes out in July. I am ready to enjoy another great adventure with Edgar Font on his search for the perfect place to haunt.

You will not want to miss the website and blog devoted to Edgar Font, they will add to your enjoyment, check them out at:

http://edgarfont.com
http://edgarfont.blogspot.com

The blogspot gives you so much informative information, which includes how the author came up with the story. Here you will find the information about Edgar Font, Audrey and Garrett. Be sure to read the top 10 questions that are asked relating to the story as you will find some very interesting facts.

The Edgar Font series is highly recommended for everyone. It has been such an honor and a pleasure to be able to review such a treasure that will be added to my collection to pass on from generation to generation. A message to the author: not only have you created such a great story for children, you have accomplished reaching readers of all ages with this series and need to be commended. I personally thank you, Bravo!

The author has created a treasured collection for readers of all ages!!!!!

Lethally Blond


Lethally Blond
by Kate White
ISBN-13: 978-0446577953
Bailey Weggins Mystery, 336 pages

Lethally Blond is by Cosmopolitans magazine editor in chief Kate White. A Bailey Weggins Mystery.

Bailey Weggins is the Buzz gossip magazine reporter, she reports celebrity crimes. She is asked to hunt down a missing actor by an old friend. Tom Fain has disappeared and Chris Wickersham and Tom both are on the TV show called Morgue. But when Tom vanishes without a trace Chris contacts Bailey to help track Tom down.

Bailey and Chris soon learn that Tom has been having an affair with the producers girlfriend and that he has recently withdrawn seven thousand dollars cash. Bailey turns up a lead which takes her to Tom’s family home in New York. What she finds is a deceased Tom, now it seems as if the TV show Morgue may be reality TV. What other disappearances are in store for Bailey from the Morgue? Will Bailey and Chris’s old flame re-ignite? What lies ahead for Bailey? To get the answers to these questions I post you will need to read Lethally Blond, you will not be disappointed.

Kate White has a good plot and the characters are detailed and believable. White writes with a flare for telling a story that is humorous and entertaining. This is a superbly crafted read and is a genuine page turner that offers a mix of romance and mystery.

Simple Genius


Simple Genius

By David Baldacci
ISBN-10: 0446580341
ISBN-13: 978-0446580342
Washington Political Thriller, 432 pages


The setting is Washington, D.C. and Virginia, and it all begins when Michelle Maxwell who is struggling with emotional problems and finds herself in the midst of a barroom brawl and ends up being arrested and put in jail. Michelle agrees to seek therapy in a psychiatric private clinic. Michelle has some demons that haunt her and she must seek help before it is to late, or before someone ends up dead.

Sean King is Michelle’s partner, they both are former Secret Service Agents, and as Sean watches Michelle’s decline he is in need of some very needed extra funds which he is lacking. Sean accepts an assignment from an old girlfriend at her Investigation Agency and takes on the new assignment which is to investigate a mysterious death in Virginia. His assignment takes him to a place called Babbage Town where he investigates the shooting near the CIA training center. As the investigation continues Sean begins to discover more accidents and apparent suicides that have taken place.

Michelle checks out of the psychiatric facility and teams up with Sean in Virginia. As the story continues to unfold Sean and Michelle are up against major corruption and must save an innocent girl before time runs out and they must expose the corruption that is occurring at the CIA training camp before it is to late. Will they be able to save Viggie, and will they unlock the hidden dangerous secrets that seem to be locked in her memory? What is this major corruption? Is our nation safe?

David Baldacci’s characters are finely tuned and are well developed, compelling and memorable. He has a gripping plot and incorporates twists and turns that will shock you. Baldacci has done a wonderful job in creating a thriller that is thought provoking and he manages to wrap everything up effortlessly so it all comes together. Reviewing this title was a great pleasure and is a highly recommended read.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Wish Club by Kim Strickland



Wish Club
by Kim Strickland
Three Rivers Press
Crown Publishing Group
ISBN: 978-0-307-35282-8 (0-307-35282-X)
May 2007 | $ 13.95 Fiction


Wish Club is a zany and witty story that you are sure to love. It involves five women, Claudia, Lindsay, Gail, Mara and Jill who are members of a book club. Their book club seems just like any other book club, five women sitting around talking, drinking wine, and even discussing the book they have been reading. Things in their book club had been going rather well until one of the women in the group introduces a book on witchcraft. Being out of the norm, the women are intrigued and decide to go ahead and try their luck at casting a few spells. They start out with a small spell that is to chant and the rain will stop, so they begin chanting and the rain does indeed stop. So they then decide to cast a spell on a cat that is diabetic and the cat heals, its a miracle. So now they decide to embrace their new found powers, so they begin to pursue their new powers further. The women decide to just make wishes to help out themselves in their daily lives, they wish for money, creativity, a baby, time to themselves and a perfect man. This all should be harmless as they are only focusing in on positive thinking and making wishes right?

So now instead of being called the book club they are the wish club. Claudia is a school teacher and wishes to have a baby of her own as soon as possible, she also wants to write a novel; Gail is a housewife and a mother of three and she wishes to have peace and quite time and to get her life back; Lindsay is a socialite and has a trust fund, she wishes to lose weight and wants to be in the Women’s Foundation spring fashion show; while Mara, a former singer wishes for money and to resume her singing career once again; and Jill, an artist wishes for creativity and inspiration, and a perfect man in her life.

Now as the Wish Club members get all too consumed with casting spells in order to improve the various areas of their lives they find themselves in a web of wishes that have gone haywire. What started as an innocent and fun set of small spells has now turned their lives inside out, and everything is out of control. Now they turn to the only person they can think of who might be able to help them get their lives back under control and regain some normalcy, a real witch, someone who can undo what they have done, undo their spells, and finally return their lives back to normal.

Kim Strickland is a pilot for a major airline flying 767s. Kim Strickland lives in Chicago with her husband, her twin boys, two cats and a dog.

Kim Strickland has developed her characters so well and they are so believable and charming and funny. The story line is great, and I can find no faults with this novel. It has been very well written, (cleverly written) and is highly entertaining. Wish Club is an enchanting read, I am recommending it for our reading group. The story is funny, smart and so intriguing. This is a perfect book club read. It is a magical, intriguing, humorous story and give it an astounding 5 stars.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Anatomy of Fear by Jonathan Santlofer


Anatomy of Fear
By Jonathan Santlofer
ISBN: 978-0-06-088197-9 $24.95
William Morrow
An Imprint of Harper Collins
10 East 53rd St., New York, NY 10022
www.HarperCollins.com


As an added bonus be sure to check out the video trailer starring the author Jonathan Santlofer and his artwork:
http://www.jonathansantlofer.com/anatomyvideo.html
(also on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaL97PkP1hs)
Also check out the HarperCollins sweepstakes where the winner gets their portrait sketched by Jonathan Santlofer:
http://www.harpercollins.com/features/anatomyoffear/

The setting is New York and Terri Russo a detective for the NYPD is called to the scene of a murder where she discovers a sketch of the victim alongside the body. Russo is aided in her investigation by Nate Rodriguez, the police sketch artist.

Nate’s father was an undercover narc for the NYPD, Nate still very much disturbed by his fathers death, has managed to avoid doing any on the scene police work. All this is about to change as Nate is drawn into the case, and maybe even further than he could have imagined. Nate begins piecing together the face of the killer and he himself then becomes a target.

The killer also sketches people, his victims, and he uses his abilities to turn the investigation in a different direction. You will find this story erupts with some explosive twists, so hold on for a heart pounding ride.

Jonathan Santlofer is also an artist and has his works displayed in several locations including museums. He received his Masters of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute. Santlofer began writing in 1989 after a gallery fire claimed five years of his works. Anatomy of Fear contains both of his talents; his artwork enhances the strong compelling and intriguing plot, each complementing the other.

Santlofer has a steady flow of action and suspense with enough twists and turns to leave you with anticipation. The characters are distinctive and interesting with qualities that make them believable. The scenes are written with such a compelling impact that is gripping and makes this a genuine page turner to the end.

A guaranteed 5 star read.

Pattern of Vengeance A Maria Sanchez Thriller by C. Hyytinen


Pattern of Vengeance
A Maria Sanchez Thriller
By C. Hyytinen
Echelon Press Publishing
9735 Country Meadows Lane 1-DLaurel, MD 20723
ISBN: 978-1-59080-520-6 $12.99
April 2007 286 pages

The setting begins in Minneapolis and then moves between LA, Minneapolis, as well as some scenes set in Florida. Agent Stan Bauer has been murdered and believed to have been a Mafia hit. Detective Maria Sanchez is on the case. Her partner is Tom Powders who is nearing retirement and he has been acting very odd lately, Maria is not sure what he is up too, but begins to speculate as the story continues. They believe there is a leak in the department and no one can be trusted. Special Investigator Joe Morgan is Maria’s husband of ten wonderful years.
Chief Sandra LaSalle is the new chief having moved from New York only a year ago, she is a petite redhead in her fifties and is not very well liked and has earned some names since arriving as the new Chief in Minneapolis. Due to the nature of the crimes being committed, the possibility of a leak within the department LaSalle has made the decision to assign the case to Sanchez and partners her with Morgan.

Maria was once married to Jack Sanchez known as The River Rat and was the father to her daughter Tess. He was also father to a boy named Tony, whose mother died and Maria and Joe adopted him, after all he and Tess are brother and sister. Tess is in college and is twenty years old, Tony is a teenager about sixteen. It is nearly Christmas and Tess has finished with finals and comes home to stay for a month, which is just in time as the case heats up for her parents. Will they finally be able to put an end to all the mafia’s crimes? Will anyone else die as a result of this investigation? Will the person responsible for leaking the information to Marco be discovered in time?

LaSalle brings in Etina Altmark a Russian from New York to go undercover as a runaway, she is twenty eight but looks as if she is only fifteen. Hyytinen has a way of leaving you on the edge of your seat, she has incorporated vivid details and accounts throughout the story, making this one that you have to read from front to back non-stop. The chapters are short and each chapter leaves an inevitable hook at the end leaving you with the desire to read one more and then another. The author has superbly written scenes with impact, with a steady flow of action and suspense. This story is so relentless, gripping and intriguing and a genuine page turner. The characters are so finely tuned, believable and real, you find yourself cheering them on, hoping for the best, and feel these are people you have known for quite some time. You will find yourself thinking of the characters long after finishing the book. The story erupts with explosive twists and delivers a powerful ending that will leave you breathless. This is a must read, I will warn there is mature themes including language, but I have no hesitation in saying I highly recommend reading The Maria Sanchez Thrillers. If looking for an explosive read you will not want to miss this one.

It has been a great pleasure to read and review Pattern of Vengeance and I truly cannot wait to read the first in the Maria Sanchez Thrillers, and look forward to all her new releases.

The Strangeling by Saskia Walker


by Saskia Walker
Juno Books
ISBN: 978-0-8095-5793-6 $9.95
Fantasy

The setting is Edren a fantasy world created by the author who has a magical imaginative spark in storytelling.

The Strangeling is an erotic fantasy novel that revolves around Maerose, a beautiful young woman with magical powers. Maerose is the heroine and Bron is her hero. Bron is an elder and goes on the quest of rescuing Maerose from her captor, Veldor who is a former elder himself. Veldor’s intentions are malicious as he seeks to mate with Maerose in order to master the demons and rule the lands.Veldor is knowledgeable on the prophecy made around 100 years ago; the prophecy is one of a chilling nature where the undead armies of Crondor and Yaxlan rise up from the underworld with great power. As the prophecy has foretold of a maiden that can save the forest and the elders all believe this to be Maerose due to the revelations revealed about the prophecy. Will good conquer evil or will evil prevail in this fascinating fantasy?

The Strangeling is a short fantasy novel that is packed with vivid details and a precise amount of action. Walker writes the story with impact and the story is a superbly crafted erotic fantasy. The characters are well developed with detail and the author manages to tie the characters together well.

This is the first of the author’s works I have had the pleasure of reviewing and have to admit I am hooked. I look forward to her new release next month which is also a fantasy entitled “Unveiling The Sorceress”.

Saskia Walker is a British author of erotic romance, fantasy and erotica. Her idea for this novel began at a tender age of between 8 and 9 when she first became interested in paganism and her parents took her to visit Stonehenge.Saskia Walker earned her BA with honors from the University of Sussex, and has a MA in Literature and Visual Arts from theUniversity of Reading. She currently resides north of London with her true love Mark.

A Magical 5 stars for The Strangeling!