Required Reading

Life is complicated enough without getting into hotwater with federal agencies so: TAKE NOTE Many things I review I got at no charge in exchange for an honest review. Consider this as informing you that ALL things I review may have been gotten at no charge. Realistically about 60% but in order to keep things above board just assume that I got the stuff free. I do not collect information on my readers. If cookies or other tracking stuff is used on my blogs it is due to BLOGGER not ME. Apparently the European Union's new rules state I need to inform you if cookies are being use. If they are it isn't byu me, consider yourself INFORMED.
Words like, “sponsored,” “promotion,” “paid ad” or even just “ad” are clear ways to disclose that you’re being paid to share information and links so BE AWARE that some of what I write can be described as an AD by the government. BTW I will NEVER say a product is great, super or even acceptable if it isn't, whether I got it free or NOT!

Books I have authored.

Many times I receive books for FREE to give them an honest review. I do not get paid to give a good or bad review. Spotlights are promotional and should be regarded as advertising for the book spotlighted. Regardless of where or how I got a book, my review will be as honest as I can make it.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

New Greg Smith Novel: Darwin's Pause

I have enjoyed every J. Gregory Smith book I have read and I think I have read them all. I can't wait to read this one.  
Check it out today at Amazon. 

Order Today at Amazon

Young, rich and beyond the law. What’s the catch? Former war photographer Fin Campbell means to find out. He never believed his old college friend’s elaborate stories to explain a pair of pristine civilizations living side by side on the isolated Polynesian island of Hoku. The entire island is designated a World Heritage Site and kept off limits by the French Navy. When Fin receives a once in a lifetime opportunity to join his Hokutian friend to witness a private ceremony never seen by outsiders, he jumps at the chance. Soon he becomes more than a mere observer and finds himself in a fight for his life and the survival of all Hoku.



This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Under a Tell-Tale Sky: Disruption Book 1 by R. E. McDermott


Redundancy is a fact of my life.  I am prefacing this review with a previous preface. I am lucky enough to be an advanced reader for Bob.  This simply means I got the book before it was published and devoured it with rapidity.   I read the book, I received no compensation for writing it and I am giving it 5 STARS because it deserves it.   Feel free to check my other reviews and you will note that I “calls them as I sees them”, which means the star ratings are all over the place.  So, in conclusion, this is a darn fine book and if you enjoy action and adventure, you should really buy it. 
First off this is a scary book.  Not "what goes bump in the night" scary but plausible scary.  I recently read One Second After by William R. Forstchen and it detailed what occurred after a nuclear bomb generated nation wide EMP.  McDermott provides a post-apocalyptic tale after some major solar flares.

McDermott's books provide a strong plot with excellent character development.  I was chided by an author for my penchant for likable characters.  I would defend that in that Darth Vader was a very likable villain.   Likability provides incentive to continue to see what happens to that character.  Bob provides very likable characters and in this book, those characters are dealing with some pretty despicable things.

This is the first in the series and it makes that clear in the title.  If you are looking for closure, then buy the entire series.   I enjoyed the book and would suggest to the author to get moving on the sequel.  

I highly recommend it.

Body of  work of <a type="amzn" > R. E. McDermott </a>
Web Site: http://www.remcdermott.com/

 This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

To Say Goodbye by David Wiskircher


The first book I read from this author was  A Healing Way .  It is a cathartic angst for pain.   The book provided  a hopeful outlook on love,death, dying and grief.  This is an action adventure book that is nothing like the preceding book.  This book focuses on a strong woman who strives to find her man through political peril and drug corruption. 

Claire Kittredge is the protagonist in this book although Alex Drew becomes a meaningful friend.   The story encompasses current events by addressing corruption in our own government as well as foreign semi-adversaries.  There  is a distinct distrust of bureaucracy leavened with a good helping of cynicism or a fatal realism, it is difficult to know.

There is plenty of action, some violence but not overwhelming to the plot.

I recommend this book.  

Related Sites:  http://thebark.com/content/devotion
https://www.facebook.com/david.weiskircher


This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

A Healing Way: Two Dogs, a Coyote and an Old Soul by David Wiskircher



This is a moving book.   The author shares his personal feelings and grief  over the loss of his own wife through fiction.  A Healing Way was is a cathartic angst for pain.   The book provides such a hopeful outlook on love, death, dying and grief. I have to admit that I thought about my Dad and Mom's passing as I read it.  I am also fortunate enough to have a soul mate that equally promoted emotions the author shared.  The author has a gift in his ability to elicit thoughts and emotions by the power of his words. Kudos! 

The story focus is on two wayward puppies helped through difficult circumstances by a coyote.  The juxtaposition of their dire needs and a lonely, heartbroken man is done seamlessly.  Life from the point of view of a dog and a coyote is substantially different from man while sharing similar emotions.

I highly recommend this book.  

Related Sites:  http://thebark.com/content/devotion
https://www.facebook.com/david.weiskircher


 This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The Drafter by Kim Harrison



I am one of the rare individuals who could not get into the Rachel Morgan stories.  Maybe it was my mood or the cycle of the moon or bad karma but I just was shocked that I didn't like those books.  Imagine my surprise when I liked The Drafter!  This book is about time shifting, memory and corruption. 

Harrison did a very good character portrayal in Peri Reed.   The unrealistic time shifting or drafting was balanced out by the very realistic feelings portrayed by Peri Reed.   My favorite character was Taf.  It was interesting to see the relationship with her mother.  Howard also was an interesting character.  His loyalty and guts contradicted his initial or perhaps secondary description.

There is action and intrigue and some confusion regarding just who are the  "bad" guys.  

I enjoyed the book.

Site:  http://kimharrison.net/

 This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child




I've read books from each of these authors separately and I have read books that they have collaborated together for the story.   Each are good separately but together they are excellent.   This story is a follow up to Relic but it  stands alone just fine.  Dapper FBI agent Pendergast is the only consistent re-occurring character I recall from their books.   Someone or something is preying on the "mole" people , the homeless who live in the labyrinth of tunnels that hide under NYC.   When a prominent socialite is a victim, everything changes.

Preston and Child are masters at creating scenarios that are simultaneously bizarre and plausible.   I found the references to the myriad tunnels under NYC highly intriguing enough so that I spent a fair amount of time online reading about this wide spread phenomenon. 

This book has plenty of action, social commentary and thought provoking plot lines to attract a wide variety of readers.

I highly recommend.

Web Site: http://www.prestonchild.com/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.