I absolutely LOVE finding an incredible author that generates such an interest in their novels, that once you begin them, not only are you transported into the story as a bystander, but you simply can't put it down. Such is the case with my introduction to Jon Land's series of Caitlin Strong novels, with his latest, number nine by the way, Strong to the Bone. This is my first experience with this author and let me tell you, he can weave a story so compelling, you won't be able to put it down, until you know how it all plays out, and finally an author that doesn't convey the plot line too soon, so you have to stick it out.

In Strong to the Bone, the novel toggles between the Strong family, both in present day and also during 1944. The connection point between the two time frames is unforgettable in how they simply traveled together over the time passes to impact a Texas Ranger family, first the grandfather, Earl Strong and then subsequently the daughter, Caitlin Strong who originally didn't want to follow in her grandfather's footsteps. However when she was a victim of a rape, it changed her mind dramatically to take charge of her role in finding out who did it since she was drugged at the time and can't remember who handed her the drink initially. Now she is working a case that links her own crime to another rape victim and the DNA results tie it to the same perpetrator.

Once more the storyline will reach back into the past when Earl Strong's initial prisoner during WWII left behind three fatalities in a POW camp that also set the killer free. It was the one case he would never truly solve and one that kept him awake at nights. Now with a biological weapon posed to strike the US, could this have a connection from the past, and will Caitlin be able to solve the one missing piece of the puzzle her grandfather was unable to?

I received Strong to the Bone by Jon Land compliments of Partners in Crime Tours and Forge Books. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and love how I was able to jump right in without missing anything from the previous eight novels. That to me, is a sign of a truly talented writer. While this book does contain some profanity and sexual content that might be offensive to some readers, the overall story line is amazing. For that reason, I easily give this novel a 4 out of 5 stars based on my own review criteria and can't wait for more from this author.

For more information about Strong to the Bone, Jon Land or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Strong to the Bone by Jon Land

You can find Jon Land on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Strong to the Bone, visit Partner's in Crime Book Tour participants listed below:

12/04 Review @ The Book Divas Reads
12/05 Review @ 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too
12/06 Blog Talk Radio w/Fran Lewis
12/06 Review @ CMash Reads
12/06/18 Review @ Just reviews
12/07 Interview @ CMash Reads
12/07 Review @ Book Reviews From an Avid Reader
12/08 Guest Post @ Loris Reading Corner
12/08 Showcase @ The Bookworm Lodge
12/10 Showcase @ Bound 2 Escape
12/11 Review @ Reviews From The Heart
12/11 Showcase @ Chill and read
12/12 Interview @ Quiet Fury Books
12/13 Review @ A Bookaholic Swede
12/14 Excerpt @ Suspense Magazine
12/15 Interview @ A Blue Million Books
12/16 Showcase @ Books, Dreams, Life
12/17 Review @ Mythical Books
12/18 Review @ Cheryls Book Nook
12/19 Interview @ Mythical Books
12/20 Review @ Bookishly me
12/21 Guest post @ Aurora Bs Book Blog
12/29 Review @ Rockin Book Reviews
01/04/18 Review @ Wall-to-wall books - Giveaway
01/05 Interview @ BooksChatter
01/07 Showcase @ Brooke Blogs
01/09 Review @ Lynchburg Mama - GIVEAWAY
01/10 Review @ Its All About the Book
01/11 Showcase @ The Reading Frenzy
01/22 Review @ Mystery Suspense Reviews
01/23 Guest post @ Mystery Suspense Reviews
01/26 Review @ Celticladys Reviews
01/30 Review @ A Room Wihtout Books is Empty
01/31 Review @ The Avid Book Collector

Strong to the Bone

by Jon Land

on Tour December 4, 2017 - January 31, 2018

Synopsis:

1944: Texas Ranger Jim Strong investigates a triple murder inside a Nazi POW camp in Texas.
The Present: His daughter, fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, finds herself pursuing the killer her father never caught in the most personal case of her career a conspiracy stretching from that Nazi POW camp to a modern-day neo-Nazi gang.
A sinister movement has emerged from the shadows of history, determined to undermine the American way of life. Its leader, Armand Fisker, has an army at his disposal, a deadly bio-weapon, and a reputation for being unbeatable. But he s never taken on the likes of Caitlin Strong and her outlaw lover, Cort Wesley Masters.
To prevent an unspeakable cataclysm, Caitlin and Cort Wesley must win a war the world thought was over.

"Strong to the Bone is another fine effort by Jon Land, who manages to mix character development with gripping, page-turning plots. This is his best novel yet."
— StrandMagazine

Book Details:

Genre: Thriller
Published by: Forge Books
Publication Date: December 5, 2017
Number of Pages: 368
ISBN: 0765384647 (ISBN13: 9780765384645)
Series: Caitlin Strong Novels (Volume 9)
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | Goodreads | Macmillan 

Read an excerpt:

CHAPTER 1

Austin, Texas
“What the hell?”
Caitlin Strong and Cort Wesley Masters had just emerged from Esther’s Follie’s on East 6th Steet, when they saw the stream of people hurrying down the road, gazes universally cocked back behind them. Sirens blared off in the distance and a steady chorus of honking horns seemed to be coming from an adjoining block just past the street affectionately known as “Dirty Sixth,” Austin’s version of Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
“Couldn’t tell you,” Cort Wesley said, even as he sized up the scene. “But I got a feeling we’re gonna know before much longer.”
* * *
Caitlin was in town to speak at a national law enforcement conference focusing on homegrown terrorism, and both her sessions at the Convention Center had been jam-packed. She felt kind of guilty her presentations had lacked the audio-visual touches many of the others had featured. But the audiences hadn’t seem to mind, filling a sectioned-off ballroom to the gills to hear of her direct experiences, in contrast to theoretical dissertations by experts. Audiences comprised of cops a lot like her, looking to bring something back home they could actually use. She’d focused to a great extent on her most recent battle with ISIS right here in Texas, and an al-Qaeda cell a few years before that, stressing how much things had changed in the interim and how much more they were likely to.
Cort Wesley had driven up from San Antonio to meet her for a rare night out that had begun with dinner at Ancho’s inside the Omni Hotel and then a stop at Antone’s nightclub to see the Rats, a band headed by a Texas Ranger tech expert known as Young Roger. From there, they’d walked to Esther’s Follies to take in the famed Texas-centric improve show there, a first for both of them that was every bit as funny and entertaining as advertised, even with a gun-toting woman both Caitlin and Cort Wesley realized was based on her.
Fortunately, no one else in the audience made that connection and they managed to slip out ahead of the rest of the crowd. Once outside, though, they were greeted by a flood of pedestrians pouring up the street from an area of congestion a few blocks down, just past 8th Street.
“What you figure, Ranger?”
“That maybe we better go have ourselves a look.”
 

CHAPTER 2

Austin, Texas
Caitlin practically collided with a young man holding a wad of napkins against his bleeding nose at the intersection with East 7th Street.
“What’s going on?” she asked him, pulling back her blazer to show her Texas Ranger badge.
The young man looked from it back to her, swallowing some blood and hacking it up onto the street. “University of Texas graduation party took over all of Stubb’s Barbecue,” he said, pointing in the restaurant’s direction. “Guess you could say it got out of hand. Bunch of fraternities going at it.” He looked at the badge pinned to her chest again. “Are you really a Texas Ranger?”
“You need to get to an emergency room,” Caitlin told him, and pressed on with Cort Wesley by her side.
“Kid was no older than Dylan,” he noted, mentioning his oldest son who was still on a yearlong leave from Brown University.
“How many fraternities does the University of Texas at Austin have anyway, Cort Wesley?”
“A whole bunch.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, continuing on toward the swell of bodies and flashing lights, “it sure looks that way.”
Stubb’s was well known for its barbecue offerings and, just as much, its status as a concert venue. The interior was modest in size, as Caitlin recalled, two floors with the bottom level normally reserved for private parties and the upstairs generally packed with patrons both old and new. The rear of the main building, and several adjoining ones, featured a flattened dirt lot fronted by several performance stages where upwards of two thousand people could enjoy live music in the company of three sprawling outdoor bars.
That meant this graduation party gone bad may have featured at least a comparable number of students and probably even more, many of whom remained in the street, milling about as altercations continued to flare, while first responders struggled futilely to disperse the crowd. Young men and women still swigging bottles of beer, while pushing and shoving each other. The sound of glass breaking rose over the loudening din of the approaching sirens, the whole scene glowing amid the colors splashed from the revolving lights of the Austin police cars already on the scene.
A fire engine leading a rescue wagon screeched to a halt just ahead of Cort Wesley and Caitlin, at the intersection with 7th Street, beyond which had become impassable.
“Dylan could even be here, for all I know,” Cort Wesley said, picking up his earlier train of thought.
“He doesn’t go to UT.”
“But there’s girls and trouble, two things he excels at the most.”
This as fights continued breaking out one after another, splinters of violence on the verge of erupting into an all-out brawl going on under the spill of the LED streetlights rising over Stubb’s.
Caitlin pictured swirling lines of already drunk patrons being refused admittance due to capacity issues. Standing in line full of alcohol on a steamy night, expectations of a celebratory evening dashed, was a recipe for just what she was viewing now. In her mind, she saw fights breaking out between rival UT fraternities mostly in the outdoor performance area, before spilling out into the street, fueled by simmering tempers now on high heat.
“You see any good we can be here?” Cort Wesley asked her.
Caitlin was about to say no, when she spotted an anxious Austin patrol cop doing his best to break up fights that had spread as far as 7th Street. She and Cort Wesley sifted through the crowd and made their way toward him, Caitlin advancing alone when they drew close.
“Anything I can do to help,” she said, reading the Austin policeman’s nametag, “Officer Hilton?”
Hilton leaned up against an ornate light pole that looked like gnarled wrought iron for support. He was breathing hard, his face scraped and bruised. He noted the Texas Ranger badge and seemed to match her face to whatever media reports he’d remembered her from.
“Not unless you got enough Moses in you to part the Red Sea out there, Ranger.”
“What brought you boys out here? Detail work?” Caitlin asked, trying to account for his presence on scene so quickly, ahead of the sirens screaming through the night.
Hilton shook his head. “An anonymous nine-one-one call about a sexual assault taking place inside the club, the downstairs lounge.”
“And you didn’t go inside?”
Hilton turned his gaze on the street, his breathing picking up again. “Through that? My partner tried and ended up getting his skull cracked open by a bottle. I damn near got killed fighting to reach him. Managed to get him in the back of our squad car and called for a rescue,” he said, casting his gaze toward the fire engine and ambulance that were going nowhere. “Think maybe I better carry him to the hospital myself.”
“What about the girl?”
“What girl?”
“Sexual assault victim inside the club.”
Hilton frowned. “Most of them turn out to be false alarms anyway.”
“Do they now?”
Caitlin’s tone left him sneering at her. “Look, Ranger, you want to shoot up the street to get inside that shithole, be my guest. I’m not leaving my partner.”
“Thanks for giving me permission,” she said, and steered back for Cort Wesley.
“That looked like it went well,” he noted, pushing a frat boy who’d ventured too close out of the way, after stripping the empty beer bottle he was holding by the neck from his grasp.
“Sexual assault victim might still be inside, Cort Wesley.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Got any ideas, Ranger?”
Caitlin eyed the fire engine stranded where East 7th Street met Red River Avenue. “Just one.”
 

CHAPTER 3

Austin, Texas
Four firemen were gathered behind the truck in a tight cluster, speaking with the two paramedics from the rescue wagon.
“I’m a Texas Ranger,” Caitlin announced, approaching them with jacket peeled back to reveal her badge, “and I’m commandeering your truck.”
“You’re what?” one of the fireman managed. “No, absolutely not!”
The siren began blaring and lights started flashing, courtesy of Cort Wesley who’d climbed up behind the wheel.
“Sorry,” Caitlin said, raising her voice above the din, “can’t hear you!”
* * *
The crowd that filled the street in front of Stubb’s Barbecue saw and heard the fire truck coming and began pelting it with bottles, as it edged forward through the congested street that smelled of sweat and beer. What looked like steam hung in the stagnant air overhead, either an illusion or the actual product of so many superheated bodies congealed in such tight quarters. The sound of glass braking crackled through Caitlin’s ears, as bottle after bottle smashed against the truck’s frame.
The crowd clustered tighter around the fire engine, cutting off Cort Wesley’s way backward or on toward Stubb’s. The students, their fervor and aggression bred by alcohol, never noticed Caitlin’s presence atop the truck until she finally figured out the workings of the truck’s deck gun and squeezed the nozzle.
The force of the water bursting out of the barrel nearly knocked her backward off the truck. But she managed to right and then repositioned herself, as she doused the tight cluster of students between the truck and the restaurant entrance with the gun’s powerful stream.
A wave of people tried to fight the flow and ended up getting blown off their feet, thrown into other students who then scrambled to avoid the fire engine’s surge forward ahead of its deafening horn. Caitlin continued to clear a path for Cort Wesley, sweeping the deck gun in light motions from side to side, the five hundred gallon tank still plenty full when the club entrance drew within clear view.
She felt the fire engine’s front wheels mount the sidewalk and twist heavily to the right. The front fender grazed the building and took out a plate glass window the rioting had somehow spared. Caitlin saw a gap in the crowd open all the way to the entrance and leaped down from the truck to take advantage of it, before it closed up again.
She purposely didn’t draw her gun and entered Stubb’s to the sight of bloodied bouncers and staff herding the last of the patrons out of the restaurant. Outside, the steady blare of sirens told her the Austin police had arrived in force. Little they could do to disperse a crowd this large and unruly in rapid fashion, though, much less reach the entrance to lend their efforts to Caitlin’s in locating the sexual assault victim.
She threaded her way through the ground floor of Stubb’s to the stairs leading down to the private lounge area. The air felt like it was being blasted out of a steam oven, roiled with coagulated body heat untouched by the restaurant’s air conditioning that left Caitlin with the sense she was descending to hell.
Reaching the windowless sub-level floor, she swept her eyes about and thought she heard a whimpering come from a nest of couches, where a male figure hovered over the frame of a woman, lying half on and half off a sectional couch.
“Sir, put your hands in the air and turn around slowly!” Caitlin ordered, drawing her SIG-Sauer nine-millimeter pistol. “Don’t make me tell you twice!”
He started to turn, without raising his hands, and Caitlin fired when she glimpsed something shiny in his grasp. Impact to the shoulder twisted the man around and spilled him over the sectional couch, Caitlin holding her SIG at the ready as she approached his victim.
She heard the whimpering again, making her think more of the sound a dog makes, and followed it toward a tight cluster of connected couch sections, their cushions all stained wet and smelling thickly of beer. Drawing closer while still keeping a sharp eye on the man she’d shot, Caitlin spotted a big smart phone lying just out of his grasp, recognizing it as the object she’d wrongly taken for a gun. Then Caitlin spied a young woman of college age pinned between a pair of couch sections, covering her exposed breasts with her arms, her torn blouse hanging off her and jeans unbuttoned and unzipped just short of her hips.
Drawing closer, Caitlin saw the young woman’s assailant, the man she’d just shot in all likelihood, must’ve yanked them down so violently that he’d split the zipper and torn off the snap or button.
“Ma’am?” she called softly.
The young woman tightened herself into a ball and retreated deeper into the darkness between the couch sections, not seeming to hear her.
“Ma’am,” Caitlin said louder, hovering over the coed while continuing to check on the man she’d shot, his eyes drifting in and out of consciousness, his shirt wet with blood in the shoulder area from the gunshot wound.
Caitlin only wished it was her own attacker lying there, from all those years before when she’d been a coed herself at the Lone Star College campus in West Houston. Some memories suppressed easily, others were like a toothache that came and went. That one was more like a cavity that had been filled, forgotten until the filling broke off and raw nerve pain flared.
Caitlin pushed the couch sections aside and knelt by the young woman, pistol tucked low by her hip so as not to frighten her further.
“I’m a Texas Ranger, ma’am,” she said, in as soothing a voice as she could manage. “I need to get you out of here, and I need you to help me. I need to know if you can walk.”
The young woman finally looked at her, nodded. Her left cheek was swollen badly and one of her arms hung limply from its socket. Caitlin looked back at the downed form of the man she’d already shot once, half hoping he gave her a reason to shoot him again.
“What’s your name? Mine’s Caitlin.”
“Kelly Ann,” the young woman said, her voice dry and cracking.
Caitlin helped her to her feet. “Well, Kelly Ann, I know things feel real bad right now, but trust me when I tell you this is bad as they’re going to get.”
Kelly Ann’s features perked up slightly, her eyes flashing back to life. She tried to take a deep breath, but stopped halfway though.
Caitlin held her around the shoulders in one arm, SIG clutched in her free hand while her eyes stayed peeled on the downed man’s stirring form. “I’m going to stay with you the whole way until we get you some help,” she promised.
The building suddenly felt like a Fun House Hall of Mirrors. Everything distorted, perspective and sense of place lost. Even the stairs climbing back to the ground floor felt different, only the musty smell of sweat mixed with stale perfume and body spray telling her they were the same.
Caitlin wanted to tell Kelly Ann it would be all right, that it would get better, that it would all go away in time. But that would be a lie, so she said nothing at all. Almost to the door, she gazed toward a loose assemblages of frat boys wearing hoodies displaying their letters as they chugged from liquor bottles stripped from the shelves behind the main bar on the first floor. How different were they from the one who’d hurt her, hurt Kelly Ann?
Caitlin wanted to shoot the bottles out of their hands, but kept leading Kelly Ann on instead, out into the night and the vapor spray from the deck gun now being wielded by Cort Wesley to keep their route clear.
“’Bout time!” he shouted down, scampering across the truck’s top to retake his place behind the wheel.
Caitlin was already inside the cab, Kelly Ann clinging tight to her.
“Where to, Ranger?”
“Seton Medical Center, Cort Wesley.”
Before he got going, Caitlin noticed Officer Hilton and several other Austin cops pushing their way through the crowd toward the entrance to Stubb’s.
“Don’t worry, Officer, I got the victim out safe and sound,” she yelled down to him, only half-sarcastically. “But I left a man with a bullet in his shoulder down there for you to take care of.”
“Come again?”
“I’d hurry, if I were you. He’s losing blood.”
***
Excerpt from Strong to the Bone by Jon Land. Copyright © 2017 by Jon Land. Reproduced with permission from Jon Land. All rights reserved.

Author Bio:

Jon Land is the USA Today bestselling author of 43 books, including eight titles in the critically acclaimed Caitlin Strong series: Strong Enough to Die, Strong Justice, Strong at the Break, Strong Vengeance, Strong Rain Falling (winner of the 2014 International Book Award and 2013 USA Best Book Award for Mystery-Suspense), Strong Darkness (winner of the 2014 USA Books Best Book Award and the 2015 International Book Award for Thriller, and Strong Light of Day which won the 2016 International Book Award for Best Thriller-Adventure, the 2015 Books and Author Award for Best Mystery Thriller, and the 2016 Beverly Hills Book Award for Best Mystery. Strong Cold Dead became the fourth title in the series in a row to win the International Book Award in 2017 and about which Booklist said, “Thrillers don’t get any better than this,” in a starred review. Land has also teamed with multiple New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham on a new sci-fi series, the first of which, The Rising, was published by Forge in January of 2017. He is a 1979 graduate of Brown University and lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Catch Up With Our Author On: Website , Goodreads , Twitter , & Facebook !

 

Tour Participants:

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Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Jon Land. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com gift Card AND 5 winners of one (1) eBook copy of Strong To The Bone by Jon Land. The giveaway begins on December 4 and runs through February 2, 2018.

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Beneath Copper Falls

Have you ever stayed up so late at night to finish a book? Perhaps even trying everything to keep your eye open including holding them open? Well that was my summary of how I spent last night as I began Beneath Copper Falls by Colleen Coble. Just the first three pages had my interest and I knew I was in for an adrenaline rush before my night was over. And yes, even as midnight approached I knew I had to finish this one. I had to know what was going to happen, I mean who can nod off to sleep while your characters fate hung in the balance, not knowing if they were going to live or die?

Yup.

Me again.

Dana Newell was married after thinking she had found the perfect guy. But as we all know, there is no such things as the perfect guy. When all the warning sounds are going off around you, but you still believe you were meant to be. I mean she meet Garret through her brother Chris, when attending one of his military parties. They were good friends. She loved how focused on her he was never looking away and making her feel like she was the only one in the room for him. After countless threats, beatings and fearing for her life, she knew she had to escape. So she waited for her shift as a 911 operator to end, and she made her way back home to Washington, where her brother Chris was waiting for her. She knew he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

She even managed to score another job working as a 911 dispatcher and soon life would be perfect. She knew that Garret would know she went back to her hometown, but Dana felt that with so many people she knew looking out for her that she would be safe. At least until she began to see signs that Garret was back and he was going to make sure Dana would come home with him, even if it meant taking out those who stood in his way, one by one. She finds solace and comfort in Boone Carter, a former smoke jumper who was badly burned and found that true love doesn't exist. At least when his fianceè left him when she saw his face. Now he knows that no one can love him for who he really is, when all they can see is his scars. But even though Dana may not have visible scars, she still has them and soon her and Boone work together to ensure that Dana can defend herself if Garret gets too close. But will Boone become Garret's next target instead?

I received Beneath Copper Falls by Colleen Coble compliments of Thomas Nelson Publishers and TLC Book Tours. This was one of the best murder mysteries I have read because one I was engaged I never wanted to turn my back on the action jumping off of the pages. It was heart-stopping, page turning, and trying to convince my eyes to read faster so I could know how it turns out. I love the interactions between Dana and Boone and love their friendship! That so many of us focus on what we see in people without getting to truly know them, but its on the inside the counts so much more. As the years go by and we age, we better hope that what we loved about someone is more than just skin deep! I wanted so much more and now will take a trip to my local library or book store to get all the Rock Harbor series novels. This is book 6 in the series! Who knew I could love a genre as much as I did this one! 5 out of 5 stars for keeping me wide awake til I finished and wanting more!!! A Discussion Guide is included for book clubs at the conclusion of this novel.

For more information about Beneath Copper Falls, Colleen Coble or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Beneath Copper Falls by Colleen Coble

You can find Colleen Coble on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Beneath Copper Falls, please visit TLC's Book Tour page.

In A Strange City

"What's the difference between a ritual and a routine? It's a question he asks himself almost every day. Are rituals better than routines, more elevated? Or do ritual invariable slide into routine, until we forget why we started and why we continue? Another good question, but he's afraid pondering the answer will only tempt him to sleep, and he is determined to see the sun rise today. Once upon a midnight dreary...ah, but such allusions are unworthy, the sort of obvious unthinking wordplay one expects from the newspaper hacks who write about him. Even in print, they cannot capture him.

He would not say it out loud - for one thing, he has no one to whom to say it - but he has begun to feel a kinship with Santa Claus. Who knows, Saint Nick was probably real once. A man decides to put on a red suit, visit a few houses in his village, and leave gifts behind. The first year, it was a lark. The next year, it was an obligation. And then the next and the next, until he could never stop.

But in that case, the tradition outgrew the man, so others had to step forward and preserve it. He cannot count on this happening here. He had been chosen, and soon he must choose." (pg 2).

So begins the latest novel from Laura Lippman, In A Strange City, the sixth book in the Tess Monaghan series. The premise behind this novel is that for the past fifty years on the birth date of Edgar Allen Poe, a person wearing a cloak has places three roses and a bottle of cognac on the writer's grave. His identity has remained a mystery. This time two men show up a the grave site and one of them is shot. Now the mystery grows as Private Investigator Tess Monaghan witnesses the apparent murder but just who shot whom and what is the connection? When roses and cognac appear on her doorstep, it seems as if the investigation takes on a whole new dimension as it begins to get personal.

I received In A Strange City by Laura Lippman compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation aside from a free copy of this novel in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion. Having read other novels from Laura Lippman, I found myself wanting this to be as good as her other books, but was disappointed by this being a reprint from 2001 when the novel was first published. I LOVE anything to do with Poe and love the occasional references to the literary writings of Poe along with the background of the toaster and more about who Poe was outside of his novels. All in all, I wasn't really a fan of this one considering I love a great mystery novel. For me this one came in at a 3 out of 5 stars in my opinion. Just didn't provide the twists and turns I was hoping for as they clues were almost spoon-fed to Tess Monaghan to figure out the who done it.

For more information about In A Strange City, Laura Lippman, or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

In A Strange City by Laura Lippman

You can find https://www.facebook.com/lauralippman/?fref=tsLaura Lippman on Facebook to stay up to date on her latest novels.

To read more reviews on In A Strange City, please visit William Morrow's website.

A Heart's Home

The sad part is here, and that is the Journey of the Heart series by Colleen Coble is unfortunately here. In the final novel in the series, A Heart's Home is the sixth book in this wonderful historical western series that is stationed at Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming in 1866. Readers have gotten bite size chunks of this heartwarming series in each subsequent book that has lead us to the final part, and that is dealing with Emmie who has finally decided that she will put aside her past, and move forward in a future with Isaac Liddle. The women have formed a united front in this series with each taking a lead role at some point in their own book, and with the conclusion it's going to be one that you don't want to miss.

As we left Emmie in the last book, she was facing a future with a child she had with a man she believed was her husband. When she learned he never conveyed the truth that he was already married, Emmie realized that all she was counting on to help her move forward in the loss wasn't rightfully hers so she headed west to stay with her good friends in Wyoming. Only it seems that no matter where she goes, the truth of her situation follows her and threatens her potential marriage to Isaac if the truth gets out. If only Emmie can find a way to tell Isaac herself before someone else does, she might stand a chance. But when tragedy strikes the heart of the fort, Emmie's only chance at happiness slips away like the sand in an hourglass and there isn't anything she can do about it if she believes she is a good Christian woman!

I received A Heart's Home by Colleen Coble compliments of Litfuse Publicity and Thomas Nelson Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation outside of a free copy of the book for a favorable review and the opinions contained here are strictly my own. This is such a poignant way to end the series, and find myself now wanting to go back and read them all in one sitting. Each of these books feels like a full length novel and the women I've gotten to know through each of these books feels like friends and not just characters in the story. They all have their own challenges living at the Fort and must band together to help each other out in the face of rising hostilities among the Sioux Indians! I'd give this one a 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion and hope Colleen Coble decides to write more western romances in the very near future.

For more information about A Heart's Home, Colleen Coble or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

A Heart's Home by Colleen Coble 

You can find Colleen Coble on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest books.

To read more reviews on A Heart's Home, please visit Litfuse Publicity's Book Tour Page.


A hidden pregnancy, a promise sure to break hearts, and a tragic loss at Fort Phil Kearny: Don't miss the gripping conclusion in book six, A Heart's Home, of Colleen Coble's A Journey of the Heart series. With the Sioux Wars threatening outside the fort, Emmie’s solemn vow threatens her happiness from within. Will she honor a promise sure to break her heart—and Isaac’s? Or is there another way to find a home for her heart?

Colleen is celebrating the final book release of her A Journey of the Heart series by giving away the entire series and the chance to host Colleen virtually at your book club, local library, or women's group to talk about the series.

 

One grand prize winner will receive:

• Books 1–6 of A Journey of the Heart series
• A chat with Colleen via Skype or Google Hangout
• A custom book-club kit PDF, featuring Colleen's favorite recipes and group discussion questions

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on August 31st. Winner will be announced September 1st on Colleen's website.

An Unwilling Accomplice

Since my first Bess Crawford novel from best-selling author Charles Todd, I've been hooked. Taking some of my favorite elements of fiction, World War I, women nurses, and murder mystery and you have to basic ingredients for what makes the Bess Crawford Series a true success. Bess Crawford has been serving as a battlefield nurse, thrust in the middle of taking care of the most challenging of patients. With medical marvels still years from being developed, she is right in the middle of action trying to save the lives of those she can, and holding hands, writing letters and simply being there for those she can't. It was truly a trying time in history for women to participate in doing their part while war raged all around them.

For Bess, she is the daughter of a famous Colonel who's own military success often times aid her in coming to terms with the war. Like most fathers, they want to do all they can to  protect their daughters when they have the opportunity and Bess finds herself paired with her friend Simon, a decorated Sergeant-Major. He comes to her rescue as often as he is able, most of the time helping her solve the latest crime using all his military resources to research potential motives.

Bess has been assigned the duties of caring for an ailing Sergeant Wilkins who is confined to a wheelchair after sustaining injuries in the war. She is to provide nursing assistance to Wilkins when his orderly is headed back to the battle lines and to ensure he is present at Buckingham Palace for the King to honor him with a medal for his courage on the battlefield. What she doesn't expect is for her patient to go missing when she leaves him at his hotel room for the night. Is this the very reason why she was assigned to Wilkins in the first place? It simply wouldn't be proper for a woman, even a nurse, to stay in the man's room overnight. Just when did he go missing?

Now with Bess' professional credentials being called into question, she faces scrutiny from her boss as well as having to answer to the local police while she simply has let a man go missing. Now she has to race against time to figure out just what happened to Wilkins because as it stands now, it looks as if Nurse Bess Crawford is more than simply an unwilling accomplice.

I received An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained in this review are strictly my own. One of the best things I love about these novels besides trying to solve the crime before Bess does, is the historical feel to the novel that brings you right into the heart of the action. The sights and sounds are so vivid in detail you can't help but feel like you are really there as you take part in the journey alongside Bess. This is the sixth novel in the Bess Crawford Series and I honestly can't wait for more. I give this one a 4 out of 5 stars!

For more information about An Unwilling Accomplice, Charles Todd or where you can pre-order a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd

You can also find Charles Todd on Facebook to stay up to date with all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Unwilling Accomplice, please visit William Morrow's website. 

End of the Trail

Brooks Morgan never saw the importance of learning how to run his family's ranch because he had no intention of taking it over when it was time. He also never understood the needs for doing so many chores when there were plenty of other brothers and sisters to do it. He'd rather spend his time fishing, hanging out with his friends or riding his Morgan, Jester. Yet when a confrontation with his father left him feeling less than wanted, he rode off and never looked back.

Yet when opportunity presented itself to Brooks through needs of an elderly but friendly old man, Will Langston who hired him to help him out while he was dying, Brooks knew he couldn't run from this. In time, he actually grew to appreciate and care for Will and when fate dealt him a winning hand in a poker game, he found himself the new owner of Raven Creek Ranch, a 4000 acre cattle ranch owned by Will, with the promise he would care for Keri. When Will returns from town he finds the cabin in a disarray and Will looks to have been murdered. Rather than spend his time searching for revenge, the Marshall tells Brooks to head out to the ranch and leave the investigation to him.

Keri Langston has spent two grueling years at Wesleyan Female College in Georgia and couldn't wait for her final days to be free. Even though she went under duress, she knew her Uncle and the boys on the ranch couldn't help her with knowing what a lady should know even though she didn't want it. They knew if she didn't attend finishing school, the likelihood of her finding a suitable husband would be hard to come by. Now she was looking forward to getting back to her Uncle's ranch and out of corsets and dresses and back into trousers and boots!

When Keri arrives in town, she finds it odd that no one arrives to pick her up from the train station but believes perhaps her Uncle or one of the ranch hands didn't receive her letter informing them of her arrival and decides to head home. Along the way, she comes across a man about to be hanged and she knows that no justice ever comes from vigilante hangings. She is advised by the men to head on out so they can dispense with their task but Keri doesn't like anyone telling her what to do. She warns the men to turn the man loose or risk her wrath with a loaded shotgun. She sends them enough knowledge about her shooting skills when she shots the noose off the man and they leave but with a warning, they are both going to pay for this! What Keri doesn't realize is the man she saved is Brooks Morgan, the new owner of the ranch she still believes is hers and this is where the story gets exciting! But you'll have to pick up the book because that is all in the first couple chapters and there is loads more excitement behind the covers of Vickie McDonough's latest novel, End of the Trail, the six and final book in the Texas Trail Series.

So if you love a great western romance with a little bit of intrigue and laughs tossed in for good measure, you'll want to pick this one up. But with it comes a warning. If you haven't read the other 5 books in the series, you'll want to pick those up as well but you can read this one as a stand alone and still LOVE it! They are written by different authors but it is a series you will truly love from beginning to end as they each contribute something unique through their writing skills to make this an incredible ride!

I received End of the Trail compliments of Moody Publishers and Net Galley for my honest review and have to say being a huge Christian Western Romance lover, this one spoke to my heart and soul. I love the strong female character of Keri Langston and seeing how she handles the men that she meets along the way, doesn't show a girl can't wear a dress and still know how to rope, ride and shot like the best of the men. I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars and just know you'll love it too!

For more information on End of the Trail, Vickie McDonough or where to pick up a copy of this book, please click on the links below:

End of the Trail by Vickie McDonough

The other books in the Texas Trails series are:

#1 Lone Star Trail by Darlene Franklin
#2 Captive Trail by Susan Page Davis
#3 The Long Trail Home by Vickie McDonough
#4 A Ranger's Trail by Darlene Franklin
#5 Cowgirl Trail by Susan Page Davis
#6 End of the Trail by Vickie McDonough

Firestorm

For me it's so rare to have a book grab me by the heartstrings so strong that my emotions are complete bond to it like I have found in the latest novel by Lisa Tawn Bergren in Firestorm. When it can make me sigh at just the right moments and cry at the saddest ones, then in my opinion, the writer is truly using her God-given talents. Oh she completely had me in this one every step of the way in the characters lives that she so eloquently created.

In this Full Circle Series, Firestorm is book 6. In never having read any of the previous 5, I was a bit optimistic that I would feel left out. NOT the case at all. This one can be read as a stand alone but I feel after finishing this one, I would DEFINITELY go back and inhale the other 5 to get to know the characters more and because Lisa's writing is so well crafted for the reader.

In Firestorm, we are taken immediately into a fire where our main character, Reyne Oldre is leading a team of women firefighters in a task to help curb what is known as the Oxbow fire. By digging trenches into the fire line, they are hoping that they will create a break to keep the fire from spreading. As they fight to reach the other team in the middle, the winds suddenly change and the fire roars to new heights. Racing for shelter in a nearby meadow, Reyne and her team try to cover themselves with fire retardant tents to help protect themselves from being overcome by the heat and flames. They will have to ride this one out in the mouth of the dragon. When it is all over, Reyne discovers that her team has suffered losses, losses that she will be forever bound to when she loses 4 of her team members.

Now she struggles with that fear from her past as she begins working with a handsome smoke jumper, Logan McCabe. She worries if God will help her deal with the fear of the unknown when she finds herself being drawn into first a friendship and then to a romance with Logan. Knowing the hazards of the job, Reyne wants Logan to opt for a management position to keep him out of the line of fire, but Logan tries to remind Reyne his fate isn't something either of them can control. She must learn to put aside her feelings and learn to trust God in whatever the outcome will be. Along the way, Reyne has to amazing friends, Rachel and Beth who show her through their unconditional love just what God can do in her own life.

I received Firestorm by Lisa Tawn Bergren compliments of WaterBrook Multnomah for my honest review and LOVED ever single moment of this one. I literally read it in a matter of hours because I simply could not leave either character hanging without knowing how this would end. Lisa keeps the reader challenged in very real-world ways with both of her character so the reader can relate to dealing with worry and fear that you may never see the love of your life again being you both are engaged in a life-or-death job. I think that is where she gains the biggest advantage in hooking her readers. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and now am off to purchase the other 5 books in this series. For those of you that love firefighters, a bit of romance and a great Christian message, then I know you will absolutely be in love with this one as much as I am.

For more information on this book, the author and where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Firestorm by Lisa Tawn Bergren

You can also follow Lisa on Facebook and keep up on all her latest releases by clicking here.

You can find this title at WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers by clicking here.