Woodsmall Press; 250 pages; Buy Link; Blog Tour

There's nothing better to get yourself into the Christmas spirit than reading a Christmas themed book, which is exactly what I did this morning when I read The Gift of Christmas Past: A Southern Romance by Cindy Woodsmall & Erin Woodsmall.

The novel centers on Hadley, a twenty-seven-year-old who's being weighed down by her past. She had entered into the foster care system at the age of five when the courts took her way from her birth mother, who was addicted to drugs. Though her mother visited her a few times, she just simply disappeared from Hadley's life. At age seventeen, Hadley got arrested for arson, which she claims wasn't her fault.

Now as a adult, Hadley is working as a speech therapy specialist. Out of the blue, she happens to run into an ex-boyfriend, Monroe, who is also a speech therapy specialist. Despite his feelings for her, Monroe, had abandoned her after she was arrested ten years ago, leaving Hadley with a lot of anger feelings towards him. No matter how they feel about each other, they must put everything aside to help a four-year-old girl who hasn't talked since she was rescued from an apartment fire.

UNTAPPED Book; 256 pages; Buy Link; Blog Tour

I don't know what makes dystopian novels so intriguing. If I remember correctly, the first dystopian novel I had ever read was The Giver by Lois Lowry. While it's not my favorite genre to read, I do find myself reading a dystopian novel from time to time.

Now available from from Untapped Books (from Written World Communication) is the dystopian young adult novel All Things Now Living, book one in the Seventh Daughter series, by Rondi Bauer Olson.

The novel is centered on a world that has been mostly destroyed by a plague. To protect themselves, the civilians of New Lithisle built a dome over their city to protect them from the deadly pandemic, as well as adding pig genes to their own DNA to fight against the virus.

The main character is Amy, a sixteen-year-old who has spent her entire life outside of the dome in what is called "Old Lithisle." While on a scavenging trip with her father, she accidentally gets trapped inside the dome. While attempting to find a way to escape, she meets a New Lithisle boy named Daniel, and she begins to question her own faith.

Bethany House; 414 pages; $14.99; Blog Tour; Buy Link

Now available from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, is the the historical romance The Mark of the King by author Jocelyn Green.

Typically, I prefer my historical romance reads to be set during the 1800s, but ever since I watched the "White Queen" mini-series on DVD last month, I've become interested in reading novels set in other historical periods.

Set during the 18-century, The Mark of the King centers on Julianne Chevalier, a 25-year-old midwife who is imprisoned and marked for death after her client dies. She ends up trading a life sentence in exchange for being exiled from France. With no where else to go, she heads to the French colony of Louisiana to join her brother, Benjamin.

Unfortunately, getting to New Orleans isn't an easy task, so she is forced to marry a convict to get passage from France to Louisiana. New Orleans is nothing like she imagined it would be, and despite her best efforts, she cannot locate her brother. She has no other choice, but to receive help from a military officer, Mar-Paul Girard, in finding her brother.

Jimmy Patterson; 331 pages; $13.99; Amazon

Even if you're a diehard fan of the bestselling author James Patterson, keeping up with his dozens of releases every year can be a bit difficult. Besides from his famous crime thrillers and his new Bookshots novellas, Mr. Patterson also writes (or co-writes) books for middle school readers.

Now available from Jimmy Patterson Books (a division of Little, Brown and Company) is House of Robots: Robot Revolution by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, along with illustrations by Juliana Neufeld.

House of Robots centers on Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez, a young boy who lives in a house full of robots! Yep, I said robots. His mother, Dr. Elizabeth Hayes, is an engineer and she has created many robots and gadgets for their home. His father, Noah Rodriguez, creates graphic novels (comic books). Sammy has a younger sister named Maddie, who has SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency d), which makes it hard for her to be around germs, so she is mostly isolated to her bedroom.

The last member of the Rodriguez family is E, a robotic brother who goes to school with Sammy. Dr. Hayes created E for Maddie, who can attend school without ever leaving her bedroom by using E's sight, hearing, and communication skills to interact with her classmates and teacher.

The Rodriguez's household is turned upside in down in "Robot Revolution" when Dr. Hayes begins working on a top secret new project and neglects all the routine maintenance for her robots. All the robots, including the new electric SUV, start malfunctioning; causing a bit of chaos in Sammy's life.

Bethany House; 320 pages; $14.99; Amazon

Probably like most reader, I do enjoy reading an old fashioned mystery; you know, the kind that have an Agatha Christie's plot and Sherlock Holmes-like detective.

The closest books that I have found that resemble the old classic mysteries is the Drew Farthering Mystery series by author Julianne Deering. With an early 1900's stylish cover art on every title, I have been intrigued with every new entry in the series.

The fourth installment, titled Dressed for Death, was released last year by Bethany House. Sadly my review copy somehow got on the bottom of my to-be-read pile on my desk and I'm just now getting around to reviewing it.

Set in December 1932, the novel centers on Drew Farthering, a man who always happens to be at the right place at the wrong time. This time up, Drew and his wife Madeline are attending a Regency-ear house part at the Winteroak House, where he plans on reuniting with an old Oxford classmate, Talbot Cummins. However, it seems death is always following Drew, as someone dies at the party - Alice Henley, who happens to be Talbot's fiancee.

After the police arrest a possible suspect, Drew takes it upon himself to unravel the mystery behind Alice's death.

Revell; 350 pages; $14.99; Amazon

With a mixture of coffee and protein snacks this week, I have managed to reread the first two books in the Elite Guardian series by author Lynette Eason. (You can read my review for the book here!).

Published last fall through Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Without Warning centers on a bodyguard company called the Elite Guardians Protection Agency.

While the first novel followed the agency's owner, the second installment centers on Katie Singleton, who had a brief part in book one. Instead of being assigned a new assignment, she stumbles upon one; well, she more or less accidentally finds a deadly plot to harm Daniel Matthews, a restaurant owner.

Revell; 336 pages; $14.99; Amazon

While I'm sure many people's New Year's resolution is to lose weigh; however, my only resolution is too quit procrastinating; which basically means I need to get caught up on my reviews on this blog. I have two piles of books that need to be reviewed. Many of the titles were read last year, but I never got around to writing the actual review. Well, this needs to stop. I am determined to get these books read (or reread), reviewed, and published on this blog.

Up first on my list is the Christian thriller Always Watching, book one in the Elite Guardians series, by author Lynette Eason. I'm not for sure if I've read any of her other titles before, but I have read so many books, so maybe I have just forgot it.

Anyhow, you can probably guess by the cover art that this is a action-thriller. The plot involves a bodyguard company called Elite Guardians Agency, which is owned by Olivia Edwards, that is assigned to protect a radio shrink, Wade Savage, who is being stalked.

Bethany House Publishing

About the Book: In college, Griffin McCray and his four best friends had their lives planned out. Griffin and Luke Gallagher would join the Baltimore PD. Declan Gray would head to the FBI, and Parker Mitchell would go on to graduate school as a crime scene analyst. But then Luke vanished before graduation and their world–and friendships–crumbled. 

 Now Griffin is a park ranger at Gettysburg, having left life as a SWAT-team sniper when a case went bad. The job is mostly quiet–until the day he captures two relic hunters uncovering skeletal remains near Little Round Top. Griffin just wants the case to go away, but charming forensic anthropologist Finley Scott determines that the body is modern–a young social justice lawyer missing since spring–and all evidence points to the work of an expert sniper. 

When FBI agent Declan Gray takes over the case, past and present collide. Griffin soon realizes he’ll need to confront some of the darkest days of his life if he–and those he cares about–are going to escape a downward spiral of murder that crosses continents.

Billy's Thoughts: Dani Pettrey is one of my new favorite authors. You might recall me reviewing her Alaskan Courage books over the last few years; so naturally I was excited to be part of the blog tour for her newest novel Cold Shot, book one in the Chesapeake Valor series. 

I received my ebook copy only a few days before the review had to be published, so I had to have a few late night reading sessions and several cups of coffee to get this book read.

Blog Tour ; Buy Link

Well, technically I was supposed to have this review posted yesterday, but sadly a few things came up on Friday (as well as Saturday), so I didn't have time to write the review until today.

I always keep an eye out when new titles by my favorite authors are released, so I was thrilled when I heard that A Son's Vow (A Charmed Life, book one) by Shelly Shepard Gray was being released. The author writes many romances that are set in the Amish and Mennonite world.

A Son's Vow centers on Darla Kurtz, a young woman who is dealing with a lot of drama in her life. Three months ago, her father was the cause of a fire that killed five men at the Charm's Lumber Mill. Ever since then, the Amish Community have practically shunned their entire family; leaving her bother to lash out at everyone.

Lukas Kinsinger has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Besides from taking care of his three siblings, he is also in charge of his family's lumber mill. His stress levels has been skyrocketed ever since the fire and his friendship with Darla is on the rocks. After learning of what the Kurtz family is going through, Lukas makes it his mission to try to help as much as he can, and hopefully grow his friendship with Darla into something even more meaningful.

Blog Tour; Buy Link

Wow! The first month of 2016 is nearly over, and I've already read several great books, which includes the recently released Beyond The Silence by Tracie Peterson & Kimberly Woodhouse, whom also collaborated on All Things Hidden.

Beyond the Silence is set in the early 1890s and centers on Lilian Porter, a young woman who leaves her home in Indiana and heads to Angel Camp, California, where she takes a job as a nanny, despite objections from her grandfather. Going out west was a dream of her mothers, so she is eager to start a new life; though part of her is scared to death of the unknown.

At first her employer,  a thirty-year-old widow Woodward Colton, seemed to a nice man, who is struggling to take care of his seven-year-old son, Jimmy. The boy hasn't spoken one single word in over a year. However, Lilian hears some odd rumors that Woodward is hiding a dark, deadly past.

As Lilian gets closer to the boy, she begins to suspect that someone might have scared him so badly that he has shut himself off from everyone. Strange situations occur at the Woodward olive farm as well as the arrival of a few unwanted guests, leading Lilian to wonder who Woodward Colton really is.

Retail: $7.99; 400 pages

If you're an avid reader of this blog, then there's a good chance that you've seen a few reviews for V.C. Andrews' titles on here. My late grandmother was a big of V.C. Andrews' writings, well, up until she learned that the ghost writer that took over after the author's death in 1986 was in fact a male, Andrew Neiderman. After the that, my grandmother quit reading the books, with the last one in her collection being Willow (book one of the DeBeers series).

I now have all the books in my grandmother's collection. I continued to collect each new installment that is released; I even filled in the gaps by finding the rest of the books in the DeBeers and the Broken Wings series, which were missing from her collection.

While I still haven't read all the titles, my opinion of the ghost writer's writing has been mixed. There have been a few good stories and there has been several horrible entries, mostly due to the lack of a "Gothic" feel in the most recent releases.

Available today from Pocket Books is the standalone novel, Sage's Eyes (978-1451650914), which I had received an ARC copy a few months ago. I didn't care much for the last standalone book, Bittersweet Dreams, so I've been putting this book aside; waiting to the very last minute to read it. To my surprise, it's better written than the last few releases. While I would never call it "Gothic," it's not a bad read.

The plot centers on sixteen-year-old Sage, who from an early age has had a "third eye" gift. She can see things that others cannot as if she has lived a past life. Her adoptive parents have tried to hide her gifts from the outside world. Actually, they have convinced themselves that she just has an active imagination.

In my attempt to get caught up on reviews before the end of the year (Yes, I know 2016 is just a few days away!), today I'm featuring five comic books that were published between 2014-2015.


Book Description: Vampirella, the beautiful and bloodthirsty heroine, travels to Mississippi to help an old flame solve the mystery of his murdered fiancee... a woman who appears to have died thirty-seven times before.

Burdened by a mystical wound that will not heal, can Vampi hack through racist demons, evade corrupt lawmen, and solve this strange Southern mystery... or will the man she once loved sacrifice his soul to get the answers instead?

Final Thoughts: Similar to other comic book characters, Vampirella has received several makeovers since her debut in 1969. Here, Diamond Book Distributors have rebooted the character once again, where Vampirella travels to the south to help solve a few mysteries. By the cover one would think this was a straight up horror story, but actually there is quite a bit of humor throughout each tale. The illustrations are nicely done, adding a bit more fun to the stories. Overall, I enjoyed the new Vampirella and I recommend it to others.

Book Description: A young boxer, Salvador, refuses to take a fall, but has no problem taking a vicious drug gang’s pay-off. When they take their lethal revenge on Salvador and his family, he returns as THE CROW, in search of vengeance… and forgiveness.

Final Thoughts: I'm a huge fan of the 1994 film version of The Crow featuring the late Brandon Lee. I've never been interested in reading the original comic books, though I did read one paperback tie-in when I was a teenager.

The Crow: Pestilence tells the story of a brand new character, Salvador, a boxer who is killed and is resurrected as The Crow to seek revenge.

While the overall revenge plot is a little stale, the dark illustrations make up for it. In the end, it wasn't a bad read.

Book Description: They’re finally here! Welcome Bullwinkle the Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel back to comics in these four great tales, "The Psychic Sidekick," “The Washed-Up Wizard," “First Moose on the Moon,” and “The Burger Monster.”

Plus, four back-up stories featuring everybody's favorite mountie, Dudley Do-Right.

Big Bang Generation
by Gary Russell
Publisher: Broadway Books
Pub. Date: September 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1101905814
Pages: 240
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

With Series Nine (well, Season Nine here in the United States) done with, Doctor Who fans has some time to waste while waiting for this years Christmas Special to air on Dec. 25th. There are plenty of Doctor Who fiction titles in bookstores to keep you busy, like this year's The Glamour Chronicles series.

Released in September from Broadway Books, Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation features a brand-new adventure starring the Twelfth Doctor, minus the companion Clara.

The plot centers on a time portal opening up in Sydney Cover, Australia that leaves behind a huge pyramid near the Harbour Bridge. This strange event gets the attention of Professor Horace Jaanson, Cyrrus "the mobster" Globb and an alien assassin, Kik. To make things even more complicated, a group of con artists arrive to investigate the pyramid, which consists of Legs, Dog Boy, Shortie, Da Trowel and their leader - Doc.