Sandra Cox's Blog, page 38

Writerly Wednesday

 What's your word for:

It's Ketch-up Day

 

 

 

How was your weekend and how is your week shaping up?

Ours has been thought provoking.

We had a pause moment. Amazon dropped off a package that wasn't ours.  We didn't recognize the name or the address. If it had been a postal delivery we would have just returned it to the post office. As it was, we thought we'd stick the address in GPS and drop it off. And then we paused. Three months ago we would have done just that, but violence is escalating at such a pace in this country that knocking on a stranger's door or pulling into their driveway can get you shot. I wish I was exaggerating. Unfortunately, I'm not. This is now America's reality. 

AND

It was a lazy Sunday.

 

AND In the garden

Hostas

AND 

Sunday we had burgers for dinner. I had plant based (The Impossible Burger) and the HH had beef. Can you tell which is which?

Burger A

Burger B

Got hostas? Tried plant based burgers? Worried about guns? Did you have a lazy Sunday?

Weekend Wishes

 

Did You Know

 Did you know, Eleanor Roosevelt was the only First Lady that refused to let the Secret Service guard her?

Ya got to love that woman.

 

IWSG Wednesday

 

Thefirst Wednesday of every month is officially IWSG day. IWSG was formed by NinjaCaptain Alex Cavanaugh. Members post about their doubts and fears, discussstruggles and triumphs, and offer words of encouragement to others who are struggling.

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the May 3 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Meka James, Diane Burton, Victoria Marie Lees, and M Louise Barbour!

May 3 question - When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

Since my muse is regularly flitting off on vacay, I don't have an answer.
 

 

April/May Reviews in noparticular order.

*Disclaimer. If I run into an occasional typo, I ignore them and don't factorthem into my review.

 

 

 

BEST SERVED COLD: A TonyRazzolito PI Story by Joe Congel

 

This is the fourth in theRazzman Series and every bit as good as the first three. Once again Razz andhis partner are working with the police pro bono to solve a high-profile murderof a Charlotte Wildcats ball player. Adding to the drama, the M.O. is the sameas another unsolved high-profile murder and a third with even less of aconnection.

The mystery between themurders deepens as the story progresses.

The author has done awonderful job of developing relatable, likeable characters. The Razzman is agumshoe with a bit of an ego and a heart of gold, in love with one woman andloyal to his friends. My favorite secondary character is Vinnie with hisBrooklyn accent, questionable dealings and love of pizza. He is also anothercharacter who is loyal to his friends.

The world building is spoton, making it easy to lose yourself on the streets of Charlotte, NorthCarolina.

The story line held myinterest from beginning to end.

A well-rounded enjoyableread, that I can highly recommend. Mr. Congel, when can we expect number five? 

Available at Amazon

 

 

IN THE TREE’S SHADOW By D.L. Finn

 

In this collection ofparanormal shorts, the author shows her versatility as she weaves through avariety of subjects with ease. Her stories include humans, creatures andaliens; encompass Christmas gifts and monsters and many what ifs, includingtales of civil war. A scary subject given today’s environment.

Out of the many offerings, Ihad several favorites:  The Bike. TheDolphin. This Journey. The Bench. AND End of the Road had a surprise endingthat made me chuckle.

One of my favoritedescriptive sentences was in It’s Only a Dream: ‘Dark blood flowed outin all directions on the beige carpet like a malicious flower.’

If you are ready to beentertained and awed, as I was, I suggest you put the coffee on, your feet up,kick back and enjoy

 Available at Amazon

 

 

CRAZYLITTLE THING CALLED LOVE by Jacquie Biggar

 

Analpha male and a sassy female.

Sophialeft the ranch behind, for a degree and the big city, to prove to her brothersand the man she loved she could stand on her own two feet. Now she’s back anddetermined to save the ranch, which the family is in jeopardy of losing.

Toldwith her usual warmth and style, Ms. Biggar once again explores humanrelationships and gives us a heartwarming tale in the process. Another winningBiggar romance.

Thisis the second in the Gambling Hearts series but can be read as a stand alone.

Available at  Amazon

 

 

 

 

REDEMPTIONby Gwen Plano

Apsychological thriller

 

Apsychological thriller, this story centers around a sister and brother tryingto discover who murdered their father and why. As layers are peeled away, theymake shocking discoveries about him and learn heartbreaking secrets about theirmother. But above all they learn about redemption.

Withno unnecessary verbiage to slow it down, the author keeps the story moving at abrisk pace. Her characters are well-developed. And her world building is spoton.

REDEMPTIONis told in third-person, present-tense.

Available at Amazon

 

 

 

 

SEVENSISTERS, #1 in Series, by M. L. Bullock

Thisis the first book in the Seven Sisters Series.

CarrieJo has a unique talent, or curse. She revisits history in her dreams. And nowthat she is working in a Southern antebellum mansion, the nightmarish dreams ofa missing heiress are coming hard and fast.

Ifound the book to have an interesting premise and the way that the protagonistfalls back in time in the dreams is well handled. My only complaint is that itends on a cliff-hanger with no closure. If you want the answer, you have to buythe next book. This is just a personal nit of mine. I know a lot of authors setup their series this way. I just prefer closure with something intriguingenough to pique my interest for the next story, but that aside it’s a good readwith over five thousand ratings.

Available at  Amazon

 

REVELATION OF LOVE (Influenced Book 3) by PatriciaLynne

 

Life needs the dark to balance the light. Angelsand devils sit on our shoulders and influence our decisions.

When Kemuel sacrifices his angelic powers to go toearth and check on the influencers, he soon realizes that maybe not all demonsare bad and that just maybe the angels are out of touch.

A fun, whimsical read. Recommended.

Available at Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMEGA QUEEN, Box Set 1-3 (Omega Queen Series) by W.J. May

 

Three best friends, a princess, a fae and avampire, leave safety and home to fulfill a prophecy and save their world. Thefirst three books are: Discipline, Bravery and Courage. This has been awell-received YA fantasy series. My only complaint, and complaint is too stronga word, I would have liked just a little more showing and less telling, butnonetheless an enjoyable read. Recommended.

Available at Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRADS:

 

DARK HORSE by Tami Hoag

When it comes to thrillers Tami Hoag is a master.Some of the scenes are a little more graphic than I’d like but she certainlyholds my attention and makes for a read that’s hard to put down. 

A former police officer who is working as a groomand fighting her own demons, finds herself in the middle of a murder that takesplaces in the luxurious Palm Beach horse world. The story builds to an excitingclimax as the reader and heroine try to discover the killer. 

Available at Amazon 

 

ALIBI MAN by Tami Hoag

 

Protagonist Elena Estes story picks up where DarkHorse left off. Once again there’s a murder to solve and in the process, asusual, she manages to alienate friends and foes alike. As she did in DarkHorse, Hoag stomps down on the excitement pedal and doesn’t let up until thestory’s end. Another edge-of-the seat read that kept me reading into the weehours of the morning. 

Available at Amazon

 

NIGHT PASSAGE by Robert B. Parker

 

This is the first in a series of twenty some-oddbooks centered around Chief of Police Jesse Stone, who cares too much andsometimes drinks too much. He’s got two addictions, alcohol and his ex-wife.

Jesse has been fired from his position on the LApolice force for drinking. He applies for a position as Chief of Police inParadise, MA. He shows up drunk for the interview and still gets the positionand begins to wonder why. Instead of the easy gig—at least compared to LA—thathe’d anticipated, he’s suddenly embroiled in mystery and murder and themurderer is coming next for him.

This is the first book I’ve read by Mr. Parker. Assoon as I finished it, I ordered the second in the series. He’s developed anexcellent character that we can root for, a flawed human with heart, courageand a backbone of steel.

Available at  Amazon

 

TROUBLE IN PARADISE by Robert B. Parker

This is the second in the Jesse Stone Series andanother winner. On to book three.

Available at Amazon

 

DEATH IN PARADISE by Robert B. Parker

Every bit as good as the first two.

Available at Amazon

 

What have you been reading (or writing)? See anything that appeals?

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's Ketch-up Day

 

Happy May! How was your weekend and Monday?

We got to spend time with the grands, and their parents, this weekend and had breakfast with an old friend AND chatted with relatives so we had an excellent weekend.  Monday...got to do those chores that got ignored over the weekend. Oh yay:) What about you? How was your weekend? How is your week progressing?

The kids wanted to go to the Painted Peacock so we went and had all kinds of fun. If you aren't familiar with it, you pick out pottery that is offered for sale,  paint it and leave it to be fired. It's available for pickup four days later. I painted a mug in blue and yellow to support Ukraine.  It was actually lavender and yellow but I was assured it would be blue after it's fired:)

 From there it was on to the Sweet  Frog for a tasty treat.

Then home where the parents kindly sprang for pizza. Yay.

AND

Can you believe it's May?

AND 

It's BURRO AWARENESS MONTH.

AND

The HH gave me an early Mother's Day gift. I'm having problems getting good produce in the grocery stores so thought I'd give growing blackberries a shot. Anyone out there grow them?

AND

If interested, the Musing Geek has a post on how to add thumbs up or down buttons  to blogger posts.

https://themusinggeek.blogspot.com/ Got blackberries? Been to Painted Peacock or Sweet Frog? Interested in adding thumbs up and down buttons to your blog posts?

YOUR WEEKEND READ: IN THE TREE'S SHADOW BY D.L. FINN

 

Today the lovely, talented and my good friend, D.L. Finn is here to tell us about her latest release: In The Trees Shadows. It's a great read. My review will be posted on IWSG Wednesday. 

Thank you, Sandra, for having me on your amazing blog todayto share the good news of my latest release, a short story collection, In the Tree’s Shadow.

“In the Moment” is one of those stories that came to me inthe middle of the night. It’s when some of those worries from all the negativenews creep in and present a scenario. What if we go too far and take it to thenext level? When do we cross from using words into a solution where death isacceptable?

This is an avenue I explored with Nora. She is lookingforward to an early night, maybe reading a book while her husband is awayfishing. But when people spot strange lights in the sky, an earthquake hits,and the power goes out, Nora is concerned but out of the information loop. Areher family and husband okay?

I’ve felt like Nora when we lose power and phones during astorm. Tucked safely into the woods and isolated, we wouldn’t have a clue ifsomething major happened. These thoughts keep my mind occupied in the darkness andbecome a reality for Nora.

 

BLURB:

A collection ofshort stories where dreams and nightmares coexist.

Nestled inside these pages, you’ll meet a couple in theirgolden years who take a trip with an unexpected detour, a boy desperate to givehis brother the Christmas gift he asked for, a girl with a small glass dragonwho is at the mercy of her cruel uncles, and a young mother who has a recurringdream about murder. You’ll be introduced to worlds where people get secondchances and monsters might be allowed their desires, while angels and dragonstry to help. Happy endings occur, but perspective can blur the line betweengood and evil in these twenty-seven tales. Since the stories vary between 99and 12,000 words, whether you have only five minutes or an entire evening tosettle into reading, there is something that will suit your time and taste.

 

EXCERPT:

It was like every other evening when Islid into bed after my shower. The night was silent as I settled onto the cool,blue-flowered sheets. A dull thump of a headache pulsed behind my eyes as Ichecked the cell phone for messages, but I didn’t find any. People were abuzzabout strange lights in the sky on a local social media website. Giant glowingorbs were moving together in an unusually straight line. The official explanation was that it wasa new group of satellites, but they didn’t say who launched them. Some peopleonline didn’t buy that, and others had their theories. Ideas went from alienattack to secret government experiment. None of it sounded plausible, and I wastoo tired to pull myself out of bed to look.

My bed jolted like my husband, Sam, hadbumped into the bed, but he wasn’t home and I hadn’t moved. This was when thetalk changed from strange lights to earthquakes.

A text from my daughter, Tammy, poppedup. I got woken up by someone pounding onmy front door. They were trying to get in. I can’t get a response to my 9-1-1call.

I quickly responded. I don’t think anyone is trying to break in,but don’t open the door to be safe. There has been a cluster of earthquakes,and I bet everyone calls it in.

I sent her a screenshot from the appthat monitors them while I quickly responded to three texts from friends askingif I was okay after the quakes and strange lights.

I’mfine. Like being back in the Bay Area! Ha!

Rarely did I feel the Earth move in myhouse in the mountains. I was no longer tired. With a sigh, I tugged on my graybathrobe as my orange tabby, Leo, popped from under the bed.

AMAZONPURCHASE LINK

 

FUNFINN FACTS:

1.      Ibelieve fairies live in our forest. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bigfoot was outthere with them.

2.      Lasttime I rode a horse was on our 36th wedding anniversary in FortBragg, CA, on the beach. The horse took off across the sandy shore, andalthough I knew how to handle it and was enjoying myself, our guide was notamused. 😊

 

BIO:

D. L. Finn is an independent California local whoencourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised inthe foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 she relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, andcats to Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills. She immersed herself in readingall types of books but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy. Shealways treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, surrounded bytowering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed.Her creations include children’s books, adult fiction, a unique autobiography,and poetry. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to allreaders to join her.

 

D.L. Finn Links:

Twitter

Bookbub

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

D.L. Finn blog

Amazon Page

Did You Know

 Did you know, the first high school in the United States was in Boston and opened in 1821?

 

Writerly Wednesday

 Are you familiar with this word? What's your synonym for it?

 

It's Ketch-up Day

 

How was your weekend and Monday? Not too much going on here except we found baby snakes in the garden. Ack. Ack. Ack. We've had a problem with copperheads in the past few years. Double Ack. Time to put the snake repellent down.

 Garden pics below. Something new and different:)Irises and Azaleas (Tis the Season)  
 

 

AND last but not least, these faux flowers weren't in my garden but they were in my Easter basket:)

 

Got flowers? How was your weekend? Got plans for this week?