Laura Freeman's Blog, page 6

Game On: Tempting Twenty-eight

Game On: Tempting Twenty-eight by Janet Evanovich, mystery

This Stephanie Plum story has Diesel as her sidekick. They’re both after Oswald Wednesday, an international computer hacker who has targeted seven members of an amateur hacker team. Five of them end up dead with their tongues cut out.

Stephanie is a more serious bounty hunter without the usual slap stick in previous books, but Lulu provides plenty of unlucky encounters. Stephanie reflects on life, and the family discussion on autopsies are hilarious. And surprise, her father has a real conversation. Normally he grunts and watches TV.

Stephanie’s life is put in danger more than once. Did I say the books had a more serious tone? And plenty of food is described and eaten. Also, two cars are blown up. So this is a mixture of old and new Stephanie. In a surprise twist, she isn’t rescued by Morelli or Ranger.

Evanovich drops a name in the story, asking Diesel if he knows Gabriela Rose. A sample of “The Recovery Agent” is at the end of the book, and we meet Gabriela, who recovers artifacts. She’s an amateur anthropologist, a descendent of Blackbeard, a history buff and collector of pirate plunder. She’s a female Indiana Jones and worthy of checking out.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#mystery #StephaniePlum #JanetEvanovich

Letter From a Rake

Letter From a Rake by Sasha Cottman, 2018, Regency Romance

This is a series featuring the Strathmore family and this is book #1. Alex Radley is the legitimate son of the Duke of Strathmore but has an older half-brother, David. They have a sister Lucy who is in her second season. The family is close but handsome Alex often breaks the hearts of the young girls Lucy tries to make friends with.

Miss Millicent Ashton and her brother Charles with their parents have just returned from India where Millie was born. Her father’s older brother is a Viscount, but James Ashton replenished the family coffers by going to India. Millie longs to return to India because she feels like a fat stranger among the skinny debutantes of London.

Lucy and Millie become fast friends, and Lucy introduces her brothers Alex and David. Alex has a strange reaction to Millie and embarrasses her by refusing to dance after leading her out on the dance floor. Alex has another secret he doesn’t want shared.

He tries to make amends to Millie, but everything he does blows up in his face. A near scandal results in a hasty trip and a letter delivered to the wrong person. Misunderstandings are part of a Regency romance, and this one delivers.

In addition, there is plenty of description of architecture, famous places, clothing, and food. For fans of a Regency, this will satisfy. It will take some help to sort out all the problems in the end, but a happily ever after is guaranteed.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#Regency #romance #SashaCottman

Sealed With a Kiss

Sealed With a Kiss by Leeanna Morgan, 2016, Romance, Emerald Lake Billionaires #1

This is a Christmas Romance set in Bozeman, Montana where there is plenty of snow. This is first in a series set around Emerald Lake. John Fletcher is an ex-Navy seal who has made billions in his Fletcher Security Company and is developing a drone for the Department of Justice. His work puts him and his daughter, Bella, 8, in danger, and he has security guarding her all the time.

Rachel McReedy is a schoolteacher who helps her friends collect bridesmaid dresses for those who can’t afford them or needs them in a crunch. Bella wrote a card to them asking for a bride for her father. Did I say it was a holiday story?

Rachel’s friend Annie is getting married and the groom, Dylan, is a friend of John. They meet at the bachelor party and wedding. Rachel, who was neglected by hard-working parents, feels for Bella, and hopes to encourage John to spend more time with his daughter. John lost his wife six years ago and doesn’t think he’ll ever fall in love again. Bella is his focus.

The romance builds slowly along with the threats to John and his loved ones. Although they kiss about halfway through the story, there is much more to sort out and danger ahead.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#Romance #Montana #Christmas #LeeannaMorgan

What She Forgot

What She Forgot by S.W. Vaughn, 2018, psychological thriller

Madeline Osborn was the fifth victim of a kidnapper, rapist, murderer, but she escaped and killed her captor when she was 16. But she suffers from Capgras Syndrome, turning innocent people into killers because of hallucinations, and can’t remember the week between being kidnapped and escaping.

Having an unreliable narrator (this story is in first person POV) helps to keep the reader guessing. Is she remembering correctly or is she remembering a falsehood? The story also switches between the past when Madeline was taken and the present when Madeline is married to Richard and has a 16-year-old daughter, Renata, that is the center of her life.

We learn about her friends, life, and those who turned against her after she escaped, including her best friend Carson and her boyfriend Ian. And only a week after being rescued, her father shot himself.

The story is packed with secrets, twists, and surprises and they are all woven expertly by Vaughn into a story that provides plenty of bad guys. Many of them you won’t see coming. Clues are given throughout the story, but you’ll have to pay attention to some of them. Not everything is as it seems, which is the goal of this story.

This is a good story for a book club who like to analyze a complex story. There are some logic flaws, but they are needed to propel the story forward to its end. Even flaws can be interesting in a discussion and overlooked in a work of fiction.

Spoil alert: Don’t read these questions if you’re reading the book. Why wasn’t a pregnancy resulting from a rape terminated? Why didn’t a character confront another about a mysterious diary instead of waiting 20 years? How did a prescription get switched at the pharmacy?

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman. wordpress.com

#suspense #thriller #psychological thriller #SWVaughn

Rescuing Lord Inglewood

Rescuing Lord Inglewood by Sally Britton, 2019, Regency romance

Miss Esther Fox sees a statue of Hermes falling from the unraveling ropes hauling it to a second-floor window and pushes Silas, Lord Inglewood, out of the way. She is hit by a rock and falls onto him, bleeding from a head wound. He carries her inside Lady Spanton’s home and calls for a doctor. This results in a scandal that has gentlemen placing bets at White’s Club on whether he will marry her.

Silas turns out to be the best friend of Isaac, Esther’s brother, who is fighting Napoleon. They write him about the incident and wonder what his reaction will be.

Silas is a member of parliament and known for his unflinching demeanor, like a statue. He sends Esther to his friend’s home in the country so gossip will die down. When he visits, Esther falls into a stream and is compromised again. He announces their betrothed without consulting her.

The story emphasizes Silas in his commanding way, making decisions without asking Esther, who resents being treated like a child and “baggage.” Silas, Isaac and their other three friends excluded her out of their childhood games because she was too young, and she feels like an outsider when they are reunited.

Britton uses symbolism to emphasis her feelings of being an outsider. The five older friends formed a club and hid a tin with an item from each. Silas unearths it and shares the treasures with his friends without realizing Esther is excluded. Finally, at the end they invite her to join the club. Symbolism with an object or club reinforces the emotional bond that needs to be made.

Silas returns to Parliament and leaves Esther behind, but she sends messages through paintings. He writes, hoping to get to know her better, but he doesn’t know how to court his own wife, and she believes he doesn’t love her. She is an obligation and burden. Unsaid words and misunderstandings are a part of a love story but need balance. Britton does this. She also throws in an unwanted visitor and shows Esther struggle to behave like a proper lady even though she hasn’t been trained for the role.

A huge surprise complicates their relationship, but the story takes another twist before everything is resolved. I recommend you give this author a try.

#Regency #romance #historical #SallyBritton

Pride of Honor

Pride of Honor by Andrea K. Stein, Men of the Squadron Series #1, 2020

This Regency story takes place in 1819 with Captain Arnaud Bellingham fighting slave traders off the coast of Africa. He receives his own ship and is in London preparing it for another voyage. While walking with Dr. Cullen McCloud, his ship’s doctor, they see Sophia Brancelli attacked and nearly kidnapped before they rescue her. She uses her parasol and hatpin to ward off her abductor.

Sophia is the illegitimate granddaughter of a duchess and must marry a member of the ton before turning 21 in six months or lose her inheritance. Arnaud is planning to marry his mistress, a woman he doesn’t love but thinks can handle the fact he spends up to two years at sea and would be away most of the time.

The story has plenty of interesting characters, and many will appear in future books in the series. There are several villains, mostly hired by the main villain left to the end to be revealed. Don’t peek.

Arnaud and his men protect Sophia while she attends parties and balls in search of a husband. Arnaud goes from denying any feelings to jealousy and desperation as Sophia searches for someone other than Arnaud, who refuses to marry her and leave her for such long periods of absence.

The story is brisk, action-packed, and holds a few surprises. Enjoy.

More book reviews are available at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#Regency #Navy #romance #AndreaKStein

Writing supernatural

I’ve only written one supernatural story, but after reading a really bad one, I would like to offer some suggestions when writing in this genre.

The particular story I read was a supernatural cozy. The biggest problem was that the murder didn’t occur until half-way through the book. I’m sorry. The murder MUST be in the first chapter and the second chapter at the latest. A cozy is a mystery solved by an amateur but still needs to follow the rules of the genre.

The author of this supernatural got sidetracked by describing her new world. She introduced a lot of different characters, and many of them had nothing to do with the mystery. Don’t clutter up your story with minor characters that slow down the investigation.

Once the murder occurred, the heroine with a few friends begins to investigate, but it was chaotic and introduced more minor characters as if she had to describe every supernatural being in her world. Focus your story on the goal of solving the mystery. Don’t get distracted with a lot of unnecessary description. Everything but the kitchen sink was thrown into this mess of a story.

This rule applies to creating any world whether it’s supernatural, science fiction, magical, or historical. Weave the description in with the action and dialogue. Don’t dump it all in a pile that the reader is going to be tempted to skip over. Begin with something the reader is familiar with and then put your twist on it to show that they aren’t “in Kansas anymore.”

In my novella, “Tackling Molasses Crinkles” there are only three main characters who meet on Christmas Eve. Nick and Crystal start out as enemies because the big bad football player tackles her and breaks her cookies, but Nana draws them closer until the end when she reveals the big secret.

Here is the blurb:

While delivering freshly baked cookies to her elderly neighbor, Crystal sees a shady stranger inside the house and sneaks to the back door to determine if he’s friend or foe.
Nick catches sight of a suspicious person outside and thinks it’s a porch pirate looking for Christmas packages. He drives the thief to the ground with a football tackle. Only his victim is his hostess’s neighbor, stunned by the force of the impact and furious about her broken cookies.

After this cute-meet gone wrong, can these two adversaries find common ground and discover the tragic secrets that have brought them together?

The ebook is available at http://goo.gl/B7lKMs and in a print anthology “A Hint of Vanilla”

The supernatural element to my story is subtle instead of overpowering. Hints are provided throughout the story, so the surprise ending is satisfying instead of a shock. Even in Harry Potter, the kids were normal kids. They just happen to have magical powers, but there was a balance between solving problems with magic and using logic and perseverance. The emphasis was on their friendship and helping each other.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#supernatural #cozy #mystery #LauraFreeman

The House of Closed Doors

The House of Closed Doors by Jane Steen, 2012 Historical Mystery

This historical mystery captures the attitude and restrictions on women in 1870 as Steen takes us through the life of Nell Hillington, who becomes pregnant at 17 through a single encounter. She is determined not to name the father and be forced to marry him.

Her mother, Amelia, is ill and her stepfather, Hiram Jackson, has a dark side. He sends her to Prairie Haven Poor Farm for imbeciles, drunks, and seniles. The matron Mrs. Lombardi believes in treating the unfortunate with respect and befriends Nell, whose task is sewing.

Nell befriends, Tess, (who has Down Syndrome but is labeled as imbecile), and Nell is labeled an immoral imbecile for becoming pregnant and not married. When she helps to open the insane ward for senile women, the body of a young woman and child is found. Nell begins to investigate, and a workman at the farm dies mysteriously. The superintendent tries to kill himself, and Hiram threatens to take Nell’s baby daughter, Sarah, away from her.

Much more follows, and readers will want to follow Nell to the end of this story. It will continue in the next book as well.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#mystery #historical #JaneSteen

The Mark of a Rogue

The Mark of a Rogue (Scandalous Sons #2) by Adele Clee 2019 Regency

I enjoy Adele Clee’s books and recommend you try one of her stories. The characters fit together perfectly, and her story is action packed. She has great villains and tension-filled endings.

The story begins in a graveyard where Lawrence Trent, the illegitimate son of Viscount Ranfield captures a woman leaving items on his brother’s grave. Verity Vale, spinster, feels guilty over the drowning of Charles Farrow and tells Lawrence how her brother also drowned mysteriously. They both bore a brand on their chests and belonged to a “brethren” group tied to a book.

Although he promises to look into the matter, she arrives at his friend’s house. Wycliff is newly married from book #1 and Cavanaugh appears in book #3 in this series. They join forces with Verity to find answers to why the men were killed and Verity nearly raped as payment for her brother’s debt.

Clee takes the reader to demimonde playgrounds, back alley slums, and other London settings with crisp descriptions. Verity and Lawrence fight a growing attraction that heats up with each turn of the page. The hero and heroine are separately put in danger with the other fighting to save the other. The relationship is balanced and moves to its ultimate ending.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#romance #regency #AdeleClee

Jasmine Sea

Jasmine Sea (Rivers End #2) by Phillipa Nefri Clark, 2017

This is a romantic thriller with a lot of past trauma thrown in to keep the hero and heroine at arm’s length before declaring their love. The story also flips between two couples. Thomas and Martha were united in the previous book and are on their honeymoon at the beginning of the story. They return at the end. This is considered a bookend story. In between is the story about Christie and Martin and his dog, Randall. Or is it Thomas’ dog?

Christie is renovating a cottage she hopes to give to Thomas and Martha. Martin is an artist who won Christie’s heart from her narcistic ex-boyfriend Derek who wants to buy the cottage and gain control of Rivers End for a development. His partner Ingrid and Rupert cause plenty of problems for everyone in Rivers End. The danger ramps up toward the end with Christie having to face Derek alone and her personal fears.

The story takes place in Australia and keeps the language and scenery of the country in the story. Most of the setting is along the coast with a boat, beaches, and lovely buildings. Enjoy.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#thriller #romance #Australia #PhillipaNefriClark