Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 138

Release Day

Just a friendly note/post to let you all know that Deaf Isn't Dumb was released today. You can find it on Amazon and Breathless Press.

Blurb: You're stupid. You're retarded. You shouldn't have this job. These words lit a fire of determination in one deaf woman who set out to prove to the aviation world…and the world in general that deaf isn't dumb.


Deaf Isn't Dumb is a motivational story of a young woman, Tara, who faces the challenges of growing up "hearing impaired" in a hearing world. Follow her as she recounts everything from childhood bullies to work related restrictions, and funny misunderstandings from mispronounced words to fear of Federal Air Marshals. In this tale, straight from the heart, learn that simply because one is deaf—contrary to popular misconception—it doesn't mean they are dumb.

The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner

I think C.W. Gortner is a man, so I was exceptionally surprised and pleased at the woman's POV being done so well. Her insecurities, her love for her husband, her strengths and weaknesses were so real to me. To be honest, I didn't expect to like this queen. She was behind the murder of so many...but the last part of the book, the Inquisition, showed me another side and reason to it all. Same history, different POV.

I preferred the beginning of the book. Young Isabella, her friend, Beatriz, her passion for Fernando. I fell in love with Fernando there for a while myself...till he was a bad boy. Young Isabella shows us her brothers' reigns. Her half brother, the sodomite and his wife trying to throw a daughter of questionable lineage on the throne... Her second brother takes the throne, only to die. Isabella tries to play nice and fair and it bites her later. She's threatened, imprisoned of sorts, they want her to marry against her wishes...but she only wants Fernando.


I found it wonderfully romantic. I was completely enthralled with the first half of the book. The second half with her as queen showed me a determined and strong woman and mother, then the Inquisition. I grew a tad bored with all the court intrigue. I always do. Those parts about wars and traitors start to lose me for some reason, but I thought this was a great book. It's the first novel I have read about Queen Isabella. Well done, Mr. Gortner.


Favorite quote:
"Women breed and men provide. What I ask is: Why? Why must we have only one path? Who said a woman can't take up the sword and cross, and march on Granada to vanquish the Moors? Who said we can't make our own decisions or manage our ow affairs as well as any man?"


Four stars. I received this, an ARC, via Amazon Vine. Quotes in the final book may be different. 

A Wild Night's Bride by Victoria Vane

Just released today from Breathless Press. 

I can't rate this because I helped edit it. But, if I was reading it as a reviewer, I would give it a five. Why?


Humor: I bout fell off my stool the first time I read it. Funny!!!


Sex: At one point, I had to turn the ceiling fan on. Yes, I did.


Romance: It's there. Ned says some words that melt me where I sit. Beautiful stuff.


So it has it all...and then some.


I highly recommend it for fans of historical romance, people that like some sex with their humor and vice versa.


A brief summary: Ned has been celibate for some time. He hooks up with his friend DeVere who has some plans for him...they don't call him the Devil DeVere for nothing... Enter Pheobe, a struggling actress. 


What goes down when these three get together will have you laughing and gasping as they defile...the King of England's bed! :o (Note: No, there is no menage. Get your minds out of the gutter!)


Available Here

Zakia and the Cowboy by Lorraine Nelson

"He gave her a leg up, their bodies brushing against each other, causing a heated friction that certainly wasn't due to the heat of the sun."

Wow! I think that's my favorite line and just had to throw that out there. This is a romantic/western suspense. Zakia is a single mother with two twin boys who has a nasty stalker. She escapes to the only place she feels safe: her ex husband's ranch.

Luke is a hot cowboy who gets a shock of his life when he discovers he has two twin sons. Once her and Zakia get over their awkwardness and in his case, anger, things start to heat up. It was obvious these two never shoulda been separated.


Enter Blake and Sam. I loved Sam. She was my favorite character. I had a hard time liking Zakia at times. I just like my heroines tough; I like them to save themselves, not cry or go to sleep rather than walk on a sprained ankle. LOL. Though I  hand to hand it to her when she got ahold of the duct tape and got creative. She redeemed herself then. And then there is Sam, my kinda woman.


"I do not need your permission to go riding. No man tells me what to do."


I understand this ex military chick with a fake hand is featured in book two. I cannot wait! Anyway, her and Blake (another hottie!) and a bunch of ranch  hands mean to go on a cattle rustling expedition. The goal is to make the stalker show himself and at the same time, keep Zakia and her kids safe.


Things backfire...and that's all I'm gonna say. You gotta read it for yourself to figure out what happens next.


And one last favorite line of mine that I think you will all get a kick out of...

"Bouncing over the fields with her on his lap must be hard on his hard-on."

LOL!!! In case you're wondering, that was a tractor scene. :)


Four stars. I def recommend it, and I obtained this book through Amazon's lending program. Thanks, mum, for the loan.

The Penny Bangle Blog Tour/Giveaway/Review

Today, I'm pleased to be hosting Choc Lit's blog tour for The Penny Bangle by Margaret James. For this post, we've done something different. I've interview NOT the author, but the book's heroine instead, Cassie Taylor.


Tell us a bit about yourself? I was born and grew up in Birmingham, which is a big industrial city in the heart of England. My mother died when I was a baby, and nobody knows where my father went – not that we miss him, anyway. My grandmother Lily brought me up. She’s very religious and she worries all the time about my body and my soul. I was working in a factory making tanks, having a good time and earning good money, when Lily decided that if I stayed in Birmingham I was going to be killed in a bombing raid. She nagged me into applying to join the Land Girls, which meant I’d have to go and work on a farm. I knew nothing about farming and I didn’t want to go, because apart from anything else I’d earn half what I was earning in the factory.  But Lily wore me down – she’s good at wearing people down – and in January 1942 I was on a train to Dorset, setting off into the unknown. When you first arrived in Dorset, what did you think of it? I hated it. I’d grown up in a city where there were shops and trams and houses and people, and in the countryside there was just – nothing. I took one look at the place where I’d be living – a tiny little cottage in the middle of nowhere – and decided this Land Girl stuff wasn’t for me.  When I met the Denham family, I could see they didn’t think much of me. I must admit I didn’t think much of them, either – they all talked like members of the Royal Family, and I’m sure they looked down on me.  Did they grow on you? Mrs Denham turned out to be all right, and so did her son Stephen, who was kind to me from the start. But Robert did nothing but scowl and glare and shout and criticise. Okay, Robert looked like Clark Gable, but handsome is as handsome does, and all that stuff.  He mellowed a bit when he could see I was doing my best to learn. But it took me a long time to realise he was a really nice person – a man I could love. You have to stand up to men like Robert Denham, even if you’re terrified, and Robert could be pretty terrifying! But he could also be very kind. When he noticed my work boots were too big, he bought me a pair that fitted perfectly.  Robert and Stephen are twins, but they sound very different?  Stephen’s quiet and sweet and considerate. Robert’s loud and aggressive and confident – too confident, in fact. But, as I got to know them better, I realised Stephen was very complex and difficult to know well, while with Robert everything was on the surface. He also knew how to turn on the charm! When Robert realised he liked me, I couldn’t help but find him irresistible.  Rob and Steve are both very good-looking, both tall and dark and handsome, but they’re not absolutely identical. Rob’s nose is straight, but Steve’s has a bump in it – he must have broken it when he was a child. Steve’s ears stick out a little, but Rob’s sit close to his head. I’m so shallow that I’ll always go for the man with the straight nose, but Rob is just that bit more attractive. He’s bigger and stronger than his brother, and he’s a natural leader. There’s a confidence about Robert that draws people to him, even if he’s shouting at them.  You came to like the countryside, didn’t you? Yes, I did, because it’s clean and pretty and there’s no way Birmingham could be called clean or pretty. I’m happy to live in the countryside as long as I can escape to a town now and again, go shopping and feel the buzz of a big city. I love London and am glad my sister-in-law lives there, because this means I can go and stay once in a while.  What’s been the proudest moment of your life?  I grew up in a very poor part of Birmingham among people who knew nothing about the world, and I was so happy when we opened Charton Minster as a holiday home for children from the big cities – children who had never run along a beach, never paddled a canoe, never climbed a tree, never caught a fish. I love knowing I can change these children’s lives like the Denhams changed mine.


I asked her to describe some scandalous knickers she lost on a train platform, but she clammed up. :) Ladies just didn't talk about things like that during WWII. 


And this book...I assume you're all wondering at this point...is about a land girl during WWII. A city girl taking to life on a farm, making new friends, milking cows, and yes, finding love in the middle of all the heartache and fear.


This is the third book in a series, but I'm pleased to say it can stand all by itself. I hadn't read the first two, but never at any point did I find myself confused, actually, I was just curious about the other two books and they've moved up the TBR pile now.


Anyone interested in WWII, what went on on the home front and I mean England, should take a gander at it. It's in both print and ebook. And today, a lucky commentor will virtually walk away with a paperback copy of this book. :) Leave a comment and a winner will be randomly chosen at the end of a week.


Please, leave an email address if your blogger identity doesn't provide a way to contact you. Thank you.

The Prophet by Amanda Stevens

I loved the first two books in The Graveyard Queen series. I think the second was my favorite though. The horror of Asher Falls... this one just can't compare to that.

They had to bring that whole Devlin, Robert, Mariama, and daughter thing back. I didn't like Devlin in book one and liked him even less this time. And Amelia Gray...why oh why, do you want a man, pine for him even, when he was just nuzzling some other woman's neck? What the hell is wrong with you, girl?

The entire novel was Amelia  making one bad choice after another (You left the gun there?? Duh!), having drug induced hallucinations, talking to ghosts, and stalking Devlin as she tries to find out who killed Robert, another ghost from book one.

What was Asher Falls for???? Just to make her a more haunted woman in this book? Hm... Something isn't panning out here.

However, the book didn't totally bomb. The beetles.. OMG. That was scary. The cowering under a desk next to a dead body... creepy stuff.

In the end, however, I was displeased with Amelia and her blasted Devlin obsession. I think she needs to go back to Asher Falls. It also raised more questions, namely, for me, is Amelia alive or dead?

Three stars. I got this on netgalley.

Free Book and Half Price Book! This Weekend Only!

Starting today until the end of Monday, April 23rd, Dog Tails is FREE on Amazon Kindle! So...go scoop it up HERE and then read it! If you like it, I have another surprise for you. My historical fiction young adult novel, Ride for Rights is half price for this same time period. This is a one time thing. It's dropping from 5.50 to 2.75. That's a great deal. It's my longest piece, my only novel. Pick it up HERE. 

Thank you to all my readers/reviewers/friends for your support. I hope you enjoy your new books. :)

Unscripted by J.S. Marlo

Available today from Breathless Press:

I can't rate this because I edited it. So, of course, I think it's good. What I will say is fans of television shows, firefighting, suspense, good clean romance, people that have faced the loss of a loved one, mothers, there's something for all of you in this book. 

Riley is a writer who gets a fun, exciting job writing for a television show called Wild Rescue. She friends a handsome man, Blythe, who has some troubling stuff going on his life. Writing for the television show isn't all fun though...there's a coworker who is most unpleasant. 

Meanwhile, Riley's husband is back home on the ranch fighting fires and tracking down an arsonist who shoes no signs of stopping. 

Riley, Blythe, Ollie, Chad, Rowan... A wonderful cast of characters that will really draw you into their lives.


Buy Here: Unscripted on Breathless Press

A Proper Lady's Gypsy Lover by Juliet Chastain

Having read this author's The Captain and the Courtesan and enjoyed it, I bought this as soon as it was made available. I sat down and read it in a sitting as it's another novelette.

I liked this because we have a headstrong heroine who does not want to marry against her will and thwarts suitors at every turn because her heart belongs to another...but he's a gypsy, and her oh so proper aunts won't let her see him. Imagine Lucy Ann's surprise when Liberty shows up at a dance dressed as a gentleman!


But he's not a gentleman. He's trying to weasel money from the rich. He loves her and yet spurns her to save her. There's no future for them...is there? Well, there could be, but they'll have to make one for themselves.


Well written, engaging, and just a good, simple romance. I recommend it for when you just want to escape briefly to another time, place, and to a fictional character's problems. Or for when you need that HEA and soon. Stories like this are what I like to call "spirit lifters."


Four stars. I think it could have been fleshed out a bit more.

Kissing the Captain by Kianna Alexander

This was as short, sweet novella. 1879. A young woman's father passes away, leaving her alone...but not destitute. However, the 26 acres of farmland she's inherited comes with a string attached: marry her father's best friend's son, Ricardo.

Her dilemma: She has to marry a man she doesn't know. This is scary.


Ricardo is a sea captain who can no longer handle being at sea. His dilemma: Making Lily want him when it seems he pisses her off at every turn. 


They argue over whores, drinking, and after they wed, a woman's place in the home. I really liked Lily. She won't take any lip from this guy. She'll take the lovin' and all, but when it comes right down to it, she says she's going to do her thing and he can't stop her. I also liked how she sorta saves him, not the other way around. Trouble falls on them and I didn't really see him as protecting her. She ended up looking out for herself in my opinion.


It was a decent and entertaining read, I didn't buy the whole suicidal woman thing at the end though. I also found something a bit irritating as I read: It was all very proper English. We are. You will. I am. No we're, you'll, or I'm. I can see having them speak that way, but even the narrative? It was a minor irritant.


Three stars. I received this from the author in exchange for an honest review.