P.D. Workman's Blog, page 137

Double-Header for Teaser Tuesday #books #teasertuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

January has been a bad month for me! With an office move sandwiched between two illnesses, I feel like I have not accomplished anything. But my bout with the flu is to your benefit, because between naps, about all I have been able to do is to read. I blasted through a couple of excellent books this weekend, and had to share both with you!

One of the reasons that I picked up The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan is that like This Plague of Days, it involves a protagonist on the autism spectrum at the center of an intriguing plot. And unlike This Plague of Days, The Gauguin Connection gives us a capable, believable, well-rounded autistic character (and a great plot!):

Then he lifted his eyes and gave me a smile. The first genuine smile I had seen on his face. “I could kiss you right now.”

My eyes stretched in shock and I pushed with my feet to roll my chair away from him. “Please don’t.”

Estelle Ryan, The Gauguin Connection

Sometimes when I take a book out of my pile, I don’t remember what made me add it to my TBR list to begin with (a good reason for tracking them in my new So many books posts). So when I started on The Only Alien on the Planet this weekend, I only remembered that it had an intriguing description. I devoured it, thoroughly enjoying the characterization, quickly moving plot, and great insight into friendship, communication, and being the masters of our own happiness. When I hit the last usual Amazon “Before you go” pop-up at the end with “more books by…” I realized why I had bought The Only Alien on the Planet in the first place: It is by Kristen D. Randle, who is my newest favorite author. I don’t know another author who succeeds in entering into the mind and heart of a damaged individual like Randle does. I can only strive for my books to reach that same place.

And if that was so, what I had in my hand was an open window into somebody else’s house.

I put the poem down on the table in front of me.

I was trespassing.

Kristen D. Randle, Only Alien on the Planet

Covers and summaries for both books are below:

Murdered artists. Masterful forgeries. Art crime at its worst.

As an insurance investigator and world renowned expert in nonverbal communication, Dr Genevieve Lenard faces the daily challenge of living a successful, independent life. Particularly because she has to deal with her high functioning Autism. Nothing – not her studies, her high IQ or her astounding analytical skills – prepared her for the changes about to take place in her life.

It started as a favour to help her boss’ acerbic friend look into the murder of a young artist, but soon it proves to be far more complex. Forced out of her predictable routines, safe environment and limited social interaction, Genevieve is thrown into exploring the meaning of friendship, expanding her social definitions, and for the first time in her life be part of a team in a race to stop more artists from being murdered.

New student Ginny is intrigued by the handsome alien in her homeroom?no, this is not a science fiction novel. Smitty-real name Michael-is known to his schoolmates as “The Alien” because of his affectless appearance and complete silence. Soon, Ginny and Smitty’s longtime protector, Caulder, team up to try and crack his shell. They get much more than they bargain for when they drag him along on old-movie outings; as a none-too-subtle plot device, the first turns out to be The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, the second, East of Eden. Smitty walks out of both, for it turns out that he was almost fatally abused by his older brother, who also convinced him that he would die if he spoke to anyone. With the help of Ginny, Caulder and a wise and sympathetic therapist, Smitty emerges from this psychological curse, and he and Ginny even begin a tentative romantic relationship.

So many books… #books #amreading

Here I am with books that grabbed my attention this week. These are not generally books that I have already read, though a few of them might be. They are books that I have seen and added to my TBR list, looked up on Amazon, loved the cover of, etc. Just a quick run-through of what caught my eye, so you can have a look too.

Click on a cover to jump to it on Amazon.

Added to my To Be Read list/Downloaded on my iPhone:

Picked The Gauguin Connection up because of the autistic protagonist. Wowzers. Already blasted through it, and I would highly recommend the series! Look for an excerpt in my upcoming Teaser Tuesday post.

Liked the look of the cover of Back on Murder. I want to do something similar with the covers of my Breaking the Pattern series. Added to my Kindle account, only to find that I had already downloaded it previously.

Looked at on Amazon:

Took a look at Run Run Run, but didn’t want a serial.

Saw The Zig-Zag Girl on Teaser Tuesday, looks like an interesting read.

 

Fry Another Day was another Teaser Tuesday find. Looks like a really cute cozy.

Liked the cover:

 

The cover and tag line of Big Sister caught my attention; but it is not my kind of story, and is only part 1, with a cliffhanger ending.

 

Goodreads Giveaway Don’t Forget Steven #freebie #giveaway #books

Sign up now to win a free copy of Don’t Forget Steven on Goodreads!

 

He never told what went on behind closed doors. But this time, he can’t remember.

Things never have been easy for Steven. He accepts that, and just makes the best of things. He might not have parents or a happy home. Or enough to eat most days. But at least he has a couple of loyal friends who stand by him and help out when they can. At least he has school, someplace he can go to escape the abuse.

But just when he thought things couldn’t get much worse, they did.

Steven is accused of murder. But that isn’t the worst part. The really bad part is not even knowing if he did it.

— I couldn’t stop reading

— The chilling tale of domestic violence and Steven’s struggle to overcome his traumatic experiences, “Don’t Forget Steven” is a fast-paced, compelling read that keeps the reader on the edge from beginning to end

— An interesting and insightful peek into Steven’s life and what it is like to be abused… I really loved this book and would read it again.

Excerpt from To Catch a Bad Guy #books #teasertuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

I just started reading To Catch a Bad Guy by Marie Astor. I guess I’ve read it before… everything is so familiar, but I can’t remember anything ahead of where I am. So I’ll keep reading it!

An hour later, Janet found her head spinning from all the information that Tom Wyman had imparted on her. He had assured her that Bostoff Securities’ structure was perfectly legitimate, but while Wyman’s flowery assurances were spoken with much confidence, Janet felt a steady sense of unease growing inside her.

Marie Astor, To Catch a Bad Guy

Janet Maple’s stellar career ended with a lay off and her boyfriend of almost five years told her that he wants to be just friends. When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.

Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?

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So many books… #amreading #books

I have decided to start a (hopefully) regular feature on books that have grabbed my attention in the last week (or however long it has been since I got the last feature up). These will not be books that I have already read, though a few of them might be. They will be books that I have seen and added to my TBR list, looked up on Amazon, loved the cover of, etc. Just a quick run-through of what has gotten my attention, so you can have a look too.

Click on a cover to jump to it on Amazon.

Added to my To Be Read list/Downloaded on my iPhone:

I almost didn’t get Cold River Rising because the cover looks amateur. But the story sounded so intriguing and I liked the reviews, so I downloaded it.

Downloaded Safety Valve to my hubby’s Kindle account because it is a football book. He likes football.

To Catch a Bad Guy has an unbelievably cute cover that I couldn’t resist. And I love a good cozy mystery. When I clicked through, I saw that I already downloaded this one in June and haven’t read it yet. I think I’ll be reading it very soon!

I previously read Parrots Prove Deadly, another Pru Marlowe, and quite enjoyed that cozy mystery. I clicked on the Panthers Play for Keeps cover before I even realized that it was another in the series, and when I saw it was, that just clinched it. 

Max Brand is a classic western author and every book of his is good. So I added Out of the Wilderness to my Overdrive reading list.

 

I quite enjoyed the last Jack Reacher novel I read, so I added Personal to my Overdrive list as well.

 

Carolyn Hart is a well-known author, and I recently read Death in Paradise, a Henrie O mystery, so Ghost Wanted went onto my Overdrive list as well. The cover and the description are very intriguing.

What can I say, I love cats and cozies? Final Catcall looked cute.

http://geni.us/tommytuppence

 

Who can say no to Agatha Christie? It’s been a long time since I read a Tommy and Tuppence, so Partners in Crime is my next Overdrive read.

 

I have previously posted about Nick Stephenson’s Wanted; but what you may not know is that he is a generous author that helps the writer community with marketing and visibility. I’m currently doing his free course, reading about him on Joanna Penn’s blog, and of course, downloading the non-fiction Reader Magnets.

Looked at on Amazon:

Here is another of Nick Stephenson’s books, Supercharge Your Kindle Sales.

I have mentioned Simon Whistler’s podcast, Rocking Self Publishing, on a couple of other posts. A super-helpful podcast for authors. If that says anything about his ability to write Audiobooks for Indies, it should be a great read. 

Loved the cover for First Strike. Took a peek on Amazon.

 

I’ve mentioned Randy Ingermanson and his fiction and nonfiction writing before. The Snowflake Method is a great outline/book preparation method for fiction books.

There is a popular book out named Shattered right now. I don’t think this is it. But there are a number of books with the same title and I didn’t take any longer to check them out. 

Liked the cover:

 

Excerpt from This Plague of Days #teasertuesday #robertchazzchute #books

The year has started off with a series of challenges, but I’m sure after this week, everything will go back to normal… right…?

I’m never as excited as when I am getting ready to write a new book. There just nothing like picking out the initial idea, working it up into an outline, creating characters, and then… the first draft! See my last post for my new cover concept and decision to write another novel in February.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

I have had This Plague of Days on my TBR (to be read) list since I heard Robert Chazz Chute’s interview on Rocking Self Publishing back in August. I’m not big on apocalyptic, but was intrigued by his use of an autistic character and wanted to see how he portrayed Jamie and got into his head. Jamie has Aspergers Syndrome and is a functional mute with an obsession for words/etymology. I was disappointed to find that Chute only has a superficial understanding of the Autism Spectrum, and has endowed Jamie with mystical/paranormal powers. But I’m still reading it because I want to see how it all turns out.

Meet Jamie in this teaser:

Jamie was perplexed by the use of the plural pronoun. We? Was Dr. Merritt royalty?

Theo, sitting cross-legged next to his son, leaned closer. “Oh, this should be good. Beware idiots with clipboards.”

But Jamie was excited. He’d never met a king.

Robert Chazz Chute, This Plague of Days

The Apocalypse kills billions as new, deadly species are born. Jaimie Spencer, a strange boy from Kansas City, Missouri, fights for our future. Follow his family and an intrepid band of European refugees as we all fall into the Mindfield. To win the future, we must confront ourselves. This is much more than the average zombie novel.

“Just when you think you’ve got Robert Chazz Chute and his zombies figured out, he ups the ante…it’ll kill you.” – Armand Rosamilia, author of the Dying Days series

Packed with surprises, this is a huge adventure filled with humor, twists, horrors and suspense. Chute takes us on strange journeys, from humans versus each other and humans versus infected cannibals to exploring the nature of existence amid a war like you’ve never seen.

Prepare yourself. The human condition is changing.

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NaNo in February? #nanowrimo #amwriting

It’s sort of like Christmas in July; NaNoWriMo is just too much fun to only do once a year. Or, er, only three times per year… When I made my initial five-year plan for publishing, I decided that I would continue to write three new books per year (writing the first draft for Camp Nano in April, Camp Nano in July and NaNoWriMo in November) as well as working on finishing, rewriting, editing, and revising my backlist for publishing. It was a good plan. But my creative brain starts to itch during the long space between November and April, and my logical brain points out that I have a new writing project planned for Q2, Q3, and Q4, but nothing in Q1, which is rather unbalanced.

So sometime in the last couple of months, as I was working on my production spreadsheet for 2015, I decided that I needed a first quarter writing project. Not just revision work, but another new novel.

Is it crazy to be thinking of writing a new novel when I already have/had to deal with an emergency room visit, an out of town funeral, and an office move just during the first two weeks of the year? I’m sure it is. But, creative types are expected to be a little crazy, aren’t they?

While traveling to the funeral, I couldn’t edit another page, and I started going through my story clip file, and worked out an idea for my next novel. I have been working out a rough outline and doing some research, and today pulled together a cover concept (all subject to change!)

Are you with me? Anyone else itching to fast draft a novel in the shortest month of the year? Ready to start writing before the groundhog pops his head out of his burrow?

Anyone?

Excerpt from The Litigators #teasertuesday #grisham #books

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Happy New Year, all! I hope you have a fantastic 2015. I’ve decided to follow the principle “take a trip to the ER the first week of the year, and nothing worse will happen all year…” But I am on the mend.

I am currently reading John Grisham’s The Litigators. I am a big fan of Grisham; I love legal thrillers and his Skipping Christmas (the book that “Christmas with the Kranks” was based on). But I did not enjoy The Painted House. Some of my favorites are linked below.

Here is a teaser for you:

The elevator stopped at the eightieth floor, and two secretaries started to enter. They paused momentarily when confronted with David sitting in a corner, briefcase at his side. Carefully, they stepped over his legs and waited for the door to close. “Are you okay?” one asked. “Fine,” David answered. “And you?”

John Grisham, The Litigators

The partners at Finley & Figg often refer to themselves as a “boutique law firm.” Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. Oscar Finley and Wally Figg are none of these things. They are a two-bit operation of ambulance chasers who bicker like an old married couple. Until change comes their way—or, more accurately, stumbles in. After leaving a fast-track career and going on a serious bender, David Zinc is sober, unemployed, and desperate enough to take a job at Finley & Figg.

Now the firm is ready to tackle a case that could make the partners rich—without requiring them to actually practice much law. A class action suit has been brought against Varrick Labs, a pharmaceutical giant with annual sales of $25 billion, alleging that Krayoxx, its most popular drug, causes heart attacks. Wally smells money. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of Krayoxx users to join the suit. It almost seems too good to be true . . . and it is.

Some of my favorites:

The Client

The Pelican Brief

The Firm

The Associate

 

 

 

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New Year’s Sale on Breaking the Pattern Series #books #99cent

Read something new for the New Year!

Can three teens break the cycle of abuse and build a new life for themselves? Find out in the “Breaking the Pattern” series.

$0.99 for New Year’s, regular $7.99. Pick it up today!

Breaking the Pattern series includes:

Deviation

“You’re a good kid, Henry.”

Everyone knew that he was a good guy; geeky, responsible, hard-working.  Henry has had a lot to deal with in the past.  Now, as he should be focusing on his schooling and preparing himself for the future, he is hindered by abuse, the challenge of raising his baby brother while dealing with his mother’s deep depressions, and the return of a ghost from the past Henry has tried his best to forget.

But it seems that Henry can’t avoid the nastiness of life.  As hard as he tries, it’s one more disaster after another as his life spirals out of control.

Can Henry escape the darkness, or is he doomed to be consumed by it?

‘I was caught up in the twists and turns of the plot from the beginning of Deviation and was still surprised at the end.’

‘This book could actually happen. That is what makes it so scary! I am really looking forward to the next book in the series.  I am thoroughly intrigued and want to see what happens next.’

‘“Deviation” will play on your emotions and feed your doubts as you follow Henry though his many troubles and trials.’ 

Get all three now!

Diversion

I love my Da.

Raised to a life of crime, Sandy is a teenage prostitute, junkie, and con artist. She always joked that her Da taught her a trade, that it hadn’t hurt her to be brought up like she was.

But things keep getting more complicated, more dangerous, and Sandy doesn’t want to admit even to herself that she longs for an honest, normal life.

Even when she tries to change, things don’t go smoothly. Sandy’s past keeps interfering with her new relationships. In the end, if she and her family don’t pull together, Sandy will not be able to escape yet another ghost of her past. Do they have what it takes for her to change her life completely?

—I am very impressed with P.D. Workman’s writing. Sandy is a druggie and a hooker, but you really like and pull for her. She is a character you can really get behind and cheer on! Diversion is well-edited and an enjoyable read—fast-paced and intense, with a great climax and conclusion!  

—I absolutely loved the flow of this book. It worked as a stand alone too, if you haven’t read the series. The way that P.D. Workman writes just flows amazingly and allows the reader to get really invested in the book. 

—I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book and am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

Only $0.99 for New Years! 

By-Pass

It’s better when she’s happy.

Bobby is a geeky teen who is convinced that his new foster home is everything he has ever hoped for.

His foster mom Katya is so different than any he has ever had; but as her behavior becomes more and more unpredictable and disturbing, he comes to realize that both he and Katya’s daughter Zane are in trouble.

The crazy thing is, Bobby doesn’t want to leave her, and new revelations from Bobby’s own forgotten past throw his quest for a real family into further turmoil.

—Absolutely intriguing story! I loved it! The story line was amazing it kept me wanting to read, and wonder what was going to happen

—By-Pass is a book that will make you think, laugh at times and cry a lot. It was a very good story, emotional and sensitive but also happy a lot of times too. I loved the Breaking the Pattern Series from the first book to the last page of the third book

—An inspiring theme about changing direction in life 

Get it for $0.99 (regular price $7.99—buying all three separately ist $11.99!)

Excerpt from Departure #teasertuesday #books #agriddle

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Christmas is now behind us, and we are creeping up (not so slowly!) on the New Year. I’m going to offer a special deal for New Year’s, so if you’re not on my mailing list, sign up now so you won’t miss it! (It’s just over there, to the right, you can’t miss it…)

I finished Never Go Back by Lee Child, and quite enjoyed it. Simultaneously, I have been reading Departure by A.G. Riddle. I listened to A.G. Riddle on Simon Whistler’s Rocking Self-Publishing podcast back in October, so when I saw his name, I picked it up. I don’t know if I realized when I picked it up that it was a time-travel/apocalyptic book, but I didn’t remember that part when I picked it up off my shelf to read, and it was a bit of a shock when I hit about chapter 11. I’m not sure what I think about it yet; I find the character development less believable than the time travel element, but we’ll see how it all works out.

On to the teaser:

The plane’s gone. Almost all of it. The first-class and business-class cabins are all that’s left. Just beyond the business section, tree branches criss-cross the ragged opening. Around the edges, electrical pops flash against the dark forest.

A.G. Riddle, Departure

Flight 305 took off in 2014…

But it crashed in a world very different from our own…

With time running out, five strangers must unravel why they were taken…

And how to get home.

MORE FROM THE BACK COVER

Harper Lane has problems. In a few hours, she’ll have to make a decision that will change her life forever. But when her flight from New York to London crash-lands in the English countryside, she discovers that she’s made of tougher stuff than she ever imagined.

As Harper and the survivors of Flight 305 struggle to stay alive in the aftermath of the crash, they soon realize that this world is very different from the one they left. Their lives are connected, and some believe they’ve been brought here for a reason.

In addition to Harper, several other passengers seem to hold clues about why Flight 305 crashed. There’s:

Nick Stone, an American on his way to a meeting with The Gibraltar Project, an international group dedicated to building a dam across the Strait of Gibraltar and draining the Mediterranean.

Sabrina Schröder, a German scientist who has unknowingly sealed the fate of half the flight’s passengers.

Yul Tan, a Chinese-American computer scientist who has just made the breakthrough of a lifetime: a quantum internet capable of transmitting more data, farther, faster than ever thought possible. His invention, however, does much more than he ever dreamed possible.

With time running out to save the survivors of Flight 305, Harper and Nick race to unravel the conspiracy that crashed their plane. As they put the pieces together, they discover that their decisions have already doomed one world and will soon determine the future of ours.

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