Showing posts with label gift card. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift card. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Book Blast: BODY SNATCHED by Ana Diamond

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ana Diamond will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What’s worse than losing a body from a funeral home? Losing two. But mortician and amatuer sleuth, Lily Reynolds has a hunch. The new visitor in town, Rick Drakon, may have charmed his way into her life but she’s not fooled by his smooth talking ways. Problem is, Rick is a long-time friend of Lily’s new husband, Detective James Rivers. While James is busy convincing her to look elsewhere, Lily embarks on a dangerous path toward uncovering the truth. Will this case come between the couple or will Lily find herself closer to evil than ever before?

Review

Two sisters, a brother, and funeral home, only bodies are going missing. Lily is an amateur sleuth, almost detective, and married to one. Shanna is dating her brother-in-laws boss. Zachary is the youngest and his love life is on the rocks. Aside from missing bodies, James (Lily's husband) invited his old friend and detective, Rick, to visit and watch over the funeral home while he and Lily go on a honeymoon. Important, as they all live at the funeral home, except Shanna. Secrets abound and Lily and James discover they don't really know some people.

An interesting setting to be sure, this was a well-paced story with mostly likable characters, many with emotional baggage that will likely play out in later books. This is the second in the Body Conscious series, but can easily be read as a stand alone. (I haven't read the first one, but it's now on my TBR list.). If you like cozy mysteries with a touch of romance, you'll enjoy this book.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

Read an Excerpt

She sprinted toward the ambulance with James inside. Her heart leaped into her throat. She didn’t want to alarm the others, but she didn’t really know if he was going to make it. Antonio had not. And what would she do if he didn’t? Images of her life with James flashed before her eyes.

From the moment when she’d first laid eyes on his silky black hair and tattooed biceps in the basement of her funeral home to their wedding day when he told her they would be together forever, this could not be the end. She would not want to go on. Tears flooded her eyes, clouding her vision as she ran toward the ambulance James had been loaded into. Yanking the back door open wide, she propelled herself inside.

His eyes were closed but his body had been hooked up to monitors that beeped incessantly. Intravenous fluids ran down the tubing and into James’s arms. And there was blood—lots of blood on the floor of the truck and on the linens of the stretcher. She willed herself into tunnel vision to avoid seeing nothing but red. The paramedics sat on opposite sides of the ambulance monitoring the machines hooked up to him.

She stood at the foot of the stretcher watching for any movement. Was he unconscious? Had he slipped into a coma? Was he only minutes from death? She’d stopped breathing altogether until she touched his leg and his eyes popped open.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve ever been shot.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

She released the air from her lungs and chuckled at him. Her heart could beat again. “Congratulations. I’ll tell you what you’ve won later. Now work on not dying.”

He smiled and laid his head back on the pillow. “Yes, ma’am.”

About the Author


When Ana Diamond isn't writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic cozy mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.

Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
BookBub
TikTok

Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

Friday, November 26, 2021

Blog Tour and Review: DANGER AT DUNHAVEN CASTLE by Nellie H. Steele


 

Synopsis 

Frightening nightmares. Aberrations in time. Who is haunting Cate’s nightmares?

Months after solving two mysteries involving her ancestors, time-traveling, castle-dwelling Countess, Lady Catherine Kensie, still suffers from haunting nightmares. Chased by a mysterious man, Cate ponders who could be haunting her dreams and disturbing her sleep. She’s also smack dab in the middle of a brand-new research project, having found journals belonging to the Scottish castle’s original owner.

As Cate digs into the castle’s history, not only do her nightmares become more frequent and more frightening, but Cate also begins to experience strange phenomena with the time portals enclosed in the castle walls. Controlled by the mysterious heirloom timepiece she received as part of her inheritance, Cate is shocked when she begins to slip in and out of other time periods despite not activating the mechanism that controls them!

Can Cate learn the secret to control the time portals and discover who haunts her dreams before she finds herself lost in time?

  

Review

Lady Cate lives in the castle of one of her ancestors and is haunted by increasingly terrifying nightmares, where one, and the then two, men are chasing after her. She and Jack  Reid, the castle's estate manager and descendent of the manager when Douglas MacKenzie was alive, discovered time rips in the various rooms.  Only the MacKenzie and Reid families are privy to the secrets. Only Cate and Jake are discovering more secrets - and some malfunctions - all the time. 

Between being haunted in nightmares almost nightly, other strange occurrences, and rips in time that are no longer being controlled, Cate and Jack have to solve the riddles and discover the key. Their greatest hope is that the answers are in the journals of Douglas Mackenzie. Only Cate has to first decipher them and deal with the supernatural. In the meantime, there's the planning of a huge ball for Countess Cate that is driving everyone in the castle crazy. 

This is not the first in the series and there is mention that  Cate and Jack mention previous mysteries solved in differing time periods. This is my first in the series, and that did not detract from the story at all. Although some of the characters visit from another series, you don't have to have read those either. 

The tale is filled with twists and turns, a bit of magic, and time travel to the 1700s. There's also the growing romance between Jack and Cate. If you enjoy paranormal cozy mystery and a unique twist, you'll enjoy the Danger at Dunhaven Castle.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

About the Author

An Indies Today finalist for Best Book of the Year 2020 with Cleopatra’s Tomb, Nellie H. Steele made the leap from science to art with her first book, The Secret of Dunhaven Castle.

An animal enthusiast, Nellie often features a version of one of her fourteen rescue animals in her stories, though the fictional pets are usually better behaved than her own fur-babies! A literary split personality, Nellie’s work ranges from cozy mystery to supernatural suspense to riveting adventure.

She lives in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. When she isn’t writing or engaging in animal care, she enjoys teaching Statistics and Data Science at a local university.

Check out all Nellie offers at www.anovelideapublishing.com/novels or at her blog, Nellie’s Book Nook, available at www.nelliesbooknook.com! 

Author Links 


Purchase Link 

Amazon  





Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Giving Thanks!

For those of us in the US and Canada, today is the celebration of Thanksgiving. It is a time to celebrate the harvest and the blessings of the past year. Americans traditionally model the festivities based on historical descriptions of a harvest feast shared by the pilgrims who settled in Plymouth and Wampanoag people who lived there before the pilgrims. I'm not sure if the pilgrims and Wampanoag people truly ate turkey and dressing, cranberry sauce, and potatoes. 

Having lived in different regions of the US, I've discovered that what constitutes the Thanksgiving meal, aside from the turkey, varies considerably, handed down within families and then blended with other family traditions. But one thing stays the same. The idea of giving thanks. 

This year and last have been a stressful, not just here, but worldwide. A pandemic, weather systems that have broken records, massive fires, economic upheaval, and unrest. Yet, there are still things I'm thankful for: 

 *An increased emphasize on basic human kindness, supporting others, and respecting others 

 *The health and well-being of my family, friends, and colleagues, providing support and laughs as we all dealt with cabin fever 

 *As always, I give thanks to my fellow authors for their encouragement, and, of course, to my readers. What are you thankful for?
a Rafflecopter giveaway