Saturday, December 27, 2014

THE ORGAN TAKERS (RICHARD VAN ANDERSON)



BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Failed surgeon David McBride is in exile from the surgical community after making a costly error in judgment. Down but not out, he perseveres and is given a second chance to establish a career in surgery. But, as McBride stands on the threshold of a new life, the malignant underside of his fellow man intervenes. Under the threat of violence, David is forced to perform illegal organ harvests in a makeshift operating room hidden in a dilapidated meatpacking warehouse in lower Manhattan. Unable to resolve the excruciating moral dilemma faced each time he invades the body of an unwilling victim, David McBride fights to free himself from the situation and in the process, loses everything. When he finally loses the last shred of his humanity, he seeks revenge with surgical precision...and instrumentation.
MY REVIEW:
 
Oh-my-word!!!! This was THE most suspenseful, sit at the edge of your seat, harrowing, eye popping read I've had in a long while. The action just never stopped in this novel from the very first page until the very last. I don't remember a book ever holding my attention as much as this one did. My mind kept telling my eyes to read faster and faster, I just couldn't get through it quick enough to know what was coming next. The writing is unbelievable, Richard Van Anderson has given an outstanding performance in The Organ Takers.

The ending was so abrupt that it tells me there is definitely a sequel in the works and I sincerely hope it's not too long before that is forthcoming. I just have to know what happens to David McBride and the others involved in aiding him.

Please, DON'T MISS THIS ONE!!! You'll be doing yourself at great disservice if you do. You won't be able to put this down for a second to even make a cup of tea. Totally enthralling and eye glueing!! I will be highly recommending this one to everyone and anyone who will listen.

Friday, December 26, 2014

UNDERTOW (KELLY COZY)



Book Synopsis:
"Drew Finley was a crime journalist, until his mind couldn't shut out the images of blood and bodies. Alcohol made the images go away, but also ruined Drew's career and innocents' lives.

Drew's eager to make amends and he's got a story that will help him: a profile of a local celebrity who may have been framed for murder. As he digs deeper, he'll uncover secrets and grudges that will put the people he loves in danger."
My Review:
 
I couldn't put this book down. It was suspenseful and exhilirating all at the same time. Coach Jones Cavanaugh is in prison for murdering, Marianne, one of the players on his team and one he was rumoured to be having an affair with. Did he do it? Did he belong on death row for this crime?

Drew Finley was obsessive about this case and had more than a reporter's usual curosity to find out the truth once and for all. He just HAD to know the truth about, Marianne. He went to lengths most people wouldn't bother too in order to research the case. What he found out will thrill you and excite you but you'll still be perplexed.

Kelly Cozy does a fantastic job of keeping the secret right until the very end and I'll tell you, I certainly did not see that ending coming. It literally stole my breath away!! The entire novel keep me sitting at the edge of my seat. I kept promising myself to stop reading at the end of each chapter but would begin the first few lines of the next one and off I'd go again, hour after hour until I was done. Don't miss UNDERTOW, I highly recommend it to everyone.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

THE MISTLE TOE PROMISE (RICHARD PAUL EVANS)



MY REVIEW:

"Elise Dutton dreads the arrival of another holiday season.  Three years earlier, her husband cheated on her with her best friend, resulting in a bitter divorce that left her alone broken, and distrustful. 

Then, one November day, a stranger approaches Elise in the mall food court.  Though she recognizes the man from her office building, Elise has never formally met him.  Tired of spending the holidays alone, the man offers her a proposition.  For the next eight weeks - until the evening of December 24th - he suggests that they pretend to be a couple.  He draws up a contract with four rules: 

1. No deep, probing personal questions
2. No drama
3. No telling anyone the truth about the relationship
4. The contract is void on Christmas Day

The lonely Elise surprises herself by agreeing to the idea.  As the charade progresses, the safety of her fake relationship begins to mend her badly broken heart.  But just as Elise begins to find joy again, her long-held secret threatens the emerging romance.  And she might not be the only one with a secret."

Richard has once again outdone himself with THE MISTLETOE PROMISE.  You just can't help but fall in love with Richard's stories and this one was so unique, I just couldn't put it down.  I could have read it in one sitting but forced myself to make it last over two days.  This comes highly recommended, you won't be disappointed.  It's a feel good story for sure and at this time of year we can all use some feel good.

DEAR NOBODY: THE TRUE DIARY OF MARY ROSE (EDITED BY: GILLIAN MCCAIN & LEGS MCNEIL)



MY REVIEW:
This is the true story of Mary Rose, a young teen-age girl with cystic fibrosis. Her journal entries have been recorded in the book she as she had written them, totally unedited. There is course language as expected since that is the way most teenagers speak these days.

Mary Rose was a brave girl but treated her body shockingly for someone so ill. I guess knowing that she was going to die she figured she had nothing to lose and therefore just went with whatever she wanted. She stumbled through her short life drunk and full of drugs and fighting with her mother and her many abusive boyfriends but still managed to keep going until her death. It was a riveting book which I read in one sitting. Highly recommended for teens.

Friday, December 12, 2014

STOLEN IN THE NIGHT (GARY C. KING)



MY REVIEW:
"A known sexual psychopath. Joseph Duncan had been convicted of raping and torturing a 14-year-old boy in Tacoma, Washington. On the Internet he proudly boasted of his perversions. But the system turned Duncan loose, and no one would stop him from committing an even more horrifying act...

An innocent family. This time, he prepared meticulously. He chose his get-away car. He chose his murder weapon and loaded a video camera. Then, when he saw young Shasta and Dylan Groene playing outside their Idaho home, he struck - killing their mother and her boyfriend, and their older brother...and vanishing into the night with Shasta and Dylan.

A crime that shook the nation. Detectives pored over the bloody murder scene. The FBI scrambled to find the children and the abductor. And even when Duncan was finally located, the story was not yet over: Dylan was still missing...and the depth of one man's evil was still coming horribly to light..."

This true story is absolutely horrifying and shocking! I can't believe that the 'system', time and time again, lets these type of people out of jail. Each time they are let out they re-offend. Once caught, charged and thrown in jail, they serve their time and are again allowed out to re-offend yet again. Something needs to change. New laws need to be put in place to protect these innocent victims. You'll be shocked at what you read in "Stolen in the Night."

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

A MOST INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE (REGINA JENNINGS)



MY REVIEW:

"With few options of her own, nurse Abigail Stuart agrees to marry her patient, a gravely wounded soldier calling himself Jeremiah Calhoun.  They arrange a quick ceremony before he dies, giving Abigail the rights to his Ozark farm and giving Jeremiah the peace of knowing someone will care for his ailing sister after he's gone - a practical solution for both of them.

After the war, Abigail fulfills her side of the bargain - until the real Jeremiah Calhoun shows up, injured but definitely alive, and wastes no time in challenging Abigail's story, Abigail is flummoxed.  After months of claiming to be his widow, how can she explain that she's never seen this Jeremiah Calhoun before?  How can she convince him that she isn't trying to steal his farm?  And will she find a way to stay, even though this practical arrangement has turned into a most inconvenient marriage?"

I loved this book.  Got right into it and didn't stop until I was done.  The back and forth and the love/hate relationship between Abigail and Jeremiah was almost comical but very serious at the same time.  It was a great read and I would have no qualms recommending it to anyone.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

THE SECRET OF PEMBROOKE PARK (JULIE KLASSEN)



MY REVIEW:


Yes, I agree with the author that this is her longest book to date but I'm certainly pleased that it was. For as long as it was, I still didn't want it to end. The intrigue, the suspense, the mystery, the hidden passageways, the secret treasure, a complicated family all made for an extremely compelling read!

Abigail Foster is the practical daughter while her younger sister, Louisa is more inmmature and flamboyant, often ignorning social norms and finding herself in some embarrasing binds. She listens little to the advice of her sister or others. Abigail fears she will end up an old maid, especially since she has little dowry, and the one man she thought might marry her seems to have fallen for, Louisa. Of course, this is difficult on Abigail's heart.

Abigail's father is facing financial ruin and is forced to sell their grand home and is in search for more affordable lodgings when a strange lawyer arrives with an outstanding and unusual offer. "He's offering the use of a distant manor house abandoned for eighteen years. The Fosters journey to imposing Pembrooke Park and are startled to find it entombed as it was abruptly left: tea cups encrusted with dry tea, moth-eathen clothing in wardrobes, and a doll's house left in mid-play.

The handsome local curate welcomes them, but though he and his family seem acquaintd with the manor's past, the only information they offer is a stern warning: Beware trespassers drawn by rumours that Pembrooke Park contains a secret room filled with treasure.

This catches Abigails attention. Hoping to restore her family's finances - and her dowry - Abigail looks for this supposed treasure. But eeries sounds at night and footprints in the dust reveal she isn't the only one secretly searching the house.

Then Abigail begins receiving anonymous letters, containing clues about the hidden room and startling discoveries about the past.

As old friends and new foes come calling at Pembrooke Park, secrets come to light. Will Abigail find the reasure and love she seeks...or very real danger?"

I couldn't put this book down. Sometimes I'd read perhaps 8 chapters then decide to put it down and go and get some housework completed but then would change my mind and pick the book back up and begin reading again. I really couldn't put it down.

I know a lot of people are going to enjoy this one. You've outdone yourself, Julie...congratulations!!!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

LOVE UNEXPECTED (Beacon of Hope) - Book One - Jody Hedlund



MY REVIEW:
If any two people were meant to be together, it's Emma Chambers and Patrick Garraty. But will they ever accomplish this goal?

After surviving a shipwreck with her brother, Ryan, twenty-two-year-old, Emma had no where on this earth to go. No family and no friends and no job. How is she ever going to support herself?

A highly unusual solution presents itself when the lighthouse keeper, Patrick, arrives in town. Patrick had just lost his wife Delia and was left alone to raise their two-year-old son, Josiah. Josiah idolized, Patrick and rarely let him out of his sight. Emma decides to mary, Patrick purely for convenience, to have a place to live. Parick needed someone to care fo Josiah while he worked in the lighthouse and she needed a place to live and sustain herself with food.

Has Emma jumped from the frying pan into the fire by marrying, Patrick so hastily? The stories and rumours she begins to hear about him have her very worried and feeling anxious and unsettled. What has she done? Her lifelong dream of having a family and home may just go down the drain.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.