Inherit the Bones

In Emily Littlejohn's Inherit the Bones, the first installment in the Gemma Monroe thriller series, this debut would leave you breathless and give you chills. Welcome to Cedar Valley, Colorado, when Gemma Monroe first discovered the body of a circus clown named Reed Tolliver. She's six months pregnant, while her boyfriend's Brody in Alaska as a geological survey. The scene is a bit grisly for that small town, when she talked to her chief, Angel Chavez, and contacted the ME's coroner. From there, things take a bit of a twisted turn for the worse, when they they've learned Reed's real name, who was the missing son of the mayor, who was presumed "dead" three years ago in a fatal waterfall accident.  Now things get a bit dicey, when they talk to the Bellington family about their son's past and what lead him to hide out in the circus. Gemma and her partner, Finn Nowlin, and newest recruit Sam Birdhead, dig up the clues, that might lead to the Woodsman murders thirty years ago of two boys and before then, one lady.  It's up to Gemma to pick up the pieces into this jagged jigsaw puzzle of clues that had gotten astray, when Sam got hit by a car, Gemma and Finn get threatened, and newly discovered evidence had lead them to a shocking truth of hidden family secrets that would leave you chilled to the core in the end.

This was a real terrific thriller mystery debut from Emily Littlejohn. This was compelling and gripping at the same time to give me chills. I cared about Gemma and how she dealt with being alone and pregnant, while Brody was away in Alaska. And I also cared about how her grandmother took her in as her own, when she lost her own parents at a tender young age, even with her step-grandfather. I did find the Bellington family a bit creepy, especially Annika, Nicky's twin sister. I loved the visual settings in Cedar Valley to make it a picturesque small town. This would send you on a emotional roller coaster ride with some highs and lows and loop-de-loops at the side with non-stop action, drama, intrigue and plenty of suspense in this mystery.

Will you be the one to check out Inherit the Bones today?

Crime Brulee

In Nancy Fairbanks's Crime Brulee, the first installment in the Carolyn Blue Culinary Cozy Mystery series, this debut would entice you with a compelling tale of betrayal. When Carolyn and her husband Jason had a dinner party with friends in the Big Easy, things got heated between Julienne Magnusson and her husband Nils. After that night, she never showed up and disappeared. For Carolyn, a 40-year-old mother of two and faculty wire, and now a food critic writer on the fine cuisine of New Orleans food, she's become a bit worried about her best friend. While she'd searched for sumptious food to try in New Orleans, she looked for clues everywhere her best friend Julienne could've went alone. Her husband thought she had an affair with another professor and ran off with him, while she had thought otherwise. She had a couple of mishaps along the way, she befriended a kind New Orleans police detective and reported her being accosted, mugged, pushed into the swamp, and then threatened by some unsavory characters. While she tried to track down her best friend's brother, she encouraged Nils to report her in, while she didn't give up to look for clues. Lo and behold, the tables have been turned against her, when she discovered who the true culprit was and how he managed to give her a rough time, while she had fought for her life, while she needed to get answers in this grim ending.

Although this novel had mixed reviews at Good Reads, due to the prose, and some grammar errors, and my late mother had read this series before she died, a few years ago, I had given this novel a fair chance with a fair rating of three stars. The pace was a bit slow and the inserted recipes in the middle of the chapters were a bit bothersome; they should've been add to the back of the book like other culinary cozies did. I did find Carolyn to be okay, though she was more interested to look for recipes at the same time to look for answers on what happened to her best friend. I did feel sorry for her flight and her best friend's boyfriend to be a bit insufferable at times. I did like most of the cast of characters as well and enjoyed the New Orleans scenic locations and visual settings in the French Quarter. This would make you salivate for the recipes and become enchanted in the New Orleans tale, while it would make you shake your head, grimace and groan, and wince a couple of times. This had good drama, non-stop action, suspense and intrigue, too.

Will you try Crime Brulee and take a whip at the recipes today?

 

Verse of the Vampyre

In Diana Killian's Verse of the Vampyre, the second installment in the Poetic Death cozy mystery series, we're back to the United Kingdom for another caper mystery. For Grace Hollister, she's been invited to be a consulted in a play by Polidori, who based his writing on Lord Byron himself. From start to finish, things didn't go off with a get-go with the debate on putting on that dramatic play, and Miss Coke who predicted gloom and doom for grace. She also had to deal with her feelings for former jewel thief Peter Fox, who seems to be the person of interest with the Met police in the recent robberies. During the production of the rehearsal of the play, there's been mishaps of sabotage backstage. At the Hunt Hall, things turned dark, when one of own was killed, along with the theft of the John Peel horn, and anti-hunt protesters for the fox. Meanwhile, while Grace tried to put things together, her former flame Chaz returned who wanted her back and go back home with him. She also became mystified on what's going on with Peter, when she received a phone call from Lord Ruthven. At the stage, she found him injured and then later missing. Then she traveled across the border to track down Peter and encountered Catriona, who was the lead mastermind of this scheme to stick it to people with her henchmen. In the end, she discovered the macabre truth of what happened and escaped for her life. Later she had found out who had really killed Theresa Ives.

This was another gripping cozy mystery from Diana Killian. I continued to care for Grace Hollister and how she made herself a home in Innisdale. I became a bit suspicious and wary for Peter, though he had grown on me a tiny bit. Some of the people of the play were an odd lot of characters, when the show didn't go off with a hitch as planned. I enjoyed the English and Scottish locations for the dual set of scenic settings that had pulled me in and enchanted me with this tale. This cozy would make you scratch your head and take you on a wild ride with drama, suspense, intrigue and plenty of mystery to keep you hooked right to the end.

The Widow

In Fiona Barton's The Widow, the first installment in the Kate Waters thriller series, this captivating thriller would make you second-guess whodunit and why in a heart-stopping pace. Jean Taylor had met the man of her dreams, when she married young to Glen Taylor against her parent's well wishes. She became the perfect wife who had enabled her own husband.  The only one she couldn't have was a child of her own. But little did she knew that her husband became a pornographic pervert and a suspect into Bella Elliott's kidnapping and presumably murder. She tried to hold her emotions in check, when the press became like a pariah, as the police swooped in like a vulture with evidence against him. When they lost in court and then sued by the Taylor, the investigation continued on to find the culprits and kept nailing Taylor as the suspect, right up he was "accidentally" killed by the bus, freeing Jean from her husband's control. There's a shocking ending you don't want to believe on what happened and why that would leave you cold.


This is a mesmerizing and startling thriller debut by Fiona Barton. I did feel some sympathy for Dawn Elliott and Jean Taylor. I did take a liking to Kate Waters and Bob Sparkes too. I did develop a loathing to Glen Taylor as well. I didn't like how he took advantage of her and how she enabled him, even with her desire to have a child and not by taking someone's child in daylight. Poor Bella. I did like the London settings and the locations to bring the story into light. This would make you want to bit your lip, groan, gasp, shake your head, and flare your nostrils with non-stop action, drama, action, and a dose of mystery.

Will you feel sympathy for the Widow?

The Perfect Stranger

In Megan Miranda's The Perfect Stranger, this thriller will give you goosebumps and make you second-guess the people you know and the people you trust.  When failed journalist Leah Stevens meets a woman named Emmy Grey in Boston, they both agree to go on the run to Philly to make a fresh start for their new life. But things aren't what they seem to be, when she goes missing and reports her disappearance to the police. From there, Leah discovers that one of her students are stalking her, Emmy's boyfriend turns up dead in the car, and a semi-dead woman named Bethany Jarvitz is in a coma. One way or another, they all appear connected together, when the police point her finger at Leah as her past had come back to haunt her from Boston. And the police have no proof of Emmy's existence, except for her own word. It's up to Leah to pick up the pieces to discover how she's been used and played by Emmy to solve this puzzle and face her so-called friend in person to bring her down for her own crimes in the end.

This was a fascinating and intriguing thriller to read for Netgalley. I instantly cared for Leah and became concerned for her plight and how she discovered how someone was using her and stalking her at the same time. I also cared for her search for answers to find Emmy and face her with the truth to seek liberating justice for herself, while she herself can't return to Boston for what she had done. I had found Kyle a handsome charming Philly PD detective and how they became together in this case together. I liked the dual locations of Philly and Boston, which had painted the picture clear with vibrant colors for the scenic settings.  This would make you shake your head, hold your breath, gasp, and shiver all over with non-stop drama, action, intrigue, and suspense with a hint of mystery.

Will you be wary of the Perfect Stranger today?

The Tenth Circle

In Jon Land's The Tenth Circle, the eleventh installment in the Blaine McCracken thriller series, get ready to hold onto your seats and buckle up in this fast-paced wild thriller ride. Blaine McCracken is a force to be reckoned with, when he's a man on a serious mission. He would do anything to protect the country he loved and the people he cared about. As a former war veteran, he's now up against a serious heavy-hitter named Reverend Jeremiah Rule, a religious zealot who wants to start a war and placing the blame on Muslim Americans. It all started with those domestic terror attacks and his over-the-top sermons he preached to his followers. For Blaine, he needed to bring home Andrew Ericson, someone's close to him and part of his family, who was missing and back to his father. Along the way he teamed up with his Native American friend Johnny Wareeagle, and someone from his past, Zarrin, a classical pianist from the Middle East who also has Parkinson's Disease. When he realized that the terrorist attacks came from Rule  himself, they joined forced to discover the root of White Death, a dangerous water that had killed a colony in the past, and how it might be used now for Rule's plot. They were up against Rule and his legions of bikers who would want to wipe out the White House. And they needed to stop them from unleashing this tenth circle of hell, once and for all.

This was a mind-blowing and explosive action-packed and fast-paced thriller from start to finish. This would send you on a wild thriller ride in every page you turn. I cared about Blaine and his search to find Andrew Ericson along with his friends and newest allies. Zarrin had grown on me and her plight to deal with a nasty disease that might ruin her magical piano-making music. From the Middle East to the USA, the vast locations were wonderfully described for the scenic settings.  This would get your heart pounding and your pace racing with non-stop action, drama, intrigue, suspense and a lot of high-octane thrills in this novel.

https://www.amazon.com/Tenth-Circle-Blaine-McCracken-Novels-ebook/dp/B00EP6PBGI/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1497224740&sr=1-2&keywords=The+Tenth+Circle

What I Did for Love

In Susan Elizabeth Phillips' What I Did for Love, the 4th installment in the Wynette, Texas contemporary romance series, this novel would make your heart melt and root for the underdog.  Ever since Georgie York's ex-husband made news with his latest squeeze, all she wanted was someone to love her and have a baby of her own. The comedic movies she'd made had  became flops. As a former child star from a well-loved sitcom series, she became a household name under the tutelage of her widower father Paul York. Everything's been busy and unloved between them. When she came up with a proposal to make her own headlines to her friend Trevor, her former co-star Bram Shepard came into her life. He's been known to be problematic and aggressive and the sole resason why the show was canceled years ago. When she went to Vegas to seek solace, Bram folowed her there. After a couple of drinks, they wound up married and surprised Hollywood.  Between the two of them, they had a convenient marriage, when Bram had cleaned up his act and wanted to produce an indie film, while Georgie wanted to step out on her own, be her own person, and be behind the camera. In order to make things work, they had to deal and tolerate with each other, while they slowly fell in love with each other and later get married with each other for real love.

This was a beautiful contemporary romance novel. I instantly cared for Georgie and Bram's love affair as well with her father's with her aunt Laura found love with each other. I'e also grown to love Chaz in her own unique way. This moved my heart and pulled at my heartstrings. They were some tender moments with a hint of humor that made me laugh and smile.  I loved the California location and the vivid scenes for the settings. This would make you find a second chance in romance--or your first one--and be enchanted from start to finish with drama, a hint of action, romance, and a sprinkle of intrigue.

Will you be tempting to check this out today?

Rock Addiction

In Nalini Singh's Rock Addiction, the first installment in the Rock Kiss contemporary romance series, get ready to be blown away and turn up the heat with smoky windows in this steamy romance. Molly Webster lived a quiet life in Auckland, New Zealand, when she was the center of a heated scandal with her parents years ago. Now, when she ran into tattooed rocker Zachary Fox, the lead singer of an American band named Schoolboy Choir, who had an amazing voice, while he was on tour. Both he and Molly had one thing in common: they both had bad childhoods. As they get to know each other intimately from an one-month affair, they opened up about the sorrows from their youth. They became addicted to each other with an explosive chemistry after the first kiss. Before the month ended, she took a chance to make their relationship solidified and forged together by moving to Los Angeles with him. As soon as she became the center attention with the paps, she had to endure sex tapes still and videos, groupies, and people who hated her and her looks. She also to deal with the ups and downs of living with a rock god on a daily basis. Together, they would show the world they were meant to be together and bring the house down as they would love each other completely.

This sexy and steamy contemporary romance would do more than leave you hot and bothered. You would do need a tall glass of water and an air conditioner to cool yourself down. I cared about Fox and Molly as a couple and two people who have found a rock hard anchor in each other. They both had their share of a troubled past, while his bad boy looks contrasted well with the quiet lifestyle in her life. I loved the dual locations of Auckland and Los Angeles for both parts of this contemporary romance novel. This would leave you speechless, sigh, swoon, and fall head over heels for this love story with non-stop action, a hint of erotica, plenty of romance, and lots of drama.

Want to get your fix into Rock Addiction today?