Sunday, July 31, 2011

Rose Pressey + Summer Giveaway Hop

For the Summer Giveaway Hop:
Enter here

Today we have an interview with hot selling author ...Rose Pressey! At the end of the interview is a book trailer and a GIVEAWAY!



Rose has written , ,  and .


How to Date a Werewolf (Rylie...Me and My Ghoulfriends (Larue...
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells...Rock 'n' Roll is Undead (Veron...My Haunted Family: Engrossing...



Who was/is the biggest influence on you as a child and as an adult?
As a child, and as an adult, my mother was the biggest influence. She's a wonderful woman.

Who do you like to read? Any favorite book or authors?
I love reading paranormal romance/urban fantasy with humor. Authors like H.P. Mallory, Molly Harper, Dakota Cassidy, Nicole Peeler, or Linda Wisdom.

If you could write a book with any other author, living or dead, who would you choose and why?
Oh, that's a tough question. I'd say Margaret Mitchell because I love Gone With the Wind.
Do you have a certain place and time you like to write or are you more the write whenever, wherever the mood strikes type of writer? 
I write after I eat. Ha-ha. I focus better when I have a full stomach. I eat about five small meals a day, so if I can, I write after I finish eating. Sometimes, it's not an option, but I'm more creative when I'm not hungry. I write in different locations. My dining room table, the bed, the patio, etc. I move around a lot.

When you need inspiration to write where do you usually find it?
I sometimes go to the park. My books feature spooky locations, so sometimes I'll visit those places. Abandoned homes, graveyards, etc.

How do you choose locations for your books?
I like writing about my home state of Kentucky, or other cities that I've visited and enjoyed. I love the South.
If you could go anywhere in the world to write your next book where would you choose and why?
Probably the beach. I'd love to sit and watch the waves.
How do you spend your downtime?
I enjoy decorating my home on a thrift store budget. Yard sales, and flea markets. Spending time with my family, and playing with my Chihuahua. Listening to music, and definitely reading.

You have to spend six months in seclusion. The only contact during this time is radio welfare checks twice a day. Shelter, basic food, drink and limited electricity are provided. What are the first 5 things do you choose to take with you? 
That's a tough question. Would I ever be rescued? I'd say pen and paper, but if I'm there for very long, it would run out. With limited electricity, I guess my laptop wouldn't be a good idea. Definitely a few of my favorite books, like Gone With the Wind, Little Women, and A Summer Place. A hairbrush because I can't stand tangled hair. My toothbrush and toothpaste. Could my purse stuffed with everything including the kitchen sink count as one item?  

Please tell us why you think we should read your books. 
My books are a nice escape for a few hours from the boring stuff, like cleaning house, work, etc. There's only so much tedious stuff I can handle before I need a break, and I love reading books when I get the chance.

Please tell us about upcoming projects.
I have follow-ups for all of my series coming out over the next months and next year. Plus, I'm working on a new series, but it's super secret.


10 for the speed round ( one word answers except titles):

Favorites:

Food: Pizza
drink: Diet Pepsi caffeine free
music: Oldies from the 50's
movie: A Summer Place
color: green
word: quirky
animal: dog
state/country: Kentucky, USA
game: Scrabble
ice cream flavor: Cookies 'n Cream
Thanks for having me on your blog, Cristina!

Thank you for stopping by Rose! It was a pleasure having you.

Here is the video trailer of ROCK 'n' ROLL IS UNDEAD. This is Book 1 of the hot new Veronica Mason series from Rose. I read it and it is awesome!


Rose has offered an e-copy of Me and My Ghoulfriends for our Summer Giveaway Hop . Just in time to read it before Book 2 - Ghouls Night Out comes out at the end of August! How cool is that? Please remember that e-copies can be read on many devices,(with apps), including the PC if you do not own a e reader. Please see the Giveaway Page located at the top of this page for information on how to enter. Thank you and good luck!
           Me and My Ghoulfriends (Larue Donavan, Book 1) 
Amazon information on Rose Pressey may be found at


Rose Pressey's website is located at www.rosepressey.com/ 

Giveaway News

The Summer Giveaway Hop has begun. Please click on the giveaway page to enter.
When I reach 100 followers someone will win an e-copy of Voodoo Dues and an Alaskan Surprise pack. No entry needed for that. Winner will be chosen, randomly, from list of followers.
More giveaways coming up!

 You can Enter Giveaway Here 

*All winners must claim prize within 72 hours of email notice being sent.
Blog owner is not responsible for lost or misdirected mail.
Please allow additional time for mail if you are in lower 48.
For 100 followers only:  if you are in a foreign country I will contact you regarding prize and mailing to your country.

Thanks for playing! Good luck to all!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Joshua Scribner: Psyche Horror

Psyche Horror: Five Short Works by Joshua ScribnerPsyche Horror: Five Short Works by Joshua Scribner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a collection of chilling horror stories. I would venture to call it a sampler of this author. In the first story a young unattractive man suddenly finds himself attracting the attention of a pretty girl. But where are the voices he hears coming from and what do they want? In the second A man and women argue with the result of his past coming to haunt him. The third story a wife murders her abusive husband. Is that really what happened? The fourth story brings us a military man who is given the choice to die or just possibly die. The final story tells of a young man in the counselor's office telling a shocking story of abuse while from the door comes the sounds of terror and chaos. I enjoyed the stories in this book. They are short stories so the terror comes fast and hits hard. This is a good book for a camp out or those times when you want to read creepy stories out loud. Good choice for when you want a little horror but don't have a lot of time.

Joshua Scribner has authored 13 novels and over 100 short stories. Mr. Scribner is currently selling his print books at discounted prices. Information for these deals is  available on his website where you will also find links for his short stories. Good stuff. Check it out!

His website is: http://joshuascribner.com/

Friday, July 29, 2011

Pictures On the trail in Alaska

Hi Everyone,

I went on a hike and thought I would share some pictures of Juneau with you. Hope you enjoy them!

Montana Creek 

We grow cotton in Juneau 

 Bears bread growing on the tree

I just love the color contrast of these leaves

Windfall Creek





The blueberries are out

Near the start of the trail









A shot of Douglas Island

Leave a comment and let me know how you liked Juneau Alaska

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Can You Keep A Secret?

Can You Keep a Secret?Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed Can You Keep A Secret?. I loved Emma. You read this book and laugh at loud. You think things that happen to Emma never happen but in your mind you are going, "please at least not to me"! We all know Emma, her flatmates, her boyfriend, her co-workers. We have all had moments when we cringe at something we did or said. we hope some of those times remain secret. We know others want them known so they can laugh even though they also have those moments. Emma doesn't have earth shattering secrets. They are relatively harmless but embarrassing. The kind you and I most likely have. I think that is the charm of Emma. There were places in this book where I laughed out loud and places where I was held in suspense. It is a book about life, friendship, boyfriends and, of course, secrets.



View all my reviews

Feature & Follow Friday


Follow My Book Blog Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's View andAlison Can Read where we all get together and say HI! @ lucky blogs will be selected to be a feature, one for each site. This weeks lucky blogs are...The Little Book Blog and The Book Addicted Girl. If you would like to play along be certain to visit Parajunkee' View or Alison Can Read for all the details.

Q. Let's step away from books for a second and get personal. What T-Shirt slogan best describes you?


Goddess in Training T-Shirt shirt


It says Goddess in Training




Theme Thursday -


Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event hosted by Reading Between Pages that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:
A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”
This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week’s theme is
ANY ACTION (go, walk, close, clap etc)
Both vampires moved off the bed  and stared at each other silently with wide-eyed expressions. Pg 138

Caleb spun around to see who was addressing him and noted two tall men in dark suits standing at the end of the hallway from where he had wandered. Pg 275



Bloody London Sunset Book Two of the Sunset Vampire Series by Jaz Primo.

What action did you choose? Leave a comment please letting me know where to find it. Thanks for stopping by. If you choose to follow thank you.

* WARNING* This post is about Vets and is brutal

I originally wrote this post as part of a meme. For some reason when I went to the Host page a prior meme went up instead of the home page. So I wrote the wrong meme. The meme this was written about was for July 4th and we were to connect our  post to that theme. Sorry about the confusion with this one. I have no idea why the home page did not come up first. I am leaving the post up as I  think it is important. The author of the book I took the snippet from is trying to give a voice to Veterans. His information is at the bottom.


* WARNING* The snippet I chose is intense, brutal, contains foul language and for me is important.  I realize it is long. I chose it because I know that everyday somewhere in the world a soldier is going through this - whether it is a flashback or it is happening in real time. And they did it  or are doing it for us. The people back home. I am not in support  of war. I am in support of our soldiers who have kept us and who continue to keep us free. My son fought in Iraq. He came home with memories like this one and unable to walk on his own anymore. While I do not believe we truly had a reason to be in Iraq, he went and did his job. I am proud of him. Regardless of the reason we are over there my son went believing he was helping someone. He talks of the good people he met over there. Not soldiers he met there but Iraqi citizens. The ones who wanted to be free. The ones who thanked him. The ones he wanted more than anything to help. So now he lives with PTSD and walking with assistance while he waits for new legs. And when asked, he says he would go back and do it again for those people and to keep us free. I hope you read it. I hope you understand why I think it fits the theme.
Mindbenders
I hear the crackle in the middle of my head. Tango Seven—multiple events in your vector, last five minutes. Exercise caution. Sound is a vibration. This vibration grows, echoes, deeper, shimmying through me. We’ve been waiting for action since we started staging. We’re soldiers, we joined up, no one made us. We want to fight. We want to prove ourselves, to find out who we are when the air bends and the fire fills us. We crossed the border two days ago and we’ve spent two days driving, swallowing pills, driving some more and sitting out a sandstorm that lasted six hours where nobody could sleep cause we kept saying to each other, They know this stuff and we don’t—when it stops, they’ll be on us in a minute but they weren’t and then driving driving some more, past blown-out buildings and blown-out tanks and my headphones screaming. 
The waiting is killing. No more waiting. Fight. Fight now. That’s what I want because I don’t know what else to want. And then, without transition, we’re fighting. I hear the CRACK!! over the music and the Humvee right in front of us bounces into the air like a milk carton somebody kicked and we’re almost on top of it by the time we stop. It’s in the narrowest place, of course, wedged between two cinder block walls set close together, between two neighborhoods that hate each other and both hate us and we’re bogged down, nowhere to go, can’t get around it. 
Man Down! Man Down! Monroe is shrieking into the headset and we see the Vee behind us drive right up and Shumwalt the medic jump out to help but he isn’t there more than ten seconds before he’s rushing back to his mount, shaking his head like it’s detached. 
I shut off the music, not that it matters much—the gunfire is louder than the headphones all the way up, loud enough to wake the dead. In which case, start with the medic—his head is severed by rounds from three different directions and then blown sky high by a rocket that takes out his Humvee, throwing it six or seven feet in the air and crushing it against one of the cinder block walls. Some guys scramble out—how are they alive?—they get five or six steps before being cut down. There’s too much fire from all over. These guys have guns and lots of them. 
Half a second later, we’re in the crosshairs. The door and windows of our truck are pounded with bullets. It’s built for that, we’ve been told a hundred times but so many are coming at once that I watch the panel buckling right in front of me, puffing like the wrapper around the popcorn in the microwave. I’m embedded, the writer, the carry-along, an extra, an amusement most times, a burden at the moment. I have a gun in my belt but it might as well be a cap pistol. 
We’ve got to move—Ram it! Monroe tells Gunner, the driver. If his name is Gunner, why isn’t he the fucking gunner, dammit? Nonetheless, Monroe says Ram it so Gunner puts the thing in gear but then all at once, there’s a different banging on the doors, banging and screaming—two of the guys from the medic Vee want in. Get us out of here! I hear someone screaming and Philips opens his door at the same time Grover opens his. Just in time for the poor son-of-a-bitch on Philips side to get riddled six or seven times in his vest—not dead 
but knocked over and that saves him and us. 
For just a second, everything slows down as the guys on the end lean out to pull the two grunts into the Vee. I’m sitting, staring out the windshield, a dazed drugged-up sedation case and my eyes widen as up the road on the other side of the burning Humvee crawls a bus. The local town bus, the rattle-trap skinny-tire flaking-paint Fallujah regular city bus, low-cost rapid transit fucking bus on its rounds, following its route, the driver doing his usual civil service job of looking exactly ten yards ahead of him and no more. And now he’s opening his doors at the bus stop—which just happens to be in the middle of a firefight. And as the doors are open on both sides of our Humvee and a thousand rounds are flying at us and Gunner is about to drive right over the flaming fucking Vee in front of us to get out of here, I see a procession of soldiers in uniform filing neatly off the bus. Like they paid their fare downtown and waited politely with their guns for twenty stops from there to the war. And now they’re lined up, joining the rest of the warring neighborhood factions, shooting at us while the last two start setting up a rocket launcher and aiming it right at me. 
“Gunner GO!!!” I yell and Gunner puts the thing in gear as they haul the last soldier in through Grover’s door. Right then, Philips takes a round right in the neck that spurts all over the cab and he slumps to the floor. The rest of us all lean over to grab him and pull him up. At that instant, I hear a sharp hiss and raise my head a fraction, a millimeter, a milli-millimeter or whatever’s smaller than anything—and see a rocket, the one launched by the bus soldiers, hovering right in front of my nose, passing so slow, so slow I can read the serial number on the side, right through the cab of our Humvee, screaming in one door, across the aisle between front seat and back and then out the other door without touching a thing, a person, anyone or anything. It explodes against the cinder block wall, happily about five yards behind us as we jump the other Hummer. My nose is singed black for a week. It’s three days before I can hear much of anything, even Metallica. But Gunner hit the pedal at the right time and we will live, at least a little longer. 
Ted Krever. Mindbenders (Kindle Locations 805-846). 
Ted is trying to do something to help Vets by offering them a place to tell their stories. If you are a Vet, or know a Vet who may be interested, please direct them to his website. He is  an honest man with a lot of integrity and respect for our Vets. Please go to his blog, scroll down and read Vets- Better Off Dead?- July 26, 2011
My Vet Story from ‘Mindbenders’ (Part One) - http://wp.me/p1twy1-c3 
‘Mindbenders’ excerpt 2 – Greg in Iraq - http://wp.me/p1twy1-cg
http://tedkrever.com/blog/my-books/mindbenders/
Please leave a comment. 

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Two Blog Hops- Many authors


'Waiting On' Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill from http://breakingthespine.blogspot.com that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?
Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave your comment below!



Here are 2 of the books I am waiting to come out. Both are due for release August 16, 2011. The first is part of a series - The Charley Davidson Series in Paranormal Romance. The second book is snark done southern style. It doesn't get any better. I love snarky, southern women. Maybe because I grew up loving so many of the ones in my life. I think they are both going to be great, fun reads!


Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones

Second Grave on the Left

From  GoodReads
Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper Extraordinaire, is back in this sexy, suspenseful novel of supernatural shenanigans
When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. But Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. Mimi’s husband explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message.
Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as the Son of Satan. Yes. Literally) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty. Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?
Here is your signpost for the most hilarious read of the summer: Second Grave On The Left.

You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl: Observations on Life from the Shallow End of the Pool by Celia Rivenbark

You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl: Observations on Life from the Shallow End of the Pool

From GoodReads
From the bestselling, award-winning author of You Can't Drink All Day If You Don't Start In The Morning, comes another collection of hilarious observations that will resonate with women, mothers, and girlfriends everywhere 

In her newest wickedly irreverent humor collection, Celia Rivenbark cracks up while getting her downward facing dog on, pines for a world in which every mom gets to behave like Betty Draper and wonders why everybody's so excited about the Science Fair when there aren't even any rides. In it you’ll find essays on such topics as: 

Menopause Spurs Thoughts of Death and Turkey 
I Dreamed a Dream That My Lashes Were Long 
Twitter Woes: I’ve Got Plenty of Characters, Just No Character 
Movie To-Do List: Cook Like Julia, Adopt Really Big Kid 
Charlie Bit Your Finger? Good! And other thoughts on the virus that is YouTube 

And much more! For any woman who longs for the good old days when Jane Fonda in legwarmers was the only one who saw you exercise, YOU DON’T SWEAT MUCH FOR A FAT GIRL is comfort food in book form.

Available at local book stores, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Available now for Pre-Order.



WWW Wednesdays

 
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading a couple of books:
Seers
Seers by Heather Frost
Coming out October 2011
For Kate Bennet, surviving the car wreck that killed her parents means big changes and even bigger problems. As she begins to see auras and invisible people, Kate must learn to trust Patrick O'Donnell, a handsome Guardian, or risk her life being overrun with Demons. She soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble.

A Bloody London Sunset (Sunset Vampire, #2)

A Bloody London Sunset by Jaz Primo

Available now at local book stores, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Katrina Rawlings is a vampire who has finally rediscovered happiness for the first time in centuries. But unwanted complications erupt with a vengeance. Decisions of necessity combined with dark memories from a forgotten past threaten her relationship with the love of her life. When a sacrifice must be made, can she endure her decision?
Caleb Taylor's life is finally back on track. He has rebounded from a near mortal injury, both physically and emotionally. Yet, his reality is shaken by the suggestion of a betrayal of trust from the woman he loves. Can the power of love overcome the power of a lie?
Paige Turner is a century old vampire who fearlessly revels in a simple existence pursuing blood, dancing, and sex. Simple needs, and all met in the same manner: hot, fast, and without regrets. But a spontaneous visit leads to heartfelt sacrifice, and unexpected complications strike fear to the core of her soul. Will she survive the revelations?
In the exciting second installment of the Sunset Vampire Series, a trust is betrayed, bonds of friendship are strained, relationships may end, and a tenuous neutrality among the world's vampire population is threatened. With stakes so high, some will not survive A Bloody London Sunset!

I am loving both!

I recently finished reading 

A Fit of Hissy: a schlockumentary

A Fit of Hissy: a Schlockumentary by Jeni Decker and Kat Nove

Available on Amazon.com 

A Fit of Hissy is a mélange of schlock, a cornucopia of wisdom; observational satire, short stories, delectable musings, and the occasional song parody.

I am beginning to suspect anything by these ladies is going to make me laugh insanely. Seriously if I get locked up in an asylum I think they should accept partial blame. This book will make you laugh hysterically, (even in public places). 

What I plan to read next

When She Woke

When She Awoke by Hillary Jordan

Coming out October 2011

I won this book from Goodreads. 

Faith, love and sexuality have fallen prey to politics in this stunning creation of America in the near future, from the author whose international bestseller, Mudbound, so hauntingly recreated America’s past. Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family, but after her arrest, she awakens to a nightmare: she lies on a table in a mirrored room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new “chromes”—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime— is a new and sinister form of reality TV. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder. The victim, says the state of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love. Inspired by The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a dark fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate a dystopian, theocratic America of the not-too-distant future, where convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated, but “chromed” and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the moral authority of a country that politicizes the personal.


Not sure yet what other book(s) I will choose. I am fast finishing up the two I am currently reading. So I need to choose. Maybe I will find something in your comments!
Don't forget to leave a comment telling me where to find yours. If you don't have a blog for me to go to, please leave a comment telling us what book you are waiting on, reading, finished and/or what's next.. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Featured Author - Stephany Simmons Voodoo Dues

Stephany Simmons author of Voodoo Dues, available now, graciously granted 
an interview with me. Ms. Simmons, thank you for stopping by and letting us get to know you a little bit.

How did the idea for Voodoo Dues come about?
 I think the starting point was setting the story in my home town, in my neighborhood. It just made the story flow easier. The rest just fell into place from there.
Who do you read? Any favorite book or authors?
Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Christopher Moore, Janet Evanovich (while not UF, she makes me lol.)
From your book, who are the characters most like each of you or who is your favorite?
I think personality wise, I’m most like Lian. Figg is a sort of mashup of my two female best friends. I have to say that Carl quickly grew on me. He’s certainly a fan favorite!
When you enter a room, what theme song is playing?
I’d like to think that it’s the old Wonder Woman tv theme song, but in reality, it’s probably something quite different.
My brother-in-law says that it is the Imperial March from Star Wars (Darth Vader's theme) lol. Oddly enough, I think is just as freaking awesome as the Wonder Woman theme.
People are strange, so finish this sentence:  People think I am strange because…
 I can happily go for spans of weeks without any outside human contact. Usually until a friend accuses me of being a hermit, then I’ll make myself rejoin the real world.
What type of writing atmosphere do you prefer?
My brain is generally a mass of clutter, so In order to make myself focus, I need quiet without too much ouside stimulus.
What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
Ben and Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio ice cream
What  are you reading now?  
Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
Tell us about any upcoming books?
The second installment of the Lian and Figg series should be available sometime this fall.
Where can people find you? (Blogs, websites, book signings )

Ten for the fast round
Dogs or Cats? dogs
Beach or mountains? mountains
Coffee, tea or soda? Coffee (strong and sweet)
Cake or pie? pie
Movie or book? book
Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt? Either one as long as they were playing something really nerdy like a physicist.
Museum or zoo? Museum
Phone call or text? Definitely text. I despise talking on the phone.
Computer games or board games? Computer games
E-reader or real book? E-reader

Voodoo Dues (Lian and Figg)

Voodoo Dues by Stephany Simmons

Ms Simmons is a new author for me. I got this book when the author requested a review. This is no way influenced my review. This is an honest and true review of the book.

Book Synopsis:

As an Anthropologist, Lian Cairn specialized in the study of others, the not so totally human races that exist in the shadows around us. After a life changing event, he decided to leave that career behind to become a bar owner. Settled firmly in his new life, he’s looking forward to the mundane, but finds that his old life isn’t going to disappear as he’d hoped. 

When the local Voodoo Queen’s Grandson is murdered outside his bar, and she comes to Lian for help, he and his quirky bartender Figg, are sucked back into the world he’d hoped to leave behind.
 

Voodoo Dues introduces us to a new series – The Lian and Figg series. The book starts a little slow but soon I was hooked. Since this is the start of a new series, I liked that it was a slow beginning as it gave me time to get to know the main characters. The characters of Lian and Figg were developed enough to allow you to form a relationship with them and yet mysterious enough to allow for future discoveries. In a series I really like that as it is like a friendship – I still discover ‘new’ things about my friends even after 20+ years. The balance is a hard one to achieve.  Ms Simmons was able to strike that balance. All of her characters are developed enough for you to relate and care for them. My favorite is Carl. I certainly hope to see him in future books. Ms Simmons pays a lot of attention to details and is very good with description. I was able to easily picture the book in my mind as I was reading it. I thought Ms Simmons also portrayed the religion of Voodoo well. She has a mix of truth and also addresses the myths of it in a real way. Over all I found Voodoo Dues to be a suspenseful, fun, fast read. I give it 5 stars. I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Ms Simmons is an author to watch! 

You may find out more from this author on her website http://stephanysimmons.com 


Review: Inheriting Murder: A Bobwhite Mountain Cozy Mystery

Inheriting Murder: A Bobwhite Mountain Cozy Mystery by Jamie Rutland Gillespie My rating: 5 of 5 stars ...