Cathi Stoler - The Hard Way - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Private Investigator Helen McCorkendale’s childhood friend, Jimmy Scanlan, has just opened January, the most lavish casino and hotel resort on the Las Vegas Strip. After attending the grand opening, Helen returns to New York and encourages her friend, Laurel Imperiole, Senior Editor at Women Now magazine, to create a get-away contest for readers offering a weekend at the hotel as the grand prize. The winner, Dawn Chapman, a jewelry store employee from Cincinnati, denies entering the contest and initially refuses the trip. Finally persuaded by Laurel to accept, she arrives at the hotel and nearly faints when she passes the hotel’s elite meeting rooms where the International Diamond Dealers Consortium is holding its annual meeting. She insists on returning home immediately.

Suspicious of her behavior, Jimmy visits her suite to encourage her to attend the Saturday afternoon pool party, saying she can leave on his private jet the next day. Later in the afternoon, he finds Chapman’s dead body by the pool. She’s been murdered—an unusual double poisoning by cyanide and diamond dust.

Dawn Chapman was not who she appeared to be, and therein lies a mystery. But to Helen and Laurel, the main task is to take Jimmy Scanlon off the suspect list and clear his name. Will their luck hold? Or will it be a crap shoot, as they roll the dice and do it ‘the hard way,’ going for doubles when the odds are against them. Losing may mean losing their lives.


My Review

Helen McCorkendale is the definition of an independent woman. She wants to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it. No questions asked. She answers to no one but herself, and she likes it that way. If her job as a private investigator sends her into the dangerous world of international diamond thieves, so be it. She's too smart to be blinded by such baubles. Her eye is fixed on the prize. Nothing can break her concentration. She'll bring the killer to justice, guaranteed.

She certainly doesn't intend for any man to hold her back - not her worrywart of a boyfriend who she keeps purposefully in the dark, not her overprotective guy pal from childhood who still might be harboring an unrequited crush for her, not even the deranged psychopath who held a knife to her throat warning her to give up the chase or die trying. No one's going to stand in her way. From ultra competitive Las Vegas casino owners to the big wigs of the International Diamond Dealers Consortium, Helen finds herself immersed in a male dominated environment, but comes out swinging. She doesn't let anyone intimidate her. She steps right up to the plate, staking out shady motels, packing heat and sniffing out potential traitors in her midst. It's all in a day's work for this ballsy broad.

Yet Helen does have a softer side which she allows those closest to her to see. She has a weakness for gourmet cuisine. On occasion, she likes slipping on a sparkly, sequined dress every now and again. She gets involved in the love lives of her friends without their asking, having no qualms sticking her nose into their problems and ironing out the kinks. She's hands on in every aspect of her life. She's no wallflower, content to being a passive observer. Oh no, she's a fully active participant.

And sometimes that gets her into trouble. When a woman lounging poolside dies after being poisoned with diamond dust in her gin and tonic, it's clear that no one is safe. When murder is made to appear elegant, Helen knows she's playing a ruthless game with society's upper crust, hoping to come out on top. When everyone is after a rare diamond, the color of blood, it's only a matter of how much of it will be shed before the heist of the century is attempted. Helen must watch her back as well as those around her because in Vegas the house usually wins, and not a meddling upstart like her. To win, she's going to have to beat them at their own game, or pay the ultimate price.

***

The Hard Way can be purchased at:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords

Prices/Formats: $4.95 ebook, $14.95 paperback
Pages: 280
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Release: April 15, 2014
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603819497
Click to add to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

Cathi Stoler’s mysteries feature PI Helen McCorkendale and magazine editor, Laurel Imperiole. The Hard Way is the third book in the series. The first, Telling Lies, took on the subject of stolen Nazi art. Book 2, Keeping Secrets, delved into the subject of hidden identity. Stoler’s short stories include: “Magda,” in the Criminal Element Anthology Malfeasance Occasional: Girl Trouble, “Out of Luck,” in the Anthology, Murder New York Style: Fresh Slices, “Fatal Flaw,” a finalist for the Derringer for Best Short Story and “Money Never Sleeps” both published at Beat to A Pulp. Cathi is working on a novella, Nick of Time, which features International gambler, Nick Donahue. She is also starting a new series, Bar None, A Murder On The Rocks Mystery, with female bar owner, Jude Dillane. Cathi is a member of the New York/Tri State chapter of Sisters In Crime. She is also a member of Mystery Writers of America.

Links to connect with Cathi:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog
Blog Tour Site


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DJ Wilson - Ride to Redemption - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Righting another's wrong landed D in WITSEC, the witness protection program and cost him family, friends, and everything of substance in his life.

Loneliness is his constant companion until he meets Candi, the girl of his dreams. He and Candi embark on a three-week ride to redemption where they deal with mind-numbing deceit, perilous treachery, their overpowering lust for each other and their personal demons.

Nevertheless, new opportunities bring a chance to begin again. And, it doesn't hurt that he's got 200 pounds of illicit diamonds to use to ease the pain of those wronged. He will continue the redemption process by way of a well thought out plan involving a 5,000-mile adventure through the Western United States and Canada.

When D meets Candice, aka Candi, she captures his heart, mind and soul the instant she 'inadvertently' almost runs him down in the Starbucks drive-thru. Candi joins him on his three-week, two-wheeled ride to redemption, where they're forced to face their personal demons, while dealing with wanton lust, mind-numbing deceit and perilous treachery.

Spectacular scenery and a cast of unforgettable characters they meet along the way makes the journey memorable, but nothing prepares them for the sacrifices they must eventually make midway in the ride.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same," sadly, does not ring true for Candice and D throughout this first of a two part series. Lust and greed are forever game-changers, even for those who desperately seek redemption.


My Review

D, a simple name for one heck of a guy. Women call him a slut. Men beg him for sexual advice. He's a slave to a part of the female anatomy he affectionally dubs 'woo-hoo.' He's certainly a character who makes an instant, indelible impression.

D is a Robin Hood of sorts, stealing two billion dollars worth of diamonds from a crooked Bernie Madoff-type investor and redistributing them anonymously through the mail to the innocent people he ripped off. How did D get his hands on this sparkly stash? He built the guy's house, so he knew the ins and outs of his security system. Presto, change-o.

But D gets himself into trouble when the mafia decides they want the diamonds too, or at least a list of those he's sharing them with. He gets himself in deeper by falling for the wiles of an irresistible young thing named Candi. D knows next to nothing about her, but he doesn't care, he just wants to have sex with her. Not that he's completely driven by lust, he's also looking for that soul mate type of connection he never had with his ex-wife. He's broken, on the run and looking for someone to believe in him, and he thinks Candi might be the one to heal him and make him complete, or at least get his jollies off.

Yet D is a romantic, of sorts. He tries to live a selfless lifestyle by putting the needs of others ahead of his own. He goes out of his way for people, and he expects the same courtesy in return, even if he doesn't always get it. He has no problem pleasuring Candi sexually, giving her whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. He feels that they're on the page physically, enjoying each other in bed, in the shower, in a lake, on a picnic table - heck, even on the back of his motorcycle - but he just doesn't know if he can trust her.

D is a double-sided character with shades of a sinner interspersed with the aspirations of a saint. He's willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, even if it's not his wrong to right. He takes the burden of association upon himself, sticking his neck out for the little guy and hoping that those he's helping will pay his generosity forward. He's all about one good turn deserving another.

However, he also has a macho side that some female readers might find off-putting. He brags to ZZ Top, of all people, that he'll get Candi to show them her breasts. He picks a woman up in a casino after inviting Candi to join him on a multi-week motorcycle ride. He shares the vibrator he bought for Candi with another woman on their trip, sterilizing it with mouthwash before passing it on. It's up to the reader to decide what types of behavior fall under the standard of acceptable behavior. Some women will forgive D his transgressions, others likely won't.

Because D is a complicated lover boy. He's not one-dimensional. He's not cookie cutter. He's a leading man of the modern age with a slight hankering for the romance of old. He's a romantic hero with a voracious sexual appetite, but also with a sensitive heart that always seems to be yearning for more. More love. More give and take. More honesty. He's the kind of a guy who wants to give himself to a woman completely, and he'll keep hope alive until he finds her, if he hasn't already.

***

Ride to Redemption can be purchased at:
Amazon, Smashwords

Prices/Formats: $3.99 ebook, $10.95 paperback
Pages: 282
Genre: Erotic Romance
Release: December 2, 2013
Publisher: Fideli Publishing
ISBN: 9781604147773
Click to add to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

Raised in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, I graduated from Cumberland University, located in a small town you've never heard just inside Kentucky quite a few years ago. At the present, we're living beside beautiful Dale Hollow Lake.

Blessed to travel, blessed with health, blessed with second chances, too numerous to list here.

As a blogger, featured on many sites, including the Huffington Post, I have been humbled beyond measure, more times than not, by all that life has thrown our way.

Successful, that's me, catastrophic failure, that's me too. We've been there, done that and have the life changing scars to prove it.

Our writings reflect life through the throes of heartache and loss, as well as through the joys redemption brings.

"Life is not waiting for the Storms to Pass, It's Learning to Dance in the Rain."

Links to connect with DJ:
Web Site
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site


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Ken Dalton - Brother, can you spare a dime? - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Bear’s planned afternoon of beer and baseball is interrupted by a phone call from a man he hardly remembers from their years at Elko High. So begins the tale of a cold-blooded murder and the theft of a dime worth two million dollars!

Faced with bi-coastal murder suspects, Pinky hands Bear, and Flo the sweaty task of tracking down one of the suspects along the hot, humid North Carolina shoreline while he chooses to pursue the other on the Kona coast of Hawaii. But Pinky, after imbibing too many Mai Tai’s with a bevy of sky-goddesses, and a moved-up court date, is forced to return to Carson City, sans suspect.

Bear and Flo hit pay dirt and with the identity of the killer in hand they fly across the Pacific Ocean to the smoggy Beijing airport where they meet Joe, the uncle of Pinky’s Chinese secretary. The enigmatic Joe quotes Confucius and Shakespeare as he purposefully guides the dynamic duo to their final destination— oxygen sparse Lhasa, Tibet.


Cliff hanger contest

Brother, can you spare a dime? ends with a prize winning cliff hanger that defies all logic.

Let Ken know how you would answer the question and he will choose the two answers he likes the best. Both winners will receive a complete paperback set of his Pinky and Bear mystery series.

The Bloody Birthright
The Big Show Stopper
Death is a Cabernet
The Tartan Shroud
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Five books, each one personally inscribed!

Email your cliff hanger answer to ken@kendalton.com and in a couple of months Ken will post the winners' names on his Facebook page.


My Review

Sometimes you read a book that is chock full of memorable characters, ones that make a lasting impression, ones that stay with you. I read a lot - I mean A LOT - and I don't come across characters like that too often. It takes a talented author to make mere words on a page seem just as alive as the person sitting next to you. And Ken Dalton's done it, times three.

I have to start with Bear because he has THE best lines. He's a big lumbering ox of a guy with a low IQ and a raging libido. Dalton's comedic timing is spot on with this small town hustler from Elko, Nevada. He has more brawn than brains as a bumbling private investigator who just about skirts the edge of the law when it comes to doing his job. For him, it's all about boobs, beer and baseball, in that order.

And lucky for Bear, he puts his appreciation for a certain part of the female anatomy at the top of his list because his girlfriend Flo would probably freeze him out of her bed for the next six months if he didn't place her feminine wiles above everything else. Flo's a con artist, plain and simple. She fluffs her hair, sticks out her chest and works any mark to her advantage. Yeah, she's manipulative, but she also looks out for Bear and doesn't let him get swindled by their nefarious employer.

And that's a good thing because their boss man Pinky is a guy small in stature but large in clout. As a defense attorney, he's won twenty-four out of twenty-four murder cases, getting those charged with homicide off every single time. He's good, but he's cocky and a tad on the superficial side, caring more about his Armani suits and fancy Jaguar than even his own safety and well-being. His "favorite ex-wife" Willow works in the district attorney's office and he's dying to get back together with her, even if she keeps giving him the brush off. He's one man who won't be deterred.

What brings Bear, Flo and Pinky together this time around in their continuing caper is a stolen 1894 S dime worth about two million dollars. They have to track it down and convince Willow that Pinky's client didn't shoot his handicapped brother in the head in order to steal it. Money is the driving theme throughout the narrative. Pinky has it and Bear and Flo want it, or at least Flo is cunning enough to try and get it. Pinky's a known cheapskate and he doesn't want to be paying for their business class trips from Hawaii to China, especially since they end up drinking and cavorting with each other rather than working the case.

The tension between the three of them is just as juicy as the drama of tracking down the killer. Even when they're not in each other's presence, their phone exchanges sizzle and pop, beautifully highlighting the ever-shifting dynamic between employer and employee. Pinky doesn't want to give them any more than he has to, as far as he's concerned Bear and Flo fall under the category of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." And Flo intends to milk Pinky for every dime she can get, just not the one they're all looking for.

***

Brother, can you spare a dime? can be purchased at:
Amazon, KenDalton.com (personalized inscription and free shipping)

Prices/Formats: $4.99 ebook, $14.95 paperback
Pages: 310
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Release: April 9, 2014
Publisher: Different Drummer Press
ISBN: 9780578140391
Click to add to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

Ken was born in 1938 at Hollywood Hospital. He grew up in Los Angeles with his parents, his older sister and younger brother.

In a turn of bad luck, the dreaded Polio virus attacked Ken at the age of five. By the age of sixteen, after eleven years of operations, therapy, and braces to mitigate the effects of Polio, Ken’s luck changed when he met the girl of his dreams. A few years later they married, produced three wonderful children, and settled into a happy life in Southern California.

In 1966, Ken and his family moved to the green hills of Sonoma County where they bought a home surrounded with apple trees.

Some time later, Ken, designed, built, and operated a small winery that produced award winning Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

Then, in a moment of madness, Ken began writing. His first article was published in Golf Illustrated. Many more golf articles followed in national and regional magazines including Golf Magazine and Fairways and Greens. Eventually Ken felt the urge to write his first novel.

Now, after the publication of The Bloody Birthright, The Big Show Stopper, Death is a Cabernet, and The Tartan Shroud, Ken has published his latest Pinky and Bear mystery, Brother, can you spare a dime?

Links to connect with Ken:
Web Site
Facebook
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site


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Diane Daniels Manning - Almost Perfect - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

An old woman who has given up hope and a boy who believes the impossible wonder if life would be perfect at the Westminster Dog Show.

Seventy-year old Bess Rutledge has dreamed of winning the Westminster Dog Show all her life. Despite her decades-long career as one of America’s top Standard Poodle breeders, she has decided she’s too old to hold on to her foolish dream. She sells off all the dogs in her once famous kennel except for the aging champion McCreery and his mischievous, handsome son Breaker. Part of her senses they might have been the ones to take her to Westminster, if only she’d dared to try.

Bess meets Benny, a teenager with mild autism who attends a therapeutic special school, and learns he has a dream of his own: to impress his self-absorbed mother. Benny is drawn into the world of dog shows and becomes convinced he has found the perfect way to win his mother’s attention. If he can win Westminster with either McCreery or Breaker, he just knows she will finally be proud of him. Getting Bess to go along with his plan, however, is not going to be so easy. . .

Up to 100% of the author’s profits will be donated to charities serving animals and children.


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My Review

Looking at the warm and fuzzy puppy on the cover, I never expected the characters inside to be so heartbreakingly real. They're just like you and me, flawed, prone to mistakes, yearning for love. This isn't a fluffy animal tale. It deals with family issues, societal pressures and genuine emotions within the context of what it means to be a dog lover. Daniels Manning doesn't go about making her characters perfect, instead she lets them be 'almost perfect,' and in so doing makes them a whole lot more relatable.

Bess and Benny don't necessarily start out being exceptionally likable, and they're not supposed to be. In order to show their growth throughout the novel, Daniels Manning has the guts to hold a mirror up to reality. She doesn't try and sugarcoat their bad behavior, instead she shines a spotlight on it.

In the beginning, Bess is a crotchety old lady. She gives up on her dream in a very dramatic way by having her award-winning kennel bulldozed to the ground. She's done with breeding her signature line of Umpawaug poodles. She's calling it quits. Her state of mind isn't good. She's depressed, miserable, heartsick. Even after all she's accomplished in her life, she still feels like a failure because she never won the big one, best in show at Westminster.

Benny is an overweight, prepubescent boy with autism. He has a hard time sticking with any one thing. He can't seem to focus on anything besides eating. His one goal in life is to make his mother proud, and he'll do anything to get her attention. He lacks any form of self-motivation, obtaining her approval is the only thing that matters to him.

The cast also includes those of the four-legged variety and they're as fully developed as their human counterparts even if they don't utter a word of dialogue. McCreery, Bess's championship sire, and Breaker, his prodigal pup, work together, drawing their reclusive owner and her adolescent neighbor into a reluctant, yet beneficial, partnership.

Benny doesn't think poodles are 'real' dogs, while Bess feels that she's the only one capable of showing her dogs in the ring. Yet through the influence of Bess's son, David, the two start to break down each other's barriers and begin to trust each other. Bess lets Benny become Breaker's handler on the dog show circuit and being around Benny forces Bess to reexamine her strained relationship with David.

The hardest thing for characters to admit is when they're wrong. It's a challenging feat for an author to pull off in order to make the transformation authentic and believable, but Daniels Manning does it twice with skill and grace. She nails their humanity, showing what a proficient student she is in watching and observing people and figuring out what makes them tick. The reasons behind her characters' actions make sense because they come from the heart.

Bess and Benny are struggling with the same problem. They're both unknowingly sabotaging their own success. Bess is subconsciously consumed with the guilt of being an absentee mother to David while he was growing up, keeping herself too busy to realize just how much he needed her. While Benny is on the flip side of the equation, deluding himself into thinking that if his mother could just love him, everything would be all right. He doesn't think he's good enough, because his mother doesn't think he's good enough.

It's only when Bess and Benny find the strength within themselves, with a little help from the unconditional love that McCreery and Breaker provide, that they begin to see just how much they were missing out on by not believing in, and ultimately forgiving, themselves.

***

Almost Perfect can be purchased at:
Amazon

Prices/Formats: $3.99 ebook, $8.99 paperback
Pages: 330
Genre: Pet Fiction
Release: January 29, 2014
Publisher: Beltor
ISBN: 9780578136394
Click to add to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

Diane Daniels Manning is the co-founder and director of The New School in the Heights, a therapeutic school in Houston, Texas which helps children dealing with social-emotional challenges find success in school and life. She has a Ph.D. in Education and a post-doctoral M.P.H from Harvard and is a practicing child psychoanalyst certified by the American Psychoanalytic Association. Formerly, she was the Director of the Reading and Learning Disabilities Clinic at Tufts University, Lecturer and Research Associate in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Harvard, and Chair of the Department of Education at Tulane University. She learned the inner workings of dog show kennels by writing an authorized oral history of a lifetime President of the Poodle of Club of America. Her writing awards include the Faulkner-Wisdom Novella Prize and the Women in Film and Television Short Script Competition.

Links to connect with Diane:
Web Site
Facebook
Goodreads
Blog
YouTube
Blog Tour Site


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