Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens - Stealing the Moon & Stars - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Jordan Welsh and Eddie Marino, Scottsdale private eyes, are hired to find out who’s stealing from the Moon and Stars Children’s Foundation. Foundation employees are suspected, but just as the pieces start falling into place, Jordan discovers a hidden agenda that puts her in the crosshairs of a crime lord. Who can she trust?

Everyone has a dangerous secret, and the bodies are piling up. Even her partner, Eddie Marino, has a dark and mysterious past. Does she dare act on their attraction? Will it destroy their partnership?

The two have landed in a hornets’ nest. Nothing to do now but stir it up.

Book one in a new series featuring Jordan Welsh and Eddie Marino.


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My Review

Jordan Welsh is one of those women who seem to have it all. She doesn't have to worry about money because she has a hefty trust fund. She doesn't have to work a mundane, nine to five job because she owns her own private investigating company. She doesn't have to worry about cleaning her house or cooking her meals because she has a sweetheart of a housekeeper to take care of her. But best of all, she doesn't have to worry about finding a man who makes her heart go pitter patter because her business partner, the oh so sexy Eddie Marino can't get enough of her. Oh, to be Jordan Welsh for a day!

But things aren't all rosy for our heroine. She's assaulted by a criminal thug until she's left sprawled on the pavement. She's nearly blown up by a car bomb. She almost becomes roadkill when a hit and run driver runs over and kills the person standing next to her. Yeah, being a PI isn't all that glamorous after all. It's about working a case until all hours of the night. It's about putting yourself in all kinds of danger. It's about depending on the one guy who can make everything right.

And Eddie sure is Jordan's weakness. He has ties to the mob. He's been in the army. He's done things he isn't proud of. But she can't resist her attraction to him. He's used to getting what he wants from women and she is well aware of that. She doesn't want to ruin their business relationship by getting involved with him, but he's just the kind of guy she's looking for. Someone willing to protect her against all odds. He wants her body, mind and soul and he won't stop until she gives herself to him completely.

Smith & Steffens have a knack for proving that appearances can be deceiving. To the outside world, Jordan might come across as a pampered princess, but the authors open up all different sides to her personality, showing how much she wants her independence from her family's money and their interference in her life. She's striving to make it on her own merits, and you can't help but admire her for that. She's gutsy, willing to do whatever it takes to nail the bad guys, no matter what they try to do to her. She's not afraid to plunge headfirst into the fray.

Eddie seems like he'd be the egotistical playboy, stringing women along for his own amusement, but buried beneath his macho persona is a real sweetheart. He cares about the women in his life from his mother to his sister to Jordan. He feels it's his duty to look after them. He'd do anything for them. He's devoted and loyal, and more of a one-woman man than you'd expect at first glance. He wants to commit to Jordan a hundred percent, but she's not as sure about them as he is. She wants him, she just doesn't know if she can handle him.

Their romance certainly had my heart pounding, and I can't wait to see how their relationship evolves in book two, especially since Jordan's left wondering if he's being completely honest with her about his actions. But throwing more obstacles in their way only seems to bring these two closer together. Do I think Smith & Steffens will have them work through their differences? As Eddie would say, no problem-o.

***

Stealing the Moon and Stars can be purchased at:
Amazon

Price/Format: $13.95 paperback
Pages: 242
Genre: Romance, Suspense
Release: May 15, 2014
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603819831
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About the Authors

Arizona native Sally J. Smith lives in Scottsdale with her husband. The rarest of breeds, an adult who was born in Arizona, she has been a writer since she could spell. These days she stays busy at her chosen professions of writing (novels, short stories, and articles) and freelance editing. When a free moment appears on the horizon, she’s out the door to a attend a play, a movie, a concert, or just take a long walk in the desert—if the temperature’s under a hundred. Other works include The Ghost Wore Polyester.

Jean Steffens also lives in Scottsdale with her family. She’s a mother, reader, movie fan, and the Steffens’ family chauffeur. She’s also active in church activities. Like Jordan Welsh, PI, Jean grew up in Chicago near Lake Forest. Jean’s mother, however, was nurturing—baking cookies, carpooling kids to school, kissing boo-boos—unlike Jordan’s mother, who’s allergic to the kitchen and thinks a carpool is a hot tub in a limo. Jean’s published work includes “The Night Before Christmas” in the Desert Sleuths Sisters in Crime Anthology, How Not to Survive the Holidays.

Work sessions between these two ladies generally result in a lot of laughter, noshing, and Internet surfing. Both authors are members of Romance Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

Links to connect with Sally and Jean:
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Luca Pesaro - Zero Alternative - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

“Sometimes you must destroy first.”

To stay alive, Scott Walker must bring down a corrupt international bank. And possibly shatter the world’s economy. Because finance is a black hole ready to chew up countries and people before spitting them out rich, or broken. Or both.

Framed. Hunted. In love with a woman he can’t trust. As he hides from hitmen across Europe, Walker has only one card to play – DeepShare. A silicon oracle that could predict a slice of the future, and that everyone wants. Governments and insane billionaires, criminals and anarchist hackers stand in his way, some even promising help – though with dangerous strings attached.

As Walker struggles to survive and digs deeper into the dark heart of the global economy, one question torments him: how much will the world have to pay?

Zero Alternative is an action-packed conspiracy thriller that plucks at the heart of human nature. When our grip on love, hope and morality starts to slide, the only future worth living is the one we choose for ourselves.

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My Review

I think most people would agree stock traders aren't the most likable characters on the planet. After the mortgage and credit crisis of 2008, many hardworking individuals lost their homes and their retirement savings due to a marketplace that had little to no regulations in place. People were being approved for loans that banks knew they couldn't pay back.

In ZERO ALTERNATIVE, Scott Walker knows all of this, and it makes him even more jaded than he already is. He's a hot shot investment banker who worked his way up through the trenches. At thirty-six, he's in the prime of his career and arrogant to a fault. No one plays the market like he does. He takes chances when others hold back. He gambles on what's going to happen before it does. He doesn't have a crystal ball at his disposal to predict the future, but he has something darn close. A technological marvel called DeepShare that pieces together current headlines and matches them up with past events all in the blink of an eye.

But Scott isn't the computer geek behind the operation. His friend and colleague, DM is. So when DM turns up murdered, Scott's alpha dog lifestyle goes into a tailspin. He's no longer in control of what happens to him. He's unable to micromanage all the tiny details of a every transaction. Instead, he's forced into existing day to day by the seat of his pants. He's not padding his bottom line anymore. He's fighting for his very existence.

But Scott's a sucker for the ladies, the more exotic looking the better. So when a savvy senorita named Layla gives him a night he'll never forget, he's hooked. He knows that she's bad for him, but he can't help falling under her spell. For someone so meticulous about his business dealings, he lets things slide when it comes to his sex life. He has no idea who Layla is and what she's all about, but all he can think about is the curves of her body.

Allowing himself to be consumed by lust leads him into a trap. He thinks he knows who's after him, but really he has no idea. There are forces at work here that are too large to imagine and too important to fail. He's in over his head, and there's no way he can course correct his approach this time. He's dealing with big fish in a small pond and he's the minnow ready to eaten. He's not used to being on the bottom of the pecking order, and it's a rough adjustment for him as he tries to figure out how to topple the hierarchy above him. But when he does, he's unstoppable.

Bottom line, mess with Scott Walker, and be willing to pay the price.

***

Zero Alternative can be purchased at:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Formats: $5.99 ebook, $16.80 paperback
Pages: 269
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Release: April 25, 2014
Publisher: Three Hares Publishing
ISBN: 9781910153086
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About the Author

Luca Pesaro was born in Italy in the early seventies, but has spent most of his adult life in the US or UK. After long years gaining a degree and masters in the pseudo-science that is Economics he got bored, jumped the gun and became a derivatives trader in financial markets with several investment banks. Now reformed, he is writing full-time.

Zero Alternative is his first novel, and he is hard at work on his second thriller.

He lives in London, is married to an awesome Italian lady and has two children who always manage to annoy, surprise and delight beyond any reasonable expectation.

Links to connect with Luca:
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Dianne Ascroft - Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves is a collection of half a dozen short stories with Irish connections. Tales of outsiders who discover they belong, a humorous slice of life yarn, heartwarming love stories and a tale of taming fear. The shadows are on the wall, in the heart and clouding a woman’s memories while tangible foes tramp through the physical landscape. The stories were previously printed individually in a variety of publications, including Ireland’s Own magazine, Dead Ink Books’ website, and the anthologies, Fermanagh Miscellany and Tuesdays At Charlie’s.

My Review

What a delightful collection of short stories! The kind you like to snuggle up with on a dreary night while sipping a cup of hot cocoa. You can tell Dianne Ascroft has a big heart. She doesn't rely on racy content or profanity to get her message across. Instead, she embraces the reader with characters that feel so familiar. You'll recognize your inquiring neighbor across the street or your dear friend from book club. She peoples all six of her stories with individuals readers can relate to. They're real. They're genuine. They're just like you and me, and that's what makes them special.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Brenda in "A Link to Her Past" - She's an apt reminder that when it comes to romance, old flames don't have to die. If you let them flicker, they can be rekindled when the time is right.

Mrs. Keown in "A World Apart" - She comes off as a nosy busybody, but there's more depth and feeling to her character. She knows what it's like to abandon her hometown and strike out somewhere new. It turns out she adjusted so well, now she's taken for one of the locals.

Fiona in "Just a Cough" - She's a brand new attorney trying to prove herself to the firm, and no way is her mother going to tell her what to do. Just because she's sick doesn't mean she has to stay home. She thinks she can do it all, even thwart Mother Nature, until a snow plow puts her in her place.

Catherine in "Much More than a Dancer" - Probably my favorite character of the bunch, she's reached middle age, and resents having to troll the dating scene for eligible men. She works hard on her family farm and doesn't have the time to get out much, but when she does the last thing she wants to do is compete with other women for the man she fancies. She's hesitant and afraid, awkward and stubborn. Until a pair of hazel eyes sets her at ease.

Frances in "Conquering the Shadows" - A charming tale of a woman putting her children to bed, yet still harboring her own youthful fears of the dark. With the wind howling at the window panes, she awaits her husband to return home from his job on the railroad. Until she gets scared, and lets her kids climb out of bed and sit with her next to the fire.

Karen in "Going Home" - A poignant reminder that you're never too old to be homesick for your childhood dwelling place. Even after she moved to Ireland with her husband, Karen never really considered their house her true home, until her mother offers some words of wisdom that make her see things differently.

Overall, if you enjoy a nice, comfy cozy story, you won't be disappointed in meeting any of these wonderful characters. They'll pull you in by the heartstrings and never let go. Thanks Dianne Ascroft for showing the many sides of the female perspective.

***

Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves can be purchased at:
Amazon U.S., Amazon U.K.

Price/Format: $1.16 ebook
Pages: 39
Genre: Romance, Short Story Collection
Release: June 16, 2012
Click to add to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

Dianne Ascroft is an urban Canadian who has settled in rural Northern Ireland with her husband and an assortment of strong willed animals. She writes contemporary and historical fiction with an Irish connection. She has released the short story collection, Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves and a novel, Hitler and Mars Bars. Her articles and stories have been printed in Irish and Canadian magazines and newspapers as well as in anthologies by Writers Abroad, Fermanagh Writers and Fermanagh Authors’ Association.

Links to connect with Dianne:
Web Site
Blog
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James Moser - Chasing Prophecy - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Mo is a shy teen who is just trying to survive high school. He has secretly fallen in love with a girl named Prophecy who lives with a group that some call a commune and others call a cult. When she disappears, Mo must find the courage to face the monster that her family has become. Chasing Prophecy is a contemporary coming of age story that is heartwarming, suspenseful, and beautifully written. This book chronicles the adolescence of one boy who must transform himself to save the girl of his dreams.

***

A stellar read for teens and adults, full of hilarious growing pains, tenderness and a few surprises. Moser’s debut is an unflinching young-adult novel that sees a group of friends tested by bigotry and the illegal machinations of a religious cult. The author serves up an irresistibly wisecracking narrator in Mo Kirkland. Every page ripples with a controlled cleverness. There’s also a rawness to this tale similar to that which many teens face in the real world. Moser can wax rhapsodic about young love, but he shows that he knows how to raise the tension in the second half of the novel. -Kirkus Reviews

My Review

Mo is just one of those male characters that girls adore reading about. He's the guy who always seems to be getting picked on. He started high school small in stature so he knows what it's like to be at the bottom of the pecking order. But his struggle to fit in creates a great sense of empathy in him. He's well aware of what it feels like when things don't go your way, and he's able to relate to other people in their time of need.

He's known Kazzy his whole life. In fact, she's usually the one taking on the bullies who rough him up. He admires the way she's not afraid to stick up for him, but he wishes he possessed enough courage to take them on himself. But her faith in him is what inspires him to stand up to his tormenters, especially after he hits a growth spurt. Little by little with Kazzy's support and encouragement, he comes out of his shell. Jumping off of bridges. Taking on a bunch of armed thugs. Looking Bigfoot square in the eye.

In the end, he's the one who winds up saving Kazzy. When she's at her most vulnerable point, Mo is there, giving her a much needed shoulder to cry on. She is dealt a devastating loss and the only way she gets through it is because of Mo. He's guides her out of her grief and fear with the strength of his love. Yeah, they're only teenagers but their feelings are written so powerfully, you can't deny the connection they have to each other. It's tender and beautiful, a young adult novel that doesn't need to rely on explicit content to sell a love story.

In fact, my favorite lines in the entire book are when Mo says, "Maybe that's what love is - when the whole world is crumbling around you and you can't even feel the rocks falling on your head - all you can see is the person you want to hold in your arms."

It takes a special kind of narrator to give voice to such words. I know they're ones that will stay with me long after reading this book. Thanks Mo for being a young guy worth getting to know, and thanks James Moser for having the guts to pen such a sensitive, memorable character.

***

Chasing Prophecy can be purchased at:
Amazon, Smashwords

Prices/Formats: $2.99 ebook
Pages: 237
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Paranormal
Publisher: Skookum Trail
Release: December 31, 2013
Click to add to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

James Moser has always loved stories in all forms. He is in his fourteenth year of working with high school students. The author’s goal was to write a book that would inspire even his most reluctant readers. Young adults have always inspired him. As such, he wanted to show teenagers transforming themselves to overcome obstacles, which is what he watches them do, every day.

Moser has a B.A. in English and a Master’s degree in Secondary English Education. He lives in Seattle with his beautiful wife and eight year old son. When he’s not reading and writing, or thinking about reading and writing, he’s watching way too much television while snacking on frozen treats from Trader Joe’s. Man, those things are good.

Links to connect with James:
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Michael F. Stewart - The Terminals - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

- Sometimes the dead don’t want to talk.
You need Terminals to make them. -

Terminals solve crimes in this realm by investigating them in the next.

Lt. Col. Christine Kurzow, fresh from a failed suicide attempt after she cost 11 of her soldiers their lives, is recruited into the covert unit of Terminals as a handler. It's an easy sell. If she's really determined to die, it’s a chance to give her death meaning.

But her first case—convincing a monk to chase Hillar the Killer into the afterlife to find the location of a missing bus and the children it carried—has her wondering how to make a dead psychopath talk.

Christine must follow the clues sent back by the shotgun-toting monk, who tracks Hillar through the seven deeps of hell, so she can find eleven kids before it’s too late.

Maybe this time killing a man will give Christine a reason to live.

**The Television and Film production rights have been sold to Jim Donovan (Best Director 2013, Canadian Screen Awards) and on to his partners of Sudden Storm Entertainment.

My Review

Christine Kurzow. Say her name out loud. Feel the tongue fire against the soft palate of the mouth, like a finger pulling the taut trigger of a gun. It's an alliterate name that when vocalized paints a definitive picture of this female military officer. She's hard, yet soft. A combat tested Medal of Honor recipient who is mentally falling to pieces after a child suicide bomber wiped out eleven soldiers placed under her command. She could have taken the boy out, but she didn't. She was weak and let her feelings get in the way of her duty.

After surviving the attack, she's left with nothing but crippling, agonizing regret, and a scarred face that's a searing reminder of all those she left behind. Convalescing in a hospital bed, she doesn't want to live anymore. But she can't go back in time and change the past. Those who lost their lives can't absolve her of her sins ... or can they? On the brink of suicide, Christine is pulled out of the abyss by a shady general of dubious intent. He says he knows a way to communicate with the dead, and desperate for options, Christine jumps at the opportunity.

All she has to do is save a bunch of kidnapped children based on the information gleaned from the psychic communication between a dead monk, a gifted medium and a serial killer battling his way through the regions of the underworld. Christine is thrust into a world she is unfamiliar with. Although this secret division is sanctioned by the U.S. government, its spiritually driven initiative throws her atheist sensibilities out of whack. She doesn't want to believe in life after death, but after witnessing what she does behind closed doors, she's no longer sure.

The key to her change of heart comes in the guise of an attractive man. Attila is her complete opposite. He's a skinny intellectual. A psychic of Gypsy descent who could pass for a Johnny Depp lookalike. He harbors a rare talent for keeping a link of communication open with the dead after they pass over. His ability floors Christine, especially when he contacts the deceased troops under Christine's command and one by one they refuse to forgive her for making the tragic mistake that cost them their lives.

It's heartbreaking to witness how Christine brooks every new refusal. The souls of her former comrades aren't at rest. They're following their loved ones around, wishing they could be a part of their lives again. But it's too late. Christine took that away from them. Attila is appalled that none of the soldiers will offer Christine their forgiveness, and he seeks to comfort her any way he can. As the relationship between the two of them deepens, Christine pulls back, determined to finish what she started and sacrifice herself for the greater good.

It's only when she learns that the thread of lies extends far beyond the grave, that she begins to want to live again. Will she get a chance to make a fresh start? Since this is book one of a continuing series, it's uncertain if she'll find the strength within to forgive herself or if her trials have only just begun. For Christine Kurzow, rest in peace couldn't be further from the truth.

***

The Terminals can be purchased at:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Formats: ebook, paperback
Pages: 310
Genre: Paranormal, Thriller, Mystery
Release: April 15, 2014
Click to add to your Goodreads list.


About the Author

Michael F. Stewart is the author of the Assured Destruction series, which sprawls across 3 books, 2 websites, 1 blog, 7 Twitter accounts, tumblr, Facebook, and 6 graphic origin stories. He likes to combine storytelling with technology and pioneered interactive storytelling with Scholastic Canada, Australia and New Zealand’s, anti-cyberbullying program Bully For You. He has authored four graphic novels with Oxford University Press Canada’s award winning Boldprint series. Publications of nonfiction titles on Corruption and Children’s Rights published by Rubicon Publishing as well as early readers with Pearson are all forthcoming in 2014 and 2015.

For adults, Michael has written THE SAND DRAGON a horror about a revenant prehistoric vampire set in the tar sands, HURAKAN a Mayan themed thriller which pits the Maya against the MS-13 with a New York family stuck in the middle, 24 BONES an urban fantasy which draws from Egyptian myth, and THE TERMINALS—a covert government unit which solves crimes in this realm by investigating them in the next. This series has already been optioned for film and television.

Herder of four daughters, Michael lives to write in Ottawa where he runs free writing workshops for teens and adults.

Links to connect with Michael:
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A.F. Ebbers - Dangerous Past - Review & Giveaway

About the Book

Senior Airline Captain Frank Braden is being stalked in his home town of Austin, Texas, by unknown assailants who must arrange his death to look like a suicide or an accident before a specific deadline. The assassins almost succeed several times, in the air and on the ground. In fact, Braden’s surgeon wife, Nicole, saves his life twice from ground assailants. Both of them don’t know why people are trying to kill him.

Later, he receives a message warning him not to attend a forthcoming Senate hearing in Washington. If he agrees he will receive a million dollars and his wife’s life. When Braden turns to the FBI and local police for help, they doubt his stories since they have been led to believe he is schizophrenic and suicidal, exactly what his assailants want the authorities to think.

Dangerous Past is a story of a man who must choose between doing what ought to be done or keeping his family alive by allowing a murderous and powerful Washington VIP to escape his past.

My Review

Captain Frank Braden is a guy's guy. An airline pilot. A CIA covert agent. A hotblooded lover. But he sure knows how to stumble into dangerous situations. Does he tremble when a high ranking government official puts a target on his back? Not at all. The only thing that scares him is his fear of water. That's right. He can handle being roughed up by a trained hit man. He can bounce back from falling hundreds of feet out of the sky. Just don't dunk his head underwater or he's toast. Hey, every man has his kryptonite.

Frank's way of thinking is an interesting blend of old school rationale and modern yuppie suburbia. He's a sex-crazed man obsessed with his wife's body. In fact, he can't get her tight curves out of his head. But at the same time, he's okay with his little woman making more money than him. His wife is a surgeon, while he nearly bankrupted the family through some shoddy investments in the stock market. When he's put on suspension from his job, she's the one literally supporting him. It's a tough pill to swallow, but he's more concerned about her leaving him than having to downgrade their upper middle class lifestyle. He's okay with playing the role of stay-at-home spouse rather than give her up. He'll do anything to save their marriage because it's what he values above all else.

Frank is a romantic at heart, and his assailant knows it. It's not hard for him to pinpoint Frank's weakness when he abducts his lovely wife. The perp knows there's nothing Frank wouldn't do for her, and Frank plays right into his hands. It doesn't take much to lure him to an isolated, wilderness environment in the hope of finishing the two of them off. What the predator doesn't count on is that a woman in danger can be just as resourceful as the man in her life. Together, Frank and his wife work as a team to gain their freedom and thwart the evil intentions of a madman.

On a side note, Frank's wife, Nicole, is a pretty awesome chick. Since her father was a mechanic, she knows a thing or two about cars, and she's able to save Frank from disaster by repairing the damage done to her vehicle with her own two hands. She's gritty and tough, and assists Frank on more than one occasion as a capable partner and trusted ally. I'm a fan of husband and wife pairings that compliment each other and these two certainly are a good match.

***

Dangerous Past can be purchased at:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, Nook

Prices/Formats: $0.99 ebook, $10.00 hardcover
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9780978948238
Publisher: SilverHawk Books
Release: May 1, 2007
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About the Author

A. F. Ebbers, a journalism graduate of Ohio University was a reporter/writer for major newspapers, ad agencies, and in public relations for Cessna Aircraft Company. He also graduated from Army Flight School and flew for the Ohio and Kansas Army National Guards. Later he was called to active duty and served two flying tours in Vietnam. After retirement from the military, he flew for corporations and for regional airlines. A dual rated ATP pilot, he has written for numerous national magazines, Sunday supplements and trade and travel magazines and has written screenplays and short stories. Today he lives with his wife in the Austin, Texas area and, when not writing, enjoys tennis, flying and piano. Dangerous Past is his debut novel.

Links to connect with A.F.:
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Facebook
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Jerome Charyn - I Am Abraham - Review and Giveaway

About the Book

Narrated in Lincoln’s own voice, the tragicomic I Am Abraham promises to be the masterwork of Jerome Charyn’s remarkable career.

Since publishing his first novel in 1964, Jerome Charyn has established himself as one of the most inventive and prolific literary chroniclers of the American landscape. Here in I Am Abraham, Charyn returns with an unforgettable portrait of Lincoln and the Civil War. Narrated boldly in the first person, I Am Abraham effortlessly mixes humor with Shakespearean-like tragedy, in the process creating an achingly human portrait of our sixteenth President.

Tracing the historic arc of Lincoln's life from his picaresque days as a gangly young lawyer in Sangamon County, Illinois, through his improbable marriage to Kentucky belle Mary Todd, to his 1865 visit to war-shattered Richmond only days before his assassination, I Am Abraham hews closely to the familiar Lincoln saga. Charyn seamlessly braids historical figures such as Mrs. Keckley—the former slave, who became the First Lady's dressmaker and confidante—and the swaggering and almost treasonous General McClellan with a parade of fictional extras: wise-cracking knaves, conniving hangers-on, speculators, scheming Senators, and even patriotic whores.

We encounter the renegade Rebel soldiers who flanked the District in tattered uniforms and cardboard shoes, living in a no-man's-land between North and South; as well as the Northern deserters, young men all, with sunken, hollowed faces, sitting in the punishing sun, waiting for their rendezvous with the firing squad; and the black recruits, whom Lincoln’s own generals wanted to discard, but who play a pivotal role in winning the Civil War. At the center of this grand pageant is always Lincoln himself, clad in a green shawl, pacing the White House halls in the darkest hours of America’s bloodiest war.

Using biblically cadenced prose, cornpone nineteenth-century humor, and Lincoln’s own letters and speeches, Charyn concocts a profoundly moral but troubled commander in chief, whose relationship with his Ophelia-like wife and sons—Robert, Willie, and Tad—is explored with penetrating psychological insight and the utmost compassion. Seized by melancholy and imbued with an unfaltering sense of human worth, Charyn’s President Lincoln comes to vibrant, three-dimensional life in a haunting portrait we have rarely seen in historical fiction.

My Review

Abraham Lincoln, narrator. This is a unique book for what it does, and how it does it. Author Jerome Charyn gives his own interpretation of one of the most well known figures in American history. Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. In I AM ABRAHAM, readers are treated to a glimpse inside the head of the flesh and blood man, and not the marble monument. And even though Charyn tells the story from Lincoln's point of view, it's when he bounces him off the book's other characters that his humanity comes into sharper focus.

Lincoln, the lover. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his relationship with his wife, Mary. The two did not experience marital bliss by any stretch of the imagination, but their bond was an enduring one. Lincoln seems put upon much of the time by the antics of his boisterous spouse, especially after they enter the White House. Mary is depicted as a woman who is succumbing to a greater degree of mental instability and Abe is left to hold onto what's left of their relationship by his fingernails. Mary likes to fight, and she causes her husband a lot of trouble both personally and professionally. He loves her, but he comes across as a victim of her abusive nature, always trying to placate her and clean up her messes.

Lincoln, the outsider. For a man who is now heralded as one of the most distinguished presidents, Lincoln probably didn't feel that way while he was in office. His Washington rival is depicted as General George McClellan, the head of the Union forces at the beginning of the war. McClellan is dashing, popular, an expert at the public relations game. In comparison, Lincoln comes across as an odd-looking politician that nobody really likes and who many feel isn't capable of the job. The image McClellan cuts riding his magnificent horse through town is the leader that inspires crowds. While Abe is the guy whose top hat makes good target practice for a Rebel sharpshooter as he totters around with his cold feet and green shawl like a grandfather in his dotage.

Lincoln, the placeholder. It's amazing to think that Lincoln basically won the presidency by default. With the country on the brink of civil war, it's not a position many people wanted. He was named the Republican nominee even though many preferred the charming Stephen Douglas. When he was up for reelection in 1864, voters weren't exactly thrilled with his first term performance, especially adding his signature to the Emancipation Proclamation and for allowing the war to drag on for so long. But even with McClellan as a viable challenger, they decided to stick with the incumbent simply because they didn't feel comfortable to change canoes midstream.

Holding up the mirror to Lincoln's weaknesses like this doesn't negate his strength in any way. Instead it shows just how much this man was facing on all fronts and how he managed to hold on and stay true to who he was. He didn't bend under political pressure to do the most expedient thing. He didn't change his image by improving his table manners or curtailing his backwoods accent. He didn't turn his back on his wife when she needed him most. He stayed the course and for better or worse held firm to his beliefs in what was right for himself and what was right for the country.

It takes an intuitive author like Charyn to help readers see and appreciate those qualities in a man many people thought they already knew. What a brave, fresh approach to reacquainting the public with an American legend, flaws and all.

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Excerpt

Click this link to read an excerpt.

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I Am Abraham can be purchased at:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Prices/Formats: $12.99-$14.99 ebook, $26.95 hardcover
Pages: 464
ISBN: 9780871404275
Publisher: Liveright
Release: February 3, 2014
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About the Author

Jerome Charyn is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him "one of the most important writers in American literature." New York Newsday hailed Charyn as "a contemporary American Balzac,"and the Los Angeles Times described him as "absolutely unique among American writers." Since the 1964 release of Charyn's first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009. In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn's book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong." Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.

Links to connect with Jerome:
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