Friday, December 18, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: The Precious One by Marisa De Los Santos

Title: The Precious One
Author: Marisa De Los Santos
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: December 1/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

From the bestselling author of Belong to Me, Love Walked In, and Falling Together comes a captivating novel about friendship, family, second chances, and the redemptive power of love.

In all her life, Eustacia “Taisy” Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary — professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father.

Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. In all that time, Taisy’s family has seen Wilson, Caroline, and their daughter Willow only once.

Why then, is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit, encouraging her to meet her pretty sister — a teenager who views her with jealousy, mistrust, and grudging admiration? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir?

Told in alternating voices — Taisy’s strong, unsparing observations and Willow’s naive, heartbreakingly earnest yearnings — The Precious One is an unforgettable novel of family secrets, lost love, and dangerous obsession, a captivating tale with the deep characterization, piercing emotional resonance, and heartfelt insight that are the hallmarks of Marisa de los Santos’s beloved works.

Friday, November 27, 2015

REVIEW: The Art of Mingling by Jeanne Martinet

Title: The Art of Mingling
Author: Jeanne Martinet
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: October 20/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD
Purchase: Amazon/Indigo

Fully revised and updated—with Jeanne Martinet’s trademark wit and practicality, The Art of Mingling hands you the keys to feeling at ease in any social situation.

Does the idea of going to a large party make your mouth go dry? Are you more comfortable on Facebook than face-to-face? You’re not alone: Ninety percent of the world suffers from minglephobia. Jeanne Martinet has developed a cure—a sure-fire system for overcoming fears and having a great time at any type of business or social gathering. Filled with simple techniques, tricks, tips, lines and maneuvers, and illustrated with entertaining examples, The Art of Mingling teaches you:

- Basic survival strategies for the Truly Terrified
- Opening lines that really work
- Tools and rules for keeping the conversation going in the right direction
- The all-important etiquette of escape
- Faux pas recovery techniques
- How to avoid the dumb use of smartphones
- The secret to being a good listener
- The right way to follow up online
- and much, much more!

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: Trigger Warning (Short Fictions and Disturbances) by Neil Gaiman

Title: Trigger Warning
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Short Stories - Various Genres
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: February 3/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Multiple award winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to dazzle, captivate, haunt, and entertain with this third collection of short fiction following Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things--which includes a never-before published American Gods story, "Black Dog," written exclusively for this volume.

In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well "Black Dog," a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.

Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In "Adventure Story"--a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane--Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience "A Calendar of Tales" are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year--stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother's Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale "The Case of Death and Honey". And "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we're all alone in the darkness.

A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: The Raven Room (#1) by Ana Medeiros

Title: The Raven Room (#1)
Author: Ana Medeiros
Genre: Erotic Thriller
Publisher: Diversion Books
Release Date: November 3/2015
Acquired: E-copy copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

A searing erotic thriller perfect for those tantalized by A.R. Torre's Deanna Madden series.

Anything you can imagine. Everything you crave. For the members of The Raven Room, it’s every fantasy fulfilled. But for some, that desire is a matter of life and death.

Drawn by needs he cannot control, Julian ventures to The Raven Room, a secret and exclusive sex club in the underbelly of Chicago. It goes beyond sex. It goes beyond kink. The Raven Room is the only place where Julian finds release from the dangerous urges that threaten to destroy the successful life he’s worked so hard to build.

When the police link The Raven Room to the death of a young woman, it threatens to expose a number of powerful people—people who would kill to stay anonymous...

Meredith’s body can’t get enough of Julian. He has opened her sexual horizons to tempting new possibilities. But out of bed she’s an aspiring journalist, and The Raven Room is the story she’s been looking for. By writing an exposé on the club and its elite clientele, she plans to launch her career.

As Meredith embarks on a sexual journey into the forbidden world that Julian inhabits, questions emerge, and dark appetites threaten to swallow her whole. How much can she trust the man who has laid bare her erotic nature and how much will she sacrifice in order to protect him?

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: Depraved Heart (Kay Scarpetta #23) by Patrica Cornwell

Title: Depraved Heart (Kay Scarpetta #23)
Author: Patricia Cornwell
Genre: Crime Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: October 27th/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It's clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago.

As Scarpetta watches she begins to learn frightening secrets about her niece, whom she has loved and raised like a daughter. That film clip and then others sent soon after raise dangerous legal implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, worried, and not knowing where to turn. She doesn't know whom she can tell – not her FBI husband Benton Wesley or her investigative partner Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.

In this new novel, Cornwell launches these unforgettable characters on an intensely psychological odyssey that includes the mysterious death of a Hollywood mogul's daughter, aircraft wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in the back of a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta's entire world and everyone she loves. The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious - but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that's the message they send when they raid Lucy's estate and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life.

In the latest novel in her bestselling series featuring chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell will captivate readers with the shocking twists, high-wire tension, and cutting-edge forensic detail that she is famous for, proving yet again why she's the world's #1 bestselling crime writer.

Friday, October 23, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

Title: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
Author: Mitch Albom
Genre: Adult Fiction/Magic Realism
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: November 10/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Mitch Albom creates his most unforgettable character—Frankie Presto, the greatest guitarist ever to walk the earth—in this magical novel about the power of talent to change our lives.

In Mitch Albom's epic new novel, the voice of Music narrates the tale of its most beloved disciple, Frankie Presto, a Spanish war orphan raised by a blind music teacher. At nine years old, Frankie is sent to America in the bottom of a boat. His only possession is an old guitar and six magical strings.

But Frankie's talent is touched by the gods, and it weaves him through the musical landscape of the twentieth century, from classical to jazz to rock and roll. Along the way, Frankie influences many artists: he translates for Django Reinhardt, advises Little Richard, backs up Elvis Presley, and counsels Hank Williams.

Frankie elevates to a rock star himself, yet his gift becomes his burden, as he realizes that he can actually affect people's futures: his guitar strings turn blue whenever a life is altered. Overwhelmed by life, loss, and this power, he disappears for years, only to reemerge in a spectacular and mysterious farewell.

With its Forrest Gump–like journey through the music world, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto is a classic in the making. A lifelong musician himself, Mitch Albom delivers an unforgettable story. "Everyone joins a band in this life," he observes, be it through music, family, friends, or lovers. And those connections change the world.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: A Line of Blood by Ben McPherson

Title: A Line of Blood
Author: Ben McPherson
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: September 29/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Whose secrets cut deeper? Your family's.

Whose secrets do you fear? Your neighbor's.

Whose secrets can kill? Your own.

For Alex Mercer, his wife, Millicent, and their precocious eleven-year-old son, Max, are everything—his little tribe that makes him feel all's right with the world. But when he and Max find their enigmatic next-door neighbor dead in his apartment, their lives are suddenly and irrevocably changed. The police begin an extremely methodical investigation, and Alex becomes increasingly impatient for them to finish. After all, it was so clearly a suicide.

As new information is uncovered, troubling questions arise—questions that begin to throw suspicion on Alex, Millicent, and even Max. Each of them has secrets it seems. And each has something to hide.

With the walls of their perfect little world closing in on them day after day, husband, wife, and son must decide how far they'll go to protect themselves—and their family—from investigators carefully watching their every move . . . waiting for one of them to make a mistake.

A Line of Blood explores what it means to be a family—the ties that bind us, and the lies that can destroy us if we're not careful. Highly provocative, intensely twisty and suspenseful, this novel will have you wondering if one of them is guilty—or if all of them are—and will keep you on edge until its shocking final pages.

You will never look at your loved ones the same way again. . . .

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo

Title: The Art of Crash Landing
Author: Melissa DeCarlo
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: September 8/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Broke and knocked up, Mattie Wallace has got all her worldly possessions crammed into six giant trash bags and nowhere to go. Try as she might, she really is turning into her late mother, a broken alcoholic who never met a bad choice she didn’t make.

When Mattie gets news of a possible inheritance left by a grandmother she’s never met, she jumps at this one last chance to turn things around. Leaving the Florida Panhandle, she drives eight hundred miles to her mother’s birthplace—the tiny town of Gandy, Oklahoma. There, she soon learns that her mother remains a local mystery—a happy, talented teenager who inexplicably skipped town thirty-five years ago with nothing but the clothes on her back. But the girl they describe bears little resemblance to the damaged woman Mattie knew, and before long it becomes clear that something terrible happened to her mother. The deeper Mattie digs for answers, the more precarious her situation becomes. Giving up, however, isn’t an option. Uncovering what started her mother’s downward spiral might be the only way to stop her own.


Thursday, September 24, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan

Title: The Hummingbird
Author: Stephen P. Kiernan
Genre: Contemp/Historical Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: September 8/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

From the author of the acclaimed The Curiosity comes a compelling and moving story of compassion, courage, and redemption.

Deborah Birch is a seasoned hospice nurse whose daily work requires courage and compassion. But her skills and experience are tested in new and dramatic ways when her easygoing husband, Michael, returns from his third deployment to Iraq haunted by nightmares, anxiety, and rage. She is determined to help him heal, and to restore the tender, loving marriage they once had.

At the same time, Deborahs primary patient is Barclay Reed, a retired history professor and expert in the Pacific Theater of World War II whose career ended in academic scandal. Alone in the world, the embittered professor is dying. As Barclay begrudgingly comes to trust Deborah, he tells her stories from that long-ago war, which help her find a way to help her husband battle his demons.

Told with piercing empathy and heartbreaking realism, The Hummingbird is a masterful story of loving commitment, service to country, and absolution through wisdom and forgiveness.


Thursday, September 10, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

Title: Accidents of Marriage
Author: Randy Susan Meyers
Genre: Adult Fiction Contemporary
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: September 2/2014
Acquired: E-copy provided by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Accidents of Marriage explores a topic rarely shown in fiction: the destruction left in the wake of spouse’s verbal fury. Ben never meant to hurt Maddy. He never imagined his recklessness would lead to tragedy.

Maddy is a social worker trying to balance her career and three children. Years ago, she fell in love with Ben, a public defender, drawn to his fiery passion, but now he’s lashing out at her during his periodic verbal furies. She vacillates between tiptoeing around him and asserting herself for the sake of their kids – which works to keep a fragile peace – until the rainy day when they’re together in the car and Ben’s volatile temper gets the best of him, leaving Maddy in the hospital fighting for her life.

Randy Susan Meyers takes us inside the hearts and minds of her characters, alternating among the perspectives of Maddy, Ben, and their fourteen-year-old daughter. Accidents of Marriage is a provocative and stunning novel that will resonate deeply with women from all walks of life, ultimately revealing the challenges of family, faith, and forgiveness.

Monday, August 31, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: Montpelier Tomorrow by Marylee MacDonald

Title: Montpelier Tomorrow
Author: Marylee MacDonald
Genre: Adult Fiction Contemporary
Publisher: All Things That Matter Press
Release Date: August 21/2014
Acquired: E-copy provided by publisher
Goodreads: ADD
Purchase: Amazon

Mid-life mom, Colleen Gallagher would do anything to protect her children from harm. When her daughter's husband falls ill with ALS, Colleen rolls up her sleeves and moves in, juggling the multiple roles of grandma, cook, and caregiver, only to discover that even her superhuman efforts can't fix what's wrong.

"An affecting, deeply honest novel; at the same time, a lacerating indictment of our modern health care system."--Kirkus Reviews

"A heartrending story of love, loss and the endurance of the human spirit."--Literary Fiction Book Review

"Characters are vivid, relatable, and all too imperfectly human." --Jewell Parker Rhodes

"Each time I have reread this novel, I have felt rewarded by the connection it offers to the central character, Colleen. I can think of no single page in which her voice is not an irreplaceable gift to the reader." --Kevin McIlvoy

"An engrossing account of the impossible choices faced by caregivers..." --Kathryn Shonk

Friday, August 28, 2015

REVIEW: The Intern's Handbook by Shane Kuhn

Title: The Intern's Handbook
Author: Shane Kuhn
Genre: Adult Comedic Thriller
Publisher: Simon & Shuster
Release Date: April 8/2014
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD
Purchase: Amazon/Indigo

Interns are invisible. That’s the mantra behind HR, Inc., an elite "placement agency" that doubles as a network of assassins-for-hire, taking down high-profile executives who wouldn't be able to remember an intern’s name if their lives depended on it.

At the ripe old age of twenty-five, John Lago is already New York City’s most successful hit man. He’s also an intern at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, clocking eighty hours a week getting coffee, answering phones, and doing all the grunt work no one else wants to do. But he isn't trying to claw his way to the top of the corporate food chain. He was hired to assassinate one of the firm’s heavily guarded partners. His internship is the perfect cover, enabling him to gather intel and gain access in order to pull off a clean, untraceable hit.

The Intern’s Handbook is John Lago's unofficial survival guide for new recruits at HR, Inc. (Rule #4: "Learn how to make the perfect cup of coffee: you make an exec the best coffee he’s ever had, and he will make sure you’re at his desk every morning for a repeat performance. That’s repetitive exposure, which begets access and trust. 44% of my kills came from my superior coffee-making abilities.")

Part confessional, part how-to, the handbook chronicles John’s final assignment, a twisted thrill ride in which he is pitted against the toughest—and sexiest—adversary he’s ever faced: Alice, an FBI agent assigned to take down the same law partner he’s been assigned to kill.

Monday, August 24, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: Again and Again by Ellen Bravo

Title: Again and Again
Author: Ellen Bravo
Genre: Adult Fiction-Controversial
Publisher: She Writes Press
Release Date: August 11/2015
Acquired: E-book provided by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Deborah Borenstein has come a long way since 1978, when she left Cleveland for college in upstate New York to seek sophistication and “a world that matters.” Thirty-two years later in Washington, D.C., Deborah is making a difference for women who’ve been traumatized and stigmatized by rape as the director of an influential activist group, Breaking the Silence. She’s still happily married to her post-college sweetheart, a political consultant, and delighted to be a mom to her spirited teenage daughter. Suddenly, her world is shaken—by searing memories of what happened three decades earlier at her alma mater, Danforth University. A tenacious reporter storms in on Deborah, seeking confirmation of an anonymous source exposing William Quincy, former college dreamboat and current contender for Senator, as a college rapist.

Could Quincy, a pro-choice Republican supported by women, feminists included, be guilty of that brutal crime? Deborah knows, because she caught him in the act of committing it. Still, she owes a debt to Quincy’s victim: her college roommate, Elizabeth Golmbach. A small town Midwestern nice girl, with wit and smarts, Liddie paid dearly for “letting herself” get raped and then—at Deborah’s urging—daring to press charges against her well-connected, well-off rapist. Deborah is wary of reopening old wounds—Liddie’s and her own.

Will Deborah move beyond a past of pain and guilt? Can she reconcile her commitment to speaking out against rape with saying nothing to stop a rapist from winning the Senate? What loyalty does she owe her husband, who is trying to resurrect his flagging career by getting a win for Quincy’s opponent? The answers will test her as a mother and a feminist and a friend. Taking on hot-button issues from sexual violence on campus to the male domination of politics, Again and Again is a gripping novel about a topics that are all too pervasive in the real world. I hope you will give it serious consideration for review or feature coverage.


Monday, July 13, 2015

REVIEW: A Robot in the Garden by Deborah Install

Title: A Robot in the Garden
Author: Deborah Install
Genre: Sci-Fi/Adult Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: June 30/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.

An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: The Forgetting Place by John Burley

Title: The Forgetting Place
Author: John Burley
Genre: Adult Psychological Thriller
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: February 10/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

A female psychiatrist at a state mental hospital finds herself at the center of a shadowy conspiracy in this dark and twisting tale of psychological suspense from the author of The Absence of Mercy.

Menaker State Hospital is a curse, a refuge, a prison, a necessity, a nightmare, a salvation.

When Dr. Lise Shields arrived at the correctional psychiatric facility five years ago, she was warned that many of its patients-committed by Maryland’s judicial system for perpetrating heinous crimes-would never leave.

But what happens when a place like Menaker is corrupted, when it becomes a tool to silence the innocent, conceal an injustice, contain a secret? Why is it that the newest patient does not seem to belong there, that the hospital administrator has fallen silent, and that Lise is being watched by two men with seemingly lethal intent? The answers are closer than she realizes and could cost her everything she holds dear.

In this chilling follow-up to The Absence of Mercy, author John Burley—a master at medical and psychological detail—showcases the many ways in which the dangers of the outside world pale in comparison to the horrors of the human mind.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney

Title: The Long and Faraway Gone
Author: Lou Berney
Genre: Adult Mystery Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: February 10/2015
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

With the compelling narrative tension and psychological complexity of the works of Laura Lippman, Dennis Lehane, Kate Atkinson, and Michael Connelly, Edgar Award-nominee Lou Berney’s The Long and Faraway Gone is a smart, fiercely compassionate crime story that explores the mysteries of memory and the impact of violence on survivors—and the lengths they will go to find the painful truth of the events that scarred their lives.

In the summer of 1986, two tragedies rocked Oklahoma City. Six movie-theater employees were killed in an armed robbery, while one inexplicably survived. Then, a teenage girl vanished from the annual State Fair. Neither crime was ever solved.

Twenty-five years later, the reverberations of those unsolved cases quietly echo through survivors’ lives. A private investigator in Vegas, Wyatt’s latest inquiry takes him back to a past he’s tried to escape—and drags him deeper into the harrowing mystery of the movie house robbery that left six of his friends dead.

Like Wyatt, Julianna struggles with the past—with the day her beautiful older sister Genevieve disappeared. When Julianna discovers that one of the original suspects has resurfaced, she’ll stop at nothing to find answers.

As fate brings these damaged souls together, their obsessive quests spark sexual currents neither can resist. But will their shared passion and obsession heal them, or push them closer to the edge? Even if they find the truth, will it help them understand what happened, that long and faraway gone summer? Will it set them free—or ultimately destroy them?

Monday, February 9, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: Cane and Abe by James Grippando

Title: Cane and Abe
Author: James Grippando
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: January 20/2015
Acquired: Print ARC sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

An explosive psychological thriller from New York Times bestselling author James Grippando in which Miami’s top prosecutor becomes a prime suspect when his wife’s disappearance may have a chilling connection to the vicious murders of beautiful women in the Florida Everglades.

Unbelievable was the word for her. Samantha Vine was unbelievably beautiful. It was unbelievable that she’d married me. Even more unbelievable that she was gone...

Samantha died too soon. Abe Beckham’s new wife, Angelina, feels like Samantha never left. Through it all, Abe has managed to remain a star prosecutor at the Miami State Attorney’s Office. But his personal life is a mess, and it’s about to get worse.

When a woman’s body is discovered dumped in the Everglades, Abe is called upon to stay on top of the investigation. The FBI is tracking a killer in South Florida they call “Cutter” because his brutal methods harken back to Florida’s dark past, when machete-wielding men cut sugarcane by hand in the blazing sun.

But when the feds discover that Abe had a brief encounter with the victim after Samantha’s death, and when Angelina goes missing, the respected attorney finds himself in the hot seat. Suspicion surrounds him. His closest friends, family, professional colleagues, and the media no longer trust his motives. Was Angelina right? Was their marriage failing because he loved Samantha too much? Or was there another woman, and did Abe have a dark side that simply wanted his new but very unhappy wife gone?

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: Baltimore Blues (Tess Monoghan #1) by Laura Lippman

Title: Baltimore Blues
Author: Laura Lippman
Genre: Detective Mystery Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: October 13/2009
Acquired: Print copy sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

Until her paper, the Baltimore Star, crashed and burned, Tess Monaghan was a damn good reporter who knew her hometown intimately -- from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill. Now gainfully unemployed at twenty-nine, she's willing to take any freelance job to pay the rent -- including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy, Darryl "Rock" Paxton.

In a city where someone is murdered almost everyday, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer's notoriety -- and his noontime trysts with Rock's fiancee -- make the case front page news...and points to Rock as the likely murderer. But trying to prove her friend's innocence could prove costly to Tess -- and add her name to that infamous ever-growing list.

Monday, February 2, 2015

TLC BLOG TOUR: One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis

Title: One Step Too Far
Author: Tina Seskis
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: January 27/2015
Acquired: Print ARC sent by publisher
Goodreads: ADD

An intricately plotted, thoroughly addictive thriller from a major new voice in suspense fiction--a mesmerizing and powerful novel that will keep you guessing to the very end.

It's funny how easy it is, when it really comes down to it, to get up from your life and begin a new one. All you need is enough money to start you off, and a resolve not to think about the people you're leaving behind."

A happy marriage. A beautiful family. A dream home. So what makes lawyer Emily Coleman--a woman who appears to have everything--get up one morning and walk right out of her life to start again as someone new?

Deliberately losing herself in London, Emily quickly transforms herself into Cat. Along with her new name, she finds a new home in a shared house in North London teeming with an odd assortment of flatmates, and a new job as a receptionist at a hip advertising agency. Finding easy kinship with the fun-loving Angel, her savior and new best friend, Cat begins to live on the edge, giddy with the euphoria of freedom and release.

Cat has buried any trace of her old self so well, no one knows how to find her. But she can't bury the past--or her own painful memories. As the days turn to months, thoughts of all she's left behind begin to consume her. She cannot outrun the ghosts that haunt her, no matter how hard she tries to elude them.

And soon, she'll have to face the truth of what she's done--a shocking revelation that may push her one step too far...

Filled with wonderfully complex characters, brilliantly plotted to ratchet the suspense, and exploring themes of family, secrets, and the choices we all must make, One Step Too Far is a mesmerizing thriller that tantalizingly illuminates just how far we may go to try and forget our sins.