Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Jun 11, 2022  
Christian suspense lovers, check out an action packed deleted scene from AMONG THE INNOCENT by Mary Alford on my blog. Be sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a paperback of the book and a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card - two winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2022/06/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-among.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
When Leah Miller's entire Amish family was murdered ten years ago, the person believed responsible took his own life. Since then, Leah left the Amish and joined the police force. Now, after another Amish woman is found murdered with the same MO, it becomes clear that the wrong man may have been blamed for her family's deaths.

As Leah and the new police chief, Dalton Cooper, work long hours struggling to fit the pieces together in order to catch the killer, they can't help but grow closer. When secrets from both of their pasts begin to surface, an unexpected connection between them is revealed. But this is only the beginning. Could it be that the former police chief framed an innocent man to keep the biggest secret of all buried? And what will it mean for Leah--and Dalton--when the full truth comes to light?
     
40x40

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Dec 9, 2022  
Sneak a peek at the historical suspense noir novel THUNDER ROAD by Colin Holmes on my blog. Watch the book trailer, read the fascinating interview with Mr. Holmes, and enter the giveaway for a chance to win an autographed hardcover copy of the book - three winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2022/12/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-thunder.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
In this gamble, more than a few poker chips are at stake.

When an Army Air Force Major vanishes from his Top Secret job at the Fort Worth airbase in the summer of 1947, down-on-his-luck former Ranger Jefferson Sharp is hired to find him, because the Major owes a sizable gambling debt to a local mobster. The search takes Sharp from the hideaway poker rooms of Fort Worth's Thunder Road, to the barren ranch lands of New Mexico, to secret facilities under construction in the Nevada desert.

Lethal operatives and an opaque military bureaucracy stand in his way, but when he finds an otherworldly clue and learns President Truman is creating a new Central Intelligence Agency and splitting the Air Force from the Army, Sharp begins to connect dots. And those dots draw a straight line to a conspiracy aiming to cover up a secret that is out of this world⎯literally so.
     
40x40

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Apr 27, 2022  
Author Farena Bajwa visits my blog to answer some questions in a fun author interview. Read up on her poetry book FLOWERS GROW ON BROKEN WALLS, and enter the giveaway for a chance to win a paperback copy of the book!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2022/04/blog-tour-and-giveaway-flowers-grow-on.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Flowers Grow on Broken Walls is a unique collection of poems and prose that talks about healing and finding yourself in a world that constantly tells you that's who you shouldn't be.

The poems, which tell a story, go over our everyday human emotions; from being heartbroken and questioning our self-worth in a world of judgment and scrutinizing social media, to finding ourselves and appreciating those really important in our lives - especially our inner, true selves.

The collection displays a raw and honest portrayal of an artist who cannot help but create something beautiful in the midst of the ugliness she has been put through, and who continues to hope against all odds, as she lets go of what she has been told is important and finds herself in one truly is.

The story that starts with heartache ends with healing, it starts with rejection from someone but ends with self-acceptance, which is the only way for true healing.
     
Hello! Hometown Heroes
Hello! Hometown Heroes
Toni Armier | 2021 | Children
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
You are looking to introduce your child or children to your hometown heroes in your neighborhood. Well, “Hello! Hometown Heroes” helps to introduce these heroes that could be into your community. These heroes are just ordinary people.

This book is inclusive and represents any child or children; It could be anyone’s neighborhood. The book is a gentle rhyming book. It is suitable for young readers to enjoy and learn to read. The books are ideal for toddlers to hold as the book thickness stands made of a strong board book.

I enjoyed the pictures as they are colorful and enjoyable to look at. This book takes you on a tour of the neighborhood. Meet different heroes throughout the book. You can be heroes to be kind and friendly to your neighbors and say hello. Can your child or children tell you who are heroes in your hometown? Who do you think is a hometown hero in your neighborhood? I believe there are many. Some mentioned in this book are firefighters, teachers, and construction workers. Maybe a librarian is a hometown hero for you or your child. Toddlers can hold and look at this book as well. It is a sturdy book for all children, from toddlers to young readers.
  
Murder at the Marina
Murder at the Marina
Janet Finsilver | 2019 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Heritage Festival Brings Murder
Kelly is taking an afternoon to see the boat that her friends, Ivan and Rudy, own. But the tour never happens when she finds a dagger covered in what looks like blood on the boat. While neither of the brothers own it, they do recognize it from their past. A few days later, the owner of a Russian merchandise store turns up dead on their boat as well. What is going on? Does it have to do with the Russian Heritage Festival taking place in town?

I love it when background characters get a chance to shine, which is what happens here. I was intrigued from the beginning and couldn’t wait to see how it would all play out. Unfortunately, I did feel the climax was abrupt, and therefore weaker than it could have been. While the suspects are appropriately shady, the rest of the cast is charming, which is no surprise to fans of the series. I really do love these characters. As always, I enjoyed spending time in a fictional version of the area where I grew up. If you are looking for a fun cozy series, be sure to check this one out.
  
The Twelve Dice of Christmas
The Twelve Dice of Christmas
Gail Oust | 2018 | Mystery, Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I adore a new book, and if it’s part of a series, that's great, as it means more books for me to read!

Welcome to Serenity Cove, a peaceful Southern community where the residents like to play dice, and when there is a dark mystery, play detective.

With Christmas fast approaching, Kate McCall and her retired friends get into the holiday spirit by agreeing to help the elderly Eula Mae Snow decorate her home, even when it means sorting through many of the older woman’s belongings. Intent on doing a good deed and uncovering a bright collection of seasonal decorations, Kate is stopped dead in her tracks when instead she discovers the skeleton of a man showing clear signs of foul play.

Many in Serenity Cove thought that Waylon Snow had run off and left town and his wife, Eula Mae, more than two decades earlier. But with the appearance of his skeleton and a whole host of clues pointing to Eula Mae as the murderer, Kate will have to put her sleuthing skills to work to figure out who could have committed the evil deed.

Kate and her retired friends, known as The Bunco Babes, are feeling festive and they are planning a cookie exchange and ugly sweater contest for their last dice game session of the season. As they plan their holidays, they decide to help their friend decorate her house for the annual charity Christmas Home Tour. The Bunco Babes get cracking, and in the process of hunting for the Christmas decorations, Kate discovers the skeleton in the root cellar. Kate now has a twenty-five-year-old mystery to contend with. Can she solve it?

This is my first novel by Gail Oust and I really enjoyed it. I love that it is an old mystery set in Christmastime. Although this is the fourth book in a mystery series, you do not need to have read the previous books in sequence to be able to follow the story properly.

I found many of the characters very funny and easy to relate to, particularly Kate herself, but also Eula Mae's granddaughter, Tammy Lynn and Bill Lewis, Kate's "significant other". Many of the other characters in the book were extremely amusing and unusual. Kate and the Town Sheriff, Sheriff Wiggins have history, Although he is not in Kate's fan club, can she use her powers of persuasion on him to allow the Bunco Babes into the house in time for it to be decorated for the Christmas Home Tour?
 
You’ll treasure this sweet Christmas mystery, as I did!

Thanks to Netgalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for a copy of this book.
  
RM
Remember Me Forever (Lovely Vicious, #3)
Sara Wolf | 2014
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<b><i>I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>
Remember Me Forever</i> is the third and last book of Sara Wolf’s <i>Lovely Vicious</i> trilogy, when we are brought back to the world of Isis and Jack. It’s been over three years since Isis Blake has fallen in love, and with Jack having disappeared off the surface of the planet, she tries to get over it by living a normal life as possible until she comes across someone she would rather never see again.

Sara Wolf’s latest book is the darkest of the three books - the first book, <i><a href="http://www.bookwyrmingthoughts.com/blog-tour-love-me-never-by-sara-wolf-arc-review-and-giveaway"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Love Me Never</a></i>, is very light-hearted: there is a lot of laugh out loud moments, snarky comments, and a great banter between Isis and Jack. The second, <i><a href="http://www.bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-forget-me-always-by-sara-wolf"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forget Me Always</a></i>, is a little darker than the first, but Isis still has her moments. Wolf gives us a few teasers from Jack’s and Isis’s past without fully revealing anything. <i>Remember Me Forever </i>brings both Jack’s and Isis’s past to light, and their confrontations towards it.

I adored Isis throughout the entire trilogy, and it’s no wonder Jack adores her as well. Isis has a quirky personality - despite all she’s gone through, she tries to find light of the situation. She takes the situations she’s in and spins them right back with a funny comeback, even if it may be well over the top. (I suppose this is because I cope the same way - I come back with an evil little comment.)

I also really liked how Isis takes what happens to her and tries to help others who are in a similar situation before anything bad actually happens to them. Isis, however, doesn’t do that by going to someone else entirely - she confronts the perpetrator herself. All of that is, in a way, helping her prepare for the final confrontation - her past.

It was an absolute joy to go through a part of Isis’s and Jack’s journey of life - the <i>Lovely Vicious</i> trilogy deals with a dark topic, but has a great balance of funny and serious.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/blog-tour-remember-me-forever-by-sara/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
The Polaris Uprising (Polaris, #1)
The Polaris Uprising (Polaris, #1)
Jennifer Ibarra | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Another bystander review yet again. T_T But throughout the story, I was making connections – yet again – to movies and books:

     Corsets – Incarceron. Mercifully no prisons.

     Probe Bots – *that seriously cute voice from that one movie* Wall-E! Of course, those robots had inflection and it's not Wall-E's voice I'm calling cute.

     Arranged Marriages – At the time I started The Polaris Uprising, I completed Delirium not too long ago and it turned out to be a TERRIBLE experience. Fortunately, this book fared better off and it's not similar to Delirium. *phew* In fact... this quote got me quite worried:
<blockquote>When you’re president, this will all be a distant memory.</blockquote>
     Is this similar to "When you're cured, this will all be a distant memory" or what? I could have sworn I saw that exact same sentence in Delirium a million times maybe. O_O (Obviously I didn't let that stop me from continuing).

     Truth Serum – Welcome to the Candor faction. Need I say more?

     That one sentence before this: And then all hell broke loose – Similar to The Hunger Games, but different. And no, that's no spoiler. Close, but no.
<blockquote>Alanna! Alanna!</blockquote>
     e_e 1984's B! B! B! That book was quite dreadful, so I'm surprised I still remember the letter B! (that was not me in exclamation).

     Now that I've gone through my dreadful (and some positive) experiences with some dystopians, let's get on with some positive notes and why I gave The Polaris Uprising a high rating:

~ The message comes across clearly throughout the book. Maybe confusing at first (switching views from the prologue and first chapter), but everything fits in nicely later.
~ Here's the big plus: it's different from other dystopians. As in really different. How? It's like many years later, a dystopian AFTER another dystopian failed. At least, that's what I assume. The signs were there, which brings me to my next point.
~ Dare to be different. I would've had to choose a faction back in September if I were in Divergent (Movie's out in 28 DAYS). Here, you're an adult at 25. That gives me what? 7-8 years to be a semi-kid? Yippee.
~ This might actually take a different end from other dystopians. Of course, there's no guarantee, so don't take that word for granted.

     But overall, an impressive debut novel for Jennifer Ibarra.
-----------------------
Review copy provided by the author for review on the blog tour
Formatting is lost due to copy and paste
This review and more can be found at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-tour-the-polaris-uprising-by-jennifer-ibarra-review-and-giveaway.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gi5Rk5yLloA/UtliaUbdL3I/AAAAAAAACbE/J27z92_qrYU/s1600/Official+Banner.png"; /></a>
  
I Know Who You Are
I Know Who You Are
8
8.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
<a href="https://diaryofdifference.com/">Blog</a>; | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diaryofdifference/">Facebook</a>; | <a href="https://twitter.com/DiaryDifference">Twitter</a>; | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diaryofdifference/">Instagram</a>; | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/diaryofdifference/pins/">Pinterest</a>;

<img src="https://i0.wp.com/diaryofdifference.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/I-Know-Who-You-Are-blog-tour-banner.jpg?resize=768%2C909&ssl=1"/>;

<b>I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney is a book that stays with you after you read it. Dark, twisted and unpredictable until the very last chapter.</b>

In the very beginning, we are met with the unknown. Aimee Sinclair is an actress and when she comes home, she realizes her husband is missing. The police suspect she is hiding something. They are right, she does have a secret…

The book switches between two timelines; the first being Aimee today and the second being Aimee’s childhood. We get to enjoy these parallel stories and understand how Aimee’s childhood directly influences her decisions as a grown up.

<b><i>‘’Sometimes it only takes one person to believe in you, to change your life forever. Sometimes it only takes one person not believing in you to destroy it. Humans are a highly sensitive species.’’</i></b>

Alice’s writing is brilliant, and when reading the two timelines, you feel the child and you feel the adult. A skill not many writers can perfect.

Aimee’s whole life has been about being a different person. That is why she choose to become an actress. She can change into different people as she wants, and keep her true self hidden somewhere safe. But she didn’t learn this all by herself.

The book will leave things unpredictable until the very end. I had my theories and they kept changing all the time. The moment you feel you are close to the truth, something happens and you are back at the start. I loved it!

I wasn’t disappointed with the ending, but I did feel grossed out and disgusted by a certain someone. At times, some scenes felt like too much, but they were crucial to the story.

<b><i>If you love dark and twisted psychological thrillers, you will most probably enjoy reading I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney.</i></b>

<b>Trigger warnings for abuse in all shapes and forms, animal cruelty and childhood trauma.</b>

Thank you to the team at HQ, for the opportunity to be part of this blog tour, and for sending me a paperback copy in exchange for an honest review.

<a href="https://diaryofdifference.com/">Blog</a>; | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diaryofdifference/">Facebook</a>; | <a href="https://twitter.com/DiaryDifference">Twitter</a>; | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diaryofdifference/">Instagram</a>; | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/diaryofdifference/pins/">Pinterest</a>;