Smashbomb

Today's special guest on my blog is James Wade, Writer sharing his top 5 novels set in East Texas. There's also a spotlight on his new crime fiction novel RIVER, SING OUT. Check it out, and enter the giveaway to win an autographed first-edition hardcover the book plus an autographed paperback of his multiple award-winning coming of age novel All Things Left Wild - two winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/06/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-river-sing.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
“And through these ages untold, the river did act as the lifeblood of all those things alongside it.”

Jonah Hargrove is celebrating his thirteenth birthday by avoiding his abusive father, when a girl named River stumbles into his yard, injured and alone. The teenager has stolen thousands of dollars’ worth of meth from her murderous, drug-dealing boyfriend, but lost it somewhere in the Neches River bottoms during her escape. Jonah agrees to help her find and sell the drugs so she can flee East Texas.

Chasing after them is John Curtis, a local drug kingpin and dog fighter, as well as River’s boyfriend, the dangerous Dakota Cade.

Each person is keeping secrets from the others—deadly secrets that will be exposed in violent fashion as all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God.

With a colorful cast of supporting characters and an unflinching violence juxtaposed against lyrical prose, River, Sing Out dives deep into the sinister world of the East Texas river bottoms, where oppressive poverty is pitted against the need to believe in something greater than the self.

Kudos Comment

Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated The Wife Who Got A Life in Books

Jul 1, 2021

The Wife Who Got A Life

Tracy Bloom | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

7.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

A hilarious look at the trials of life from a woman who is worrying about looming menopause. From two teenagers who seem to create chaos when in the same room together to an absent husband who just doesn’t listen, Cathy has her work set out with her home life.

We follow Cathy on her journey through one year after her sister gifts her a motivational diary, which Cathy decides to use for her own small targets like deciding who is going to clean her mum and dad’s loo to the far reaching targets like dancing with Hugh Jackman.

Every month she has a book club meeting, where more often than not, only a couple of the members have actually read the book. But they use it as more of a night where they can catch up and chat about their lives.

As a trained accountant, Cathy gave up working when she had her two children but did a little bit for some small local businesses, but that changes when she sees Tony one day (who she regularly meets on her dog walks) and he tells her he is in need for an accountant, she then ends up going to work in a hip, cool building which does her confidence wonders.

The book really did have some funny parts which made me giggle, and some that made me cry. The only reason for the 3 star rating was that I don’t think that I was the intended audience (a bit on the younger side and nowhere near menopause, I hope!) but I could still find the funny side in a lot of her worries and the situations that arise throughout.

Kudos

Joe Goodhart (27 KP) rated Doctor Who: Christmas on a Rational Planet in Books

Nov 30, 2020

I first read this book once, back in 1999. I had not revisited again until two weeks ago. This review is based upon my re-reading it.

First, let me just write that this is clearly one of the more effed up New Adventures you will ever read. The things I witnessed within were horrible and chilling in a number of ways, far more so than I recall them being when I first read the book!

For those not aware, this was Lawrence Miles' (or, as some like to refer to him as, "Mad Larry") first published DW work. The seeds are planted, offering us glimpses at ideas, like Grandfather Paradox, which will be elaborated on further in his Eighth Doctor Adventures ALIEN BODIES and INTERFERENCE BOOKS 1 & 2.

Yes, as many have commented, his writing is not as polished or focused as it would be later in his career. However, that is not to say that it's rubbish or worthy of being snubbed. There are some damned good ideas here, both abstract and otherwise. The book requires a lot of focus, but it was worth it in the end.

I miss the writing that DOCTOR WHO used to have. Nothing in the 2005-onward NuWHO stories can hold a candle to this! And at least the Doctor's companions weren't all following him with lust-filled, puppy dog eyes like they were in the current stories!

If you are looking for something WHO-related, with a bit more bite and a whole lot more to tickle your brain, look no further than CHRISTMAS ON A RATIONAL PLANET!

Kudos

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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2165 KP) rated The Secrets of Bones in Books

May 6, 2020

I Can’t Keep Secret How Must I Loved This Book

It’s Assembly Day, a day set aside near the end of the school year when professional women from Ohio come to talk about their careers. Jazz winds up as a last-minute replacement, so she sets up in the unused fourth floor, hiding a few bones for Gus, a friend’s cadaver dog, to find during a demonstration. However, Gus goes to an unused closet. Sure enough, Jazz opens it to find a skeleton. Things left with the body make it easy enough to identify the victim as Bernadette Quinn, a teacher who resigned abruptly 3 years ago. Obviously, she didn’t really resign, but what happened all those years ago?

After enjoying the first in this series, I couldn’t wait to get back and visit Jazz again. I wasn’t disappointed at all. The book is so well written I was engrossed from page one. Jazz’s world and the characters all come to vivid life, and the animals are fun. The plot gives us several good suspects and clues that are confusing until Jazz pieces it all together at the end. If you are familiar with some of Kylie Logan’s lighter cozies, know that this is a few shades grayer, falling more in the traditional realm instead of being a pure cozy. However, that is no reason to skip this book. I was so engrossed in this book, I read almost two thirds of it in one day instead of saving some for the next day like I normally would. Now comes the long wait for the next book in the series.