suspense

Various Short Stories – Christian Bergman

Angela1 Comment

I had the pleasure of reading some short stories written by Christian Bergman, and they were great fun! You have some sci-fi going on, and get a Twilight Zone feel with some of these stories. The first story, “Curiosity” gives you a behind-the-scenes look at a team watching a planet rover, still checking and manning it daily even though a newer rover seems to be getting all of the attention, funding, and support. You follow along with them as they try to determine what they could have seen when a glint of light is reflected in one of the images.

I was anxious as I read through this first story to see exactly what they may have discovered. Sorry friends, but as is my norm, there will be no spoilers here! You will have to read it to find out for yourself what exactly they may have seen.

There were other short stories that put a new twist on what things could be like for us here on Earth in the future. Or is it Earth?

Be sure to check out Christian’s short stories here: http://contrafactual.com/short-stories/

You will be glad you did!

The Serpent Bearer – Frank Say

Angela3 Comments

serpent_bearer_final_cover_1_jpg

This was a great story, full of great characters, great scenery, and best of all, a great plot! Taking place in Louisiana, Sydney Monroe has her life turned upside down when her Grandma, or Memaw as she is affectionately called, asked her one more time to use her psychic dreams to help out friends of the family.

While Sydney drags her sister Casey into the mess right along with her, they soon find themselves on a journey of discoveries about themselves, their families, and the difficulties they experienced as children.

Dave, the neighbor, adds a perfect amount of entertainment to the story, like a welcome guest and not an intrusion. There is a varied cast of characters, but none are so complicated that you have a difficult time keeping track of the who-is-who of the story. (That is my first pet peeve about books; too many characters.) Not so here!

This story gives some brief background on various religions in relation with the point of the story, and it provides interesting information without boring the reader. This is not a book chock-full of religion or religious innuendos, but it does discuss psychics abilities, voodoo, and various things of what some would consider ‘black magic’ types of things. It adds to the story in just the right amount.

I really enjoyed reading this story; it flowed very well from one character to the next, and also from one chapter to the next. You do not always see books that use a transition sentence at the end of one chapter to pull you into the next chapter; this one did that effectively!

Frank Say Picture

Be sure to stop by Frank Say’s website to see what else he has for your bookshelf! You can find it here: http://www.franksay.com/

You can find the CNN review here: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1179031

Footprints – Crissy Moss

Angela2 Comments

A fantastic short story, a man deals with the grief, loss, and emptiness after the death of his father. Losing a loved one is never easy, and to have them taken from you for reasons beyond a natural death of old age after living a long life makes it sometimes impossible to accept and heal from. I cannot tell you too much without giving away key points and spoilers to this story. It is a bit supernatural, a lot suspenseful, and well worth the read. I will definitely be getting Crissy’s other short stories, compiled into a book, when my reading list gets a little bit smaller!

Footprints Cover Image

It is titled “Small Bites: The Complete Collection”, and can be found on Amazon. Be sure to check this collection out!

You can visit her website here:

Friday Feature – Author Andrea Hintz!

AngelaLeave a comment

Andrea Hintz Profile Picture

Andrea Hintz has loved writing her whole life. She began college at the age of thirteen and graduated at seventeen with a Bachelor’s in Public Management and Administration. Having endless stacks of books, she has a particular interest in fiction genres that contain lots of adventure and take her to other places of the world. She has written many books, including the books in The Tesoro Series. Andrea also plays the guitar, sings, and has written notebooks and notebooks full of songs and book ideas. Her favorite books were very special to her growing up, and she believes that if at least one reader feels that way about her work, she will have successfully done her job as an author.

Tesoro Book 1 Cover Image

You can find Tesoro I: Secrets of the Hidden Treasure Book on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Tesoro-Secrets-Hidden-Treasure-Book-ebook/dp/B00M2C545U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416519722&sr=8-1&keywords=Andrea+hintz

Tesoro II: Secrets of a Captain’s Journal was released on November 2, 2014. Now is the perfect time to grab both books at once!

Be sure to visit Andrea’s Website, found here: https://sites.google.com/site/andreahintzauthor/home

What I’m Reading Right Now

Angela3 Comments

Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (Pendulum of Time Trilogy Book 1) – David Hunter

photo courtesy of http://davidhunterbooks.com/
photo courtesy of http://davidhunterbooks.com/

This has been a great read so far, and I am about halfway through. I had every good intention of being done with this story by now, but life sometimes gets in the way of my reading plans!

There is a lot going on in this story, but I love it! It covers time travel, religious wars that have been going on since there has been more than one religion, and how 2 religious groups are determined to destroy the other, and the lengths they are willing to go to in order to do just that.

This story has moments that truly make you think to yourself “I wonder if that has ever/could ever really happen?” Unfortunately for mankind, I fear and believe the answer is yes; on both parts.

This story would be of interest to anyone who enjoys history, religious facts and beliefs, science fiction, and just likes to read to be educated about things you do not currently know about. Which is one of my favorite reasons for reading!

I will update with a complete review of this story when I finish it, and to check out this story and more by David Hunter, you can visit his website here: http://davidhunterbooks.com/

The Wychetts – William Holley

AngelaLeave a comment

This was a great, quick read full of laughs and not complicated in the least. This is definitely a YA series (this is book 1) or at least 4 or 5 that are published, with the promise of more titles to come.

The Wychetts Book 1 Cover

The story focuses on Bryony, a presumed teenage girl and her father, Bill. Bill is newly married to Jane, who brings along with her a 10 year old son, Edwin. Bill takes it upon himself to purchase a new family home for all of them, sight unseen. I chose to ignore the fact that no one in their right mind, or any mind, would ever do this. He did not even get the seller’s name or any information. Okay, so we are just going to move along and ignore the clearly impossible things happening here, and enjoy the story for the fun read it is meant to be. This house, called Wychetts (pronounced Witchitts), was created 500 years ago to ensnare the magic from the Guardians, to be used by the Dark One.

Bryony and Edwin are of course 2 Guardians, and Bill buying the house was not by accident. It was all planned in order to take the magic from the guardians and use it for evil.

There is nothing too scary here, and I would definitely let my 10 year old read it. Other than some talk of overgrown spiders, I did not see anything that would be of concern to young readers or their parents. I read it easily in a few hours, and will definitely read the other ones published to date. If you have young readers in your home, these books would be great gifts!

Visit there website for more information here: http://www.wychetts.com/Wychetts/Wychetts.html

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

If you missed my Thursday post and the chance for the free Amazon gift cards, be sure to go check it out and register to get your name in the drawing. There’s a couple few days left and I would love a great turn-out for this give-away before my next one 🙂 You can find it here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/11/06/give-away-1-for-your-holiday-season/

Goodreads Choice Awards 2014

Angela6 Comments

I received my annual email recently that Goodreads was opening up their voting for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards. I like to go through all of the books and see if there are ones I have read, any of my new favorite authors, or something that catches my eye that I may want to read.

Goodreads Choice 2014 Logo

So I was curious as to how many of you do the same thing. Do you actively use Goodreads? I have been much better about logging in on a regular basis, and need to get to the point that I am checking in every day; which as of late, I have been.

The voting tends to be a long, tedious process, at least with my internet connection. Lately everything is long and tedious and I do not know if it is the 2 laptops we use in my house or the internet service. When I am trying to do my MBA homework, help my daughter with her homeschooling, write book reviews, update my blogs, check email…you get the picture…I have been wanting to chuck my laptop right in the garbage.

Sorry; I got off track.

So the voting has everything in their own categories, so it does keep it nice and organized. You also have the option of writing in a book, and I honestly have a couple books in mind that I may do this for, because I read them this year and they were fantastic, and deserve to be in this competition.

Do you vote? Have you written in a book you loved and wanted it recognized? Have you ever known one of the authors on the list? Have you been on the list?

What do you do for the categories that you do not read, such as if you do not read science fiction, or romance? Do you just pick one that you like the looks of the cover or the title? Do you think that is fair to the authors? (I am just curious, I have no hard-and-fast rules or feelings about this platform of voting for books).

I think Goodreads is a great resource for readers and writers alike, and will likely be adding some books I come across to my bookshelf.

The Faust Syndrome – Jaysen True Blood

AngelaLeave a comment

The Faust Syndrome CoverJust in time for the upcoming All Hollow’s Eve, one more story to make your hair stand on end while you fight the overwhelming urge to turn on every light in your home. Yes, it’s that good. This was my first read of Jaysen True Blood’s work, and I could not have been more pleased!

We all have the basic understanding of right and wrong; correct? Good. And we all try to do good by our hearts, and what we know we should be doing.

But what if you had the ability to do whatever you wanted? Anything: right, wrong, or indifferent. Could you still do the morally correct things and follow the rules of society as society dictates? What if you could have it all? Or at least you believed you could have it all. Then what would you do?

This story looks at right and wrong, morally correct and unethical, righteously sound and corruptness by evil. Read about the lengths one man goes to in order to have it all. Ironically, he “had it all” throughout his entire childhood. Having it all would cost him his soul, but what did he need that for anyhow?

You will never look at Heaven and Hell the same, and may change your mind on what you believe to be true. There is no religious marketing scheme here to get you into a church; just the lengths a man goes to in order to have it all. He destroys anyone and everyone who gets in his way, and then he destroys some more just for the fun of it.

The ending had quite the twist for me, and it made the story that much more profound now that I knew the “whole” story. I try at all lengths to never give out spoilers, and the same holds true here. You are going to have to read it for yourself!

You still have time to get this book and have it read before Halloween this Friday, October 31st. Or at least start reading it by Halloween. You will want to make space on your scary-books-bookshelf for this one. I myself am making room for a couple more of Jaysen True Blood’s books on my bookshelves.

You can find this book here: http://www.amazon.com/Faust-Syndrome-Jaysen-True-Blood/dp/1502566079

Gingerbread Cookie Murder – Joanne Fluke

AngelaLeave a comment

Just in time for the upcoming Holidays (which I cannot wait for!) is a great murder-mystery without all of the blood-and-gore, full of laughs, and even boasts some great recipes.

Gingerbread Cookie Murder

Joanne Fluke has quite the market for her Hannah Swensen mystery books. Hannah owns her own bakery, and seems to come across dead bodies almost as much as she has customers in her shop!

This story begins when Hannah finds her neighbor dead in his condo, with a box of her gingerbread cookies on the floor next to him. Who did she sell those cookies to?

Joanne Fluke has dozens of these types of stories written around Hannah, and they are all good reads. I have not tried any of the recipes in the books, but they seem to be fairly straight-forward without a lot of complicated steps. This particular book also contains 2 more stories; one by Laura Levine, and the other by Leslie Meier. Gingerbread is the theme here, and I think you will enjoy these stories as well.

As we get through October and into November, I am going to be having a few different give-aways; books, gift cards, etc. Stay tuned, the details will be out soon!

Lost – Gregory Maguire

Angela2 Comments

Lost book coverGregory Maguire went out on a limb with this story, creating a completely original character for the focus of the story. It is centered around an American writer, Winifred Rudge, who makes her way to London to visit a distant cousin. After publishing a best-selling story, she is ready to begin her next novel; a story about a woman who is haunted by the spirit of Jack the Ripper.

Her cousin, John Comestor,  has disappeared in thin air, his apartment in the middle of being renovated. His girlfriend proves useless in the search for John, and the downstairs neighbor is not much more of a help. The apartment is haunted by someone who resembles Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge himself. There are many other quick appearances of characters of literary history.

There are also subplots going on that I did not find necessary to the story. Instead of adding to it, they seemed to make it more difficult to enjoy.

I liked this story well enough, but it was not one of my favorites by Mr. Maguire. I have read all of his stories but one, and I find that they tend to be hit-or-miss for me. This could have been well beyond “good”, but I guess it’s like they say, “You can’t win them all!”