Touched by Fate: Psy-IV Team, Book Two by Jami Gray

Blurb:

As a specialized consultant for the Department of Defense, Risia Lacoste understands the bargaining chip of a well-kept secret. When her current assignment threatens to unearth her deeply-buried skeletons, she’s forced into a high-stakes game of lies and loyalty where even her ability to foresee the future can’t predict the winner.

Darkness lies under the skin of every man, and PSY-IV Team operative and touch empath, Tag Gunderson, has the demons to prove it. Scarred by betrayal and disillusionment, he’s not Risia’s top pick for a partner in the game, but he’s all she’s got.

As the game draws them deeper into a pit of intrigue and their list of enemies grows, will Risia trust Tag with more than her secrets or will his demons destroy them both?

About the Author:

Jami Gray grew up on the Arizona-Mexico border, and was adopted at the age of fourteen to suddenly become the fifth eldest of thirty-seven children. She graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s in Journalism and three minors: History, English, and Theater. (Decision-making was not her forté at the time.) Shortly after marrying her techie-geek hubby (who moonlighted as her best friend in high school) she completed a Masters in Organizational Management from University of Phoenix Oregon.

Now, years later, she’s back in the Southwest where she’s outnumbered in her own home by two Star Wars-obsessed boys, one Star Wars-obsessed husband, and an overly-friendly, 105-pound male lab. Delving into the wild paranormal worlds where romance collides with suspense and Urban Fantasy is queen, Ms. Gray manages to salvage her sanity. Or so we let her believe…

Review:

Risia Lacoste is a psychic who can see everyone’s future but her own. And, unfortunately, her visions come unbidden and take a whole lot out of her. But, they—along with her spectacular good looks—help her to con secrets out of men who want to harm our country. She’s also great at getting into and out of places she’s not supposed to be in. But when her latest subject uncovers her deepest secret and blackmails her with it, Risia’s boss, Colonel Delacout sends Tag Gunderson to help.

Tag’s the last person Risia wants to see. A touch empath, he can see a person’s darkest secrets with one touch, and he carries his own demons. To make matters worse, he apparently hates Risia, but she finds him terribly distracting despite her best efforts to ignore his sexy body and good looks.

Tag and Risia set off to derail her subject’s plans to sell a computer program that would allow the owner to hack into all US government computers. That means s/he could learn all of our secrets—including the locations of our troops (submarines included), and covert operatives all over the globe from the CIA to their own teammates. And he knows she’s onto him.

Touched by Fate was a page-burning, action-packed thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from the minute I picked it up until I finished it. Book two in the Psy-IV Teams series, Touched by Fate stood perfectly well on its own, and while I wouldn’t mind reading the first book, it certainly isn’t necessary to understand this one. Ms. Gray also introduced the characters for the third book, but she did it so subtly, I didn’t realize it until I read the blurb for that book. Now that’s how to write a series and keep readers coming back for more! Kudos, Ms. Gray. I highly recommend Touched by Fate: Psy-IV Teams, Book Two.

Author Website:  http://jamigray.com/

Warnings:  S, V

Length:  312 Pages

Digital Price:  $5.99

Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/new-releases/series/touched-by-fate-detail

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40-50% of the net proceeds from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40-$2.99. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $1.70-$2.10.

Download the file from the publisher onto your computer as you would any other file. I’ve created a folder for books on my computer, with subfolders by source (Marketing for Romance Writers, Net Galley, Authors who find me on Kindle lists, etc.). That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on your computer. Some publishers send books in all digital formats. If my Kindle breaks and my kids buy me a Nook, I won’t have to replace all of my books. If you have a Kindle and your hubby has a Nook, you won’t have to buy separate copies, so buying directly from the publisher can save you money.

Moving the file from your computer to your e-reader is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your e-reader charging chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from the folder into which you’ve downloaded the book to Documents/Books directory on your e-reader. You can move the file by highlighting it and dragging it to the documents directory in you Kindle you want to move it to. Or right click on it, and then left click copy or move. Or hit Control/C for copy, Control/X for cut, and Control/V for paste.

Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.

The Face Transplant by A. Arundel

Blurb:

An epic journey of suspense, murder, and sacrifice.

Dr. Matthew MacAulay is a facial transplant surgeon at a prestigious New York hospital. When his friend and mentor, Tom Grabowski, dies under mysterious circumstances, Matthew uncovers his friend’s secret: a new technique that allows perfect facial transplants. No incisions, no scars. Tom was able to accomplish this monumental feat with the help of Alice, a supercomputer robot with almost human abilities. While trying to find the people responsible for murdering Tom, Matthew realizes he is the prime suspect. He must flee for his life with the help of Dr. Sarah Larsson, a colleague and reluctant helper, who has a secret of her own, and Alice, who helps them make sense of a baffling series of seemingly unrelated events. The clues carry Matthew and Sarah around the world. They stumble onto a sinister plot of monumental proportions that leads Matthew all the way to the White House.

The Face Transplant is a powerful medical suspense thriller of the first order. The novel was written by a surgeon who weaves politics, medicine, and espionage into a tightly paced, intelligent thriller.

About the Author:

The Face Transplant is a novel written by R. Arundel a surgeon. The novel has an authenticity only a surgeon can bring to the story. It is set in the near future. A medical thriller, the story weaves politics, medicine and human drama into a tightly woven plot. The book crescendos page-by-page to a totally unexpected conclusion.

Review by Rochelle:

The Face Transplant is a gripping thriller with compelling characters. That said I had difficulty with the premise, even though it was written by a surgeon. I don’t see how transplanting the skin of one person onto the bone structure of another is going to create a double of the donor. Too much depends on bone structure. For instance, I have a round face, short nose, and rose-bud lips. If you transplanted Cher’s face onto mine it wouldn’t give me her cheekbones or her long nose. I never saw the movie Face Off, but I probably would have had the same problem unless I was convinced the machine sculpted the contours of the person’s face as well as exchanging skin.

Then there were head-hops. This is a new edition that has been “re-edited.” Unfortunately, the new editor must not have been familiar with the standard of staying with one point of view in each scene. The POV hops from one person to another in the same paragraph, which makes me dizzy and gives me headaches.

I really wanted to give The Face Transplant a better rating, but I’m afraid the best I can do is three roses. If you can suspend disbelief and buy the premise that planting one person’s skin onto another person’s face will make him/her look like the donor, and you don’t care how often the POV shifts, you’ll enjoy it.

Author Website:

http://www.thefacetransplant.com/about.html

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/R-Arundel/e/B00EBCQVEC/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Heat Rating:  PG-13 (V, L)

Length:  379 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $13.45

Digital:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Face-Transplant-R-Arundel-ebook/dp/B00E6XU322/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447098840&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Face+Transplant+%2B+A+Arundel

Thanks for visiting. Donna, Julie, & Rochelle

Palace of Deception by Helena Fairfax

Blurb:

A missing princess and her magnetic bodyguard - mystery and intrigue in a gripping love story.

When Princess Charlotte of Montverrier disappears on the eve of her Investiture, Lizzie Smith takes on the acting job of her life.

But in the run up to the ceremony, all is not what it seems in the palace. What danger lies outside the palace walls? And why does the sinister housekeeper insist Lizzie remain in her suite of rooms? As Lizzie learns her role, her only confidant is Léon, her quiet bodyguard. In the glamorous setting of the Mediterranean palace, Lizzie begins to fall for Léon…but what secrets is he keeping from her?

About the Author:

Helena Fairfax was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in Yorkshire, in the north of England. After many years working in factories and dark, satanic mills, Helena has turned to writing full-time. Her first novel, The Silk Romance, was a contender for the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme Award and a runner-up in the Global Ebook Awards. Since then, Helena has written lots more stories, and she was recently a finalist in the Exeter Novel Prize.

In her spare time, Helena walks the Yorkshire moors every day with her rescue dog, finding this romantic landscape the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

Review by Rochelle:

I confess I’ve become a fan of Ms. Fairfax. Palace of Deception at least the third book of hers I’ve read, and it has not disappointed me. She also managed to surprise me. I expected a completely different ending and was quite shocked when the truth was revealed, although there was foreshadowing that I completely missed. I wonder if you’ll catch it. I don’t want to say too much. I suggest you buy Palace of Deception. It’s a page-burning novella you can probably blow through in one all-too-brief sitting.

Heat Rating:  PG-13

Length:  77 Pages

Digital Price:  $1.50

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Palace-Deception-Romantic-Suspense-Novella-ebook/dp/B0119UDOIY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1443816761&sr=1-1&keywords=palace+of+deception

Author Web Site:  http://www.helenafairfax.com

Author Amazon Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Helena-Fairfax/e/B00DRBYLO0/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Thanks for visiting. Donna, Julie, & Rochelle