Reckless by Kathy L. Wheeler @kathylwheeler #Historical #Flappers #Suspense

The Plot:

The Martini Club 4 Series came about as a result of four author friends who meet each week at a favorite hangout, The Martini Lounge in Edmond Oklahoma. They decided to write stories centered around a similar establishment, and these four novellas were the result. Their next installment of the series will be set in the 1940s. Follow the authors to keep up with all their releases, including the Martini Club 4 series.

Now, grab a martini and step back in time to the days of flappers, prohibition, gangsters, and speakeasies in New York City.

Reckless

Lady Margaret turned Lady Bootlegger… Singer Margaret (Meggie) Montley needs money—fast. Her friend is in a dire situation with nowhere to turn. While Meggie is on the brink of stardom, it’s not soon enough to save her friend. Harry Dempsey is out to avenge the deaths of his father and brother at the hands of a ruthless gangster. But trouble spirals out of control when Meggie Montley shows up the night he meets his nemesis to settle the score. Saving the impetuous woman from a crime lord might be easier than saving her from her own reckless behavior.

About the Author:

I love sports. The NFL, the NBA. I hold season tickets to the Oklahoma City Thunder. I love Broadway musicals too. I have a BA in Management Information Systems and a vocal minor. I love travel, reading, writing, and just to round things out and scratch the singing itch, karaoke.

Review:

As you can see from her photo and biography, Kathy L. Wheeler is also Kae Elle Wheeler, who wrote the last book I reviewed, The Wronged Princess. Reckless, I fear, has the same issues.

The reason Ms. Wheeler uses a slight variation on her name is that these two books are in different genres. While one is a fantasy/fairy tale, the other is historical romantic suspense. Lady Margaret (Meggie) Montley has no interest in “marrying well.” Especially when that means marrying an older man whose money will refill the coffers of her titled, but impoverished, family. Meggie wants to sing that new music—jazz.

She and two of her friends decide to run away from home to New York. One friend wants to design clothes, one becomes a waitress at a speakeasy hoping to snag a wealthy yank, and they meet a third girl enroute, rescue her from an abusive situation, and take her aboard ship as their maid. Meggie gets a job at the speakeasy singing, and catches the eye of Harry Dempsey, the manager. When her third roommate gets a job as a maid to a wealthy man who turns out to be a sex trafficker, Meggie tries to raise money to buy the girl’s contract, and gets involved with the bootleggers who killed Harry’s father. He can’t exactly blow up their ship with Meggy as a witness, and she’s not a “loose end” he’s willing to “tie up.”

Again, Ms. Wheeler writes a page-burning story, with great characters, but she really needs a better editor. I found her bad grammar—misused words, mixed tenses, etc., very distracting. If you’re not a grammar stickler, you’ll probably enjoy it.

Author Website:  http://kathylwheeler.com

Warnings:  None

Length:

Digital:  127 Pages

Paperback:  142 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $7.99

Digital:  $0.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/B00RICW0G0

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Palladine by Kenneth Eade

Blurb:

Robert Garcia was an unremarkable man, tapped out of a promising military career to become a death squad assassin for the CIA. Retirement was not in the cards for Robert, so he disappeared instead.

After he comes out of the cold to answer the call to aid a fellow soldier facing a bum rap, he is thrust back into the spotlight when he is in the wrong place at the wrong time and kills a terrorist, thereby saving dozens of lives. He finds gainful employment in the slaughter of jihadists, which sparks an urban legend that Robert, a dangerous and unfeeling assassin, is a living paladin, whose mission is to rid the earth of evil for the betterment of mankind. Social media gives him the name “Paladine,” and God help whoever gets between him and his next target.

About the Author:

Described by critics as “one of our strongest thriller writers on the scene,” author Kenneth Eade, best known for his legal and political thrillers, practiced law for 30 years before publishing his first novel, An Involuntary Spy. Eade, an award-winning, best-selling Top 100 thriller author, has been described by his peers as “one of the up-and-coming legal thriller writers of this generation.” He is the 2015 winner of Best Legal Thriller from Beverly Hills Book Awards and the 2016 winner of a bronze medal in the category of Fiction, Mystery and Murder from the Reader’s Favorite International Book Awards. His latest novel, Paladine, is currently a quarter-finalist in Publisher’s Weekly’s BookLife Prize for Fiction. Eade has authored three fiction series: The “Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series”, the “Involuntary Spy Espionage Series,” and the “Paladine Anti-Terrorism Series.” He has written fourteen novels which have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

“I’ve been writing all my life, but began publishing my work out of a passion for the environment. My wife, Valentina, is a professional photographer, who worked for two years on an environmental exhibition called, ‘Bee Cause I Care’ which was exhibited by the Prince Albert II Foundation and is now touring cities in France to bring awareness to the importance of pollinators and the dangers facing them. I penned a few articles on the subject for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and turned my research into my first book, Bless the Bees. That passion continued with the publication of my novel, An Involuntary Spy, which is an action thriller that also points to the dangers of genetically engineered food. Then I began publishing the “Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series,” which, in part, is based on actual experiences during my long career in law.

“Now I divide most of my time between France, where I have resided for the better part of ten years, and Russia. I try to put as much realism in my novels as possible, and they all revolve around important social issues. I treasure all of my readers and love to hear from them, whether it’s good or bad. Sometimes I make changes based on their suggestions and one reader has inspired a character who has appeared in my latest two novels. Everyone who signs up on my mailing list at http://www.kennetheade.com gets a free ebook, and I give away a Kindle Fire every month to a lucky winner on the list. I love this new adventure and hope you enjoy taking it with me.”

Review:

It seems you can’t even go to McDonald’s for a burger these days. Trying to lie low and remain anonymous doesn’t work for highly-trained assassin Robert Garcia when he hears a click behind him as he’s about to take a bite of his Big Mac. No one else in the place seems to even hear the click let alone recognize it the sound of someone cocking a weapon. But Robert does, and he reacts, shooting the AK-47-wielding terrorist before anyone else even realizes the man is there. Robert holsters his own weapon and melts into the crowd, walking away from the melee well before the authorities arrive, and before any witnesses can identify him.

The press labels Robert “Paladine,” and dying billionaire Bryce Williamson sets up a foundation to fight terrorism as a cover to hire “Paladine” through the dark web to kill the jihadist who killed Bryce’s wife, as well as any other terrorist Robert can identify and neutralize. Unfortunately, the Federal government is trying just as hard to neutralize Robert as they are the terrorists he’s targeting. After all, “Paladine” is making them look bad.

As both Paladine and the movie American Sniper the US government has trained many men to kill, and then sent them home when their military service is over and expect them to adjust to civilian / “civilized” life. And in toughening up these men, they make it difficult for them to reach out for the help they need to adjust. But, I digress.

Paladine grabs you at the beginning and hangs on to you right through to the end. You live inside Robert Garcia’s head—feel his loneliness and isolation as well as his desperation to stay alive and free, and his anger toward the terrorists he hunts. You feel the predator inside him, as well as the humanity. Paladine is well worth reading.

Author Website:  https://smile.amazon.com/Kenneth-Eade/e/B00EWT89RG

Warnings:  Violence

Length:  274 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $7.41

Digital:  $4.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/Thriller-PALADINE-terrorism-assassination-Counter-Terrorism-ebook/dp/B01KKXBP32

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On the Run: Big Mike and Minnie by Susan Amanda Kelly

Blurb:

World, meet Minerva Coolidge, New York fashion model and disaster-magnet. Now meet Big Mike, her tough, tattooed, taciturn, somewhat reluctant bodyguard.

Minnie is only one runway show away from being a supermodel. She gave up bacon for that show so heaven help anyone who gets in her way. But Minnie has been ordered home to the west coast by her over-protective, criminal family. Trouble has followed her to the east coast. Minnie refuses to give up her hard-won freedom. So her family foists a bodyguard on her until they can fetch her home. Big Mike is exactly the kind of alpha tough guy she left home to escape. Overbearing. Distractingly yummy. And just like the men she grew up with, he totally underestimates her.

Big Mike takes one look at Minnie Coolidge and recognizes her as Trouble-With-A-Capital-T. Killer face, killer body, killer family and the survival instincts of a hen. He begrudgingly agrees to babysit her as a favor to her brother, an old army buddy. How hard can it be for an ex-biker, ex-Special Forces, international security specialist to keep one pretty nitwit safe for one day? And then she runs rings around him. Turns out Minnie's smart, mouthy and tough. Everything he likes. Loves. But he's only passing through. He can't wait to hand the hot disaster-magnet over to her brother, or can he?

Can true love conquer all? Maybe. But first, Minnie and Big Mike have to survive an attempted kidnapping, stash a corpse, rescue her bad-tempered cat, handle her vapid pop star admirer, avoid her geriatric sex-therapist neighbor, outwit the paparazzi and manage her crazily over-protective brother.

About the Author:

Susan Amanda Kelly loves making up stuff in her head. She drives her husband to distraction by suddenly stopping, mid-conversation, and staring off into space. She once spent five hours at sea, on a boat, muttering: "Where would he hide the body?" She hopes the video footage of that trip has been wiped. She finally decided to put the characters that inhabit her head, onto paper. It was like opening the door on a lunatic asylum—glorious bedlam. She hopes her readers come to love her characters as much as she does. She writes action-packed romantic comedies. And her husband is convinced her male leads are based on him. Not the body-hiding psychopath, of course. Sign up to be the first to hear about her new releases: http://eepurl.com/bIb7G5

Review:

On the Run: Big Mike and Minnie was a fun read. Minerva Coolidge is a mafia princess who doesn’t want to be cossetted by her family—not even when her life is in danger. She can take care of herself, thank you very much. That is, when she’s not spilling things, dropping things, or trying to run in designer five-inch spiked heels. On the other hand, she’s smart, savvy, and resourceful. And with her perfect features, blonde hair, and big eyes people underestimate her all the time. Especially men.

Big Mike’s used to being in charge. Ex-military, mercenary, he’s been offered bodyguard jobs before. But babysitting the pampered and entitled is not his idea of real work. Until he agrees to do a favor for his old Army buddy and guard his pal’s kid sister. As the blurb says, Minnie runs rings around Big Mike, and they encounter lots of adventure, along with loads of humor and plenty of romance. Big Mike and Minnie will grab you on the first page and keep you running with them right through the last.

Author Website:  http://eepurl.com/bIb7G5

Heat Rating:  R

Length:  155 Pages

Digital Price:  $0.99

Buy Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Run-Big-Mike-Minnie-Book-ebook/dp/B018KTWEHO

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