#AllDarlingChildren #Fantasy by Katrina Monroe @AuthorKatM

Blurb:

All boys grow up, except one.

On the tenth anniversary of her mother’s death, fourteen-year-old Madge Darling’s grandmother suffers a heart attack. With the overbearing Grandma Wendy in the hospital, Madge runs away to Chicago, intent on tracking down a woman she believes is actually her mother.

On her way to the Windy City, a boy named Peter Pan lures Madge to Neverland, a magical place where children can remain young forever. While Pan plays puppet master in a twisted game only he understands, Madge discovers the disturbing price of Peter Pan’s eternal youth.

About the Author:

Katrina Monroe is a novelist, mom, and snark-slinger extraordinaire.

Her worst habits include: eating pretty much anything with her fingers, yelling at inappropriate times, and being unable to focus on important things like dinner and putting on pants.

She collects quotes like most people collect, well, other things. Her favorite is, “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.” Dorothy Parker

Review:

Having read another of Ms. Monroe’s books, I looked forward to a book with a twisted sense of humor, but what I found in All Darling Children was a book that was just twisted. Peter Pan meets Lord of the Flies. The Lost Boys are not just boys who play Indians with the Red Men, and Captain Hook and Smee are all that’s left of the crew of the Jolly Roger. They, by the way, are ghosts. Under Peter Pan’s leadership, The Lost Boys slaughtered the crew in their sleep. Now, Peter has captured Wendy’s granddaughter. And he intends to have his revenge on Wendy for leaving him all those years ago. And if all of that wasn’t bad enough, the book had an iffy ending. I’m not sure if it was a cliff-hanger leading to a sequel, or just disturbing.

I wanted to put it down halfway through, but I also wanted to see if Madge survived. I was like a bird mesmerized by a snake. It was as bad as reading Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I will be leery of Ms. Monroe’s books from now on. And if there’s a sequel to All Darling Children, I absolutely do not want to read it. This one gave me enough nightmares, thank you very much. The only reason I’m giving it even two roses is that it was well-written and Wendy was engaging enough that, repulsed as I was, I had to finish it.

Author Website:  http://authorkatrinamonroe.wordpress.com

Warnings:  Graphic Violence

Length:  217 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $10.99

Digital:  $5.99

Buy Link:  http://redadeptpublishing.com/#!/All-Darling-Children/p/67382203/category=12029173

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.

Vengeance is Mine by Kat Henry Doran

Blurb:

Ever consider going back to study hall and face down the school bully?

The mean girls?

The brainless jocks who made your life a pure misery?

For Dru Horvath, gypsy orphan turned Pulitzer Prize winner; Rafe Archangeli, once the Scourge of Summerville and now leader of a multi-million dollar trust; and Fiona “Fat Aggie” Thorpe, current high fashion model with her own A-list agency, the opportunity to exact revenge is too good to pass up.

Will they find vengeance they crave?

Or something more valuable?

About the Author:

Nurse, paralegal, insurance investigator, victim advocate, sexual assault forensic examiner. Kat Henry Doran has been there and done that. More than once. Now she spends her time writing and sewing and occasionally acting as chauffeur to the four best things in her life: Meredith, Ashlin, Owen, and Kieran. Join Kat and her alter-ego Veronica Lynch, as they explore the north country of New York State, including the wild shores of Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River, and as they create tales which always include strong women and the men who love them.

Review:

Vengeance is Mine is a collection of novellas about three people from the town of Summerville, New York, which is located on the shore of Lake Ontario somewhere between Syracuse and Buffalo.

The first story is about Rafael (Rafe) Angeli. Having been called the “Scourge of Summerville,” Rafe went on to team up with his AA sponsor to become a very elusive, high class thief/con-man. Somehow I think he and his sponsor missed the part in the Twelve Steps about honesty. At any rate, when he returns to Summerville for his best friend’s funeral, he’s shocked to find his friend left him in charge of a charitable trust. And even more shocked to find himself falling for a feisty, crusading do-gooder whose past is nothing he would ever be drawn to.

Our next heroine is Fiona (Fat Aggie) Thorpe. Few people recognize her when she returns to town. Having lost a couple-few hundred pounds, Fiona is now a well-known model and the owner of a respected modeling agency. She’s out for revenge against the bullies who taunted her, drove her into the next county and left her to walk home after dark in a rain storm, and even caused the death of a friend with cerebral palsy. They greased the handicapped toilet seat and the girl fell off. Not only did she break her wrist, but the resulting back injury caused pressure on her lungs and Fiona’s friend eventually died of related complications. The bullies thought the elbow cast was funny and never related the girl’s death to their pranks.

And finally, Dru Horvath, bullied simply because she’s an orphaned child of gypsies.

Vengeance is Mine was unfortunately marred by editing problems. There were words missing and some grammar issues. I realize editing can be expensive, but at least buy a subscription to the Chicago Manual of Style. When asked what her advice to new writers was, Dorothy Parker said, “First buy a copy of The Elements of Style.” My second bit of advice is, go through your galleys backward. You’ll be amazed what you find that way.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty good read. Each story could stand alone, but they also segue together nicely—especially Fiona and Dru’s stories, since they’re best friends and it’s Dru who convinces Fiona to attend their reunion. I recommend Vengeance is Mine, as a great example of what happens when people grow up and move on.

Author Website:  http://www.WildWomenAuthorsx2.blogspot.com

Heat Rating:  PG-13

Length:  203 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $15.00

Digital:  $3.99

Buy Link:  https://www.amazon.com/VENGEANCE-MINE-Class-Reunion-Story-ebook/dp/B01GGJHVWS

Thanks for visiting.

The God’s Eye View by Barry Eisler

Blurb:

Knowledge is power…and they know everything.

NSA director Theodore Anders has a simple goal: collect every phone call, email, and keystroke tapped on the Internet. He knows unlimited surveillance is the only way to keep America safe.

Evelyn Gallagher doesn’t care much about any of that. She just wants to keep her head down and manage the NSA’s camera network and facial recognition program so she can afford private school for her deaf son, Dash.

But when Evelyn discovers the existence of an NSA program code-named God’s Eye, and connects it with the mysterious deaths of a string of journalists and whistle-blowers, her doubts put her and Dash in the crosshairs of a pair of government assassins: Delgado, a sadistic bomb maker and hacker; and Manus, a damaged giant of a man who until now has cared for nothing beyond protecting the director.

Within an elaborate game of political blackmail, terrorist provocations, and White House scheming, a global war is being fought—a war between those desperate to keep the state’s darkest secrets and those intent on revealing them. A war that Evelyn will need all her espionage training and savvy to survive. A war in which the director has the ultimate informational advantage: The God’s Eye View.

About the Author:

I've been blessed with a variety of interesting jobs: a covert position with the CIA's Directorate of Operations (now called the National Clandestine Service); attorney in an international law firm; in-house counsel at the Osaka headquarters of Panasonic; executive in a Silicon Valley technology startup.

But the best job by far has been novel writing—political thrillers, as it happens—with a lot of realistic action, exotic locations, and steamy sex. My agency training, my time as a lawyer, my experiences in Japan, and a background in martial arts all inform my writing. I get a lot of my material from actual US government craziness (assassinations, torture, indefinite imprisonment, bulk surveillance...you know, everything needed these days to Keep Us Safe). As I like to say, what's bad for America is good for thriller writers.

A lot of what I've speculated about turns out to be true: the kill list, or "International Terrorist Threat Matrix," I introduced in 2004 in Winner Take All, for example, came to light in 2012 and 2013 as the "Disposition Matrix," courtesy of the Obama administration. The safety shortcomings of Japanese nuclear reactors I described in 2003 in A Lonely Resurrection were documented following the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe. And the pacemaker hack that kicked off my first book—A Clean Kill in Tokyo, in 2002—turns out to have been a real concern of Dick Cheney's, as revealed in his memoirs (it also turned up in the second season of Homeland).

The books have won a bunch of awards and made various "Best of" lists, which is nice. My first book—A Clean Kill in Tokyo, which introduced "natural causes" assassin John Rain--was made into a Japanese language movie called Rain Fall a few years back. The whole Rain series is now being developed for television by Cinemax, with Keanu Reeves starring. Hope to have some updates on that reasonably soon.

If you want to follow what I'm up to beyond the books, Twitter's a good bet--@barryeisler. And then there's Facebook; the mailing list you can find on my website; and my blog, The Heart of the Matter.

Review by Rochelle:

The God’s Eye View was another page-burner that kept me from my “real work.” I just thank the Goddess it wasn’t the week I had to do the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter. February is short enough as it is. It also kept me awake. I’m a night person to begin with, and page-burners don’t help. Thanks for a few sleepless nights, Mr. Eisler. I enjoyed every minute of them!

Evelyn would have been just fine if she mentioned to Director Anders that it was such a coincidence certain people happened to die when they did. Unfortunately, she poked a pile of fur without quite realizing it was a bear. Prior to that, her biggest worry had been keeping her nice, secure job. Now she had to worry about keeping her life.

With deeply-drawn characters and a fast-paced plot, make sure you have plenty of time before you pick up The God’s Eye View. Don’t read it when you have to be anywhere or get up early, and be sure you line up enough food for the duration. You won’t be able to put it down. Oh, hi NSA. Have a nice day, guys.

Author Website:  http://barryeisler.blogspot.com

Heat Rating:  R (Sex & Violence

Length:  417 Pages

Prices:

Print:

Hardcover:  $14.95

Paperback:  $10.86

Digital:  $5.99

MP3 CD:  $9.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Eye-View-Barry-Eisler-ebook/dp/B00XT47SOK/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Thanks for visiting.