Reprise Review: Four American Tales by Jack Messenger

 

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

“Secrets. Money. Love. Death. Sometimes they’re hard to tell apart.

Four American Tales describes a world of hopes and fears on the far side of the American Dream, in a quartet of evocative stories about love and loss, struggle and ambition from the 1950s to the present day.

Wichega is an atmospheric tale of childhood’s dreams and nightmares: when Sweet Pea and her family move far away, is it really because her father has quit the Navy, or is there something else going on – something to do with his new Oldsmobile and the monster that lives in the pond out by the highway?

A Hundred Ways to Live follows Nadine and Earle outside the Law as they travel across the desert in search of the stolen money they hope will give them a new life.

Ballbusters on Parade is an unconventional parable of work in the sex industry: Mike is persuaded by his girlfriend Yolanda to apply for a screen test. Success, however, leads him in unexpected directions.

Uncle Mort tells how a bequest gives rise to unforeseen problems. Helen and Thomas are successful and happy New Yorkers. News of her uncle’s death opens up the past and suddenly everything becomes uncertain – marriage, identity and what to do with a tumbledown house that no one wants.

All four stories feature great female characters, powerful writing and intriguing storylines – stories in which things happen and people change.”

Author:

A full-time writer and editor, Jack Messenger lives in the UK. He is the author of one novel and multiple non-fiction books in addition to this short story collection.

Appraisal:

Interesting characters and stories. In the foreword the author indicates that one of his aims with the stories is to “provoke thought.” The stories certainly did that with me. They have characters and storylines that make you wonder, sometimes forcing you to read between the lines and, in doing so, making the story your own since your interpretation will be different than mine. A good, fast read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 10-15,000 words

Review: False Dawn by D.V. Berkom

 

Genre: Thriller

Description:

“She thought the mission was about protecting a defector. She was wrong.

Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Reynolds thought she was prepared for anything. But when her close protection team is wiped out in a surgical ambush, she realizes she’s been caught in a game much bigger than she imagined.

As Mac digs deeper into who wanted the defector silenced—and why—she uncovers a global conspiracy tied to black ops missions, encrypted intelligence, and a man she thought she’d lost: her father.

To expose the truth, Mac must navigate a deadly web of espionage, betrayal, and buried secrets—with the help of a journalist whose personal mission might just get them both killed.”

Author:

“DV Berkom is the USA Today bestselling author of action-packed, riveting adventure and crime thrillers. Known for creating resilient, kick-ass female characters and page-turning plots, her love of the genre stems from a lifelong addiction to reading spy novels, action/adventure stories, and thrillers.”

For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:

After reading the first few pages of this book I said to myself, “this is off to an intense start.” It turns out that it was just ramping up and relative to where things go from there it wasn’t so intense after all. The protagonist, Mackenzie, or Mac as she is known, is a strong female who gets things done, something that I know to expect when I read a book by D.V. Berkom and one of the reasons I always jump at the chance to read her books. Mac is a new character, but this book is the first of a planned trilogy, so I expect to see her kicking some butt (that has it coming) in some fashion again. As intense as this read was and how much it impacted Mac in many ways, both professionally and personally, this is the perfect read if you enjoy intensity in the stories you read. If you’re looking to relax, maybe not, although even then you can be glad that you’re not dealing with things as stressful as Mac does.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Review: Double Walk by Melissa Bowersock

 

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Description:

“Talk about a double whammy. An executive jet is subjected to two catastrophic events in a row, and has now gone missing. Daniel and Dakota, vacationing in Fiji, find a floating object that Daniel feels came from that plane. The authorities might be interested, but not when they hear about Daniel’s psychic source. In the meantime, half a world away, Sam and Lacey are confronted with a case unlike anything they’ve ever encountered, another double whammy. As they work to tease out the reasons behind multiple ghosts attached to an ordinary housewife, the answers they uncover are too incredible to believe.”

Author:

“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: paranormal, biography, western, action, romance, fantasy, spiritual, and satire.”

For more visit Ms.Bowersock’s website and follow her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

This being named double has more than one reason for its name (at least two, to double up on the doubles). One of them is explained in the description. We actually have two mysteries that are resolved in this book. One of them by Sam Firecloud’s son, Daniel, who has the same ability to communicate with spirits caught between this plain and the next one as his dad. Daniel teams up with his brand new bride while they’re on their honeymoon, just to spice things up a bit. The second mystery is one that Sam and Lacey deal with that fits the normal high level storyline of the other fifty plus books in this series in some ways and in others really changes things up a bit. I’ll say that we’ve got a bonus double plus another bonus that is much bigger than that when compared to the normal cases that Sam and Lacey deal with. As always it was a fast and fun read that kept me guessing and buying into some supernatural stuff that I’d never go for in real life. Every time I read a book in this series I immediately start eagerly anticipating the next, but loving the read I just finished.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Review: Seeing Sunny Again by Paul Clayton

 

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

Seventeen short stories that take a critical look at what life is like for an average middle class American these days.

Author:

The author of several books over the years ranging from short story collections to novels and genres from historical to fantasy and science fiction.

Appraisal:

A collection of short stories that have the common thread of featuring normal everyday people dealing with the kinds of issues that any of us might have to deal with at some time in our life. Odds of at least a few of the stories feeling like it could have been you or at least a friend or family member is there. But, like with any good story, most of them pulled me in wondering what was going to happen to the protagonist of the story and how their current situation was going to work out. I like to read a short story collection once in a while to add a little variety to my reading diet and this one did the trick well.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and mildly adult situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Review: Running From Herself by April Tompkins

 Genre: Coming of Age/Contemporary Fiction

Description:

“Leah Branch just wanted the noise to stop. After years of watching her band splinter, she welcomes the quiet of Chance, Wyoming. Working shifts at the local saloon, she finally finds a rhythm she can live with—steady work, honest friends, and a shared connection with a local singer named Jared. For the first time in years, she feels safe.

But music has a way of pulling you back.

When a desperate choice to save the saloon forces Leah back onto the stage, a chance encounter changes everything. Suddenly, Nashville wants her. Still reeling from her fractured romance with Jared, Leah takes the leap, viewing the contract as her escape hatch.

Instead, it becomes her cage.

The label doesn’t want Leah's raw, acoustic soul; they want a polished product they can sell. Piece by piece, they dismantle her life. They swap her boots for heels, trade her honest songs for studio-engineered pop, and strip away her actual name.

Now, standing on the edge of a stardom she never asked for, Leah is a ghost to herself. With the industry tightening its grip, she has to decide: keep playing a part that is killing her soul or risk everything to reclaim her voice and find her way home.”

Author:

“April Tompkins is a professional daydreamer, author, and musician who has been spinning tales since she was a kid roaming rural Minnesota farm roads. A former North Dakota prairie girl, she now writes contemporary fiction about complex characters that take a little coaxing to reveal their true stories. She is the author of thirteen books, including the hit Running From Herself, and is a singer-songwriter with thousands of Spotify streams. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and her delightfully chunky cat, Sasha.”

Appraisal:

A fun and engaging read with a protagonist. Leah, that was likeable and as a reader I wanted to see succeed, which kept me engaged from cover to cover. If you pay any attention to the music business and what it takes to make a living in it, the story here feels all too real as Leah struggles to make it as well as dealing with the kinds of regular life issues that complicate things for most of us from time to time. How or if things were going to work out was up in the air and constantly changing in my mind which kept me reading, pulling for Leah the whole time.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 110-115,00 words

Review: The Feathered Tree by Allan Frewin Jones

 Genre: YA/Fantasy

Description:

Polly, a teenage girl – restless of spirit as, surely, are they all – is something of a loner, living with her feisty, luthier gran on the edge of Exmoor in Devon, father working ‘overseas’. She tells her troubles to “Tree” - a beech she can see from her bedroom window.

One night it is cut down. Polly is sure it has been done deliberately, out of spite, and that she knows who did it.

Thereafter malice and the nearby ancient sacred wildwoods aroused by the death of the beech, combine to put Polly in real and increasing danger. As she struggles to understand what is going on she begins to change from child to woman.

Yet more of Polly’s senses are awakened when she meets someone who might become special to her, in more ways than one.

Author:

Allan Frewin Jones has been writing fantasy since he was nine, and a professional author in the genre for around 40 years. He has a substantial back catalogue, if you find this one a good read.

Appraisal:

Interwoven with what it may or may not mean to harm a tree, and what may or may not be unleashed when you do, are several other strands. Frewin Jones explores what it is like to be on the outside looking in – something which happens to us all at least occasionally. He weaves in how creativity may be a balm for the soul and bring purpose, how carelessly humans are despoiling the only planet we have, how meat and game animals may feel about their slaughter. Such themes might make the book feel more worthy than entertaining. But Frewin Jones brings light and shade to each short chapter, and has a writing style which enables him to present even heavy material with a light, witty hand. He writes beautifully about that super-sensitive first love that can never be experienced again. It is, indeed, a lot of plot in a short book. The threads are cleverly twisted together and the ending is neat but far from trite.

This is a book for young adults, but does not pull its punches on that account. Adult themes are explored, violence is … violent. Tension and pace never flag.

If you like your fantasy grounded in the earth beneath your feet rather than spattered with odd made-up names and magic swords, then I recommend this to you.

The hundred year old tree cut down in Sycamore Gap, near Hadrian’s Wall, on the border between England and Scotland in 2023 inspired this story. The event is infamous in Britain. That sycamore tree was a famous and beloved landmark, and almost everyone who went to see it, or hiked past it, took a picture of it. It has a Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Gap_tree

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Review: La Petite Mort by Mark Coker

 

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian

Description:

“The year is 2043, and simple pleasures are hard to come by.

America struggles to recover following the Rare Earth Wars and decades of political turmoil.

A new invention out of Silicon Valley promises to bring safe and affordable pleasure to the masses. Days before the device enters manufacturing, a dangerous bug escapes that could bring the nation to its knees.”

Author:

“When Mark Coker’s not traveling, hiking, gardening, working his day job, or caring for his pet chickens and pure-bred homing pigeons, he enjoys writing short stories that shine light on modern day dystopias.”

“Mark is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and patent-holding inventor best known as the founder of Smashwords, the pioneering publishing company he founded in 2007 that helped catalyze the self-publishing revolution. Smashwords merged with Draft2Digital in 2022 where Mark now serves as Chief Strategy Officer and board member.”

Appraisal:

An interesting read. Sure, it takes place almost 20 years in the future, but in many ways it feels like the US. It and much of the world has gone down a slippery slope that our current leader and the billionaire class seem to want to happen. In fact, we’ve got at least one businessman who plays a big role who seems to take the same approach to things as a current leader in the US. The end result for his followers, well, it feels good for a while, but you’ll have to check out this quick read to find out what happens in the end. Ultimately a humorous, but thought-provoking read, for those who are capable of thought, of course.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and while not very explicit, adult subjects do come up in the story.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 18-19,000 words

Reprise Review: Every Wind of Change (Paths of Shadow Book 3) by Frank Tuttle

 

Genre: Epic Fantasy/Magic/Young Adult/Sci-Fi/Adventure

Description:

“Mage Meralda’s perilous airship journey across the vast Great Sea made her a hero.

Her discovery of the Arc may doom her world.

The Arc, a mysterious metal structure hanging ten thousand feet above the stormy Sea, is singing. Tasked by the King to decipher the Arc’s strange song, Meralda discovers plans for an outlandish machine hidden in the song’s mathematical lyrics.

With sharp-tongued vegetable familiar Mug at her side, Meralda embarks on an unexpected journey across the void. Together they face ravenous beasts, ancient engines, and the most diabolical creature of all – Meralda's own long-lost mother.

With nothing but her wits, her Sight, and her determination to return home and find a decent cup of coffee, Meralda vows to lead her tiny band to safety. But her long journey home also means facing an old sorrow, and a singularly unpleasant truth.

As monsters close in, can Meralda prevail where thousands before her failed and perished?”

Author:

“Frank Tuttle lives and writes in the perpetually humid wilderness of North Mississippi. Frank tried to be a proper Southern author and write about pickups and hound dogs, but trolls and magic kept creeping into his stories, so Frank is a fantasy author. Although hounds do make occasional appearances in his fiction.”

To learn more about Frank Tuttle you can check out his website and of course you may also friend Mr. Tuttle on Facebook.

Appraisal:

While this series, Paths of Shadow, has always had an element of steampunk and magic in its world, Every Wind of Change jumps into the realm of Sci-Fi after the “event.” Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself there. Meralda has been assigned, by the King of Tirlin, to decipher the sounds the mysterious Arc is emitting. He also bestows a pay raise and a promotion to Tirlin’s Secret Service. Her new boss is none other than Mrs. Primsbite. To put a cherry on top of it all, Meralda’s long-absent mother reappears and insists on insinuating herself, and her little dog too, into her daughter’s life again. Donchen attempts to arbitrate between mother and daughter, to Meralda’s dismay.

While Meralda is attempting to decipher the Arcs complicated song, King Yvin insists on seeing her results so far. Meralda has to oblige with an incomplete work. Unbeknownst to all, this exhibition initiates a standard tripping wheel transport protocol from the Arc bringing forth the “event” that hurls Meralda, Donchen, Mug, Meralda’s mother, and Mrs. Primsbite (Oh, and I mustn’t forget Nameless and Faceless in crow form as well.) into the embattled Hub of the Arc which is located in the void. Luckily our small band is befriended by an unusual robot named Skoof, who knows the Arc well and assists finding them a safe place to hide from giant carnivorous cockroaches, called Mags who are well aware of their arrival, before they can formulate a way home without magic.

The plot is cleverly crafted and engaging with twists and turns of the outlandish storyline, since they are all out of their element I found that fitting. The dialogues are intelligent, cunning, and witty. New characters are introduced who I hope to see more of in the next book. The scenery and surroundings are well described, which place the reader right beside the characters. The ending is epic and a lot more far-reaching than I was expecting. Meralda’s mother also gains a new larger pet, which fits her well. Readers will also be pleased that Mr. Reardon, mother’s ankle-biter, is still with her as well. Don’t miss this new addition to Meralda and Mug’s adventure.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Every Wind of Change is the third book in a planned four book series from Mr. Tuttle’s, Paths of Shadow. Each book stands alone. However I have enjoyed watching each character’s growth as the series continues. The first book of the series is All the Paths of Shadow, followed by All the Turns of Light.

Format/Typo Issues:

I did find a small number of proofing issues, nothing that threw me out of the story.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Review: The Serial Killer’s Fiancée by Beth Orsoff

 

Genre: Legal Thriller

Description:

“She dedicated her life to locking up criminals. Now she’s engaged to one. From a bestselling suspense author comes a twisting story of love, law, and lethal deception.

Stella Brant, single mother, U.S. Attorney, and soon-to-be-bride, is used to controlled chaos. When she races to join her colleagues in the Moakley Courthouse conference room her only concern is making it to the meeting on time. The room is packed and everyone is staring up at the perp walk on TV.

The police finally caught the Lady Killer, the man who’s been terrorizing the women of Boston for the last six months. The press shout questions. The perp lifts his head. And Stella’s world implodes.

The police made a mistake. Stella knows this in her bones. Her fiancé cannot possibly be the Lady Killer. But Stella’s goal, her true belief, her north star has always been to obtain justice. That’s why she became a prosecutor. Now that belief is put to the ultimate test.

How far is Stella willing to go to see that justice is served?”

Author:

The author of thirteen books that vary from romantic comedy to suspense and now a legal thriller, Beth Orsoff has a long history as an author. She’s an attorney in Los Angeles and a mother, but finds enough spare time to write books too. For more, visit her website or you can check out the interview she did for this book blog in ancient times (aka 2012).

Appraisal:

The first paragraph, really just the first line, of this book pulled me in and never let go. It’s been a long time since I read a book that captured me so quickly and I hated to put down. I started it while on an extended road trip and found myself reading it every chance I got from lunch time at some fast-food joint or my motel at night when I should have been sleeping. I had opinions as to whether the fiancé would turn out to be a killer or not from that first paragraph too, but that opinion kept waffling as Stella dug into the details on her own and as a reader I observed what was going on. The thrills and suspense of a thriller are here. We’ve also got some legal things thrown in which are never too complicated for an average person to understand, but for someone like me who likes to say that he’s not an attorney although he sometimes plays one on the internet it just adds that more good spice to the story and makes it seem even more real. I wish every book I read was as engaging as this one. If you like legal thrillers checking this one out is a no-brainer.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and mild adult content.

Format/Typo Issues:

While review is based on an advance reviewer copy it appear that there are no significant issues here.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words

Review: Crime Scenes by Joseph S. Walker

 

Genre: Crime Fiction/Short Story Collection

Description:

A collection of short stories, all crime fiction, each of them previously published in various magazines and short story anthologies.

Author:

An Edgar award nominated author of crime and mystery stories, Joseph S. Walker lives in Indiana. For more, check out his website.

https://jswalkerauthor.com/

Appraisal:

This is a fun collection of short stories. While each story stands alone, it should be clear that they are all crime fiction. If you’re a fan of that genre you ought to enjoy reading all of these. A few of the stories have the same protagonist, a guy who is a good guy in many ways, but has some issues as well. His stories were fun to read and even when you realized it was a story featuring him, you weren't sure what direction things might go. All in all, a fun and engaging read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words