"Blood Wounds" by Susan Beth Pfeffer ~YA Family Dynamics

Overview :  Blood can both wound and heal . . . Willa is lucky: She has a loving blended family that gets along. Not all families are so fortunate. But when a bloody crime takes place hundreds of miles away, it has an explosive effect on Willa’s peaceful life. The estranged father she hardly remembers has murdered his new wife and children, and is headed east toward Willa and her mother. Under police protection, Willa discovers that her mother has harbored secrets that are threatening to boil over. Has everything Willa believed about herself been a lie? But as Willa sets out to untangle the mysteries of her past, she also keeps her own secret—one that has the potential to tear apart all she holds dear.

Particulars of the Book :

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication date: 9/4/2012

Pages: 256

Author:  Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre:  YA fiction/general

About the Author :

SUSAN BETH PFEFFER is the author of many books for teens, including Life As We Knew It, The Dead and The Gone, and the bestselling novel The Year Without Michael. She lives in Middletown, New York.

www.susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com

The Dame's Review:

I'm a fan of Susan Beth Pfeffer's.  I absolutely loved her "Life As We Knew It" post apocalyptic series in the YA genre.  She has a fine eye for the YA crowd, and her books fit easily into the "cross over" fiction that I love to tell my readers about.  "Blood Wounds" is another of these books that YAs and adults will like reading.

Pferrer hits your interest from the beginning chapters as we learn about Willa and her juxtaposition of a dialog that tells us how special/loving her family is, versus the conflicting storyline that shows a family that allows her to be left alone and to forge her own way through a horror show of a personal crisis.  As a reader, I was swept up in this book's ability to keep me "fooled" with the conflicting stories...even to the point of wondering if the author knew what she was doing!  It was genius!  I loved how she brought the whole thing to a head in the later parts.  It's a wonderful ploy and one I don't want to destroy more by giving away here.

The characters in this novel are interesting and well worth investing in throughout.  I found Willa to be a particularly well-rounded and absorbing one.  However, the other characters are less developed than I'd like them to have been.  Her lost half-brother, in particular, was an engaging figure, but only developed in a shallow manner.  And, I thought her mother, though we learn a good deal about her, could have had more depth; as well as her step-father.  Adjunct characters such as a best friend of her mothers is rich and most enjoyable to read in the story.

The plot having to do with Willa's bloody biological father, her own "cutting" that mimicked his psychological bent in a minute way, and the dysfunctional family dynamics she finds herself in makes the book captivating.  This is a book I couldn't read fast enough to suit myself.

All in all, Susan Beth Pfeffer wrote another novel I can recommend to readers of all ages.  There's meat here psychologically for everyone.  The story is fraught with warnings about settling for less than we should as individuals and family members.  There is also good wisdom and advice about the psychological manifestation of "cutting."  The writing style is enjoyable.

4 stars                        Deborah/TheBookishDame

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"Dead End Deal" by Allen Wyler ~ Alzheimer's Mystery

--Kevin O’Brien, NYTimes Bestselling Author of The Last Victim and Killing Spree

World renowned neurosurgeon Jon Ritter is on the verge of a medical breakthrough that will change the world.  His groundbreaking surgical treatment, using transplanted non-human stem cells, is set to eradicate the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease and give hope to millions.  But when the procedure is slated for testing, it all comes to an abrupt and terrifying halt.  Ritter’s colleague is gunned down and Ritter himself is threatened by a radical anti-abortion group that not only claims responsibility, but promises more of the same. 

Faced with a dangerous reality but determined to succeed, Ritter turns to his long-time colleague, corporate biotech CEO Richard Stillman, for help.  Together, they conspire to conduct a clandestine clinical trial in Seoul, Korea.  But the danger is more determined, and more lethal, than Ritter could have imagined.

After successful surgical trials, Ritter and his allies are thrown into a horrifying nightmare scenario:  The trial patients have been murdered and Ritter is the number one suspect. Aided by his beautiful lab assistant, Yeonhee, Ritter flees the country, now the target of an international manhunt involving Interpol, the FBI, zealous fanatics and a coldly efficient assassin named Fiest. 

Dead End Deal is a fast paced, heart-pounding, and sophisticated thriller. Penned by master neurosurgeon, Allen Wyler—who often draws from experience, actual events and hotbutton issues when writing—Dead End Deal is unmatched as a technical procedural. Its medical and scientific details can impress even the most seasoned medical practitioners. And yet, the technical expertise is seamlessly woven into a riveting plot, with enough action and surprises to engross even the most well-read thriller enthusiast.

A smart, unique, page-turner, Dead End Dealdelivers.

Visit the author here:  www.allenwyler.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Allen Wyler is a renowned neurosurgeon who earned an international reputation for pioneering surgical techniques to record brain activity.  He has served on the faculties of both the University of Washington and the University of Tennessee, and in 1992 was recruited by the prestigious Swedish Medical Center to develop a neuroscience institute.

In 2002, he left active practice to become Medical Director for a startup med-tech company (that went public in 2006) and he now chairs the Institutional Review Board of a major medical center in the Pacific Northwest.

Leveraging a love for thrillers since the early 70’s, Wyler devoted himself to fiction writing in earnest, eventually serving as Vice President of the International Thriller Writers organization for several years. After publishing his first two medical thrillers Deadly Errors(2005) and Dead Head (2007), he officially retired from medicine to devote himself to writing full time.

He and his wife, Lily, divide their time between Seattle and the San Juan Islands.

A Bookish Libraria is pleased to have Dr.Wyler join us for a guest post:

HOW DOES ALZHEIMERS RANK AS ONE OF THE MOST PRESSING DISEASES IN THE 21ST CENTURY?  WHY AND IF IT GOES UNCHECKED HOW WILL IT IMPACT OUR SOCIETY? (IS THERE ANY PROGRESS ON FINDING A CURE?)

Chances are you know someone among who either has Alzheimer’s Disease or is directly connected—by relation or care—to someone who has it.  As of this year an estimated 5.4 million Americans are living with AD. That translates to roughly one in eight older Americans.  That’s a staggering number, but yet in the public consciousness, AD isn’t as widely considered (“top of mind”) as the dangerous killer that it is; not like say, cancer or heart failure.  (AD is the sixth leading cause of death in the US).

The fact is, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease are becoming more prevalent as the average life span of individuals increase and the more common health care problems ARE better treated. It’s predicted that by 2020, thanks to drugs like Lipitor, mortality from heart disease and stroke will be way down, making Alzheimer’s the leading cause of death in our time.  The personal consequences to individuals or families is devastating, but the general consequence to society as a whole is great as well.  That’s because AD patients often live a long time, their care is very expensive and will become a major health issue (both in cost and quality of life) that our society will have to bear.

There is hope in some novel drugs to treat AD. Because the disease results from the build up of Amyloid in nerve cells, a promising approach is to block the production of this protein. In addition, there is intriguing research into the concept of surgically implanting stem cells into especially damaged brain areas.  This possible cure is a central element that I used in the plot for my new novel, Dead End Deal.

Cures and treatments for diseases like AD are very expensive to develop, (millions upon tens of millions of dollars of R&D) with the resulting payoff even greater (billions of dollars of revenue for the “drug” or the “procedure”) often creating entire new branches of medicine, with thousands upon thousands of new jobs.  This high risk / high reward fact of life for medical researchers and practitioners like me is a natural stage for heroes, villains and high-stakes drama.  I try to capture that in my Thrillers, but the true high-stakes drama on the medical treatment/development stage is much more exciting than any fiction; the heroes are by far much more worthy of praise (though they often go unnoticed).  I like to see my books as homage to them, at least in some small way.

Thank you for this informative post, Allen.   


Excerpt :

PROLOG

TROPHOZYME CORPORATION, SEATTLE. WA

SEEMED LIKE A DYNAMITE IDEA twelve months ago. Still did, for that matter. But now Marge Schwartz was killing him because of it. Sweat sprouted across Richard Stillman’s forehead making him worry that any second now a drop would slither into an eye and cause him to blink, but he’d be damned if he’d wipe it. Besides, with what? The back of his hand? And if he did that, then what? Wipe his hand on his shirt? How would that look? No, he had to be tough, cool, unflustered. In essence: in charge.

Schwartz leaned forward on her elbows and drilled him with that squinty-eyed no-shit-serious look she’d mastered during her take-no-prisoners ascension through corporate ladders. “The board wants a solid plan to rectify the situation, Richard. Not some grandiose hypothesis.”

Easy for her to say. Especially with the clarity retrospection brings.

He swallowed the gastric reflux burning the back of his throat and willed himself to appear relaxed. Let her harangue. After all, that’s her job, especially given the financial disaster facing Trophozyme. A disaster for which, he freely took responsibility. Yet, he still believed that with enough time their present track would be profitable. But that required more money and, the way things were going, the company would bankrupt in six months. Unless he pulled the proverbial rabbit from the hat.

The board members sat eying him now with various emotions that were easy to read on their faces: empathy from Levy, disdain from Chandler, bored bemusement from Gliner. Warner, well, she was apparently more engrossed in her smartphone than the bloodbath playing out before her.

Schwartz began collecting the various papers in front of her to replace in the manila envelope. The bitch!

He flashed the vacant, non-threatening smile he’d picked up from their VP of marketing. One he practiced in front of a mirror until he could flash it under the most stressful conditions. He scanned the room, making eye contact with each board member—well, except for Warner—certain that every one of those smug egotistical bastards believed they could run the company better than he. Truth be told, their success was due to either dumb luck or magnificent ass-kissing. Or both.

“Well?” Schwartz raised her lids in exaggerated expectation.

Trophozyme needed a new blockbuster therapy. Their pipeline was drying up. With the patent on their only revenue generating product expiring in less than a month, their competitors were already licking their chops, gearing up production of a generic substitute while several major shareholders were dumping stock. Once the short sellers started …

Schwartz said, “Need I remind you, Richard, you were hired to put our company back on track.”

The board had lured him with a fat signing bonus, high salary, and a group of industry-savvy executives who had no idea where to take the company. To Richard Stillman, the future was obvious: by 2020, thanks to drugs like Lipitor, mortality from heart disease and stroke would be way down, making diseases like Alzheimer’s the leading cause of death. Any company to come up with an effective treatment would be sitting on a fortune. That treatment, Stillman believed, was to implant specially manufactured stem cells into patients’ brains to replace dead ones. The problem was the method he picked to grow them didn’t work. Okay, so maybe his first attempt was a bust. But he knew where to get his hands on the right method…

Sweat slithered into his right eye, stinging like hell. He inhaled and said, “As I’ve repeatedly advised, we must be patient. My vision for moving us forward remains unchanged. We’ve had minor setbacks, is all.” He shrugged to emphasize the mere insignificance of his mistake. “As my presentation showed, the results of our retinal implant program are excellent.” Two weeks ago his R&D team successfully implanted tissue-cultured stem cells into the retina of three patients with a specific type of blindness. So far, the results were excellent in spite of being too soon to determine if patients’ eyesight actually improved.

Aronson, CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, waved away his remark. “All well and good, but even if this works, it’s an extremely small market, nothing that will keep this company afloat. We need revenue or we’re out of business.”

Stillman squelched a sarcastic reply. “Everyone understands that, Stan.” You dumb shit. “What we can’t lose sight of is,” and chuckled at the pun that no one else seemed to get. “Our retinal implant program success will establish the proof of principle to Wall Street. Do that and we leverage the potential that cell implants may have on reversing Alzheimer’s.” He said this with the infectious enthusiasm that served him well in securing financing for the previous companies he’d taken public.

Schwartz raised her hand to halt further discussion. “We’re getting wrapped around the axle here, Richard. Bottom line is that during our executive session we made a decision. Six months is all you get.” She paused, the room suddenly dead silent. “By then, either this company has a viable therapy or we’ll be forced to close down. Believe me, that happens and there’ll be no other business on the face of this earth, not even a mom and pop 7-11 store in Rwanda, that’ll touch your resume. Do you understand?”

Before he had a chance to answer, she yanked off her glasses. “Meeting adjourned.”

1

ONE MONTH LATER

THE BUZZ FROM the desk phone startled Jon Ritter. The sky was darkening, he realized, and street lights now dotted the hill across Portage Bay. The phone buzzed again. He picked up, “Ritter here,” and swiveled toward the window to watch traffic shoot by on the 520 interchange.

Hate to bother you, Doctor. Officer Schmidt, campus police. I’m in S-1 and it looks like someone broke into your car. Can you come down and take a look, see if anything’s missing so we can file a report?”

Aw, man… He checked his watch. Already past seven, time to go home anyway. “Yeah, be right there.” After grabbing the sports coat off the door, he checked to make sure his file cabinets were locked. He decided to pick up some Thai take-out on the way home to eat while watching the Mariners.

He was walking past the secretary’s desk when Gabriel Lippmann called, “Good night, Jon,” from the chairman’s office.

He glanced into the office as he passed. Typical Gabe. Parked at his desk with stacks of paperwork. Always the last to leave but never the first to arrive. The only neurosurgeon in the department who no longer gowned up, leaving the younger partners with bigger case loads. In exchange, butt numbing meetings consumed Gabe’s days. Well, Gabe could have it. To Jon, administration held zero appeal. He waved. “Night, Gabe,” and continued out the door.

The elevator rattled and groaned down eight floors to the first basement level, jerked to a stop, hovered a moment before raising a half inch to be level with the hall floor. Third world countries had better elevators than this. The door opened.

The car break-in was beginning to seep in now. There was nothing in the vehicle worth stealing, so the act itself was senseless and frustrating. And although the insurance company would pay to replace the broken window—assuming that’s how they got in—it couldn’t compensate for the inconvenience. More than that was the feeling of personal violation. As a student his apartment had been burglarized twice, giving this an all too familiar feel.

 

A left turn and a push through the metal security door took him into a tunnel to the parking lot, his footsteps echoing off bare cement. After passing through another fire door he could see his black Audi in the almost empty garage but where was the security officer? Strange, but the car showed no signs of damage either. Puzzled, he circled the vehicle. No damage, no officer.

Just then a man appeared from behind a round concrete pillar and aimed a gun at him, his face distorted by what looked like pantyhose stretched tightly over his head, the sight so out of context that it didn’t register. The man said, “Got a message for you, baby killer. You listening?”

Speechless, Jon stared at him.

“Asked you a question.”

Jon raised both hands in surrender. “Whoa, there must be some mistake–”

“No mistake. You’re the bloke I’m after. And in case you aren’t listening, here’s the written version.” He dropped a folded paper on the Audi windshield. “No more baby killing. You and your little queer friend are done. Understand?”

“No, I–”

“Shut up. Simple enough. Stop work. Don’t and we’ll kill you and Dobbs. See?”

A familiar voice called, “Jon? What’s going on?”

Jon glanced over his shoulder. Lippmann was exiting the tunnel, heading toward them. Jon shouted, “Run. Get out of here. Call 911.”

Lippmann stopped, looked at Jon’s face, then at the gunman, then back to Jon before something clicked and he started to turn. Motion slowed. Dumbfounded, Jon watched as another man calmly stepped from behind a car, raised a gun and fired almost point blank into Lippmann’s chest. Lippmann stutter-stepped before going down into a heap.

Jon yelled, “Gabe!” and started toward him when a lightning bolt exploded his head, turning his world into a black void.

Allen Wyler has several books out in this mystery genre which you can preview on his website at:

http://allenwyler.com

Deborah/TheBookishDame

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GIVEAWAY!!! "The Evelyn Project" by Kfir Luzzatto~ Paranormal Thriller

The Dame's Review:    What would you do to save your child's life?  Would you give the Devil his due?  And, would you be willing to give your DNA and more for the sake of an ancestor you never knew?  These are questions author Kfir Luzzatto dares us to confront in his novel, "The Evelyn Project."

 Rich in spirit-veiled detail, sublimely suspenseful and a roller coaster ride to the end, this book will have you caught up in a labyrinth of quests to solve the mystery of a century old bond between a father and daughter, a fatal illness and the paranormal.

Characters are strong in this book.  They are vividly drawn and imaginative. I couldn't help feeling great sympathy for the desperate father who only wanted to save his child's life...a situation of love that ultimately turned deadly in the hands of the wrong people.

From a feminist point of view, one of Mr. Luzzatto's main characters, an aspiring French actress is nothing short of indomitable! As a strong representative of the best in women, she's a treasure.  Feisty and heroic, she doesn't let ruthless men who pursue her and her lover, get the better of her.  She's resourceful and resilient even when her lover, the Professor sometimes isn't!  I loved her fighting spirit.  She's a respectable and intelligent woman character, as well as a sexy one.  A woman we can be proud of.  Kudos to the author on this one!

On the other  hand, Luzzatto's Professor, the other central figure in "The Evelyn Project" is the pensive character we'd expect him to be.  Unsure of whom and which group of strange new fellows to trust, he balances their virtues against their unlikely truths. He takes us along for the ride as we try to figure out who to trust and who to believe in the quest for "Evelyn" and the secrets surrounding century old documents.


Story development is well defined.  It's easy to follow the progression of this thriller through the eyes of a cultish group with their own longevity agenda, to the race of Evelyn's professorial ancestor for his life and his wits against them.  I liked being kept guessing...who were the real "bad guys" in the chase?!

This is a fast-paced, intriguing novel that will keep you wondering until it's resolved in the closing pages. Kfir Luzzatto is an intelligent author who gives us an original story with turns of plot that hit you head-on!  There were several surprises in the novel I didn't see coming, and I consider myself a seasoned reader.  This is a book I can safely recommend to those who enjoy a thriller with paranormal and historical fiction underpinnings.  You'll find the final repercussions just startling!  I did.


5 stars    Deborah/TheBookishDame

Particulars of the Book:
Published by:  Pine 10
Pages:  303
Genre:  Fiction/Suspense
Author:  Kfir Luzzatto

Purchase "The Evelyn Project" here: Amazon  and Smashwords

Find Mr. Luzzatto Here: His Website
Here:  Goodreads



The Bookish Dame Welcomes Kfir Luzzatto for a Guest Post :

Mr. Luzzatto, would you discuss for us what inspired you to write this book?

"I am always taken by surprise when a story line somehow finds its way into my consciousness and, once settled there, demands to be written. Then I’m stuck with it, whether I like it or not. And, unfortunately, those story ideas don't come equipped with a well thought-out plot; instead, you get this rather fuzzy but nagging image that won't go away until the story is fully developed. This is what happened to me with "The Evelyn Project".

Evelyn (or, rather Evelina, as she was named in my native Italy) was my great aunt. She died of tuberculosis in 1894. She was only 26 years old. My great-grandfather was an influential politician who left no stone unturned to try to save his daughter and got her the best medical care that was available at the turn-of-the-century, among which praying was probably the most effective measure.

Evelyn's studio portrait, which I used in the book cover, hangs on the wall beside my writing desk. My second daughter, Lilach, is her living image and her 26th birthday is approaching fast. That might have been a catalyst for me to write the book, although the sad story of Evelyn’s death was always a part of my family’s ethos; I must've sucked it in with my milk because I can't remember the first time her name was mentioned. When my parents died I was left with the responsibility to make sure that my family history would not be forgotten. That entailed a lot of reading in books, documents and letters, which brought Evelyn's figure increasingly to life for me. I learned of her warm relation with her father through letters she had written to him, and I discovered more than I already knew about my great-grandfather's devotion to her.

Throughout my reading and learning one persistent thought kept popping up in my head: today her death would have been an unnecessary tragedy; with readily-available antibiotics an otherwise healthy young woman would not have succumbed to her illness. So what if it was possible to go back in time and save her using medical technology commonly available today? It is probable that saving Evelyn's life would not have changed the course of history (contrary to what many science fiction books would predict), but even if it did, preventing her father's private hell would have been well worth the price.

Having got emotionally involved in her story I realized that I had to do more than just sit there and shake my head in sorrow. I couldn't just let Evelyn fade away in those yellowing papers. I had to do right by her (whatever that meant). My investigation of Evelyn’s misfortune allowed me to put myself in my great-grandfather's shoes, to feel the emotions that he must have felt (he was approximately my age when Evelyn died) and to test the length to which a father would go in an attempt, no matter how futile, to save his child.

Overall, writing this book turned out to be an exceptionally emotional journey for me. Sometimes I felt ashamed that I was enjoying writing it. Instead of dishing out a uniformly gloomy piece I was writing a fast-paced thriller that, beside the suspense, also has its hilarious moments.

This is not the first time that inspiration has come to me like an assignment from above without any real control from my side. I have learned not to fight the impulse and, instead, to embrace it and to allow myself to be taken on an emotional roller coaster ride without a clear vision of where the journey is likely to end.

I don't believe in stereotyping ghosts, so I won’t say that I recognize Evelyn's hand or my great-grandfather's stick behind my urge to write the story. It is true, however, that now I feel much closer to them than I did before; they have assumed characters and a presence so real that at times it feels as if we had actually met. I often wondered whether they would have grudged me the use I made of their characters in a commercial book, but something tells me that if they can see us they understand that this is my way to give Evelyn some of the life she has been denied, even if only on paper.

But this is not only about Evelyn. My great-grandfather was no less of a victim to her disease than she was. “The Evelyn Project” is my tribute to them both.

Interview with Mr. Luzzatto :

1)  What brought you to writing fiction?  What's your earliest recollection of wanting to write a book?

I actually wrote a short story when I was 12 years old. The plot was strong but, being honest with myself, I realized that the result stunk. So I hid it deep in my drawer and moved on. It took me some 30 years to sit down and do it again, and this time when I was done I liked what I read.

2)  Who are your favorite writers?  Why?

My list is very long but the four at the top are:
John Wyndham, because he writes science fiction that reads like real life;
P. G. Wodehouse, because nobody writes dialogue like him and because his are the best escapist books ever written;
Franz Kafka, because of his genius in devising haunting plots with multiple layers, and for writing books that make you skip dinner;
Robert A. Heinlein, because of his sparkling, down-to-earth, transparent (and often funny) writing.

3)  How did writing "The Evelyn Project" come about?

Evelyn was my great aunt, who died of tuberculosis at 26. I have always been intrigued by her and her relation with my great-grandfather (her father). I have three daughters and one of them is her living image and will be 26 this year. That got me thinking and I started researching the family archives. One thing led to another and here we are.

4)  Do you believe the spirits of our ancestors can "haunt" a family?

Not really. My favorite uncle, who died twenty years ago, promised to come back to haunt us but he’s been AWOL so far, so I guess that settles it.

5)  Open you book to page 78.  Tell us what's happening there...

It’s actually a defining moment in the book, when my two main characters really start to connect and an important sub-plot develops. Good choice of page!

6)  What do you like to do when you're on vacation?  Where's your favorite vacation spot?

 There is one place on earth that is the closest to Paradise as I can imagine it. It is called Cortina d’Ampezzo and is located in the Dolomites, which belong to the Italian Alps. There is where as a youngster I used to go mountain climbing in the summer and skiing in the winter. Give me some food and let me wander around in the mountains and in the woods; that’s all I need.

7)  If you could choose any time and any place to live, where would it be and what would your life be?

I guess I’m strange, but I tend to be happy with my life as it is, and that includes my home.

8)  Psychologists tell us that what we wanted to be as a 10 year old is a sign of what our true avocation is.  What did you want to be when you were ten?  How has it manifested itself in your life?

If my memory serves me well, I wanted to be a sailor. Since in later years I realized that I hate the sea, I guess that those psychologists were talking through their hats.

9)  Tell us about your next book!

"An Italian Obsession" is a different kind of book. Different, I mean, from what I have written so far. It is drama written as a very personal slice of life of an Italian youth, who is growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Although it is pure fiction, it is also a faithful testimony of middle class life in a healing post war society.

Thank you for visiting with A Bookish Libraria!  I wish you well in your writing endeavors and look forward to reading "An Italian Obsession!"



                       GIVEAWAY!!!!
For a giveaway of the book "The Evelyn Project" please leave a comment and your email address below:

Answering this question:  Who is one of Kfir Luzzatto's favorite authors?  ;]

*Giveaway for US and Canada only (choice of paperback or ebook)
   Contest ends August 31st, 2012

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"One Breath Away" by Heather Gudenkauf

In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom. Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits. Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town’s children in her hands. Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care. And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother. As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.

Particulars of the Book :

Publisher:  Harlequin/Mira

Pages:  343

Author:  Heather Gudenkauf

Genre:  Fiction/Suspense

Author website:  Heather Gudenkauf

Heather Gudenkauf is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels The Weight of Silence and These Things Hidden. She lives in Iowa with her family. Visit her website, HeatherGudenkauf.com.

 

 

 

The Bookish Dame's Review :

I was catching my breath multiple times as I read this book like a fast-moving train headed for a collision I knew I couldn't stop! Heather Gudenkauf kept me hooked on an adrenalin rush as I sped through her chapter vignettes of each character's reactions and reactions to a gunman holding elementary school children hostage during an unexpected, debilitating snowstorm in a small town. While the book sounds like a clone of Columbine, it's not. I'm sure there may be similarities in how we might imagine people react in certain horrifying situations, but the main focus of "One Breath Away" gives a fresh and piercing perspective that drew me away from the obvious and held my attention like the best of this genre can.

Ms Gudenkauf's use of the character's different inner dialogs and interactions makes this book run quickly. It blasts the plot along like a "just happening" news cast and makes it feel as if you're in the action...actually a part of it and thinking along with the characters. I felt myself reasoning and reacting along with Mrs. Oliver, the children, the grandfather and Officer Meg at different times. In fact the way she employs this certain device made me lose track of time and put me in the "real" situation. Just an out of body sense that was captivating.

The snowstorm played such a real part in the action that it caused me to be frustrated in the way it hampered progress toward finding out who the gunman was! That's anthropomorphic in real action!
I felt weighed down by it, pulled along as it caused everyone to slip and slide and move slower than I wanted them to in resolving the matter of who and how they'd get to the hostage holder in the school! I thought that was genius! A perfect counterpoint.

The townspeople were also quite interesting in their unity and in their sense of judging who the other was and was not. Small town gossips stood out. Small town helpers did, too. And, I was particularly frustrated by a family who had an opportunity to help everyone in the situation by allowing their child to be interviewed by the police, but refused. There are such selfish people in communities and it's just infuriating. I felt that like a hot slap!! Just one example of Gudenkauf's ability to move a reader.

This is an amazing book. It has all the unique elements of a suspense novel, and more. I highly recommend it.

Read an Excerpt

Holly

I'm in that lovely space between consciousness and sleep. I feel no pain thanks to the morphine pump and I can almost believe that the muscles, tendons and skin of my left arm have knitted themselves back together, leaving my skin smooth and pale. My curly brown hair once again falls softly down my back, my favorite earrings dangle from my ears and I can lift both sides of my mouth in a wide smile without much pain at the thought of my children. Yes, drugs are a wonderful thing. But the problem is that while the carefully prescribed and doled-out narcotics by the nurses wonderfully dull the edges of this nightmare, I know that soon enough this woozy, pleasant feeling will fall away and all that I will be left with is pain and the knowledge that Augie and P.J. are thousands of miles away from me. Sent away to the place where I grew up, the town I swore I would never return to, the house I swore I would never again step into, to the man I never wanted them to meet.

The tinny melody of the ringtone that Augie, my thirteen-year-old daughter, programmed into my cell phone is pulling me from my sleep. I open one eye, the one that isn't covered with a thick ointment and crusted shut, and call out for my mother, who must have stepped out of the room. I reach for the phone that is sitting on the tray table at the side of my bed and the nerve endings in my bandaged left arm scream in protest at the movement. I carefully shift my body to pick up the phone with my good hand and press the phone to my remaining ear.

"Hello." The word comes out half-formed, breathless and scratchy, as if my lungs were still filled with smoke.

"Mom?" Augie's voice is quavery, unsure. Not sounding like my daughter at all. Augie is confident, smart, a take-charge, no one is ever going to walk all over me kind of girl.

"Augie? What's the matter?" I try to blink the fuzziness of the morphine away; my tongue is dry and sticks to the roof of my mouth. I want to take a sip of water from the glass sitting on my tray, but my one working hand holds the phone. The other lies useless at my side. "Are you okay? Where are you?"

There are a few seconds of quiet and then Augie continues. "I love you, Mom," she says in a whisper that ends in quiet sobs.

I sit up straight in my bed, wide awake now. Pain shoots through my bandaged arm and up the side of my neck and face. "Augie, what's the matter?"
"I'm at school." She is crying in that way she has when she is doing her damnedest not to. I can picture her, head down, her long brown hair falling around her face, her eyes squeezed shut in determination to keep the tears from falling, her breath filling my ear with short, shallow puffs. "He has a gun. He has P.J. and he has a gun."
"Who has P.J.?" Terror clutches at my chest. "Tell me, Augie, where are you? Who has a gun?"
"I'm in a closet. He put me in a closet."
My mind is spinning. Who could be doing this? Who would do this to my children? "Hang up," I tell her. "Hang up and call 9-1-1 right now, Augie. Then call me back. Can you do that?" I hear her sniffles. "Augie," I say again, more sharply. "Can you do that?"
"Yeah," she finally says. "I love you, Mom," she says softly.
"I love you, too." My eyes fill with tears and I can feel the moisture pool beneath the bandages that cover my injured eye.
I wait for Augie to disconnect when I hear three quick shots, followed by two more and Augie's piercing screams.
I feel the bandages that cover the left side of my face peel away, my own screams loosening the adhesive holding them in place; I feel the fragile, newly grafted skin begin to unravel. I am scarcely aware of the nurses and my mother rushing to my side, tearing the phone from my grasp.

Augie

My pants are still damp from when Noah Plum pushed me off the shoveled sidewalk into a snowbank after we got off the bus and were on our way into school this morning. Noah Plum is the biggest asshole in eighth grade but for some reason I'm the only one who has figured this out and I've only lived here for eight weeks and everyone else has lived here for their entire lives. Except for maybe Milana Nevara, whose dad is from Mexico and is the town veterinarian. But she moved here when she was two so she may as well have been born here, anyway.
The classroom is freezing and my fingers are numb with the cold. Mr. Ellery says it's because it is not supposed to be below zero at the end of March and the boiler has been put out to pasture. Mr. Ellery, my teacher and one of the only good things about this school, is sitting at his desk grading papers. Everyone, except Noah, of course, is writing in their notebooks. Each day after lunch we start class with journal time and we can write about anything we want to during the first ten minutes of class. Mr. Ellery said we could even write the same word over and over for the entire time and Noah asked, "What if it's a bad word?"
"Knock yourself out," Mr. Ellery said, and everyone laughed. Mr. Ellery always gives time for people to read what they've written out loud if they'd like to. I've never shared. No way I'm going to let these morons know what I'm thinking. I've read Harriet the Spy and I keep my notebook with me all the time. Never let it out of my sight.
In my old school in Arizona, there were over two hundred eighth graders in my grade and we had different teachers for each subject. In Broken Branch there are only twenty-two of us so we have Mr. Ellery for just about every subject. Mr. Ellery, besides being really cute, is the absolutely best teacher I've ever had. He's funny, but never makes fun of anyone and isn't sarcastic like some teachers think is so hilarious. He also doesn't let people get away with making crap out of anyone. All he has to do is stare at the person and they shut up. Even Noah Plum.
Mr. Ellery always writes a journal prompt on the dry erase board in case we can't think of what to write about. Today he has written "During spring break I am going to…"
Even Mr. Ellery's stare doesn't work today; everyone is whispering and smiling because they are excited about vacation. "All right, folks," Mr. Ellery says. "Get down to work and if we have some time left over we'll play Pictionary."
"Yesss!" the kids around me hiss. Great. I open my notebook to the next clean page and begin writing.
"During spring break we're going to fly back to Arizona to see our mother." The only sounds in the classroom are the scratch of pencils on paper and Erika's annoying sniffles; she always has a runny nose and gets up twenty times a day to get a tissue. "I don't care if I ever see snow or cows ever again. I don't care if I ever see my grandfather again." I am hoping with all my might that instead of coming back to Broken Branch after spring break, my mother will be well enough for us to come home. My grandfather tells us this isn't going to happen. My mother is far from being able to come home from the hospital. My mom will be in Arizona until she is out of the hospital and well enough to get on a plane and come here so Grandma and Grandpa, who I met for the first time ever a couple months ago, can take care of all of us. But it doesn't matter what my grandpa says—after spring break, I am not coming back to Broken Branch.
A sharp crack, like a branch snapped in half during an ice storm, makes me look up from my notebook. Mr. Ellery hears it, too, and stands up from behind his desk and walks to the classroom door, steps into the hallway and comes back in shrugging his shoulders. "Looks like someone broke a window at the end of the hallway. I'm going to go check. You guys stay in your seats. I'll be right back."
Before he can even leave the classroom the shaky voice of Mrs. Lowell, the school secretary, comes on the intercom. "Teachers, this is a Code Red Lockdown. Go to your safe place."
A snort comes from Noah. "Go to your safe place," he says, mimicking Mrs. Lowell. No one else says a thing and we all stare at Mr. Ellery, waiting for him to tell us what to do next. I haven't been here long enough to know what a Code Red Lockdown is. But it can't be good.

Mrs. Oliver

The morning the man with the gun walked into Evelyn Oliver's classroom, she was wearing two items she had vowed during her forty-three-year career as a teacher never to wear. Denim and rhinestones. Mrs. Oliver was a firm believer that a teacher should look like a teacher. Well-groomed, blouses with collars, skirts and pantsuits crisply ironed, dress shoes polished. None of that nonsense younger teachers wore these days. Miniskirts, tennis shoes, plunging necklines. Tattoos, for goodness' sake. For instance, Mr. Ellery, the young eighth-grade teacher, had a tattoo on his right arm. A series of bold black slashes and swoops that Mrs. Oliver recognized as Asian in origin. "It means teacher in Chinese," Mr. Ellery, wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, told her after, embarrassingly, he caught her staring at his deltoid muscle one stifling-hot August afternoon during in-service week when all the teachers were preparing their classrooms for the school year. Mrs. Oliver sniffed in disapproval, but really she couldn't help but wonder how painful it must be to have someone precisely and methodically inject ink into one's skin.
Casual Fridays were the worst, with teachers, even the older ones, wearing denim and sweatshirts emblazoned with the school name and logo—the Broken Branch Consolidated School Hornets.
But on this unusually bitter March day, the last day school was in session before spring break, Mrs. Oliver had on the denim jumper she now knew she was going to die while wearing. Shameful, she thought, after all these years of razor-sharp pleats and itchy support hose.
Last week, after all the other third graders had left for the day, Mrs. Oliver had tentatively opened the crumpled striped pink-and-yellow gift bag handed to her by Charlotte, a skinny, disheveled eight-year-old with shoulder-length, burnished-black hair that chronically housed a persistent family of lice.
"What's this, Charlotte?" Mrs. Oliver asked in surprise. "My birthday isn't until this summer."
"I know," Charlotte answered with a gap-toothed grin. "But my mom and me thought you'd get more use out of it if I gave it to you now."
Mrs. Oliver expected to find an apple-scented candle or homemade cookies or a hand-painted birdhouse inside, but instead pulled out a denim stone-washed jumper with rhinestones painstakingly arranged in the shape of a rainbow twinkling up at her. Charlotte looked expectantly up at Mrs. Oliver through the veil of bangs that covered her normally mischievous gray eyes.
"I Bedazzled it myself. Mostly," Charlotte explained. "My mom helped with the rainbow." She placed a grubby finger on the colorful arch. "Roy V. Big. Red, orange, yellow, violet, blue, indigo, green. Just like you said." Charlotte smiled brightly, showing her small, even baby teeth, still all intact.
Mrs. Oliver didn't have the heart to tell Charlotte that the correct mnemonic for remembering the colors in the rainbow was Roy G. Biv, but took comfort in that fact that she at least knew all the colors of the rainbow if not the proper order. "It's lovely, Charlotte," Mrs. Oliver said, holding the dress in front of her. "I can tell you worked hard on it."
"I did," Charlotte said solemnly. "For two weeks. I was going to Bedazzle a birthday cake on the front but then my mom said you might wear it more if it wasn't so holidayish. I almost ran out of beads. My little brother thought they were Skittles."
"I will certainly get a lot of wear out of it. Thank you, Charlotte." Mrs. Oliver reached over to pat Charlotte on the shoulder and Charlotte immediately leaned in and wrapped her arms around Mrs. Oliver's thick middle, pressing her face into the buttons of her starched white blouse. Mrs. Oliver felt a tickle beneath her iron-gray hair and resisted the urge to scratch.
It was Mrs. Oliver's husband, Cal, who had convinced her to wear the dress. "What can it hurt?" he asked just this morning when he caught her standing in front of her open closet, looking at the jumper garishly glaring right back at her.
"I don't wear denim to school, and I'm certainly not going to start wearing it just before I retire," she said, not looking him in the eye, remembering how Charlotte had rushed eagerly into the classroom at the beginning of the week to see if she was wearing the dress.
"She worked on it for two weeks," Cal reminded her at the breakfast table.
"It's not professional," she snapped, thinking of how on each passing day this week, Charlotte's shoulders wilted more and more as she entered the room to find her teacher wearing her typical wool-blend slacks, blouse and cardigan.
"Her fingers bled," Cal said through a mouthful of oatmeal.
"It's supposed to be ten below outside today. It's too cold to wear a dress," Mrs. Oliver told her husband, miserably picturing how Charlotte wouldn't even look her way yesterday, defiantly pursing her lips and refusing to answer any questions directed at her.
"Wear long johns and a turtleneck underneath," her husband said mildly, coming up behind her and kissing her on the neck in the way that even after forty-five years of marriage caused her to shiver deliciously.

Because he was right—Cal was always right—she had brushed him away in irritation and told him she was going to be late for school if she didn't get dressed right then. Wearing the jumper, she left him sitting at the kitchen table finishing his oatmeal, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. She hadn't told him she loved him, she hadn't kissed his wrinkled cheek in goodbye. "Don't forget to plug in the Crock-Pot," she called as she stepped outside into the soft gray morning. The sun hadn't emerged yet, but it was the warmest it would be that day, the temperature tumbling with each passing hour. As she climbed into her car to make the twenty-five-minute drive from her home in Dalsing to the school in Broken Branch, she didn't realize it could be the last time she made that journey.

It was worth it, she supposed, after seeing Charlotte's face transform from jaded disappointment to pure joy when she saw that Mrs. Oliver was actually wearing the dress. Of course Cal was right. Wearing the impractical, gaudy thing wouldn't hurt anything; she'd had to suffer the raised eyebrows in the teacher's lounge, but that was nothing new. And it obviously had meant a lot to Charlotte, who was now cowering in her desk along with fifteen other third graders, gaping up at the man with the gun. At least, Mrs. Oliver thought, shocking herself with the inappropriateness of the idea, if he shot her in the chest, she couldn't be buried in the damn thing.

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"The Book of James" by Ellen J. Green~A Stunning Read!

A terrible car crash sets things in motion for 31 year old Mackenzie when her critically injured husband, Nick, whispers warnings that someone from his past may attempt to harm or kill her after his passing. He urges her to travel to Philadelphia to his childhood home. Find James, he insists. It's the only way out.

His last words are pushed to the side in the aftermath of his death, as Mackenzie is consumed with grief. Until the things he had spoken of start to come true.

Mackenzie's search brings her to the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, to the 19th century mansion where her husband was raised, and face to face with a mother-in-law she didn't know existed. The two women each have an agenda. Cora, a recluse, worries that her son revealed devastating childhood secrets to his wife. Mackenzie is concerned that unless she uncovers those secrets and finds the elusive James, she may not survive. The two women circle around one another, hunter and prey. But which is which?

As the plot unfolds Mackenzie becomes more driven and takes increasingly dangerous risks while Cora’s precarious mental state rapidly deteriorates forcing her to relive a past she has worked so hard to keep buried.

A gallery of photographs in the bowels of the house holds clues to generations of abuse, treachery and possibly murder. Messages hidden in Nick’s childhood Bible within the Epistle of James have Mackenzie racing against time to put the pieces together, unearth the reasons her husband chose to vanish when he was sixteen years old, and locate the person mentioned in Nick’s dying breath.

When James is finally found, the results are more horrifying than Mackenzie could have ever imagined.


Particulars of the Book:

Publisher: BookBaby

Publication date: 5/26/2012

Sold by: Barnes & Noble

Format: eBook

Pages: 470

The Dame's Review :
"The Book of James" is a startling and absorbing read.  I started reading it weeks ago just before I changed computers, and then lost it in the shuffle!  It was like a punch to the solar plexis because I loved the book and couldn't get to the ending....like watching "Rosemary's Baby" and not being able to find out what happened!  Not that I'm comparing this book to that one...just the idea of a fabulous gothic suspense/mystery that rivets you and won't let you sleep at night until you get to the final answer.  That's the stuff of this book.  It's just a page turner from the start.  PS:  I did get another copy of the book and was able to finish it!  LOL

While the gothic and mysterious is a huge draw of this book, one of the central keys to making this a top shelf novel is Ms Green's writing skills, absolutely, stand alone.  She is brilliant in creating suspense and dialog.  Her story starts with a crashing bang from the get-go and it doesn't let up.  Characters are illusive and beautiful and her ability to manipulate them to create atmosphere and mystery are indicative of a gifted writer.  I was thinking of strong writers such as Patricia Cornwell and Lisa Jackson and others while I was reading this book.  Although, Ms Green has a wonderful style of  her own that is edgy and gothic which is a delight to my heart, personally, to add to the mix.

The central character, Mackenzie, is the woman we all know we'd be in the similar situation.  She's feisty and strong-minded.  I loved her bravery and brains from the beginning of the tragedy of losing her husband to her eventual discovery of all his secrets.  The opening scenes of losing her husband were stellar and rang clear to me as a widow who nearly lost my husband in the blink of an eye.  Ellen Green knows shock and grief and many more of the emotions Mackenzie and others of  her characters experience throughout this book.  She not only knows them, but she can translate them to words and make you feel them which is also the sign of a gifted writer.

I can only highly recommend "The Book of James" to you as one of the finest gothic suspense novels of this year.  It's a book that should be jumping off the book shelves if it were in paperback.  For now, you can find it in ebook format.  I think we're sure to be hearing more from and about Ellen J. Green in the future.  I'm one of her biggest fans!!  Go get a copy of this one for a night this weekend.  You'll be up all night reading....  :]

5 stars                  Deborah/TheBookishDame



About the Author :

Website:  Ellen J. Green

I was born and raised in upstate NY and moved to the Philadelphia area to go to college. I graduated with degrees in psychology. Although writing has always been my first love I somehow took a left turn in life and ended up as a therapist in a maximum security correctional facility.---for the past 7 years. (plenty of fodder for writing there, I can tell you).

I have been published three times in various magazines, (True Confessions, Woman's World) The Book of James is my first novel. I am starting a Masters degree program in creative writing in the fall.

Please visit SupraGurl Tours for more information and to visit more tours of "The Book of James" featuring giveaways, guest posts and interviews of Ms Green

Purchase this book on:  Amazon or Barnes & Noble

where it's getting nothing but 5 star reviews!!

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Kindle Fire Giveaway!! "Artists and Thieves" by Linda Schroeder

Where there is art, there are thieves. Mai Ling is both. Artist by day, thief by night, she recovers stolen art for Interpol. It's a business, not a passion, until her beloved grandfather reveals a family secret that is also a destiny. He is duty-bound to return to China an especially precious bowl which belonged to his ancestor. Mai must steal it for him. But Mai Ling is not the only one after the bowl. Four others plan to extract the bowl from a private California art collection. The rival thieves grasp and then lose the bowl until finally Mai is faced with the ultimate dilemma: save the bowl or save herself. Her duty to her grandfather gives her only one choice. Set against the vibrant backdrop of the Monterey Peninsula and peopled with quirky characters, this stylish art caper entertains on every page.

Particulars of the Book:
Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: INDI Best, INDI Publishing Group



About the Author:

Linda Schroeder divides her time between the bright sun of California and the high mountains of Colorado. She has a Master’s degree in English and one in Communicative Disorders/Audiology. In addition to her novel, Artists & Thieves, she has published a college text.

Her early interest in English expanded to include language disorders and she began a second career as an audiologist and aural rehabilitation therapist working with deaf and hard-of-hearing children and adults.

Currently, she studies and practices Chinese brush painting, celebrating the vitality and energy of nature. She follows art and art theft blogs and writes her own blog about art and sometimes includes reviews of novels. She is working on two more novels, a second Mai Ling novel about the Diamond Sutra, and a Sammy Chan art mystery about the forgery of a Goya painting.

You can visit her website at www.artistsandthieves.com.

Ms Schroeder Joins A Bookish Libraria With This Guest Post!

            "NEVER BORE YOUR READER: FIVE QUICK TIPS FOR WRITERS"

         I compose using my computer, but I rewrite with a pencil. Not just any pencil. A white pencil with black script down its length which says, three times, “I will not make any more boring art.”  It’s a quote from John Baldessari, the famous artist. I have a dozen of these pencils. I bought them at the Palm Springs Art Museum when they had a show of Baldessari’s works. I also bought his eraser stamped in black ink WRONG.

          Now what else does a writer need? A pencil and an eraser. You write your story, then you rewrite and erase the boring parts.

          If only that were easy.

          I’m not sure how many things Baldessari finds boring—palm trees, he says, are mundane. I know what I find boring in novels—characters who stand still while they talk,  characters whose bodies never feel anything, action scenes bogged down by long sentences, bland settings as if color and smell don’t exit.

          My art mystery, Artists & Thieves,won the San Diego Book Awards in the action/suspense category. Many readers tell me that they can see exactly what is happening. My editor, Mary Holden, said it was as visual as a movie. I had a lot of help getting it to that point. Here are just a few things that worked for me.

           TIP #1  When you write dialogue, envision yourself as a stage director. Put the characters on stage and tell them what gestures to make, what way to turn, where to walk while they read their lines. And put those actions in between some of the lines of dialogue. Then you won’t end up with talking heads—line after line of disembodied speech like two answering machines on “playback.”

          Tip # 2  Things that happen to your characters cause physical or emotional reactions. Acknowledge them. Stomachs lurch, jaws tighten, eyebrows arch, fingers tingle, eyes blink, muscles cramp, pain consumes, sobs shake, tears fall.

          Tip #3  Short sentences reflect the fast pace of an action scene: “The gun fired. He screamed and fell into the river. She ran.”   Forget something like this:  “After the gun’s loud report and the speeding bullet had smashed into his already bleeding torso, he flailed his arms as a loud wail left his lips and he lost his footing, tumbling headlong into the swift current of the Sacramento River so that she had to run alone with all her might to get away from the possibility of a second bullet coming at her.”

          Tip #4 The world is full of interesting places in which to place your characters. Smelly wharfs, dusty rodeos, grungy cafes, disinfected hospital rooms, fragrant flower fields, wet street corners, flashy car dealerships, stinky classrooms.  Don’t put your characters anywhere unless you know exactly what that place looks like, what odors are there, what things feel like there. That’s your job. The mood of the story depends on sensory information. 

          Tip # 5 Learn what is boring in your story by showing it to someone who knows how to choose words, craft a scene, develop characters, fashion a plot. In other words, a professional writer. Take writing classes. Go to writing conventions. Join a critique group. Find the genre groups in your area. Most groups have open meetings.

          And above all, don’t make any more boring art.

More About "Artists and Thieves:"

Winner of the 2011 San Diego Book Awards, Action/Suspense category

Find the book on:  Amazon  and  Barnes & Noble

Enter Here to Win A Kindle Fire!



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"Love and Genius" by Sara Kay Jordan ~ Spotlight

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Overview:  Dr. Kathryn Archer is a brilliant woman and a well-respected scientist. She is also beautiful, strong and painfully isolated from the world around her. A dark past has taught her to guard her heart and it is a lesson she learned too soon and far too well.

Major Joe Moore is a handsome man, a soldier at the top of the army's most elite group. As a single father Joe is dedicated to his son and his career and he has put the pain and loss of his past behind him.

When Joe is charged with solving a military mystery he seeks out Kathryn's expertise to help guide him. Their sparks fly immediately and it's soon more than one puzzle they are trying to solve. Can they find the answers they are charged to seek when all they can feel is the heat building between them?

This is the story of their beginning. Their first, heady, romantic, steps toward the incredible family they create together

About the Author:

Sara Kay Jordan holds a BA in English, and is a lifelong daydreamer, a combination that prepared her in equal measure to pursue her dream to be a writer. The first novel in her Moore Family Series was released in 2011 to warm praise. Her own family includes two grown children and one cranky old dog. Sara lives in Springfield, MO.

Moore Family Series titles include:

Snatching Genius

Love & Genius

Follow her online at sarakayjordan.com

Twitter @sarakayjordan and on Pintrest as SaraKayJordan

The Book In A Nutshell:

Ms Jordan tells us about her book ~

Love & Genius, is a love story. It tells the story of how two incredible people meet, fight, and fall in love, before creating the amazing family we follow in the rest of the series.

Dr. Kathryn Archer is a brilliant woman and a well-respected scientist. She is also beautiful, strong and painfully isolated from the world around her. A dark past has taught her to guard her heart and it is a lesson she learned too soon and far too well.

Major Joe Moore is a handsome man, a soldier at the top of the army’s most elite group. As a single father, Joe is dedicated to his son and his career and he has put the pain and loss of his past behind him.

When Joe is charged with solving a military mystery he seeks out Kathryn’s expertise to help guide him. Their sparks fly immediately and it’s soon more than one puzzle they are trying to solve. Can they find the answers they are charged to seek when all they can feel is the heat building between them?

This is the story of their beginning. Their first, heady, romantic, steps toward the incredible family they create together. A love story as remarkable as the family they become.

Pick up "Love and Genius" and Ms Jordan's other books on Amazon today!

Deborah/TheBookishDame

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"Charlie: A Love Story" by Barbara Lampert~ A dog with spirit and character!

Charlie: A Love Story tells of the beautiful love between Charlie, a Golden Retriever, and the author, Barbara Lampert. It takes place in Malibu, California. When Charlie turned eleven years old and started having some health problems, a journal Barbara was keeping about her garden quickly became mostly about Charlie.

Because it emerged out of Barbara's gardening journal, Charlie's story developed against a background of her gardening activities and images of her extensive cottage garden. And because it is in journal form, Charlie: A Love Story is told while it is happening and is mostly uncensored, providing an intimate look at the bond between Charlie and Barbara, an incredible connection between a canine and a human. And as a psychotherapist who specializes in relationships, Barbara brings that sensibility and understanding to Charlie's story as well.

Charlie was Barbara's loyal confidante and best friend. He was indomitable, had a zest for life and an uncanny emotional intelligence. As Barbara says in her book:"Charlie's a big dog, not just physically but in every way. He has a big heart, a big smile, lots of courage, a big appetite, and a great, big, generous spirit. Charlie's the emotional core of our family, the most solid being I have ever known, and wise beyond his years. Charlie and me. It's a great love affair, a once-in-a-lifetime connection."Charlie: A Love Story is about devotion, joy, loss, and renewal, about never giving up or giving in. But mostly it's about an extraordinary dog and an extraordinary relationship.


About the Author:

Barbara Lampert is a psychotherapist in private practice in Brentwood, California for more than 20 years. She has a Ph.D. in medical sociology and two master's degrees - one in psychology and one in sociology. She lives in Malibu, California. The passion of her life is dogs!

The Bookish Dame Welcomes Ms Lampert to write a Guest Post :

How did you write “like a dog?” How did you get into Charlie’s head in telling your story?

Thank you for having me on your wonderful site and for this very thought-provoking question!


Oh how I wish I could have known exactly what Charlie was thinking! I know that a lot was going on in his head. He was so wise and seemed to understand so much. But I’m wondering if we can ever know exactly what’s going on in the head of a dog – or another animal for that matter. How difficult it is at times for people to articulate what’s going on their own heads. As a psychotherapist I’m in the business of listening to people express what they’re thinking and feeling, and I see the difficulty people have at times even doing that.


So I would say that believing we know definitively what an animal or other being is thinking is questionable. And because dogs explore the world mostly with their noses and we do so mostly with our eyes, there is likely to be a vast difference between the way people and their best friends think.

Charlie’s story came out of a gardening journal I was keeping. When Charlie turned eleven years old and started having some health problems, I started writing about him, and within a short time that journal became mostly about him. It wasn’t until approximately two years into the writing that it occurred to me that my journal entries about Charlie might become a book.

In telling Charlie’s story, I was always concerned with what Charlie might want or what he might be thinking or feeling. We were so close that I think I was right in most instances. I could look in his eyes and almost read his thoughts.

But my primary focus was to tell Charlie’s story the way he might have liked it to be told and to give him the dignity and respect he deserved. And for me that meant being very careful not to assume anything I didn’t know for sure. Instead, I wanted people to know how extraordinary he truly was. That his spirit was indomitable. That he faced life’s challenges better than any being I have ever known. And I think Charlie would have wanted people to know about his sense of humor, his very funny ways, the joy he got by making me and others laugh. Most of all, I tried to convey my profound and endless love for Charlie and his deep, loyal, and abiding love for me.

Again, thank you so much for hosting me today. I’ve enjoyed being here! Charlie too, I think!

Thank you, Ms Lampert!  I loved Charlie's story and how you were able to express the magical relationship that occurs between precious dogs and their owners/fellow travelers.  You absolutely conveyed Charlies sense of humor and his way of communicating with you. It's an extraordinary story.

Please follow Tribute Books blog tour by clicking here:

The official site is:
http://charlie-a-love-story.blogspot.com/

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