"The Dead of Summer: A Piper Blackwell Mystery" by Jean Rabe

While attending the county fair with her boyfriend, Piper finds herself thrust into the middle of a major crisis. One of the rides malfunctions and breaks apart, causing a number of injuries & some deaths before it completely falls to pieces. So much for a relaxing evening at the fair. Piper & all of the other department staff are immediately on duty, helping to rescue injured fairgoers and investigating what happened and who, if anyone, was at fault. But this is only the beginning of the problems Piper faces in this story.

The next day, one of the other members of the Sheriff’s department discovers that the owner of the local comic book store, Sam Silver, has been gruesomely murdered in his own home and several other of Sam’s regular customers have gone missing. There seems to be no motive behind this murder, and the more they look into it, the stranger the case seems to become. Between these two problems, Piper and everyone else involved with the Sheriff’s office are kept quite busy.

This third book in the Piper Blackwell series is every bit as addictive as the first two books in the series were. The story told kept me reading far longer into the evenings than I should have been and was full of enough twists and turns to keep me guessing as to what was really happening. Every time I thought I had a reasonable guess, something more fell into place to start making me look at it in another way.

Who was Sam Silver, and why would anyone have wanted to torture and kill the local comic store owner? Ms. Rabe has once again written a fantastic tale that will likely keep others as just as engrossed in the story as I was. If you like mysteries, I strongly recommend giving this one a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

"When the Leaves Begin to Fall" A Romance Anthology

This anthology contains romantic stories written by 9 different authors. I found each story to be unique and very interesting. While a few of the stories could have used another round with an editor/proofreader, they all held my interest and made me want to keep reading through to the end.

One of the things that I really liked with this anthology was that each story seemed to focus on a different aspect or type of love and romance. Each story in this book was well worth the time I spent reading it. One thing I do feel the need to warn the reader about is that a few of the stories have some graphically descriptive sex scenes within them, and thus not all of the stories in this book are appropriate for younger readers.

Another thing to be aware of is that this book is only going to be available for a very limited time. The proceeds from the sales of this book will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charity. It is a very good cause and well deserving of the support it will receive from the sales of this book.

If tales of romance interest you, I would definitely recommend picking this one up before it is gone!

"Journey to Where" by Steven Paul Leiva

A group of scientists have a rare opportunity to use a supercollider to test out a theory they have been working on. Unfortunately for them, something goes horribly wrong with their experiment when a jealous former colleague secretly changes one number in an equation, attempting to cause their experiment to fail. What happens instead is something quite different than expected, and they all find themselves waking up in a world full of dinosaurs.

What happens when these scientists find themselves somewhere that humans had never evolved? Instead, the dinosaurs had risen to prominence and were now the dominant intelligent species on the planet. Can they manage to find a way to survive in this new world? And will they ever be able to find a way back to their old existence?

This was definitely a fun book to read. The author has created a very interesting and unique world full of intelligent dinosaurs and where humans as we know them have never existed. Seeing how the trapped humans learn to overcome many of the problems that stem from the language barriers gave a unique perspective on what happens when our lives are suddenly, drastically, and completely altered from what we had previously known.

I enjoyed seeing how the characters dealt with the problems and challenges of finding themselves suddenly in a world full of intelligent dinosaurs who spoke a different language from themselves. It was fascinating to see them trying to prove their intelligence to a species that shared no common history or language.

Overall I found it to be a very well written and compelling story that I believe others will enjoy as well. I know that I really enjoyed reading it. Recommended.

"Arthur Rex: Ex Lapis" by J.A. Cummings

This book begins with a scene that those of us who enjoy tales about King Arthur and his knights are very familiar with. We get to see a young Arthur Pendragon reveal his true birthright by travelling to Londinium and pulling the sword from the stone when everyone else has failed. As expected, there are some who immediately acknowledge him as their king, while others refuse to believe that it is more than merely a trick to have “Merlin’s puppet” seated upon the throne. And so, it seems that war is inevitable.

In this book, we see a combination of both the familiar stories and an original take on the legend shared by Ms. Cummings. King Arthur is a wonderful tale that has been described in many ways by many writers, but I enjoyed this version. Here, we see how he was not immediately prepared and had to train hard in fighting, battle tactics, as well as study diplomacy and negotiations before he took charge. And while he was always calmer and more determined than those around him, he also knew enough to know how much more he still needed to learn and was prepared to work hard to do so.

One thing for the reader to be aware of is that like the first book in the series, there is a good deal of rather descriptive sex in this book. I believe that all of it was a necessary part of this story and describes how Arthur grows to become the man he is destined to be, but some might find it to be more than they were looking for in an arthurian tale. It is definitely not a story meant for younger readers

This book takes us into the early reign of King Arthur, still in the days when he was fighting to unite the kingdom and find a way to make it a better place for everyone, not just those rich and powerful enough to have whatever or whomever they wished. I enjoyed reading this author’s take on what to me is a fairly familiar tale. (I have long been a fan of Arthurian stories in their many different incarnations.) I greatly enjoyed reading it and I believe that others will as well. I am looking forward to seeing where this author decides to take this tale next. Recommended for those who enjoy King Arthur stories.

"The Outlaw Mail Order Bride and her Hardened Hero" by Florence Linnington

Alice was trying to change her life. She no longer wanted to run with an outlaw gang, but Willie refused to let her go. He’d declared that she was his and that he would kill anyone who got in his way. Not wanting to be with Willie or to bring suffering to anyone else, Alice decided to run away and to keep running for as long as she possibly could. She answered an ad from a preacher seeking a wife and journeyed out to the town of Calico as the first stop in her escape. Her plan was to stay for a little while and then move on, but she found herself falling in love with Gabe. Can she really just abandon him and continue to run? But what if Willie finds her? He’s made no secret of the fact that he would kill to keep Alice to himself.

I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy. I really enjoyed the story, but the early version that I received contained a number of errors. I contacted the author and let her know about the ones that I was finding and she replied, saying that she was looking into them and making corrections. Once she completes those corrections (which should be before publication, but likely after I read the book), it should be even more enjoyable than the version that I read.

Before the author’s corrections, I would give this book 3 stars because of the errors that needed fixing. But once those corrections have been made, I would rate it at 4 stars because I really enjoyed the story that was told.

"A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" by S.E. Meyer

Montana Moon has been staying with Lonewolf, the man deemed a wanted criminal that she was supposed to be hunting, But during the course of her stay, she has learned the truth about him and his supposedly criminal actions. He has actually only been trying to help save humanity.

Eating the fresh grown food that he gives her, Montana’s health and mental acuity have improved. In fact, her whole being feels clearer and much more alive. But while she has learned a good deal of the truth about what is truly happening, there is obviously still much to learn and even more work to be done if she is to save everyone else.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a fascinating dystopian story involving a disease that no one seemed to be sure where it came from and that apparently has no cure. Once it strikes, a person must regularly undergo expensive “treatments” to keep it at bay. But what if there is another way to deal with it, one that the government doesn’t want the public to know about?

This book did have a few more typos than I noticed in the first book, but the story more than made up for them. It kept me reading through to the end, and my only real disappointment with it was in realizing that the third book in the series still has a bit of time before it’s release date. I will definitely be looking forward to being able to get the third book in the series and learning about what happens next for Montana Wool.

This was a book I really enjoyed reading and I think others will too, especially if you enjoyed the first book in the series. Recommended.

"One Can Heal" by Clara C. Johnson

I’m not usually much of a reader of poetry, but this was an emotional collection of poems that seem to highlight the high and low points of the author’s life. Some of the poems shared with us here really spoke to me and held great meaning, while others I wasn’t really certain what to make of them. As I mentioned, I don’t tend to read very much poetry and have never attempted to write a poem myself. As such, I have a hard time putting into words a review of a collection of poems.

I did enjoy reading the poems as well as the insight into the author’s life that they gave, but I suspect that those who regularly read poetry will find even greater meaning and understanding in this collection than I did. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy reading this collection, (Believe me, I did enjoy it), only that poetry isn’t something that I often tend to reach for when looking for a book to read.

I believe that those who are more familiar with poetry collections than I usually am will find even greater meaning and enjoyment in this collection of very emotionally charged poems, but even if not, I do think there is something within this collection for anyone looking to find a poem that resonates with something in their own lives.