#CoverReveal The Rising Storm by Ceri A. Lowe @cerilowepetrask @bookouture #Dystopian

I know...I know...I shouldn't judge a book by its cover but OMG! Have you seen this one????

The Rising Storm by Ceri A. Lowe @cerilowepetrask @bookouture #YA #Dystopian

I can't wait to read this...love me some DYSTOPIA!

Title: The Rising Storm

Author: Ceri A. Lowe

Publisher: Bookouture 

Releases: April 4, 2018 available NOW for pre-order on Amazon

About the Book:

An addictive and gripping dystopian series, perfect for fans of The Girl Who Dared to Think, The Hunger Games and The Gender Game.
What if the end of the world was just the beginning?
15-year-old Alice Davenport was a loner and an outcast before the Storms swept away everything she knew. Saved from the ravaged remains of London by the mysterious and all-powerful Paradigm Industries, her fierce independence and unique skills soon gain her recognition from the highest levels of command. But their plans to rebuild civilisation from scratch mean destroying all remnants of the past – no matter what, or who, gets left behind.

Alice must decide if she will fight for the old world, or the new…

Decades later, 15-year-old Carter Warren is woken from the Catacombs after years of cryonic sleep. He’s determined to do whatever it takes to climb the ranks to Controller General - until he realises the Industry’s control methods have become harsher than ever. The Barricades make sure nothing from the Deadlands can get in to the Community – and no one can get out. And a shocking discovery about his own family causes Carter to question everything he’s ever known… 

As Alice becomes entangled in the Industry’s plan for the future, and Carter delves into the secrets of his past, they must make sacrifices which threaten to tear them apart. And both of them are forced to confront an impossible question… 
Would you dare to risk it all for the perfect world?

(*Previously published as Paradigm) 

About the Author:

When Ceri isn’t writing, she’s a self-employed project management consultant specialising in financial services. She lives in Bristol, England and has various obsessions including all things Spanish, travelling and, of course, writing.

In the last two years she’s won the Global Short Stories annual prize, the Flash 500 Award, the Story Star Publishing Prize and the Writers’ Forum Short Story competition. She’s also been placed and published in the Exeter Short Story Prize, Word Hut Short Story Competition; & Henshaw Prize. In 2013, she was also long-listed in the Bristol Prize and Lightship Publishing Awards.

Available now for pre-order on Amazon

Deadly Disguise by Cherie O'Boyle #BookReview #CozyMystery @CheOBoyle @Joni2345zb

 
Deadly Disguise by Cherie O'Boyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Details
Publisher: Cherie O'Boyle, 215 pages
Publish Date:February 7, 2017 
Genre:Cozy Mystery



Blurb from Goodreads
...bodies falling... Estela Nogales is caught in the middle when the perfect murder sets off chaos during final exams week. Together with Detective Munoz, who is stymied by the lack of evidence and witnesses scattering for the summer, Estela must use her acute powers of observation to help identify the killer. One calamity after another disrupts the investigation, and Estela is pursued at every turn by the mysterious figure in the hat, even home to Arroyo Loco where a fresh set of crises are unleashed.


My Review
Fans will enjoy this newest installment, book number four of the Estela Nogales Mystery series. Deadly Disguise by Cherie O’Boyle is a cleverly written cozy mystery that hooked me right from the start.

The story takes place in a neat little community called Arroyo Loco, in the hills east of Morro Bay, California. The explanation regarding how the name Arroyo Loco came about is hilarious. The main character is Estela Nogales, Ph.D who works at a college as a counselor and instructor. The story is told in her point of view. Estela owns two Border Collie therapy dogs named Scout and Shiner. The two dogs also moonlight on a sheep farm herding you guessed it…sheep!

I loved many of Estela’s quirky neighbors. The interaction and dialogue between the characters was spot-on. Helen was one of my favorites because she was soooo annoying and inappropriate but in a funny way. There were many laugh-out-loud moments for me including this one:
 
Helen was supposed to be inside comforting Freda, but as I approached I could hear Freda screeching. Helen’s presence can sometimes have that effect on people.

The author was able to keep me guessing who-dun-it until the end. I would definitely read more from Cherie O’Boyle and recommend this book to anyone who loves a good cozy mystery mixed with some humor and of course the Border Collies. I loved it! Five out of five stars for Deadly Disguise!!!

Thank you Cherie O’Boyle and Cozy Mystery Review Crew for providing me with a review copy of this book to read.

Into The Black Nowhere by @MegGardiner1 @DuttonBooks #Mystery #Thriller #BookReview @Joni2345zb

 
Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Details
Publisher: Dutton Books, 384 pages
Publish Date:January 30, 2018
Genre:Mystery, Thriller, Suspense



Blurb from Goodreads
Inspired by real-life serial killer Ted Bundy, an exhilarating thriller in which FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix faces off against a charming, merciless serial killer

In southern Texas, on Saturday nights, women are disappearing. One vanishes from a movie theater. Another is ripped from her car at a stoplight. Another vanishes from her home while checking on her baby. Rookie FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix, newly assigned to the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, fears that a serial killer is roaming the dark roads outside Austin.

Caitlin and the FBI's serial crime unit discover the first victim's body in the woods. She's laid out in a bloodstained, white baby-doll nightgown. A second victim in a white nightie lies deeper in the forest's darkness. Both bodies are surrounded by Polaroid photos, stuck in the earth like headstones. Each photo pictures a woman in a white negligee, wrists slashed, suicide-style--posed like Snow White awaiting her prince's kiss.

To track the UNSUB, Caitlin must get inside his mind. How is he selecting these women? Working with a legendary FBI profiler, Caitlin searches for a homology--that elusive point where character and action come together. She profiles a confident, meticulous killer who convinces his victims to lower their guard until he can overpower and take them in plain sight. He then reduces them to objects in a twisted fantasy--dolls for him to possess, control, and ultimately destroy. Caitlin's profile leads the FBI to focus on one man: a charismatic, successful professional who easily gains people's trust. But with only circumstantial evidence linking him to the murders, the police allow him to escape. As Saturday night approaches, Caitlin and the FBI enter a desperate game of cat and mouse, racing to capture the cunning predator before he claims more victims.


My Review
Fans will enjoy this newest installment, book number two of the UNSUB series. Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner is a great nail-biting thriller and I enjoyed every minute of it.

My favorite character was Caitlin Hendrix, a member of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. She is a smart tough agent but is realistic when she shows some weakness also. The killer in this novel was so good at reading and manipulating people that he was able to pick up on Caitlin’s weakness during their interaction.

I found the book was hard to put down especially when you get to the high-paced and intense “chase” of the killer. Throughout the book the killer toyed with the FBI, drawing them to himself for a showdown at the end. And what a showdown it was!

There was no getting bored with this one as the author brilliantly kept me wanting to know what was going to happen next. Author Meg Gardiner has written a novel that makes for an edgy and exciting read. If you are a fan of well-written crime thrillers then this is a story you don’t want to miss. I would definitely read more from this author and recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller. Four out of five stars for Into the Black Nowhere!!!

Thank you Meg Gardiner, Dutton Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of this book to read.

The Pact by @SELynesAuthor @bookouture #Thriller #BookReview @Joni2345zb

 
The Pact by S.E. Lynes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Details
Publisher: Bookouture, 352 pages
Publish Date:February 27, 2018
Genre:Mystery, Thriller, Suspense


Blurb from Goodreads
You made a promise to your sister. It could destroy your daughter.

The Daughter
15-year-old Rosie lies in hospital fighting for her life. She’s trying to tell her mother what happened to her, and how she got there, but she can’t speak the words out loud.

The Mother
Rosie’s mother Toni has a secret. She had a traumatic childhood, and she and her sister Bridget made each other a promise thirty years ago: that they could never speak the truth about what happened to them as children, and that they would protect each other without asking for help from others, no matter what…
Rosie was Toni’s second chance to get things right: a happy, talented girl with her whole life ahead of her. Having lost her husband in a tragic accident, Toni has dedicated her life to keeping Rosie safe from harm.

But Rosie has plans that her mother doesn’t know about. She has dreams and ambitions – of love, of a career, of a life beyond the sheltered existence that her mother has created for her. But the secrets Rosie has been keeping have now put her life in danger.

The Pact
In order to save Rosie, Toni may have to break her lifelong promise to her sister… and open doors to her past she hoped would remain closed forever.

My Review
WOW! I can’t stop thinking about The Pact by S.E. Lynes. This is a story about two sisters, Toni and Bridget, who formed a pact 30 years ago when they were children. The promise to one another was they could never speak the truth about their abusive childhood, and they would always protect one another without involving others.

The author grabbed my attention at the very beginning and brilliantly kept me on the edge of my seat as I tried to figure out what was going on. You know that something bad has happened and little by little the layers are peeled away to reveal more. I loved all three of the main characters, Toni, Bridget, and Rosie (Toni’s teenage daughter). Through these characters you are able to see how childhood abuse affects each of them in different ways over a period of many years. Each chapter was told from a different point of view. I did find I needed to be focused while reading because of the way it would switch from points of view as well as back and forth in time.

Overall I thought this was a very perplexing and cleverly written thriller. The author did a great job telling the character’s troubled backstories. The build-up to the ending was amazing. The truth is carefully masked right up to the novel’s conclusion and the little twist as the end was totally unexpected. I would definitely read more from S.E. Lynes and recommend The Pact to anyone who loves a good psychological thriller. Five out of five stars for The Pact!!!

Thank you S.E. Lynes, Bookouture, and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of this book to read.