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Reading has always been a gift and each book a
beautifully wrapped window to another world. I've visited wonderful places and
gone on some grand adventures.
This past couple of weeks has been incredibly busy and
rather stressful. I read more when times are rough or stressful. It’s a form
escape but it’s also a way to calm my mind. Times like this I don’t accept new
books for review. Reading to review is a job. You read with a different mindset
than when reading for pleasure—even if it’s a book you want to read.
I want to share three books I bought and read for
pleasure. Three different genres and very different authors but each book put
me in a world I enjoyed and help me escape from the world of work, kids, chores
and whatnot. My Kindle is loaded with lots of books. I buy many books when I
spot deals or want to try an author I haven’t read before. Yesterday I went
searching titles for something I hadn’t read and found a great one.
NEVER BACK DOWN
William Casey Moreton
John Coburn, a Harvard-trained doctor still
reeling from his father's sudden death a few days earlier, wanders into a bar
in New York City's Greenwich Village a few minutes before midnight. He
encounters an old friend from college, a man named Brian Ripley, whom he hasn't
seen in nearly 20 years. Ripley is with a beautiful young woman and is clearly
in a hurry to leave. Coburn could have never been prepared for Ripley's
reaction to seeing him, and he is even less prepared for what happens next.
The following morning, the young woman with
Ripley is found dead in Washington Square Park, the victim of a brutal murder.
Coburn goes to the police and tells them of his encounter with Ripley the
previous night. What the police tell him shakes him to his core - Brian Ripley
has been dead for 15 years.
The story moves at breakneck speed as John
Coburn searches for the truth behind the woman's murder and whether or not he
really saw his friend, or merely a ghost, that night.
I read it in about 6 hours and finished it, reluctantly, at
12:45 a.m. this morning. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book I
literally didn’t want to put down. It grabbed my attention from the first
sentence. I’m not going to tell you it was some unheard of new plot, I don’t
think there is one of those, but it was highly entertaining and some serious
kick-ass situations, lots of action, some questions to find answers to and a
great set of believable characters.
I liked John Coburn, former military, a bit of an
adrenaline junkie, with some impressive skills, and tenacious. He’s a bit of a
boy scout and by choice, prefers to be in the hot spots of the world plying his
trade of physician (he loves practicing medicine and patients, hates the
hospital bureaucracy). This story takes a man at loose ends after the death of
his father and his recent divorce and adds the premise of being in the wrong
place at the wrong time, and then adds jet fuel to the mix. What a ride. Good
story, great tension and pacing, satisfying denouement. Moreton is on my list
of authors to read. I can also recommend his story, 72 Hours.
CHANGLING DAWN—Changeling series
Kenzie Macleod has spent her whole life hiding the fact that
she's a werewolf. She's not about to open up to any man, even one as powerfully
attractive as wildlife expert Josh Talarkoteen.
But legend says that a Changeling cannot escape the call of her
true mate, even in the wilderness of backcountry Alaska.
An isolated archaeological site, a terrified Changeling cub, a
shadowy research facility - as Kenzie and Josh face the ultimate betrayal, his
obsidian eyes promise untold pleasure and hint at dark secrets of his own...
Dani Harper offers a different take on shapeshifters
hiding in plain sight and I enjoyed that. Each story, so far, uses the MacCleod
family as a base and put in a strong romance coupled with suspense. Every story
adds a bit more to the knowledge and background of the world and hints at other
skills that might have been lost over time but are being rediscovered and
alludes to other supernatural people (like wise woman Birkie with some rather
special talents). A lot of potential
for some great stories in this world.
Kenzie has had to deal with the terror of being hunted
centuries before and the resulting fear and distrust she lives with daily. She
has to learn that making a life is more than just existing and fear, not faced
and conquered, can be more confining that any prison built.
The story is a solid romance, which is fun and sexy. Well-crafted characters with realistic
careers, fears, prejudices, traumas, sprinkled with danger and mystery. Lots of
action. There’s a kidnapping, the majestic backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness,
old tribes with talents, and at the base, the greatest risk of all—trusting
your heart to another.
I really enjoyed this series so far. It was one that I
picked up because it sounded interesting and I hadn’t read this author before.
THE
BACKWORLDS
After the war with Earth,
bioengineered humans scatter across the Backworlds. Competition is fierce and
pickings are scant. Scant enough that Craze’s father decides to hoard his
fortune by destroying his son.
Cut off from family and friends, with little
money, and even less knowledge of the worlds beyond his own, Craze heads into
an uncertain future. Boarding the transport to Elstwhere, he vows to make his
father regret this day.
This one was
just plain fun. I’ll admit, I was curious to see how she, a new to me author, told
a story and I liked the idea of bio-engineered humans. Given the science of
today, not all that far fetched.
I enjoyed the adventure of
the story and the rich imagination of the author in creating people and worlds.
But, the story deals with the very real fears of a person being cut off from
everything familiar and having to use their wits to succeed. It takes courage
and the ability to stand up for what you want and having an open heart to make
your own family from a circle of friends. I’m looking forward to the further
adventures of Craze and his band of friends/family. Plus, you gotta love a
story where chocolate is precious.
- Read any good books lately that you'd like to recommend?
-
Recently, I've read several stories with a good plot but
what made the story outstanding to me was how the characters (even the
villains) just sparkled. They were so real and the dialog was excellent as were
the reactions and interactions between those characters. Their dialog and reactions
add excitement and fun to the story without a lot of narrative. It takes skill
to do that. A few authors who have a
knack of writing good characters like that are Carolyn Brown, Julie Ann Walker,
Lori Foster, Olivia Cunning, Karen Foley, and Susan Sey, to name but a few. Carolyn writes
some fabulous characters that use regional phrases and colloquialisms
excitement, and hear the whistle of the ball
in their ears and the smack it makes when it’s caught. I don’t want them to
just be spectators in the nosebleed section.
