Reviewing: The Color of Water In July

This is my first book by this author and she didn't disappoint. I could clearly see the old cabin and wondered about the tales it could tell. The careworn items and souvenirs waiting to be packed up to be sold captured the imagination of what might have been. The stories of Jess, and her grandmother are deeply entwined with missing links of days gone by spent at the family cabin on Lake Charlevoix in Michigan.  Richly steeped in  history, Jess's inherits the cabin on the death of her grandmother and returns after seventeen years to dispose of the contents and sell the place. I could feel the leather of beaded moccasins, and see cobwebs left abandoned in a lonely unused 113 year old cabin.

Nora Carroll is an accomplished author who develops rich characters who stand alone or  with each other as they each toggle the pages between past and present. The beauty of the lake bears a great sadness for her family. Her grandmother still dressed for dinner every night as though they still had their meals at the club. Jess is left to her devices during the day as long as she is ready for dinner.  Forbidden love, loss and the constant beauty of the lake and the woods made this a wonderful book for my vacation reading list.

I was caught off guard a few times and this kept me coming back for more. Life at the lake in the 1920's was so different than walking the beach in flip flops and shorts.  Bathing dresses, etiquette and carrying on with the right sort of people was the norm.  As Jess sorts through the cabin, reading journals and looking at photographs, she discovers the truth of who she is. These glimpses into her grandmother's life as a girl and later a young woman put her on a collision with the life she knew.

I recommend this book if you like a mystery that keeps you thinking and begs the questions that often are swept under the rug. I could share so much more but you have to read the whole book to enjoy all of Jess' story.

Saturday Afternoon Reading: Reviewing Gone Without A Trace

I could hardly put this book down. I love suspense novels and in my opinion award winning author Patricia Bradley can write a plot that is unpredictable. Gone Without a Trace is no exception. The story is book three in the Logan Lake series and includes characters from Promise To Protect and Shadows of the Past. 

Livy Reynolds, a homicide detective from Memphis is taking a little time off after a shooting incident.  Enter handsome  Dallas Private Investigator Alex Jennings and you do have some predictable sparks of romance. That is where the predictability stops.

Alex is searching for the granddaughter of a Texas State Senator and Livy believes there are similarities between the case of Samantha Jo Woodson and the sudden disappearance of her cousin Robyn two years ago.  Both cases involve waitresses working in diners. In both cases, the victims are warned to quit their jobs from cryptic notes. The two are joined together in the hunt to find similarities to these cases and other cold cases that involve waitresses who left without a trace.

So many things run through my mind in a mystery, like trying to figure out who the perpetrator is and remembering clues that lead to solving the case. Patricia is particularly good at developing complex plots that keep me on the edge of my seat. This book is for the reader who likes complex characters and a plot that thickens right up to the end.

I recommend this book to you and I guarantee that one quick look on page one and you will be flipping to page two as though you were reeled into the story.

Nowhere To Turn Is A Page Turner!

For Danielle Harding, life is a roller coaster of emotions as she carefully plans how to escape from her abusive husband with their eleven-year-old son. Her husband, an FBI agent swept her off her feet but her dreams became a nightmare no woman should have to endure. Every turn she makes there is a roadblock. She connects with Operation Refuge where she meets Adam Buchanan, her guiding force in a journey that takes her from a terrible life to the dregs of an impossible world full of danger.

Packing up to leave, she clears out her husband's safe only to have her brother-in-law show up at her door to retrieve something Kurt, her husband left behind. What follows is a trail of wonder as we learn that Kurt has been killed, and his killer is looking for what was left in that safe. Nowhere To Turn by Lynette Eason is a suspenseful page turner that had me guessing on the edge of my seat until the end. The surprising twists to the plot weaves us into so many surprising scenarios that I wasn't sure who to trust or where Dani and her son Simon could find shelter.

If you like a good mystery that is well written and full of surprises read Nowhere To Turn because the book lives up to its title. It is the second book in Lynette's Hidden Identity Series. The first book, No One To Trust is another good suspense novel.  There are too many spoilers so I recommend you simply get the book, turn off the phone and settle into a reading weekend.

Cate Kincaid...Assistant Private Investigator!

Death Takes a Ride is the first book I read by Lorena McCourtney and it won't be the last. I enjoyed meeting Cate and the cast of misfits in this fun mystery filled with quirks, love and the surprise finale. I changed my mind a few time on who the real killer was in the story and that is always a good thing for the mystery reader.


Cate Kincaid, heroine and Assistant P.I. does a good turn for Shirley, an employee at H&B Motors whom she never met before by volunteering to pick her up and drive her to the Fit and Fabulous class at her church.  As she meets Shirley and gets ready to leave H&B, Shirley's bosses call her into the office to witness a signature. What follows is the sound of a gunshot and then another, and the beginnings of a trail of suspects between Eugene and Salem Oregon. 

Mitch Berenski, Cate's boyfriend would be happy if she chose a new career but gives her help and support as needed...such as a night in a biker bar to meet a key witness for the crime. Fists, purses and lots of words later, Mitch has a stiff body and a black eye. Mitch is an all around great guy that Cate would love to keep in her life.   One of the co-owners of H&B, Kane, also a victim in the shooting has an over sized dog named Clancy, who goes to stay with Mitch.  Mitch didn't mind as long as it was for one night only....but you can guess how that ends up.

I enjoyed this book for a vacation treat and in the spirit of travel, ride along with this book and see how many different bikes you can find. A special thank you for the opportunity to read a review copy of the e-book from Revell.

Second Hand Killer.....Fatal Exchange!

I am lucky that I received a copy of Fatal Exchange to review this month. I love suspense and mystery and this book kept me guessing. One minute I thought  I had it solved only to have yet another layer to the plot that surprised me.


Rafael Cerda is a young man attending a private school on a scholarship after pulling himself out of the pit of poverty that comes often in single parent families. His father passed away from a drug overdose and his mother works in a laundry and Rafael delivers papers and does odd jobs to help out the family. He participates in a Big Brother Program that has had an impact on a life that could have gone south in a drug ridden neighborhood. His younger brother Eduardo has had the benefit of all this hard work but missed the hard working gene, preferring to be a dealer instead. Enter the cartel leaders he owes money to and you have a drug deal about to go as sour as it can get.

Mason Taylor, handsome undercover cop who volunteers at the Big Brother Program is part of the positive influence on Rafael Cerda's life. Mason is beset with his own issues to deal with, coming off the death of his partner Michael Hunt and the imminent death of his own long absent father. Blamed by Michael's family for his death, Mason has a lot to prove in clearing his name and setting things right with the Hunt family.

Emily Hunt is Rafael's teacher and youngest daughter of the Hunt family. She didn't join the family business as a cop, choosing instead to make an impact on students' lives. All seems to be right in her world when she is met by Mason with the news that he was looking for Rafael. Unable to connect the dots with him on this urgent need to connect with Rafael, he shows her pictures he received in a text from Rafael: Eduardo is shown beaten with threats to kill him if ransom isn't met!

A race begins to find Rafael so they can save Eduardo and prevent the loss of another member of the Cerda family to drugs. However, something happens to switch things up with Eduardo and Rafael. Rafael enters the classroom with a gun and hold the entire class hostage. Emily is left to try to keep her students calm, but how long can she keep it cool when one of the girls, an asthmatic, begins to have severe problems breathing. Will Rafael back down?  Emily is a courageous woman who fights for the safety of her students; the hostages and the hostage taker.

What follows could be spoilers to a well crafted plot so I am not going to share spoilers. I will say though, that this is a good read for anyone who likes a mystery! This is my first experience with Lisa Harris' writing and I plan to look for more. I like a book that challenges my crime solving abilities, albeit wishful thinking, to keep my mind going. This is the second book in her Southern Crimes Series, so I will be looking for Dangerous Passage to get the full series in before book three comes out in 2015.