BOOK REVIEW: SEVERED RELATIONS BY REBECCA FORSTER – A REVIEW BY VERONICA JORGE
November 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge, Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as book review, Rebecca Forster, Severed Relations, Veronica Jorge, Write from the heartSevered Relations (The Finn O’Brien Thriller Series Book 1) by Rebecca Forster
Create Space 2016 ISBN 9781533275516
It’s Thanksgiving. You know what to do: eat, get stuffed like the Turkey, zone out. If you want 
to get the adrenaline pumping and the juices flowing again, yours not the birds’, our own Rebecca Forster has the tryptophan antidote: Severed Relations, Book 1 of her Finn O’Brien Thriller Series.
Every day is great, until it’s not. And one often boasts of their nice neighbors and safe neighborhood…until something happens.
The Barnetts, a well-to-do family on upscale Fremont Place are living the dream: great house, successful husband, stay-at-home mom, two lovely daughters, and a live-in nanny. One happy family of five.
Enter Detective Finn O’Brien to investigate the triple murder that turns their dream into a nightmare. As one of the characters in the story says, “this falls on the far of side of hell.”
Ostracized by his fellow officers for violating the blue code when he killed one of their own: a bad cop, Finn is forced to track down the killer, or killers, on his own. And he can’t count on back-up if things get rough.
Detective Cori Anderson, with ‘feelings’ of her own toward Finn, agrees to partner with him on the case. Together, they attempt to unravel the hideous mystery. Nothing stolen. No apparent enemies. Unlikely targets. It wasn’t the butler, they don’t even have one.
In Severed Relations, Rebecca Forster leads us on a page-turning, suspense-filled, unnerving journey into the h
eart of darkness that reflects real life. Feelings can sometimes blind and mislead you, and events and people are not always what they seem.
See you next time on December 22nd.
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An Ideal Halloween Read: Love Bites, by Annabelle Costa
October 28, 2018 by A Slice of Orange in category Book Reviews by Geralyn Corcillo, Things That Make Me Go Mmmrrh . . . by Geralyn Corcillo tagged as Annabelle Costa, book review, chick lit, eerie, Halloween, murder, mystery, New York City, romance, vampire, Vampires
Wow! I recently read the most wonderful Autumn/Halloween read! Love Bites, by Annabelle Costa. This is NOT your run-of-the-mill vampire book at all! This novel weaves together two suspenseful, eerie, mysterious narratives. Tom Blake is a young man in 1905 who is falling in love when he gets his first job. Soon he’ll be out of his cruel father’s house and his life will truly begin … but why does he have such a craving for blood? When he is working at the butcher shop, and every time he gets close to his sweetheart Mary…
In present day New York City, Brooke wonders if adorable, reliable, all around good-guy Jamie might be more than a friend. When her gorgeous friend Sydney is murdered and strange things start happening to Brooke, she turns to Jamie and yeah … she’s pretty sure he’s more than a friend. But before she can act on her realization, Hunter T. Stone walks into her life and mesmerizes her. Brooke finds herself under his spell, but the closer she gets to him, the more it seems like he has something to do with Sydney’s murder …
OMG this book is soooooo good!!!! It hits the ground running and both narratives unfold with compelling grace and precision. The romances and the spine-tingling mysteries kept me turning the pages, ravenous to devour every next word! And the best part? As the story unfurled, I had NO IDEA what was going to happen – or even what I wanted to happen! I didn’t know who was going to end up being the good guy or the bad guy. I couldn’t guess who was going to end up with whom. Every new chapter offered another tantalizing piece of the puzzles, something else to consider. The stakes keeping getting upped and upped and upped! Even when you reach the climax, you still have no idea how it will all play out until the very last page. What an exciting read! Sex in the City meets Sleepy Hollow in an intriguing and unique book about vampires, murder, romance, and survival. A perfect Halloween read!
FIND YOURSELF…IN THE PAST BY VERONICA JORGE
August 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge, Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as book review, The Reluctant Groom and Other Historical Stories By Faith L. Justice, Veronica Jorge, Write from the heart
If you’ve ever thought of history as boring, you don’t know what you’re missing!
The Reluctant Groom and Other Historical Stories by Faith L. Justice s a collection of four intriguing tales that will move you to tears, renew your faith in true love, inspire bravery in you, and make you think twice about parting with an old antique.
The Reluctant Groom, the first story, portrays a sad, lonely and confirmed bachelor brought back to life by the power of love.
The Bitter Winter reminds us of the heart-breaking events that force peoples to migrate; the sacrifices they make for their families, and the risks they take to ensure their future.
In the third story, The Jar, Justice draws attention to the varied and important roles that women have played since the dawn of time, yet are often relegated to a footnote in history.
The final story in the collection, The Angel of the Marshes, highlights the contributions that children have made, frequently shouldering responsibilities like adults and demonstrating creativity and bravery.
The Reluctant Groom and Other Historical Stories will transform you in
to a historical fiction reader, and a Faith L. Justice fan.
Take the plunge and find your own self in the past!
See you next time on September 22nd.
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BOOK REVIEW: The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club by Holly Tierney-Bedord
June 27, 2018 by A Slice of Orange in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge tagged as book review, crafts, drama, Friendship, Holly Tierney-Bedord, jewelry, murder, mystery, romance, women's fictionMmmrrh … pull up a chair and settle in to make jewelry as you chat and bond, lick wounds and discover new doors, break up and fall in love … and unravel a mystery with the women of The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club by Holly Tierney-Bedord.
From the Amazon Description:
It’s been five years since the idyllic oceanside town of Port Elspeth was rocked by tragedy. Shortly after their high school graduation, Evangeline Maddingly, daughter of one of the town’s wealthiest old-money families, and Oliver Prescott, son of one of the town’s wealthiest new-money families, were found dead in an isolated cabin in the woods outside of town. The circumstances surrounding their untimely deaths are murky at best, thanks in large part to a coroner with connections to the town’s founding families and a sweeping effort from those in power to shut down any negative publicity that could harm the reputation of their pristine community.
~Five years later~
A small group of strangers gather to create jewelry for one of Port Elspeth’s many fundraisers. Before long, friendships are forming and old secrets are being revealed. Along with solving the mystery of how to make a perfect pair of chandelier earrings or cabochon necklace, these unlikely friends find themselves at the heart of solving the murders that took place half a decade earlier.
This book sweeps you away with shades of The Jane Austen Book Club and piques your interest in ways reminiscent of The Bletchley Circle. As the women meet, ostensibly to make jewelry, they learn about their own lives and loves and make decisions that change everything. And one of those decisions is to solve an unsolved murder in the community.
The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club follows the lives of six women – one teenager, one woman in her twenties, two women in their thirties, one woman in her fifties, and one woman in her seventies. We become immersed in their relationships with lovers and family members in all their glory and ignominy. This comfortably intimate novel makes you feel as if you are a part of the club as you piece together dangly earrings, smile at a new friend you feel like you’ve known forever, cringe at flashes of boorishness, and feel chills slide down your neck as you realize a killer is on the loose from a murder that no one ever tried to solve. After all, to delve into the crime, in a place such as Port Elspeth, involving such renowned families, just would have been too, too gauche. But Cadence, the founder of the club, is new to town. And all the other club members have quirks in their lives that allow these craft club meetings to turn into stealthy investigations.
What begins as a compelling voyage into the lives of six very different women escalates into an edge-of-your seat hunt for a killer! Because whether it is fashioning bracelets or making justice happen, these women get the job done. In The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club, jewelry, and life, is what you make of it, with your own talent and instinct, but more importantly, with the love and support of others.
Holly Tierney-Bedord, a gifted story-teller, has given us yet another gem!
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CAREFUL WHAT YOU READ BY VERONICA JORGE
June 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge, Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as book review, The Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winnawer, Veronica Jorge
Be Careful what you read. You might get carried away.
Time travel, suspense, history, political intrigue, murder and romance; The Scribe of Siena has something for every reader.
Transported back to the past and trapped in the Middle Ages, New York surgeon, Beatrice Trovato, is hard pressed to navigate the arteries of Siena, Italy…on the verge of the plague.
And a newly developed empathic power gives her more information than she knows what to do with, forcing her to seek answers beyond her normal world of intellect and science.
But more than that, The Scribe of Siena is a search for identity and belonging.
So many people are searching for their roots via DNA, Ancestry, and Genealogy sites, and are thrilled when they discover a part of themselves that they never knew. Visiting an ancestral country and wearing ethnic clothing often follow.
Like the true surgeon she is, Melodie Winawer takes her character further and deeper. Beatrice’s real journey is out of the brain and into her heart, where she discovers that love is a power that tra
nscends time and space. Now she must decide whether she belongs in the uncertainty and danger of Middle Age Siena, or back with her friends and lucrative medical practice in New York City.
Beatrice’s last name, Trovato, which means “found” should give you a clue of how things turn out. But the actual story, you’ll have to read for yourself.
And for those of you who prefer to travel light; The Scribe of Siena is also available in paperback.
