Category: Book Reviews

#BlogTour #BookReview: Night Driver by @MarcellePerks @urbanebooks‏ #thriller #crime

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

Publication Day: 2nd August 2018
Publisher: Urbane Publications
ISBN: 978-1911583967
Pages: 376
Category: Fiction, Genre: Thriller / Crime / Psychological

ABOUT THE BOOK

Heavily pregnant Frannie is facing a crisis. An English woman living in Germany, her marriage is failing, her language skills are hopeless, and she feels like a fish out of water in a foreign country.

In a positive effort to tackle her problems, she learns to drive so she can cope when her baby is born and build a sense of independence. After passing her driving test she drives in the early hours of the morning to gain experience on the eerily empty streets.

But when she encounters a Polish motorcyclist looking for his missing sister, she becomes sucked into a terrifying world of shady nightclubs, autobahn prostitutes, and organ trafficking. And when she crosses serial-killing truck driver Stigelegger, there’s no turning back.

A most unlikely heroine, this nervous Night Driver must stay one step ahead of her pursuer on the darkest of roads in order to survive.

Continue reading “#BlogTour #BookReview: Night Driver by @MarcellePerks @urbanebooks‏ #thriller #crime” →

#BookReview: Writer, Seeker, Killer by Ryan Starbloak #science fiction #psychologicalthriller

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

Sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review

Published 09.18.2017 by Freckles Over Scars / Psychological Thriller/ Kindle format / 101pp / B075R7DX5R

ABOUT THE BOOK

Hinanya Ven has but one interest in this life, and that to know what lies beyond it. This great question has enveloped her into a deranged obsession, a death wish. Her search takes her back to her childhood home of New Orleans, where she returns after a six-year absence following her family’s permanent retreat from the city in the unanticipated catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina.

In the course of her journey, she, through inexplicable circumstances, appropriates a pistol identical to the make, model, and serial number her friend had used to commit suicide several months prior to her arrival in New Orleans. Balancing her own suicidal thoughts, Hinanya finds meaning in becoming a graffiti artist, a writer, amid the New Orleans nightscape. When she takes the mantle of writer, she is better. Continue reading “#BookReview: Writer, Seeker, Killer by Ryan Starbloak #science fiction #psychologicalthriller” →

#BookReview: Hating The Sheriff: A Climax Falls Short Story by Nina Silver @author_silver @ScerinaElizaNET

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

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It all started with a rioting citation, can you believe that?

Scarlett

I hate him.
As if it’s not enough that I recently returned to Climax Falls after years of avoiding my hometown. I keep running in with the local sheriff, who also happens to be my most hated enemy, my high school bully, the man who tortured me throughout my young years, and currently my neighbor. So what’s a curvy girl gonna do when her most hated enemy turns up sexier and cockier than ever and sets fire to her body? Why, she keeps calling him names!

Ace

I hate her.
As if it’s not enough that the bane of my existence, the woman who single handily made it her mission to ruin my younger years, has returned to town haunting all my usual spots. She also had to turn up smoking hot teasing me with her abundant curves – the exact ones I made fun of in high school – and her stubborn feistiness. So what’s a sheriff gonna do when his most hated enemy turns up sexy AF causing a boner harder than titanium? Why, he keeps calling her names! Continue reading “#BookReview: Hating The Sheriff: A Climax Falls Short Story by Nina Silver @author_silver @ScerinaElizaNET” →

#BookReview: Shooter (Burnout #1) by Dahlia West @DahliaWest13

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

The photo of the Black Hills National Forest on the cover had caught her eye and she thumbed through it, settling on Rapid City as the closest she could get and still feel anonymous.

Hayley Turner is a young woman with a secret.  Arriving in yet another destination to escape the horror of her past, she meets Chris “Shooter” Sullivan, war hero, biker, landlord, and a man that seems to dislike her.  Should she leave before he finds out?

Shooter Sullivan moved back to Rapid City after the horrors of Iraq to open his custom motorcycle shop.  His life was at an even keel with business and his buddies, when beautiful and lonely Hayley Turner shows up hiding something in her past.  Should he trust her?

This story evoked powerful emotions in me.  It depicts two people who have had devastating things happen to them in the past and who discover their path to peace and happiness in each other.  The way Ms. West draws Hayley’s past out is sensitive and credible and the suspense that follows is intense.  Both characters were well-developed and presented well, and I can’t wait to read about Shooter’s buddies in the rest of the series.

If you like broken heroes and heroines and romantic suspense, I recommend this book.

BUY THE BOOK (Read an Excerpt)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I live in North Carolina with so many pets that every time it rains I consider building an ark. I majored in English Education, though most of my jobs have involved using my hands: framing art, grooming dogs, stocking shelves. I started writing about seven years ago to avoid going back to a real job.  I’ve recently taken up roller derby just to test my health insurance coverage.  (Take a look at an interview with Ms. West at AuthorInterviews.)

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

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#Spotlight Unfinished Business (David Trilogy #2) by S.C. Cunningham @sccunningham8 @rararesources

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

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He loved being him… he got away with murder.

She loved being her… until she met him.

The steamy roller coaster ride of psychotic David’s obsession with his childhood sweetheart, a skilled mix of fuelled tension, dark humor and pulsating sex scenes.

With the help of her gutsy friends, fun-loving city girl Tara Warr is the only victim to survive David Howard’s death list. Whilst lounging in prison the hypnotic sexual tour de force enlists an eager recruit, seduces a prison warden and relocates to the sunnier climes of Mexico, a freedom short-lived when his charred remains are found in the fire of a plastic surgeon’s clinic. The police cease their search, finally, Tara and her friends can relax, David is dead. Continue reading “#Spotlight Unfinished Business (David Trilogy #2) by S.C. Cunningham @sccunningham8 @rararesources” →

#BookReview: Dating a Cougar (Never Too Late, #1) by Donna McDonald #romance #humor

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

Do you think fifty is old, Sydney?” Alexa Ranger watched her thirty-five-year-old assistant and good friend take a giant bite of his club sandwich and swing his gaze to hers in shock at the same time. Then she watched him pound his chest to keep from choking as he attempted to swallow the bite around a coughing fit.  “When it comes to age, it’s all about the quality of the preservation,” Sydney said at last, joking to give himself time to think.

Alexa Ranger, 50-year-old retired model and successful lingerie entrepreneur, is having a mid-life crisis and needs a change in her life.  The days of partying and socializing are no fun anymore, but she promised her daughter she would stop by the party to meet her fiance’s cousin, Casey.  Little did she know that her first encounter with 38-year-old, widower and wounded veteran, Casey Carter, would leave a lasting impression that would change her life forever. Continue reading “#BookReview: Dating a Cougar (Never Too Late, #1) by Donna McDonald #romance #humor” →

#BlogTour #BlogReview: Cuttin’ Heads by D.A. Watson @davewatsonbooks @rararesources #giveaway

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

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Aldo Evans is a desperate man. Fired from his job and deeply in debt, he struggles to balance a broken family life with his passion for music.

Luce Figura is a troubled woman. A rhythmic perfectionist, she is haunted by childhood trauma and scorned by her religiously devout mother.

Ross McArthur is a wiseass. Orphaned as an infant and raised by the state, his interests include game shows, home-grown weed, occasional violence and the bass guitar.

They are Public Alibi. A rock n’ roll band going nowhere fast.

When the sharp-suited, smooth talking producer Gappa Bale offers them a once in a lifetime chance to make their dreams come true, they are caught up in a maelstrom of fame, obsession, music and murder.

Soon, Aldo, Luce and Ross must ask themselves: is it really better to burn out than to fade away? Continue reading “#BlogTour #BlogReview: Cuttin’ Heads by D.A. Watson @davewatsonbooks @rararesources #giveaway” →

#BookReview: Restless Coffins (Detective J.T. Ellington #3) by M.P. Wright @EllingtonWright @bwpublishing

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

A HAUNTED MAN.

A BURIED PAST.

A JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS.

The title of Wright’s third book in the Detective J.T. Ellington series, caught my eye as I was browsing NetGalley one day, so after debating if I should read the third book in a series I had never read, I downloaded it and the rest is history.

Set in the tumultuous 1960s among the Vietnam War, ghetto rioting, and the rise of a militant antiwar movement, Joseph Ellington is swept from Bristol to Harlem, to New Orleans, and finally to Barbados inside of just a few days.  The telegram he receives from his cousin Vic (a man with questionable business practices) is short and to the point “Joseph Stop I sincerely regret to inform you of the death of your sister Bernice May Ellington Stop Request you make arrangements to return to Barbados to settle affairs Stop.”  Joseph’s journey to Barbados is laden with violence, death and family secrets that will change his life forever. Continue reading “#BookReview: Restless Coffins (Detective J.T. Ellington #3) by M.P. Wright @EllingtonWright @bwpublishing” →

#BlogTour #BookReview: Abel’s Revenge by Ross Greenwood @greenwoodross @CarolineBookBit

~ Sharon Clayton ~ 1 Comment

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This is a story about a city. As with all others, it’s a place of violence. There are murderers, and they live among us.

This is also a tale about a couple — sometimes friends, occasionally lovers, but always partners. Dan and Olivia are fighting modern battles; the ones parents have over a lack of money, time or peace.

Continue reading “#BlogTour #BookReview: Abel’s Revenge by Ross Greenwood @greenwoodross @CarolineBookBit” →

#BookReview: Saving Me by Sadie Allen @writersadie #SavingMe #YA

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

Most of us are imprisoned by something. We’re living in darkness until something flips on the switch.   -Wynonna Judd

SYNOPSIS

On the outside, I look like the All-American teenage dream. I’m pretty, popular, and athletic. I have the right family, the right boyfriend, the right kind of friends. If you only knew…

Every day I die a little on the inside. I’m drowning in everyone’s expectations and opinions. I can never be myself. I’m never free. I feel the weight of it all pulling me under.

If I can’t find freedom in life…

I guess I’ll find it in death.

MY REVIEW

Ally is tired.  “Tired of life.  Tired of being used and abused”.  When she thought she had the solution, Sterling saved her.  Her life starts turning around.  Her controlling, narcissistic father is gone, she breaks up with her “douchebag” boyfriend, her so-called girlfriends are gone, she no longer has to watch her weight and live and breath track anymore, and who knew she would love theatre and become the lead in the school musical.  But most of all, she has a purpose in her life, she is loved, she matters, and “she is reason enough to stay”. Continue reading “#BookReview: Saving Me by Sadie Allen @writersadie #SavingMe #YA” →

#BookReview: The Gift of Our Wounds: A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness after Hate by Arno Michaelis, Pardeep Kaleka @mylifeafterhate @PardeepKaleka @serve2unite ‏ @NetGalley ‏#TheGiftOfOurWounds

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

What does hate look like?  Hate looks like the bullet hole in the door frame leading into the prayer room at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin—a vestige of the carnage that took place there on August 5, 2012, when a troubled man with a distorted view of what America should look like executed peaceful people inside.

Wow!  This book filled me with so many emotions.  I felt horror, anger, grief, disbelief, enlightenment, and hope all at the same time.  The story is not just about the horrible incident that happened on August 5, 2012, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but about two unlikely men who came together to find answers, to find forgiveness, and to find ways to prevent this from happening again.

Pardeep Singh Kaleka’s father was one of the 6 victims who died at the Sikh Temple that day.  As a former policeman and as a teacher of at-risk kids he thought he had seen it all, but he was struggling to understand why someone would want to walk into a temple and gun down innocent men, women, and children.  So, to find some answers,  Pardeep met with Arno Michaelis, a former white supremacist who was one of the “founders of the same group that Pardeep’s father’s killer belonged to”. Continue reading “#BookReview: The Gift of Our Wounds: A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness after Hate by Arno Michaelis, Pardeep Kaleka @mylifeafterhate @PardeepKaleka @serve2unite ‏ @NetGalley ‏#TheGiftOfOurWounds” →

#BookReview: A Knight in Cowboy Boots (McKnight, #1) by Suzie Quint #SuzieQwriter

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

Maddie had no idea how many laws she’d broken in the last week. They all paled next to kidnapping. Since she’d been advised not to leave the state, she was pretty sure having temporary custody wouldn’t get her anywhere in court. Not that it mattered. She’d never get to court. She’d die before she gave Jesse up.

Maddie and her baby nephew, Jesse, are on the run from his father and the man who murdered her sister and her boyfriend. She heads to her boyfriend’s home in Galveston only to run into a charming cowboy named Zach who she shoots over a misunderstanding. To Maddie’s joy and distress, the attraction is instant and the passion is hot and heavy, but the murderer could find her any time and, unfortunately, she has to leave Zach and this town soon.

People were killed every day because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Zach has fallen head over heels for Maddie and her nephew, but is she “one of the damaged strays” that his sister says he likes to rescue? He can protect her from the dangers that she fears, but how can he get her to stay with him?

Continue reading “#BookReview: A Knight in Cowboy Boots (McKnight, #1) by Suzie Quint #SuzieQwriter” →

Book Review: Sindy in Real Life: Intimate Confessions of a No-win No-fee Paralegal who became a No-fee No-me Escort by Sindy #BookReview

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

Today I am reviewing an unusual biography of a woman who would do anything to provide for her family even as far as becoming an escort.

At twelve, I had about as much control over my limbs as a new-born giraffe. I had no friends. It’s difficult to form close bonds with tight-knit groups when they’re whispering together under the height of your armpits.

Sindy’s publisher explains that this book is “the true story of the first five decades of Sindy’s life in her own swear words.”  The author (who remains anonymous to protect her children) takes the reader on an incredibly candid and raw journey of her life starting as an awkward child with no self-esteem and no friends to her struggles with sex, alcohol, money, a job that paid well, but she no longer respected, and three children to provide for.  When her job as a legal executive could no longer cover all of her expenses for her family, she becomes an escort in her 40s.

I realized I was going to have to open my thighs to weirdos to prevent my finances from crash landing and leaving me as a homeless mother of three kids in care.

Her experience led her to this book and her campaign for respect towards women as human beings, respect towards women in the workforce, and respect in practices between escorts and clients. Continue reading “Book Review: Sindy in Real Life: Intimate Confessions of a No-win No-fee Paralegal who became a No-fee No-me Escort by Sindy #BookReview” →

#BookReview: How I Broke the Sky (Great Year Cycle Book 1) by E.W. Park

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

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Nikos was having a bad day. Not an ordinary bad day, but a ‘your-wife-burned-alive-in-a-spaceship’ kind of bad day. Space travel is murder. Every time a ship goes up, the cosmonaut inside it dies. Why? No one knows, but that’s the way it has always been on New Amith. Nevermind that people from the sister planet of Shan can zip through outer space with no problem. Getting answers to all of this means that Nikos has to dig deeper. It means following lunatic prophecies into catacombs of grief, insomnia, and, yes, some madness. It means uncovering a plot to end the world. And if the world does happen to end, it also means looking past the mushroom clouds to keep going. Because there is a purpose to all of this, there must be. There’s a reason a woman locked in a cell wrote on her wall: We Should Be Called Rome. Continue reading “#BookReview: How I Broke the Sky (Great Year Cycle Book 1) by E.W. Park” →

#BookTour #BookReview: The Penance List (The David Trilogy Book 1) by Siobhan C. Cunningham @SCCunningham8 @rararesources

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

The Penance List

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This one comes with a warning – a steamy suspense-ridden psychological thriller – think Silence of the Lambs meets 50 Shades and hold on tight! S C Cunningham writes with a skilled mix of fuelled tension, dark humour and pulsating sex scenes. Grab a glass of wine, close the bedroom door and read alone!

What happens when opposites attract – when a scorned childhood sweetheart grows into a gorgeous sexual tour de force – when a fun-loving career girl, her racy girlfriends and insatiable lovers get caught in his revenge – when sex becomes a weapon, hearts become bait and straight tastes gay – when hi-flying careers, clandestine affairs, and wannabe starlets are hunted by celebrity-hungry press? Obsession, kidnap, murder… and he’s just getting started! Continue reading “#BookTour #BookReview: The Penance List (The David Trilogy Book 1) by Siobhan C. Cunningham @SCCunningham8 @rararesources” →

#PromotionalBlogTour: Ford by P.J. Fiala @pjfiala @BuoniAmiciPress

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

FORD BLOG TOUR FB

Title: Ford
Author: PJ Fiala
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: April 16, 2018
Cover Designer: Buoni Amici Press
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

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Sometimes the flames of desire run hotter than a mere fire.

Ford Montgomery is working the case of his life. Trailing the arsonist who killed his parents, the former bounty hunter will soon make this guy pay for his crimes. After that, Ford plans to reclaim his house from his ex-wife and retire to his home in the mountains.

Megan Marshall finally ditched her no-good ex-husband, only to find the worst of him lingering. He stole drugs from a man nobody steals from, and the cartel is after Megan to get them back. If she knew where her ex hid out, she’d tell. Trouble is, she doesn’t.

When Ford rescues Megan from a burning building, their paths abruptly align. However, Ford keeps secrets from her, and she’s had enough of men and their secrets. Can they work together to accomplish their goals? Or will they get scorched by the blazing passion sparking between them? Continue reading “#PromotionalBlogTour: Ford by P.J. Fiala @pjfiala @BuoniAmiciPress” →

#BookTour #BookReview: Visions (Same Face Different Place Book 2) by Helen Christmas @SFDPBeginnings @rararesources

~ Sharon Clayton ~ 2 Comments

Visions

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Visions is a psychological thriller set in rural England. The year is 1985. It’s been 12 years since Eleanor escaped London, discarding the fragments of her tragic past to discover a new life. She is hiding in a remote country village, a place where she truly believes she is safe.

Her neighbour, James Barton-Wells is desperate to save his historic country house from ruin but this has attracted the attention of a wealthy property developer from London whose seemingly altruistic offer to ‘bankroll the restoration’ masks a sinister game plan. Suspicious of his motives, Eleanor consults her friend, Charles Bailey. But Charlie has his own story, fearful that Perry Hampton is the man who undoubtedly destroyed his own life.

The characters are drawn together in a battle to save Westbourne House, oblivious to the menace that surrounds them. Threats, stalking and deception lie at the root of the Hamptons evil. Yet it is not until Eleanor comes face to face with them, she recognises a deadly enemy from the past.

Can Eleanor unravel the clues that conceal an evil crime committed in the 70s? This book will draw you into a world of suspense with shocking psychological twists you will never see coming… Continue reading “#BookTour #BookReview: Visions (Same Face Different Place Book 2) by Helen Christmas @SFDPBeginnings @rararesources” →

#BookTour #BookReview: 88° North (Nadia Laksheva Thriller Series #3) by J.F. Kirwan @kirwanjf @rararesources

~ Sharon Clayton ~ 2 Comments

88 North

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The deadliest kind of assassin is one who is already dying…

As the radiation poisoning that Nadia Laksheva was exposed to in Chernobyl takes hold of her body, she knows she has mere weeks to live. But Salamander, the terrorist who murdered her father and sister has a deadly new plan to ‘make the sky bleed’. Nadia is determined to stop him again, even if it is the last thing she ever does.

The only clue she has are the coordinates 88˚ North, a ridge in the Arctic right above one of the largest oil fields in the world, three thousand metres below the ice. If Salamander takes hold of the oil field, he could change the climate of the whole planet for generations to come…

But can Nadia stop him before her own time runs out? Continue reading “#BookTour #BookReview: 88° North (Nadia Laksheva Thriller Series #3) by J.F. Kirwan @kirwanjf @rararesources” →

#BlogTour #BookReview Cock Blocked by Sabrina Monet @iamsabrinamonet @BuoniAmiciPress

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Title: Cock Blocked
Author: Sabrina Monet
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 25, 2018
Cover Designer: Comar Covers
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

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An uninvited ex-girlfriend; an overly flirtatious competitor; a completely untenable work situation…How many obstacles can one man put in his own way in the pursuit of the disinterested woman he can’t seem to get out of his head?

Camden Atwood is devastatingly gorgeous, cocky as sin and as Hollywood’s reigning “it” guy, not used to hearing the word “no” when he sets his sites on a woman. When Camden meets Kate Prescott, the ambitious, smart-mouthed new junior publicist assigned to handle him on an international press tour for his latest movie, he’s hooked from the minute his private jet is wheels up. Continue reading “#BlogTour #BookReview Cock Blocked by Sabrina Monet @iamsabrinamonet @BuoniAmiciPress” →

#BookReview: The Wild Inside by Jamey Bradbury @JameyBradbury @weiss_squad @harpercollins

~ Sharon Clayton ~ Leave a comment

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A natural-born trapper and hunter raised in the Alaskan wilderness, Tracy Petrikoff spends her days tracking animals and running with her dogs in the remote forests surrounding her family’s home. Though she feels safe in this untamed land, Tracy still follows her late mother’s rules: Never Lose Sight of the House. Never Come Home with Dirty Hands. And, above all else, Never Make a Person Bleed.

But these precautions aren’t enough to protect Tracy when a stranger attacks her in the woods and knocks her unconscious. The next day, she glimpses an eerily familiar man emerge from the tree line, gravely injured from a vicious knife wound—a wound from a hunting knife similar to the one she carries in her pocket. Was this the man who attacked her and did she almost kill him? With her memories of the events jumbled, Tracy can’t be sure. Continue reading “#BookReview: The Wild Inside by Jamey Bradbury @JameyBradbury @weiss_squad @harpercollins” →