New Book Review: Darktown

Tags

Crime, darktown, fiction, mullen, mystery

Rated 5 of 5 stars

Darktown by Thomas Mullen put me into a dizzying head spin and a full blown emotional rollercoaster ride. The first 20 pages had me so seething mad that I had to realize that it was a story of fiction and I should probably calm down. I wasn’t going to find an “Officer Dunlow” in my town…well, not by that name anyway. The story gripped me from the very beginning and never let me go. I was emotionally on the edge of my seat for hours and felt real, palpable tension while reading this book.

So let’s get on with the synopsis. In Atlanta, the first black police officers are given badges, guns, training and a bunch of obstacles to overcome, racism being one of the tallest hurdles. The book is set in the 40’s and it shows the state of race relations to full scale with racial slurs, discrimination and the constant brow beating of black and brown people in a southern state. As a reader, this will boil you. You will hate what is happening and the general climate of the time….which is a good thing. If you don’t feel sickened, then you probably have racism, bigotry or just a general problem with having sympathy or empathy.

Anyway, two of the eight officers are walking their beat in Darktown (the slang term for the all black neighborhood) when they see a white man crash into a light pole, drunken at the wheel. After stopping him, they find a young black girl in the passenger side, clearly beaten but not asking for help. The man drives off when he realizes he was pulled over by cops that had no real power to arrest him. Later, they find the young girl dead. This spawns so many storylines in this book, you’ll be wondering who did what and why for most of the story. Excellent tension, suspense and overall unfolding of a mystery.

In the end, the story is gratifying. It may not be ideal but it definitely wraps up all the storylines and gives credibility to things that happened earlier in the story. I enjoyed every second of this story as a reader and hated/loathed/despised many of the characters (which is a sign of a powerful writer). This story will stay with me for a very long time. Raging Book Reviews Highly Recommended!

*Book was purchased with my own money. Grab a $7 copy of your own with free shipping on Book Depository using my affiliate link HERE. (I get a couple cents for sending you, so thanks for keeping the blog running….)

New Book Release: Made Safe by Kurtis Sparks

 

Just a quick reminder that Made Safe by Kurtis Sparks is now available on Amazon! You can check out my Book Review: Made Safe by Kurtis Sparks (his newly released novel) on the blog or click HERE to purchase your own copy!

For Private Investigator, Moses Winter, the job just got more complicated. His adultery case has taken a violent turn landing the subject of his investigation, Fred Dunsmore, in the hospital and Moses in jail. Moses is held for questioning along with his erratic client, Sharon Dunsmore, and Fred’s mistress, a Bosnian refugee who just happens to be related to the DCI agent investigating the case, Raif Rakić.

After Rakić secures their release, Fred goes missing, and Moses Winter finds himself compelled to find him. With the assistance of Rakic, Moses unravels Fred’s ties to Des Moines’s underworld and is forced to confront the most heinous crimes of his career.

New Book Review: A Long Walk to Water

 

Rated 5 of 5 stars

The story of South Sudan born, Salva Dut, is a tense and heart-wrenching journey to safety from his war torn village. The story has a pace that is break neck speed even though it covers many years (almost 20!) in a small book. From the beginning, we find Salva in school. He travels many miles from his home to learn and while in class, he hears the popping sound of guns and the screams of the people milling about outside. His teacher tells all the boys to run into the bush, not back home to their families. This was a wise choice as his village among others was overran by the war. Along his journey to safety, he meets with various people and groups…many of whom don’t want him to travel with them because he is too young and will slow them down. As a reader, you feel the highs and lows of this long journey from Sudan to Ethiopia then to Kenya.

This story is a must-read for grade five students and above. I found the story to be tragic at times but redeeming in the end. It shows how one can endure the worst of times to still rise above and being a blessing to others and to the world. Salva Dut still does great work for Sudan even with the unrest still there. Many schools and civic organizations are also using this book as a catalyst to show students how they can contribute to the world and to communities less fortunate. Not only is this book highly recommended but it goes in the library as a must read for all students.

Raging Book Reviews Highly Recommended

*Purchased this book with my own money

Want a copy? Click here to buy with free shipping! BUY HERE

Book Cover Reveal: Bottomless

Cover Reveal for Bottomless by T.R. Horne

What do you think? Is this a good cover for a poetry book? What does it make you think about the type of poetry you will read?

Comment, share and like!

New Goodreads Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Girl Soldier

by T.R. Horne

Giveaway ends April 27, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

 

ENTER TO WIN—Top Rated Thriller— Girl Soldier by T.R. Horne.

Own a signed copy of the book critics say is:

“Jaw Dropping”
“A solid kick butt story”
“Thrilling”

If your mother was missing, how far would you go to save her?

Rain Wilson thought she knew where she came from. A small farming town on the edge of nowhere. After ten years of yearning for her absentee mother, she learns that her mother is missing, not actually abandoning her and the truth about her parent’s past is revealed. She embarks on a journey to find her mother amidst the lies, deceit and seemingly, a plot too scary to fight against. How far is Rain willing to go to find her mother? WIll she come to the understanding before it’s too late that…Some Secrets Can Save a Life?

Action packed with a heartfelt and strong lead character that finds that family is the most important thing to her.

Where’s the Best Place to Advertise Books Online?

There has been a lot of wonderment on where to go as a self-published author to advertise and sell your latest novel. I have not found much luck myself. Well, not for sales anyway. For getting views, Goodreads is useful and the Giveaways help get reviews (but only half of what you give away will be reviewed…so go big). You’ll kinda feel like…

 

 

 

But it’ll be worth the feedback and exposure.

I have found that for audiobooks…Audiobook Reviewers got me a couple purchases on a 7-day trial advertisement. I think I am going to go with them again for an extended period since I did net some sales, albeit meager. Plus, I don’t have any other options right now that have worked for audiobooks.

Facebook and Twitter seem to have a hit-or-miss edge to it. But I am still on the search for how to market and advertise your novel online (and get results). The print and Kindle market is flooded but I am going to try a few strategies to target my customer base a bit more. I haven’t found that social media blasts do much by way of sales but do in fact, get your name out there (supposing your blast host has real followers). My latest novel, Girl Soldier, is considered a Teen Thriller (although, I thought it more New Adult but whatev’s). So I am  still on the search! Share if you have found things that worked. Anyway, here’s my latest advertisements for your viewing pleasure:

GIVEAWAY: (Audiobook) Girl Soldier

WINNER ANNOUNCED! Congratulations to Toyia McWilliams for winning the free audiobook for Girl Soldier by T.R. Horne! Please send your email address to receive your code for Audible. We hope you enjoy the story and leave a review.

Raging Book Reviews

We are giving away a FREE AUDIOBOOK of Girl Soldier by T.R. Horne to celebrate hitting the Amazon Bestseller ranking of TOP 25 purchased in its genre! Listen to a snippet of the audiobook. The giveaway is a prize worth $20 and you’ll receive instructions on how to use the free code on Audible. Haven’t tried an audiobook yet? Free is always the best way to try something new. Listen while you drive to work, clean the house or with a friend on a road trip. So how do you win?

1. Follow this blog
2. Share this post with your followers
3. Put your name in the comments and where you shared it (FB, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.)

That’s it!

It’ll be a random draw on APRIL 1st (no, this is not an April Fool’s joke). So share with all your friends and give them a chance to win!

Good Luck Readers!

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New Book Review: Hard As Stone

Tags

brookes, gay, sara

4 of 5 stars

Sara Brookes does a great job of telling the story of Brady McDonnell, an emergency room physician with a heart of gold who craves an enigmatic gargoyle named Garrett. Brady wants to save every patient just as most doctors do except when he finds himself on a downward spiral of losing patients one after another, he falls headlong into a depressed, panicked state. Garrett carefully watches him from a distant and figures it is time to stop Brady’s self destruction and show him his real feelings.

The story takes on a romantic edge yet still stays aligned with something more than the two men loving each other since they were in college. Brady has his work and the readers get to follow him on his excursions but I did feel left out with Garrett’s back story. I would have liked to know more about how he became a gargoyle and what gargoyles actually do (other than sit on buildings of course). Furthermore, I was a little shocked that Brady wasn’t shocked about seeing a gargoyle turn into the man he loves. I expected more reaction and felt the story suffered slightly due to that climax not being fully fulfilled for the readers. We knew it was coming but when it came, it was lackluster. Overall, I though the book was well written and detailed. The erotic scenes were a good balance to the story although Garrett’s character needs more development. Solid M/M read.

*Free for honest review from Reading Alley

Raging Book Reviews

WRITING OPPORTUNITY!

Calling ALL WRITERS! New opportunity from publisher, Yoshima Books.

Are you ready to meet a new challenge? There is a writing challenge for all aspiring or established novelists. Attached is a cover mock-up for a mystery/suspense/thriller anthology. We are seeking new writers, established writers and indie authors to participate in the anthology. If you are interested in entering a short story (under 30,000 words) inspired by the mock book cover, please have your entries to Yoshima Books by MAY 1, 2016. I hope the cover inspires you! Remember, the title will change so you don’t have to base the story on the title (the designer wanted to show what it would look like finished).

So start writing!!!!! Try to have your stories to Yoshima Books by deadline to ensure you are properly reviewed. The earlier the better, as they’ll need time to choose, get editors on staff and start structuring the book (yes, it will be a hardcopy and eBook!). Once you finish, email Yoshimabooks at gmail dot com to submit and discuss payment for your story if it is chosen! Spread the word. I’ll be making another post on my social media and blog for aspiring writers that want to get their name out there and for some, to pen their first published story. Are you up for the challenge???

‪#‎yoshimabooks‬ ‪#‎writerschallenge2016‬ ‪#‎anthology‬ ‪#‎opportunities‬ ‪#‎writers‬