Book Link

From Amazon:

For Position Only, the sequel to Camera Ready, is an evocative tale of one man’s sin and redemption—woven into the fabric of the advertising business, where lies run rampant and the truth is manipulated.
Craig Keller is LA’s preeminent ad man: wealthy, powerful, and a notorious playboy. At least, that is what he’d like everyone to think. In reality Craig’s business is plummeting at the hands of blonde bombshell and spurned ex-girlfriend Hayden Towne. He is also haunted by the gruesome death of his brother, which occurred under suspicious circumstances. Craig’s only chance to salvage his career is to propose a partnership with longtime rival Warren Mitchell, his former mentor, whose business Craig cavalierly took down in the past. Although Craig’s advertising prowess can catapult Warren’s business to the top of the market, Craig’s womanizing reputation comes with a price. Craig is specifically warned to avoid Jane Mercer, Craig’s ex-lover, and Warren’s agency partner. Craig has privately carried a torch for Jane for years—despite her visceral hatred of him. Her presence is a painful reminder that he lost the one woman he always wanted because he treated her so badly. As the barriers between them slowly break down, Craig is now faced with the ultimate dilemma: if he dives into a relationship with Jane, his livelihood is in jeopardy. If he rejects her, he will miss out on his one true love.

My Review:

I must first write, that Adele Royce nailed what most simply can’t do. I can write, as well as many other writers, do and write from the viewpoint of a man here and there in a novel. But Royce nailed this entire book from a man’s point of view, and not only that, but this man had many issues in his personal life that most men don’t have. He has survivor’s guilt over the death of his older brother. While he slept, his brother was tossed off a yacht and chopped into pieces. That does sound graphic and morbid, but our MC was only 17 at the time. As for the rest of that part of the story, you, the reader, will have to find out for yourself. With traumatic loss comes mental health issues. Trust me, I know of what I just wrote, but this novel isn’t about me. Sure, there are numerous high points in this novel as well as really bad low points in Skid Row. Our MC is a successful millionaire, so how did he end up in Skid Row? Driving a Bentley no less? I leave all of those details and a lot more for the readers. Five shiny gold stars for a book that should have ten of them.

I just finished reading The Dream Avenger by Bruce Medcalf. This is a cute picture book for young children. The Dream Avenger helps kids be safe and have nice dreams without monsters. A small girl, Brittany, woke up and told her dad about The Dream Avenger saving a pony from a falling apple tree. Her dad reminded her that she needed to get ready for their swimming adventure. In the back seat of the car, Brittany fell asleep and dreamed of The Dream Avenger. After swimming, Brittany fell asleep under an apple tree, and, you guessed it! The Dream Avenger arrived as she dreamt. The dam at the lake was cracking as some monsters were being bad. Her mom and dad were in danger! The Dream Avenger made the monsters disappear and used an apple tree to plug the hole in the dam. That apple tree turned the water into apple juice.

Book Link

From Amazon:

Jessica’s two daughters, Janiece and Janelle, never met their grandmother. She had passed away when their mother and Aunt Jenny were just teenagers. Could Jessica’s old toys from the past take Janiece and Janelle back in time to meet their grandmother?

My Review:

I found this book to have a sweet storyline for children. The drawings are nice, ‘and the two girls were able to meet their Grandmom for the first time. It took playing with their mom’s old toys and bumping their heads together to make time travel happen. I wasn’t in favor of how much their heads hurt and wished their heads hurt much less, yet still carry the story. Regardless, the girls played and asked a lot about Grandmom. Hugs were freely given, and although the girls were with Grandmom for two days and one night, they were tasked to bang their heads together and arrive back home before dinner on the same day they traveled back in time. Five shiny gold stars.

Book Link

From Amazon:

Peppsie the Pizza is losing all hope of ever finding a friend. He goes out and searches, but can’t find anyone to be his friend. Will Peppsie the Pizza ever figure out how to make a friend?

My Review:

What a delightful book for children. Peppsie is a slice of pizza. He tried to make friends with the sun and some flowers, but he was told NO! Peppsie sat on a bench and cried. Rolly, an orange, invited him to meet the food group friends, so he did. Important examples of how to make friends are taught in the group, and Peppsie finally had friends who were true friends. Five shiny gold stars!

Book Title: A Meadow Murder

Series:  A Jan Christopher Mystery – Episode 4

Author: Helen Hollick

Publication Date: 28^th July 2023

Publisher: Taw River Press

Page Length: 153 pages

Genre: Cosy Mystery

Twitter Handle: @HelenHollick @cathiedunn

Instagram Handle: @thecoffeepotbookclub

Mastodon Social Handle: @cathiedunn

BlueSky Handle: @cathiedunn.bsky.social

Hashtags: #CosyMystery #CozyMystery #Devon #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Blog Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/08/blog-tour-a-meadow-murder-by-helen-hollick.html

A Meadow Murder

A Jan Christopher Mystery, Episode #4

Helen Hollick

Blurb:

“As delicious as a Devon Cream Tea!” ~ author Elizabeth St John

“Every sentence pulls you back into the early 1970s… The Darling Buds of May, only not Kent, but Devon. The countryside itself is a character and Hollick imbues it with plenty of emotion” ~ author Alison Morton

***

Make hay while the sun shines? But what happens when a murder is discovered, and country life is disrupted?

Summer 1972. Young library assistant Jan Christopher and her fiancé, DS Lawrence Walker, are on holiday in North Devon. There are country walks and a day at the races to enjoy, along with Sunday lunch at the village pub, and the hay to help bring in for the neighbouring farmer.

But when a body is found the holiday plans are to change into an investigation of murder, hampered by a resting actor, a woman convinced she’s met a leprechaun and a scarecrow on walkabout…

Buy Links:

This series is available to read on #KindleUnlimited

Universal Link: https://mybook.to/AMeadowMurder

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CCZVJRRR/

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/MEADOW-MURDER-Christopher-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0CCZVJRRR

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/MEADOW-MURDER-Christopher-Mystery-Episode/dp/1739272064/

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0CCZVJRRR/

Author Bio:

First accepted for traditional publication in 1993, Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, THE FOREVER QUEEN (titled A HOLLOW CROWN in the UK) with the sequel, HAROLD THE KING (US: I AM THE CHOSEN KING) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Her PENDRAGON’S BANNER TRILOGY is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she writes a nautical adventure/fantasy series, THE SEA WITCH VOYAGES.

She has also branched out into the quick read novella, ‘Cosy Mystery’ genre with her JAN CHRISTOPHER MURDER MYSTERIES, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A MIRROR MURDER incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant. The front cover of episode #4 A MEADOW MURDER is Helen’s actual hay meadow on her Devon farm.

Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Talesand Life of A Smuggler. She lives with her family in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon and occasionally gets time to write…

Social Media Links:

Website: https://helenhollick.net

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelenHollick 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.hollick

Amazon Author Page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/helenhollick

Blog: https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/  (promoting good authors & suggestions for books to read)

Subscribe to Helen’s Newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick

Book Link

From Amazon:

It is 1980 and Jojo Evans is living the dream. Perfect job, perfect man, perfect life – but is it all an illusion? Jojo doesn’t think so – she cannot believe her good fortune, working as magician’s assistant to her charismatic boyfriend, The Incredible Nico, and sharing his luxurious flat is a far cry from her life in a squat working as a street performer. Best friend, Annie Daley, isn’t so sure. Jojo seems bewitched by this new boyfriend, and Annie doesn’t trust him. When Jojo receives an anonymous note warning her to keep away from Nico, the friends suspect it’s from a jealous fan. But the threats that follow cannot be so easily dismissed, and Jojo fears for her life. Annie volunteers to investigate, and enters the world of the Golden Globe Theatre, where nothing is as it seems. As tensions mount to a career-making show finale, things spiral out of control. Will Jojo and Annie see through the smoke and mirrors in time to save their lives, or is this to be their last act?

My Review:

Talk about suspense and a lot more drama in the theaters having real performances. First, there is an old and historic theater from the Victorian Era. We have Nico and his girlfriend, Jojo, and she is his assistant with a magic show. Nico is a rather jealous type of person and quite controlling. Actually, there is magic going with many from within and outside the theater. I felt like I was Jojo as she sailed, in a manner of speaking. Not giving that part away. Best friends are strained by Nico and his controlling manner, yet it’s within those with the show that more treachery ensues to a climax of where is she, will they live, both ladies have not escaped the fire yet, who is to blame???? All the intricacies I leave for future readers. Five shiny gold stars!

Book Title:  The Husband Criteria

Series:   The Lorings, Book #3

Author:    Catherine Kullmann

Publication Date:      24 August 2023

Publisher:    Willow Books

Page Length:     297

Genre:   Historical Romance / Regency Romance

Twitter Handle:        @CKullmmannauthor @cathiedunn

Instagram Handle:    @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags:                   #RegencyRomance #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Link:  https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/07/blog-tour-husband-criteria-by-catherine-kullmann.html

The Husband Criteria

Catherine Kullmann

Blurb:

London 1817

The primary aim of every young lady embarking on the Spring frenzy that is the Season must be to make a good match. Or must it? And what is a good match? For cousins Cynthia, Chloe and Ann, well aware that the society preux chevalier may prove to be a domestic tyrant, these are vital questions. How can they discover their suitors’ true character when all their encounters must be confined to the highly ritualised round of balls, parties and drives in the park?

As they define and refine their Husband Criteria, Cynthia finds herself unwillingly attracted to aloof Rafe Marfield, heir to an earldom, while Chloe is pleased to find that Thomas Musgrave, the vicar’s son from home, is also in London. And Ann must decide what is more important to her, music or marriage.

And what of the gentlemen who consider the marriage mart to be their hunting grounds? How will they react if they realise how rigorously they are being assessed?

A light-hearted, entertaining look behind the scenes of a Season that takes a different course with unexpected consequences for all concerned.

The Husband Criteria by Catherine Kullmann Blog Tour of The Coffee Pot Book Club

Guest Post

Why Write or Read Historical Fiction?

Why do we write and read historical fiction? First, I suppose, because it takes us out of ourselves—transports us to an unfamiliar society recreated partly from familiar facts and partly from a myriad of tiny, new details so that it seems as real to us as our world of today. The setting rings true and the characters’ actions are determined by the laws, morals and customs of their time, not ours. Sometimes this horrifies us; at other times we find it liberating and long for more romantic, more adventurous, perhaps simpler bygone days.

Contemporary fiction instinctively reflects/portrays the world as it is at the time of writing. Historical fiction considers the past through the prism of the present, the author drawing on research rather than personal experience to create an authentic setting and story. But, while we cannot forget what we already know—that Germany lost both world wars, that the Allies under Wellington won the Battle of Waterloo or that the US won the War of Independence—reading the right author, we are willing to suspend our belief, to become so caught up in the story, that we experience those events as if they were happening today. And within these grand story arcs there are so many smaller arcs concerning fictional characters with uncertain outcomes or gaps in the known narrative that informed imagination can fill so that no matter how well we think we know a period or an episode, there is always something new to discover.

With history becoming more and more of a niche subject at schools and universities, it is historical fiction that offers millions of readers a connection to the past, a past which casts long shadows. We need only look back two hundred years to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland of 1800, the Anglo-American war of 1812 and the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 are all events that still shape today’s world. At the same time, the ruling aristocracies were being challenged by those who saw the need for social and political reform, while the industrial revolution which led to the transfer of wealth to the manufacturing and merchant classes was underway. Powerful voices demanded the abolition of the slave trade and women, who had few or no rights in a patriarchal society, had begun to raise their voices, demanding equality and emancipation. It is the beginning of our modern society.

Following the collapse of the Treaty of Amiens in 1803, the United Kingdom was at war with Napoleonic France until 1815. Like Hitler in 1939, Napoleon swept eastwards conquering all before him until he stood at the gates of Moscow. Unlike other combatants in this long war, Britain was spared the havoc wrought by an invading army and did not suffer under an army of occupation. War was something that happened elsewhere, far away. For twelve long years, ships carrying fathers, husbands, sons and brothers sailed over the horizon and disappeared. Over three hundred thousand men did not return, dying of wounds, accidents and illness.

What did this mean for those left behind without any news apart from that provided in the official dispatches published in the Gazette and what little was contained in intermittent private letters? The question would not leave me and it is against this background of an off-stage war that I have set my novels. How long did it take, I wondered, for word of those three hundred thousand deaths to reach the bereaved families? How did the widows and orphans survive? What might happen to a girl whose father and brother were ‘somewhere at sea’ if her mother died suddenly and she was left homeless?

It is against this backdrop of an off-stage war in a patriarchal world where women are both second-class citizens and held to impossibly high standards that I have set my novels. My characters and their stories are fictional but the world in which they live is very real and there are no twenty-first century solutions to their dilemmas.

Good historical fiction informs us about the past. It provides insights into yesterday and helps us understand today. It encourages us to persevere or warns us to change direction. It can reveal past, hidden wrongs, teach us to value the struggles of those who went before us and inspire us to preserve and build upon their achievements.

In The Husband Criteria, we take a look behind the scenes of the Marriage Mart that was the London Season. In a world where wives have no rights and divorce is next to impossible, three cousins are determined to discover the real men behind their suitors’ public facades, a task made more difficult by the many unwritten rules that govern any interaction between the sexes and the risk of social ruin an infraction may incur. The decisions they make now will shape the rest of their lives.

© Catherine Kullmann 2023

Buy Links:

Universal Link:  https://mybook.to/criteria

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CBKZCBVX

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBKZCBVX

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CBKZCBVX

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CBKZCBVX

Author Bio:

Catherine Kullmann was born and educated in Dublin. Following a three-year courtship conducted mostly by letter, she moved to Germany where she lived for twenty-five years before returning to Ireland. She has worked in the Irish and New Zealand public services and in the private sector. Widowed, she has three adult sons and two grandchildren.

Catherine has always been interested in the extended Regency period, a time when the foundations of our modern world were laid. She loves writing and is particularly interested in what happens after the first happy end—how life goes on for the protagonists and sometimes catches up with them. Her books are set against a background of the offstage, Napoleonic wars and consider in particular the situation of women trapped in a patriarchal society.

She is the author of The Murmur of Masks, Perception & Illusion, A Suggestion of Scandal, The Duke’s Regret, The Potential for Love, A Comfortable Alliance and Lady Loring’s Dilemma.

Catherine also blogs about historical facts and trivia related to this era. You can find out more about her books and read her blog (My Scrap Album) at her website. You can contact her via her Facebook page or on Twitter.

Author Links:

Website:         http://www.catherinekullmann.com

Twitter:          https://twitter.com/CKullmannAuthor

Facebook:      https://www.facebook.com/catherinekullmannauthor

Book Bub:      https://www.bookbub.com/authors/catherine-kullmann

Amazon Author Page:          http://viewauthor.at/ckullmannamazonpage

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15549457.Catherine_Kullmann

Book Link

From Amazon:

The Underground Toy Society decided to go out on Halloween night to help lost, lonely, and forgotten toys. They ended up falling into a hole that did not belong to their friend Murry Mole, who helps them dig tunnels underground so they won’t be seen by people. Will Murry Mole rescue the toys before they find out what is making a mysterious hissing sound?

My Review:

I found this Halloween story a pure delight. The illustrations are simple so that kids pay attention to the words that rhyme. Essentially, many stuffed animals are written into the story, and they 5 into a huge hole. Down there, they see spooky eyes and find a stuffed snake. But the snake was nice and became a friend. Upon their rescue, they know of a little boy who likes snakes, and this snake sneaked inside his Halloween sack. After arriving home, the boys’ mom had a fright seeing the snake, but the little boy loved his snake, and a home was found. Five stars!

Book Link

From Amazon:

Youth is supposed to be the best time of your life. But if you enter adulthood during the savage 90s, it can turn into your personal hell.

Roberts Bergs had to start making difficult choices early in life. With few options to choose from, he settles for available ones. Beggars cannot be choosers, is his motto.

His coursemates at the Police Academy dip their toes into adulthood while still living in the cocoon of their parental homes. For them, life is about parties, new experiences, and searching for their true self. For Roberts, it’s about poverty, hunger, and not being killed by a crazed drunkard with an axe during a patrol shift.

A patrolman of the Public Order Police patrol battalion isn’t Roberts’s dream job. But it is better than not having one. Trudging through the grim slums of the city, his interest in arts, history, and literature is what sustains him.

He believes in human dignity and freedom of choice. He wants to become a lawyer.

To succeed you must play by the rules. Roberts learns the rules quickly. The system run by the Soviet-era ex-militia officers is a good teacher. Who you know counts for more than your abilities, qualifications, and knowledge. The system also doesn’t tolerate disobedience.

Still, Roberts keeps climbing up the career ladder. The contrast between those who play by the rules and those who believe in honesty and justice becomes starker. Luxury and self-indulgence for the first, and dragging out a miserable existence for the latter.

Roberts has to make more difficult choices. Is it worth it to remain true to his principles? Or is succumbing to the corrupted and merciless system the only way to survive?

Set in Latvia at the end of the first post-Soviet decade, “The Accidental Cop” is a blend of noir crime and police procedural with psychological suspense elements.

My Review:

This novel is based on Latvia having just come out with their independence from the Soviet Union. Crime was everywhere you looked, and that included corrupted police who lined their pockets with wads of money handed over to the high-ranking officers via drug lords. This book is gritty and rightly so. The young police officer had to keep his wits about him in order to survive and climb the ladder to a position he wanted away from the crooked officers above him. If you like a noir type of feel with all of the ruthless deaths and horrific narrative in your book, then you want to read this compelling novel. I don’t want to give away the story or the ending, but this is a five star read.