The Crane Diaries: Dirty Blood by Apryl Baker

Deep in the swamps of the Louisiana bayou, a horrifying secret lies waiting to be discovered: a chilling legendary a beast born from a curse…the Rougarou. Emma Rose Crane lets hunter Cass Willow convince her to help him on a ghost hunt, she never imagined she’d be trudging through the swamps, let alone stumbling upon a mess of mangled bodies—or running into the creature responsible for the rotting remains. When the creature attacks, it infects them with the same curse which drove it mad. There is only one hope—kill the beast to cure the infection before they succumb to the hunger eating them alive.

The cover is intriguing with an offer of seeing through a thin veil into the paranormal world beyond – legendary creatures, curses, demon, angels and of course Louisiana voodoo. The title takes the reader more deeply into the series The Crane Diaries and the complicated and complex members of the Crane family, especially the protagonist. All the characters are three dimensional and well developed. The plot flows, except the extended passages referring to previous books, creating the feeling the reader needs to read the whole series in order to understand this book. It could otherwise easily stand-alone since all the plot elements are there. Some careful content editing could eliminate this problem. The dialogue is genuine and moves the storyline forward as do the chapters. The copyediting was spot on.

Readers of previous books in the series should note that Baker is moving Emma from a strictly young adult genre to a college-age romance and thus into more sexual settings. There is an abundance of kisses and very warm hugs and a lot of lap sitting. Although the last scene leads us into a bedroom scene, the act itself is beyond the pages of the book. Following titles may well move into more adult situations.

Baker grew up in the mountains of West Virginia where she now lives. She loves scary movies, books, writing books, and entertaining people with her “silly stories.”

Wrinkles by Mian Mohsin Zia

Wrinkles: A True Love Story by Mian Mohsin Zia

“Wrinkles” by Mian Mohsin Zia WINS Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest 2016 held in USA.

According to Readers' Favorite the 2016 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest featured thousands of contestants from over a dozen countries.

Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest features entries from new authors to New York Times best-sellers, as well as Hollywood celebrities like "Jim Carrey" and "Henry Winkler".

Mian Mohsin Zia is an International Award Winning Author, Self-Publishing Specialist & a Marketing Specialist.

About the Book:

Wrinkles is a tender story of unconditional love that crosses generations and genders, cultures and creeds and removes the wrinkles from souls. Well-developed characters that carry beyond the pages from Cape Town, South Africa into readers’ hearts and reveal the wrinkles resident there. Zia is a voice for tolerance and change one person, and perhaps one wrinkle at a time. Once again the author takes a slice of a life lived by a strong, complex central character in a circle of relationships that makes him everyman (and everywoman by extension). He asks the hard questions of life and leads readers to sometimes surprising answers that hold TRUTH that teach and transcend without a hint of didacticism.

I have enjoyed watching Zia’s writing career unfold from book to book. He is a strong voice of not only literary Pakistan but the literary world without pretension, heavy-handedness or wordiness. His writing is honed and deep while telling a simple story in simple words that is not simplistic and lingers long after the final page is read.

About the Author

Mian Mohsin Zia aka "M I A N---No Time for Love" is a brilliant, humble and dedicated author obsessed with writing great books. He is an Internationally acclaimed Pakistani author, marketing, and self-publishing specialist. His books have been rated 4 and 5 stars on Amazon and other sales channels. He has set new trends worldwide in novel writing with his books. New York Times bestseller & Edgar Award winner author Mr. Burl Barer refers to Mian Mohsin Zia as "the brightest light on Pakistan's new literary horizon." For more visit: www.mianmohsinzia.com

I received a .pdf copy of this book from the author to read and respond with my unbiased review.

Strait to You by Fran Reinert

Reinert, Fran. Strait to You: A Novel. Tate Publishing and Enterprises: 08/28/2012.

Publisher: Perfect Paperback ISBN-10: 1620241692 ISBN-13: 978-1620241691 $22.99

Publisher: Tate Digital Edition $15.99

Amazon: Kindle Edition ASIN: B008FQRFAO $7.99

★★★★

For their thirtieth wedding anniversary, agoraphobic Fran plans an Alaskan cruise for herself and her husband Larry. She works with a travel agent to be sure there are no buses. To be sure there is a table for two. To be sure there are direct flights between Philadelphia and Seattle. All to deal with Larry’s phobias. The direct flights were not quite so straightforward, and they have to ride a bus from the airport to the ship, however there is a table for two.

At last they embark on the last cruise of the season, and things go well until the ship, with engines silenced, passes groaning glaciers. Larry and Fran watch from the terrace of their cabin. Suddenly, the ship's captain urgently asks all passengers to return to their rooms since there is a lot of glacial motion reported. Fran and Larry continue to watch, as massive pieces of ice break off and crash into the water, as the ship heads for the last port of call, a logging village called Pastore.

After visiting a few tourist shops, they head to an arena to watch a logging demonstration. Fran realizes they left the video camera in their room. Concerned Fran’s arthritis is bothering her, Larry seats her on a bench. There, just above they landing, where people are catching tenders going to and coming from the two cruise ships anchored some distance off shore, she can sit and watch for him. Larry moves toward the tenders, and Fran tries to keep him in sight, but soon the end of the line beomes the middle of the line…

Suddenly sirens go off in the town. Then the bone-chilling whistles of the cruise ships begin to sound their emergency signal. People with panicked faces rush toward the line leading to the gangways to the tenders. Fran loses sight of Larry as she joins the other passengers focused on getting to their ships. She panics. All she wants is to get to her room and Larry. Larry is not there. There is no sign Larry has been there at all. Anywhere. Fran falls to her knees.

Thus begins a journey. Way beyond her itinerary. Way beyond her comfort zones. With the help of God and the people she befriends, Fran sets out to find Larry. To go home. And to never leave again.

Reinert sends her vulnerable characters loose in Alaska where people take care of each other, just because that is what people do. Being in Pastore, the temperate fictional coastal town, a day’s drive from Anchorage, across the strait from Russia, as winter begins, provides layers of urgency and suspense to Fran’s search. The right people, in the right place, at the right time is a little over-simplistic. But, at the same time, this allows the reader to remain focused on Fran as she bravely sets out to do something she has never had to do before, without the one person she has been able to lean on since she was a teenager.

Minor inconsistencies in grammar and sentence structure, and uses of clichés gives the writer opportunity to grow as she explores other characters in other settings. Reinert handles twists in the plot that could easily look contrived, in such a way to keep the reader turning pages. And, at the end, the reader will want to follow Fran home to see how the new Fran handles being home again. The reader will also want to follow Reinert home to see where she will take us next, and whom we will need to cheer on as we did Fran.

Chapman, Vannetta. A Simple Amish Christmas.

Chapman, Vannetta. A Simple Amish Christmas. Abingdon Press, 2010. ISBN: 1426710666 Rated G – Adults and Young Adult 

Annie Weaver returns to her Amish home and roots when her father’s buggy is hit by a car. She drops everything and comes home to Mifflin County from Philadelphia, where during her rumspringa, she has secretly gotten her GED and received her RN degree.

Expecting to nurse her father back to health, she is peeved when Samuel Yoder “a farmer with a minimal knowledge regarding herbs and medicinal workings” shows her three times how to dress her father’s infected wound.

Chapman has written another warm, innocently sweet romance. Annie comes to understand God’s intent for her life along with realizing how she can use what she has learned to support not only her father, but to assist the rest of her community, and even Samuel Yoder.

“Not your average” Amish novel. Chapman incorporates not only her knowledge of all things Amish, but of human nature and love whether found in caring for young cancer patients in a modern hospital, but in a simple farm house where a difficult birth calls on bravery and gentleness.

Nickels by Karen Baney

Niki’s roommate, Marcy is determined to find the perfect man for her friend. With her twenty-sixth birthday coming, Niki feels no urgency to find love. Her blind date Chad would be perfect for Marcy.

She does regret that her entire life could be minimized into one word: coding. Between assignments,  she waited for Brian, the CEO of Elite Software to transfer her to a new client. Brian assigns her to her dream job at Helitronics, the largest DoD contractor for helicopter aviation electronics.

Then Kyle Jacobs reenters her life and turns everything upside down. Niki has to learn to work with him since he also is assigned to the new project because of his military record and flight experience. Niki has a hard time letting go of the image she has carried of Kyle since high school.

The letter she received just before her brother was killed by an IED carries a passion about getting to know Jesus. Somehow Niki has to go beyond the past, and move beyond her painful memories, then when her heart is open, she finds the One who can hold her heart and even make Todd, who seems to be sabotaging the project, insignificant.

Karen Baney has penned a story and characters that linger past the last page. The reader is invited into the world of a computer programmer, a software engineer, or coders, or developers or whatever one wishes to call them. The characters are  a “snarky, funny, unique breed.”  Baney’s faith allows her characters to change. 

Jenkins, Jerry B. The Breakthrough: A Precinct 11 Novel. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. September 2012.

Dr. Jerry Jenkins is the author of more than 175 books. He has been a journalist, a writer, and an editor. Jenkins is currently encouraging and training new writers through his Christian Writer’s Guild. His books can be found regularly on the New York Times Best Sellers List.

The Breakthrough is the third Precinct 11 Novel, preceded by The Brotherhood and The Betrayal. Although promoted as the third in a trilogy, Jenkins leaves the police procedural open to follow on novels.

Boone Drake is the youngest bureau chief in the history of the Chicago Police Department. Jack Keller, Boone’s first partner, then his mentor and his boss, sponsors Drakes promotion to the head of the newly formed Major Case Squad. Following the first two novels in which like the Old Testament Job, Boone has lost everything: his wife, his son, his home, and his faith.

Now he has a new wife, Haeley, a new son, a new home, a renewed faith, and an increased passion to get gangs off the streets. Haeley won a seven figure settlement from the City of Chicago for false arrest late in their courtship and paid early in their marriage. The money was used to buy a comfortable house in a nice neighborhood, to ensure college educations for Max, who has been officially adopted by Boone, and any future siblings, and to gift Boone with the car of his dreams, with the balance given to the two churches that are important in their lives. Yet Boone is somehow waiting for the other shoe to drop.

When disaster strikes, it seems that Boone is destined to lose everything again, as tragedy threatens those closest to him. Haeley needs him desperately. Max is kidnapped, and all clues lead to a human trafficking ring from the dark and infamous Hutong district in Beijing. The plot is predictable but deftly written, keeping the pages turning. The suspense is created, not by twists and turns of plot, but by the complexity of character development.

Jenkins’s father is a police chief, and he has two brothers who are police officers. Cooperation among police departments and forces from the other squads housed at the 11th Precinct and across state and national jurisdictions is emphasized throughout the novel. Equally emphasized is the true-to-life crises of faith shaped by circumstance and cultivated through the relationships of characters that are believably flawed but redeemable.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Tyndale Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Previously posted May21, 2012

The Emperor's Edge

A high fantasy novel in the age of steam. Reviewed by Jorja Davis 7/7/2012

Buroker, Lindsay. The Emperor’s Edge. Ebook creation by Dellastar Designs 2010. Rated PG Violence: Young Adult and Adult

Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is sent by the emperor’s regent to seduce and kill Sicarius, the empire’s most notorious assassin. Either the regent believes she is implacable or they want her eliminated. While searching for a secret way out of the palace dungeons she over hears what seems to be a plot to poison the young emperor, Sespasian.

Amaranthe begins to gather an unlikely band of heroes and comes across a deadly fire on the waterfront. She finds arson covering human sacrifice and a powerful coalition’s machinations to take down the empire.


Brouker brings to print adventure, romance, and mystery in a fast paced fantasy. Her characters are flesh and blood and bring fresh, humorous and lively dialogue to this well thought out urban fantasy. 

Lindsay Buroker

3 Reasons I’m Glad I Chose Self-Publishing

The Discovery by Dan Walsh. Revell, 2012

At the reading of his grandfather’s will, Michael Warner receives not only a very healthy checking account, and a continuing portion of Gerard’s royalties on his many best-selling suspense thrillers that have sold in the millions, but also his grandparent’s home in Charleston.

Michael begins to settle in to make his grandfather’s study his own, and takes down the wooden box to store his grandfather’s typewriter.Inside the richly carved box, Michael discovers a yellowed unpublished manuscript obviously meant for him to find.

It is a story of Nazi spies who come onto the Florida coast on U-boats trained by the Abwehr to sabotage the American war effort. But, this story is different from Gerard’s other books; it is also a story of a tender, forever kind of love that cannot be.

“As Michael delves deeper into the story he discovers something that has the power to change not only his future but his past as well.” It is a story “that explores the incredible sacrifices that must be made to forge the love of a lifetime.”

Dan Walsh has taken a side-bar of World War II history and created a novel within a novel will make you want to stay up late, and when you have reached its final pages, you will want to read it all over again. It has it all, mystery, intrigue, history, romance, characters whose names and lifetimes will stay with you long after you have passed the novel on to another male or female reader you know will love the book as much as you do.

A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Dan served as a pastor for 25 years. He is the bestselling and award-winning author of The Unfinished Gift, The Homecoming, The Deepest Waters, and Remembering Christmas. Dan and his wife Cindi have two grown children and live in the Daytona Beach area.

Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, known for their Christian fiction and books on Christian living, self-help, marriage, and family has signed Dan “to write 2 books a year for them through 2014.” The first of three stand-alone novels, The Reunion, will be released in September 2012. Dan Walsh and Gary Smalley, a family counselor and award-winning author of books about family relationships from a Christian perspective, have completed the first of a four-book fiction series. The Dance will be eleased in April 2013.