A Crazy Optimist

This Romantic Comedy stars a Crazy Optimist who owns a Pet Taxidermy shop and supplements her income by becoming a Professional Maid Of Honor. Sparkle January recently moved to New York City. She finds a best friend in Nick Patrizio, whose Harvey’s On The Harbor restaurant is around the corner from Sparkle’s apartment. She visits Harvey’s daily, not to eat, but to tell her troubles to Nick and drink coffee. Sparkle finds that building both her new professions brings unexpected difficulties and dilemmas. And she’s intent on transforming herself from Ugly Duckling into Acceptable Swan. Nick is the voice of reason and safety in the storms. Nick’s had tragedies of his own but falls for Sparkle the first moment she breezes into his restaurant. But Sparkle hides a secret that forces her to guard her heart. And what is the key to Sparkle’s optimism?

A Crazy Optimist (Christian Romance)

By Anne Greene

Winged Publications

ISBN #978-1980911592

99 Pages

Price $5.97 (Paperback)

Price $2.99 (Kindle)

Rating 5-Stars

“A Falling In Love Story”

The author gave me a copy of the book for an honest review. Sparkle January moves to New York from Dallas, Texas, to become a Pet Taxidermist, but the job doesn’t pay her bills, so she decides to become a Maid of Honor for weddings to add to her income. She has made one best friend in New York, café owner Nick Patrizio. He’s someone she can run her ideas by and ask opinions of. But Nick has fallen in love with her, and he does cause little butterflies to flutter in her heart, but Sparkle has a secret. It is a secret that keeps Sparkle from her own wedding, and she’s afraid for their feelings to advance beyond best friends.

Although I don’t normally read romance novels, this author’s clean writing style, and interesting stories have pulled me into all of her books. There is humor, drama, tension, and people fall in love. You won’t find sex and profanity in her books, and I’m thankful for that. This is a book Christian readers can, and will, enjoy. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THREE GO BACK

The Kill Circle

When retired senior CIA analyst Rico Perris plunges off a cliff in his vintage Porsche while speeding through the mountains of Colorado late one snowy night, the local sheriff rules it an accident. CIA officials, however, suspect otherwise. Their suspicions are soon heightened after two other former intelligence analysts turn up dead under questionable circumstances. All three victims were once assigned to the same top-secret project an internal review of the CIA's long-rumored involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Now, with a Congressional mandate about to go into effect compelling the CIA to release long-secret files relating to the assassination, there is growing concern that a shrewd and ruthless killer is on the loose, one who will stop at nothing to prevent the public from discovering the truth of what happened that tragic day in Dallas in November, 1963.

Veteran pilot, aspiring Buddhist and ex-government assassin Cordell Logan has little interest in helping his former comrade-in-arms, Buzz, who still works in the intelligence community, investigate what looks increasingly like a vexing conspiracy. Content to operate his small civilian flight school in the swanky seaside resort of Rancho Bonita, California, Logan would just as soon be left alone that is, until Buzz introduces him to Layne Sterling, a brilliant and beautiful CIA agent assigned to the case. Logan is instantly drawn to her. Working together while pretending to ignore their simmering mutual attraction, they soon find themselves caught up in a high-stakes, high-altitude cat-and-mouse game, one that in the end could destroy them both.

Fast-paced, brimming with action and humor, The Kill Circle is a page-turner of the first order, the sixth offering in a series of mystery-thrillers that has earned Cordell Logan and author David Freed a legion of loyal readers and critics alike.

The Kill Circle (Mystery)

By David Freed

The Permanent Press www.permanentpress.com

ISBN #978-1579625115

304 Pages

Price $29.95 (Hardback)

Price $8.49 (Kindle)

Rating 4-Stars

“Another Good Entry”

The publisher sent me a copy of the book for an honest review. Cordell Logan is drawn into another investigation connected to the Kennedy assassination. He refuses to help look into a case involving the mysterious deaths of several CIA agents, but is forced in by his friend, Buzz. Assisting the beautiful CIA agent, Layne Sterling the case takes them to Colorado for the answers.

I’ve followed the Cordell Logan series from the first novel on, and have always enjoyed the stories, and this latest entry is no exception. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

Guest Author Sarah Stuart

Guest Author Sarah Stuart

Sarah Stuart is an award-winning author and a book reviewer for Readers’ Favorite. Her passions are theatre, music, wildlife, history, and travel, all of which come together in the Royal Command Family Saga. She writes because she enjoys it, and as a commitment to ecology, 100% of her royalties are donated to charities helping endangered species worldwide. Typically, this might be reforestation to provide suitable habitats.

The settings of her books, the Western Highlands of Scotland, London’s Theatre-Land, and Europe, are vivid; Sarah has lived, or spent a considerable time in these places. She uses insider knowledge gained from working in theatres to create the showbiz setting. 

5-star Amazon review: “The characters are relatable and Sarah weaves a story linking them in ways that reveal their ambitions, weakness, pleasure and pain. And just as importantly, the love and support they offer one another. Sarah also deals with the issue of forbidden love, presenting it in a way that has the pages flying by as hitherto perfect love is put to the test by close, interconnecting relationships crossing boundaries that threaten to ruin not only careers, but friendship and family. And she does it all in a crisp, elegant style that is her very own.”

Her fifth book, Three Against the World: A Waif, a Stray, and the Search for Romance, is totally different, though it does reflect her love for dogs. It's a clean love story full of suspense that is suitable for 14+ and up.

Dynasty of Deceit viewbook.at/DynastyofDeceit 

Author’s Blog http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/sarah-stuart.html

Three Against The World https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CNRF1BN?tag=geolinker-20

Dangerous Liaison https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M9CU1Z6?tag=geolinker-20

Illicit Passions https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0157DGA2G?tag=geolinker-20

Sweet Temptation https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075W91MZJ?tag=geolinker-20

The Red King

The Red King is a free End of the World Book that's a wild roller coaster ride through the flaming heart of the Post Apocalypse! Get it now...

The Red King (Zombie Apocalypse)

By Nick Cole

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN #978-1522916253

Price $8.00 (Paperback)

Price Free (Kindle)

285 Pages

Rating 3-Stars

“Not My Cup of Tea”

Holiday sobers up after a weekend of heavy drinking to find the world has ended and zombies have taken over. With the city on fire he must leave his apartment and find safety. On the way he meets another man and woman who join him, so it’s their story until Holiday decides to go for more alcohol and leaves an opening for the zombies.

I’m not really into zombie fiction, and this wasn’t my cup of tea, but the novel looked interesting so I picked it up to read. The writing is very good; I just had trouble getting into the whole zombie thing and felt the story dragged too much. However, I’m sure this is a perfect read for the zombie fans, so I highly recommend it to them. The Kindle is free, so grab it while you can.

Tom Johnson

Author of WORLDS OF TOMORROW

The Autopsy of Planet Earth

The year is wherever your imagination takes you.
A single extraterrestrial arrives on Planet Earth claiming his race created mankind only to have abandoned them early in their evolution. The Alien, known only as Legna, has returned to reverse mankind’s downward spiral by transitioning humans to a new dynamic of peace, harmony, and balance. Gabriel Ferro, Chief of Staff to the United States President, and Dr. Catherine Blake, are unwittingly drawn into a world beyond their wildest imaginations, a world beyond Earth, beyond the Milky Way—the first humans to go where no humans have gone before. Will the arrival of a mystifying extraterrestrial save Earth from the destruction of the natural world, caused by the very society that relies on it for survival? Can the missteps of antiquity, blindly repeated time and time again, be reversed?

The Autopsy of Planet Earth (SF Thriller)

By R. J. Eastwood

BookBaby

ISBN #978-1543915648

Price $22.95 (Paperback)

Price $2.99 (Kindle)

562 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Wow”

The author gave me a copy of the book for an honest review. The world and politics come to close when an alien is discovered. The CIA and NSA are keeping him secured in a secret facility in the middle of nowhere. CIA agent, Owen Jennings contacts his old college pal, Chief of Staff, Gabriel Ferro with a life or death message, and Gabriel rushes off to meet his friend, and is spirited away by a NSA agent to the hidden location where they are keeping the alien. From this point the story shifts into high gear, as powerful men want the alien killed, and anyone with it. Gabriel and Dr. Blake make a run across country, hoping to reach the safety of the White House with the alien in tow.

The alien, Legna, is here to right a wrong. Humans were their failed experiment, and they want to set them back on the path originally intended. To find peace, harmony, and balance. But humans have been on their own so long, they don’t want some alien race knocking on their door and telling them what to do. The president dies and Legna makes Gabriel governor of the world against his will, and forces him to start programs to move humans in the right direction.

Wow! This belongs on film. However, it wouldn’t work as a movie. This would have to be a six to eight hour mini-series. As I read this, I couldn’t help being reminded of the humorous novel, Martians Go Home, about unwanted aliens arriving unexpectedly and disrupting our ever-day affairs. But this novel, though humorous at times, is also very serious. I found a lot of the story falling into New Age beliefs, the creations becoming the creators, one world government, etc. At one point Legna is asked, “Do you think you are god?” To which he replies, “Maybe I am.” There are twists after twists in this interesting novel, but it ends well, as humans begin looking to change. To say any more would give too much away, so I will leave it there. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THESE ALIEN SKIES