Book Review of Forever Hers: Fitzgerald Family Series Book Five

Book Review of Forever Hers:  Fitzgerald Family Series Book Five

Sponsored by Bewitching Book Tours

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share my review of this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

Forever Hers
Fitzgerald Family Series Book Five

E. B. Walters

                                        

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Firetrail Publishing

ISBN: 0983429758

ASIN: B009QA32SM

Number of pages: 288

Word Count: 101,776

Blurb : 

She wants her past hidden...

Amy Kincaid is running from her controlling ex-husband, who will stop at nothing to find her. With a new identity and a new job as a housekeeper, she just wants to be left alone to raise her daughter. Then Eddie Fitzgerald rolls into town and turns her world upside down.

He’s in the business of exposing the truth...

Eddie Fitzgerald, L.A.P.D.'s finest, lives for his job and nothing else, until he decides to take a break at the family summer home and is held at gunpoint by the most annoying, sassiest woman to ever cross his path. But something is off about Amy, and the more he learns about her, the more he’s convinced she’s a fugitive.

When her past catches up to her, Amy has no choice but to trust Eddie. Unfortunately, Eddie has demons of his own, and struggles with the decision to protect her or uphold the law.

The truth takes them down a deadly path, and only love can save them.

About the Author:

EDNAH WALTERS grew up reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and dreaming of one day writing her own stories. She finished her PhD in chemistry, married the love of her life, and decided to be a stay-at-home mother. She now lives in a picturesque valley in Utah with her husband, five children and two American short-hair cats. When she is not writing, you can find her doing things with her family, reading, traveling or online chatting with fans.

Ednah writes adult romance under the pseudonym E. B. Walters. SLOW BURN, the first contemporary romance with suspense was released in April 2011. It is the first book in the Fitzgerald family series. Book 2, MINE UNTIL DAWN, was released in July 2011. KISS ME CRAZY, book 3 in the series followed three months later. Book 4, DANGEROUS LOVE was released end of January 2012. FOREVER HERS was released October 15^th. Ednah is presently working on the next book, Lex’s story.

When she is not writing adult romance, Ednah writes YA fantasy books. Her YA fantasy series, The Guardian Legacy, is book about children of the fallen angels, who fight demons and protect mankind. AWAKENED, the prequel was released in September 2010 with rave reviews. BETRAYED, book one in the series was released by her new publisher Spencer Hill Press in June 2012. Book 3, HUNTED, which will be released April 2013. She’s working on book 4, FORGOTTEN.

Contacts:

Amazon

WEBSITE: www.ebwalters.com

BLOG: http://enwalters.blogspot.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ednahwalters

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ednahyaauthor

FB Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fan-Page-Of-Ednah-Walters/202111176494628?ref=hl

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4188120.Ednah_Walters

Google-plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/stream#113199492695974871853/posts

Other:

January 14 Character Profile or Interview

Butterfly-o-Meter Books

http://butterflyometerbooks.blogspot.com/

January 16 guest blog

Reginamayross's Blog

http://reginamayross.com

January17 review

Smitten with Reading

http://smittenwithreading.blogspot.com/

January 18 Interiew and review

Musings From An Addicted Reader

http://musingsfromanaddictedreader.blogspot.com/

January 19 Guest blog 

Provocative Pages – 

http://readingonthewildside.blogspot.com

Guest Post - Favorite contemporary romance novel and why OR talk about why you chose to write contemporary romance out of all the other genres

January 24 Interview

Books & Other Spells. 

nightskydarkstar.blogspot.com

January 24 review

Reviewing in Chaos  

http://reviewinginchaos.blogspot.com

January 30 Guest blog and review

Always a Booklover – 

http://alwaysabooklover.blogspot.com

February 1 Review

Books, Books, and More Books

http://dream-reader-dreamer2229.blogspot.com/

February 5 Promo 

Cloey's Book Reviews and Other Stuff

Cloeyk.blogspot.com

February 9 Guest blog

Simply Infatuated

http://simplyinfatuated.wordpress.com/

Excerpt:

He had an unforgettable face. Sharp cheekbones, square jaws and piercing gray eyes that didn’t say much. His dark wavy hair was cut short, but not too short. Unruly strands rebelled and curled across his brow and at his nape. His skin was bronze, like he spent time outdoors. The turned down waistband indicated no tan lines either. A nudist? Interesting.

“About last night,” she said casually, noticing he hadn’t touched his coffee. “I don’t usually pull a gun on unsuspecting people, and I make a really mean cup of coffee.” She slid the steaming cup closer. “Go on, try it.”

She’d hoped for a smile, but got a frown instead. Mr. Fitzgerald was obviously not a morning person. How long was he planning on staying? Baron and Kara Fitzgerald tended to visit for a few days to a week before heading back to L.A.

“Excuse me for asking a dumb question, but who is Raelynn?” Eddie asked.

“My daughter.”

He looked around, his gaze zeroing on the toys piled by the door leading to the patio before coming back to her. “How old is she?”

“Almost five going on thirty. Her birthday is in two weeks.”

“Where is she?”

“Still asleep, but she’ll be up any minute. Why do you ask?”

“I’d like us to have an adult discussion without a child clouding anyone’s judgment.”

He was going to say he didn’t need a housekeeper again. She just knew it. “Okay, but FYI, I have an iron-clad contract, so if you are thinking of kicking us out, I will sue you from here to kingdom come and win,” she said with a confidence she didn’t feel.

Eddie scowled. “Why would I kick you out?”

“Because you said you didn’t need me last night and that I should take a hike.”

“I never said that.”

“That’s what I heard.” She picked up her coffee mug with an unsteady hand and sipped, her gaze not shifting from his. “Why don’t we talk outside? You go put on a shirt or something while I dish up your breakfast.”

Eddie stared down at his bare chest as though realizing for the first time he was shirtless. A sheepish expression softened his features and heat coiled in Amy’s stomach, surprising her. It shot up a notch when he turned, giving her a view of his back. Powerful broad shoulders. Narrow hips. Killer ass. The man had a beautiful body.

Just before he disappeared into the hallway leading to the master bedroom, Eddie turned and caught her in the act. Without slowing down, he raised the mug to his lips and sipped, heat flashing in his eyes.

Review

Can two people with professions the other hates find love?  Amy and Eddie just might find out, if the past doesn’t catch up with them first.

I give this book 4 out of 5 clouds.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

Reading Romances Challenge 2013

Click here to find all the posts about this challenge!

<div align="center"><a href="http://wp.me/P27N1w-1EQ" title="reading romances reading challenge 2013"><img src="http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/7079/challenge2013.png" alt="reading romances reading challenge 2013" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

The Reading Romances Challenge is not about the amount of books you read, but the variety of titles you’ll have read when the challenge is over! Our goal is to read a bit of everything in the romance bookish world and open our minds to new books we wouldn’t usually read.

The Reading Romances Challenge 2013 will focus on Classic Romance plot lines  settings and themes this year!

If you are an author and want to contribute with prizes, please email me.

You can commit to read a number of books for this challenge during the year:

• Level 1: 1-3 books
• Level 2: 4-6 books
• Level 3:  7-9 books
• Level 4 : 10-12 books
• Level 5: 13-15 books
• Level 6: 16+ books

Or you might rather commit to read per month:

• Romance Reader – 1 book per month
• Romance Lover- 2 or 3 books per month
• Romance Addicted – 4 or 5 books per month

JAN:    Marry me? –  Marriage of convenience. An arranged or forced marriage leads to love.

FEB:   Foreigners do it better! –  Greek, italian, spanish, french, brazilian, russians, sheiks! No English or North American heroes.

MAR:   The Avengers –  Man uses woman for blackmail, revenge, kidnapped, seduced etc .OR May The Games Begin! – two people fighting for the same prize and only one can win.

APR:    Beauty and the Beast  –  one of the main characters is physically marred in some way or a wounded hero, emotionally tortured.

MAY:    Summer Lovin’ – a couple is stranded together and the enforced intimacy leads to more. OR Nursing Back to Health –  hero or heroine is injured or near death and the other saves his/her life by nursing back to health.

JUN:   Who do you think you are?  –  One of a couple isn’t who he or she appears to be on the surface or pretending to be someone else or disguised.

JUL:    I’m BACK for good!  –  Reunited Lovers. Second chance or a first love rekindled story.

AUG :   Traditional or not!  –  time travel romance or a book with a love triangle.

SEP:   Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do? –  opposites attract. This can also be reversed with a bad girl/good boy.

OCT:    In Love with my Best Friend  –  a friendship leads to more. OR Beta Male Fest! –  any romance featuring a beta or gama male.

NOV:     Romeo and Juliet – a class difference sets a couple apart.

DEC:     Cinderella  –  rags to riches or riches to rags.

Challenge Guidelines:

1. The 2013 Reading Romances Challenge will run from Jan 1, 2013 – Dec 31, 2013.
2. Anyone can join, you don’t need to have a blog. Feel free to sign-up in the comments – you can post reviews to any book site (i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Goodreads, Librarything, Shelfari etc). If you don’t have a blog you are still welcome to sign up. You can create a shelf for the challenge at Goodreads or LibraryThing or a similar site, please include your name and a link to your shelf.
3. The topics for each month are posted above so you can schedule ahead!
4. You can list your books before reading them (by leaving a comment on the post with the topics for that month) or just put them in a wrap-up post and link each month. If you list them, don’t feel obligated to read them, changes are welcomed! Please identify the books you’ve reviewed in your wrap up post each month so that I may easily add up your entries for the prize drawing! Track all of your challenge accomplishments, the good and bad.
5. Sign up in the linky bellow and add the direct link to your post about joining the Reading Romances Challenge. If you don’t have a blog, please link it to the page where you post your reviews (Goodreads, Shelfari, Amazon etc).
6. You don’t have to participate every month, but please try to!
7. Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2012, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.

• You can read the same author more than once and the books can be old or new, but they must be read during the course of the challenge.
  
• Books used in this challenge may be used in other challenges.
• Books can be in any format – paper, audio, ebook.
• Post the button to post on your sidebar, this way others can find their way back to this post and join in the fun!

At the beginning of each month there will be a roundup post for you to add your reviews for that month. If you forget, feel free to add your reviews in the following month. It can be something simple and short, please don’t worry about it! For each review you link up, you will get one entry in the monthly giveaways and in the challenge giveaways! Winners will be posted on the next month’s challenge post.

There will be monthly giveaways during the year for everyone who is actively participating on the challenge. There might be special giveaway by the end of the year, so don’t give up!

Character Cindy Marshall Tells an Author’s Bio And New Year’s Resolution - Part Two

Character Cindy Marshall Tells an Author’s Bio

And New Year’s Resolution - Part Two

______________________________________

If you took all the Cindy Marshall’s and all the Helen Kane’s

and laid them end-to-end…I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

                                                                                                (A Dorothy Parker-ism)

Anne and her husband put their inn up for sale, but the market was slow and it took a full year for a sale to happen. In the meantime, there was a nagging recurring dream which Anne had experienced for many years, about the murder of a woman in the late 1800’s, in a town named Bodie. She’d always wanted to explore that dream further. Then Anne learned her sister had a recurring dream, too--the same as hers. The writer began to postulate what it would take to make that possible. She researched the town of Bodie as best she could from her rural village of Cloverdale--but really, isn’t that tantamount to polishin’ cow patties? There wasn’t any meaty information to be found in the local libraries of easy country--land of church socials and lemonade stands. So, Anne sent for materials from U.C. Berkeley, where all of the preserved Bodie newspapers were kept, as well as information from California’s State Parks Department, and from a small preservation group called The Friends of Bodie. Well, Anne turned up an interesting, buried morsel by reading all of those old newspapers, and there was just no stopping her after that! She investigated recurring and genetic dreams, read books written by a renowned regression therapist at a Boston University, and even had her husband take them to Bodie for their annual vacation. It was when her boots touched Esmeralda dust that Anne knew she was going to write a story about Bodie.

It was the first story she wrote, but it became her second novel, some seventeen years later. Again, not unlike me, Anne lost a few years. She’d had some other successes, such as having two of her short stories published, and then a movie producer made an offer on the rights to “Bodie.” While the manuscript was being haggled about, Anne wrote her next novel--the one about me, sort of. She’d found a vintage photo of me during the restoration of her inn, and she’d decided she would one day write a story about it. You see, although I was smiling in the photo, Anne somehow knew I was sad. She’d thought often about what could make a pretty young girl so horribly sad. I could tell you how close she came to the truth, but you wouldn’t believe me. And why should you? I’m a literary character. I’m not her, even if at times she is me.

With two recently-published short stories and two completed manuscripts, one being optioned for a motion picture, we all believed Anne’s star was on the rise. And yet, my story was the last thing Anne wrote for more than fifteen years. Oh, she wanted to write, but there’s no rest for the wicked. In order to keep up the house payments until the businesses could sell, Anne began working full-time jobs between her post-accident surgeries, while her husband ran the inn by himself. Pain medications weren’t cutting it, money was tight, depression set in from chronic pain, and then the movie deal fell through. When Anne’s most recent surgery was completely undone by an aggressive physical therapist, and she debated another surgery and three more months of eating baby food through straws, she gave up writing entirely. Naturally, I thought of my friend Helen Kane during those dark times.

When I’d first met Helen, I had been living in Chicago for a couple of years. While many of my important and affluent customers referred to me as, “the toast of Chicago,” Helen Kane was a popular nightclub singer and stage actress from New York City. The actress had a love for champagne to equal my own, and we traveled among the same social circles. It was only a matter of time before we met. It was at a nightclub where she was singing, and we hit it off immediately. This was after her shiftless second husband, Max Hoffman, Jr., a mediocre actor at best, left her penniless and alone in Chicago, in 1933. Months later, Helen and I shared a magnum bottle of champagne with the director and a one of the producers from her last Broadway show. We over-indulged, just a bit. When Helen got up to sing another song, she finished the number with a slight shoulder roll and a batting of her lashes, which she borrowed from me, plus a little, “oop-boop-be-do,” borrowed from a young black girl she saw perform with a jazz group in Harlem. Then she giggled like a little girl, herself, and all the men in the club went mental! My slightly pudgy friend was reborn; she was suddenly more popular than beer. Every girl wanted to copy her Flapper-esque style, and every man wanted to date her. Her writer-friend in New York, Dorothy Parker, once complained of her, “You can’t throw a brick in any direction without hitting a Helen Kane.” (Miss Parker could be quite a pistol.)

But then the poor dear had to sue her studio, Paramount, for the theft of her persona and signature phrase, which they copied for a comic-strip character they named “Betty Boop.” The lawsuit dragged on almost two years and, surprisingly, did not look to be going in her favor. Soon the Betty Boop character was more popular than Helen, herself. She had no love interest in her life and everything seemed to be heading south: career, wealth, the lawsuit, her failed second marriage. Helen grew very depressed. Of course, none of this ever made it into Anne’s novel, but it’s true, just the same. I got Helen to snap out of her depression with a pep talk and a fountain of champagne one wild New Year’s Eve, where Helen met husband number three--the love of her life. But for Anne it took a lot more time, a lot more champagne, and a great, big, giant pep talk--but not from me. It came from Glenn Beck, the cable television host.

Mr. Beck was performing a Christmas Special from a location called Wilmington, Ohio. It’s a town that was beating the poor-economy odds by everyone pulling together; their successes fueled their hope, and hope spurred everyone to give their all. Mr. Beck had made an impassioned challenge to folks watching his show to get up and do something, anything, to better their situations. He prodded his viewers to stop blaming others for their failures, to take some chances, and make some changes in their lives; he challenged folks to help themselves or help another. Well, my creator took up that champagne-induced challenge for her 2010 New Year’s Resolution, and just look how things turned out for her (big smiles, here).

The anniversary has rolled around again. It’s just minutes before midnight and I am all gooseflesh and shivers at the prospect of a brand new year filled with new opportunities. It has been my humble pleasure to tell you Anne’s story, and now her New Year’s Resolution for 2013: To read more, write more, and mentor someone this year. Maybe hers will inspire some of you folks to take a chance or make a change in your own lives, during this shiny New Year. Oh! It’s midnight; can we all drink a toast to that?

Giveaway and Book Review of The Thing With Feathers

Giveaway and Book Review of The Thing With Feathers

Sponsored by Virtual Book Tours

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share my review of this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

Genre - Historical Fiction/Saga

Publisher - Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC

Release Date - 9-11-2012

Blurb : 

It was the ugliest photo he had ever seen.

And nothing would be the same again.

     As the inhabitants of Cloverdale, Oregon, welcomed in the twentieth century, they were not unaccustomed to hard times and thorny situations. Small communities banded together for protection and hope. Heroes and villains were often difficult to decipher.

     When an itinerate Baptist preacher arrived with his baby daughter and a wife lost on the trail, there was no one prepared to suspect what lurid secrets and heartbreak he might be concealing. As the preacher sets his sights against those who might oppose him, the names and the lives of the good people of Cloverdale may not be spared.

     Yet in the midst of the machinations of a mad man, virtue and valor can persist. The Thing with Feathers is known to fly through wars, depressions, and natural disasters. Will the Marshall clan and the good people of Cloverdale find it in time?

About the Author:

ANNE SWEAZY KULJU has won awards for editorials and honors for short stories, but now she writes historical fiction adventures, exclusively. Her debut novel, “the thing with feathers,” was released by Tate Publishing in September 2012. Her book, “Bodie,” a total thrill ride, is expected to release in early 2013, and she is currently busy on her next book, “Grog Wars,” set in 1850’s Portland, Oregon, the Shanghai capital of the world. Anne lives near Pacific City, Oregon, and divides her free time between the beach and Mount Bachelor. Readers may learn more about Anne and correspond with her on her website.

Contacts:

www.AnneSweazyKulju.com .

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Scribd | Linkedin | RedRoom |

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Email: AnneSweazyKujul@gmail.com

Buy: Amazon

Giveaway:

Winners Choice for a Kindle paperWhite or Nook Book Glowlight

Character Name chosen by one lucky winner

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Excerpt:

The first thing she saw was the money. She raised her eyebrows at him. He shook his head no again. That wasn’t what he wanted. Then she found an envelope folded in half. It was pale pink, badly faded, and worn from handling. She took the letter out, and her eyes went immediately to the bottom of the single sheet of paper with the beautiful penmanship. It read, “All my heart, Cindy.” Rebecca was both curious and a trace jealous. She read the letter and looked up at the man in the bed.

“Sean...?”

His arm wavered again, pointing to the box. There was more. Rebecca looked again at the contents. There was a photograph, quite old from the looks of it, probably worth a fortune if it was one of Sean’s earlier photos. She took it gingerly by the edges and brought it up close to her face so she could see it clearly.

“Oh!” She put the photograph back in the box as though it could bite her. She looked at Sean somberly, tears brimming in her eyes. “I never…oh, Lord, Sean.” Her voice cracked.

“Beck-wheat, once I knew, what could I do? But I should have burned that photo years ago. And I would have, but it was the only proof I had. That doesn’t matter any more. I don’t want Victor to see it. Please take care of that for me.” He stopped to catch his breath and stem off a coughing fit. “I want him to have the letter, though. He has so little to remember his mother by. Please see that Blair’s portrait goes to him, too. And the watch—he should have the watch. It was Blair‘s most prized possession.”

“I’ll see to it, Sean.”

The photograph explained everything. She took hold of his hand to calm him and squeezed it. She loved that man. She always had. But fate had other plans for the two of them. Together, they had tried to save a young girl’s life. Rebecca was only now learning of the role she had played all those years ago. She remembered it like it was yesterday. So did Sean, and he began telling her the things she hadn’t known. His voice came bursting out between coughs like the spat of machine gun fire. It would be a long and difficult story for him to tell, but it was time he told it to someone. It was only right that the someone be Rebecca.

Review

This was the best worst book I’ve read in a long time.  By that I mean that it was an excellent book; well written, intense and driven.  The story was gripping, involved, and moved me to tears, laughter, and more.  However, the underlying storyline, the story that Sean tells Rebecca, is hard to read.

The story reminds me of one of my former jobs as a Child Welfare Services social worker.  It is the long sad story of Blair/Cindy and the horrible abuse she endured at the hands of or because of the person who first should have protected her, her father.  Although I think a different name should be applied to men who abuse children.

It is also the story of how one good man suffered because he made a choice to make a difference.  I can only pray that my children turn out half as good as Sean (and pray that they do not have to suffer like he did for doing the right thing.).

I give this story 4.5 out of 5 clouds.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.