Hacienda Moon

Hacienda Moon by KaSonndra Leigh

Slightly based on a story of a warship named “Fortuna” in 1748, this is a story of believing in spirits of the past, a Gothic Romance at it’s finest.

Tandie Harrison was a psychic who worked with the police department until she lost her power.  In an effort to get away from the terrible memories of the death of her 6 year old daughter, she decided to move away to North Carolina to a historic plantation house, called Chelby Rose, and try to continue her writing career.  Meeting a tall and handsome man at the airport, Eric Fontalvo, in an odd twist of fate, he is hired by the home owner, Saul Chelby, to help renovate the home.

Why does Saul not live in a house that has been in his family for generations?  The local townspeople are full of stories of ghosts and spirits and a curse on the house.  The more Tandie tries to find out, the more involved she becomes as her visions begin to return, and the more dangerous things become.

The characters, both from 1748 and the current story, each have their own deceptions and secrets.  Written in an easy to follow style, you’ll want to keep the pages turning to see what Tandie discovers.  A Gothic romance with curses, witches, relationships and adventures to keep you interested until the very end.

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Legends Lost: Galdin

Legends Lost:  Galdin by Nova Rose

A thousand years ago the lands of Tesnayr were at battle, five hundred years ago Amborese helped the lands of Tesnayr that were in battle again.  Now it is Princess Nylana’s turn to end the battles.

The 5 lands of Tesnayr had been at peace, but the death of the King ended that.  Krispyn, Nylana’s brother, was crowned King in his place, but was on a 6 month review.  The people were in an uproar with the way Krispyn was ruling.  The battles were beginning.  Nylana was always a peaceful person, always seeing the best in everyone and helping any who needed it.  In her travels to help calm the people, she was captured.  In a strange twist of fate, she finds her long lost brother, Galdin, that everyone that was dead.  In her quest to restore peace, more and more battles are occurring, and the Orcs with their red eyes that paralyze seem to be under the control of someone, but who and how.

Holding true to the previous books in the series, numerous characters with all types of personalities, the good and the evil.  Lots of action to keep you turning pages.  Nice flow makes it easy to follow and hope for the return of peace to the lands of Tesnaryr.

On Amazon.com

Secrets of a Spiritual Guru: Real Estate, Yoga & Lies

Secrets of a Spiritual Guru:  Real Estate, Yoga & Lies by Tamara Lee Dorris

Melissa is a struggling real estate agent.  Her boyfriend of numerous years, Ron, left her for his yoga instructor.  When did he become interested in yoga?  In an effort to learn more about the woman who stole her boyfriend, Melissa begins an interest in yoga.  Not only that, but the woman who stole Ron is looking for someone to write a blog about yoga and related topics.  Out of spite, Melissa applies for the blog position under a different name to hide her identity.  In a weird twist of fate, she gets the job.

In an effort to sound like she knows about yoga, Melissa searches the internet and starts learning yoga at a local facility.  But the more Melissa learns about yoga, the more she truly wants to improve herself.  The articles she writes truly inspire herself and the boyfriend stealing instructor.  But should she reveal who she really is to this woman?  All this hard work of learning yoga to try to get Ron back, but does she really want him after all this improvement?

While the cast of characters is minimal, they each have a unique personality that you can relate to.  Written to amuse and make you laugh, whether you are feeling the pain of the yoga positions or routing for her success in real estate, you’ll keep turning the pages until you get to the end.  Easy to follow and hard to put down, you’ll smile and laugh till the end.

On Amazon.com

Split at the Root

Split at the Root by Catana Tully

Reviewing an autobiography is difficult, how do you critique someone’s life story?

In this case, the critique is on the positive side.  Catana (or Adriana as her birthname was) was given up by her biological mother to be raised by a German family.  Normally, that does not seem unusual, but in this case, the child is a Black child and the family is very white, and they are living in Guatemala.

Growing up, Catana was loved and given the best of everything, never needing to want for anything, but also never knowing her Black heritage and family.  Years later, after succeeding in school and becoming a famous model and actress, she was encouraged to write about her life and find out about her biological family and their heritage.

The truths she learned were not as she was led to believe growing up.  The secrets and mysteries she uncovered opened her eyes to her true upbringing.

While you travel along with Catana, you will visit numerous locations described in vivid detail and meet her extended family, along with a very loving and supportive husband.  This is true determination to discover one’s history.  Travel with Catana to discover why her mother gave up her first born.  The family has quite the difference in characters and her travels will keep you turning the pages to see if she ever finds the truth.

On Amazon.com

Divine Secrets of the Ta-Ta Sisterhood: Pledging the Pink Sorority

Divine Secrets of the Ta-Ta Sisterhood:  Pledging the Pink Sorority by Joanna Chapman

Breast cancer, or any cancer for that matter, is not funny, nor should it be taken lightly.  It is an extremely serious condition and needs to be fully understood with all the options available.

Joanna Chapman not only wants you to know how devastating it is when you are first told, and how confusing all the terminology can be, plus the options based on how serious the cancer is at the first discovery, but she wants you to know, you can still live your life and keep a sense of humor.  Do research and don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions, and don’t be afraid to ask for help from others.

There is no one correct way.  Every woman has her own situation and needs to make the best decision for her.  What seems like the best solution may not be after speaking with the professionals.  It goes back to knowing your own situation.  Don’t be afraid to ask for all your records, lab results, etc.  This is YOUR body.

Interspersed along the way are small tidbits of advice, along with websites, books, etc to help aid you in your research and travels.

You may not have the same family and friend closeness, but don’t feel you must bear this alone.  Search out your local support groups, try your religious groups and most importantly are your Pink Sisters who have and are going through the same diagnosis.

This book is a must read for anyone with breast cancer.  Not only does Joanna write the beginning, when she was diagnosed, and the during, but the difficulty in the after surgery.

On Amazon.com

Tenderloin

Tenderloin by Ty Hutchinson

FBI Agent Aby Kane is on the move again.

This suspense adventure grabs you right from the first chapter and never lets go.

A young boy is running in fear through the jungle, but what is chasing him?  A DEA agent, Fernando Riggs, is killed and his body is so beaten and bruised, who or what could have done this?

Abby travels to Columbia, South America, to find out what has happened.  Aiding her is Special Agent Dominic Cabrera.  Genetic scientist brothers Julio and Elan Ortega now work for Faro Zapata, and his boss is a drug lord, El Monstruo.  The bosses have a special interest in the drug the Ortega brothers are working on, MZ-1.

Follow Abby through the jungle to discover what gruesome adventures come to numerous people.  

Even if you have not read Abby’s first adventure, you will not feel lost.  The characters in this novel will keep you reading to the end.  Short chapters make it an easy read, and easy to follow.

On Amazon.com

The Girl Who Put Out the Fire

The Girl Who Put Out the Fire by D. K. Janotta

Kari Erntemann and Jerry Peterson were both journalists.  Jerry had been working on piece about immigrants taking over jobs from local residents of Europe.  Failing in health, he retreated into seclusion.

Kari saw an article and immediately thought of Jerry and his work, except his name was not on the by-line.  The theme, again, young engineers from India were taking over the IT jobs and getting their visa’s and papers pushed through extremely quickly.

Anton is Kari’s pupil for learning the ropes of journalism.  Even though Kari is a freelance journalist, she was requested to teach Anton.  Anton is hard working and did anything and everything Kari asked of him.

Dan Mandeville had been working hard to make ends meet, but his anger over the potential job loss to foreigners was overwhelming.  Dan knew his job and did not like the newcomers coming in with so little knowledge.

How were these Asians coming in and finding jobs so fast?  Leo Foxe had made a living of finding the right people to fill jobs quickly and at quite a savings to the employers for payroll.

Lots of irrelevant details about the countryside, landscaping, etc.  It’s ok to have a description or two of where you are, but there was a bit much of this.  Needed to be more focused on the who and the why.  Dan’s character seemed so irrelevant to the story for quite a while, I had to read quite a bit to understand his importance.  While you get a good understanding of each character, it takes a good part of the book to see how they all fit together into one story.  The true motive is Kari and her journalistic instinct to dig deeper into the facts to get the true story and reveal it.

On Amazon.com