Book Brief: My Temporary Life

MY TEMPORARY LIFE
by Martin Crosbie
Genre: Romantic/Suspense
Word count: 93,000

It has everything, simply everything-a coming of age, a romance, and a thriller rolled into one delightful read.

From the very first sentence, we’re drawn into the harsh Scotland schoolboy world of Malcolm and Hardly. Malcolm’s summers in Canada with his mother offer little comfort. He survives by running; running through the streets, running between Scotland and Canada, running from himself and his past.

Flash ahead 20 years. In Canada, Malcolm meets Heather, a woman haunted by an evil secret. When they camp at the Lake at the end of the World, they discover there is nowhere left to run, for either of them.

Like the great 19th century writers (but with a lighter touch), Martin Crosbie takes Malcolm from a life focused on the primary needs of food, sex and basic survival to loftier aspirations. He enters an intangible, often illusory world of evil that requires enormous human faith; and tosses the reader onto a thrilling rollercoaster ride. Mr. Crosbie’s deft character-development pen never allows the reader to question Malcolm’s choices. He has prepared for this journey since his boyhood days in Scotland. This time, he’s not backing down, whatever the cost.

This title is available from Amazon. Continue reading “Book Brief: My Temporary Life”

Book Brief: Deviations

Deviations: A Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery
by Mike Markel
Genre: mystery/police procedural
Word count: 81,000

Former police detective Karen Seagate is drinking herself to oblivion and having dangerous sex with losers from the bar when the new police chief tracks her down. It seems there were problems with her departure.

A high-profile murder gives Seagate a chance to work as a detective again … but the new chief is one for the rules, and Seagate has too many deviations from official protocol. These deviations might get her fired. They might also get her killed. But she’s determined they’ll help her find the killer.

This title is available exclusively on Amazon. Continue reading “Book Brief: Deviations”

Book Brief: Savannah Jade

SAVANNAH JADE
by Sandra Cimadori
Genre: Young Adult Novel, Contemporary Fiction
Word count: 46, 272

Trailer trash is what people in Port Regal, South Carolina call seventeen-year-old Savannah Jade Mason and her family. Savannah dreams of doing important, spectacular things, but it is unlikely she ever will given her spectacular ability for getting into trouble. When her mother dies, the family’s circumstances sink further into the Lowcountry swamp. Adult responsibilities are thrust on Savannah overnight. She is the only one left to care for her elderly grandmother and little brother – Savannah’s older sister is in jail and no good to anyone.

Who can Savannah turn to? Will it be Jonah her rocker boyfriend who she has loved for years, Derek who is anxious to escape his new life and baby, or steady and dependable Luca who she sees only as a friend? The revelation of a family secret will shake her identity to its core, lead her to question all her relationships, and set her on the road to self-reliance.

This title is available from Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble. Continue reading “Book Brief: Savannah Jade”

Book Brief: Bluff

BLUFF
by Lenore Skomal
Genre: Literary Fiction/trangressional fiction
Word count: 90,000

“To the medical world, I was a host body, surviving only to bring a new life into the world. And while I wanted to die more than anything in the world, I never wanted this. No, I never wanted to cease to exist. This was the worst death of all.”

Jude Black lives in that in-between, twilight place teetering on death but clinging to life in order to bring her baby into this world. Only she knows the circumstances surrounding her mysterious fall off the bluff that landed her in the hospital being kept alive by medical intervention. Only she knows who the father of her baby is. In this poignantly crafted literary novel, the mystery unfolds and the suspense builds as the consequences of Jude’s decisions threaten to reveal everyone’s deceptions, even her own. Bluff offers a sensitive look at essential questions such as the value of human life, the consciousness of those in a coma and the morality of terminating life support. At the core is the story of a tragically misunderstood woman who finds peace, acceptance, understanding and even love on her deathbed.

This title is available from Amazon. Continue reading “Book Brief: Bluff”