Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland: A Dallas Powell Mystery by T. Lee Harris

Winter has Louisville in its grip and former FBI agent, Dallas Powell, has his hands full with car trouble, cat trouble, and trying to keep the Derby City branch of Trueblood Investigations and Security, Inc. solvent. When a juicy insurance job comes his way, he jumps at it, but the discovery of a decades-old murder spawns a veritable blizzard of violence, and Dallas finds himself right in its path.

"Winter has Louisville in its grip and former FBI agent, Dallas Powell, has his hands full with car trouble, cat trouble...#drama" 

 As I Await The Hunt by Valerie Hockert

As George is sitting in his tree stand, he questions things, and then his mind wanders with each movement he sees. He relates it to people and situations in his own life. His wife, his children, his marriage, his friends, and his job are all included in this reflection. "What ever happened to my life?" George asks himself as he is sitting there. It obviously isn't where it should be; he isn't where he should be.

And here he is - sitting in a tree stand waiting for that perfect deer, when he should be.... #suspense

This is How A Heart Breaks

This Is How A Heart Breaks – 99 cents on Kindle!

A Home Run ! Review by Amazon Customer An excellent story of love, commitment, crisis and resolution. Ms. Dearth has given a deep and compelling look at the peaks and valleys involved in this marriage and the emotions involved in the joys and tragedies that come. I eagerly look forward to a sequel to this book.

Book Description:

A chance meeting changes Monte's and Kathryn's lives forever. Their whirlwind courtship ends in marriage. Then an event happens to change the course of their marriage and their lives. Suddenly Kathryn finds herself alone and struggling to make sense of everything.

An excellent story of love, commitment, crisis and resolution.

Excerpt (Kindle Locations 101-125). 

Kathryn’s eyes traveled upward until they rested on Anna’s face. Anna was a tall, slender woman in her early sixties. Her short, curly, strawberry blonde hair was mixed with gray. For the past fifteen years or so, she had been the linchpin of Kathryn’s existence. She was housekeeper, nanny, and friend.

“I loved him, Anna, but sometimes I came close to hating him.”

“I believe we all took turns with those feelings,” Anna commented in her no nonsense way as she wrapped her hand gently around Kathryn’s arm urging her up from the chair. “Come on… let’s get you upstairs. You’re all done in.”

It took a great deal of effort, but Kathryn forced herself up from the chair. Her body was stiff from sitting in one position for so long. As she stood, she felt light-headed and nearly blacked out. She teetered unsteadily on her feet. Her legs were numb and tingling. Anna had to put her arms around her shoulders to steady her. “Careful now!”

Kathryn steadied herself with Anna’s help. “My mind is not going to let me sleep. It’s a void one minute, and memories bombard me the next. I have this strong, deep, empty feeling that won’t go away. Sometimes… I just can’t stand it… it hurts so much. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep again.”

“Yes, you will.” Anna’s throaty voice was soft and tender. “If you get some rest, it’ll make you feel better, at least physically. Dr. Winston gave you some sleeping pills…”

“No!” Kathryn interrupted Anna in a sharp tone. Then in a gentler voice, she said, “I’ll be fine without them… really, I will. Has anyone heard from Gray? My poor boy… he’s devastated. He hardly said a word when I told him about Monte. Russ and I had a devil of a time trying to get in touch with him. You know, he wasn’t permitted to turn on his cell phone during the retreat. At the time roughing it sounded like a good idea but now…” her voice faded. She took a deep breath and said, “I think Russ said he would be here early this afternoon, but I’m not sure. At least Gray’ll be on the company jet and have no worries about making a connection.” She realized she was rambling and stopped talking. Her tired brain was sputtering. Kathryn bent down to pick up her shoes.

“If you want, I’ll call Russ and find out for you. Now let’s get you to your room.”

Kathryn trudged like a sleepwalker out of the formal living room into the large foyer which was quite grand with its cream and rose-colored marble. A large, multi-tiered, crystal chandelier hung overhead. She was barefoot and carried her shoes in her left hand. The marble flooring felt ice cold on her feet, and a slight shiver went through her tired body.

As they made their way to the stairs, Anna followed patiently behind her. They slowly mounted the cream-colored, carpeted, curved staircase. Each step was a struggle for Kathryn. Her legs were uncooperative and felt heavy - like dead weight. At the top of the staircase, they walked along the catwalk making their way towards her bedroom. Suddenly Kathryn stopped and turned. “I want to go to his room.”

This Is How A Heart Breaks – 99 cents on Kindle!

Attracted to him like a vampire

Have you ever flipped through books on Amazon looking at the cover and description only? I must say the cover for this book and the description are excellent BUT looking into this book gives it the attention it deserves. Excerpt below review!

He was a real badass, and I was attracted to him like a vampire is enticed to the fresh, savory blood of a virgin. - Kara Salinger Morino (main character)

Excerpt of Book Description: Kara begins her journey as a youthful innocent woman who marries the town bad boy against her parent’s wishes. A James Dean rebel clone…”THAT GUY”. You know the type because we have all had one of those in our past. Am I right? Though her bad choices bring her face-to-face with the dark side of human nature, Kara’s heartfelt desire to find a pure and everlasting love give her the courage to take chances. This is the story of Kara and her quest to find her voice, freedom from her past and her own identity. She is a strong spirited female with a snarky attitude and an often-colorful viewpoint on life. Kara is no Barbie doll (either in build or temperament) and thus, her tale will relate to many female readers.

‘Take a Piece of My Heart’ is Kara’s journey of love, friendships, romance, lust and loss. She learns slowly that mistrust, love and hatred of some people may require a second chance.

This "New Author" has a bright future in the book world!

I was so impressed with this story,I could not put it down! What a great story! This story has everything you want in a good book.You have a great story line,drama,(what's a story without drama?) Great characters,fun and tons of good ole down to earth humor! I'm tellin'ya,Sadie and Krista are a hoot!! I just loved those two! And put those two in the same room together and you are in for a treat!

The characters are all so down to earth and just as much fun as your true life friends.You really connect with these characters.You feel what they feel and it's like they are people you know in real life.I really connected with Kara and DJ from the start.Once I started reading this I was hooked.From the very first page! - Excerpt of review by Brenda Romine

EXCERPT – PROLOGUE

Duffy, Diane Rose. Take a Piece of My Heart (Kindle Locations 107-127).

So this is what it feels like to hit rock bottom and join the ranks of the scum of the earth. I feel intense pain as my arms are jerked behind my back. Seriously, is it really necessary to be so rough when I'm obviously not resisting? When I hear the click of the handcuffs and feel the tightness around my wrists, it becomes quite evident this cop has either a vendetta against women, or little-dick syndrome.
I glance over at Danny as he is being questioned, not detecting a smidgen of remorse in his expression. I can only overhear bits and pieces of his conversation, but what I do hear turns my heart to stone. Any love I ever had for this man completely broke away and melted like ice in a kiln from my wounded heart. He’s conversing with the good cop because it seems I apparently got assigned the bad cop. As I eavesdrop from afar, Danny is insisting to the good cop, She needs to be arrested. I want to press charges so take the bitch to jail. 

I'm thinking to myself that Danny will not get the satisfaction of watching me cry again. The bad cop starts frisking and feeling me out, and I look around at my neighbors and friends who are enjoying the spectacle in our yard when the floodgates of tears open with a vengeance. So much for that no crying intention. I'm not in the least too proud to beg Mr. Bad Cop to pretty please not take me to jail. I ramble on, professing about how I am so terribly sorry and it was all a huge misunderstanding. Many times I repeat what a good person I actually am, and that jail is most certainly not the place for a decent person such as myself. I continue to plead and sob but Mr. Bad Cop just snickers, ducks my head and shoves me in to the back seat of his police car---the very smelly and disgusting police car, to be precise. Not that I'm one to complain or anything, but Mr. Bad Cop was not very gentle and the police car is really smelly and disgusting like it should be a coroner’s vehicle. You must get the drift, right? But it’s not in my nature to whine. Who am I kidding? Silently in my mind I'm complaining, whining, cussing and downright fuming. However, what I feel the most is betrayed and alone.

I take one final glimpse around. I observe Danny still recounting his version of the story to Mr. Good Cop while staring at me with that hoity toity smug look on his face. If at all possible, I would go back and kick his teeth down his throat and make this degradation all really worth it. The neighbors have varying expressions on their faces, kaleidoscoping from sympathy, to remorse and a few in obvious titillation.

Yay me-hell on earth, the pokey here I come.

Take a Piece of My Heart is available on Amazon!