📚A Serial Killer #Thriller. Robbie reviews Haloed by @SueColetta1 for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Robbie.

Robbie blogs here https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Robbie has been reading Haloed by Sue Coletta.

Haloed by Sue Coletta

Sage Quintano shouldn’t still be fearful. The trauma of her near death at the hands of a serial killer, called the Romeo Killer, would naturally be difficult to overcome, but he was dead and Sage had no reason to believe she was a target. But she was fearful and she did believe she was a target. Sage has seen signs and indicators that force her to believe that somehow, her nemeses has returned to claim the ‘angel’ that got away.

Before the Romeo Killer comes for Sage, however, he intends to torment her. Playing games with his victims is what he does best. And no-one believes Sage’s claim that she is being stalked by a dead man, least of all her own husband, Niko, the local Sheriff.

Sage is an interesting character and is strong in many ways, overcoming significant health problems and protecting her young son. Her behaviour is a bit erratic and slightly hysterical which is why her husband puts her observations down to trauma from the past. Some of Sage’s behaviours were a little hard for me to believe in the circumstances, but the story was interesting and exciting and the author’s knowledge of serial killers and their thought processes is well researched and believable.

Part of the story was told through the eyes of the stalker and it was interesting to consider the action from that perspective. Despite this, the book is not overly gory and there are no detailed descriptions of the murders, only the state of the bodies afterwards. That is preferable for me.

The story was fast paced and the details all tied up well which is essential for me when reading a crime thriller. Readers of this genre will not be disappointed by this book.

4 stars

Book description

She may be paranoid, but is she right?

A string of gruesome murders rocks the small town of Alexandria, New Hampshire, with all the victims staged to resemble dead angels, and strange red and pink balloons appearing out of nowhere.

All the clues point to the Romeo Killer’s return. Except one: he died eight years ago.

Paranoid and on edge, Sage’s theory makes no sense. Dead serial killers don’t rise from the grave. Yet she swears he’s here, hungering for the only angel to slip through his grasp—Sage.

With only hours left to live, how can Sage convince her Sheriff husband before the sand in her hourglass runs out?

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

Rosie’s Review Team #RBRT @SassyKebkerr reviews #crimefiction SCATHED by @SueColetta1 #TuesdayBookBlog

Today’s team review is from Karen, she blogs here http://sassyredheadbookreviews.wordpress.com

Karen has been reading Scathed by Sue Coletta

Sue has done it again! I was so happy to receive this book as an ARC and I am very happy to give an honest review of this book. I must say that Sue Coletta is one of those authors that I will purchase her books as soon as I hear that she has a new one out, without reading the blurb, or reviews. Sue is a great author and there is so much of her in her books. For anyone who follows Sue on social media and then reads her books will see her in the story. One of my favorite lines from the book is “We all want to be remembered after we die. Through the power of the written word authors are immortalized.” This is only part of the quote, but the quote really resonated with me and I loved it.

I loved Scathed. It was a story that had me thinking and trying to figure out who the killer was, but Sue doesn’t make it easy to figure out. The twists and turns in this story were intriguing and interesting. I found myself thinking one thing and finding out that I was not on the right trail after all. The characters are so real to me in Sue’s books. I love Niko and Sage, they are such a great couple and they work so well together to figure out the cases. They are so well developed that they feel like my neighbors. Being a Vermonter myself, I felt as if I could see the mountain they were on and the area they live in with no problem.

If you like stories that will draw you in, keep your interest throughout the book. This is a great book to pick up and read. I hated to put it down, and I hated to see it end. I wanted more of Niko and Sage. I love that Frankie is not afraid to be herself with everyone that she meets. She doesn’t hold anything back and that makes her a great character.

I loved the twist at the end and look forward to the next book in the Grafton County Series to see what happens next. I give this book a 5 star review and highly recommend it to anyone who likes crime, thrillers, and suspense stories and characters who will draw you in to their lives.

On a picturesque fall morning in Grafton County, New Hampshire, a brutal murder rocks the small town of Alexandria. In the backyard of a weekend getaway cabin, a dead woman is posed in red-satin, with two full-bloomed roses in place of eyes.

In her hand, a mysterious envelope addressed to Sheriff Niko Quintano. Inside, Paradox vows to kill again if his riddle isn’t solved within 24 hours.

With so little time and not enough manpower, Niko asks his wife for help. But Crime Writer Sage Quintano is dealing with her own private nightmare. Not only did she find massive amounts of blood on the mountain where she and her family reside, but a phone call from the past threatens her future—the creepy mechanical voice of John Doe, the serial killer who murdered her twin sister.

Together, can Niko and Sage solve the riddle in time to save the next victim? Or will the killer win this deadly game of survival?

Sue Coletta is a proud member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Kill Zone, an award-winning writing blog where she posts every other Monday. Sue’s a bestselling, award-winning, multi-published crime writer in numerous anthologies and her forensics articles have appeared in InSinC Quarterly. She’s also the communications manager for the Serial Killer Project and Forensic Science, and founder of #ACrimeChat on Twitter.

2017 Award-winner of Feedspot’s Top 50 Crime Blogs (Murder Blog sits at #6), Sue shares crime tips, police jargon, the mind of serial killers, true crime stories, and anything and everything in between at suecoletta.com. If you search her archives, you’ll find posts from guests that work in law enforcement, forensics, coroner, undercover operatives, firearm experts … crime, crime, and more crime.

For readers, she has the Crime Lover’s Lounge, where members will be the first to know about free giveaways, contests, and have inside access to deleted scenes. As an added bonus, members get to play in the lounge. Your secret code will unlock the virtual door.

BONUS: When you join Sue’s community you’ll receive two free killer reads!

Sue lives in northern New Hampshire with her husband, who deals with a crazy crime writer feeding circus peanuts to crows named Poe and Edgar, a squirrel named Shawnee (the Marilyn Monroe of squirrels, with her silky strawberry-blonde tail), and a chipmunk dubbed “Hippy” for his enthusiasm and excited leaps each time he scores a peanut in “Hip, hip, hooray!” fashion.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

Deceived by L.A Starkey

Deceived, by L.A. Starkey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Deceived is a YA fantasy and the first book in a series. Sam and Julie are best friends and live in Manchester, New Hampshire. They are Juniors at High School. The book opens with a very vivid dream scene for Sam, she’s in a dream meeting a boy she has met in many of her life-times, yet she doesn’t remember him. He has to suffer the pain of her leaving him once more. Yet Sam hears another voice calling her too.

Sam and Julie are both adopted, they were at the same orphanage and became firm friends and stayed friends after their separate adoptions. At school Sam is very athletic, not usually one to chase the boys, she can’t help it when her hormones are attracted to Ken, although her head knows he can be a serial player, her heart wants some fun. A history project on the ancient Greeks has Sam borrowing a strange book from the library called “The Soul Keeper”.

Nick and Marcus are brothers, Grandsons of Zeus, to them Sam is their Dream-catcher and they vie for her attention in her dreams. Yet they are all destined to be players in a much larger fight. A prophecy is about to be opened by the Time Guardian, Nick and Marcus have been waiting for their destiny to unfold for hundred of years.

I read this book in one day because it kept me so engaged with the story that I didn’t want to put it down. There’s lots going on in the story, but it all flows really well and I like books with the ancient Gods and mythology of any nation. I would definitely pick up the next book in the series, I am dying to know what happens to them all.

They say a soul is the immaterial essence, the animating principle, the actuating cause of an individual life.

But what if you had to share yours with the one person you hated the most?

The soul mate principle states that for every one soul there is another that will recognize its match, hence creating the perfect union.

But what if you had two soul mates, which would you choose?

What if your choices had eternal ramification?

Deceived, the debut novel in the Soul Keeper Series, is a modern day love story about the implications of having more than one soul mate, and having to choose between the two of them. The decisions of the gods has left the next generation, their heirs, torn between fate and reality, and the balance of the future hangs in anticipation of what’s to come.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads