Rise Of A Phoenix by Phill Syron Jones

Rise of a Phoenix is an exciting action thriller set in New York. It opens with kidnapping and a brutal murder. Homicide detective Samantha McCall and her team soon find themselves on the trail of a serial murderer.

Mixed with this is the exciting figure known by many names such as The Shadow, The Phoenix and The Lone Wolf. John Steel ex-Navy SEAL operative, joins the NYPD team whilst on his own search for Santini. The name behind a vicious past that drives Steel forward. Steel reminded me of James Bond at times as the action took off involving Russians, hired thugs, homeless men and an array of weaponry.

There are plenty of twists and turns and the storyline kept me enthralled until the end.

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

Good Deeds Week 2nd – 8th March

Welcome to my weekly roundup of my year long challenge to do one Good deed a day for a year. This challenge began back in April 2013 and is still going strong. My inspiration came from reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Here is what I’ve been up to this week.

March 2nd – Helped a fellow author out, Rachel Roberts, promote her book in a Kindle Countdown Deal, she was at no.27 in the top 100, with her book Medea Complex.

March 3rd – Helped out at school this morning. Had some wonderful help from fellow bloggers with some of the last letters on my A to Z Challenge. Volunteered to read and review Me and Billy The Kid for author Briana Vedsted.

March 4th – Got up seriously early this morning so that I could get my social networking done before sitting in traffic jams with the kids and finally getting to work. After this morning I really appreciate the fact that usually, I can avoid rush hour. Have been promoting The Griffin’s Boy and author Julia Hughes over the last 2 days. Julia’s been busy herself helping out a fellow author who is fighting cancer. Author Stephen C Spencer writes the Paul Mallory series, America’s answer to James Bond. Julia and Sean Campbell (who was our guest a few weeks ago with his book Cleaver Square) are helping Stephen to re-launch his books. I’ll be helping out on the blog with the re-launch in a few weeks and will appreciate help from you all to spread the word where possible during that time.

March 5th – Bought Land of the Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel book 6 in the Earth’s Children series, for my Mum ready for Mother’s Day. We’ve both enjoyed the series and Mum has been looking for a copy for a while. Started reading The Singing Bowl by Roy Dimond. Good Deeds received; Today I was a guest author over at fellow book reviewer A Woman’s Wisdom.

March 6th – Made a charity donation whilst out shopping today in one of my favourite stores, Lush.

March 7th – Posted my review of Flawed Perfection by Cassandra Giovanni on Goodreads and Amazon inline with the book launch today. Dropped off a birthday gift for a very good friend.

March 8th – Today’s book on the blog is a FREE travel download available from my friends at Blackfrog Publishing. “Overlanding- How, What, Where and Who with…”  by Andy Robinson and Kirsty McGregor. Check out the link to the post here http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4UG

I’m ploughing my way through The Singing Bowl by Roy Dimond it really is an brilliantly epic book full of amazing characters and places, it is about a Tibetan Monk who is given a mystery to solve and a lost book to find as he flees from Chinese communists who want to destroy the ancient religion. It spans many cultures and travels through The Ancient World, The Old World and will end in The New World. The monk learns so much from inspiring people, I feel that I am travelling along with him. My deed today is to spread news of this book to you. May you too, find time to read this book and enjoy it as much as me.

James Bond, Lord Coe and the Queen

Lord Coe’s book “Running My Life” has extracts published this week in the Times newspaper. I read a report by Andrew Hough of the Daily Telegraph on the matter. Particularly an extract about the Queen’s involvement in the opening ceremony of the Olympic games.

Millions around the world watched a four-and-a-half minutes film which began in Her Majesty’s private study in Buckingham Palace. She briefed 007 (Daniel Craig) on a secret Olympic mission. The Queen was then seen to leave the Palace with Bond and board a helicopter. The helicopter appeared above the Olympic park and we saw the “Queen” parachute out, on cue with her arrival at the stadium moments later. The real parachutists landed nearby. However it was such a closely kept secret that even Prince Charles and Princes William and Harry did not know about it. Prince Charles was seen to laugh rather nervously during the film and the Princes were heard shouting “Go Granny!”

The actual film was shot back in March 2012, when the Queen was preparing for her Diamond Jubilee and Skyfall the latest Bond film was nearing completion.

Skyfall

The 23rd 007 James Bond film is due to Premier on the 23rd October and is due out for general release on the 26th October. This will coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the series which began in 1962 with Dr. No.

The singer Adele has written and recorded the theme tune to Skyfall with Paul Epworth. and it is being played across the country in the run up to the film release.

A few years ago I read one of the Miss Moneypenny Diaries written by Kate Westbrook. A great set of stories which easily run along side the 007 films.

Then there is the Johnny English spoof and The Return of Johnny English, both with Rowen Atkinson, hilarious attempts to emulate the great 007.

For me I remember Christmas treat;  being allowed to stay up late to watch a James Bond film. The change in the actor playing the leading character has never bothered me because it’s all about the mysterious 007 rather than the man in the suit. Looking forward to seeing the film.

Rosie