FINDING HUNTER by @MarciaMeara #Mystery #Romance #Bookreview #wwwblogs

Finding Hunter: Riverbend Book 2Finding Hunter: Riverbend Book 2 by Marcia Meara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Four point Five Stars.

Finding Hunter is book #2 of The Riverbend series and is also a stand alone book, I would class it as a romantic mystery, whereas book #1 was definitely a romantic suspense.

In this book shy Hunter Painter plucks up the courage to phone Willow Greene, the only love in his life and a secret love he has been harbouring for many years. Willow too has been keeping secret her feelings for Hunter and when they agree to lunch their feelings for each other ignite. But Hunter is so afraid he rushes home.

Determined not to lose Hunter, Willow confronts him and they allow their love to flow. But Hunter is a complex man, with many deep layers of concerns. One of those is his parents, Hunter’s stayed at home while his brothers left, to help look after Lizzie, who suffers out-bursts and probably a form of dementia, but she’s never been diagnosed. Big Jack Hunter has always vowed he’d take care of Lizzie and denies there is anything seriously wrong with her.

When a serious family tragedy occurs, Hunter breaks down, then goes missing and Willow is left fighting her own heart-break. She never gives up her belief that Hunter will come back.

This is an emotional read, dealing with anxiety disorder, PTSD, separation disorder and more, I think it will touch a nerve with many readers who will know someone who has suffered even the mildest of panic attacks, that they may sympathise with Hunter. Maricia’s love of animals and the Florida riverways and plant life shines through this book, with “Biscuit” being a particular favourite of mine.

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

I reviewed this book on Amazon as part of #AugustReviews month

View all my reviews on Goodreads

HARBINGER: WAKE-ROBIN RIDGE #3 by @MarciaMeara #Paranormal #Mystery #TuesdayBookBlog

Harbinger: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 3Harbinger: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 3 by Marcia Meara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Harbinger is book#3 in the Wake-Robin Ridge series of paranormal suspense mysteries set in the Carolina Mountains.

The book opens with a scene from June 1994, eight year old Sissy Birdwell steps off the school bus on the last day of term and begins her walk up the long road to home, it’s not a walk she enjoys alone, sometimes things scare her, but she sets bravely off. Along the road she meets Cadey Hagen a boy and mountain neighbour. He is currently suspended from school and is a known trouble maker. He invites Sissy into the woods to show her a secret.

Twenty years later Sheriff Raleigh Wardell asks Mac Cole and his son for help with a cold case. Eleven year old Rabbit is the adopted son of Mac and Sarah, a gifted child who has the sight. Mac also owns a computer research company and Wardell hopes they can help him solve the case of a missing girl.

Several miles away Deacon Cadey Hagen has lived the last twenty years of his life as a reformed man, a husband and model member of society with an uneventful life, except for the recurring nightmare which haunts him. For some reason the dream has become more frequent – Ol’shuck a harbinger of death stalks and chases Cadey through the woods, forcing him to awake screaming.

Mac and Sarah have concerns about allowing Rabbit to be involved in the search for a missing girl, but Rabbit believes finding her can only bring peace to her poor grieving mother. Visions and messages give clues, but Rabbit also needs to protect himself from an overdose of voices all wanting to be heard. He learns to control and grow with his gift in a heart-warming manner.

These books have wonderful settings which come to life in the author’s pen, the slow build up of the suspense is an ideal pace, allowing details to be discovered. I really enjoyed the continuation of Rabbit who we first met in book #2, he really is a delight to read about and I can see that there may be many more tales and cases to solve for Cole & Son in the future.

Book description

The wine-red trillium that carpets the forests of the North Carolina Mountains is considered a welcome harbinger of spring—but not all such omens are happy ones. An Appalachian legend claims the Black Dog, or Ol’ Shuck, as he’s often called, is a harbinger of death. If you see him, you or someone you know is going to die.

But what happens when Ol’ Shuck starts coming for you in your dreams? Nightmares of epic proportions haunt the deacon of the Light of Grace Baptist Church, and bring terror into the lives of everyone around him. Even MacKenzie Cole and his adopted son, Rabbit, find themselves pulled into danger.

When Sheriff Raleigh Wardell asks Mac and Rabbit to help him solve a twenty-year-old cold case, Rabbit’s visions of a little girl lost set them on a path that soon collides with that of a desperate man being slowly driven mad by guilt.

As Rabbit’s gift of the Sight grows ever more powerful, his commitment to those who seek justice grows as well, even when their pleas come from beyond the grave.

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

Reviewed on Amazon as part of #AugustReviews

View all my reviews on Goodreads

#FridayReads If You Like #Mystery #Thriller Books You Might Like These…

If You Like #Mystery #Thriller Books then I can recommend these books…

22072877Wildlife photographer Gunnar Wolfe looked like the kind of guy every man wanted to be and every woman just plain wanted, and the St. Johns River of central Florida drew him like a magnet. EcoTour boat owner Maggie Devlin knew all the river’s secrets, including the deadliest ones found in the swamps. But neither Maggie nor Gunn was prepared for the danger that would come after them on two legs.
On a quest to make history photographing the rarest birds of them all, Gunnar hires the fiery, no-nonsense Maggie to canoe him into the most remote wetland areas in the state. He was unprepared for how much he would enjoy both the trips and Maggie’s company. He soon realizes he wants more than she’s prepared to give, but before he can win her over, they make a grisly discovery that changes everything, and turns the quiet little town of Riverbend upside down. A serial killer is on the prowl among them. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

22051845New York, present day, alternate reality. Karen Brown, angry and frightened after a kidnap attempt, has a choice – being eliminated by government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to mysterious Roma Nova, her dead mother’s homeland in Europe.

Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety, at a price, and a ready-made family. Just as she’s finding her feet, a shocking discovery about her new lover, special forces officer Conrad Tellus, isolates her.

But the enforcer has crossed to Europe to pursue her. Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to spring it…Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

28931623For fans of Child 44 and The Lives of Others, this gripping novel pits an unforgettable heroine against an unforgivable past.

Signs of an agonisingly slow death, pools of blood, hands desperately searching for a hold. Judith Kepler has seen it all.

She is a crime scene specialist. She turns crime scenes back into habitable spaces. She is a cleaner.

It is at the home of a woman who has been brutally murdered that she is suddenly confronted with her own past. The murder victim knew Judith’s secret: as a child she was sent to an orphanage under mysterious circumstances – parentage unknown. And the East German secret police were always there, in the background.

When Judith begins to ask questions, she becomes the target of some powerful enemies. And nothing will ever be the same again. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

20739469Soccer mom Yvette Palmer lives an ordinary life in San Antonio, Texas when a box is delivered to her by mistake, and in taking it to its rightful owner—a crotchety neighbor named Mona who shares her back fence—is drawn into a strange and haunting tale.

Mona’s ratty robe, mood swings, and secretive behavior all raise red flags, and Yvette is sure someone else is living there despit Mona’s claim to live alone, but Yvette is unable to break away as she listens to how Mona transformed from a young college woman about to be married to the odd, reclusive, ghost of a woman she is now.

As Yvette listens to her neighbor’s tale, she discovers a shocking connection, but doesn’t know whether Mona’s come to help or to harm her and her family. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

22130087Ekaterina Romanova, the estranged wife of Russia’s wealthiest oligarch Konstantin Gravchenko, asks Scott Mitchell, an idealistic young English human rights lawyer who is being intimidated by the authorities, to find the father she’s never met. She believes he’s been languishing for decades without trial in the Gulag system. Meanwhile, General Pravda of military intelligence, though an advocate of transparency, is determined to protect a covert operation that he’s been running for years. General Pravda hinders Ekaterina and Scott at every turn and lawyer and client are forced to go on the run for a murder they didn’t commit. As they descend into the Hades that is the world of international realpolitik Scott is compelled to reconsider his own values, and Pravda’s life’s work disintegrates, when Scott uncovers a 50 year-old Cold War secret, which both the Russian and US governments are still trying to hide from the public domain. ‘Moscow Bound’ is the first book in The Puppet Meisters trilogy, dealing with state abuse of power. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

27275817Who would believe the words of a bird brain, anyway? When Camille inherits Simon, an African grey parrot from her deceased neighbor, she sees the challenge of owning such a noisy, spoiled pet. But when the music plays, and Simon starts to replay a violent scene in the voice of his former owner, Camille begins to realize that she has inherited more than she bargained for. Could a bird really recall the last moments of his owner’s life? And stranger yet, could he really be repeating a death scene that he witnessed? Camille’s best friend, Leo, has his doubts, and after the disappearance of Camille’s sister, he wonders if her tragic past is coming back to haunt her and she is finally breaking down. But she has no one else to go to, no one besides the questionable other neighbor who might well have been involved with the murder victim. It’s a question of a bird’s word against the truth and a race to find out what it all means.   Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Introducing the most lovable, pratfall-prone female sleuth in recent memory, this first novel in the Garnet Sullivan Live from Florida series will leave the reader in stitches and begging for more. Marlin, Darlin’ debuts the engaging, redoubtable and often annoying (to her colleagues and friends) small town journalist, the foxy Garnet Sullivan. A murky murder during a marlin fishing tournament forms the basis for this sizzling, uproarious mystery set in contemporary, steamy east coast Florida, featuring the unsinkable freelance reporter, snoop and trouble-maker, Garnet Sullivan, and a host of her bizarre, colorful friends.

A Gordian knot of a plot fairly gallops along from page one to the final page and will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat until the novel’s last words. Saturated with today’s most authentic Florida ambience and whackos, Marlin, Darlin’ is sure to delight the most cerebral mystery buffs as well as fans of romantic comedy–and dog lovers too! The novel is propelled by laugh out loud characters, scenes and situations reminiscent of Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry, but with more lipstick and purses. Fully imagined and drawn from life characters hook the reader from the book’s first sentences and the story seems to vault inevitably from who these characters are–nutty and flamboyantly so, but completely convincing, and whose native habitat could only be Florida. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

23396437After being made redundant from a seemingly secure job Jolene Carr takes a two week break in the sun. On the first day she meets Raquel, another hotel guest. Little does she realise how this apparently innocent acquaintance will lead to terrible and lasting consequences. After a frightening incident she hits a conspiracy of silence from the locals and over the rest of the holiday she feels herself slipping into a vortex of fear. Back home, the nightmare continues and she realises that Raquel is stalking her. Her hippie mother and her partner Mark tell her she is imagining it all. All certainties, even about relationships, become fluid and treacherous as her past begins to unravel. If it wasn’t for Rob, her ex-lover who Jolene thinks has his own agenda, she would be left to cope on her own.
How much fear and betrayal can one person take? Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Lori Powers loved being a flight attendant because life at home was a constant nightmare of physical and mental abuse. But her own trauma paled in comparison to her husband’s sexual abuse of their only child. Emily’s suicide note blamed Lori for failing to protect her. Overwhelmed by guilt, Lori sought justice for her Emily. When she heard the voices, she murdered domineering, abusive men whose misfortune brought them across her path.
The murder of Dr. Thaddeus Abrams, the precinct’s psychiatrist brought FBI profiler Mika Scott back to the precinct she began as a homicide detective and also face to face with her past partner and lover Detective Jake Roberts. Together they search for the killer. Michael Gates, Abrams’ lover, wanted to punish Lori. It cost Chief of Detectives Ed Fairchild his life. Airline captain Nick Parker had an insatiable, deviant sexual appetite. Things went desperately wrong when young flight attendant Megan joined him on a layover. Lori was part of the crew. When she met Parker, she heard Emily cry out from the grave. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

The #MysteryNovember Book Tour Day 16 @MarciaMeara

Welcome to Day 16 of the #MysteryNovember Book tour.

Mystery Book Tour Bus copyright

Today our guest is Marcia Meara and her book Swamp Ghosts.

Swamp Ghosts by Marcia Meara

Swamp Ghosts by Marcia Meara

Wildlife photographer Gunnar Wolfe looked like the kind of guy every man wanted to be and every woman just plain wanted, and the St. Johns River of central Florida drew him like a magnet. EcoTour boat owner Maggie Devlin knew all the river’s secrets, including the deadliest ones found in the swamps. But neither Maggie nor Gunn was prepared for the danger that would come after them on two legs.

On a quest to make history photographing the rarest birds of them all, Gunnar hires the fiery, no-nonsense Maggie to canoe him into the most remote wetland areas in the state. He was unprepared for how much he would enjoy both the trips and Maggie’s company. He soon realizes he wants more than she’s prepared to give, but before he can win her over, they make a grisly discovery that changes everything, and turns the quiet little town of Riverbend upside down. A serial killer is on the prowl among them.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Where is your home town?

I live in Sanford, Florida, a little town on the shores of Lake Monroe, part of the St. Johns River basin, which is the setting for Swamp Ghosts.

What do you like about writing in the mystery genre?

It’s fun to keep people guessing. There are a lot of ways to do that, but knowing readers are trying to figure out who the bad guy is…in this case, who the deranged serial killer is…adds a whole new element to the plot.

What sub-genre of mystery does your book fit?

Swamp Ghosts is a romantic suspense. (At the heart of all my books is a love story of one kind or another.)

Where is your book set?

Along the shores of the beautiful and wild St. Johns River, in and around a little town called Riverbend, which exists purely in my imagination. Riverbend is a combination of several real small towns in the area, though probably more like DeBary, Florida, than any of the others.

Can you introduce us to the main characters?

Fiery, red-headed Maggie Devlin has inherited her father’s floundering eco tour cruise business. She’s a disillusioned, 33-year old divorcee, and she’s desperately trying to rebuild the business into something that will actually support her. Maggie knows her birds and wildlife, and loves taking people on tours of the St. Johns River, but she’s got to pay the bills, and that’s becoming more and more difficult. Though she hates Gunnar Wolfe on sight (hard to imagine as that might be), his offer to pay top dollar for her help is impossible to turn down.

Gunnar Wolfe is a handsome, 6’5” Viking of a man, who looks remarkably like actor Chris Hemsworth, a/k/a Thor. In spite of his good looks, he’s an affable, outgoing, uncomplicated kind of guy, who’s friends with everyone, including all his ex-girlfriends. Gunn has a secret dream, though. He’s an accomplished wildlife photographer, and he wants to see one of his photos on the cover of National Geographic. This sets him on a quest to find the rarest bird of them all, a photo of which would be impossible for NatGeo to ignore, and he needs someone knowledgeable to canoe him into the remotest streams and wetlands Florida has to offer. On the advice of a friend, he hires Maggie to be his guide, even though she makes it abundantly clear she thinks he’s crazy, and that it’s a work-only situation, and always will be.

Where can readers find out more about you and your writing?

Social Media Links: (Email me any time! Love meeting new readers.)

Email: mmeara@cfl.rr.com

Bookin’ It: http://marciameara.wordpress.com/

The Write Stuff (Writers Helping Writers): http://marciamearawrites.com/

Twitter: @marciameara

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marcia.meara or http://www.facebook.com/marcia.meara.writer

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marciameara/

Newsletter Sign Up Link:

http://wordpress.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=aab68cfc854e6c6a7da6ea831&id=b6c23fcd59

 

Where can readers find your book?

BUY MY BOOKS ON AMAZON

Riverbend Series

Swamp Ghosts (Riverbend Book 1): http://bit.ly/SwampGhosts

Finding Hunter (Riverbend Book 2): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014Q8F1UU

Swamp Ghosts on Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K0QXLCS?keywords=Swamp%20Ghosts&qid=1445437989&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Wake-Robin Ridge Series

Wake-Robin Ridge: (Wake-Robin Ridge Book 1): http://bit.ly/Wake-RobinRidge

A Boy Named Rabbit (Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2): http://bit.ly/ABoyNamedRabbit

My Poetry: Summer Magic – Poems of Life & Love: http://bit.ly/SummerMagicPoems

Book reviews in November FleetLife @FleetLife #Bookreviews

November has some of my book reviews featured in Fleet Life

For the online edition go to http://www.fleetlife.org.uk, load the online directory and find my reviews on page 36.

Nov FL

This month the following books are featured

When the Crows Fly Low by V.J Patterson

Runes by Ednah Walters

Fetch Nurse Connie by Jean Fullerton

A Boy Named Rabbit by Marcia Meara

and The Dead Detective by J.R Rain

Fabulous Friday Bloggers – Rosie Amber @MarciaMeara

Friday I was a guest over at The Write Stuff. Go check it out…

Reblogged from http://marciamearawrites.com/2015/10/23/fabulousfridayguestblogger-rosie-amber/

#FabulousFridayGuestBlogger – Rosie Amber

FFGB Graphic

 Amber rose

Today, our guest blogger is Rosie Amber, who is going to talk to us about how and why she does book reviews, where you can follow her blog, and how you can contact her if you’d like to submit something of your own for her or her team to review. Thank you for being here today, Rosie. Now take it away, Flower Lady! 🙂

rosie gardening 02 facebook wp

Thank you for inviting me to The Write Stuff blog today for a chat about book reviewing.  I’m Rosie Amber and I run a book reviewing blog at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/
You can also find me on Twitter @rosieamber1

Why as a reader I think reviews are important

In today’s world the book market is reaching saturation point. Self-publishing and e-book opportunities have opened the doors to publishing which were once held closed by publishing houses. More and more people are buying books online where they look at the book cover, the book description and they check out other reader’s reviews.

I love reading and want to share the books I love with others, so what better way than by writing a review and posting it on various online platforms and book buying sites.

As a reviewer, I post reviews about nearly all the books I read as long as I can rate them 3* or above. Below this I won’t review, I feel a “no review” says as much as a 1 or 2*. If I’ve been asked to review the book for an author and it will be below 2*, I’ll contact the author with an appraisal of their book, with my thoughts on how it could be improved.

What makes a good review?

I write short reviews. I’ll explain the book genre up front, then if it’s not one a reader likes, they can move on. I’ll usually talk quickly about the main characters and where or when the book is set. I’ll then go on to give a bit of information about the storyline, so that readers can decide themselves if the book sounds enticing. I’ll finish with a summary of what I liked about the book and if necessary what didn’t work for me. If the book needed another run through editing I will mention that and it will reflect in my rating. It’s so important in this competitive market for writers to put out their VERY best piece of work and not rush to publish.

Running a review blog

Rosie's Book Review team 1

A year ago I filled my blog with all my own reviews, but my request list was getting long and I was being asked to review genres which I didn’t enjoy. So I created a book review team. Members join on a voluntary basis and review books around their own lives. There is no minimum or maximum number of books to read as long as they read and review a book in a month. We post reviews on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Goodreads, reviewer’s blogs and I get a copy of each review which goes out on my own blog.

It is set up so that authors provide several copies of their work and we give them multiple reviews of the book all from one place.

It is complex, I’m fielding book review enquiries from authors, managing the review requests from the team, making sure they review within the one month and dealing with any of their queries, sending out notification to the author when the reviews comes in and drafting up my copy of each review for my blog. On top of that I have my own review request list which is currently around 50 books. I try to read a book in no longer than 2 days. This is a hobby, I have to work it around family life and part time employment. All the reviewing is free with no monetary values exchanged. This is important with the current Amazon clamp down on paid reviews and fake reviews breaching their rules.

Approaching us for a review

The best type of author wanting a review is one that has found my blog, spent a good time checking out the type of books we read, the style of reviews we write and actually getting involved with some of the posts via comments and sharing on social media. I hang out on Twitter a great deal.

Then when they have got a good feel for us I’m happy for them to make contact via the contact forms. There is a good set of instructions about the RIGHT way to go about it.

It’s very obvious if a new author finds my blog, “Follows” by joining and then fills in the book request form. I get all the e-mails, the one which says “You have a new follower” and when it’s followed by a book review request I KNOW the author has spent little time checking me out.

Then when they send a copy and paste review request or they call me Amber or no name at all, I get miffed. Most authors understand I’m busy reading and living my life and I will get to their book, some are a little impatient. DON’T OFFEND A REVIEWER BEFORE THEY’VE READ YOUR BOOK!

All I ask is that authors remember the team and I are human, we do this because we like reading, we won’t like every book we read but we won’t be rude or leave a 1* and no reason why. We spend several hours reading your book and thinking about a fair review all for free and in our own time so that you might benefit from others who will buy your book.

What else do we do on the blog?

I like to put fresh ideas out on the blog, so I get involved with other projects too. Every April I take part in the April A-Z Challenge, where bloggers from all over the world blog their way through the alphabet. This is a fantastic way to meet new people and make new friends/ followers. If anyone is trying to build up their blog, I recommend taking part in this free challenge. http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

I also run my own free tours, I’ve just finished the third annual #RomancingSeptember tour with fellow blogger Stephanie Hurt. Earlier in the summer I also ran a Beach Reads tour and last year I ran a #MysteryNovember tour. These are hard work but a lot of fun for all that take part.

Beach reads 0303

This October I’m running a Readathon, where I’m inviting anyone who follows the blog to read and review three books and we’ll post their reviews.

Readathon

The #FridayFiveChallenge is a quick research post for people who blog. Each Friday people write a post about a book they found online after just a five minute search. The idea is to use a search term and then scan the book covers and choose a book from its cover/ book title. There’s time for a quick read of the book blurb and maybe a look at the number of reviews, then you must make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS? The idea behind it is to look at it from a buyer’s POV. Many people now shop online for books and the thumb-nail book cover is often the first point of sale, get it right and hook the reader, get it wrong and they’ve passed you by.

There is plenty more, from my Wednesday Wing posts with tips from a readers POV, Resources for writers and posts by Avid readers, people who aren’t book reviewers but friends who say they’ve read a great book and tell you just a couple of lines about it.

Do drop in, say hello, pull up a chair and get comfy with people who LIKE books https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/

A Boy Named Rabbit by @MarciaMeara #Bookreview #Contemporary #Paranormal

A Boy Named Rabbit: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2A Boy Named Rabbit: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2 by Marcia Meara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Boy Named Rabbit follows on from Wake-Robin Ridge. It is set in 2013 in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina and focuses around the story of a young boy. This book has paranormal suspense elements.

10 year old Rabbit has lived in the mountains with just his Gran and Grampa for as long as he can remember. They live in a tent most of the year and caves during the winter with no contact with other people, apart from when Grampa goes to get supplies. Gran is ill and Grampa doesn’t return from a supply run. In her last hours Gran makes Rabbit promise to leave the mountain and find a man with black hair and special eyes.

Travelling for two months alone, Rabbit survives until he reaches Wake-Robin Ridge and finds an “Angel house” up on the mountain. These are “Good people” and Rabbit makes a camp near by. It’s Sarah who discovers Rabbit first and makes friends, leaving food and gaining his trust.

Sarah is now pregnant and her caring instincts reach out to Rabbit, but Mac is unsure. Rabbit reminds him too much of his lost son and at first he is cold and unloving to Rabbit. Modern living is a wonder to Rabbit who has only known survival in the mountains and he is delighted by what he learns, but he is also very frightened of people.

They can’t keep Rabbit hidden, the authorities need to be informed and a search for any family must be made, but as Rabbit squeezes further into their hearts each day, the fear of letting him go increases. Rabbit gets strength from is Gran who guides him from beyond the grave and we soon find that he is a very gifted child.

I really enjoyed this book, the authors writing style which I first discovered in her book “Swamp Ghosts” nails this book for me.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Wake-Robin Ridge by @MarciaMeara #bookreview #Ghosts #Romance

Wake-Robin RidgeWake-Robin Ridge by Marcia Meara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wake-Robin Ridge is a romance with a ghost story. Wake-Robin’s are a species of flower native to North America. This book is set primarily in the Mountains of North Carolina with a time-slip format between the 1960’s and 2011.

We meet Lloyd Carter a child who suffered from vicious whippings by his father which moulded the man he grew to be. He became an angry controller and bully who made wife Ruthie’s life a misery. After one too many beatings she ran away, but Lloyd vowed to find her and get his revenge.

In 2011 Sarah Gray upped sticks and went to live in a log cabin in the Mountains. She wants to write a book and live away from busy cites. Her only neighbour is Mackenzie Cole, a quiet man who keeps himself private. But it’s a small place and they meet often and begin a slow friendship. One you know will simmer gently into something more.

One night Sarah has a frightening ghostly experience and later finds evidence which leads to the trail of a hidden murder.

This is a slow gentle read, the characters are ordinary people and we are taken on a journey which covers much of their everyday habits. There are a couple of wonderful pets and I did enjoy the ghostly element which will surface again in book 2.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads

#RomancingSeptember Day 30 Wake-Robin Ridge by @MarciaMeara #wwwblogs

It’s the last day of #RomancingSeptember

2015 cover

Today our guest is Marcia Meara and her book Wake-Robin Ridge

Wake Robin Ridge

Where is your home town?

I live just north of Orlando, in Sanford, Florida.

How long have you been writing romance?

Two years. My first book, a romantic suspense entitled Wake-Robin Ridge, was published in August, 2013. Since then, I’ve published two more novels, and my fourth is coming out in September.

What is your favourite sub-genre of romance?

Romantic Suspense. I want lots of danger in the mix, brave people fighting against terrible odds, and prevailing in the end. I do like some Paranormal Romance, too, and I even prefer that my Urban (and regular) Fantasy have a strong love interest going on. The love story will pull me back every time.

Where and when is your book set?

Wake-Robin Ridge is the name of a fictional mountain in the Chimney Rock/Lake Lure/Asheville area of North Carolina. The novel deals with two women who each lived in the same log cabin on the ridge, nearly fifty years apart, so part of the story takes place in the 1960’s, and part takes place in 2012 and 2013.

Introduce us to Sarah Gray.

ME: I’ll let her do that.WRR:     “MY NAME IS Sarah Gray. I’m a thirty-five-year-old library cataloging and research assistant. For the better part of the last decade, I‘ve spent at least forty hours a week in a tiny cubicle, hidden deep within the Leland Walker Historical Library in DeBary, Florida, reading and cataloging old, crumbling manuscripts, diaries, business records, and journals.”ME: She’s bored and restless, and when one load of manuscripts too many comes along, she has an epiphany. SARAH:   “As I sat at my desk on a Friday night, staring at the pile of work I’d been assigned at the last minute, my frustration with my lot in life reached critical mass. I snarled. I ranted. I pouted. I even teared up pitifully, wailing the eternal cry of losers everywhere, “Why meeee?     I made up my mind on the spot. I would do it! I would move to Wake-Robin Ridge.”

 

And then the truth dawned. I had no strings to speak of. I could leave. And I knew exactly where I could go—the one place I loved more than anywhere in the world. There, I could live a simple life surrounded by the beauty of nature, and the peace and quiet of the deep woods. I could write. I could write all day long, every day, if I wished, with no one to worry about but myself. I could quit marking time at a dead-end job, and live the life I was meant to live.

Who is MacKenzie Cole?

ME: That’s exactly what Sarah Gray wonders when she meets him for the first time, a chance encounter, which occurs when he comes looking for his runaway dog, Rosheen. She checks him out, of course:SARAH:   “Tall, maybe 6’3”, with glossy black hair curling slightly over his ears. Equally dark brows over unusually pale blue eyes, and very fair skin. Overall, he was strikingly good looking, with a sense of quiet strength about him. In his faded jeans and soft blue denim shirt, he looked perfectly at home in these mountains, as though he had been here a long time.”ME: But Mac has his secrets, and he won’t give them up easily. No one knows the reason he keeps to himself on top of his mountain, and even his curiosity about the beautiful woman who just moved into the cabin across the highway won’t make him any easier to talk to. (He does talk to himself and to his Irish wolfhound a lot, though.)MAC:   “Sarah Gray. You are trouble with a capital T. Where did you come from, and why are you over there, all alone in that cabin? Couldn’t you have chosen some other mountain? Why are you here on mine?

Mac wondered why it was people started out so full of promise, and ended up so full of pain. And damn if he was going to let this woman interfere with the quiet life he’d made for himself, no matter how beautiful she was.

Is there a danger is lurking in the mountains?

But of course! When Ruth Carter ran away from her abusive husband, and settled in her little cabin in 1962, she hoped she’d found a safe haven. Of course, taking Lloyd Carter’s prized fire-engine red Chevy Impala, and his secret hoard of cash along with her, pretty much guaranteed he’d never stop looking for her. When he tracks her down, bad, bad things happen, and the horrifying repercussions are still being felt nearly fifty years later, when Sarah Gray moves into the same cabin.

Tell us about the Blue Ridge Mountains as a leisure destination.

Both the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains are part of the Appalachian chain, the oldest mountains on earth, and there is something utterly primeval about them. They are stunningly beautiful in all seasons, with their eroded, rounded domes rolling on as far as the eye can see. Deep forests, crystal clear rivers and streams, and frothing waterfalls lure visitors to them all year long, but autumn in the Blue Ridge is without parallel anywhere else on earth.  A vacation spent in the North Carolina Mountains is sheer perfection, especially for nature lovers. Hiking, kayaking, birding, Chimney Rock Park, historic Asheville, the Biltmore Manor, and loads of history, everywhere you look, all add up to a fantastic time. If I could get my husband out from under the palm trees, I’d be living in a Blue Ridge mountain cabin, myself.

The people who call these mountains home are down to earth, friendly, and proud of their heritage. Long generations of settlers, primarily from Ireland, Scotland, and England have lived in these ancient hills since before the Revolutionary War, and many of their legends and superstitions (often Celtic in origin) are alive and well today.

Tell us what you are working on at the moment.

I’m currently editing my fourth novel, Finding Hunter, which is Book 2 in my Riverbend series, set here in central Florida. Book 1, Swamp Ghosts, was published in spring of 2014. Finding Hunter is probably the most romantic of my four novels to date, and instead of the deranged serial killer of Swamp Ghosts, it focuses on human tragedy and heartbreak, and how it impacts people in very different ways. Finding Hunter should be available in September, and though it can be read as a standalone, the main characters were introduced in Swamp Ghosts. I personally think readers of either of my series will enjoy the books more, if they’re read in order.I am also putting together my notes and research for my third Wake-Robin Ridge book, Harbinger, which deals with the Celtic legend of the Black Dog, a harbinger of death. In the Appalachians, the Black Dog is known as Ol’ Shuck, and if you see him, it means someone is going to die.

Where can readers find out more about you?

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If you live in the Central Florida area, I’m frequently out and about doing Meet the Author events at various local venues, and would love to have you stop by and say hello. Sign up for my newsletter to get my schedule.  The Write Stuff (Writers Helping Writers): http://marciamearawrites.com/Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marcia.meara or http://www.facebook.com/marcia.meara.writerEmail: mmeara@cfl.rr.com

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marciameara/

Twitter: @marciameara

Bookin’ It: http://marciameara.wordpress.com/

If you live farther away, look for me on social media here:

http://wordpress.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=aab68cfc854e6c6a7da6ea831&id=b6c23fcd59

Drop me a line, or make a comment on my blogs any time. I love meeting new readers and other writers.

Wake-Robin Ridge Series

Wake-Robin Ridge: http://bit.ly/Wake-RobinRidge

A Boy Named Rabbit (Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2): http://bit.ly/ABoyNamedRabbit

 

Riverbend Series

Swamp Ghosts: http://bit.ly/SwampGhosts

Finding Hunter

 

Summer Magic: http://bit.ly/SummerMagicPoems

Find out more about Marcia’s writing and her book from Stephanie in just a few hours  http://stephanie-hurt.com/

 

Book reviews in magazines I write for in August #bookreviews

The following books made it to Fleet Life magazine this month.

FL Aug 15

For the online edition go to http://www.fleetlife.org.uk load the online directory and turn to page 28.

The Family Trap by Joanne Phillips

Rise Of The Enemy by Rob Sinclair

Old Town Nights by Linda Lee Williams

Swamp Ghosts by Marcia Meara

Country Affairs by Zara Stonely

The next set of books made it into the August edition of The Elvetham Heath Directory,

EHD Aug 15

The online edition can be found at http://www.ehd.org.uk load the online directory and turn to page 22

Big Men’s Boots by Emily Barraso

The Cunning Woman’s Cup by Sue Hewitt

Will O’ The Wisp by C. S Boyack

Dream On by Terry Tyler

From Lime Street To Yirgacheffe by Robert Leigh