authentic reviews and insightful interviews for inquisitive readers
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper The plot for Raging Waters by Dana Mentink comes right out of the headlines. A major role in the book is the Air Force SERE tactics. In the news recently the Air Force Colonel who had to eject from his F-15 fighter jet over Iran had to avoid the Iranians who had put a bounty on his head. To avoid the enemy, he used the SERE training. This book’s plot has the hero and …
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper She Thought She Was Safe by Terri Parlato has the author venturing away from her series with Detective Rita. This is a stand-alone thriller shows how people are not whom they seem and monsters lurk behind facades. The plot has Emma realizing she needs a new start. After the unexpected death of her mother and the collapse of her marriage, Emma is looking for a place to escape to. She discovers the identity of …
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Bloodlust by Sandra Brown is a great romantic suspense story. Besides a mystery and a budding romance between the main characters, Brown delves into grief, loss, and the father as a single parent. The story opens with Mitch Haskell as a grieving detective who realizes his wife was murdered and did not commit suicide as others think. Roland Malone and the unidentified mastermind of the crime known only as Oz are behind the crime …
Title: Bloodlust Author: Sandra Brown Series: stand alone but shares characters with Blood Moon Much thanks to Sandra Brown, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I won’t lie, I was sucked in. Read this in about 24 hours. Brown knows how to keep the pace fast and the tension high. But if you’ve read Brown’s work before, you’ll find this is pretty much cut and paste. • …
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Murder Your Darlings by Jenna Blum has the author venturing into the thriller genre. Formerly known for her historical novels, she still maintains some semblance by making her female lead, Simone “Sam” Vetiver, a historical novelist. This suspenseful novel had love, grief, and revenge. Readers meet Sam who is finishing up a book tour while searching for some ideas for her next plot. She then receives a fan letter from best-selling author William Corwyn …
A roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Winter 2025-2026. Beware of spoilers! Title: 100 Days of Sunlight Author: Abbie Emmons Series: Tessa and Weston #1 This author has a “writing how-to” YouTube channel that I’ve watched a few times, and when I learned she’s published a book with an interesting premise and it was available at my library, I wanted to check it out and see if Emmons can walk the walk or just talk the talk. DNF 19%. …
Title: You Can Scream Author: Rebecca Zanetti Series: Laurel Snow #5 Much thanks to Rebecca Zanetti, Kensington, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I read the first couple books in this series and greatly enjoyed them, but One Cursed Rose was so awful it completely turned me off Zanetti for a couple years. I wish I’d continued this series where I left off instead of skipping to Book 5, because while …
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Beth Is Dead by Katie Bernet takes the Little Women story by Louisa May Alcott and turns it on its head. Readers who loved this timely classic will be intrigued how Bernet takes Beth’s death and turns it into a murder mystery, puts the characters in the modern day, and has many twists with many people of interest. Although it is listed as a YA book, adult readers will also find it enjoyable, gripping, …
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper The Queen Who Came in from the Cold by S. J. Bennett features Queen Elizabeth II as the protagonist and her private secretary Joan McGraw. Fans of Peter James, who’s latest The Hawk Is Dead, involves the current Queen Camilla and King Charles might also like to read this story. This plot has Queen Elizabeth II and her personal secretary Joan involved with spies, lies, and treachery involving the KGB. The Queen, Prince Philip, …
Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Her Cold Heart by Pamela Fagan Hutchins is a tense atmospheric read where snow appears everywhere. The plot opens with Delaney and Leo on the ski slopes. As they are about to get on the ski lift a shot rings out and a young woman is shot and killed. Delaney and Leo know they must pursue whatever leads there are and jump on snowmobiles, hoping to catch the shooter. After they find out that …