Posts Tagged ‘psychological’

I Know She Was There by Jennifer Sadera Banner

I KNOW SHE WAS THERE
by Jennifer Sadera
October 28 – November 22, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

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Synopsis:
Be careful what you see when you shouldn’t be looking.

Residents of the posh Upstate New York neighborhood of Deer Crossing enjoy all the amenities wealth provides. From drive-up dog-grooming to monthly botox parties, these lucky suburbanites have everything they could ever want. And one thing they don’t. Stalker Caroline Case, who wheels her infant along their streets each night with just one goal…to spy on anyone too careless or too foolish to close their window blinds. Convinced the owners of the impressive homes are living a dream existence, the troubled new mom hopes to escape her working-class life by prying secrets from the unsuspecting. But the fairy tale twists into a nightmare when she sees something she shouldn’t. Something that shatters her illusions about the people in the privileged community she’s obsessed with, even as she begins to doubt what she saw. As Caroline investigates the event, shocking secrets are laid bare, and nothing is as it seems. She knows she must prove something sinister occurred in Deer Crossing or risk letting someone get away with murder.

Praise for I Know She Was There:

“‘Twisty’ doesn’t begin to describe this compelling and complicated story. Don’t even try to guess how this turns out—just put yourself in Sadera’s capable hands and enjoy the ride!” ~ Karen Dionne, author of the #1 international bestseller The Marsh King’s Daughter and The Wicked Sister “In the world of thrillers, few conceits are more alluring than a ‘mostly harmless’ habit gone terribly awry. Such is the premise in Jennifer Sadera’s addictive I Know She Was There, where protagonist Caroline Case’s proclivity for sidewalk-spying on her wealthy neighbors turns into her own living nightmare. Sadera’s deeply psychological novel, echoing nicely to Rear Window, has Caroline guessing not only what she saw, but whether she saw it at all, and her struggle becomes ours through effective first-person narration. An impressive and thrilling debut . . . Sadera is an author to watch.” ~ Carter Wilson, USA Today bestselling author of The Father She Went to Find “Jennifer Sadera’s intense debut about a troubled young mother on a passionate mission to discover the truth kept me awake all night! It’s a gut-wrenching and addictively readable thriller.” ~ Bonnar Spring, author of Toward the Light (2020), Independent Publishers’ bronze medal winner for Best First Novel, New Hampshire Literary Awards—People’s Choice winner for fiction, and Disappeared (2022) ‘Best of 2022’ from Bookreporter and Crime Fiction Lover short fiction: 2023 Al Blanchard Award, 2024 Derringer “Twisty and compelling, I Know She Was There deftly explores how well we can truly know each other—or ourselves.” ~ Tracy Sierra, author of Nightwatching “A knockout debut—sharp domestic suspense that combines taut prose with a complex, artfully crafted unreliable narrator, and plenty of twists and turns that readers won’t see coming. I Know She Was There proves Jennifer Sadera is a voice to watch.” ~ Elena Hartwell Taylor, bestselling author of the Eddie Shoes and Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery series, including the upcoming A Cold, Cold World

 

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Suspense, Domestic Suspense

Published by: CamCat Books Publication Date: November 12, 2024 Number of Pages: 352 ISBN: 9780744310955 (ISBN10: 0744310954)

Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | CamCat Books

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MY REVIEW

I sat down to write my review and was lost. How to write a review when the book has so much happening. I questioned Caroline’s right to walk the streets of Deer Crossing, an affluent neighborhood she thought she’d live in some day if only her husband hadn’t left her and their baby. I questioned her trying to validate her actions of spying on the people. Looking in their windows. That’s just wrong, right? And when she saw something she shouldn’t have, I questioned whether it had really happened. As did Caroline.

This story was busy. There’s background that’s shared. It helped explain some actions. That feeling of wanting the answers now, all of them, plagued me. And it kept me sucked into the story, right up to the end. Did I guess the ending right? Nope. Was it a good ending? You betcha.

4 STARS

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Enjoy this peek inside:
Jane Brockton was going to get caught. My heart raced when Jane emerged from the side door of her home; what she and I were both doing was risky, but it was too late for regrets. I wondered if she thought so too. Probably. Her behavior was becoming alarmingly brazen. I pulled Emmy’s stroller closer and pushed aside boxwood branches, widening the portal I peered through. Although Jane’s across-the-street neighbors’ hedge was directly in front of her farmhouse-style McMansion, it was too dark this late at night for me to be seen. Go back inside if you know what’s good for you. I pressed my fingers to my lips as the man emerged from the house next to hers. Even if I’d yelled a warning, Jane Brockton wouldn’t heed it. Who the hell was I? Certainly not someone her neighbors on Woodmint Lane knew. If Jane observed my late-night excursions through the streets of her stylish suburban New York neighborhood, her first instinct wouldn’t be to worry about her behavior. I was prepared. If confronted by any resident of the exclusive enclave, I’d explain I walked the streets late at night to lull my colicky baby to sleep. I couldn’t admit my ulterior motive—worming my way back onto Primrose Way and into my former best friend’s good graces. And there was no need to share how, lately, the lives of this neighborhood’s inhabitants had been luring me like a potent drug—or how Jane Brockton was fast becoming the kingpin of my needy addiction. Jane stood out, even in this community of excess: gourmet dinner deliveries, drive-up dog grooming, same-day laundry service, and monthly Botox parties. Her meetings with the mystery man were far from innocent. The first tryst I’d witnessed was late the previous Friday night—exactly a week earlier. I’d strolled around the corner of Woodmint Lane just as the pair had emerged from their side-by-side houses and taken to the dark street like prowlers casing the block. I followed their skulking forms up Woodmint, being careful to stay a few dozen yards behind, until all I could discern was their silhouettes, too close to each other for friendly companionship. They’d eventually crossed Primrose Way and veered into the woods where the bike trails and picnic areas offered secluded spaces. When they didn’t emerge from the wooded area, I backed Emmy’s stroller up silently and reversed my route, heading away, my pulse still throbbing in my temples. It was impossible to deny what was going on, as I watched similar scenes unfold three nights that week: Jane slipping soundlessly from her mudroom door like a specter, the flash of the screen door in the faint moonlight an apparent signal. This night, as they hooked hands in the driveway between the houses, I slicked my tongue over my dry lips. She risked losing everything. I knew how that felt. Tim had left me before I’d even changed out his worn bachelor-pad sofa for the sectional I’d been eying at Ethan Allen. I watched them cross through the shadows, barely able to see them step inside the shed at the far end of Jane’s yard. And all under the nose of her poor devoted husband, Rod. He couldn’t be as gullible as he appeared, could he? A voice called out, shattering the stillness of the night. I flinched, convinced I’d been discovered. I scanned the immediate shadows, placing a hand over my chest to still my galloping heart. “Jane?” It was Rod’s voice. I recognized the timbre by now. Settle down, Caroline. My eyes darted to the custom home’s open front door. Rod had noticed his wife’s abandonment earlier than usual. Warm interior light spilled across the porch floorboards and outlined Rod’s robed form in the door frame. “Are you out here? Jane?” The worry in his voice made me hate Jane Brockton. I flirted with the idea of stepping away from the hedge and announcing I’d witnessed her heading to the shed with the neighbor. Of course, that would be ridiculous. I was a stranger. My name, Caroline Case, would mean nothing to him. Rod closed the door and my gaze traveled to the glowing upstairs window on the far left of his house. The light had blinked off half an hour earlier, like a giant eyelid closing over the dormered master bedroom casement. I knew exactly where their bedroom was because I’d studied the Deer Crossing home models on the builder’s website. I knew the layout of all three house styles so well I could escort potential buyers through them. I’d briefly considered it. Becoming a real-estate agent would give me access inside, where I could discover what life behind the movie-set facades was really like. Pristine marble floors, granite countertops, and crystal vases on every conceivable surface? Or gravy-laden dishes in sinks and mud-caked shoes arrayed haphazardly just inside the eye-catching front doors? I suspected the latter was true for almost every house except for my former best friend Muzzy Owen’s place on Primrose Way. Muzzy could put Martha Stewart to shame. I wedged myself and Emmy’s stroller further into the hedge. Becoming a real-estate agent wouldn’t connect me as intimately to Jane and Rod Brockton (information gleaned by rifling through the contents of their mailbox) as I was at this moment. Trepidation—and yes, anticipation—laced my bloodstream and turned my breathing shallow as I waited for Rod to come outside and start his nightly search for his wife. Some may consider my interest, my excitement, twisted, but I didn’t plan to use my stealthily gathered information against anyone. It was enough to reassure myself that nobody’s life was perfect, no matter how it appeared to an outsider. A faint click echoed through the still night. I squinted through the hedge leaves, my eyes laser pointers on the side door Jane had emerged from only moments before. Rod appeared. As he stepped into the dusky side yard, I thought about the people unknown to me until a week earlier: the latest neighborhood couple to pique my interest. Even though they were technically still strangers, I’d had an entire week to learn about the Brocktons. A few passes in my car last Saturday morning revealed a tracksuit-clad Gen Xer, her wavy hair the reddish-brown color of autumn oak leaves, and a gray-haired, bespectacled boomer in crisp dark jeans and golf shirt standing on the sage-and-cream farmhouse’s front porch. Steaming mugs in hand, their calls drifted through my open car window, cautioning their little golden designer dog when it strayed too close to the street, their voices overly indulgent, as if correcting a beloved but errant child. The very picture of domestic bliss. I studied the Colonial to the Brocktons’ right. On the front porch steps, two tremendous Boston ferns in oversized urns stretched outward like dozens of welcoming arms. The only testament to human activity. Someone obviously cared for the vigorous plants, but a midnight peek inside that house’s mailbox revealed only empty space. It made me uncomfortable not knowing who Jane’s mystery man was. And did Rod usually wake when his wife slipped between the silk sheets (they had to be silk) after her extracurriculars? He obviously questioned her increasingly regular late-night abandonment. He wouldn’t be roaming the dark in his nightwear if he hadn’t noticed. Perhaps Jane said she couldn’t sleep. She needed to move—walk the neighborhood—to tire herself. Hearing that, he’d frown, warning her not to wander around in the middle of the night. Rod was the type—I was sure just by the way he coddled his dog—to worry about his lovely wife walking the dark streets, even the magical byways of Deer Crossing. Hence, the need for new places to rendezvous each night. But the shed on their very own property! Even though this night’s tryst was later than usual, it was dangerously daring to stay on-site. Maybe Jane wanted to get caught. A scratching sound echoed through the quiet night. I looked at the side door Rod had just emerged from, saw his silhouette turn back and open it. The little dog circled him, barking sharply. The urgent yipping cut clearly through the still air, skittering my pulse. I quickly glanced at Emmy soundly sleeping in her stroller. If the dog didn’t stop barking, I’d have to get away—fast. Emmy could wake and start her colicky wailing, which would rouse the Brocktons’ neighbors whose hedge I’d appropriated. One flick of their front porch light would reveal me in all my lurking glory. As if to answer my concerns, the dog ceased barking and scampered toward the shed. I rubbed at the sudden chill sliding across my upper arms. That little canine nose was sniffing out Jane’s trail. Rod stepped tentatively forward. It was too dark to see what he was wearing beneath the robe, but I pictured him in L. L. Bean slippers with those heavy rubberized soles and cotton print pajamas, like Daddy used to wear. Daddy’s had line drawings of old-fashioned cars dotted across the white cotton background. Model Ts and roadsters. I felt angry with Jane all over again. How dare she . . . “Sorry, darling,” Jane called, striding from the shadows, stopping a few feet in front of him. “I was potting those plants earlier and thought I left my cell phone in the shed.” Her voice was soft, relaxed. She was a pro. “I saw it on the bookshelf in the study earlier this evening,” Rod said, bending to calm the little dog, who was bouncing between them like a child with ADHD. “Oh geez, I’m losing it,” she said, laughing. Not yet, you’re not, I thought. Not yet. *** Excerpt from I Know She Was There by Jennifer Sadera. Copyright 2024 by Jennifer Sadera. Reproduced with permission from Jennifer Sadera. All rights reserved.

 

 

About Author Jennifer Sadera:

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Jennifer Sadera

Jennifer Sadera began her writing career just out of college as a junior copywriter at book publisher NAL before transitioning to the editorial departments of national women’s magazines Woman’s World, Redbook, and Beauty Digest. She’d already established herself as a freelance writer and blogger when she decided to follow her true passion: creating novels. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime; her writing has earned her multiple awards at Atlanta Writers Conferences and a fellowship at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. I Know She Was There is Jennifer’s debut psychological suspense novel. When not writing, Jennifer can be found gardening, traveling, or reading anything she can get her hands on. She is blessed with CJ, her husband of many years, two adult children, Amanda and Ryan, and two adorable rescue grand dogs named Sunny and Moonie.

Catch Up With Jennifer Sadera: JenniferSadera.com Goodreads LinkedIn Instagram – @jensadera Twitter/X – @jennifersadera Facebook – @jennifersadera

 

 

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If you’re like me, you have a pile of books beckoning to you from your lists. Carole hosts this fun feature where you can share some of those older books and perhaps nudge you to finally read them. If you want to join in on the fun, head over to Carole’s Random Life In Books and leave a link to your post.
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The Wild Inside

by Jamey Bradbury

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Genre: Psychological Thriller / Horror

Synopsis

A promising talent makes her electrifying debut with this unforgettable novel, set in the Alaskan wilderness, that is a fusion of psychological thriller and coming-of-age tale in the vein of Jennifer McMahon, Chris Bohjalian, and Mary Kubica.

A natural born trapper and hunter raised in the Alaskan wilderness, Tracy Petrikoff spends her days tracking animals and running with her dogs in the remote forests surrounding her family’s home. Though she feels safe in this untamed land, Tracy still follows her late mother’s rules: Never Lose Sight of the House. Never Come Home with Dirty Hands. And, above all else, Never Make a Person Bleed.

But these precautions aren’t enough to protect Tracy when a stranger attacks her in the woods and knocks her unconscious. The next day, she glimpses an eerily familiar man emerge from the tree line, gravely injured from a vicious knife wound—a wound from a hunting knife similar to the one she carries in her pocket. Was this the man who attacked her and did she almost kill him? With her memories of the events jumbled, Tracy can’t be sure.

Helping her father cope with her mother’s death and prepare for the approaching Iditarod, she doesn’t have time to think about what she may have done. Then a mysterious wanderer appears, looking for a job. Tracy senses that Jesse Goodwin is hiding something, but she can’t warn her father without explaining about the attack—or why she’s kept it to herself.

It soon becomes clear that something dangerous is going on . . . the way Jesse has wormed his way into the family . . . the threatening face of the stranger in a crowd . . . the boot-prints she finds at the forest’s edge.

Her family is in trouble. Will uncovering the truth protect them—or is the threat closer than Tracy suspects?

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I added this back in March 2018.

This has my kind of read written all over it!

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

You can find a list of my reviews HERE.

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Sweet Whispers of the Devil

by Sierra Kay

Genre: Mystery, Psychological Thriller

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Victoria Hill’s son is missing—her worst nightmare realized. A nightmare made even more terrifying because, he’s in the hands of her father, a bounty hunter intent on connecting with his relations regardless of their attempts to escape his grasp. While Victoria’s mother, Honey, had changed their identities and moved from place to place to stay safe, she couldn’t prevent Victoria’s own kidnapping. Instead, she was forced to sacrifice everything she had to keep Richard at bay.

Now Honey’s dead. And daddy’s come calling. Again. With the help of an ex-lover and his mother, it’s Victoria’s turn to make the decisions that could mend her family, save her son, or send Richard over the edge. One problem. The decisions could also force Victoria to change the game in a way that sends them all on a slide straight down into her father’s particular brand of hell.

Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads

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Her son was gone.

Victoria Hill raced past the four-bedroom gray- and black-trimmed house, located in Naperville, Illinois, as fast as her well-worn, three-inch heels would allow.

She wished she had worn trainers today. She’d already split her pencil skirt rushing to get out of the car. Navigating the brick path leading to the two-bedroom guest house she rented, the familiar face of her best friend—whose light brown skin appeared even paler than usual–– stared back at her. The pain resonated in Antoine’s cinnamon eyes and punched her in the gut.

His stiff six-foot-tall stance was the opposite of his normal loose-limbed slouch. Maybe she’d misread his expression. Maybe any second he’d break out into laughter, and Luke would run from behind the maple tree. Maybe this was some cruel practical joke. Maybe. When ten-year-old Christian arrived home without his brother, who was a year older, Antoine sent her a text, “Luke made Chris drag home his backpack. Guess he decided to walk again.”

But after the time he should have arrived came and went, Antoine called. “Luke didn’t come home.”

“I’m on my way,” Tori responded. She sprang from her desk and shouted, “Family emergency,” as she ran out of the door.

The fifteen-minute drive home condensed into ten. Stop signs, to a worried parent, became merely places to pump the brakes and pray that no one dashed in front of a moving car. She arrived home, and her eyes zeroed in on the black picture frame Antoine clutched. As she came closer, the words “Daddy” appeared down the side, and the connection became clear. Her father, Richard, had given her a similar frame when she laid eyes on him for the first and last time. She froze. Her mind raced back nineteen years, when her father slithered into her life and shattered all sense of peace, like a bowling ball through a plate-glass window.

At the end of the next block, a tall shadow emerged, pausing her in her tracks. “You know who I am?”

The March sun obscured her view a bit, but squinting she could make out light brown eyes, light brown complexion, and sandy brown hair that matched her own. She saw that face in a frame on her bedside table every night before she closed her eyes to sleep.

“You’re my dad Richard. Mom said you died.”

He leaned back into a hearty laugh. “Wishful thinking on her part.”

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Award-winning author Sierra Kay has an M.A. in Writing from DePaul University, won a Nuyorican Poets Cafe Short Story Slam, and participated in comedy fests as a member of the writing teams for Spankx, N20 Comedy and Suspicious Package. She loves writing poetry and suspense novels.

Obviously, she’ll try anything at least once. It’s a reaction to growing up with brothers that liberally challenged her at every turn. She’s seeking help, but would appreciate all friends and fans to abstain from using the words, “Double dog dare you.”

Her most recent novels, From Behind the Curtain, In the Midst of Fire, which was a 2017 Book Excellence Award Finalist for suspense, and At the Touch of Love are available online. Learn more at sierrakay.com

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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Beautiful, Frightening And Silent organized by Goddess Fish Pomotions.

Jennifer Anne Gordon will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Don’t forget to enter!

Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Beautiful, Frightening, And Silent

by Jennifer Anne Gordon

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Synopsis

Adam, a young alcoholic, slowly descends into madness while dealing with the psychological scars of childhood trauma which are reawakened when his son and wife die in a car accident that he feels he is responsible for. After a failed suicide attempt, and more group meetings that he can mention. Adam hears a rumor of a Haunted Island off the Coast of Maine, where “if someone wants it bad enough” they could be reunited with a lost loved one. In his desperate attempt to connect with the ghost of his four-and-a half year old son, he decides to go there, to Dagger Island, desperate to apologize to, or be condemned by, his young son. Adam is not sure what he deserves or even which of these he wants more. While staying in a crumbling old boarding house, he becomes involved with a beautiful and manipulative ghost who has spent 60 years tormenting the now elderly man who was her lover, and ultimately her murderer. The three of them create a “Menage-a-Guilt” as they all come to terms with what it is that ties them so emotionally to their memories and their very “existence”.Beautiful, Frightening, and Silent is a poetic fever dream of grief, love, and the terrifying ways that obsession can change who we are.

 

Enjoy this peek inside:

Though it is only the latter half of the middle of November, the sun sets early on this day. The storm rolls in, like soldiers in a battle, they fill this melancholy sky with letters to loved ones that will never be sent. This battle is one that is doomed on all sides. Could there possibly be any survivors, from a battle so hard fought? Anthony knows better than to fight it, he gives in, and he lets the dark come. The clouds grow heavy with guilt, broken promises, and half remembered dreams. It washes over this part of the island, blanketing it in a thick fog. He looks outside and realizes that if fear had a singular look, it would look like this sky, during these last ebbing days of his life. It is the manic gray light of a New England sky as it finally gives itself in to darkness.

If there really are things in this house, his house, things that are dead, that walk alone in the dark, he can’t feel them now. They too must have to eventually sleep. They are hunkered down waiting for the storm as it makes its slow crawl out from under the bed anxious to reach its hands up and touch your bare skin as you drift off to sleep.

The surrounding air has a hollowness.

The surrounding air has a holiness.

The wind outside makes a sound like ice singing on a frozen pond, as the first frozen crystal shards begin to fall from the sky. The pitter-patter against the house sounds like a child running wild after too much sugar. He wonders where the dead ones go when they suddenly grow quiet. He finds their absence unsettling. He scans the floor for small saltwater puddles. He reaches through the air for the cobwebs made of long sinewy red hair. He strains his ears for the incessant whispering in his mother’s room, and now he waits to hear a toy fire truck making its rounds through the upstairs bedrooms.

There is nothing, only the heaviness of silence, as he sits quietly. He strains his ears to hear what is happening underneath the sounds of wind and ice. He wonders if things are waking up underneath the stained sheets in the room that was once his mother’s.

About Author Jennifer Anne Gordon

Jennifer Anne Gordon is a gothic horror novelist. Her debut novel, Beautiful, Frightening, and Silent broke presale records with her publisher (Breaking Rules Publishing) and has received critical acclaim. Her second novel, From Daylight to Madness, is set to be released in late summer 2020 and is the second in her “Dagger Island” series.

She had a collection of her mixed media artwork published during spring of 2020, entitled Victoriana: mixed media art of Jennifer Gordon
Jennifer is one of the hosts of Writer Someday, to Author Today, as well as Prose Garden, she is also a book reviewer and contributor to HorrorTree.com, as well as the Creator and Host of Vox Vomitus, a video and podcast on the Global Authors on the Air Network.

Jennifer is a pale curly haired ginger, obsessed with horror, ghosts, abandoned buildings, and her dog “Lord Tubby”.

She graduated from the New Hampshire Institute of Art, where she studied Acting. She also studied at the University of New Hampshire with a concentration in Art History and English.

She has made her living as an actress, a magician’s assistant, a “gallerina”, a painter, and burlesque performer. For the past 10 years as an award-winning professional ballroom dancer, performer, instructor, and choreographer.

When not scribbling away (ok, typing frantically) she enjoys traveling with her fiancé and dance partner Roman Sirotin, teaching her dog ridiculous tricks (like ‘give me a kiss’ and ‘what hand is the treat in?’) as well as taking photos of abandoned buildings and haunted locations.

She is a leo, so at the end of the day she really just thinks about her hair.
Her novel as well as her art collection are available on Amazon.
For more information and benevolent stalking, please visit her website.

Website / Amazon / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Goodreads

GIVEAWAY

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

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I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

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If you’re like me, you have a pile of books beckoning to you from your lists. Carole hosts this fun feature where you can share some of those older books and perhaps nudge you to finally read them. If you want to join in on the fun, head over to Carole’s Random Life In Books and leave a link to your post.
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The Fall

by Bethany Griffin

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Genre: YA / Horror / Psychological Thriller

Synopsis

Madeline Usher is doomed.

She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.

Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.

In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down? The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.

Amazon

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I added this back on October 2014.

It sounded a bit different and I loved the cover.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

You can find a list of my reviews HERE.

For a list of free eBooks go HERE

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I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

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Clearing In The Woods

by Phyllis M. Newman

Clearing in the Woods
Women’s Psychological/Crime Fiction
Publisher: Independently published (October 31, 2019)
Paperback: 321 pages
ISBN-10: 1701629364
ISBN-13: 978-1701629363
Digital ASIN: B07ZTZMTVS

Roberta escapes her humdrum middle-class existence and the persistent ache of her dead mother’s secrets by fleeing to Alaska. Having abandoned everything she’d spent her life building, Roberta remakes herself in another place, doing anything other than responding to the demands of her self-absorbed husband, her entitled kids, and her Pottery Barn home. Taking her first job since college, and a small room above a tourists’ shop, she contemplates new vistas. She never expected, however, to find romance in the form of a handsome federal agent involved in murder and mayhem.And it is murder and mayhem, and the discovery of other’s secrets, that causes Roberta to run for her life into the Alaskan wilderness…

About Phyllis M. Newman 

PHYLLIS NEWMAN

Phyllis M. Newman is a native southerner. Born in New Orleans, she spent formative years in Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, and on a dairy farm in Ross County, Ohio. After a long career in finance and human resources at The Ohio State University, she turned her attention to writing fiction. She published a noir mystery, “Kat’s Eye” in 2015, a Gothic mystery, “The Vanished Bride of Northfield House” in 2018, and the suspense thriller “Clearing in the Woods” in 2019. Today she lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and three perpetually unimpressed cats, none of whom venture far from home.

Author Links: Website / Twitter / Facebook

Purchase Link – Amazon 

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TOUR PARTICIPANTS

March 5 – TBR Book Blog – REVIEW

March 6 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT  

March 7 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – SPOTLIGHT

March 8 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

March 9 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 9 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

March 10 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW

March 11 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

March 12 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 13 – Ascroft, eh?– CHARACTER GUEST POST

March 14 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 15 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW

March 16 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

March 17 – That’s What She’s Reading – REVIEW

March 17 – eBook addicts – REVIEW

March 18 – Ruff Drafts– GUEST POST

 

 


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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

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Life After Dane

by Edward Lorn

Published by Red Adept Publishing, LLC

August 2013

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Have I got a scare for you!

Red Adept Publishing has put together an amazing tour for Edward Lorn’s Life After Dane.

I have a peek inside for you. Chapter One!

Read on to catch my review and the scary good trailer.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

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Where you can purchase Life After Dane.

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Goodreads

Description

A mother’s love is undying… and so is Dane.

After the state of Arkansas executes serial killer Dane Peters, the Rest Stop Dentist, his mother discovers that life is darker and more dangerous than she ever expected.

The driving force behind his ghostly return lies buried in his family’s dark past. As Ella desperately seeks a way to lay her son’s troubled soul to rest, she comes face to face with her own failings.

If Ella cannot learn why her son has returned and what he seeks, then the reach of his power will destroy the innocent, and not even his mother will be able to stop him.

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Chapter One

 

The state of Arkansas put my son to sleep on October 25, 2013. All across the country, from Colorado to Virginia, forty-two families were finally able to rest. I knew those grieving souls by faces, not personalities. Their tears were familiar, yet their pain was not. I could recall their loved ones easily, as they were the victims. My son’s name was Dane Peters. The rest of the world called him The Rest Stop Dentist.

Not everybody from Dane’s many court sessions came that night. The watch room only held thirty chairs, and nine were taken up by the cops who had arrested my son, two local reporters, and Sven Gödel, a freelance journalist from Chicago.

When the guards led my son into the execution chamber, he strode tall, his face bereft of emotion. At some point, they’d shaved his head. His mop of brown shag was a five o’clock ghost of its former self. While one officer unshackled Dane, the other made ready the straps on the cross-like table where Dane would serve his final sentence. Unencumbered, Dane stretched his arms wide, bent back at the waist, and rocked forward to meet my eyes.

A chill ran down my spine. He looked so calm, the exact opposite of me. I could feel my hands shaking around the Bible I clutched to my stomach. Oh, God, they’re actually going to kill my child. If I had died, they would have called Dane an orphan, but what would they call a childless mother? At fifty-five, I was left all alone.

Dane groped at the front of his orange jumpsuit, patted it flat, and turned toward the awaiting table. Never breaking eye contact, he craned his neck so he could keep a bead on me. My baby boy was in there somewhere, hiding behind that cold stare. I felt myself reaching for him, though I hadn’t meant to do so.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned my head to find a man wearing a police officer’s uniform.

“You know,” he said, “that’s two-way glass. He can’t actually see you.”

Looking back at my son, I tried to tell myself that the man behind me was wrong. He had to be. Dane was gazing directly at me, into me. He sat on the edge of the metal table, twisted, and threw his legs up onto the surface, then lay back and looked toward the ceiling. The guards went about belting him down. Dane lifted his head, met my eyes, and gave me a mirthless smile.

The officer behind me said, “That monster must think he’s something. Look at that smug expression painted all over his mug. He ain’t a bit sorry ’bout what he done.”

Dane blinked twice and settled back on the table.

Too low for anyone else to hear, I said, “He’s not a monster. He’s my son.”

Dane was thirty years old when they put an IV in his arm and dosed him with pentobarbital to render him unconscious. A pump injected him with pancuronium bromide to relax his breathing until his lungs quit altogether. Potassium chloride, the “humane drug,” ceased the beating of his heart before the failure of his lungs became too painful. I watched, seated with the families of the victims, while my son was put down like a rabid dog.

One of the men behind the glass finally said, “It’s over.”

The father of Lillie Mason clapped, putting his hands together, slowly at first, then faster. Vickie Hancock’s mother joined in. Fredericka Devereau’s parents followed along until everyone surrounding me fell into a fit of raucous applause. I didn’t feel the need to celebrate my child’s death, so I remained stoic and silent.

Dane’s body was transferred from the execution table to a beige body bag atop the stainless surface of an awaiting gurney. I’d seen enough.

Rising from my chair, I took an unsteady step forward and almost fell. A hand wrapped around my bicep, keeping me upright. Glancing to see who’d saved me from a tumble, I came face to face with that Chicago journalist, Sven Gödel.

He asked, “Are you all right?”

“Leave me alone.” I snatched my arm from his grasp, turned on my heel, and headed for the door.

Sven called after me, “We should talk, Mrs. Peters.”

I didn’t justify his comment with an answer.

The watch room door opened onto a courtyard surrounded on all sides by razor-wire-topped fencing. October in Arkansas wasn’t quite as cool as back home in Colorado. In fact, the air was uncomfortably warm, like sitting down on a public toilet and finding the previous users’ body heat radiating up into my own butt. Sweat popped out on my forehead. I swiped it away with the back of one hand.

At the main gate, a bald prison guard let me out into the free world. I thought of it like that, “the free world,” because during Dane’s trial and the time up until his death, I’d felt like a prisoner alongside him. With Dane gone, I was free.

I crossed the parking lot to my gold Camry. Once behind the wheel, I let my emotions take over. Tears choked me. To clear my pipes, I lit a Virginia Slim and allowed the menthol to soothe my clogged throat.

I smoked the entire cigarette in less than three minutes. I rolled down my window and flicked the butt into the prison’s lot, leaving a piece of myself behind. Lighting another one, I drove away from that edifice of justice, wondering what else I had left back there. That thought haunted me across seven hundred miles, two fast-food cheeseburgers, four restroom breaks, and a whole pack of Slims, until I crossed the city limits of Well Being, Colorado. Home sweet home.

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My Review

I’ve read several of Edward’s books and I have to say Life After Dane is his best work yet.

I would call it a psychological thriller and horror story. But it’s more than that. You could also call it a ghost story but it isn’t a house that’s haunted.

They say a serial killer can be born one or made into one. I’m not sure which it was for Dane, but he was prolific, killing 42 people. His moniker, The Rest Stop Dentist, was earned because he stalked and killed his victims at rest stops and left a trail of their teeth, like bread crumbs, leading to their discarded corpses.

Like in real life, the law does catch up with him and on October 25, 2013, Dane Peters is sent to hell.

But Dane isn’t planning on staying there, and before long, he pays a visit to his loving mother, the chain-smoking woman who stood by and watched him suffer at the hands of his abusive father.

Dane is back and he wants his own brand of justice.

I like how the author  showed you both sides of the story, both Danes and his mother, Ella May’s. It helped me to see behind their actions and connect with them.

Dane is horrific, but you almost feel sorry for him. Good writing there.

Ella May is sweet and loving, but she’ll tick you off, making you want to slap her down. More good writing.

I would put the pacing of this story as relentless. Once you start reading, you’ll not want to stop until the white-knuckled read is over.

When I reached the end, my heart was pounding in my ears and my jaw ached from clenching my teeth. I just sat there, thinking. Then I got up and grabbed a romance book to read so I wouldn’t be thinking about Dane when I went to sleep!

5 Stars

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About  Edward Lorn and where to stalk him.
Image of Edward Lorn

Edward Lorn is an American horror author presently residing in the southeast United States. He enjoys storytelling, reading, and writing biographies in the third person. Once upon a time, during a session of show and tell, a seven-year-old Edward Lorn shared with his class that his baby brother had died over the weekend. His classmates, the teacher included, wept while he recounted the painful tragedy of having lost a sibling. Edward went home that day and found an irate mother waiting for him. Edward’s teacher had called to express her condolences. This was unfortunate, as Edward had never had a baby brother. With advice given to her by a frustrated teacher, Edward’s mother made him start writing all of his lies down. The rest, as they say, is history. Edward Lorn and his wife are raising two children, along with a handful of outside cats and a beagle named Dot. He remains a liar to this day. The only difference is, now he’s a useful one.

For more about Edward Lorn and his books:

Website / Twitter / Goodreads / Amazon

Edward’s page on RAP: http://redadeptpublishing.com/edward-lorn/

Edward’s blog: http://edwardlorn.wordpress.com/

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Prizes:

$20 Amazon Gift Certificate

$10 Amazon Gift Certificate

Dane Tote Bag

Dane Mug

Click on the rafflecopter link below to enter.

Rafflecopter Giveaway

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I’ve read other books by Edward and loved them.

  !NAME 2240 For Amazon and Smashwords

Go HERE for my reviews

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For all of my giveaways go HERE.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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My tease for today is from Stepford, USA by Lada Ray

Stepford USA (Accidental Spy Smalltown Adventure)

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My Tease

Something was fundamentally wrong with the official story of Rebecca’s rape. But what? And that’s when I knew, I simply had to get to the bottom of this cold case. I had to uncover the truth!

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I am now about two-thirds through Stepford USA and having a delightful time trying to follow the clues and put my nose in all of these character’s business.

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How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

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It’s a Birthday Party for Adam Light.

A Toast to Adam:

May all your dreams come true, except for the nightmares.

Save them for more scary books!

I met Adam about a year ago when I read one of his short horror stories and had to get to know this awesome author.

I have now read everything Adam has written.

I hear from his brother Evans, who is also an awesome horror writer, that Adam is writing something new and twisted for us. I can’t wait!

But for now, Adam is celebrating his birthday by giving away a free book!

That’s right!

Taken by Adam Light is free to download from Amazon June 14th thru 18th!

Go here to get yours now!

TAKEN

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I’ve already reviewed TAKEN, but reposted it so you won’t have to leave the party!

I am thrilled to get my hands on this! While I don’t normally use the blurbs for a book, this one is so good I have to share it with you!

Jack Harden is your average good-old-fashioned American truck driver. You can ask the girl he’s got duct-taped in the back of his cab, she’ll tell you. Oh, don’t worry – it’s okay. His wife knows all about it. She told him to do it.

Whoa. I bet that got your attention.

Jacks’s wired and tired. He’s on the last leg of an 18 hour burn and turn. Soon he’ll be with her. With his goddess. With Dianne.

“Dianne, Dianne. Oh sweet goddamn Dianne.”

At first he didn’t think he could go through with it. He’s not the type. But if he wants to go home, he better have his cargo. Can’t go home without it.

She’s all wrapped up, well,  taped up, nice and tight. She won’t be getting away. What Dianne wants with her, he hasn’t a clue. But he’ll know soon enough.

What really got me was how nervous and bumbling Jack was when he snatched the girl. It had me on edge,  hoping he’d get away safely. I was actually on his side. You know the story’s good when you’re pulling for the bad guy.

As for the victim. Well, lets just say she’s not a wallflower. She’s got a mouth on her and plenty of bravado. Jack had better be careful with this one. She’s a kick-ass chick and her one liner, you’ll know it when you read it, is every bit as good as Arnold’s, ”I’ll be back.

I could picture the author chuckling in evil delight when he was writing Taken. It’s psychological horror that messes with your mind.

Can’t wait for you to meet Dianne.

A short, wicked good read.

5 Stars

I’ve read all of Adam’s books.

Way Out Of Here

My Review

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THE CONTINUANCE AGENCY (The Continuance Saga Volume One)

My Review

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Vengeance By The Foot

My Review

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Gone

My Review

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TAKEN

My Review

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Corpus Corruptum ~ Written by Adam & Evans Light

The Corpus Corruptum

Review coming soon.

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About the author

Adam   Light

Besides being the best father and husband I can be, my ultimate goal in life is writing horror fiction that will knock people’s socks off.

I began the journey into writing for the public in the fall of 2011, and I have not looked back since. I admit that I got a late start on it, as I am pushing 40 now, but I believe that an eleventh-hour commencement is preferable to none at all.

I have self-published five short stories to date. The most recent one entitled THE CONTINUANCE AGENCY is the first chapter in a planned series still in progress. This one is a departure for me, and comes as a refreshing turning point in my writing. I look forward to writing longer works, my long term goal being to write full length novels.

I have been humbled and emboldened by all the positive responses to my stories, and thus encouraged to continue my quest. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed my work, giving an unknown author such as myself a chance to unleash my madness upon you.

Goodreads

Amazon

The best word I can use to describe Taylor Deans writing is ‘haunting.

I have read all of her books, and they all stayed with me, lingered.

The same can be said about Sierra.

Taylor is my guest today. She’ll be talking about her book and revealing some fun facts.

Enjoy her post, read my review, and don’t forget to enter the wonderful giveaway!

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Please welcome Taylor Dean.

She’s here to reveal some fun facts about Sierra!

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TEN Things you Don’t Know About Sierra 

1. Sierra is my first novel.

2. Sierra was originally a 165,000 word monstrosity. (It’s now 100,000 words.)

  1. Sierra was inspired by the true-story-TV-movie of the ordeal endured by Olympic Medalist Kari Swenson, entitled, Abduction. (1987) This movie inspired a ‘what if’ story in me. What if the kidnapping had been successful? What if she was taken deep into the woods? What if she was rescued there? What if she had to stay with her rescuer through the winter?

  2. The first ten pages of Sierra were handwritten back in 1991 (pictured below) on a day when I just couldn’t stand it anymore, I had to write my story. If I didn’t commit it to paper right then, I was going to die! Frankly, the hastily written pages are really, really awful. But, the gist of the story is there and it’s eerily similar to the published version that stands today. Back then, for some unknown reason, I thought Nightmare into Paradise was a good title. (I blame it on the nineties.) I’ve come a long way.

I didn’t officially write Sierra until 2006. 

 

5. My sister—one of the first people to ever read Sierra—stayed up ALL night to read it and still says it’s the best book she’s ever read.

My sister’s thoughts on Sierra:
If you only read one of her books, it should be this one. Dean captures the real terror and thoughts of a woman in a dangerous situation; the real fears we have in love; the realistic responses of survivors of terrifying scenarios.If you like to see the man you love chopping wood with his shirt off, save you from any situation you encounter, and then go inside and make you dinner, Sierra is the book for you!

6. Of all of my novels, Sierra is my personal favorite.

7. The original cover of Sierra was an actual picture of a snowbound cabin. (It was never published with this cover.)

 
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robinson]
 


8. In my original story of Sierra, Alyssa takes Alex to court to have their marriage declared legal. Ugh. It was one of the first plot lines to get DELETED. Thank goodness. But I sure had fun writing it.

9. It took me one year to write Sierra. (and even longer to EDIT, EDIT, EDIT!)

10. The original (awful) title of Sierra was Sanguinity.

Below is how my family and friends read my early manuscripts–somehow they still liked them! When people enjoy your early unedited and unformatted stories–you know you’re on to something.
 


I am about to release TWO more books! (June 2013)

Zachary Drake had love in his life–and tragically lost it. He knows it won’t come his way again.

Andie Parker would do anything for the love of her life.Even marry a total stranger.In spite of the unorthodox manner in which Zach and Andie come together, there is no denying that things are unexpectedly good between them, taking them both by surprise. However, when secrets come between them–and trust does not–Andie soon finds herself vowing to never make the same mistake again. But, she’d do it again in a heartbeat and she knows it. She’d marry a hundred strangers if it helped Nick.She’d do anything for Nick . . . anything.

After Marisa survives a traumatic experience in her youth, she finds comfort in the form of a photograph of Joshua, her foster mother’s nephew. She falls in love with him, creating and refining an image of the man of her dreams. When Marisa has the opportunity to visit Joshua’s cattle ranch outside of Amarillo, Texas, she meets Joshua in person for the first time. She quickly realizes he is someone she could really fall in love with, not just a silly childhood crush.

Life is seemingly perfect for Josh and Marisa, with endless possibilities before them. That is, until Josh’s reservations take a toll on their relationship and their summertime romance ends rather unexpectedly.

Will Marisa be able to forgive Josh for his folly?

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My Review

Taylor classifies her books as love stories.

There is romance in all of her books, but I classified some of them as horror and thrillers.

Sierra starts out with your typical happy family on vacation.

Then it turns dark in a hurry.

Two maniacs abduct Alyssa and Sam and their son Clay, forcing her to drive them deep into the woods.

Pa and Adam had found their Eve. They had no use for the man and the boy.

Sam and Clay are gunned down right before her eyes and Alyssa succumbs to the shock.

When she comes to, her reality is horrifying.

Her escape attempt is thwarted by her kidnappers, but now they’re lost.

But wait, they stumble upon a cabin.

Alyssa dares to hope. Could her savior be inside? Maybe she can survive this, but does she want to?

I can’t imagine anything more soul-destroying then to see your loved ones murdered.

No matter how much she grieves for her husband and son, Alyssa’s will to survive drives her on.

There is a miracle in the cabin. The miracle is Alex.

He’s damaged goods, but then, so is she.

Two people, trapped in a cabin for the winter, turn to each other.

What I like most about Sierra was how Taylor lulls you in the beginning, then she shreds the peaceful scene to pieces. It happens so fast you barely have time to comprehend what is going to happen. Just like in real life.

You’ll be proud of Alyssa. Her heart has been shattered, she doesn’t want to live, but she can’t quit.

So she fights. with everything she can dredge up, she fights to live.

And life is waiting. Alex is waiting. He just doesn’t know it yet.

So, Sierra is a thriller, wrapped around a love story.

Of all of Taylor Dean’s books, this one moved me the most.

I cried, wiped the tears so I could see to keep on reading, and cried some more.

I smiled, then grinned, then laughed, and finally clapped.

Taylor gives you stong, genuine characters, a horrifying scenario that could happen, and the healing power of the human spirit.

I guarantee, after you read Sierra, you’ll have to read Taylor’s other books!

5 Stars

Taylor, I’m waiting for more!!

Giveaway

Look at what you can win!

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To enter, please leave your email address and answer this question,

“If you were snowbound in an isolated cabin, who would you like to have there with you?”

***This swag pack is for US/Canada Only***

Please specify you are entering for the swag pack.

You will also be entered for the e-book.

***I also have 5 e-books of Sierra to giveaway ~ International & US***

Giveaway ends May 30th.

About Taylor Dean

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Taylor Dean lives in Texas and is the mother of four grown children. Upon finding herself with an empty nest, she began to write the stories that were always wandering around in her head, quickly finding that she had a passion for writing, specifically romance. Whether it’s paranormal, contemporary, or suspense-you’ll find all sub-genres of CLEAN Romance in her line-up.

Find & Follow:
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 My reviews of Lancaster House and The Middle Aisle

My Review of i have people

For all of Taylor Deans books go here.

Lancaster House  The Middle Aisle (Lancaster House)

Sierra

I Have People

and coming soon!

Joshua's Folly