Wednesday, 24 April 2019

Spotlight & Review: Daring Dreamer by Deborah King



Daring Dreamer by Deborah King
Two best friends. Two fresh starts. Will old regrets sabotage their second chance?
Janna’s heart is heavy with grief and broken by betrayal. But as she leaves the big city for a quaint midwestern town, the future feels less frightening with her best friend, Shelby, by her side. After landing a job in the local fresh market and the attentions of a handsome architect, she may yet learn to heal old scars…
Shelby loves the position Janna secured for her and the new sense of community, but wishes small-town life wasn’t so lonely. After packing up all she could salvage from her painful past, she endures more than her fair share of bumps on the winding road to recovery. Afraid her heart may be too damaged for real love, she drowns her sorrows in drunken nights at bars.
With new heartaches around every corner, can Janna and Shelby stay true to their friendship and their dream of lasting freedom?
Daring Dreamer is the first book in the Inspiration in Cologne series of women’s fiction novels. If you like brave women, picturesque settings, and second chance romance, then you’ll love Deborah King’s empowering saga.
Buy Daring Dreamer to explore a risk worth taking today!
Amazon UK      Amazon US  

The overwhelming theme of this novel is the power of friendship. The trails and tribulations of two friends who bonded over similar life experiences. Who leave their past lives in Kansas City to restart and build a new life in a new small town in the US Midwest.

Those who love cosy sagas based in small towns will enjoy the community spirit of Cologne and its inhabitants. The author writes a colourful portrayal of the places and people who live there and it isn't difficult to imagine how such a place would be. The plot-lines are realistic and not all are happy ones as the author explores the realities faced by many families with elderly relatives. However, there's a happy ending so all's well that ends well and I anticipate we'll see the protagonists in future books in this series.

The writing style took some getting used to due to how the author set up the narrative. In parts, it's told from two points of view which occasionally changes mid-chapter. For my own personal preference, I'd have liked there to be stronger plotlines and less descriptive scene setting to keep the narrative flowing. However, I know many readers like the little details I prefer to skim over.

To sum up, Daring Dreamer is a delightful, quick read and the first instalment in the Inspiration in Cologne series.

***Review copy received courtesy of the publisher via Rachel's Random Resources***

Deborah King is a spirited woman who was inspired to pursue her dreams due to her mother’s death from early onset Alzheimer’s disease. She has the unique ability to read people and tackle life’s hardships.
Deborah is a distinctive new voice in inspirational, romantic women’s fiction. After raising two children, working with a not-for-profit wildlife rescue organization, and reading too many books to count, she retired from her personal training and weight management business to follow her dream of writing.
She is extremely grateful for having the opportunity to work with many different people sharing and teaching what inspires her, which you’ll catch glimpses of in her books.
Deborah’s lived in several diverse areas in her city as well as three years in a rural setting. She lives in Missouri with her supportive husband, two rescue cats, who believe they’re dogs, her mini fitness store, and her eclectic collection of books.
For all the latest information, excerpts from her upcoming books, general fun, or to chat, follow Deborah on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DeborahKingAuthor.
She loves to hear from her fans. To follow Deborah’s social media links, reviews of her women’s fiction books, her blog, and to sign up for her monthly updates, visit her at https://deborahkingbooks.com.

Giveaway – Win a Paperback copy of Daring Dreamer (Open US Only).
*Terms and Conditions –USA entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Location: Sundebru, Norway

Tuesday, 23 April 2019

Release Day Spotlight, Excerpt and Guest Post: Hide and Seek by Mary Burton



Title: Hide and Seek
Author: Mary Burton
Release Date: April 23, 2019
Publisher: Montlake Romance


Special Agent Macy Crow is a survivor. After a vicious hit-and-run nearly kills her, she gets right back to work, and now she’s gunning for a spot on the FBI’s elite profiling team. As an audition, she offers to investigate the recently discovered bones of Tobi Turner, a high school girl who disappeared fifteen years ago.

While investigating with local sheriff Mike Nevada, a former colleague and onetime lover, Macy discovers a link between Tobi’s case and several others that occurred around the same time as her disappearance. As Macy interviews victims and examines old cases, she uncovers a sinister picture of a stalker who graduated to sexual assault—and then murder.

Macy and Nevada race to put this monster behind bars before he can come out of hiding. But the murderer’s had years to hone his skills, and soon Macy herself becomes a target. She’s no stranger to pain and terror, but will Macy’s first profiling case be her last?

Profiling FBI Profiler Macy Crow

Special Agent Macy Crow is 33-years-old and is an accomplished FBI Agent.  She’s worked a series of high profile cases across the United States and isn’t afraid to take chances. When her father was murdered, she headed to Texas to investigate the crime. Following clues left behind by her father, she was closing in on the killer when she became the victim of a hit and run accident.

Most would have died from the injuries Macy sustained or would have been permanently disabled. However, Macy channeled her extreme ability to focus into her recovery. Though her fit muscles have softened during her recovery, she is regaining strength each day and is now laser-focused on returning to the  FBI as a field agent. Before her accident, she had shoulder length blond hair but the brain surgeons who saved her life cut off all her hair. She now proudly sports a pixie cut.  

When Macy returned to Texas, she learned a startling fact about herself. She has an identical twin—medical examiner Dr. Faith McIntyre. Though adopted by different families, the sisters already have a strong connection.  

Macy’s adoptive parents split when she was two and she moved from Texas to Alexandria, Virginia located outside of Washington, D.C. Over the years she remained close with her father and spent many summers with him helping repair old cars on his auto salvage lot. In Alexandria, she and her mother lived in a large apartment complex. When she was young, a neighborhood girl was murdered. That tragedy had a very profound affect on Macy, who discovered she wasn’t afraid of the police and FBI agents swarming the apartment complex. Instead, she was fascinated by their work and not only watched law enforcement in action but also walked the actual crime scene herself in search of clues.

Macy has never been married and has no children. For a long time, she considered herself married to her job and it wasn’t until she met FBI Special Agent Mike Nevada that she reconsidered her single status. However, her accident cut short their romance. Nevada is now the sheriff in a small Virginia town in the Shenandoah Valley. He understands Macy’s need to reclaim the FBI job she has always loved so much. In the last year, he has never forgotten her and is committed to helping regain her old life. When the two are paired on a cold case murder investigation in Nevada’s district, they become an unstoppable team.


Hide and Seek by Mary Burton

Vivid blue sky, white clouds, and golden fall leaves blanketed the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains and created a picture-perfect day in the valley. In Macy’s book, the beauty was wasted. If she had God’s ear, today would have been cold, overcast, and damp. Save the pretty days until she caught this killer.
As she drove south down I-81, Macy mentally replayed her ten minutes of regional research. In the last couple of decades, the Shenandoah Valley’s population had ballooned thanks to a growing university, its proximity to Washington, DC, and a thriving tourism trade peddling vineyards, Civil War battlefields, and railroad museums. Filling in the economic gaps were warehouse distribution centers, chain hotels, and strip malls.
The voice of Macy’s GPS cut through AC/DC’s Back in Black blasting from her playlist and instructed her to take the upcoming exit toward Deep Run. As she rolled onto Route 250, a sign for her go-to fast-food eatery gave her an excuse to stretch her legs before driving the remaining ten miles to the crime scene.
Parking, she gingerly rose up out of the car. Her leg hurt. Stretches weren’t optional any more. She grabbed her ankle and pulled until the bunched muscles in her thigh released. After a quick walk around the lot, she made a beeline for the restaurant bathroom.
She glanced into the mirror as she washed her hands. Even after five months, she still didn’t recognize the woman with the short hair and thin face.
Nevada was in for a rude awakening.
She wiped her face with a paper towel. “Macy Crow, you’re above ground and headed in the right direction. That’s what counts.”
At the counter, she ordered a supersize bucket of fries and a large soda. It wasn’t that she loved the food—okay, maybe she did love the fries—but the chain restaurant’s predictability and sameness was comforting after so many life changes.
A few fries later, she was in her car and backing out of her space when her phone rang. Nevada’s number appeared. She cleared her throat and sat a little taller.
“Agent Macy Crow,” she said.
“Ramsey tells me you’re on your way. Where are you?”
He was direct, rarely charming, and she always knew where she stood with him. “Fifteen minutes from the barn.”
“I’m here now.”
The transition back into a working relationship appeared effortless. Whatever they had was over and done. No hard feelings.
“See you soon,” she said.
En route on the interstate, she ate her fries and drained her soda. There were no guarantees on when the next meal would be.
The last few miles took her down smaller roads until she spotted the driveway marked by stacked stones. Gravel crunched under her tires as she passed a freshly cleared field. Over the rise of a hill, she saw the old barn encircled by yellow crime scene tape.
When she had been researching the area, slogans such as “Best Quality of Life” and “Raise Your Family in Deep Run” popped up on her computer screen. As she had read about the area, she had kept glancing toward her open case file filled with images of Tobi Turner’s scattered bones. Recent pictures had captured the barn surrounded by dozens of state and local law enforcement vehicles crammed side by side in the grassy field.
Now as Macy parked, she noted that all the vehicles were gone expect for a lone black SUV. She grabbed her Glock from the glove box, holstered it, and stepped out of her car. Her worn hiking boots sloshed in the damp muddy soil. She tugged on an FBI windbreaker and draped her FBI credentials around her neck. As a stiff breeze blew a lingering chill and autumn scents, she checked her pockets for latex gloves, sunglasses, a small pocketknife, and pendant light.
Edginess and excitement fused as she strode toward the stretch of yellow tape and searched for Nevada. She ducked under the tape and stepped inside the barn.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Mary Burton is the highly praised author of twenty-six romance and suspense novels and five novellas. She lives in Virginia with her husband and three miniature dachshunds.




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Location: Sundebru, Norway
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