Book Review: Salvation Station by Kathryn Schleich

Salvation Station

by

Kathryn Schleich

Publisher: She Writes Press 
Publication date: 14th April 2020
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Pages: 256
RRP: $16.95 USD
Format read: Paperback ARC
Source: Courtesy of Book Publicity Services 

When committed female police captain Linda Turner, haunted by the murders of two small children and their pastor father, becomes obsessed with solving the harrowing case, she finds herself wrapped up in a mission to expose a fraudulent religious organization and an unrepentant killer.

Despite her years of experience investigating homicides for the force, Captain Linda Turner is haunted by the murders of the Hansen family. The two small children, clothed in tattered Disney pajamas, were buried with their father, a pastor, in the flower garden behind a church parsonage in Lincoln, Nebraska. But Mrs. Hansen is nowhere to be found—and neither is the killer.

In St. Louis, the televangelist Ray Williams is about to lose his show—until one of his regular attendees approaches him with an idea that will help him save it. Despite his initial misgivings, Ray agrees to give it a try. He can’t deny his attraction to this woman, and besides, she’d assured him the plan is just—God gave her the instructions in a dream.

Kathryn Schleich’s debut novel Salvation Station introduces Captain Linda Turner, 10 years on the force her job is her life. Her latest case involves the murder of a pastor and his two children. Their bodies buried in the parsonage garden.

We are given an intriguing police procedural as Captain Turner pieces together the family’s last movements and investigates the whereabouts of the Pastor’s wife and mother of the children, Nicole Hansen.

Through a second plot line we follow Susannah Baker as she manipulates Rev Ray Williams, the founder of Road to Calvary and TV evangelist, and ensconces herself into his life. Susannah has many ideas to build the ministry and ask followers for more and more donations. With themes of religious hysteria and an almost cult like following, Susannah preys on the sick and lonely getting Rev Ray to perform fake miracles.

Schleich depicts how police work away at a case sometimes taking years investigating small snippets of information waiting for the perpetrator to slip up.

There is a tiny bit of romance for Linda towards the end and I thought the story was perfect without it but maybe the author has more in store for Linda and Malachi in the next installment.

Salvation Station is a riveting page turner featuring a charismatic psychopath who has greed as a motivator.

🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

My rating  4.5/5

photo credit: She Writes Press

Kathryn Schleich has been a writer for thirty years. Her most recent publications include the short story “Reckless Acts,” featured in After Effects: A Zimbell House Anthology, and her story “Grand Slam,” published in The Acentos Review in May 2017. 

Her guest posts have been featured on the Women On Writing blog, The Muffin, and she writes for the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation’s volunteer newsletter. When she’s not writing, Schleich is likely volunteering in the education and arts communities in the Twin Cities, where she lives. Friends, family, good food, wine, and traveling are important aspects of her life. Salvation Station is her first novel. 

 

 

Book Review: The Order of Time by Scott P Southall

The Order of Time

by

Scott P Southall

"If you're into secret societies, time-travel, dangerous artifacts, deadly assassins, evil priests, and vengeful gods then I've got a story for you..." 

Publisher: Seaview Press Holdings
Publication date: 21st January 2020
Genre: Middle Grade / Fantasy
Pages: 274
Format read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of Smith Publicity 

Anastasia and Edward Upton are eleven years old twins who are different in almost every way. Despite this they are inseparable and the best of friends. They tackle the highs and lows of sixth grade together whether they are fending off bullies at the elite Blake Academy or examining rare antiquities as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Then: life gets complicated.

They discover that their friend and mentor, Dr. Gregorian, is part of a secret society called the Order of Time. It turns out that time is not fixed, it's a fluid continuum where changes to the past can create ripples all the way through to the present. It unwittingly falls to the twins to travel back through time to ancient Egypt where they must overcome deadly assassins, evil high priests and vengeful gods in order to prevent disaster. Together Anastasia and Edward must navigate all obstacles to preserve the past and find their way back home.

 

The Order of Time is an action packed time travel adventure featuring 12 yo twins Anastasia and Edward and how their fascination and visits to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History lands them in the centre of a deadly plot to alter the past.

Southall has created two strikingly different protagonists. Anastasia is Maths and Science smart and athletic. A master of Martial Arts. She likes to stick to the rules. Edward is a bit of a rebel his interests lean towards History and Art. Where Edward backs down Anastasia takes the bullies full on quite often protecting her brother. Rather than feel jealous, Edward admires his sister’s athletic abilities. It was well portrayed how the two compliment each other, each using their different strengths to solve problems.

Although not entirely unique Southall uses the tried and true formula of power inducing crystals and magic portals in this time travel fantasy.

There was action aplenty as the children travel back in time to Ancient Egypt and plunge themselves into the local culture, conversing with Nefertiti and Akhenaten.

I was engrossed by the Ancient History and Mythology aspects of the story. Southall introduces ideas on problem solving and small facts relating to Science and History. A couple of political digs may go over the Middle Grade reader’s head but, if they are open to it, it’s a good starter for a political conversation.

The concept of time travel through the combination of portals and crystals and how changes to the past have a rolling effect on their present was well portrayed and easy to understand.

The Order of Time is a fabulous debut. Totally captivating!

10+ some content on mythology includes the demon of the afterlife.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My rating   5/5

Photo credit: Goodreads

Scott Southall is an American author and banking executive. He grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. playing sports,exploring the woods behind his house, and stretching his imagination by reading any book he could get his hands on.
He attended Georgetown University where he earned a degree in business.
Scott spent the first fifteen years of his career as a management consultant working with Fortune 500 companies around the world. In 2006 he changed careers and became a banker. While he loves to bank, telling stories is his true passion. The Order of Time is his debut novel.
Scott and his Australian wife Kylie live with their family in the paradise which is also known as Sydney, Australia. 

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie Author Challenge 

  #AussieAuthor20    #AusBookBloggers 

 

Books and Bites Bingo - Category 4 #BooksandBitesBingo2020

This bingo challenge is with Facebook group Books and Bites with Monique Mulligan

This week I will be completing the 'Set in Europe' category.

Set in Europe:

For this category I have chosen 'Grown Ups'

Grown Ups is set in Ireland and Marian Keyes has written her characters so well I could hear the Irish accents as I read. I enjoyed the bits of Irish slang and sayings that I wouldn't normally see in Australian novels.

You can read my full review here 

#BooksandBitesBingo2020 
 

Book Review & Giveaway: Just an Ordinary Family by Fiona Lowe

Just an Ordinary Family

by

Fiona Lowe

Publisher: Harper Collins Australia 
Imprint: HQ Fiction - AU
Publication date: 24th February 2020
Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Women's
Pages: 528 
RRP: $32.99AUD
Format read: Paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Alice Hunter is smarting from the raw deal life has thrown her way: suddenly single, jobless and forced to move home to her parents' tiny seaside town. And now she faces an uncomfortable truth. She wants her twin sister Libby's enviable life.

Libby's closest friend Jess Dekic has been around the Hunter family for so long she might as well be blood. She's always considered herself a sister closer to Libby than Alice ever could be...

Libby Hunter has all of life's boxes ticked: prominent small-town doctor, gorgeous husband and two young daughters. But when she is betrayed by those she loves most, it reveals how tenuous her world is...

For Karen Hunter, her children are a double-edged sword of pain and pride. She's always tried to guide her girls through life's pitfalls, but how do you protect your children when they're adults?

As the family implodes, the fallout for these four women will be inescapable...

Since reading ‘Birthright’ Fiona Lowe has become one of my must read authors. She has the ability to write about family dramas without them becoming overly dramatised. The families she develops and their problems are relatable. They could be families you know or even your own family.

Just an Ordinary Family follows the Hunter family; Karen, Peter and their twin daughters Libby and Alice and Libby’s long time best friend Jess. Lowe’s characters are flawed; there are arguments, jealousies and misunderstandings, which in turn make the characters real and relatable.

Alice at 33 and with a recent failed relationship behind her, is worried she won’t find a partner and start a family before her biological clock runs out. Libby is desperate for another child but is this unfulfilled longing affecting her marriage? Their mother, Karen, still worries about her grown daughters and Alice now back in her parent’s home finds her mother’s concern can be stifling.

Libby’s best friend Jess is happy to be back in her home town and part of a real family as the Hunters welcome her with open arms. Libby and Jess are the best of friends almost like sisters and they have shared everything all their lives. Libby is happy to have Jess and her baby boy back in her life.

Secrets will be revealed that will rip families apart and also answer lingering questions. There is a lot of own voice facts about sex and couples counselling which fits into the story well as this is an area that Lowe can write about with some expertise.

Fiona Lowe has written a compelling story about trust and betrayal, regret and forgiveness, fertility, motherhood and family ties, bringing to the fore many issues that are pertinent to women everywhere making this a book not to be missed.

                            🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating  4/5

 FIONA LOWE has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker; an ideal career for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. She spent her early years in Papua New Guinea where, without television, reading was the entertainment and it set up a lifelong love of books. Although she often re-wrote the endings of books in her head, it was the birth of her first child that prompted her to write her first novel. A recipient of the prestigious USA RITA® award and the Australian RuBY award, Fiona writes books that are set in small country towns. They feature real people facing difficult choices and explore how family ties and relationships impact on their decisions.When she's not writing stories, she's a distracted wife, mother of two ‘ginger' sons, a volunteer in her community, guardian of eighty rose bushes, a slave to a cat, and is often found collapsed on the couch with wine.

Click the book cover to read my review of Home Fires.

 

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie Author Challenge 

and the Australian Women Writers challenge

#AWW #AusBookBloggers

I have one paperback copy of Just an Ordinary Family to give away. Entry via the form below.

 

This giveaway is now closed and the winner was Naomi P 

 

Book Review: The Last Paradise by Di Morrissey

The Last Paradise

by

Di Morrissey

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia 
Publication date: 24th October 2019
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 416
RRP: $34.99AUD
Format read: Hardback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 n the ashes of her marriage, she finds the truth about his past and the courage to start again in . . . The Last Paradise.

Grace has the perfect life: a job she loves, a beautiful daughter and a rich, successful husband. But one night, when their world falls apart in a shocking disaster, Grace suddenly sees what she couldn't admit - her marriage and her husband are a fraud.

With the life she knew in tatters, she takes an assignment promoting the launch of a unique luxury hotel, hidden in a stunning, untouched oasis in the heart of tourist-crazed Bali.

Here, in this last paradise, Grace gathers the strength to take charge of her world. And, inspired by a woman's story from long ago, she discovers a path to a future she'd never dared to imagine . . .

The Last Paradise is the latest novel by prolific best-selling author Di Morrissey. With the majority of the story set in Bali, Morrissey brings to the fore her powerful ability to evoke a sense of time and place.

Grace has lost everything, her house, her car, her every possession in a devastating house fire. She takes her young daughter to live with her mother whilst her husband moves closer to his place of work. Away from her husband’s ever controlling presence Grace starts to see that a lot of things about his life don’t add up.

Through Grace we see how a lot of women can become controlled and repressed, especially when they leave their jobs to care for a new baby. Grace had slowly surrendered all decisions over to her husband. Some because she simply didn’t have the time and others to avoid another argument.

Now in desperate need of money Grace secures an advertising job which requires her to spend time in Bali. We watch as Grace grows in confidence as she embraces her job and knows this is something she is good at. As she battles her husband for custody of their daughter Grace grows strong and resilient.

Morrissey’s descriptions of Bali are vivid, with mentions of Bali in the 70’s before it become a cheap haven filled with noisy holiday makers. The island becomes as much a part of the story as the characters. Morrissey’s aim is to show her readers the other side of Bali, without the buckets of alcohol but with exotic food and pristine beaches.

Some history of Bali is introduced with excerpts from Revolt in Paradise by K’tut Tantri. I found myself interested in K’tut’s story and more so after the introduction of Tim Lindsey who wrote The Romance of K’tut Tantri and Indonesia, after her death.

I enjoy a good mystery so I would have liked the mystery surrounding Grace’s husband. Lawrence, to have been a bit more fleshed out and it was wrapped up much too quickly.

Morrissey has given her readers a world that embraces the true Bali, showcasing a connectedness to the land, and where love and hope ultimately triumph.

🌟🌟🌟

My rating  3/5

Explaining my 3 star rating: As much as I loved Di Morrissey’s writing and I think The Last Paradise will be a huge success, the setting of Bali just didn’t, doesn’t, will never interest me and the setting is a large part of this story.

Photo credit: Coastbeat - Aaron Cuneo

Di Morrissey is one of the most successful and prolific authors Australia has ever produced. She trained as a journalist, working in newspapers, magazines, television, film, theatre and advertising around the world. 

Her fascination with different countries, their landscape, their cultural, political and environmental issues, has been the catalyst for her novels which are all inspired by a particular landscape. 

Di lives with her partner, Boris Janjic, in the Manning Valley, NSW. 

In 2017, in recognition of her achievements, Di was inducted into the Australian Book Industry Awards Hall of Fame with the Lloyd O'Neil Award. In 2019, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours. 

This review is part of the  Australian Women Writers challenge #AWW2020
the Booklover Book Review Aussie author challenge

  

 

Winner of a Kindle copy of House of Wishes announced

A big thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for a copy of House of Wishes . The giveaway closed on the 12th February and the winner was randomly selected (using Random org) from all correct entries. 

Congratulations to.....    Michelle Parker

Please see my Giveaway tab for more chances to win great books.

Spotlight: I Asked the Wind - A Collection of Romantic Poetry by Valerie Nifora

 

There is no better day than Valentines Day, the day of love, to spotlight this beautiful collection of romantic poetry.

I have asked author Valerie Nifora to  share with The Burgeoning Bookshelf her favourite poems and what they mean to her.

I Asked the Wind: A Collection of Romantic Poetry

by

Valerie Nifora

Publisher: The Unapologetic Voice House LLC
Publication date: 3rd December 2019
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 108

Book Summary:

I Asked the Wind: A Collection of Romantic Poetry is a journey into romance, love and loss through poetry. The poems published in this collection span over 15 years of writing. Often starting with short rhythmic patterns, each poem’s lyrical tone is filled with inspired words to express the deep emotion experienced in the intricacies of romance.

Handwritten in a journal and hidden away until this publication, the poems chronicle the journey into and out of love. Written in three parts, the book enables the reader to transverse the intensity of romantic love, from the first moment of falling in love, to the intense pain of heartbreak.

Beautiful and powerful in its lyrical and simple verse, the reader is immediately immersed in a world of sensuality, passion, desire, and innocence; all woven together into a tapestry of human emotion. Each poem transports the reader to a story through the art of poetry. Drawing on natural elements such as the sun, sand, wind and moon, this collection explores the light and darkness of romantic love, leaving the reader questioning if love was ever real at all.

A selection of poems chosen by the author and why they have special meaning to her:

LET THE CLOCK HAND KEEP ITS TIME
Let the clock hand
Keep its time
Let its bell ring
Let it chime .
Let the moon face
Pass above
Let it watch us
Close, my love.
Let the darkness
Come and pass
Let it creep
Through window glass.
Let the seasons
Change and turn
Let them make
This hard earth yearn.
Let them all do
As they need
Mind them not
Pay no heed.
Let us stand here
Heart made whole
Bound together
As one soul.

I was listening to the ticking sound of the clock on the wall while I was writing this one. I was hoping to capture the sound of the metronome... methodical, perpetual, ceaseless ... It had been a long time since I had seen this person and it was painful. That sound... the counting the minutes until he arrived. So I thought, you know.. what if I turn that around and say that this love will outlast time? And this waiting is inconsequential.   

SWING ME ROUND
Swing me round
In this dance
Leave me breathless
In a trance
Let the laughter
Spin us still
Round and round
Against our will.
Let the light
Flash on by
To fill the darkness
In the sky
Let us fall
Still in embrace
To vanish slowly
Without a trace.             

This is one on my husband's favorite pieces. I wrote it for him. We had just started dating and I thought how much fun it would be to go to a square dance in a barn. The poor man! It was Halloween and I glimpsed over and saw him swinging a woman dressed as a cow and I thought to myself -- this man must really like me! I spent the entire evening enamored with his kindness and wonderful spirit, and I knew in my heart this was it. 

I LOVE YOU. ETERNAL.
I love you. Eternal.
Until time does cease.
For in your soul,
I have found,
Perfect peace.

This is how I start the collection. For me, that's what true love is about -- finding peace in another and knowing this is love. As Saint Thomas Aquinas once said, “Love is willing the good of the other.”

Praise for I Asked the Wind: A Collection of Romantic Poetry

“...a breathtaking compilation of tender poetry .“

- Jessica Tingling, The San Francisco Book Review

“Valerie’s poetry evokes images of tangled butterflies caught in a breeze, leaves falling too soon, and speaks with a deep, deep tenderness.”

– Troy Turner, Poet

“A beautiful tribute to reflective thoughts of love and losses suffered…this was well done… ”

– Wanda Firman-Cooper, Reviewer

“Valerie’s poems are not only magnificent to read, but they stick with you.”

– Robert Robinson, Executive Producer, The Dinner Salon

“In today’s age of fast-food thinking, attention-deficit scanning, and thumb scrolls past click-bait, it’s refreshing to find a relatable, digestible read that harkens back to an era of leather-bound literature’s reign in terms of meter and word choice.“

– Amaani F. Lyle, Military Journalist

“Val’s poetry goes deeper…into a mosaic of sensuality that leaves you hearing love as if it were a song.“

– Myra Jo Martino, Writers Guild Award Winner for Ugly Betty

About the Author, Valerie Nifora

Valerie Nifora was born and raised in New York to Greek immigrant parents. For over twenty years, Valerie was Marketing Communications Leader for a Fortune 50. She served as a ghost writer for several executives and has executed award-winning campaigns using her special gift as a storyteller to inspire. Her first book is a collection of romantic poetry that explores innocence, sensuality, passion, desire, heartbreak and loss through the lens of her personal experience spanning over 15 years. Her beautiful and powerful voice immediately calls forth a time of leather-bound books and invites the reader to find a comfortable chair and begin their journey through the powerful human emotion of love. Valerie holds a B.A. in Communications from Emerson College and an M.B.A. from Fordham University. She is married and a mother of two amazing sons.

FOLLOW THE WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR FOR MORE REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS & GIVEAWAYS.

 

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