Most Anticipated (Suspense or Romantic Suspense)

By Kelly Bridgewater

It is that time of the year again.

Time to show the covers that I'm interested in reading.

This time, I have decided to show the covers in two different posts. Today, I am doing suspense or romantic suspense. Next week, come back, and I'll show you the titles of historical romance that I'm most interested in. (All covers come from Goodreads.)

The Haunting of Bonaventure Circus by Jaime Jo Wright



The Price of Valor by Susan May Warren



Point of Danger by Irene Hannon




Soul Raging by Ronie Kendig




The Escape by Lisa Harris




Wow! This  suspense list is pretty short!! We need more writers to craft suspense novels!! This lists needs to be longer.  Anyway, how about you? Do you want to read some of these fabulous novels?

Richard Marby: Fatal Trauma

By Kelly Bridgewater

Back Cover Copy:

When Dr. Mark Baker and Nurse Kelly Atkinson are held at the mercy of a dangerous gunman, the lives of every emergency room patient are at stake. At the end of the evening three men are dead. One of them is a police officer who couldn't be saved despite Mark's best efforts. The other two are members of the feared Zeta drug cartel.
Though the standoff is over, the killing is not, because when the drug cartel loses its members, revenge is not far behind. Facing an adversary whose desires is dark and efforts are ruthless, Mark finds himself under suspicion as a killer, yet still a potential victim. When he turns to his high school sweetheart, attorney Gwen Woodruff, for help, Kelly helplessly looks on, as she hides her own feelings for the good doctor.
At the height of the conflict, three questions remain: Who is the shooter? Who will the next victim be? And can Mark prove his innocence before the gun turns on him?

My Review:

Being a huge fan of suspense, I jumped on the chance to read Richard Marby’s Fatal Trauma. This was my first chance of reading his book. I was hoping it was the type of book along the same vein of Candace Calvert and Jordyn Redwood.

I recently read my first book by Candace Calvert, and I truly loved her book, so I am thinking that Fatal Trauma would be kind of the same type of suspense book without relying so much on the romance side like Calvert does. The conflict starts in the first chapter with a gunman in a hospital, threatening to shoot everyone who doesn’t help his brother. From that moment on the suspense kept occurring to the Mark, the hero, and Kelly, the heroine. While in most suspense books, I stayed up all night, trying to find out who was after them, but in Marby’s book, I actually got bored. Most of the suspenseful moments happened in a car. Bullets through the window, car chase, car wrapped around a tree, nothing really different occurred. I never really worried for Mark or Kelly’s safety. I was not on the edge of my seat.

As for Mark, he does change spiritually through the book, but his change did not follow the normal path of someone looking for God. He questioned and asked pastors and other believers why they believed, but it seemed simple and happened too quickly for my taste. Similarly, Kelly was undeveloped, and I really did not feel sad when bad things happened to her. I think the characters were cardboard characters moving through the hospital and the gunshots.

Even thought the characters and the plot did not ring true to a suspense book for me, the writing was great. Marby did a good job at allowing me to get inside Mark and Kelly’s head and see their struggles, fears, and thoughts. His control a showing the inner workings of a hospital is evident in her word on the page. I felt like I was roaming the halls of a local hospital, watching the action occur.

Overall, Richard Marby’s Fatal Trauma was not what I was expecting when I picked it up. The characters are plain, and the suspense is too common for the genre, begging for me to put the book down. I couldn’t wait to finish the book. It dragged on for a long time.

I received a complimentary copy of Richard Marby’s Fatal Trauma by Abington Press and the opinions stated are all my own.

From Richard Marby's Amazon Author's Page

How to connect with Richard Marby:

Personal Web Site

Personal Blog

Where to purchase his books:

Amazon

Barnes and Nobles

Christianbook

What draws you into medical romantic suspense? Who are some of your favorite medical suspense authors?

Bethany Macmanus: Nerve *Giveaway*

By Kelly Bridgewater


Today, I would like to welcome my fellow ACFW friend and writer, Bethany Macmanus. We met last year at the registration desk right before I volunteered to work for a couple of hours. We started a conversation because we both love suspense, either in reading or writing. So, of course, I was excited when I heard Bethany's new book was coming out. I contacted her for an interview, and she agreed.

*Giveaway Alert*
On the bottom of this blog, I have left a question. Answer the question in the comments section with your email address and you will be entered in a drawing to win a e-copy of Nerve by Bethany Macmanus.This contest ends Midnight on Monday, March 16, 2015. The winner will be notified on Tuesday, March 17.

Back Cover Copy: 

When Lauren “Wren” Masterson discovers her deceased father’s medical invention has been stolen from her childhood home in Florida, she never expects the officer assigned to the case will be Justin Breck, who asked her out two years ago.

He’s changed since then, seems like he’s hiding something. What happened to his openness, his no-holds-barred, carefree attitude? She wonders how this new Justin could possibly accept her imperfections, namely the persistent nerve disorder her father’s missing invention might cure.

Justin is learning the darker side of Doctor Masterson’s past life. The hard part? Proving it to Doc’s adoring daughter, while attempting to win her heart. He might have some history with her, but Doc’s lawyer, Connor Radcliffe, has more.
As bodies begin to drop around them, will Justin and Lauren find the invention before the thief uses it to kill Lauren?

Interview Questions and Answers with Bethany:

1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself:  How did you start writing?  What has kept you writing?

I wrote poetry (mostly about cats) starting as early as my home schooling years in elementary, and won an award for “Where Does the Sky End?” This led to my first publication in an anthology.

In middle school, I penned a novella titled simply,“Lily” (cover complete with colored pencil illustrations). (Think Janette Oke with some Ted Dekker thrown in).

I put writing away in high school, knowing I would eventually pick it up again. Someone told me that writing doesn't pay the bills. I believed them, and went to nursing school. After five years of helping folks recover from wounds (diabetic ones, in particular), I was married and pregnant with my first child. After a brief flirtation with sewing, I started what was to be eventually titled, The Prisoner and the Heretic—another historical.

What has kept me writing? The God discoveries. The nudgings. You know what I mean? Knowing I can't NOT write.

2.)Tell us a little bit about your book, Nerve? Why did you write it?

Nerve won first place in the Daphne du Maurier contest, inspirational category (unpublished, 2013)

I wrote Nerve because in 2012, my husband developed exactly what plagues my heroine—a neurological problem of the upper extremities. It was a burning, prickling, throbbing, pulsing sensation. Several doctors gave him very unsettling diagnoses; from multiple sclerosis down to simple carpal tunnel syndrome. None were right. We were, of course, frustrated. This book is a way of letting off steam from that year, and at the same time asking, “what if?”

3.) What is one take-away from your book that you hope readers identify with?

Honesty and openness lead to trust and a relationship that lasts, but a closed and denying heart lead to more loneliness and arrested development in relationships.

Surrendering every part of your heart to God is the key to letting Him fully into your relationships.

4.) What advice would you give to aspiring authors for writing and/or publishing?

Having recently decided to go the indie route, I would love to expound on that, if I can. If you are willing to spend the extra time, have the extra-thick skin for constructive criticism, and are able to network with folks who have done the grunt work and have the experience...indie publishing can be quite lucrative and satisfying. I'm more at the “satisfying” stage, than the $$$ stage, but the key to indie really is...WRITE THAT NEXT BOOK. :) The money will come...eventually!

5.) Do you listen to music when you write?  If so, what do you listen to?

 I always love this question, as I am surprised by what other authors say. I tend to be distracted by people, and that includes song lyrics. I will easily launch into an imaginative scenario, based on lyrics. To answer your question, YES! I do listen, but it has to be either instrumental (I like Celtic, but any classical will do) or I use gomixit.com, which has a delightful selection of both urban and nature sound effects.

6.) What is your favorite genre to read?  Why do you enjoy it?

I read suspense, of course! IS there any other genre? LOL Really, if you have an intriguing villain, especially in a historical, I will gladly pick up your book. I love finding out what makes people tick! I'm also huge on setting, and look for stories where the setting is largely a character unto its own.

My Review of Nerve:

I was interested in Nerve by Bethany Macmanus because we both read and write suspense. When Bethany asked for someone to review her book, I jumped on board quickly. The book’s cover with the woman in the red dress sparked my interest. The synopsis on the book’s back drew me in and begged me to read the story. I expected a suspense with medical elements mixed in, and I was proven correctly. if you like medical mysteries like Candace Calvert, Harry Kraus, Jordyn Redwood, or Richard Mabry, then Bethany Macmanus book is right for you. 

As important to any story, the hero and heroine practically make the story. You'll fall in love with Police Lietutenant Justin Breck, the friend and boy next door, who got away. Justin will do anything to protect Lauren, and he is definitely capable of solving the crime, especially when his heart is on the line. As for Lauren, she is not your typical wealthy child. She wants to find her own way without depending on her father's money to support her. Lauren has a take no crap for anyone attitude, including Justin as he tries to wiggle his way back into her life. It was a nice change seeing Justin and Lauren fight, even though they wanted nothing more than to be together.

Macmanus’ writing was well done. There was an even amount of pace and dialogue. We understood the characters and could understand their personality and quirks by following the dialogue and internal struggles of Justin and Lauren, who were the main characters in the story. The pace of the story started off with a person sneaking into a Lauren's father's, Dr. Noah Masterson, house, then unfolding through the rest of the plot, dragging the readers along for a suspenseful evening of pleasure reading. I never once lost my place as I read the story.

The tension in the story dragged me into Justin and Lauren’s lives and kept me entertained. I loved the idea of a medical equipment being stolen that was important to diagnose nerve problems. The story had the traditional elements of hunting down the bad guys with interviews, watching suspicious characters, and going over the crime scene again and again. As I got to the last scene, I was hanging on every word, breathless to see what would happen to Justin and Lauren. As for the romantic tension, the feelings between Justin and Lauren was the relationship between a guy and girl who used to be friends but moved into something deeper.  The book’s climactic moment will keep the readers up all night, wanting to see how the plot ends. (Don’t worry. I won’t tell. You have to buy the book for yourself. Trust me. It’s good.) The story world takes place in Violetta, Florida, allowing the readers to imagine palm trees swaying above elaborate houses with the ocean within spitting distance. Macmanus does a good job at showing her readers the setting, anchoring them to the Florida town.

Bethany Macmanus’ Nerve is a thrilling romantic suspense with an original climactic idea, quirky characters, and a sappy romance filled with many twists and turns,  keeping the readers on the edge of their seat. 

I received a ARC of Nerve from Bethany Macmanus in exchange for my honest opinion. All the statements above are all my own.

Bethany's Bio:

Bethany lives in Houston with her husband, daughter, and son. After practicing as an RN for five years, Bethany left the nursing field to pursue a writing passion the Lord planted in her heart when she was a child. Nancy Drew mysteries were her guilty pleasure during those early years, so she naturally gravitates her pen toward the things that go bump in the night, and most of her plots have a psychological spin.

She’s allergic to cheese, Sulfa drugs, and people who stop in the middle of intersections while driving.

How to Connect with Bethany:

Website: http://bethanymacmanus.com

Blog: http://bethanymacmanus.com/blog

Goodreads: https://goodreads.com/author/show/7106646.Bethany_Macmanus

Facebook: http://facebook.com/bethanymacmanusauthor

Twitter: @bgmacmanus
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/bethanymacmanus/

Where to purchase her books:
Amazon
Barnes and Nobles
ibooks
Kobo

*Giveaway Question*  (Don't forget to leave your email address, so Bethany knows where to send the e-copy of her book!)


If you read suspense, what is the name of your favorite villain? What made him or her so great?

Lis Wiehl: Lethal Beauty

By Kelly Bridgewater

Back Cover Copy:

Mia Quinn discovers that a series of seemingly unrelated murders are linked. How far up are the strings being pulled—and what happens when one of her own is at risk?
The murder Mia is prosecuting seems like an open and shut case—until the accused claims he was the real victim and that the dead girl attacked him first. The tabloids dub her a "lethal beauty." Still, a conviction seems imminent. Then a key witness goes missing. Just when it looks like the killer could walk free; the dead woman’s mother takes matters into her own hands.
Meanwhile, Charlie Carlson, a Seattle homicide detective, is investigating the murder of a man whose body washed up on the beach of Puget Sound, but he's got little to go on. He has no dental work, fingerprints aren't on file, and he doesn't match any missing person reports. Then a church pianist is senselessly gunned down before horrified parishioners.
All three cases seem unrelated—but are they? Together, Mia and Charlie race to find the answer before another crime hits too close to home.

My Review:

I have read the previous two books in the Mia Quinn series and couldn’t wait to dive into Lethal Beauty. I love the character of Mia Quinn and couldn’t wait to watch her use her investigative skills to solve another murder or as in the case of Lethal Beauty, three different mysteries that might be tied together.

Wiehl’s writing is direct and very easy to follow along. I got lost in the storyline created by Wiehl in the city of Seattle. The story had a good balance between prose and dialogue. As a reader, we weren’t always in the head of the characters; we heard Mia and Charlie discuss important issues through dialogue. One of Wiehl’s strong points with her writing is allowing the reader to understand the world and jargon of a Prosecuting Criminal Lawyer without feeling overwhelmed. I believed every term that came out of Mia’s mouth, but I didn’t have to go question my lawyer friend to define things for me. It was smooth transition and kept the story flowing. Another strength is understanding the personal struggles of Mia by following her train of thoughts, fears, and struggles. By doing this, Wiehl made it easy to follow Mia and understand her motivations.

As with the previous books, Wiehl returns to the familiar characters we love. We see Gabe, the fifteen year old, who is trying to fit in on the football team while wanting his mother not to treat him like a child all the time. We don’t see much of Brooke, the four year old, since she is so little; I think Wiehl shelters her from all the struggles going on in Mia and Gabe’s personal life. But my favorite character is none other than the heroine, Mia. She is a recently single mother who struggles with having to return to work and the mountains of debt her deceased husband left her. Most readers can empathize with Mia's fight between choosing to focus all her attention on work or the family at home. Wiehl does a good job at making Mia such a realistic character. I hope to see more stories involving her because I want to see her succeed with her family and in her work.

The conflict in the story was three-fold: external, internal, and romantic. Mia struggles with the internal because her deceased husband left a trail of credit card debts, car leases, and more secrets that Mia has to deal with now that he is gone. Plus, she has to deal with how to raise her defiant son, Gabe, who gets into danger in all three books. Externally, Mia has to solve the mystery from her workload. Who killed the massage worker? Was it the guy who just got off? How will she deal with those answers and try to maintain her home life? The tension begins in the first chapter and doesn’t let go until the story’s completion. Romantically, Charlie and Eli, a fellow professor at the nearby university, both want to pursue something with her, but Mia has way too much on her plate to commit to another relationship right away. I love how Wiehl enfolds all three areas of tension into a wonderfully woven tapestry of crime.

Since this story deals with the issue of human trafficking, the story should be approached cautiously for younger readers. Mature readers might even cringe as Wiehl describes the torture that some of the Chinese members of the plot have to endure as they disobey their owners. Wiehl does a good job at allowing the readers to see the underbelly of this horrible crime, which is more common than we want to allow ourselves to believe. The idea of human trafficking in America made me wonder about the employees of my local Chinese buffet.

Overall, like returning to a familiar friend’s house, Lis Wiehl invites her readers to return to the family dynamics of Mia Quinn, the lawyer, while grabbing her readers’ attention and not letting go until the end of the story. She created realistic characters, a well-crafted, relevant mystery to today’s world, with a sprinkling of romance. Readers will be engrossed in the plot, but smile at the uplifting tale of second chances and loving yourself.

I received a complimentary copy of Lethal Beauty by Lis Wiehl from Thomas Nelson through Netgalley and the opinions stated are my own.

From "About Lis" on her personal website

How to Connect with Lis Wiehl:

Amazon’sAuthor Page

Facebook

PersonalWebsite

Where to purchase Lis Wiehl’s books:

Amazon

Christianbook.com

Barnes and Nobles

Wherever Books are sold

Do You Color Outside the Lines?

By Kelly Bridgewater

Did the title catch your attention? I hope so. How many times as a young child have you colored a picture, allowing the wide movements to extend past the black line, which creates the coveted picture that you wanted to color? I remember doing this. I, however, also remember my mother telling me to slow down and stay inside the lines because my picture would be prettier.

Boy, was my mother wrong. As an adult, I may not color pictures as much as I used to, but when I write I like to test the waters. Being an avid reader of suspense and thrillers, recently, I have become obsessed with the World War II historical genre and the 1930’s. Some of my new favorite writers are Sarah Sundin, Julie Lessman, Cara Putnam, Liz Tolsma, Kate Breslin.

A favorite saying is to write in the genre that you enjoy reading because if you are bored with the plot line, then your readers will be bored with the story. I agree.

But . . . even though I’m constantly working on the third book in my Lockwood Mills Files, I have pulled out a new college ruled notebook (I pick up about ten of them at Wal-Mart at the beginning of each new school year when their ten cents apiece) and started planning a thriller that might have occurred during the World War II or in the 1930’s. I have already gotten the pictures of hero and the heroine pasted in there with some of the quirks that make the character who they are.

I don’t know if the story will be any good, but I thought it would be neat to write a part historical book that still includes my love of mystery and suspense. Julianna Deering wrote a series called A Drew Farthering Mystery, which takes place in 1930’s England. I would love to have others compare my new idea, if it ever gets published, to hers.

I think by combining the two genres together I could come up with a story that might fascinate my readers and keep their attention to the last page.

Do you ever try your hand at mixing two styles of genres into one? What did you come up with?  Name some authors beside Julianna Deering who have combined thrillers or suspense with another genre. Let’s start a discussion.

Christy Barritt’s Hunted

By Kelly Bridgewater

Have you ever read any of the mysteries or romantic suspense books written by Christy Barritt? If no, why not? Her eBooks are pretty cheap, and they are great. I enjoyed every single one of Christy Barritt’s books. If you haven’t read any of her funny mysterious books, then you should go buy one. Go ahead. Download one. I’ll be right here when you return.

Now that you have bought one, I’ll give you my opinion of her latest book, Hunted. Christy Barritt started publishing the “Squeaky Clean Mysteries” in February of 2011, according to the copyright date on Amazon for the first book, Hazardous Duty. Currently, there are nine books in the series. From the “Squeaky Clean Mysteries,” Barritt has created two spin off series. One is the Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries and the other is The Sierra Files. Hunted is the second book in The Sierra Files. Pounced is the first one.

As a cozy mystery, Barritt does a good job at allowing her heroine Sierra to be thrown into the mystery when she visits home to celebrate her parents’ vow renewal. Being a huge animal activist, a dog slips into the house and the hunt for its owner causes Sierra and her husband, Chad to be thrown head first into a mystery surrounding the dog and the neighborhood where Sierra grew up. Sierra is Gabby St. Clair’s, who is the main character in the “Squeaky Clean Mysteries,” best friend. Sierra usually leaves the mystery solving up to Gabby, but she isn’t around, and Sierra feels bad for the dog who she believes the owners don’t want. Barritt does a good job at keeping the person behind the mystery hidden from the audience until the end. I wandered right along with Sierra as she followed the clues, determined to find out who killed the body in the forest.

As a heroine, Sierra is very empathic for the readers to understand. We have all kept a secret from our parents because we didn’t think our parents would approve, or it would give them another reason to be disappointed in us. I like how Barritt showed over and over again that Sierra tried to stop the bad things from ruining her parents’ special day, but the bad occurrences kept piling higher and higher.

Enters Chad. The ex-mortician and current crime scene cleaner who is a partner with Gabby St. Clair back in Virginia, where Sierra and Chad reside. Chad was the loving husband who came along to meet his in-laws, even though the parents didn’t know they were married. He supports Sierra in all her plans to pursue the answer to the mystery and always knows the right thing to say at the right moment. He is the type of man every good woman should have standing behind them, supporting them even if they honestly think they’re a little crazy.

The theme of forgiveness runs rampart through the story. If Sierra would have been honest with her parents from the beginning, then she would have seen how much her parents really loved her. On the other hand, her parents had some secrets they needed to share with Sierra and her siblings. By being honest, hurts were put aside and true love exploded on the page of the book.

I enjoyed the mystery and look forward to more books about Sierra and her husband, Chad.

I received a copy of this book from Christy Barritt in exchange for an honest review.