Dead Wind By Tessa Wegert

 

The body is discovered on Wolfe Island, under the shadow of an enormous wind turbine. Senior Investigator Shana Merchant, arriving on the scene with fellow investigator Tim Wellington, can't shake the feeling that she knows the victim - and the subsequent identification sends shockwaves through their community in the Thousand Islands of Upstate New York.

Politics, power, passion . . . there are dark undercurrents in Shana's new home, and finding the killer means dredging up her new friends and neighbors' old grudges and long-kept secrets.

That is, if the killer is from the community at all. For Shana's keeping a terrible secret from almost everyone around her: eighteen months ago she escaped from serial killer Blake Bram's clutches. But has he followed her, to kill again? 

The Shana Merchant novels are a brilliant blend of chilling psychological thriller and gripping police procedural, set in an atmospheric island community with a small-town vibe. 

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Amazon.com: Dead Wind (A Shana Merchant Novel, 3): 9781448307128: Wegert, Tessa: Books

Tessa is the author of DEATH IN THE FAMILY, THE DEAD SEASON, and DEAD WIND (2022), all part of the Shana Merchant series of mysteries. A former freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Adweek, and The Economist, Tessa grew up in Quebec near the border of Vermont and now lives with her husband and children in Coastal Connecticut. 

My Thoughts...

I absolutely loved book one in the Shana Merchant series it is my favorite one. They can be read as stand alones. But why would you want to. I love the mysteries and the characters I just want to keep reading this series.

You have to read this twisty mystery and let me know what you think.

4 stars and I recommend it.

The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are our own.

God Made it All By Ruthie Godfrey

 

A beautiful and inspiring children's book!

From the fuzziest donkey to the slimiest toad, every big and little thing your eyes behold… God made it all! Take a journey through the wonderful world of opposites to explore how creative our God is, and relish in the uniqueness of His creation. Soak in the beautiful artwork and consider His amazing creativity. This children’s book is a masterpiece as unique as they come.

Enjoy the latest creation from Award-Winning children’s book author, Ruthie Godfrey. Get it for your own kids, and get one for a perfect holiday gift, too! 

Pick up your copy here...

Amazon.com: God Made It All!: 9781952402371: Godfrey, Ruthie, Ayle, Helen: Books 

Ruthie Godfrey is an elementary educator and author, dedicated to sharing important themes and truths about life in a beautiful and relatable way for children (and the young-at-heart). When she is not busy at school and in the classroom, she writes children’s books to both entertain and teach kids. Her books tend to touch on themes of growth mindset, effort, progress, perseverance, friendship, and school struggles. Her "Grandpa's Lessons" series offers rich life-lessons to learn from everyday activities.

Ruthie has always been an avid reader. She has also dabbled in writing throughout her life. She loves to teach writing to her students, as she sees that writing reveals personality, thoughts, ideas, and heart. She is grateful for the opportunity to share virtues and love through stories, like a ray of light in a world that can feel a little bit dark at times. She wants children to feel heard, seen, and understood.

If you are interested in educational material and writing lessons, be sure to follow Ruthie at RuthieGodfreyBooks.com or on social media on Facebook and Instagram.

Daniel's Final Week By Donna Vanliere

 

A mysterious leader returned from the dead.
A planet filled with fallen angels.
An execution order against millions.
Yet amidst these evils, God’s hope prevails.
After his apparent resurrection, beloved leader Victor Quade is hailed internationally as God. Yet when Victor mandates that everything from purchasing groceries to seeing a doctor will require a mark of allegiance to him, Emma Grady and her friends in New York know they must flee.

Meanwhile, in Israel, the Jewish people worship Victor as a messiah, not realizing he intends to seal their doom. As Jews and Jesus-followers around the globe lose their lives, Zerah Adler strives to protect as many as possible in this violent, volatile time.

In this spellbinding conclusion to the end-times trilogy that began with The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, bestselling author Donna VanLiere brings the stories of Emma and Zerah to a riveting close. In the final chapters, you’ll discover what God’s Word reveals about the glorious future that awaits you and see that things aren’t spiraling downward but are actually looking up! 

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Daniel's Final Week: VanLiere, Donna: 9780736980494: Amazon.com: Books 

..a mom, a wife, an animal lover, and a closet comedian at home. She's passionate about cooking (...and eating), reading, movies and teaching, inspiring, challenging and encouraging dreamers! She doesn’t like watching sports on TV but is a huge fan of athletes under five feet tall who call her Mom. Donna also loves to write books. As a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, her 14 titles include The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing - both of which were adapted into movies starring Rob Lowe, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Neil Patrick Harris. Both movies garnered stellar ratings for CBS, including the highest rated made-for-TV movie of the year. The Christmas Hope starring Madeline Stowe was adapted by Lifetime Television, and her movies The Christmas Secret and The Christmas Note when aired were among the highest rated movies in the history of the Hallmark Movies and Mystery channel. Donna's non-seasonal novel's, The Good Dream, Angels of Morgan Hill and non-fiction works like Finding Grace and High Calling - the biography of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband - capture the same warmth and poignancy as her Christmas books.

Donna has won a Retailer's Choice Award for Fiction, a Dove Award, a Silver Angel Award, two Audie Awards (seven nominations) for best inspirational fiction, has been a nominee for a Gold Medallion Book of the Year and is an inductee in the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence joining such luminaries as Coretta Scott King, Hugh Downs, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Senator John Glenn. She also serves on the board of directors for National House of Hope, a residency program that is offered in several states for abused and at-risk teens. (By the way, if you’re looking for a place to give or to serve, look no further than here… www.NationalHouseofHope.org)

Donna's mini-van is staring down 200,000 miles as she runs her kids to school, drama and tennis practices, Tae Kwon Do, church, and the grocery store all while promising her editor to meet her book deadlines (...which occasionally does happen). She loves to spend her summers with her family around the swimming pool or a campfire.

One of Donna’s great loves is teaching and speaking. She has appeared at countless events around the country including keynote addresses at the prestigious Patricia Adams Lecture Series at Heidelberg University, Women of Faith, Among Friends Conferences and Extraordinary Women. 

The Little Women Devotional By Rachel Dodge GIVEAWAY!

 

The Little Women Devotional offers lovely inspiration that explores the themes of faith, family, contentment, wisdom, and joy in the classic Louisa May Alcott novel, cherished by generations of readers.

Each reading corresponds with a chapter from the book and invites you to embrace God’s guiding hand in your life as His cherished daughter. This beautiful chapter-by-chapter devotional includes original artwork throughout, and each reading includes examples from the novel, scripture, life application, and prayers perfect for groups, book clubs, or personal reflection. 

Pick up your copy here...

The Little Women Devotional: A Chapter-by-Chapter Companion to Louisa May Alcott’s Beloved Classic: Dodge, Rachel: 9781636090962: Amazon.com: Books

Rachel Dodge is the bestselling author of The Anne of Green Gables Devotional: A Chapter-By-Chapter Companion for Kindred Spirits (Barbour 2020) and Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen (Bethany House 2018). Her newest book, The Little Women Devotional: A Chapter-by-Chapter Companion to Louisa May Alcott’s Beloved Classic, releases December 2021. Rachel teaches college English classes, gives talks at libraries, teas, and book clubs, and is a writer for the popular Jane Austen's World blog and Jane Austen's Regency World Magazine. She is passionate about encouraging and equipping families to grow closer to Jesus through prayer and the study of God's Word. A true kindred spirit at heart, Rachel enjoys books, bonnets, and ball gowns. She makes her home in California with her husband and their two children.

The Secret Letter By Debbie Rix

 Inspired by a true story, this historical novel is a heart-wrenching, unforgettable tale of one young girl who refuses to give up on what she believes in and the strength of human kindness in a time of unimaginable heartbreak.

London, 2018: When ninety‑four‑year‑old Imogen receives a letter addressed to her in neat, unfamiliar handwriting, she notices the postmark is stamped from Germany—and it sends shivers down her spine . . .
 
Germany, 1939: Thirteen‑year‑old Magda is devastated by the loss of her best friend Lotte, cruelly snatched from her and sent to a concentration camp—the Star of David sewn on her faded brown coat. As the Nazis’ power takes hold, Magda realizes she’s not like the other girls in her German village—she hates the fanatical new rules of the Hitler Youth. So she secretly joins The White Rose Movement and begins to rebel against the oppressive, frightening world around her.

But when an English bomber pilot crashes nearby, she is faced with an impossible choice: risk the safety of her family or save a stranger and make a difference in the devastating war that has claimed the lives of so many. Little does she know, her actions will have the power to change the life of another girl, on the other side of enemy lines, forever.

Pick up your copy here...

Amazon.com: The Secret Letter: 9781538708330: Rix, Debbie: Books

Debbie Rix has written seven novels, the latest of which - 'The German Wife' - was published on 13th January 2022. As an ex-journalist, historical accuracy is key, and she strives to weave her stories around real life events. 'The research process is vital,' she says. 'I work on the principle that if I find something fascinating, then so too will my readers.'

Her novels have been published in several languages - including Italian and Czech and her 5th novel 'The Secret Letter' is now available in paperback in bookstores across America. It will also soon be published in Russia.

Debbie spends a lot of time in Italy and that country is the setting for 5 of her 7 novels. When not travelling she lives in the Kent countryside with her journalist husband, children, chickens and four cats. She began her career with the BBC - initially as the news reader on Breakfast Time, thereafter appearing as a presenter and reporter on a variety of factual and light entertainment television series. She had a spell as an Agony Aunt, and has also written about gardens and gardening - one of her private passions.

My Thoughts...

Sweeping between Germany and England this was a can't miss read. A coming-of-age story set during the war.

Dix really has a way with her words, the emotions shine on each page.

I recommend this 4-star read. I love books based on true stories.

The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are our own.

By Way of Sorrow, By Robyn Gigl

 

Erin McCabe is a criminal defense lawyer doing her best to live a quiet life in the wake of profound personal change. But when a young, Black, transgender prostitute is accused of murdering a wealthy politician’s son, Erin feels duty-bound to defend her – even if it puts her career and life in jeopardy…
 
Four months ago, William E. Townsend, Jr., son of a New Jersey State Senator, was found fatally stabbed in a rundown motel near Atlantic City. Sharise Barnes, a nineteen-year-old transgender prostitute, is in custody, and given the evidence against her, there seems little doubt of a guilty verdict.

Erin knows that defending Sharise will blow her own private life wide open, and doubtless deepen her estrangement from her family. Yet as a trans woman, she feels uniquely qualified to help Sharise, and duty-bound to protect her from the possibility of a death sentence.
 

Sharise claims she killed the senator’s son in self-defense. As Erin assembles the case with her partner, former FBI agent Duane Swisher, the circumstances hint at a more complex and chilling story with ties to other brutal murders. Senator Townsend is using the full force of his prestige and connections to publicly discredit everyone involved in defending Sharise. Behind the scenes, his tactics are even more dangerous. His son had secrets that could destroy the senator’s political aspirations—secrets worth killing for. And as leads begin mysteriously disappearing, it’s not just the life of Erin’s client at stake, but her own…

Pick up your copy here...

By Way of Sorrow (An Erin McCabe Legal Thriller): Gigl, Robyn: 9781496728265: Amazon.com: Books

Robyn Gigl is the author of SURVIVOR'S GUILT and BY WAY OF SORROW. She is an attorney and activist who has been honored by the ACLU-NJ and the NJ Pride Network for her work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community.

Robyn is a partner at Gluck Walrath, LLP in Freehold, NJ, where she handles complex commercial and employment litigation. She was appointed by the Governor and Legislature to the New Jersey Transgender Equality Taskforce in 2019. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Garden State Equality, NJ’s largest LGBTQ+ Civil Rights Organization. She is a graduate of Stonehill College and Villanova University School of Law. Robyn lives in New Jersey, where she continues to practice law by day, and work on her next novel by night. Fortunately, she has a very boring social life.

Red Thread of Fate By Lyn Liao Butler

 In the wake of a tragedy and fueled by guilt from a secret she's kept for years, a woman discovers how delicate the thread that binds family is in this powerful novel by Lyn Liao Butler.

Two days before Tam and Tony Kwan receive their letter of acceptance for the son they are adopting from China, Tony and his estranged cousin Mia are killed unexpectedly in an accident. A shell-shocked Tam learns she is named the guardian to Mia’s five-year-old daughter, Angela. With no other family around, Tam has no choice but to agree to take in the girl she hasn’t seen since the child was an infant. 

Overwhelmed by her life suddenly being upended, Tam must also decide if she will complete the adoption on her own and bring home the son waiting for her in a Chinese orphanage. But when a long-concealed secret comes to light just as she and Angela start to bond, their fragile family is threatened. As Tam begins to unravel the events of Tony and Mia’s past in China, she discovers the true meaning of love and the threads that bind her to the family she is fated to have. 

Pick up your copy here...

Red Thread of Fate: Butler, Lyn Liao: 9780593198742: Amazon.com: Books

Lyn Liao Butler was born in Taiwan and moved to the States when she was seven. Before becoming an author, she was a professional ballet and modern dancer, and is still a personal trainer, fitness instructor, and yoga instructor. She is an avid animal lover and fosters dogs as well as volunteers with rescues.

When she is not torturing clients or talking to imaginary characters, Lyn enjoys spending time with her FDNY husband, their son (the happiest little boy in the world), their three stubborn dachshunds, sewing for her Etsy shop, and trying crazy yoga poses on a stand-up paddleboard. So far, she has not fallen into the water yet. 

My Thoughts...                                                                                                  I was so intrigued about the adopting kids from China, I would do that in a heartbeat if I could. So, the more I read the more I had to read. I was so intrigued by the whole process. This is a 4 star must read.                      The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are our own.