Capsized by Death by Catherine Finger (A Jo Oliver Thriller #4)

About the Book

Book:  Capsized by Death

Author: Catherine Finger

Genre:  Christian Mystery/Thriller

Release Date: December 2019

As Police Chief Jo Oliver prepares for her dream wedding in Maui, she and her team must keep a serial killer with ties to her past from derailing her plans for the future.

Click here for your copy!

My Review:

This book isn't a stand-alone. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but I feel like I missed a chunk of stuff. It's all life as usual before that, weddings, vacations, island life, who's in love with whom, and a lot of characters that I didn't know anything about. About mid-way, the mystery starts and now we have a killer who's bent on destroying Jo. 

At this point, I got involved in the story and the race to find out who, when, what and why. Some parenting issues are also involved in this book, so it has lots of layers of things for many kinds of readers. I think I enjoyed the mystery part the most, and that faith wasn't left out.  

4 Stars

About the Author

Catherine Finger loves to dream, write, and tell stories. Retired from a wonderful career in public education, she celebrates the ability to choose how to spend her time in a new way during the second half of life. So far, she chooses to write books, ride horses, serve others, and generally find her way into and out of trouble both on the road and at home.  She lives in the Midwest with a warm and wonderful combination of family and friends.

Capsized by Death, the fourth novel in her Jo Oliver Thriller series, will be released by Elk Lake Publishing in December, 2019. Anchored by Death, the third novel in her Jo Oliver Thriller series, received the Bronze Medal for the 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards, was a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Awards, and  Her second Jo Oliver Thriller, Shattered by Death, was a finalist in the International Book Awards and the National Indie Excellence Awards. Catherine and her novels have been featured on radio stations, blogs, and in numerous articles—all posted at www.CatherineFinger.com.

Catherine loves to interact with her readers at www.CatherineFinger.com Follow her on Facebook at Catherine Finger, Author, and on Twitter at CatherineFinger@BeJoOliver.

 More from Catherine

In writing my Jo Oliver Thriller series, I find myself driven by passion. The genesis of the series—Cleansed By Death—was fueled by a passion to create a story about strong women embedded in a male-dominated profession, facing difficulties they could only solve through faith and community. I was vacuuming when I was hit by the idea of pitting two strong women against each other and seeing which one would win, the theme of book 2, Shattered by Death. Information gleaned during an FBI writers workshop on techniques for tracking criminals, superimposed over the mitten map of Wisconsin formed the bones for Anchored By Death, the third book in the series.

My latest novel, Capsized By Death, contains all of my favorite elements. The astute series reader will note that the foundation for the killer’s appearance in this book was introduced years ago in Cleansed By Death. But he first appeared to me during one of my many solo writing vacations on an island.

At the end of a fairytale day spent kayaking, snorkeling and listening to the sound of whales singing under water in Maui, the gorgeous male host of my day trip stood silhouetted in the setting sun. This man was beautiful in every way, and had the sort of personality that describes the essence of attractive—he pulled you into his beautiful ocean world. At that moment, I knew I had found my perfect killer for my next book! It became my goal to create a killer who was beautiful on the outside and evil on the inside. I used the New Testament book of Jude as my guide for the internal workings of my killer and thus the skeletal framework for Jude, my killer in Capsized By Death—book 4 of the Jo Oliver Thriller series—was born.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 28

Mary Hake, March 28

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 29

Christian Bookaholic, March 30

Blogging With Carol, March 30

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 31

Betti Mace, April 1

My Devotional Thoughts, April 1

Maureen’s Musings, April 2

deb’s Book Review, April 2

Through the fire Blogs, April 3

Pause for Tales, April 4

Just Your Average reviews, April 4

Spoken from the Heart, April 5

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, April 5

For the Love of Literature, April 6

Texas Book-aholic, April 7

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 7

She Lives To Read, April 8

For Him and My Family, April 9

Artistic Nobody, April 9 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Inklings and notions, April 10

Life, Love, Writing, April 10

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Catherine is giving away the grand prize package of a copy of the book and an Amazon gift certificate for $25!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/f7e7/capsized-by-death-celebration-tour-giveaway

Back To Reality by Mark Stay and Mark Oliver

About the Book: 

The bestselling '90s nostalgia time travel comedy

Jo's world is about to change forever, and it’s about time

Her marriage is on auto-pilot, daughter hates her, job sucks and it’s not even Tuesday.

As Jo's life implodes, a freak event hurls her back to ‘90s Los Angeles where, in a parallel universe, she’s about to hit the big time as a rock star.

Jo has to choose between her dreams and her family in an adventure that propels her from London to Hollywood then Glastonbury, the world’s greatest music festival.

Jo encounters a disgraced guru, a movie star with a fetish for double-decker buses, and the biggest pop star in the world... who just happens to want to kill her.

Back to Reality is a funny, heartwarming story about second chances, with a heroine to rival Bridget Jones and the rock n roll nostalgia of Keith A Pearson.

The novel from the Bestseller Experiment podcast presenters Mark Stay and Mark Desvaux. The Two Marks went to more gigs in the '90s than in any other decade and are currently working on a time machine to see Prince in concert.

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Praise for Back to Reality:

“Like if Nick Hornby wrote a time travel, body swap adventure!”—New York Timesbestselling author Mimi Strong

“Everything the world loves about British comedy. For those who wished Simon Pegg wrote novels, you now have the Two Marks.”—USA Today bestselling author Shannon Mayer

“Written with an authentic touch and plenty of good humour. A tough book to put down.”—Mark Dawson, USA Today bestselling author of the million-selling John Milton series

“A compelling story where the comedy compliments the drama and keeps you turning the page… A delight.”—Bestselling author of The Dublin Trilogy, Caimh McDonnell

“I LOVE IT! It's Back to the Future meets Freaky Friday.”—#1 Kindle bestselling author of Hot Mess, Lucy Vine

“Crackles with all the addictive energy of a pop hit, and the heart of a soul classic.”—Samantha King, bestselling author of The Choice

“Like a book version of Hot Tub Time Machine with fabulous female characters and great music.”—Kate Harrison, author of the bestselling 5:2 series

“If you love time travel and rock and roll, you'll love this book!”—Julie Cohen, author of Together

“Sliding Doors meets Back to the Future in a story to make you sing with joy.”—Karen Ball, Speckled Pen

“A magnificent book! Loved every page. Beautifully written.”—Callan McAuliffe, actor The Walking Dead

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What Amazon readers are saying:

★★★★★ 'A real page-turner overflowing with humour.'

★★★★★ 'All kinds of funny, from laugh out loud to quiet snorts of recognition.'

★★★★★ 'I miss the characters so much I think I’ll start reading it again!'

★★★★★ 'Pure pleasure to read. You won't put it down until you reach the last page.'

★★★★★ 'An absolutely cracking read. It's funny, it's clever, it's heartwarming, and completely impossible to put down.'

★★★★★ 'It's —Spinal Tap meets —Back to the Future meets —Freaky Friday.'

★★★★★ 'Funny, fast and massively entertaining. Hugely recommend.'

★★★★★ '—Back To Reality has it all; It’s funny, it’s thrilling, its thought-provoking and inspiring, but be warned, once you start reading this book you won’t want to put it down.'

★★★★★ 'Think —Peggy Sue Got Married meets MTV. Funny and warmhearted. Highly Recommended.'

★★★★★ 'This book reads like the best comedy movies. Great pace, humour and loads of action. Recommended for fans of Douglas Adams and Helen Fielding.'

★★★★★ 'Belts along at a cracking pace, at times reminding me of Douglas Adams.'

My Review:
This book has some of just about everything happening. It's written or told by two authors, both named Mark. It has lots of comedy, a trip, dreams, relationships, body-swapping, and so forth. So it has a big range of topics and "fun." The downsides- the characters are rather shallow at times, some issues are beyond cliche. I guess that is supposed to make them funnier, but even with comedy on the screen, I don't care for that when it doesn't feel real. I do like the musical aspects. 

Politics. Just no. I was ready to quit listening when it got into that. However, I really did like the funny parts. The voicing was just fine for this book. No issues there. 

My audio copy came from Overview Media. 4 Stars

About the Authors: 

Mark Stay co-wrote the screenplay for Robot Overlords which became a movie with Sir Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson, and premiered at the 58th London Film Festival. Author of the fantasy novel The End of Magic, he is also co-presenter of the Bestseller Experiment podcast and worked in bookselling and publishing for over twenty-five years. He lives in Kent, England, with his family and a trio of retired chickens. He blogs and humblebrags over at markstaywrites.com

Mark Desvaux writes fiction as Mark Oliver. He also authors inspirational non-fiction and online courses, and is a professional speaker in the fields of self-development and spiritual growth. He is chairman and co-founder of the charity Foodshare. As a bestselling recording artist (Urban Myth Club), Mark's two critically-acclaimed albums have led to appearances at festivals such as Glastonbury (which he tries to mention on every podcast). He lives on Vancouver Island with his family, surrounded by the beautiful mountains and seas, with chickens, bees and very tall trees.

Turning Tide by Melody Carlson (Sunset Cove #4)

About the Book

Book:  Turning Tide

Author: Melody Carlson

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Release Date: Feb 15, 2020

As the Great War rages on, Sunset Cove continues to feel its impact. Running the small town newspaper, Anna McDowell can’t escape the grim reports from the other side of the world, but home-front challenges abound as well. Dr. Daniel is serving the wounded on the front lines. And Katy, expecting her first child, with her husband in the trenches, tries to support the war effort with her Red Cross club. Even as the war winds down the costs are high—and Sunset Cove is not spared.

Click here for your copy!

My Review:

This is another super book in this series. The only bad part, this is the last book in the series. That's always bittersweet for me. Surviving the war, and keeping relationships together are the core of this book. Folks are praying and coping and it's both sad and uplifting. (Wounded Vets are something I'm very familiar with.) As the characters, we have come to love deal with life and death, and the Spanish flu, it drives points home more than usual as the world we know is affected by this current virus issue. It made the book even more poignant for me. I am looking forward to what Carlson writes next. 

5 Stars

About the Author

Melody Carlson has written more than 200 books (with sales around 6.5 million) for teens, women, and children. That’s a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a “storyteller.” Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, True Colors etc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She’s won a number of awards (including RT’s Career Achievement Award, the Rita, and the Gold medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog.

More from Melody

Writing about the WW1 era has definitely been a good history lesson for me. Prohibition laws in Oregon (and rum-runners breaking them) combined with a massive war that changed the world and a global epidemic is worth paying attention to. Especially since history sometimes repeats itself. The early 20th century had a lot going on—much that seems nearly forgotten. I’m glad to see the movie 1917 is doing well—and we plan to see it this week. Although I’m not a fan of gruesome war movies, this era continues to intrigue me. Even as I wrapped up my Sunset Cove series with Turning Tide I was left wondering . . . what’s next? But isn’t that the beauty of story?

Blog Stops

The Avid Reader, March 16

For the Love of Literature, March 16

Through the Fire Blogs, March 16

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 17

Inklings and notions, March 17

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 18

deb’s Book Review, March 18

All-of-a-kind Mom, March 19

By The Book, March 19

Wishful Endings, March 19

Texas Book-aholic, March 20

She Lives To Read, March 20

Betti Mace, March 21

Remembrancy, March 21

janicesbookreviews, March 22

Mary Hake, March 22

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 22

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, March 23

For Him and My Family, March 23

Maureen’s Musings, March 24

My Devotional Thoughts, March 24

Jeanette’s Thoughts, March 24

Christian Bookaholic, March 25

Artistic Nobody, March 25 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Older & Smarter?, March 26

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 26

Tell Tale Book Reviews, March 27

Blogging With Carol, March 27

Daysong Reflections, March 27

SPLASHES of Joy, March 28

Vicky Sluiter, March 28

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, March 29

Pause for Tales, March 29

For the Love of Books, March 29

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Melody is giving away the grand prize package of a complete set of The Legacy of Sunset Cove series!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/f6e9/turning-tide-celebration-tour-giveaway

Escape to Vindor by Emily Golus

About the Book

Book:  Escape to Vindor

Author: Emily Golus

Genre:  Young Adult Fantasy

Release Date: December 1, 2017

For as long as she can remember, Megan Bradshaw has imagined herself as the heroine of Vindor, her own secret world populated with mermaids, centaurs, samurai, and more. When school pressures and an upcoming move make life unbearable, Megan wishes she could escape to Vindor for real.

And then she does. Megan finds herself trapped in Vindor, with flesh-and-blood versions of her imaginary characters. Dreaming about being a hero and actually fighting monsters are two very different things–especially when the Shadow, the frightening creature now tearing Vindor apart, is one Megan doesn’t remember putting there.

Megan, playing the part of her alter ego, Selena, embarks on a dangerous journey, accompanied by a know-it-all centaur and a goblin she’s not sure she can trust. Will the Shadow destroy her before she can find a way to save her world?

My Review:

Vindor is definitely an escape, in every definition of the word. It's a fantastic and well-written world, that you don't want to leave. It's an escape for the reader, both teens, and adults. It's an escape for Megan as she traverses a world where her visual twin is nothing at all like her, until one day, nothing is the same. Now everything depends on Megan, and I felt for her. Frankly, I think we all deal with some of these core issues regularly in life. I loved this story. I am waiting excitedly for the next book in the series. This is a five star read, and then some. It's everything I like in a good fantasy!  

About the Author:

Emily Golus has been dreaming up fantasy worlds since before she could write her name. A New England transplant now living in the Deep South, she is fascinated by culture and the way it shapes how individuals see the world. Golus aims to create stories that engage, inspire, and reassure readers that the small choices of everyday life matter.

Her first novel, Escape to Vindor, debuted in 2017 and won the Selah Award for young adult fiction. Its sequel, Mists of Paracosmia, released in April 2019.

Golus lives in Upstate South Carolina with her woodworking husband, an awkward cat, and the world’s most talkative baby.

More from Emily

In Escape to Vindor, teen Megan Bradshaw spends nearly every quiet moment she has in a world of her own imagination. Writing this part of Megan’s story came naturally to me, because that was the way I spent my adolescence, too.

While other girls were thinking about—I don’t know what they were thinking about, actually. Boys, maybe?—I was creating epic melodramas about rival mermaid queens or magical rainforest civilizations. The world of my imagination filled my quiet life with vivid technicolor.

My stories also helped me survive. Worldbuilding was a welcome escape from my ever-growing list of fears.

See, I was the extra-good girl, the one who followed every rule to a T, always giving a hundred and ten percent. Few people suspected I did all of this not because I had a lot of drive and confidence, but because I thought I had to be extra-perfect in order to be loved—by people, and by God. I had a deep-seated terror of making one little mistake, losing my way, and being abandoned forever.

The world of Vindor started out as a private daydream, a way for me to work through my anxieties. But as I grew, I discovered something amazing—and the story took an unexpected turn.

I wrote Escape to Vindor for the dreamers, the bookworms, and anyone who enjoys dazzling new worlds. More importantly, I wrote it for the quiet ones who struggle without anyone knowing, who need to hear: You are seen, you are known, and you are loved.

Blog Stops

Inklings and notions, March 19

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 20

Texas Book-aholic, March 21

Wishful Endings, March 22 (Author Interview)

For the Love of Literature, March 23

For Him and My Family, March 24

deb’s Book Review, March 25

Through the Fire Blogs, March 26 (Author Interview)

Blogging With Carol, March 27

Emily Yager, March 28

Vicky Sluiter, March 29 (Author Interview)

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, March 30

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 31

Pause for Tales, April 1

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Emily is giving away the grand prize package of signed copies of both Escape to Vindor and Mists of Paracosmia, an amethyst pendant, and a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/f663/escape-to-vindor-celebration-tour-giveaway