A Dry Creek Bed by Avery Flynn

A Dry Creek Bed. Avery Flynn. Evernight Publishing. January 2012. 297 KB. ASIN #: 9781927368008.

Beth Martinez relied on her "abuela" for most of the wisdom she acquired in life. But then a horrific tragedy occurs in her life and then a deep disappointment in love, and now she is determined not to get involved with anyone or anything, believing that these bad events were her fault and that she carries tragedy with her. It's a protective shell she's built that works until now - when she meets one good-looking, hunk of a guy, Sheriff Hank Layton!

The sexual, electric tension between them rises from day one. Hank as well wants to be careful because he's been hurt as well, but he can't stop being so turned on when he's around Beth that he can't think or even breathe.

Beth is hesitant to tell Hank about the phone call threats she's receiving. It has to do with the land on which she lives being ripe ground for a bordering Indian reservation that could rake in millions of dollars in gambling. But she doesn't understand why they need her property and she hasn't a clue who is actually attempting to hurt her and maybe even to kill her!

The mystery behind the threats as well as the steamy passion between Beth and Hank grow proportionately to one wild ride!

A Dry Creek Bed is one hot mamma of a book, and the reader doesn't have a clue to the end about how the mystery behind the threats or the secret Beth is holding back from Hank will resolve. Great romance novel and sure to delight lovers of the romance fiction genre!!! Great story, Avery Flynn!!! 

Gods and Fathers by James LePore

Gods and Fathers. James LePore. The Story Plant. February 2012. 300 pages. ISBN #: 9781611880298.

Matt DeMarco is not too happy with his life. He has finally begun to be successful in his law career but has the lousiest possible relationship with his son, Michael. His ex-wife has married an Arab who is very rich and she's turned his son against him. Michael is a spoiled brat who all of a sudden is in very, very big trouble. He is arrested for rape and murder of his own girlfriend. Matt decides no matter how big the rift is between them, he must do all he can to find out what has really happened!

Before the police really gets going, Matt and his friends start to take charge of the investigation into his son's alleged crimes, but all of a sudden someone else higher up, very high indeed although not named, starts canceling every avenue Matt attempts to travel. It also seems Michael has been hanging around two very suspicious Arab young men. No, this isn't racial profiling; these two guys just walk and look like they're up to no good. Connections begin to click and Matt is almost 100% sure Michael isn't guilty of any crime other than having a fight with his girl but that takes a long time to come out.

Innocent and guilty characters will die in the course of this quest to solve a mystery that involves Arab money, oil, and some devious persons determined to wreak revenge. When it finally comes out who is involved and exactly how this all came to pass, the reader is amazed, after flipping pages and wondering when the twists and turns will end, if they will at all!

James LePore has become an even better writer with this political thriller. He has definitely mastered the craft of depicting the machinations of both the innocent and guilty. The evil grows so large that one begins to doubt it will ever end.  In many ways, this is a rather timely story, given the growing problems in countries fighting for an "Arab Spring."

Awesome, James LePore and a must read for lovers of this genre and those who would like to have a phenomenal read!!!

Home by Morning by Alexis Harrington

Home by Morning. Alexis Harrington. Montlake Romance. December 2011. 240 pages. ISBN #: 9781612182056.

Jessica Layton, a medical doctor in the early 20th Century when women were frowned on for becoming doctors, is on her way to Seattle, Washington to take up a new position. She's been working in New York City and been overwhelmed by the poverty and needless illness bred from dirty and malnourished conditions. Now she stops off in her hometown of Powell Springs, Omaha and the sparks immediately start flying. First she ticks off the town quack with her useless remedies. Then she has to face her old boyfriend, Cole, now a successful horse breeder and who is supposedly courting Jessica's sister, Amy. Some sharp words pass among all of them but Jessica shrugs them off, knowing this is a temporary visit. Add to that the town is celebrating the town's one son who is about to go off to WWI. Pride in America is strong and anyone not patriotic is deemed a suspicious person worthy of being arrested. All that is about to drastically change!

A young soldier falls seriously ill with what later came to be known as the 1918 epidemic of influenza. This is no ordinary flu however and the contagion becomes so severe that Jessica agrees to stay a few months, ill-prepared though she is. Fighting exhaustion, she forges on with patients who both die and recover, helped by Cole; even though it seems the more they meet, the more they fight, never saying what each really wants to say.

But this illness and the enmity it breeds from Cole and a would-be suitor grows to crisis proportions. Fighting begins to take on more dangerous tones, and a secret will shock everyone around Jessica, bringing the novel to a surprising climax.

Alexis Harrington starts her novel slowly; but once it takes off, one is flipping the pages faster and faster to see what will happen next. It's a well-told romance story but also a historical novel in the sense of the war and the illness, two major events that drive the plot of this adventurous, action-packed yet endearing story!!!

Very nicely done, Ms. Harrington!

The Last Storyteller by Frank Delaney

The Last Storyteller. Frank Delaney. Random House. February 2012. 400 pages. ISBN #: 9781400067855.

Ben McCarthy has finally taken up the professional mantle of his mentors as a collector of folklore, and he is certainly at his best in this latest novel by Frank Delaney. Three stories are interwoven herein, Ben's collecting, recording, and sharing of numerous Irish tales that have an uncanny resonance in his own life, as well as being absolutely intriguing to readers of all ages. For what is a story but a re-imagining of the ups and downs of real life supported by the ideal, the fantastic, the imaginative, the mythological! This is the legacy inherited and celebrated from the great James Clare, a lovely, gifted storyteller surpassing all other tale tellers!

Ben, however, has never forgot the woman he loves who was kidnapped from him. Venetia has been married to an abusive shyster for so long that the spark is almost totally extinguished in her former vibrant actress self; however, if Ben can work up enough courage, encouraged by all of his significant friends, he can perhaps rescue her and form a new relationship with her and their two children. What is holding him back and could it be like if he acted as he knows from the first page, an act of honor, courage and beauty beyond any reality? 

While this is happening, the Irish Uprising of 1956 begins and Ben inadvertently is drawn into its violence and confusion. But there is a tale here as well, beneath and above the seedy and selfish side of these angry men who abhor being brutally held under England's rule. Although rebellions are put down ruthlessly, nothing stops these men and women from doing what they must to free their own land, one they love and will die for, if necessary. No, it's not about crime; it's about testing the passionate patriotism of every involved person, as well as those who carefully watch and wait for success!

To say more would spoil this lovely, engaging, action-packed, romantic (in more than one sense), and wise novel written in mesmerizing style. Frank Delaney is in top form here, and this reviewer believes this is his finest work yet - more sincere, more heart-felt, more magical, more intense, all in all, sheer delight worthy of the finest bards in history! Thank you and congratulations, Frank Delaney! The depth of your latest novel defies plain words - the Muse has filled these pages with your talent - a literate gem!

Bright Arrow Burning by Isabo Kelly

Bright Arrow Burning. Isabo Kelly. Samhain Publishing, , Ltd. October 24, 2011. eBook. 82 pages. ISBN #: 9781609285340.

It's been many years since this reviewer read an Isabo Kelly story - my word, what a difference! Here we have two main and some minor characters, the former two very strong-willed, focused individuals. Layla Brightarrow lives in a world invaded by a species called Sorcerers who know how to use pain and joy to transform humans into their own kind. They have a destructive goal and are well on the way to accomplishing it!

However, they have a very different power over the elven kingdom (no spoilers here), one which the reader could not guess in a lifetime. All this is finally shared by one of the elves, Ulric of Glengowyn, who is passionate about Layla but has a hard time convincing her he is not an enemy. One of his family members just might complicate the situation for Ulric, but he's a brainy and brawny guy who might be able to handle any adversity that comes his way.

What Layla and Ulric come to acknowledge is that their fierce, steamy attraction and union is irresistible and ultimately so very, very satisfying - more than that!

Yes, this is hot, steamy romance - hotter than most romance fiction depictions for sure! The brevity is powerful in the immediate focus on the need to save Layla's country from traitors, but so is the flame that gets lit early in the lives of Layla and Ulric!

Lovers of the romance genre, you won't forget this power-packed story for quite some time! Nicely done, Isabo Kelly!

But This is Different by Mary Walker Baron

But This is Different. Mary Walker Baron. Steel Cut Press. January 2011. 279 pages. ISBN #: 9781936380008.

Imagine waiting forty years on an isolated Pacific island, waiting for a special someone to fulfill her part of an agreement made so long ago it's almost beyond memory. Such is the life Mere, our main character, is living. It's an existence filled with constant pain and mourning that hasn't lessened with the years. Mere's only comforts are an old, crippled man and watchful woman who cherish Mere as the "Star of the Sea" of this New Guinea island! Others serve Mere and gladly run at her beck and call as if she were the treasure she is perceived to be! The woman who brought her here is revered as a goddess, even in her strange mournful absence!

Every year a mysterious box of gifts arrives on the last day of the year. It's a ritual celebrated on Mere's island almost as a religious rite but one that increases the mystical point of view of the islanders who have guarded Mere's pact for secrecy all these years. They teach her that the highest appreciation of life is to simply and lovingly "be!"

But that other woman now sends a letter in which she states she is dying and wishes Mere to return to New York to be with her beloved in her last days. Here is the journey of an older, dedicated friend who is not always mentally fit but endears all whom she meets on the journey. Inadvertently, she will wind up living as a homeless person who is briefly committed to a mental institution before ending up with her former lover.

But This Is Different is a literate, uniquely crafted novel that is absolutely mesmerizing. Secrets abound and aren't quickly revealed until the reader absorbs the complete personality of the main character which is intellectual, spiritual, and most of all deeply and lovingly emotional. Inner pain is an aching world unto itself. Committment and promises carry a depth far beyond the original words spoken and literally change one's world! The revelation of these two characters is quite stunning!

What else can one say about this beautiful, exquisite novel? Buy it, read it, and love it as much as this reviewer is sure you will! Absolutely outstanding!!!

The Hunter by John Lescroart

The Hunter. John Lescroart. Penguin Group (USA). January 2012. 400 pages. ISBN #: 9780525952565.

Wyatt Hunt is a private investigator who suddenly receives an enigmatic text: "How did your mother die?" Up to now, Wyatt knows he was adopted but has no idea who his parents were, let alone that his mother died by some mysterious event. So begins a journey of discovery, anxiety and trauma beyond one's wildest imaginations, with connections to the infamous Jim Jones, the cultist leader responsible for the deaths of thousands back in the late 20th century.

Wyatt has a bunch of great people working for him, all of whom want to be part of figuring out how Wyatt's mother died, a hunt that will turn even more desperate after one of their own group is murdered while investigating what at first seems a very vague clue. In the process, Wyatt will be seeking who is the unrevealed texter and wanting to know why someone higher up in the Police Department has ordered him to stop fishing around in police business, even though this case has been cold for forty years.

What's Wyatt to do about a letter supposedly written by his real father, a message which declares his own innocence in the demise of his wife? Little by little, the people Wyatt and his staff are interviewing remember a little more and a little more, just enough each time to make the story even more complex and more traumatic for Wyatt. One of the hallmarks of this novel is the authenticity by which Wyatt, normally a very together, orderly guy, suffers increasing mental, emotional, and physical distress and illness. However, a relationship with a significant other improves, even through the test of dire stress to which Wyatt succumbs at one point in the story. A lifetime of coping with the unknown surfaces with horrific effects that it seems may or may not be healed with a solution to the multiple questions reached at many near dead-end points.

The Hunter is a taut, thrilling, complex and fascinating mystery about origins, cold case crime, and relationships gone awry because of hidden motives and secrets! Well done, John Lescroart!