SILENT SENTRY - Theresa Rizzo - A Book Review

SILENT SENTRY

By

Threresa Rizzo

SYNOPSIS

The Scarfilis and Donnatellis love deeply and protect fiercely. "Family takes care of family" is the code they live by.

So when a hacker threatens Gianna Donnatelli's life, Dr. Joe Scarfili is determined to keep her safe, only he has no police or tech experience, and Gianna's penchant for aiding Detroit's underprivileged is the same kind of altruism that got his wife killed. Gianna protects Joe with the same unyielding resolve.

Gianna pushes all his insecurity buttons. Joe tries her patience like no other. But together they'll fight to save each other and their love... Or die trying.

REVIEW

I have read and studied medieval literature and Shakespeare , but why or why did I keep thinking about a twisted Romeo and Juliette when I read this delicious novel?  Except in this novel, Romeo and Juliet were not suicidal, star-crossed teenagers, like the original lovers were.  In fact, they weren’t suicidal at all.  They were well educated, adults who had known each other as children, or should I say as teenage and child?

That aside, once again, Theresa takes up another social issue to address in her newest novel.  But this time, she lands her heroine in the inner city of Chicago where the poorest of the poor cannot fend for themselves against the riff-raff of the gangs and warfare that wage around them.  Enter a young entrepreneur and a young doctor and you have two warring stories flying across the pages.  No make that three, for there are truly three distinct storylines that are tightly interwoven through this book.  Each one is breathtaking unto itself as you try to figure out who will win in the fight between good and evil, the will to overcome.  With a heavy dose of romance thrown in to lighten the overtones and undertones of the social justice that is being addressed between the lines. 

Oh, no, I didn’t forget about those pesky Italians from Shakespeare.  They are there in their 21^st century garb and just as nasty and just as willful.  But the world has got much larger than it was in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds.  It seems to have permeated globally.  For some reason, it seems that it is the young, and the innocent who always get caught in the cross-fire of the warfare for money and power.  Nothing ever changes. 

No, don’t get me wrong.  This story is enjoyable.  It is fast-paced. There is laughter, and love, but there is a much deeper message to be had, if you peel back the words and the pages and let it sink in a little.  Great job, again, Theresa.  Your story craft continues to grow.  You brought many a smile to my face as I rifled through the pages of this novel.  There was no leisurely reading allowed.  I give this one a great FVIE STAR review!!!!  Well worth the read!

This book was provided to this reviewer at no cost to read and assess for other readers in exchange for a fair and honest written review of the novel.  Shade Tree Book Reviews aka Blogging Under the Shade Tree is not associated with the Author or publisher of this novel.

ABOUT THERESA

Biography

I was born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Growing up in an Irish-Italian family was never dull or quiet. I have four siblings, two sisters and two brothers. My mother was a nurse and my father a general surgeon, so my interest in medical issues is hardly surprising.

As a youngster, I struggled with mild dyslexia. I couldn't read until third grade, but after years of remedial work, the wondrous world of books opened up to me and I've been a voracious reader ever since. Though possessing a fertile imagination, my practical side never even considered pursuing a writing career, because I'm too fond of eating. So I became a registered nurse.

After college, I married my high school sweetheart and had four children. Though I adore my kids and am very proud of them, parenting requires a lot of patience-- not exactly my strength, so I began writing. Writing gave me a creative, intelligent outlet that I needed, and it was far less expensive than therapy and a defense attorney. Writing allows me to create wonderful characters who, if they disappoint me, I can make their lives miserable--literally-- or simply kill them off, without going to jail! How great is that?

We lived in the Chicago, then San Diego, before settling in beautiful Colorado. We absolutely love the mountains! When not skiing, hiking, or writing in the mountains, I love to play tennis, take long walks, work in my gardens, decorate our house, read, work with my tile mosaics, and crochet.

It's true that writing is a lonely endeavor. Learning the craft and the publishing industry is a lengthy, complex process made much more fun when I joined the Romance Writers of America, and later, the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writersand the Crested Butte Writers.

I've been fortunate to make friends with many interesting people. Writers are a remarkable, entertaining breed who possess quick wits and huge hearts. They've enriched my life immensely and I'm very grateful to each and every one as you can see is you watch my writing journey video.

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The Last Concerto - Helaine Mario A Review

The Lost Concerto

By

Helaine Mario

SYNOPSIS

A woman and her young son flee to a convent on a remote island off the Breton coast of France.  Generations of seafarers have named the place Ile de la Brume, or Fog Island. In a chapel high on a cliff, a tragic death occurs and a terrified child vanishes into the mist.

The child’s godmother, Maggie O’Shea, haunted by the violent deaths of her husband and best friend, has withdrawn from her life as a classical pianist. But then a recording of unforgettable music and a grainy photograph surface, connecting her missing godson to a long-lost first love. 

The photograph will draw Maggie inexorably into a collision course with criminal forces, decades-long secrets, stolen art and musical artifacts, and deadly terrorists. Her search will take her to the Festival de Musique, Aix-en-Provence, France, where she discovers answers to her husband’s death, an unexpected love―and a musical masterpiece lost for decades.

A compelling blend of suspense, mystery, political intrigue, and romance, The Lost Concerto explores universal themes of loss, vengeance, courage, and love.

REVIEW

As I sat down to review The Lost Concerto, I puzzled over which story to discuss, which tale to delve in to.  Most times when you are treated to a well written novel, you have a central theme (story) and one or two side stories that can be told to add breadth to the tale.  These could be stories that are running concurrently, back-stories that fills in the lives of the characters in the novel and adds depth and breadth to the central core and makes you love or hate the mainstay of the novel.  Sometimes, you might even get a side story that are small flash forwards of what is to come and whets your appetite for the coming pages and might give you a false sense of security or fright by leading you astray.

Helaine Mario swept this reader off her feet.  The mental score card came out as I began to track the numerous story paths through this complex and wondrous book that wrapped the reader in a web of intrigue.  There were several concurrent storylines that contained overlapping characters.  There were storylines with the same characters that flung the reader to the far and near past.  Each story, be it short or a longer one that continued to pop-up throughout the book, peeled back a little more of the total picture.  Each revelation changed the view of the panorama laid out before the reader, changing the viewpoint of what we thought and felt previously about a character or about where the story was headed. 

Who said, “nothing is as it seems, assume nothing”?  The only absolute to be assumed was that “all was not fair in love and war”.  Even as a reader, one felt ensnared in the tangled web of deceit that seemed to dominate both sides of this subtle war between the CIA and an ex-employee.  With a musician and a little boy caught in the web and at the center of the battle.  Who would win?  Would there be a winner?

Helaine did a great job of her character development.  Just like she did with her complex story lines, so she did with her characters.  Just as you thought you knew who someone was, you discovered that they were not the person you thought they were.  The friendships, the associations, the allies, the enemies; they seemed like fluid lines that moved and mixed.  You didn’t know who to trust, who to believe.  Much like the heroine, you had to stay focused on the reason – Max, the son of the heroine’s friend.  Nothing else could matter. 

This is one book that will go on the must be re-read shelf.  For with the coming of the last page, I knew I needed to read it again.  I wanted to gain all the nuances that I missed in the first read.  True, there were times I found myself rushing to turn the page, breathlessly waiting to see what the next page might reveal.  In my haste to absorb the incredulity and rush of the action of the story, what could I have missed?  Therefore, I find that I want to go back for a second read, knowing all, to wallow in the pure genius of the telling of the tale.

In my opinion, this is one book that should be up for multiple awards for fiction for 2015.  I cannot begin to enumerate the reasons for listing The Last Concerto a  FIVE STAR REVIEW!!!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

New York City born and raised, Helaine is a Boston University graduate.  She married in 1969 and moved to CT to raise her two children, volunteer at Save the Children, and write for the local newspaper.

 In 1985, Helaine’s life took an unpredictable turn when her husband’s career brought her family to Potomac, MD.  For all eight years of the Clinton Presidency, she was a White House volunteer for Tipper and Al Gore, and continues to be a passionate advocate for public service and women & children’s issues.

 Because Helaine believes strongly in “giving back,” she has worked on several non-profit boards and, in 1998, founded The SunDial Foundation, Inc., which benefits our most vulnerable women, children and families.  She also created Project PJs, offering new books, bears and pajamas to under-served children in the community.

 Helaine and her husband, Ron Mario, now spend their time in Arlington, VA – where she continues her advocacy work – Longboat Key, Florida, and Cape May, NJ.   She is grateful to be a twelve year cancer survivor and is most proud of her two children and four beautiful grandchildren.  Her son, Sean, is the pianist who inspired the classical music background inThe Lost Concerto.

    

Buy it at AMAZON