Showing posts with label Theresa Rizzo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theresa Rizzo. Show all posts

Friday, April 1, 2016

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 21st 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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Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The Lives Between Us - a Book Review



SYNOPSIS
The Lives Between Us is about family and love. It’s about desperate people doing what they need to, to save the ones they love.
Grief-stricken reporter, Skylar Kendall, plots revenge on Michigan Sen. Hastings who opposed life-saving stem cell research and therapy. She gains access to Hastings, learning secrets that would launch her career and satisfy her need for retribution… Only, she hadn’t counted on falling in love.
Can she avenge the lives lost to politics at the expense of her new love and friends?


REVIEW
The Lives Between Us is a story that takes the reader on a journey through the rocky romance between two unlikely candidates for “happily ever-after”.  What would ever attract a wealthy business man and personal friend to a U.S. Senator to a brash, out-spoken reporter, who is intent on nailing his friend to the wall at every news conference and in every news article that she writes?  He needed to find out when he saw her again across the room at a bar, but little did he know the strange and twisted path their relationship would take over the following year as their courtship followed a wild and rocky road, looking for answers and happiness.
From the opening pages, it becomes apparent that the true story is not about the love story between Mark and Skylar, but is about the battle between families in crisis and the choices we must make for the love of our family.  The issue of stem-cell, cord-blood cell, adult stem cells, and the laws surrounding the use and research of these cells suddenly sounds harsh and dry on the pages of the newspaper or across the screen of the television, but not so when it comes to the life or death of a loved one.  It is from that pathos of these emotions that that the basis of the story whips not only the emotions of the characters on the page, but the readers holding the book, as well. 
Teresa Rizzo took the complex issues of stem cells, frozen embryos, IVF, and all the other differentiations of this complex field, along with the complex laws, and wrote two intricate family stories of heart-ache and healing, as they sought answers to difficult life questions. 
The lives and the love of Skylar and Mark brought the two families into the same sphere, where they discovered Skylar and Senator Edward Hastings had already met and agreed to disagree on the subject of “Pro-Life” and stem-cell research.  Fireworks were sure to erupt again,  but they both discovered that they each had the same love of “family first”.
How could they ever disagree so hardily on what it takes to get a family member well again?
Tucked between the storylines, Teresa shared wonderful enlightenment on the subject matter from both of the presented points of view.  She took the time to better explain the stance of where each side was coming from and allowed this reader to better understand the arguments and the positions. 
It was in the development of the backstory of several of the characters that we were better able to understand the underlying reasons why the characters were so adamant about their stance on the embryos, unborn children, still-born, and their use for research and preservation of life.  Life is not simple, nor are our viewpoints on life. 
One of the interesting items I enjoyed was the character development within the story of each of her main characters.  She allowed her characters to grow and change and allowed life’s circumstances to change them, much as real life changes us.  I will allow I was surprised, disappointedly about some of the life decisions a character or two made, but then, was it really just a revealing of the true character?  Or is that how life really is?
Teresa Rizzo and THE LIVES BETWEEN US garnered a true FIVE STAR rating from this author.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Theresa Rizzo is a bestselling, award-winning author who writes emotional stories that explore the complexity of relationships and families through real-life trials. Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she currently lives outside of Boulder, Colorado with her husband of thirty-two years. She’s raised four wonderful children who are now scattered across the country.

Theresa's debut book, He Belongs to Me, won the 2014 National Indie Excellence Award for romance and the 2014 Readers Crown Award for Mainstream Women’s Fiction and was a finalist in the General Fiction Category of The 2013 USA Best Book Awards.  

Find Theresa on the web at www.theresarizzo.com, or connect with her on Facebook, twitter or and Goodreads.

Want to purchase a copy of this fantastic book?  Check out one of these links!!