The Winemakers - Jan Moran

The Winemakers

By

Jan Moran

SYNOPSIS

1956: When Caterina Rosetta inherits a cottage in the countryside of Italy from a grandmother she’s never known, she discovers a long-buried family secret — a secret so devastating, it threatens the future of everything her mother has worked for. Many years before, her mother’s hard-won dreams of staking her family’s claim in the vineyards of California came to fruition; but as an old murder comes to light, and Caterina uncovers a tragic secret that may destroy the man she loves, she realizes her happiness will depend on revealing the truth of her mother’s buried past. The Winemakersis a sweeping, romantic novel that will hold you in its grasp until the last delicious sip.

“Absolutely adored THE WINEMAKERS.  Beautifully layered and utterly compelling.  Intriguing from start to finish.  A story not to be missed.” – Jane Porter, USA Today and NYT Bestselling author of It’s Youand The Good Woman

REVIEW:

I have read all of Jan Moran’s novels, to date. Each one of them are centered on strong women of their time. Each set in various time periods dating back to the early 1900s. What is interesting is that even the two major works she has written “Scent of Triumph” and “The Winemakers” have an essence of being tied into “The California Series” which about four young independent young women is making their way in the L.A. area and making their mark on the beauty industry.
In the Winemakers all of the strengths and fallibilities that we as women have, come into play and you find yourself in a world of secrets within secrets, as each of the central characters keeps her world wrapped up within pride to protect those she love around her. But as the leaves of truth start to peel back, the world they have always known starts to crumble around them into a thousand pieces like a dried out bouquet of flowers when crushed under foot. It is only the strong love of family and pride of who they really are that allows them to struggle through, to find the answers at the heart of the lies and secrets that the years have held close.
Jan has a way of drawing the reader into her stories. She takes a paint brush to her words and brushes a panorama across the pages. You find yourself falling into the scenes of the lands and places that she builds for her stories to take place. The smells, sights and sounds accost your senses as you find yourself peering through the eyes of the characters and seeing a world unfold before you.
This is not limited to just her scenery, but also to the very fiber of her story lines. They live and breathe as you find yourself flipping the pages to keep up with the characters, wiping tears of sadness or laughter. Suddenly a page turn will bring a catch of breath that forces you to set down the book till you can breathe again…forcing you to think back, re-access and draw on your own strength to go forward with the young heroine.
Once again Jan has given us a glimpse behind the shutters of the wealthy and high born to show us that all who live have lives that can be fragile. All who breathe can suffer great loss and hold great secrets that seem unbearable. Wealth and breeding do not make people immune to the bad things that can and do happen to families. Evil is evil, no matter the last name. Kindness, generosity, and love come from within and cannot have a price tag attached.
Jan has also shown the struggles that independent strong minded women have endured during the early part of the 1900s. She included the prejudices against women in business within her storyline. I deeply appreciated this. We forget how much our mothers and grandmothers fought to make our lives better for us. How we must continue to strive to make the way better for our daughters and grand-daughters who follow behind.
Jan Moran has written stirring and remarkable works from her first novel, Flawless, but with each offering, she has shown continued growth in her craft. The Winemakers is a novel worthy of note and one that is sure to make many lists and take awards for 2016. I give The Winemakers a FIVE STAR rating for craftsmanship and entertainment. This is a must read for 2016.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jan Moran is an author of historical novels for St. Martin’s Press (Scent of Triumph,; The Winemakers). She also writes the Love, California contemporary series, which includes Flawless, Beauty Mark,Runway, and other upcoming titles. She wrote Fabulous Fragrances I and II, which earned spots on the Rizzoli Bookstore bestseller list, and Vintage Perfumes. She is represented by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency. Books are also translated into German, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian, and other languages.

As a fragrance and beauty expert, she has been featured in numerous publications and on television and radio, including CNN, Women’s Wear Daily, Allure, InStyle, and O Magazine. As an editor and writer, she has covered fragrance, beauty, and spa travel for a variety of publications such as Cosmopolitan, Costco Connection, and Porthole Cruise.

VISIT JAN

http://www.janmoranwrites.com/

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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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BODY GUARDS OF L.A.

#10

FINDING LYLA

By

Cate Beauman

SYNOPSIS

Principal Dancer Lyla Markovik-Avery is always on the go. Grueling practices and endless performances rule her busy days—and things are about to get more hectic. Russia is rolling out the red carpet for their beloved star, despite the string of violent terrorist attacks that have rocked the nation.

Bodyguard Collin Michaels’ life is falling apart. His long-time relationship recently ended. He’s trying to start over, but that’s easier said than done. Luckily, Collin has a new assignment on the horizon: keeping a beautiful ballerina safe for the next three weeks.

Collin finds comfort in Lyla’s easy friendship, but that all changes after a night out on the town. Simple feelings become complicated—something Collin can’t afford, especially when tragedy strikes and Collin realizes Lyla’s caught in the middle of a dangerous plot for revenge.

Collin and Lyla are forced to flee. They need to reach the border before it’s too late, but the odds are stacked against them in a country that wants them dead. With time running out, Collin formulates a risky plan that might be their only chance of making it out alive.

REVIEW

Cate Beauman has re-invented the fairy-tale.  She has taken it out of the realm of “Once upon a time” and brought it into the here and now and made it believable.  The knight in shining armor isn’t limited to the shelves and tomes of literature, the damsels in distress can be saved and swept off their feet and rescued to be loved and live happily ever-after, with their prince charming.

Finding Lyla is all about discovering that there really are princesses who hurt and who need to be rescued and loved very much.  It is about knights in shining armor whose armor is a bit scuffy and bent and worn, who suddenly discover that they just might truly be Prince Charming.  But in the midst of all this they fall in love with the very princess they are sworn to save from the fiery dragon and the black knights who swear vengeance on the realm.

But I love that the princess is actually a ballerina, daughter of a Russian prima ballerina, who has risen in the ranks on her own rights.  A young lady who loves others and has such a sweet young heart and thinks of others before herself, while her father serves his country a long way off,… in a cold, cold land.  Sound just like a fairy-tale, or a ballet.

My children, both female and male, grew up on the boards from the time they were three years old.  They studied under wonderful masters for years, some for about 6 years, and others for almost 20 years.  I worked behind the scenes many years helping to make the shows work, from helping with the young charges, to costuming and creating some of the wonderful creations that floated across the stage.  Ballet is a fantastic world of wonder that is a mesh of storytelling, music, dance, movement, and athleticism.  There are the artists, the prima-donnas, and the hard-working craftsmen who come together to  create a world of wonder that will mesmerize an audience for hours as they move and dance to the masterful music of the masters.  One of the masters once told my daughter that the true dancer was one who was one with the music.  When looking for the truly gifted, they watched to see how the dancer moved in the breaths of the music, for that told them that they were one with the music and not counting the steps.

Maybe it was because of this long history with the arts and with music and dance, but I found myself once again living backstage, sitting on the hard benches along the walls of the practice rooms, and breathing the music and movement of the dance again.  No, I don’t dance, never could, never will.  Lol.  But music runs deep in the well of my soul and I believe I have the heart and soul of a dancer.  If my feet could leave the earth, they would fly across the boards and though the wind, just as effortlessly as the most beautiful of the ballerinas I watch from the sidelines.

Cate was able to catch this same passion and essence of dance on the pages of Finding Lyla.  You find yourself flying across the pages and feel yourself floating through the air like you have always dreamed a dancer would feel, feeling the shear pain of injury as you land.  The agony of pain piercing up through your body as you force yourself to continue powering through, while you feel blood flowing down your toes.  Then feeling the agony of pain as you, out of pride, refuse to limp away at the end of the dance.  Been there, watched it as they hobbled off the stage and met them to attend to their needs.

I love this story, this modern day fairy-tale.  I love falling in love again, and again.  What a wonder way to curl my toes and escape for a long weekend read.  Cate does not disappoint!   I give this, her 10^th book in the series a fantastic FIVE STAR rating for her story-telling abilities and the story craft she used to get the story across to us at a new level of AHHHhhhhhh.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR International bestselling author Cate Beauman is known for her full-length, action-packed romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards of L.A. County. Her novels have been nominated for the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden Quill Award, Writers Touch Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five Star books. In 2015, JUSTICE FOR ABBY was selected as the Readers' Favorite International Book Award Gold Medalist, while SAVING SOPHIE took the Silver Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015 Readers Crown Award winner for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR SARAH received the silver medal for the 2014 Readers' Favorite Awards.   Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently Cate is working on Deceiving Bella, the eleventh novel in her popular Bodyguards series.   SIGN UP FOR CATE’S NEWSLETTER TO BE NOTIFIED OF MONTHLY GIVEAWAY OFFERS http://www.catebeauman.com/#!newsletter-sign-up/c9td Contact Cate Website I Facebook I Twitter I Goodreads I Amazon Author Page a Rafflecopter giveaway                              
 

A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley - A Book Review

A DESPERATE FORTUNE

By

Susanna Kearsley

SYLLABUS:

For nearly 300 years, the mysterious journal of Jacobite exile Mary Dundas has lain unread — its secrets safe from prying eyes. Now, amateur codebreaker Sara Thomas has been hired by a once-famous historian to crack the journal's cipher. But when she arrives in Paris, Sara finds herself besieged by complications from all sides: the journal's reclusive owner, her charming Parisian neighbor, and Mary, whose journal doesn't hold the secrets Sara expects.

It turns out that Mary Dundas wasn’t keeping a record of everyday life, but a first-hand account of her part in a dangerous intrigue. In the first wintry months of 1732, with a scandal gaining steam in London, driving many into bankruptcy and ruin, the man accused of being at its center is concealed among the Jacobites in Paris, with Mary posing as his sister to aid his disguise.

When their location is betrayed, they’re forced to put a desperate plan in action, heading south along the road to Rome, protected by the enigmatic Highlander Hugh MacPherson.

As Mary's tale grows more and more dire, Sara, too, must carefully choose which turning to take... to find the road that will lead her safely home

REVIEW

I love when I come across a novelist who is capable of giving the reader a book that makes them think, that makes them interact with the characters of the book and become involved with the multiple storylines they weave through the pages and chapters of their work. 

A Desperate Fortune did just that.  This work gave the reader a very delicate social and medical plot for the protagonist in the current age that she had to deal with.  Susanna enabled us to live with Aspergers and see the world through the eyes of Sarah.  She did a fantastic job of it.  At the same time, she wove a very gentle love interest plot through as a subplot, but it wasn’t just a romantic love interest, it was about learning to love.  It was beautiful and I found myself also falling in love with both gentlemen of the house, very deeply in love.

The second major plot and storyline took us to another time and place 300 years earlier.  This story and the ebb and flow of the characters were of a totally different feel.  It was almost as if it was two different books.  But this was not a bad thing.  The characters were totally different.  The times and the demands of what was happening within the diary that Sarah was translating dictated what the second storyline followed. 

I loved that Susanna did not leave us, the readers to the strict diary renderings as to what we discovered about what happened 300 years prior, but allowed us to see the world through the eyes of the young lady, Mary, who wrote the diary.  In doing so, we were able to better glimpse the strife and restrictions that living in the court of King James court in France and Rome. 

The time that Susanna took to develop the central characters in both settings brought the stories alive.  From the poignancy of the life of Sarah in modern France as she grew more self-assured and slowly fell in love to the wild and scary times of the 1700s in France, Spain, and Italy as Mary, the 1700’s protagonist discovered her strengths and self-reliance those many years ago in another place and time. 

With each turn of the page, I found myself wanting more and more from the characters and the story itself.  Susanna stepped up to the plate and delivered.  Each time she stepped from one time period to the other, I found myself devastated, I was so immersed into the story and characters of the period I was living and breathing.  I did not want to leave.  It was the same with the next time swap, I did not want to go back.  But as soon as the story picked up, I knew new information would come up, and it did that pulled me right into the timeline of the new time period I was in, along with the storyline that was swirling around the characters that were moving swiftly through the pages. 

This is not my first Susanna Kearsley book, nor will it be my last.  Each of her novels are unique and touch heart strings at their deepest levels.  This novel has earned my highest praises and will be one that I pull out to read and enjoy again.  I would give A Desparate Fortune a Five Star review for the telling of the story and for the story craft in the telling.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susanna Kearsley Aka Emma Cole.

Susanna Kearsley studied politics and international development at university, and has worked as a museum curator.

Her first novel Mariana won the prestigious Catherine Cookson Literary Prize and launched her writing career. Susanna continued her mix of the historical and paranormal in novels The Splendour Falls, Named of the Dragon, Shadowy Horses and Season of Storms.

Susanna Kearsley also writes classic-style thrillers under the name of Emma Cole.

Contact the author at http://www.susannakearsley.com/ 

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THE ALL-STAR ANTES UP by Nancy Herkness - A COVER REVEAL

THE ALL-STAR ANTES UP

Wager of Hearts

Book 2

Tag line: A billionaire quarterback. An aspiring concierge. Their hearts are on the line.

Book description:

“No strings, no rings.” That’s Luke Archer’s motto. As the champion quarterback for the New York Empire—not to mention a self-made billionaire—Luke has given up on serious relationships. Women only want him for one thing: the thrill of being with a superstar. And he can’t risk love distracting him from his next Super Bowl victory. But when his best friend announces he’s retiring from football to spend time with his wife and kids, Luke feels like he’s missing out on something much bigger than his career.

The assistant concierge in Luke’s luxury high-rise, Miranda Tate fled her family’s dairy farm to come to the bright lights of New York City. She works hard to move up and sends her spare earnings home to her brother. When she and Luke meet, there’s an instant attraction, but they’re in completely different leagues. Could Miranda be just the woman Luke needs to win the most important game of his life?

Wager of Hearts series description:

Three billionaires walk into a bar…It sounds like the setup for a joke, but these men aren’t laughing. When a celebrity quarterback, a prominent CEO, and a bestselling author find themselves drinking alone one night at the exclusive Bellwether Club, they realize they have a lot in common—humble backgrounds, impressive wealth, and a lack of love in their lives. Tired of being pursued for their money, they make a wager: to find women who love them for who they are. Award-winning author Nancy Herkness offers a glimpse into the world of the ultra-rich in this sexy, dazzling series.

Author bio:

Nancy Herkness is the author of the award-winning Whisper Horse series, as well as several other contemporary romance novels. She has received many honors for her work, including the Book Buyers Best Award, the Maggie Award in Contemporary Romance, and the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, and she is a two-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English literature and creative writing. A native of West Virginia, Nancy now lives in a Victorian house twelve miles west of the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey with her husband, two mismatched dogs, and an elderly cat.

You’re so great to do this!

Cheers,

Nancy

Nancy Herkness, 2015 RITA^® Finalist

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