Book Trib Holiday Thriller Giveaway

CMash December 13, 2018 Leave a Comment

Are you all done with your holiday shopping? If you are, or not, here’s a chance to win something for yourself!! And as book lovers, there is nothing better than a book. Right? Well, how about 20 books?!

I’m teaming up with Book Trib to spread the word about their giveaway!!!!!!

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Giveaway starts today, December 13th
and runs through December 20th

U.S. ENTRIES ONLY

As part of our holiday giveaway promotion, BookTrib will be giving away 20 books each week to one lucky winner through the month of December. Who needs to feel cozy and safe when you can feel frightened and paranoid reading a fantastic thriller? Like what you see? Enter for a chance to win lots of great titles and be sure to check in next week to see what our new box might have in store for you!

To enter, either click on the link HERE or the image on the sidebar.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Giveaway, Guest Author, Interview, Partners In Crime Tours, Showcase

THE WINNER MAKER by Jeff Bond (Showcase, Interview & Giveaway)

CMash December 13, 2018 1 Comment

The Winner Maker

by Jeff Bond

on Tour December 1-31, 2018

Synopsis:

The Winner Maker by Jeff Bond

Bob Fiske — the 74-year-old dinosaur who’s taught Honors English and coached varsity football for five decades — is missing.

To his Winners, class favorites Fiske designated over the years for their potential to “Live Big,” it’s heartbreaking. Fiske did more than inspire with soaring oratory; he supported their ambitions into adulthood. Four of his brightest former stars reunite to find him, putting high-octane careers on hold, slipping police barricades, racing into the wilds of Northern Michigan for clues about the fate of their legendary mentor.

Others don’t see a legend. They see an elitist whose time has passed.

When a current student — female — disappears just hours into the Winners’ search amid rumors of inappropriate meetings, the Great Man’s reputation is a shambles.

Feints, betrayal, explosive secrets from their own pasts: as facts emerge, each Winner must decide how far they’ll go for Fiske. Can the truth redeem him? Or has this cult of hyper-achievement spawned a thing so vile none of their lives will survive intact?

“An exhilarating and emotionally astute mystery.” ~ Kirkus

Book Details:

Genre: Upmarket Mystery, Thriller
Published by: Indie
Publication Date: December 1st 2018
Number of Pages: 332
ISBN: 1732255202 (ISBN13: 9781732255203)
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Jeff Bond

Author Bio:

Jeff Bond is a Kansas native and graduate of Yale University. He lives in Michigan with his wife and two daughters, and belongs to the International Thriller Writers association.

Q&A with Jeff Bond

Welcome!
Writing and Reading:

Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?

I do, from both. I keep a running document of story ideas – categorized into “short,” “novella,” and “novel” – and try to add at least one per day. Generally it’ll be something inspired by my day, an interesting person I crossed paths with or situation I or one of my kids faced; or by a news story.

I subscribe to The New York Times on Kindle and live in constant regret for not reading it cover-to-cover, because every time I do, I find a great germ of a story.

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?

It varies. I’m a big upfront plotter, and before I sit down to write any scene at the level of dialog or physical description, I’ll know all the major plot points. (Which is not to say they can’t change later, either based on my own or early readers’ thoughts.) Sometimes the climax comes to me first—if you have a well-defined protagonist and antagonist, you can often imagine how they ought to collide for maximum effect.

Other times, particularly if the element driving a story is character or setting/milieu rather than situation or episode, I’ll just start brainstorming complications and possible twists, sprinkling them throughout an outline, and the plot emerges sort of all at once.

Are any of your characters based on you or people that you know?

While I certainly steal certain traits or mannerisms, I don’t have any characters – at least in The Winner Maker – that’re very close to real people. It can be tempting to do with minor characters. For example, if you want to quickly characterize a setting and know a person who typifies that place, you feel like just rolling them out with a different name. I try not to.

With major characters, in my experience, it can’t really work. You’re always going to need something different to support your plot or maximize conflict – even if it’s just a stray hobby or expertise.

Your routine when writing? Any idiosyncrasies?

I keep it pretty simple. Coffee and laptop. A café, library, or botanical gardens in good weather. I used to write in the early morning hours before going to a regular nine-to-five job, which conditioned me to write anywhere and make use of small windows of time.

Tell us why we should read this book.

The Winner Maker is unique in that it delivers high-octane thrills and reversals in the style of Harlan Coben or James Patterson, but does it using complex, likable characters you’ll recognize from real life.

I thought Kirkus Reviews captured this well: “Bond collapses two distinct literary genres into one seamless novelistic whole: a mystery and an emotional drama…The novel’s central mystery is thrilling, but the true spine of the tale is the fragile connections between the past Winners, who must not only investigate Fiske’s disappearance, but also the authenticity of their lives and friendships.”

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Gillian Flynn, Tana French, Jonathan Franzen, Nick Hornby, Harlan Coben

What are you reading now?

For me, Beartown by Fredrik Backman. To my kids, Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary.

Are you working on your next novel? Can you tell us a little about it?

My follow-up is called Blackquest 40. It’s more of a go-go thriller than Winner, a fresh take on the Die Hard formula about San Francisco tech workers whose office is locked down for a forty-hour corporate training exercise—or so they’re told as the story begins.

I’m just finishing final edits and plan a mid-May release.

Fun questions:
Your novel will be a movie. Who would you cast?

I’m afraid parenting duties have eroded my knowledge of current movie actors who might play my Winners–in their late twenties—but for the title role of Bob Fiske, the missing teacher, I’ll take Ian McKellen.

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?

Basketball when I can find the time, and listening to audiobooks every morning while walking the dog.

Favorite meal?

Pozole, a pork and hominy Mexican stew.

Thank you for stopping by CMash Reads and spending time with us.

Catch Up With Jeff Bond On:
Website
Goodreads
Twitter
Facebook!

Read an excerpt:

Bob Fiske stalked out onto a glass-bottomed observation box of the Sears Tower, appearing to join the sky. His hair, wild and white, whorled with the passing clouds. His strides were at once rickety—owing to seventy-four-year-old joints—and resolute, each footfall seeming to make gravity, to seize its own plane of air.

He planted the portable lectern before his students with a leathered fist. “Poetry is the evidence of life. If your life is burning brightly, poetry is just the ash.”

The entire honors English class, and more than one passing tourist, considered this in reverential silence. The students’ faces glowed with a mishmash of excitements. They were out of school on a field trip! They had to recite a poem by heart; would they remember?

Being here with Fiske—Coach Fiske, Fiske the Great, Fiske the Feared—made them feel the way all high-school seniors should at least once during this final, never-to-be-forgotten year: special. Sure that every important thing in life was happening right here, right now, to them uniquely.

Marna Jacobs (left side, midway back) felt all this too, but more pressing was the weight of dual backpacks on her shoulders. What had Jesse put in this thing, lead? She shifted to resettle the load more comfortably over her five-one frame.

A voice behind her said, “Ooh, Marna, carrying your boyfriend’s bag for him? How old-fashioned. Part of the new vintage motif?”

It was Caitlyn of the perfect cheekbones and 4.5 GPA, a surefire Winner when Fiske’s list came out.

“Jesse’s not my boyfriend.” Marna crossed her ankles, suddenly less psyched about her thrift-store oxfords.

“Didn’t you two go to homecoming together?”

“We, um, broke up.”

“And you’ve accepted the demotion to pack mule?” Caitlyn said with a grin of ice.

Marna and Jesse were outsiders here, AP English being their only honors class. While the others elbowed for brownie points, Marna tried to fly under the radar—a strategy that had worked until last month when Mr. Fiske had praised her Brave New World essay as “refreshing, primitively honest.” Now Caitlyn ridiculed her at every turn.

Still, the question was legit. Marna had been standing around waiting to board one of the tower’s shockingly fast elevators when Jesse nudged her, asking if she’d leave his backpack on the glass bottom for him. Without waiting for an answer, he’d heaved the pack onto her shoulder. When she’d complained it was heavy, he had said all she had to do was leave it on the glass—then he slipped away as every ligament in Marna’s neck and upper back croaked under the burden.

“We’re friends,” Marna said now. “Friends do each other favors.”

Caitlyn sneered around the observation deck. The first student was approaching the podium, stealing a last peek at her crinkled notes. “What’s inside, a bomb? You two always were quiet. Maybe too quiet.”

Marna squirmed underneath the pack. It couldn’t be a bomb. Right? Everyone had gone through security. Jesse’s pack had been X-rayed.

She thought. Was pretty sure.

“Marna brought a bomb?” Todd Bruckmueller said, overhearing.

Caitlyn opened her shoulders to a larger audience. “Maybe.”

“This is really mean, you guys, I—”

“Let’s see!”

Todd, right tackle for the football team, reached for the pack. Marna hunched like a threatened armadillo but couldn’t keep Todd from dislodging one arm. They struggled. Marna dug an elbow into the oaf’s ribs. He lost his grip, and the pack crashed to the glass floor.

Driven less by loyalty to Jesse than rage, Marna grabbed one strap. Todd grabbed the other. Security personnel moved dimly in the periphery.

“Enough.”

The word boomed forth, sucking all air from the fight. Marna first thought Todd had said it—so loud, his meat-pie face right here—before spotting the pair of Illinois State 6A Championship rings against his neck. The rings belonged to Fiske. The septuagenarian had his 230-pound lineman in a half nelson.

“Poor form, Mr. Bruckmueller.” Fiske unhanded Todd, then turned to Marna with a wink. “I cordially invite you to Wildkit Stadium this afternoon, four o’clock sharp, to witness your tormentor ascending and descending the east stairs in rapid succession. Two hundred flights or heatstroke, whichever comes first.”

Before Marna could respond—was she supposed to respond? could Fiske get busted for laying hands on a student like that?—a metallic clunk sounded nearby. Jesse’s pack began sliding in the direction of the noise.

“Hey, what—what’s happening?” Todd said, scurrying back.

Marna instinctively raised her hands. Three guards were beelining her way, fingers pressed to earpieces. Students and tourists alike scattered. The backpack moved seven inches across the glass floor before locking into place with a small, intense shimmy.

Directly below, on the underside of the glass and suspended 103 stories above Wacker Drive, a hook protruded from a squat black cylinder.

A magnet.

That’s why the backpack was so heavy. There’s a gigantic magnet inside.

The hook was closed, and now a hand—a hand?—emerged from the void to clip what looked like a fat red ribbon onto it. The backpack’s fabric strained about the glass in a circle, the magnet inside perfectly mirroring the magnet below.

Marna squinted to make sure this wasn’t allergies messing with her eyes. Also, the day was overcast; up here, they were literally in the clouds.

“Oh. My. God.”

Jesse.

Suspended upside down, staring at her with that wobbly grin. The diamond-check soles of his shoes visible through the glass, he held on by a short length of the ribbon—which Marna saw was a bungee cord. The rest of the cord dangled far below, lilting now back against the skyscraper, now out over the Chicago River, twisting and kinking, rippling, the greatest part shrouded in fog.

Marna staggered into a row with the security guards. How did he get up there? Are those magnets seriously gonna hold? Will the guards shoot him, or Tase him? Can you Tase through glass?

The guards barked into walkie-talkies. When one stepped toward the pack, Jesse felt for something behind his waist and gave the bungee two sharp tugs.

“No!” Marna screamed. “You stupid jerk, no! Whatever you’re thinking!”

But she recognized the sequence he was rushing through: the harness buckling, the strap cinching, his rawboned fingers jittery but unhesitating. Technical rock climbing was Jesse’s thing—he actually taught yuppies at a downtown bouldering gym. He could do it in his sleep.

Marna flattened her whole body to the glass floor, fingers splayed, nose squished. “Why? What is the point, J? Stop!”

Into the misty chasm, her words were weak and scrabbling and basically nothing.

Jesse glanced past her. As his wild pupils settled on Fiske, his face took on a dreamy, near-euphoric blush.

The venerable teacher stood with arms folded. Impassive. Like Marna, Jesse had been encouraged by Fiske—had won kudos for his “exuberant prose style,” even been assigned an extracurricular joint project with one of Fiske’s pet students. In recent weeks, Jesse had even talked about making Winner.

“Respect your life!” Fiske called down. “Cherish it. Be the keeper of its sanctity.”

He knelt beside Marna and, placing both hands on the glass, glared down. She had a fleeting notion that the Great Man could grab Jesse, that those gnarled fingers were capable of parting glass—or transmuting through, or willing matter around, something—and rescuing him.

The blush heightened in Jesse’s face. His eyes pulsed. The sinews of his neck became taut and grotesque.

He plunged. Leading with his forehead, Adam’s apple slicing the clouds. He was a falling, twisting, shrinking blur.

Smaller, smaller…very small.

Marna had almost lost the dot when an enormous white tarp exploded upward through the fog. A block-print message snapped into view across its expanse:

LIVE BIG.

***

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!

Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Jeff Bond. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on December 1, 2018 and runs through January 1, 2019. Void where prohibited.

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Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours

Mailbox Monday

CMash December 10, 2018 1 Comment

Mailbox Monday

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Click on title for synopsis via GoodReads.

Monday
THE DREAM DAUGHTER by Diane Chamberlain ~ signed HC from Author
BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND by Heather Gudenkauf ~ eBook from Harlequin via NetGalley
Tuesday
BECOMING MRS. LEWIS by Patti Callahan ~ signed HC from Author
Thursday
SAY YOU’RE SORRY by Melinda Leigh ~ Prime eBook
Friday
THE LAST ROMANTICS by Tara Conklin ~ ARC TPB from Harper Collins

2018 Challenges

Blog All About It | Shine~Sparkle

CMash December 8, 2018 2 Comments

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This year, one of the Challenges I signed up for is Blog All About It, hosted by The Herd Presents. The guideline is basically a blogging prompt challenge. Each month there’s a different prompt that you can interpret as you’d like then create a blog post around it. The 2018 list of prompts can be seen here on my Challenge Page. I will be posting for this Challenge on the 2nd Saturday of each month.

I enjoyed this Challenge and am so excited that Anna is hosting again in 2019. Join us!!! Sign up HERE

This month’s prompt is: SHINE/SPARKLE

When I first saw the prompt for this month, my first thought was diamonds. I think it is true that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Who doesn’t like diamonds? Even my Dad loved diamonds and would say they were an investment.

The second thing that came to mind was the sparkling and shining lights on a Christmas tree.

And both these thoughts brought me back to the Christmas when I was 8 years old!

Under our tree were three brown lunch bags each tied with a bow. One for my Mom, another for my sister and the third bag had my name on it, all from my Dad. Of course, the three of us were curious, so when my Dad wasn’t around, we tried figuring out what could be in these brown lunch bags. We all agreed that we could feel walnuts. I remember my Mom saying, that she thought my Dad had lost it and had gone off the deep end.

Knowing that the three of us were anxious to see what was in those bags, my Dad prolonged the opening of the gifts for as long as he could. That year, the only presents we were truly interested in were those three lunch bags filled with walnuts and tied with a bow. I’m sure he enjoyed every second that went by aware that he was torturing us. I remember he had a huge smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

Finally….he gave each of us the bag with our name on it. We were right, the brown bags contained walnuts. But the walnuts surrounded a small jewelry box. Each held a diamond ring. This is the ring that he picked out for me when I was just 8 years old.

I will always remember and cherish that Christmas, recalling his big smile, the sparkle in his eye and the sense of pride that he fooled the three of us. Sadly, 8 years later, right after Christmas, my Dad passed away.

A memory that I hold dear and is as vivid today as it was so many years ago.

Friday Fill-ins

Friday | Friendly Fill-Ins

CMash December 7, 2018 6 Comments

Hosted by McGruffy’s Reader and 15 and Meowing

This week’s Fill-Ins:

I love buying gifts for ____________________.
I have a hard time finding a gift for ____________________.
It’s the most wonderful time _________.
There’s no place like _________ for the holidays.

My answers:

I love buying gifts for my kids and granddaughter.
I have a hard time finding a gift for my husband, which is why I didn’t include him in the previous question.
It’s the most wonderful time of year (is there any other answer?).
There’s no place like being with my family for the holidays.

2019 Challenges

CMash December 6, 2018 3 Comments

It’s that wonderful time of year!! And I don’t mean the Holidays!

If you have followed my blog for the past 9 years, you know that I’m a Reading Challenge Addict!!

I promised myself that this year I wouldn’t sign up for so many, however, I didn’t keep that promise. I’m now at 17 and waiting for 1 or 2 more to be posted.

I admit that I don’t usually finish them all, but for me, it’s just fun to participate and see how I do and to keep a record of the books I read.

Bev at My Reader’s Block is again hosting the Reading Challenge Addict! She has listed all the challenges that are available if you would like to join. Click on the link HERE

So far, these are the Challenges I have signed up for (some are just a personal record for me since there haven’t been any challenges posted for those):

GoodReads Challenge
Reading Challenge Addict
Color Coded
Mount TBR
Virtual Mount TBR
Monthly Keyword
Calendar Of Crime Reading Challenge
Alphabet Soup
Alphabet Soup ~ Author Edition
Strictly Print
EBooks
Literary Escapes
Blog All About It
NetGalley
New Release
Library Love
Cloak and Dagger

I will be keeping track of my progress and the titles read in 2019 HERE.

If you would like to join any of the above, either click on my page to grab the hosting link or go to Reading Challenge Addict to see many of the other challenges being offered.

Good Luck!

Book Review, NetGalley

Review | BEAUTIFUL BAD by Annie Ward

CMash December 4, 2018 1 Comment

BEAUTIFUL BAD by Annie Ward
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Published by Harlequin
Publication Date: March 19, 2019
ASIN: B07BW2R5WT
Pages: 368
Review Copy From: Harlequin via NetGalley
Edition: eBook
My Rating: 5

Synopsis (via GR)

In the most explosive and twisted psychological thriller since The Woman in the Window, a beautiful marriage turns beautifully bad.

Things that make me scared: When Charlie cries. Hospitals and lakes. When Ian drinks vodka in the basement. ISIS. When Ian gets angry… That something is really, really wrong with me.

Maddie and Ian’s romance began with a chance encounter at a party overseas; he was serving in the British army and she was a travel writer visiting her best friend, Jo. Now almost two decades later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America. But when a camping accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending writing therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian’s PTSD; her concerns for the safety of their young son, Charlie; and the couple’s tangled and tumultuous past with Jo.

From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and finally to an ordinary family home in Kansas, sixteen years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of a shocking crime.

My Thoughts

WOW! This was one heck of a jaw dropper!

An intense, complex and twisted story with a cast of characters that are equally complex and filled with flaws.

The story takes place in 3 main time frames, the past, present and 10 days before the killing, 9 days, etc. With that being said, and not wanting to give away even the slightest spoiler, I kept turning the pages since I wanted to know who the victim was and the possible suspect. However, there was even more that was chilling, and that was the motive.

A story that will have your heart pounding and shaking your head! It will grab you from the first page and suspenseful to the last word!

If you enjoy psychological thrillers, then this one is for you.

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

REVIEW DISCLAIMER

This blog was founded on the premise to write honest reviews, to the best of my ability, no matter who from, where from and/or how the book was obtained, and will continue to do so, even if it is through PICT or PBP.

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.

I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

Mailbox Monday

CMash December 3, 2018 1 Comment

Mailbox Monday

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Click on title for synopsis via GoodReads.

Monday:
NEVER TELL by Lisa Gardner ~ eBook from Penguin Book via NetGalley
Tuesday:
LITTLE LOVELY THINGS by Maureen Joyce Connolly ~ eBook from Sourcebooks via NetGalley
WHEN YOU DISAPPEAREDby John Maars ~ eBook Prime free
THE GIRL IN THE WINDOW by by Renee Pawlish ~ eBook Prime free
TONY’S WIFE by Adriana Trigiani ~ signed HC from Author
Wednesday:
I INVITED HER IN by Adele Parks ~ eBook from Harlequin via NetGalley
Thursday:
THE NIGHT BEFORE by Wendy Walker ~ eBook from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley