Mailbox Monday

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

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

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.

1. I love buying gifts for ____________________.

2. I have a hard time finding a gift for ____________________.

3. It’s the most wonderful time _________.

4. There’s no place like _________ for the holidays.

1. I love buying gifts for my kids and granddaughter.

2. I have a hard time finding a gift for my husband, which is why I didn’t include him in the previous question.

3. It’s the most wonderful time of year (is there any other answer?).

4. There’s no place like being with my family for the holidays.

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):

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!

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

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.

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 🔗

Mailbox Monday

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

1. I refuse to shop in ____________________.

2. A store I wouldn’t mind being trapped in overnight is _________________________.

3. I’m dreaming of _________.

4. I wouldn’t touch _________ with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.

1. I refuse to shop in malls or stores during the holidays.

2. A store I wouldn’t mind being trapped in overnight is any type of bookstore.

3. I’m dreaming of a warm winter.

4. I wouldn’t touch liver and onions with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.

Synopsis:

The son of a notorious Nazi fugitive is running for U.S. President. A Secret Service Agent sworn to protect him meets a beautiful Mossad spy determined to stop him.

Book Details:

Genre: Political, Espionage thriller
Published by: Seabridge Press
Publication Date: July 24, 2018
Number of Pages: 333
ISBN: 1724248731 (ISBN13: 9781724248732)
Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads

Author Bio:

Charles Kowalski is an active member of International Thriller Writers. His debut thriller, MIND VIRUS, won the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold Award, and was a finalist for Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award for Best Thriller of 2017. His latest, THE DEVIL’S SON, was shortlisted for the 2018 Adventure Writers’ Competition Grandmaster Award. He divides his time between Japan, where he teaches at a university, and Downeast Maine.

Catch Up With Charles Kowalski On:
Website, Goodreads, Twitter, & Facebook!

Welcome!
Writing and Reading:

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

I started this book by drawing from current events, but then current events caught up with the book – and overtaken it, in frightening ways that I couldn’t have foreseen. As C.S. Lewis once said, “The trouble with writing satire is that the real world always anticipates you, and things that were meant as exaggerations turn out to be nothing of the sort.”

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

I start with a concept. When I sit down to write, I start from the beginning and have a fair idea where the story will go. I don’t start unless I can see the ending, but invariably, there are twists and turns on the way that take me by surprise.

Are any of your characters based on you or people that you know?
Any similarity to any actual persons, events, or presidents is purely coincidental.

Your routine when writing? Any idiosyncrasies?

I have a full-time job and a family, so I write in stolen moments – on trains, in cafes, in the office after the day’s work is done, or at home after everyone has gone to bed. I often get my best ideas when I’m in motion, either going for a walk or performing some mindless task, so I’ll often have my laptop on the kitchen counter when washing the dishes or hanging the laundry, just in case inspiration strikes.

Tell us why we should read this book.

To make sure it stays in the fiction section.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I’ve been inspired by other writers of thrillers with a religious angle, like Dan Brown and Daniel Silva. I’ve also been encouraged by other Japan-based thriller writers whose scope has expanded worldwide, like Barry Eisler and Barry Lancet; I hope I can do the same, even though my name isn’t Barry!

What are you reading now?

I’m eagerly looking forward to starting the Detective Hiroshi series by a fellow Japan-based author, Michael Pronko.

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

After two highly charged, research-intensive thrillers, MIND VIRUS and THE DEVIL’S SON, I’m working on something lighter and hopefully non-controversial: a middle-grade historical fantasy set in 17th century Japan, featuring Simon Grey, an English boy who runs away to sea to escape from his “gift” of seeing ghosts.

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

Gal Gadot as Rachel. As for Henry Hale, Aaron Eckhart says he doesn’t want to play any more villains, but I hope he’d make an exception.

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?

Besides writing? Or did you mean “favorite means of procrastination”? I confess before the assembly of the faithful that I’m more easily distracted by the siren song of social media (that counts as writing, right?) and Netflix (that counts as research, right?) than I would like to be.

Favorite meal?

My default lunch on a busy writing day is spaghetti pepperoncino made with habanero-infused olive oil. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

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

Read an excerpt:

Tour Participants:

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Enter to win!

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Charles Kowalski. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on November 19, 2018 and runs through December 22, 2018. Void where prohibited.

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