You’re invited back to Stoney Ridge for a story of dreams deferred and hopes fulfilled in The Devoted.
Bright, curious, and restless, Ruthie Stoltzfus loves her family but is stuck in a sea of indecision about her future: Should she stay Amish? Or should she leave? She’s done all she can to prepare to go–passed the GED, saved her money–but she can’t quite set her journey into motion.
Patrick Kelly is a young man on a journey of his own. He’s come to Stoney Ridge to convert to the Amish and has given himself thirty days to learn the language, drive a buggy, and adapt to “everything Plain.” Time, to Patrick, is of the essence. Every moment is to be cherished, especially the hours he spends with Ruthie, his Penn Dutch tutor.
Ruthie’s next-door neighbor and cunning ex-boyfriend, Luke Schrock, is drawn to trouble like a moth to a flame. Rebellious, headstrong, defiant, Luke will do anything to win Ruthie back–anything–and Patrick Kelly is getting in his way.
Suzanne is celebrating the release of The Devoted with a special giveaway!
One winner will receive:
A copy of The Devoted
An iPad Mini 2 16GB
Enter today, but hurry! The giveaway ends on November 2. The winner will be announced November 3 on Suzanne’s blog.
Enter to win by filling out the giveaway widget below, or click the graphic above to enter to win.
Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something, especially when he owns the property that has been kept a secret to him.
About The Murders at Astaire Castle
Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop – even though he owns the property. It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!
Topping the list of the 10 top haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago – and Mac Faraday owns it!
In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.
What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet – including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.
My Thoughts
The Murders at Astaire Castle is a fantastic, adventure (and murder packed!) audio book that you don’t want to hit pause – you don’t want to miss what happens next to Mac Faraday and Gnarly!
This novel was intense, full of mystery and suspense. You need to give the audio book (and I am sure the novel as well) your full attention. There are lots of murders and information that you can easily miss if you are not paying full attention. I found myself going back at some points to ensure I had key figures right (editors, authors, etc..). The story evolved in such a way that I did not expect! What began as a superstition that you thought was easily solved, turned into a cycle of past murders that prompted a new set of murders! Just when you think the story can not possibly make another twist, it did! It was very well written and thought out. The ending was nothing what I expected but was incredible. It literally blew my mind!
Gnarly (you have to give such a cute character some love!), was his usually spunky and hard-working dog! He makes me laugh with his antics (garbage dump diving) but is such a hard-working, intelligent partner. He played a big part as usual in this novel.
The Murders at Astaire Castle was an intense, suspenseful murder mystery that you will truly love! It is a definite must read.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Audible.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries. The twelfth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder will be released June 2016.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV. You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.
Topping the list of the ten most haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders – and Mac Faraday owns it! In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late Mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner. What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders.
What gave you the idea/inspiration for this book?
For The Murders at Astaire Castle, I wanted to do a Halloween mystery. What better than a haunted house—or better yet a castle? Of course, you needed a murder mystery. Then, I asked, who would be the victim? Who else but a paranormal author.
Halloween has always been a fun time. It’s the time to break out and be someone else. As a child, I would pretend to be one of the Bobbsey Twins searching for clues to lead me to a secret treasure. If I was lucky, it was made up of chocolate. As a teenager, I was Nancy Drew. Always, when October rolled around, I craved mysteries with something extra added—something beyond the normal—something supernatural.
But I wasn’t looking to do a paranormal book. I am a murder mystery writer and I love murder mysteries. So, it had to be a murder mystery with a supernatural touch.
The Murders at Astaire Castle has a touch of everything. We have the dark and spooky castle with rumors of a curse. We have hidden passage ways. Things happening that defy a logical explanation. We even have a wolf man! And it’s not Gnarly.
What have readers most enjoyed in The Murders at Astaire Castle?
Gnarly! Gnarly is part of Mac Faraday’s inheritance. A German Shepherd, Gnarly has the distinction of being the only K-9 dishonorably discharged from the United States Army. The army refuses to talk about it and gets nasty when asked.
In The Murders at Astaire Castle, Gnarly gets into a fight with a wolf man and actually gets bitten. This raises a question, which does get explored. Everyone knows what happens when a man is bitten by a wolf man. He turns into a wolf. But what happens when a dog gets bitten by a wolf man? Does he turn into a man?
Readers have loved the tone of The Murders at Astaire. It is a mystery and keeps the tone of the series. Yes, there is a paranormal element injected into it—some of which has a logical explanation, while other paranormal events are not explained at all. Those parts are left entirely up to the readers’ imagination.
Tell our readers about Mac Faraday, the main character in the Mac Faraday mysteries?
Mac Faraday could be your next-door neighbor, who happens to be an exceptional detective. Raised in a middle-class family, Mac Faraday was a hard-working, and sometimes unappreciated, homicide detective. He had devoted his life to his job and family only to have it all taken away through no fault of his own.
A twist of fate gives him the last laugh. On the same day that his divorce becomes final, after his wife had left him and took everything except their bills, he inherits $270 million dollars from his birth mother—Robin Spencer, the American version of Agatha Christie.
Talk about poetic justice! Suddenly, he’s thrust into high society and unbelievable wealth.
However, Mac is strong enough to hold onto his values and not be swayed by all the extravagance surrounding him. If anything, he is confused and amused by the decadence of his neighbor’s lives.
What themes do you address in your many mysteries?
The Mac Faraday Mysteries are purely for entertainment, and the puzzle of solving the murders. However, when the reader comes away, if they choose to think about it, there’s usually a lesson that Mac and his friends take away from the case. Often, it has to do with life, love, family, and most certainly family.
For example, in the very first Mac Faraday mystery, It’s Murder, My Son, we discover that Mac specifically came to Spencer to meet his half-brother David O’Callaghan, who Robin tells him about in her journal. It wasn’t the money and prestige of being Robin Spencer’s heir—though that is nice to have—it was his quest for family. Without question or jealousy on either man’s part, they form a quick and close brotherly friendship which continues throughout the series.
The Murders at Astaire Castle takes a look at the supernatural. Mac does not believe in ghosts, curses, or hauntings. While his brother, David is a logical type of person, he claims that he had seen things at the castle that scare him, something Mac pokes fun at. This leads to a discussion about having your mind open to the possibility that there are things “out there.”
Joshua’s eldest son, Joshua “J.J.” Thornton Jr., has graduated at the top of his class from law school and returns home to spend the summer studying for the bar exam. However, to Joshua’s and Cameron’s shock and dismay, J.J. moves into the main house at Russell Ridge Farm, the largest dairy farm in the Ohio Valley, to rekindle a romance with Suellen Russell, a onetime leader of a rock group who’s twice his age. Quickly, they learn that she has been keeping a deep dark secret.
The move brings long-buried tensions between the father and son to the surface. But when a brutal killer strikes, the Lovers in Crime must set all differences aside to solve the crime before J.J. ends up in the cross hairs of a murderer.
But wait! There’s more!
On January 1, 2017, the latest Thorny Rose Mystery will be released! In A Fine Year for Murder, Jessica Faraday and her husband, Murphy Thornton, dive into the cold case murder at a family owned winery.
After ten months of marital bliss, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton are still discovering and adjusting to their life together. Settled in their new home, everything appears to be perfect … except in the middle of the night when, in darkest shadows of her subconscious, a deep secret from Jessica’s past creeps to the surface to make her strike out at Murphy.
When investigative journalist Dallas Walker tells the couple about her latest case, known as the Pine Bridge Massacre, they realize Jessica may have witnessed the murder of a family living near a winery owned by distant relatives she was visiting and suppressed the memory.
Determined to uncover the truth and find justice for the murder victims, Jessica and Murphy return to the scene of the crime with Dallas Walker, a spunky bull-headed Texan. Can this family reunion bring closure for a community touched by tragedy or will this prickly get-together bring an end to the Thorny Rose couple?
Disclosure: I received an audible copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
A desperate call for help, finds Bianca back in the US with her team of friends, in Corporate Citizen.
About Corporate Citizen
A call for help from an old friend lands Bianca and the crew back in Boston. On a timeout with Dante, due to revelations in the aftermath of the showdown in Naples, Bianca is drawn to a mysterious new ally who understands the traumas of her past, and has some very real trauma of his own. Murder, designer drugs, and a hacker named Magician challenge our team, and Bianca learns that leaving Rendition behind might be much harder than she thinks.
My Thoughts
I could not wait for Corporate Citizen to be released! I fell in love with the first four books in the Roma Series and this was on my MUST READ list. I always get nervous when I read the next book in a series, will it be as good as the previous one, will the characters change or will it be the same? Corporate Citizen was the PERFECT addition to the Roma Series – it was exciting, fresh, adventurous and I was unable to put it down!
Bianca is an incredible young woman and has to be one of my all time favourite characters of any book that I have ever read. She is independent, strong, intelligent and never apologizes for who she is (well not directly!). In this novel, while on a break from Dante (her boyfriend), she meets another young man who is directly tied into her new case in Boston. He is a troubled young man but one who understands her past, the trauma that it has caused her and it is amazing to see her open up to him. We see this whole new side of Bianca and you fall in love with her more.
The plot line itself was intense and amazing – something Gabriel is excellent at! He draws you right into the story and it is so intense you literally can not put the book down. The story opens up at the right spots, giving you just the right amount of information when you need it and leaves you guessing for the rest. The new hacker, Magician, adds a whole new level of excitement to this novel! He adds more mystery into an already adventure packed novel.
Corporate Citizen is another MUST read! You will not be disappointed with this story and while you are at it, check out the whole Roma series. This series based on Bianca and her “team” are incredible and you will not want to miss one moment of their exploits.
Gabriel Valjan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Roma Series, available from Winter Goose Publishing. Gabriel has also written numerous short stories and essays found online and in print. You connect with him on his website, Twitter and Facebook.
Are you tired of living your life according to the labels that have been slapped onto you? Do you feel you are always pressured to conform to other people’s ideas of who they believe you are? Do you feel destined to live a life of mediocrity and unhappiness, despite the fact that you know you are meant for something bigger?
About Journey Out of Fat, Dumb and Ugly
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you will easily identify with journey. Journey is a lost and tortured soul on a personal quest to escape the physical, mental and emotional servitude of the unfair labels, invisible barriers, and dire consequences of a lifetime of decisions made out of fear and feelings of inferiority. Journey’s Path to freedom is a dramatic, tear-jerking, yet funny roller-coaster ride that beautifully demonstrates how to:
Change the directions of your thoughts and life.
Use the power of your pain to discover and serve your life purpose.
Eliminate toxic relationships and self-sabotaging behavioral patterns.
You have the power to remove whatever labels have been placed on you. If you know there’s more to you than meets the eye, and you’re determined to break free of a lifetime of painful stereotypes and a mediocre, dissatisfied existence, then this book is your key to opening the door to the exceptional life that you always imagined.
Cherie Esteves was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the city she so affectionately calls her first love. There she was deeply rooted and heavily influenced by the rich, diverse crosspollination of the European American culture that makes New Orleans one of the most unique and intriguing cities in the world. Cherie moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1989, where she raised her two beautiful children and has continued to live for over twenty years. Her production company’s name, Creole Peach Productions, was born out of her alliance to both cities. You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.
The joys of being pregnant – endless choices, suggestions and worries! Bun 2 Babe: Routines and Strategies for Nurturing Your Baby through Age Two: A Personal and Informative Guide From a Mother of Four gives you all the information you will ever need!
About Bun 2 Babe: Routines and Strategies for Nurturing Your Baby Through Age Two: A Personal and Informative Guide From a Mother of Four
You’re expecting! Congratulations…and welcome to a seemingly endless string of choices: Doctor or midwife? Home or hospital birth? All natural or epidural? Cloth or disposable diapers? Breast-feeding or formula?
Now take a deep breath. Modern motherhood is full of possibilities and Bun 2 Babe is here to help you navigate your options. While there are numerous parenting books available, not many present firsthand accounts of multiple methods in a uncompetitive way. After having four children herself, author Charlotte Ryan, B.Sc. Hon., B.Ed., MA, knows from experience that what is right for one mother or child is not necessarily best for another.
Personal, practical, and at times downright hilarious, Bun 2 Babe guides you from pregnancy through raising a toddler with helpful advice and strategies pertinent to each stage. Discover what’s available, from birth choices to child-care options, so you can make an informed decision that fits your baby and your situation. Your baby is lucky to have you—you’re going to be a great mom!
My Thoughts
Finally a pregnancy and parenting book that you will LOVE! Charlotte writes in an amazingly personal manner with humour and love for her children and being a Mother. You can easily connect with both her and her parenting style. She is honest and real, she doesn’t give you the story or product advice that you want but that you need.
What I had to love the most was that Bun 2 Babe is not only great for first time parents but great for second, third and fourth time parents. Each pregnancy, delivery and first two years is different for every child. For my first son, I had a vacuum assisted delivery and it was quick and painless. My second son had to be induced and labour was long and painful. While my first son had difficulties with breastfeeding, my second son didn’t. Charlotte exposes you to every option out there from prenatal/antenatal care, to labour and delivery and raising your baby. When you have had four children, you have done and see it all! Her wisdom and experience truly shines out in this book. My favourite part was her own advice on how to remove those pesky boogers from your baby’s nose. I hated those nasal aspirators – they never worked. The only thing that truly works? Giving slight pressure on your baby’s nose by sucking on the end to pull it out. Yup – you have truly done it all when it comes to your kids! Talk about true love.
Another favourite part of mine was the section on breastfeeding. While she does encourage you do breastfeed (she also gives you sections on bottle feeding so don’t be afraid!), the best part was her explanation of the emotional connection. Too often we hear all about the health benefits but breastfeeding is truly beautiful. You feel so utterly connected (and not that I didn’t with my first son so please don’t take it the wrong way!) and time just freezes in that moment. I was reading this section while I was waiting for blood work and I actually started to cry in the lab’s waiting room.
Bun 2 Babe is honest, real, full of love, humour and advice. Charlotte has a wealth of wisdom but speaks to you as another Mother who gets it. We just want to enjoy pregnancy and parenthood. We want the best for our baby but we also want to keep some sanity (say no to back zippers and buttons for infants!). This book is truly special and deserves to be on every baby shower must buy list.
Charlotte Ryan is a busy mom of four fantastic kids and is a special education teacher. She received her master’s degree in education from the University of Toronto, and she continues to learn every day. Charlotte enjoys yoga, vegetarian cooking, skiing, horseback riding, painting, and exploring the outdoors. She lives outside Toronto, Ontario, with her handsome husband, cute children and big dog. You can connect with her on her site Bun 2 Babe.
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