Category: iread

Grace in Hollywood Book Review

iRead Book Tours

Grace in Hollywood is the second book in the riveting A Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like fiercely loyal heroines, thrilling whodunits, and the magic of old cinema, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s enthralling tale.​

About Grace in Hollywood

All that glitters… is sometimes blood. With her golden ticket buried in the ground, can she save a wrongly accused teen from the gallows?

Hollywood, 1924. Promoted to lead costume designer of a star-studded film, Grace Michelle should be on top of the world. But between her husband’s debt, her sister’s recent death, and the troubled teenaged girl she’s fostering, she’s struggling to please everyone and still keep a smile on her face. And when a Tinseltown shindig turns deadly, Grace is horrified to discover her young charge unconscious alongside the director’s grisly corpse.

Determined to prove the girl’s innocence, Grace’s own haunted past fills her sleep with prophetic nightmares. And no sooner has she sought clarity from a medium than a second body lands the scared teenager in the slammer.

Can Grace turn the camera on the real culprit before another victim ends up on the cutting room floor?

Grace in Hollywood is the second book in the riveting A Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like fiercely loyal heroines, thrilling whodunits, and the magic of old cinema, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s enthralling tale.​

My Thoughts

The glamour of Hollywood mixed in with the quiet, country life of a kind, brave woman who fosters troubled youth and you have quite the plot on your hands!

Grace is a lead costume designer for top Hollywood productions but she is a laid back, quiet woman who is not drawn into the glitz and glamour. Some of this is from being tied to her own tragic past and the nightmares that still haunt her to this date. She reluctantly agrees to host a party at her home (how can she protect the young lives she has been entrusted with and keep them away from the glitz and pain that is Hollywood) and the plot quickly escalates from here. One of the guests (also a major director who has made many enemies in his life) is found dead and the teen she is fostering is found unconscious beside him. It is a race against time as Grace must find the real killer before the young girl’s whole life is ruined.

This was an excellent, well written novel that kept you on the edge of your seat. While it was a second book in the series, it can be read on its own. Kari gives enough information about the characters that you do not feel lost in the story but also that it doesn’t take over the plot. I loved that our main character is the fierce, loyal and determined heroine that loves her foster children with her whole heart. The plot is a bit slower in the beginning but it lays the groundwork for the twists to come and I loved every moment (I couldn’t put this novel down and read it in one sitting!). This novel makes for a great summer time read sitting on the porch with a glass of wine and watching the kids play – it does not disappoint!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels.

An award-winning author, Bovée was honored with the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards Hillerman Award for Southwestern Fiction for her novel Girl with a Gun. The novel also received First Place in the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards in the Mystery/Crime category, and won First in Category in the International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Awards. It was also a finalist in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Awards. Her novel Grace in the Wings won First in Category for the 2019 International Chanticleer Chatelaine Awards. Peccadillo at the Palace won Grand Prize in the 2019 Goethe Awards, and was a finalist in the 2019 Best Book Awards Historical Fiction category.

Bovée has worked as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 Company, has written non-fiction for magazines and newsletters, and has worked in the education field as a teacher and educational consultant.

You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

You can enter the giveaway here.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Kip the Letter X Spotlight

iRead Book Tours

Kip the Letter X searches far and wide trying to find his purpose.

About Kip the Letter X

Kip the Letter X searches far and wide trying to find his purpose.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Full Cycle Publications.

Book Trailer

About the Author

Kim Patrick was born in England, raised in Britain and South Africa, and now lives in the United States. She loves animals, books, films, the letter X, and much of the rest of the alphabet.

You can connect with her on her website and Twitter.

The Giveaway!

Enter to win a signed copy of Kip the Letter X and Spartan and the Green Egg here.

Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

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The Girl in the Gold Dress

iRead Book Tours

In The Girl in the Gold Dress, Hannah’s Korean name literally means “Gold Dress,” so why doesn’t she want to be seen wearing her gold hanbok dress?

About The Girl in the Gold Dress

Hannah’s Korean name literally means “Gold Dress,” so why doesn’t she want to be seen wearing her gold hanbok dress?

10-year-old Hannah is facing a big performance for her school’s talent show. The trouble is, she’s ashamed of her dress, the dance, even the music – they’re too different, too Korean! What if everyone makes fun of her? Will Hannah be brave enough to perform, or will she run off stage like she did at rehearsal? First, she must learn about the gold dress she’s wearing and its mysterious connection to her name and her family’s past in Korea: starting with a desperate escape from war and a secret wish hidden for decades in an envelope. Can Hannah make that wish finally come true?

In this touching children’s story that spans four generations, a Korean American girl overcomes her embarrassment of her heritage to step forward with pride and share her culture with others.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and BookBaby.

About the Author

Christine still remembers the butterflies in the pit of her stomach as she performed traditional Korean fan dances as a 12-year-old growing up in Southern California. She never dreamed that over 30 years later, she would be channeling her inner fan dancer to write Hannah’s story. Christine is a second generation Korean American wife and mother of two, living in San Diego.

Christine loves telling stories for a living, which started with a 15-year career in TV news and continues today in public relations. She is the winner of six news Emmys and multiple PR awards. Christine was always an avid reader, but wished there were more Asian American book characters she could relate to (besides Claudia Kishi from The Babysitter’s Club). So she decided to create her own! Christine also enjoys singing karaoke, photography, and baking. You can learn more about Christine at www.christinepaik.com

You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

Enter to win a signed copy of The Girl in the Gold Dress here.

Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

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The Away Spotlight Tour

iRead Book Tours

Her journey takes her deep into the heart of the Away in pursuit of freedom for herself, her friends, and her community. Can she unravel the conspiracy before it’s too late?

About The Away

Sonia Peterson can’t help but be excited for the bright future ahead as she nears the end of her last year of high school. But she quickly discovers that things are not what they seem in the quiet community of Glendale. After her neighbor’s suicide and a slew of disappearances, Sonia’s friend Devon divulges one of the town’s best-kept secrets: at eighteen, residents are required to receive a serum that takes away their immoral impulses and imperfections, or they are exiled to a place called the Away. At first, Sonia can’t believe what she’s heard, but when her turn for the appointment comes, all of her worst fears are confirmed. Now, she must decide who she can trust and discover who is really at the core of the plot to rob Glendale’s residents of their elemental human nature. Her journey takes her deep into the heart of the Away in pursuit of freedom for herself, her friends, and her community. Can she unravel the conspiracy before it’s too late?

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, B&N and Mascot.

About the Author

Cassandra DeJesus is a first-time author. The Away came to her in a dream so strongly that she felt she had to write it. Cassandra’s highest education is a high school diploma with some college credits. Cassandra has worked in many different fields but has never found her true calling. It was at Bay Shore High School where she met her high school sweetheart and now husband, John DeJesus. They have two beautiful children together. Today, Cassandra continues to remain a stay-at-home mother for her two children. You can connect with her on her website, Instagram and Facebook.

Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

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To Every Page a Turning: One’s Life Journey Book Spotlight

iRead Book Tours

Traveling through hope, a great cause, disenchantment, hopelessness, discovery, and rebirth, the novel also recounts the travel of a generation as they move through time. As you read the pages of this book, you will discover a man perhaps not unlike yourself, seeking knowledge, peace, and faith.

About To Every Page a Turning: One’s Life Journey

Each man who journeys through life must travel through its season and ultimate lessons. For some, the journey is brief, and their life’s light is fleeting. They are like rockets that flare to the heavens, glowing brightly only to go black in the next instant. Still others travel what seem to be an abbreviated journey, missing some of life’s seasons, never knowing the agony or the ecstasy of what they have missed. But some live each season, taste each tear, relish each sunrise, and brace themselves against each burst of wind. They have traveled life’s highways and finally joined the many pieces of themselves into the whole person they were born to be.

When a man is clearing old files out from his garage, he comes across a folder containing an old manuscript he wrote twenty years previously as part of his recovery therapy. It had served as a catharsis for him to help transition old painful issues from his past. He was still a young man when he wrote the words, and as a senior in his seventies, he begins to reflect on his life s journey. As he reads the old papers, many memories come flooding back. He begins to find that our lives are like pages turning from one place in our lives to another, each unique, holding treasures and pains of its own, and each a window to growth, learning, and acceptance of who we are and who we were born to be.

In this novel, the journey begins in the innocence of America in the 1950s. Traveling through hope, a great cause, disenchantment, hopelessness, discovery, and rebirth, the novel also recounts the travel of a generation as they move through time. As you read the pages of this book, you will discover a man perhaps not unlike yourself, seeking knowledge, peace, and faith. Perhaps you, like he, have traveled through the paradigm shift of the twentieth century both in awe and fear of what lies ahead.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and B&N.

About the Author

Carl Buccellato was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942, and is of Italian-American descent. As a young man, he was eager to get out into the world and explore the boundaries of his hometown. Although he had a love for fishing at Coney Island Pier and singing Do Wop on the corners with friends, he knew there was much more of the world to see on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge. One of his first jobs as a teenager in New York City was working for Western Union as a messenger. It didn’t take Carl long to own the streets of the Big Apple. As he went from building to building on his bicycle delivering his envelopes, little did he know what his fate would become years later.

With a lot of hard work, perseverance, and God’s grace, a day would come when Carl would become the CEO of a publicly traded company and ink a multimillion-dollar deal in the board room of AIG, then the largest insurance company in America. In his early years, he earned a BA and MBA, married, and started a family. Today, Carl has four children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren carrying on the family legacy.

Through the years, he started several companies and has served on several Boards of Directors, including private and public companies, as well as serving on the Board of Trustees of St. Thomas University. Carl’s career has taken him literally all over the world. In the 80s and 90s he was a regular monthly contributor to a BBC broadcast in England. In 1986, Inc. Magazine featured his firm as the 12th fastest growing independent company in America. In 1984, Carl was invited to become a member of the Presidential Council of 100. This group of business leaders advised the President of the United States on several sectors of the economy and business issues. Carl served three different presidents during his time on the council: presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. Throughout his career and travels, Carl has met a broad array of different people. Some, down on their luck, some at the pinnacle of their careers and personal lives. Many of the people and their stories left a mark on Carl’s heart and mind. It is from some of these encounters that Carl has drawn inspiration for a few of the fictitious characters in this novel.

Today, Carl resides in Coral Springs, Florida, with his wife Mary Ellen. She is an award-winning multimedia artist and speaker. Together, Carl and Mary Ellen love traveling the globe and looking for new inspiration for their gifts and talents given to them by their loving God.

Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

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