Category: Riptide Publishing

Review of The Gleams from a Remoter World by Fiona Glass

Rating: 3.75 stars

Chris Mullens is a reporter/investigator for The Paranormal Times and he is slowly coming to the realization that the years have been piling up behind him while he has stayed relatively static.  He has remained at the same job for over 10 years, with no social life or partner to speak of.  He lives with Jo Perry, his co worker at The Paranormal Times and  has been her intermittent bedmate when she wants it.  The book he meant to write has never been started and lately all the leads he has followed for paranormal activity have not panned out, either they were hoaxes or just someone’s overactive imagination.  The one thing Chris has decided he wants is to win the coveted Moondust Award for the first journalist to prove the existence of ghosts and the next case their editor hands them just might do the trick if its authentic.

Their editor tells them that in the village of Kilveenan, off the coast of Galway in Ireland, there is a church said to be haunted by the ghost of a dead priest’s son, but the twist is that the son supposedly died in the Great War, so why is he haunting his father’s church? Chris readily accepts the assignment and is eager to be off, Jo Perry, his journalistic partner for the story, seems less so.  In fact she is starting to sound as though writing about paranormal events are the last thing she wants to do.  When the unhappy couple arrive in Kilveenan, they discover it’s not the church that is haunted, but the priest’s house next door and by a spirit so filled with rage that just for Chris to enter the cottage puts his life in jeopardy.

The more Chris investigates the cottage’s history, the more evidence he uncovers that involves, murder, murky family relationships, and a son that never returned to the battlefield.  And what little relationship he had with Jo is disintegrating the longer they stay in Ireland. When Chris and Jo meet up with Paulie and Bill, a gay couple on holiday staying at the same inn, Chris’ attraction to Paulie confuses things further for Chris, just when he needs all his attention to be focused on his investigation.  The ghost in the cottage is shaking Chris to his foundations, tearing him apart in every way.  Will he survive his ghostly encounter?

Gleams from a Remoter World has so many lovely elements to it, especially at this time of year.  The first thing that attracted me to the story is the setting.  I love Ireland and when a story is situated in a coastal village, you have my attention.  But even better is when the village and it’s inhabitants are so beautifully described that you feel a part of the place itself, then mark me down as a happy camper.  I loved Glass’ vivid portrait of life lived at the edge of the ocean, cold, wet winds whipping up the cliffs, moisture clinging to every surface.  The rain hitting you so hard it pummels you.  I loved the variety of people we meet (thank goodness, none are of that Irish leprechaun variety, twinkling eyes sort of thing), more of the brusk common sense type of folk.  Had this been a travel guide I would have been booking a flight out immediately. off to see Kilveenan.

I am unfamiliar with all those ghost hunting shows or the people who track down paranormal happenings, so I don’t know anything about the equipment they use.  I can see the running around ruins and graveyards (done that myself a time or two) and again the author’s gift for describing the Irish landscapes and buildings give the reader an immediate closeup feeling to the scenes underway.  I loved the ghost story here that incorporates all the good elements of a murder mystery, familial relationships, and a love affair that was hidden.  The author did a wonderful job of building the suspense with the ghostly apparitions, the drops in temperature that herald the appearance of the angry spirits, the change in color of the surroundings when history unfolds before Chris’ eyes.  Also realistic is the boring, tedious research that had to be done into the background of the church and the Anglican priest who presided over it and its members.   Fiona Glass made this part feel so very authentic, right down to the dusty tomes and hard to read signatures on ledgers.  Again, the author brought this element to life for the readers to the point we could almost breathe the musty air of the small town offices they had to visit for their information.

And then there are the characters of the story and my main quibbles come forward.  I can pretty much narrow down my issue with this story to two words: Jo Perry.  Chris Mullen, his interaction with the paranormal, and his interest in Paulie should be the main focus of the story.  But Jo Perry keeps interfering in almost every way possible, including my enjoyment in the book.  This is a m/f story that becomes a m/m story as Chris is clearly bisexual, which is just fine.  But the problem is with the amount of time she figures in the story, which is too predominate for my taste and the fact that she is inherently unlikable.  Jo Perry is supposedly a long time friend/partner of Chris, they graduated from the university over 20 years prior but does she act like a friend?  Not in any  way you would recognize.  She is distant, dismissive, uses Chris as a sexual partner when it is on her terms but possessive when he looks elsewhere.  She is rude, bratty to all about her, treats Chris like a doormat, and it turns out she is homophobic to boot!  All of this would have been fine if first she had taken up less of the story, and secondly, the author had the other characters around her react to her behavior in a realistic manner. That did not happen unfortunately.

Then there is the character of Chris Mullen, who I happened to like quite a lot. He is a quiet, thoughtful person whose good nature and calm demeanor seem to make it easy for Jo to take advantage of him.  Chris apparently dislikes confrontation to the point of submerging his wants almost completely in deference to other peoples needs and expectations.  While some might attribute that to a “lack of backbone”, I can see the glimmerings of a different take on his behavior altogether, such as an inclination towards depression.  Two much of this book involves conflicts between these two characters of Chris and Jo instead of centering in on Chris, Paulie, Paulie’s long term partnership with Bill who is suffering from full blown AIDS, and Bill, who I was sure realized that Chris was attracted to his partner.  What a wasted story element. This awkward triad had so many interesting elements going for it.  Apparently Bill has been suffering from AIDS for three years and this was a “last vacation” for them both. I wanted to know when was he diagnosed with HIV?  How had that effected Paulie? When you have a ghost filled with rage, how interesting would that have been to contrast that with the rage/anger of Paulie? Or even Bill?  Like I said, a missed opportunity to concentrate on people I wanted to know so much more about than Jo Perry.

We are given one or two hints to explain their behaviors.  She is bitter about a divorce, he is “depressed” but neither explanation is gone into detail, and it never redeems her behavior.  This is especially true when it turns out that she is homophobic to the point of rudeness and anger, attacking Chris for his bisexuality and the other men for their gay partnership (even one that is critically ill!). Chris’ depression is mentioned once or twice, but it is clear that he has never done anything about it.  Then there is the weight around his neck (and the readers) in the form of Jo.  Towards the end of the book when she has left (of her own accord by the way), Chris’ boss mentions how much Chris has moved forward in the last several weeks.  Does no one in the UK come right out and say  “Well, thank god, that soul sucking monster has left the building?” Is that not “done” over there?  And for one final blow, literally, to the reader and Chris, on her last appearance, she smacks Chris a hard one across the face when she takes insult over something innocuous he said that she misconstrued.   But does he finally let her have it, at least verbally?  No, she has her homophobic way one last time.  Little by little this character interaction just leached away my good feelings about this  book, leaving me with a sour taste in my mouth over abusive behavior given its own reward in a manner of speaking.

So, after all that, it does have a wonderful and wonderfully realistic ending, a HFN that is in keeping with the final two characters I think.  It also left me very conflicted over the rating.  So much of this book is deserving of a 4 rating or higher from the settings to the paranormal mystery to even the character of Chris Mullen himself.  But it is dragged down by the repellant persona of Jo Perry and her over the top involvement in the plot and her overextended presence on the page.  I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to pull up a chair next to Fiona Glass, hand her a red pencil and a glass of cabernet and talk about this book! Because really this is ¾ of a wonderful book.  Oh well, in any case I will certainly be looking forward to others Fiona Glass writes but color me divided when it comes to Gleams from a Remoter World.

Cover art by LC Chase.  I like the gray color tones and the ruins in the background, perfect if you are looking for ghostly ambience for the book cover.

Review: The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux

Rating: 5 stars

When Dr. Wyatt Case admits to his best friend and co worker Noah Drake that he had been hiding under his desk rather than face the acting head of Board of Trustees of his museum about the low attendance, Noah suggests a lunch break to a new bar near their work.  Noah had met the bartender over their mutual love of old motorcycles and thought both the bar and the bartender were just his boss’s type.  The Gravedigger’s Brawl was situated in an old Victorian house in an area called The Fan and the minute Dr. Case enters the bar he feels an affinity for both the bar and intriguing bartender with the kohl ringed eyes called Ash Lucroix.  Ash with his Gaslight dress, finds the history professor with his leather patches and loafers adorable and just as intriguing in his absent minded professor sort of way.  The two men share a love of history,  and their attraction to each other grows every time they see one another.

But there are strange noises are starting to be heard from all corners of the bar, sounds coming from empty floors and things are happening at The Gravedigger’s Brawl that cannot be explained by old appliances and faulty wiring,  Then Ash falls and hits his head and no one believes his explanation about a strange man standing directly behind him. Their friends think it is just all the spooky Halloween decorations and stories they have been telling but Wyatt is not so sure.  His research leads to some disturbing things that happened in the house that is now the bar.  Can the evil Wyatt has read about be coming back to life?  The answer to that question might mean life or death to all involved at The Gravedigger’s Brawl.

Wow, what a wild, spooky ride Abigail Roux turned out and just in time for Halloween.  Abigail Roux delivers a loving tale of romance wrapped in the gossamer threads of a spider’s web of murder most historical, evil deeds and ghosts determined to live once more. Abigail Roux knows how to build a suspenseful atmosphere in her stories. And here she starts weaving the threads of ghostly happenings and otherworldly beings right from the start and the first bang heard from above. The author takes the usual mindset of the average person’s take on ghosts and hauntings  then gives that outlook to most of her characters. From that standpoint the author starts to play, and ups the anxiety level for each person as more and more unexplained things start to go wrong at the bar.  You know the drill, the uneasy laugh you might cough up as the floor squeaks above you and you try to remember where your friend was and when was the last time you saw them.  She plays on our logical disbelief on all things supernatural and then makes them a reality for all involved.  Are we scared close to the end for our favorite characters?  You betcha we are!

I just love the main characters here, a gang of six, actually four with two on the edges who vibrate with life lived very distinctly on their own terms.  Starting with Dr. Wyatt Case, a true absent-minded professor whose love affair with history and his museum has seen every other part of his life slide slowly into the dust.  He even has the suede jacket patches and loafers to prove it, good thing he is also cute and adorably naive when it comes to personal relationships.  Another thing in his favor, he has his best friend looking out for him.  That would be professor Noah Drake, lithe, handsome, intelligent and as socially active as his boss is static.  A meeting with a fellow motorcycle enthusiast who just happens to be a bartender at a bar owned by a man Noah has been dying to get to know better gives Noah the idea of a way to bring both couples together. The bartender would be Ash Lucroix, quirky, preferring his Gaslight inspired suspenders and matching tongue studs (hot, hot, hot) when performing his flair on top of the bar with Ryan, the other bartender. Ash’s ex boyfriends have not always measured up to his expectations and when his attraction to Wyatt turns into a relationship stumbling block for both of them, it is his nature that helps retrieve the situation, along with some very realistic groveling from Wyatt.  And throughout all the missteps, the arguments and very hot sex, I always felt that these two were real.  Their goofy, fumbling, drunken walk home had me in stitches because who hasn’t been there and done that, at least once.  And Abigail Roux  captured that beautifully in every hysterical detail.  Even when they were on the outs and their relationship shaky, it never felt less than authentic. There is also Caleb, the English, grumpy Goth that owns the bar and eventually Noah’s heart, Delilah in her leather corsets and hooker boots, and Ryan, into leather, whips and Delilah. One after another, great characters march across the page, spouting quick, snappy dialog and living life very much on their terms.  I loved them all and have a very new appreciation for tongue piercings.

And finally, there is historical Richmond where Abigail Roux lived for several years and the ghosts that haunt that region and beyond.  With Roux, the setting is always as almost as important as the characters themselves. The author’s intimate knowledge of the city and its settings adds so much flavor and ambience to the story that it acts almost like another character within the story. Ash’s apartment lives for us because Abigail Roux lived in such a one herself for two years.  And I have to admit I was desolate to find out that The Gravedigger’s Brawl was just a glorious figment of her imagination, so vividly did she describe it.  The ghostly tales and hauntings within the story, with few exceptions, are real as well, which is not surprising in an author as dedicated to doing her research as Abigail Roux.

I don’t know if The Gravedigger’s Brawl is a stand alone story or a start of something new.  The possibility of a new start gives rise to my hope that this is not the last we have heard of this quirky, wonderfully endearing group of six people.  Maybe if we get enough voices together we can see a haunting revival next Halloween.  In the meantime, gather your candy corn, eyeball chewing gum and all the ghostly accouterments and settle down with this wonderful book, perfect for Halloween or any time of the year.

Cover art by Reese Dante.  Reese Dante gives us a wonderfully evocative cover, perfect for the story within.

Thank you, Nationals and the Week Ahead in Reviews

Well, as everyone knows by now, the Cards rallied and the Nats lost.  But oh what a season they gave us!  The Nationals had an outstanding year, giving the city something we haven’t seen in close to a century, a winning baseball team in DC.  We have Davey Johnson, Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Jason Wurth, Gio Gonzales, Ryan Zimmerman and all the others to thank for all the glorious play, the unbelievable pitches, the outstanding hits and the high drama of the outfield.  It was great!  And now we have all winter to dream of the return of the Boys of Summer.  Great job and thanks for the wonderful memories!

The weather seems more like November than mid October these days with our first frost occurring on Friday.  A portent of a hard winter to come? Perhaps.  We didn’t actually have a winter last year but I just hope Mother Nature doesn’t feel the need to make up for that and give us the snow and ice for two winters.  At any rate, the plants are getting  mulched and the gardens prepared, just in case.  The generator is in, new roof on and gutters as well.  I hope we are prepared but you never know until it comes.  At least I have lots of books to read and pumpkin spice coffee to drink.  Sigh.

Here is the week ahead in book reviews:

Monday:                               Steamroller by Mary Calmes

Tuesday:                               Texas Heat by RJ Scott

Wednesday:                         The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux

Thursday:                             Rocking Out by Emily Veinglory

Friday:                                   Three of Swords by Theo Fenraven

Saturday:                               Theory of Attraction by Cleon Lee  and Just A Summer Fling by Lily Grace

The Nationals are in the Playoffs,Teddy Won the Race and the Week Ahead in Reviews!

It’s Sunday and the weather has turned much cooler, the wind has picked up and the leaves seem to be  just flowing off the trees. Yes, fall is here.  But all is well, the Nationals are in the playoffs and Teddy has finally won a race.  Now some folks think that until the playoffs were over, Teddy should have kept losing so not as to jinx the series.  I have to admit I am kind of on their  side.  Superstition I know but if the Nats lose, you know who everyone will be pointing the finger at.  Oh my.  So I am looking for a 4 leaf clover and some luck to bind it with.  Now where’s that pesky rabbit?

Mother’s birthday is today so I am off to lunch at the farm(bringing it with me actually). So without further ado, next week’s schedule:

Monday                        Animal Magnetism Anthology

Tuesday:                       Fallen Sakura by April Moone

Wednesday:                 Keeping Promise Rock by Amy Lane

Thursday:                     In Excess by Quinn Anderson

Friday:                           By The River by Katey Hawthorne

Saturday:                       Fair Catch by Del Darcy

Review of Second Hand (Tucker Springs #2) by Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan

Rating:    4.75 stars

Paul Hammond’s girl friend has just left him after he moved to Tucker Springs to further her art career while he put his on hold.  Now he is left living in a rental house she picked out and a front yard full of her awful oversized metal sculptures.  Paul looks around him at a house he hates but has a 3 year lease he can barely afford, a job as a receptionist for a local vet, and a engagement ring he never gave to Stacy because she moved out before he could propose.  When a flyer for a neighborhood yard contest and a $500 prize is shoved in his mailbox, Paul decides to enter and use the money to pay his bills.  But how to get the money to buy the plants for the yard? And that’s when Paul remembers meeting El Rozal at his Pawn shop when Paul was buying a necklace for Stacy.  Armed with kitchen appliances he never wanted to buy in the first place, Paul heads off to El’s shop and changes his life forever.

El Rozel’s life is stuck in one gear, that of family and work.  El deals with family matters including a mother who hoards, he does laundry with his best friend at the Laundromat on Friday’s and the rest of the time is spent at his pawn shop.  El realizes he is stuck in a pattern but doesn’t know how to change it.  Then Paul Hammond, adorable, confused, freckle-faced Paul Hammond enters his shop and his world tilts on its axis.  He knows Paul is straight because he has listened to Paul when he was buying the necklace.  But that doesn’t seem to matter, everything about Paul draws El closer.  Paul is kind, naive, generous and easily hurt.  He is also incredibly sexy even if he doesn’t know it.  El wants him in his life in any way possible.

Paul wants to come first in someone’s life, to stop being everyone’s second choice.  El knows first hand that someone else’s seconds can be the treasure another has always  wanted and Paul is that one person El has been waiting for.  Now all he has to do is persuade the man to give him the chance to change both of their lives forever.

I loved this story.  Under the definition of warmhearted in the dictionary you will find the cover of this book and deservedly so.  Take two well-known authors whose books are beloved by many, throw in Sexton and Cullinan’s talent for giving us characters who are both quirky and  unusual and we have Second Hand, a novel of two men trying to deal with life’s disappointments and finding love in unexpected  places.  I read this book twice for the good feelings and happy thoughts it left me with after putting it down.  What’s even more remarkable is that  Second Hand is an effortless read considering all the themes involved in the plot.  Tucker Springs, Colorado acts as the location for the series and it’s the perfect choice as its richness of history, Light District, and other characteristics match up brilliantly with the characters living there.

And what charming, affecting characters they are.  Paul Hammond is that one who is oblivious to the way he affects others.  He has grown up feeling less successful than his siblings, his one girlfriend has just left him for someone who has achieved more materially, and he left college without  meeting his goal of being a veterinarian. But he doesn’t see what other people do when they look at him.  Someone who is kind, cute, tenderhearted, great with animals and people alike.  Some who happens to be absolutely adorable.  Paul is so likable, so genuine that you root for him to succeed from the very first page.  El Rozel is a wonderful complementary character for Paul Hammond.  El comes from a large family who   impacts his life on a daily basis, from his sisters and their kids, to his abuela and mother with their house so stuffed full of objects that just moving down the hallway is a challenge.

El Rozel jumped from the pages of Second Hand with a clarity few characters achieve with their first impressions.  As the smoke from his cigarette rises about him, so does his view of life and its disappointments hang around him like a cloud. El watches his sister ignore his advice as she jumps from one bad relationship to the next. And he’s awful when he tries to intervene with his mother Patty’s hoarding to little effect.  El wants things to change in the lives of those he loves but feels helpless when it comes to solutions. I love how the authors give us two men stymied by life and disappointments and makes them the catalyst for change in each other’s lives.  El starts helping Paul empty his life of meaningless objects that came along with his relationship with Stacy.  Paul starts giving El the power to see changes happening in someone’s life.  Paul gives El hope that change can happen and then gives him hope that love can happen for them both.    And all of this relationship movement, all of this building of self worth is carried out realistically, with nary a wrong touch to the process or misstep in characterization.

Sexton and Cullinan also deal delicately and with sensitivity when it comes to Paul’s feelings about his sexuality.  Paul had one disastrous gay encounter in his youth that causes him to put aside his attraction towards men and concentrate on women.  That is if you can call a one woman experience a change in sexuality.  It comes across, even to Paul, as more a convenient sexuality, one more acceptable to society, than Paul having a true bisexual nature.  If Paul had truly been bisexual, Stacy ‘s attraction for him would have gone beyond representing a “normal lifestyle” as she does for him to one of being physically drawn to Stacy which he is not.  Because the one person he is truly attracted to?  That would be El in every way.  El is the person he wants to spend time with, whose Cover conversations he enjoys and is the person Paul wants to take to bed.  But it takes time for Paul to realize all this and the authors give it to him and to us.  This is not a “gay for you” story but a slow acceptance of one’s true sexuality.  Paul has to have time to look at his past history and reexamine his actions before he can accept that he wants El as much as El wants him.  The authors handle Paul emotional growth in such a beautiful, realistic manner that I wanted to start handing out gold stars right then and there.

An equally serious issue addressed here is that of hoarding.  Hoarding is a disease that affects families everywhere.  Both authors show how hoarding is a disease that hurts those affected by it on so many levels, from the day to day reality of living with gargantuan clutter to the embarrassment of not wanting to have outsiders see the living conditions at home.  Sexton and Cullinan give us the  screaming arguments of the family stressed out by their efforts to deal with the hoarder and the pain of the person in the throes of the disease.  I cannot begin to give them enough credit for the sensitive manner in which they handled this problem within the story.  Again, it was just so beautifully done.

The Tucker Springs series is interesting in itself as it is being written by different authors.  The first in the series is Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1) by LA Witt, which I have not read.   There is an actual website for this series TuckerSprings.com.  Find it here.  There will be more books in the series and I for one can’t wait.  Pick up Second Hand and become acquainted with a town and characters you will not soon forget.  I know I will be going back to visit there often.

What a wonderful cover.  Perfection in every way.

Available from Riptide Publishsing, Amazon, and All Romance eBooks.

It’s Football Season and I’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, the Week Ahead in Reviews and A Cocktail

It’s Labor Day weekend here in the States, a time to hunker down and celebrate the end of summer.  For some families this means a last dash to the beach or the start of school. It is also the start of football season.  It’s the start of tailgating parties, stadium crowds and team colors.  Mine used to be red and yellow, the colors of the  Washington Redskins, my family’s team.  It all started with my Dad.  He loves the Redskins.  We have been fans through thick and thin as they say.  I can even remember Dad taking me to a Redskin home game when they were coached by Vince Lombardi. That was 1969.  My dad and his friend Tom Cox had a group of season tickets and when one of “the gang” couldn’t go, Dad brought me.  What a thrill.  Redskin fans are beyond fanatical, they are legendary.  And every game, RFK shook from the ground to the rafters with their fervor.  I will never forget it as long as I live. Screaming until I was hoarse, the people towering around me as all stood to watch a play on the field and then the ride home, Dad’s either thrilled because we won or furious with a loss. Later on, the ride home included Dad listening to Sonny and Sam (that’s Sonny Jurgenson and Sam Huff) dissect the day’s game.  We had Redskin blankets, hats, and scarves.  We went through the George Allen and Jack Pardee years before we arrived at the Golden Age.  That would be owner Jack Kent Cooke, affectionately known as The Squire, Bobby Beathard the GM, and Joe Gibbs, the Winningest Coach of them all.  From 1981 to 1992, we basked in the glory that was the Redskins and quite frankly made up for all the years it took to get there.

But 10 years ago, the Squire died and Dan Snyder bought the team.  I hung in there as long as I could but the soul went out of them that day.  Dan Snyder single handedly has ruined the Redskins for me (and many others).  How can you back a team when the owner sues it’s fans? When die hard season ticket holders could no longer afford their season tickets because of the economy (some losing everything), the Redskins sued their fans to recover the costs of the passes, even a grandmother living on retirement! No other team did that. Made the headlines, they recanted, a bit.  Still did it though.  Then a small free newspaper takes Dan Snyder to task over his actions.  He sues the newspaper!  I guess free speech is not to be tolerated in Snyder territory.  On and on it goes, one man’s arrogance and bad karma wiping out half a century of fans adoration and goodwill.

And now I give up.  I won’t root for them any longer.  Some will say the very name “Redskins” is cursed.  Perhaps they are right. It’s long past the time to retire a name offensive to so many.  Maybe I will look around for another team to root for.  The Ravens don’t do it for me.  I like the Packers and the Saints.  So who knows?  In the meantime, I have the Capitals and Ted Leonsis to cheer for.  And The Washington Nationals have risen above their “Natinals” days to become an inspiration and a team worthy of cheering for and not just because they are winning, but winning in the right way!  Go, Nats!   Without football, perhaps I will have more time to knit, certainly to read.  And reflect on the past.

This coming week’s reviews are:

Monday:                      Solid As A Stone by Amylea Lyn

Tuesday:                      Gambling Men, The Novel by Amy Lane

Wednesday:                Jewel Bonds series by Megan Derr

Thursday:                    One Day At A Time by Dawn Douglas

Friday:                          Summer Sizzle by Berengaria Brown

Saturday:                      Vocabulary Gone Bad Looks at Sexy(Not) Dirty Talk or Spank Me Harder, Bunny Poo!

Our last summer cocktail to finish out the summer this Labor Day weekend for those of you in the States is the Sidecar!

The Sidecar. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 lemon wedge
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) Cognac
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) Cointreau or other Triple Sec orange liqueur
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) fresh lemon juice
1 cup ice

Directions:

Spread superfine sugar on small plate. Rub lemon wedge halfway around rim of chilled martini or coupe glass. Dip moistened side of glass in sugar to lightly coat outside rim of glass. Set aside.
In cocktail shaker, combine Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice. Add ice and shake vigorously until well chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into prepared martini or coupe glass and serve.

Review of Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run #6) by Abigail Roux

Rating: 5 stars

Zane Garrett has moved in with Ty Grady, his lover and FBI partner and life is good.  There are no dangerous cases pending at the FBI,their workload consists of paperwork to be completed on back cases.Now they are enjoying the lull in action and adjusting to living together with all its perks, including their temporary pesky cats.  But a phone call from his sister in Texas interrupts Zane’s equilibrium and he stalls in answering Ty’s questions about the call.  In fact, Zane has never been very forthcoming with information about his family.  Ty can only guess from the tenseness in Zane’s body language and pained silences when the matter comes up that Zane’s relationship with his family is strained at best.  The only family member Zane occasionally talks about is his sister, Annie and his niece.  Ty’s family, on the other hand, is a known factor to Zane and both men travel to West Virginia after Mara, Ty’s mother calls them home.

While at the Grady homestead an acute observation brings out revelations about their current relationship as well as the Ty’s past and the Grady family dynamics may never be the same. And while Ty and Zane are dealing with the emotional aftermath of the Grady family visit, Annie calls Zane again, this time to say their father has been shot.

Family relations and responsibilities reach out to ensnare Ty and Zane from West Virginia to Texas even as they try to solve the mystery of  the shooting on the Garrett ranch.  Can their relationship withstand the pressure from their families as well as their own insecurities? Ty and Zane have to solve the mystery behind the attacks on the ranch and work for their families acceptance before they can go forward into a shared future.

I got the book at midnight before the server crashed, read through the morning and then started over again. So now I sit here, tired and yet throughly satisfied the story, with Abigail Roux, and the direction Ty and Zane’s relationship is headed.  Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run #6) is less action adventure then it is an exploration of both mens past, their present relationship, and the possibilities that their future might hold.  In each previous book, another layer gets pulled back and more of either Ty or Zane’s history is revealed.  Up until now, it has been mostly Ty.  In the last book (Armed & Dangerous), we learned of Ty’s ordeal, taken hostage and tortured, during a secret mission for the Marines.  We will hear more about that during the events here.

In Stars & Stripes, both men have to deal with family issues of past hurts, parental love, as well as family acceptance that have been lurking just under the surface since book one. Ty has always had a strained relationship with his father, wanting his approval while feeling that he never quite measured up to Earl’s standards.  Tense scenes between both Earl and Ty have played out throughout the series. As Ty and Zane’s relationship deepened, Zane’s opinion of Earl and his treatment of Ty colors Zane’s view of Ty’s family. And while Zane has had a front row seat for some of the Grady family altercations and squabbles, Ty has no knowledge of Zane’s background with his family, as Zane refuses to talk about them and his past.  Between them, it is both all and nothing, a status that is about to change for Ty and the reader when the setting changes to Texas.

Once upon the Garrett family ranch, Ty and the reader start to see a totally different Zane.  Here Zane’s past is laid out before us and part’s of Zane’s character development is clarified to all.  Once more, Abigail Roux, reveals additional depths and dimensions to the characters Ty and Zane that we thought we knew.  I love that even after five books, we are discovering new emotional territory with both men even as they discover it themselves.  I find this highly realistic as it is a true measure of a relationship’s growth that a person can shed more of their inner walls to become vulnerable to the person they love, just as Zane and Ty do here.  And if we are talking characterizations, and we are, then Roux grabbed my expectations of Earl’s behavior, shook them like a cat with a mouse, returned them to me in a completely different state.  Do not look for cardboard characters or a one trick pony here, you won’t find them.  The people you meet between these pages, whether they live in West Virginia or Texas, are as authentic a bunch as you will meet, complete character portraits.  I love Harrison Garrett, what a great creation. Same goes for all of Ty’s family,Earl, Mara, Deuce, including the irrepressible Chester and his shovel.I loved Annie and Sadie and hope we will see more of them too.

Let’s talk location, shall we?  It’s all about vivid descriptions and homework needed to make the places come as alive as the people in it.  Abigail Roux is great with the first one and does the second in abundance.  Her blog was full of her travels to Texas and her visit to the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Boyd, Texas, complete with photos.  And it shows.  As Ty and Zane visit the Animal Sanctuary next to the Garrett ranch we get a feel for the look and sounds of big cats rescued, both their appeal and the fear.  We feel the heat and the sounds, the smells that come with summer in Texas where the air is so dry the dust coats the skin, and manure is both pungent and pervasive. Roux made me want to get on the plane and experience it all myself, just as Ty and Zane do.  I wasn’t in my bed reading my Kindle, I was on horseback traversing uneven ground past cacti and heat baked plains.  Just marvelous.

Yes, there is action and adventure but the focal point here is Ty and Zane’s relationship and how it affects their families. That can be far more treacherous and scary than any spy or traitor.  Throw in an injured father and explosive family dynamics, and this newest addition to the Cut & Run series equals anything that has come before.  But Abigail Roux leaves us with a mystery and a hint about Zane’s past that may be returning to threaten them all.  I hope I am reading this right.  The anticipation is building again.  The author says we are getting nine books.  That’s 3 more to go.  I can feel explosions on the horizon.  So here I sit.  Waiting.  Is that a Shelby Mustang I hear coming?  Please don’t make us wait too long.

Cover.  Love the covers by LC Chase.  They were listed in my best series cover.  Find it here.

Ten percent of the sales of Stars & Stripes are going to IEAS per Abigail Roux’s website and author’s note.

How to support Big Cat and Exotic Animal Rescue:

International Exotic Animal Rescue (IEAS) link here.

Cut & Run Series:

Armed & Dangerous , #5 – read my review here  written by Abigail Roux

Divide & Conquer #4, Fish & Chips #3, Sticks & Stones #2, Cut & Run #1 – all of these written by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux

Olympic Games, the Week Ahead in Reviews and The Michelada Cocktail

So many things going on to talk about today.  First let’s get right to the Olympics.  Closing ceremony is tonight, bringing to an end one of the best Olympics I can remember.  I have been glued to the television watching this incredible spectacle unfold from the beginning, from the high drama of the swimming pools and gymnastic mats to the cross country course of the Equestrian events to the river and glistening rowers then to track and field, and all the sports in between.  So many athletes, so many stories, so many tears of sorrow to match the tears of joy.  How not to feel a part of something bigger, to feel connected to other nations and nationalities when you see people cheering the athletes on regardless of the colors they wear or the countries they represent.  Oscar Pistorius? Who wasn’t cheering that man on?  Some of my favorites? Katie Ledecky, Misty  and Terri, Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis, Michael Phelps, Gabby and the rest of the US gymnastic womens team,  Misty Franklin….so, so many.

And what will the closing ceremony look like?  Who knows?  After the dancing nurses and their twirling hospital beds, massive shrubbery moving, the Tor, and best torch ever, I am waiting in anticipation to be confounded, baffled, and touched beyond measure.  I know we will all be watching it together.

I am also going into this week with a working generator (dances for joy) so once more I am able to enjoy the rumble of thunder, the darkening skies, the sound of pounding rain for their beauty and music, secure in the knowledge that a storm no longer equals loss of power, food and appliances!  Take that, Pepco.  Now only if I could send you the bill.

Finally, Monday brings my review of Stars & Stripes, the latest in the Cut & Run series from Abigail Roux featuring Ty and Zane.  So many people were trying to download their pre-ordered copies at midnight on the 11th that they crashed the servers over at Riptide Publishing.  Wow.  So was the wait worth it?  Read my review on Monday.  So here is what the week is looking like in books:

Monday:                                Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run #6) by Abigail Roux

Tuesday:                                Synchronous Seductions Trilogy by Haven Fellows

Wednesday:                         Inertia (Impulse #1) by Amelia C. Gormley

Thursday:                             Brook Street: Thief by Ava March (rescheduled from last week)

Friday:                                   Mending the Rift Series by Valentina Heart

Saturday:                               Word Play Anthology by the Story Orgy authors

And finally our summer cocktail of the week. The Michelada, perfect for grilled foods and watching Olympic closing ceremonies!

The Michelada

Ingredients:

1/4 teaspoon piquin pepper
1/4 teaspoon salsa picante
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (12-ounce) can Mexican lager, chilled

Garnish: lime wedge

Directions:

In tall beer glass, stir together pepper sauce, salsa, lime juice, salt, and lager. Garnish with lime and serve immediately.

Happy viewing and have a great week!