{Blog Tour} The Madonna of Notre Dame - Alexis Ragougneau (Review & Giveaway)

Alexis Ragougneau

on Tour September 12-21 with

The Madonna of Notre Dame

(thriller) 

 Release date: October 11, 2016 at New Vessel Press  

ISBN: 978-1-939931-39-3 210 pages  

Website Goodreads  

SYNOPSIS

Fifty thousand believers and photo-hungry tourists jam into Notre Dame Cathedral on August 15 to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. The next morning, a stunningly beautiful young woman clothed all in white kneels at prayer in a cathedral side chapel. But when an American tourist accidentally bumps against her, her body collapses. She has been murdered: the autopsy reveals disturbing details. Police investigators and priests search for the killer as they discover other truths about guilt and redemption in this soaring Paris refuge for the lost, the damned, and the saved. The suspect is a disturbed young man obsessed with the Virgin Mary who spends his days hallucinating in front of a Madonna. But someone else knows the true killer of the white-clad daughter of Algerian immigrants. This thrilling novel illuminates shadowy corners of the world’s most famous cathedral, shedding light on good and evil with suspense, compassion and wry humor. 

REVIEW

This book tells the story about a murder that occurred at Notre Dame the day after the Feast of the Assumption.  A young woman was discovered dead in the cathedral passageway, she had been previously seen the day before at the church and near the procession.   The young women was dressed inappropriately for church, but no one said anything to her because they were overlooking inappropriately dressed women nowadays they were more worried about shirtless people or attacks.

The ending of this book is AMAZING! It really tied everything up nicely and kept me on the edge of my toes right up until the end.  What is revealed is worth reading the entire book!

The story is told through multiple points of view up until the end of the book.  We get to hear from a priest who was there that day Father Kern, the lead investigator, and also the prosecutor of the case.   Each has their own agendas and thoughts about the case.   Father Kern is the one who just couldn’t believe that the young man they suspected of the murder could have possibly done it and starts to work on figuring out who really did it.  The case eventually gets dropped by the prosecution when the lead suspect dies.

I loved the character development that the author was able to achieve throughout the book.  I loved Father Kern as a character.  The author did a great job creating a backstory for Father Kern as well as showing that he can have flaws as a priest.  The disease that Father Kern has was also very interesting to learn about and helped build him up in my eyes as more of a loner and someone who might not have had a lot of friends in the past to confide in making it hard for him to truly trust anyone.   I also liked the man who gave Father Kern some helpful tips and also saved his life.  He was a complete side character, but in my mind changed pivotal points of the story.

The author did an amazing job creating suspense within the book.  From the first suspect that they choice I wasn’t sure it was him and I was already leaning towards Father Kern’s opinion and felt like he couldn’t have done it, but then who.  The author did a great job circling back to the keys being left unattended and also timing of the events so it left a lot of people who could have been involved.   Also, I wasn’t sure where the lead detective’s loyalties where, because he just didn’t seem interested or was he more interested and not showing it.  I had a lot of questions.

I really enjoyed how the author created the chapters out of days of the week.  It really helped to put a timeframe on the events occurring.  It also showed how quickly this whole situation was resolved.  

One thing I didn’t love was the one side story that was being told throughout the book about the army gentleman.   I am not 100% sure if I missed the connection, but I didn’t really feel like that helped the story being told.  I felt more like that was a story within itself and hard to make a connection with.

I would suggest this book as a weekend or beach read.  It has a lot of action and brings up a lot of questions so it was hard to put down.  I wanted to know what was going to happen in the end.  The ending of the book is really good it keeps you on your toes the whole time.   

I received a copy of this book from France Book Tours for the purpose of providing an honest review.  This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating: 4/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexis Ragougneau is a playwright and The Madonna of Notre Dame is his first novel. He has worked in Notre Dame Cathedral helping monitor tourist crowds and knows well its infinite secrets and the forgotten souls who linger in its darkest corners.

Follow New Vessel Press on Twitter | on Facebook

Sign up to receive their latest news and deals.

Buy the book: on Amazon

***

You can enter the global giveaway here or on any other book blogs participating in this tour. Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook, they are listed in the entry form below.

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form] Global giveaway open to US residents: 1 winner will receive a copy of this book  

***

CLICK ON THE BANNER TO READ REVIEWS AND AN EXCERPT

 

{Blog Tour} A Cunning Plan - Astrid Arditi (Review & Giveaway)

A Cunning Plan

Astrid Arditi

June 8, 2016

Romantic Suspense

89,000 Words

Determined to put her family back together, Sloane Harper stalks her ex husband and his annoyingly stunning mistress, Kate Stappleton. But she’s not the only one.

Handsome IRS agent Ethan Cunning is surveying Kate too, but for entirely different reasons. He is attempting to nail Kate’s playboy boss.

Ethan and Sloane decide to help each other, which sends Sloane’s wobbly life spinning out of control. She’ll have to face danger, humiliation, and – scariest of all – the dating scene, to lure her daughters’ father home.

Losing control was the best thing to happen to Sloane…until it turned lethal.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo
GoodReads 

.......................................................................................................

Review

This books follows Sloane Harper a women who just lost her husband to divorce due to him seeing another women.  Sloane desperately wants to get her husband back and starts stalking the women he is seeing Kate.  While Sloane is stalking her husband's new girlfriend a handsome IRS agent seeks her out to do some spying on Kate's boss.  Sloane doesn't know what to do right away if she is going to help Ethan because she doesn't want to put her family in danger. 

The author does a great job with this story line.  I feel like we are presented with a lot of information up front to build the back story and who is who.  After you get the basic facts the author did a great adding in the suspense so that you kept wanting more from the book and you also started to fall in love with the characters.   I also think the story line is very unique since as a reader you really got to see what lengths a scorned women will go to and what it takes to get passed a major event in someone's life.  The author creates a whole world that you can submerge yourself in and feel connected.

My favorite character was Sloane although Claudia and Bizzy do come in second place.   Sloane doesn't really know what to do with her life and also at the beginning of the book ready to let her past life go.   Sloane really becomes an entirely different women during the course of the book.  I feel like she learns about her strength from all different sources in the book.  Sloane's children are very supportive of her and just want what is best for their mother.  I love the bond that we get to see between mother and daughter in multiple senses as we also get a look at Sloan and Bizzy's relationship.

The author did a great job with not including to much side stories that would be distracting to the book.  I felt like it was the perfect length and in the end everything fits together perfectly! 

I LOVED the ending! It was like what! 

 

The author does a great job giving us one final look at all of the characters in the end.  Also, we really get to learn about Sloane's ex husband and what her final decision is with her life.  The author also left it open for a great sequel! 

I would suggest this as a weekend read or when you have more time to sit down and read longer.  The book is very fast paced and I had a hard time putting the book down.  There was really natural stopping points you wanted to know what was going to happen next and how it was all going to end.   

I received a copy of this book from Masquerade Book Tours for an honest review.  This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating 5/5

.......................................................................................................

About the Author

Astrid Arditi was born from a French father and Swedish mother. She lived in Paris and Rome before moving to London with her husband and daughter back in 2013.

After dabbling in journalism, interning at Glamour magazine, and teaching kindergarten, Arditi returned to her first love: writing.

She now splits her time between raising her kids (a brand new baby boy just joined the family) and making up stories.

A Cunning Plan is Arditi’s first published work.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads

.......................................................................................................

 Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

 

Undecided - Julianna Keyes (Review)

Undecided by Julianna Keyes
Genres: Fiction, New Adult, Romance
Publication date: April 4th 2016
Publisher: Julianna Keyes
Format: ebook, 307 pages
How I got it: NetGalley for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 4/5
 

Nora Kincaid has one goal for her second year of college: be invisible. Last year’s all-party-no-study strategy resulted in three failed classes and two criminal charges, and if she messes up again she’ll lose her scholarship. But there’s one problem with her plan for invisibility, and his name is Crosbie Lucas: infamous party king, general hellraiser…and her new roommate’s best friend.

Crosbie’s reckless reputation and well-known sexcapades aren’t part of Nora’s studious new strategy, but as she’s quickly learning, her new plan is also really boring. When Crosbie’s unexpected gestures of friendship pull her head out of her books long enough to see past his cocky veneer, she’s surprised to find a flawed and funny guy beneath it all. The muscles don’t hurt, either.

But as Nora starts to fall for Crosbie, the weight of one of last year’s bad decisions grows even heavier. Because three failing grades and two misdemeanors are nothing compared to the one big secret she’s hiding…

..............................................................................

  

My thoughts:

This book follows Nora as she is starting her second year of college.  Nora has a very rough freshman year of college and ended up failing a good amount of classes as well as getting arrested.  So now Nora's number one priority is passing all her classes and keeping on the straight in narrow.   Nora thinks she is going to meet the perfect roommate who is also just looking to study but finds out quickly it is one of the most popular boys at the school Kellan.

My favorite character in this book ended up being Kellan, he was himself no matter what was happening.  He really stayed true to his character throughout the book and was really funny to read about.   I also felt he was totally full of himself, but you also saw his softer side of him wanting the best for his best friend.  He would always look out for the important people in his life and did have good intentions throughout the book.  I felt like as a reader we could see him grow as well as Nora from beginning to end.

The author did a great job developing the characters in the book and also the relationships between all of the characters.  Nora is the main character and we get to see the story only through her eyes.   I love the way we get to see Nora change throughout the book and also we get to see glimpses of events from last year.   The author did a great job exposing all of the characters flaws and insecurities that made them very engaging and easy to read about. 

The story was very easy to follow along and a very fast read.  I loved when we got a look at the different relationships between Nora and her coworkers.  The coffee shop where Nora works Beans does become an important place in the book and a lot of the action does happen their so the author did a great job describing the coffee shop so that I could imagine I was there. 

My one complaint with the book was the whole Nora secret.  I felt like as a reader we found out SO early in the book what the secret was and we knew it was bound to come out, but it didn't come out till way late in the book.  I kind of felt like that dragged on to long, if we found out a little later in the book the big secret I think it wouldn't have felt like I wanted Nora to just spit it out already, although I do love how it did end up coming out because once you have destroyed what you believe to be all the evidence something else comes up. 

I would suggest this as the perfect vacation read.  I read it during the week nights, but I would have loved to be able to sit down and read this book in one sitting.  It totally captivated my attention and I couldn't put it down I was always sneaking reading time whenever I could with this book. 

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

 ..............................................................................

About the Author

Julianna Keyes is a Canadian writer who has lived on both coasts and several places in between. She's been skydiving, bungee jumping and white water rafting, but nothing thrills - or terrifies - her as much as the blank page. She loves Chinese food, foreign languages, baseball and television, not necessarily in that order, and will go to her grave swearing that 'ain't' is not a word. She has volunteered in Zambia, taught English in China, and dreams of seeing pink dolphins in the Amazon. It'll happen.

Author Links:

   

Last Year's Resolution - Robert Lampros (Review)

Last Year's Resolution by Robert Lampros
Genres: Fiction, Christian
Publication date: April 25th 2016
Publisher:  Robert Lampros/CreateSpace
Format: ebook, 172 pages
How I got it: From Robert Lampros for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 3/5
 

Last Year’s Resolution is a novel about Edmund Stovender, a famous author who falls in love with Marie, a journalist who calls him for an interview just before the performance of his hit play. Their lives accelerate through an epic adventure testing their faith, strength, and love for each other, as they discover that their story might pivotally influence the fate of the world.

..............................................................................

  

My thoughts:

This is a short read about Edmund Stovender who is a very famous author and play-writer.  Edmund falls in love with Maria who is a journalist who calls him for an interview, right around the time the apocalypse starts.  The apocalypse follows the outline of the bible and sticks very close with the Bible.

I loved that aspect of religion that is followed in the book.  The author stayed very loyal to the topic and never strayed.  We got a full picture of what was going on in the world and what was going to happen in the end of the book right from the beginning.   The author quoted Bible versus and kept everything in context.   The author also did a great job creating the love story between Edmund and Maria we could see their similarities as well as disagreements in his writing.

I enjoyed Edmund as a character.  He did go through a difficult event as a child, but was able to move passed it through religion.  He also felt his writing was to help people find religion.  I think he was a very strong lead character and had a lot of ideals that he was able to pass along through his writing.  I also think that during difficult periods of time such as an apocalypse people look for outlets and his writing was an important outlet.

Things I didn't really like was the premise that events where only taking place in major cities. The fire storm was taking place in the city, but the country side was safe.  I felt like it went after very highly dense places versus the entire nation or world.  Edmund and Marie where able to escape to Iowa in which the apocalypse was sort of not occurring at the same rate as in other locations.  It was talked about more as a back thought when they were in Iowa, but when they went back to the city it picked up again.  

I suggest this as a nighttime read when you need something to take your mind off the day.  This books deals with religion and the apocalypse as the major topic, but I never felt it was overwhelming to read about and had natural stopping points.  

I received a copy of this book from Robert Lampros for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

 ..............................................................................

About the Author

Robert Lampros is an author of Christian poetry, essays, and fiction who lives in St. Louis. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis. His books include Fits of Tranquility, Illuminating Sidewalks, Om-Bork, Afternoon, Eleven Floors, What Is Sacred, and Last Year’s Resolution.

Author Links:

   

Faithful - Alice Hoffman (Review)

Faithful by Alice Hoffman
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publication date: November 1st 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster  
Format: ebook, 272 pages
How I got it: NetGalley for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 4/5
 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers comes a soul-searching story about a young woman struggling to redefine herself and the power of love, family, and fate.

Growing up on Long Island, Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt.

What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? Faithful is the story of a survivor, filled with emotion—from dark suffering to true happiness—a moving portrait of a young woman finding her way in the modern world. A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls—including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.

Here is a character you will fall in love with, so believable and real and endearing, that she captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding yourself at last. For anyone who’s ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a roadmap.

Alice Hoffman’s “trademark alchemy” (USA TODAY) and her ability to write about the “delicate balance between the everyday world and the extraordinary” (WBUR) make this an unforgettable story. With beautifully crafted prose, Alice Hoffman spins hope from heartbreak in this profoundly moving novel.

..............................................................................

  

My thoughts:

I have never read anything by Alice Hoffman, but after finishing Faithful I will now be picking up another Alice Hoffman book ASAP! 

The book follows Shelby, a girl who had a terrible accident in high school where she survived and her best friend Helene was left destroyed.  Shelby doesn't really know how to go on with her life after the accident, she thinks she shouldn't have survived so she is very depressed.   Shelby stills feels bad about herself, but starts a sort of relationship with Ben who eventually moves her to the city.  I feel this is where Shelby's life really begins to change and as a reader we get to see more of her emotions.

I did fall in love with Shelby as a character, although it did take some time because at first I kind of wanted her to get over herself and realize she was wasting her life, but these big life events take time to overcome and I feel like you need the right people in your life to overcome these events.   The author did a great job with keeping the story moving along and captivating while Shelby develops into a new person. I loved all the side characters that we got to meet in the book especially Maravelle and her family.  I feel like Maravelle really helps to pull Shelby out of her rut and show her that life is worth living.   Maravelle shows Shelby trust right off the bat and that is what she needs to get her life back on a track.

I found this book to be a very emotional read for me.  There were so many up's and downs's throughout the book I got completely sucked in and needed to know what would happen to Shelby in the end. I felt like once Shelby tried to fix her life she just couldn't catch a break and some of the events that happened to her in the book where difficult events to cope with while reading.

The author did an amazing job of emerging the reader into Shelby's life and showing us all the emotions that where going on in her head.   The entire story is told from Shelby's perspective and we went on the roller coaster ride of emotions with her.   The author took the a very serious topic of forgiving oneself and had the reader take the journey of being able to move on with your life.  

I suggest this as a weekend read it is a book that you will want to dedicate a lot of time to reading.  The story just keeps unfolding and you want to know what is going to happen to Shelby in the end. 

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

 ..............................................................................

About the Author

Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston and New York.

Hoffman’s first novel, PROPERTY OF, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. She credits her mentor, professor and writer Albert J. Guerard, and his wife, the writer Maclin Bocock Guerard, for helping her to publish her first short story in the magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff then contacted her to ask if she had a novel, at which point she quickly began to write what was to become PROPERTY OF, a section of which was published in Mr. Solotaroff’s magazine, American Review.

Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, including two books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults. Her novel, HERE ON EARTH, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. PRACTICAL MAGIC was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, AT RISK, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from LOCAL GIRLS, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. BLACKBIRD HOUSE is a book of stories centering around an old farm on Cape Cod. Hoffman's other books include AQUARMARINE and INDIGO, novels for pre-teens, and The New York Times bestsellers THE RIVER KING, BLUE DIARY, THE PROBABLE FUTURE, and THE ICE QUEEN. GREEN ANGEL, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale about loss and love, was published by Scholastic and THE FORETELLING, a book about an Amazon girl in the Bronze Age, was published by Little Brown. Little Brown also published the teen novel INCANTATION, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year. In January 2007, SKYLIGHT CONFESSIONS, a novel about one family’s secret history, was released on the 30th anniversary of the publication of Hoffman’s first novel.

Her most recent works include NIGHTBIRD, THE MUSEUM OF EXTRAORDINARY THINGS, THE DOVEKEEPERS, and THE MARRIAGE OF OPPOSITES.

Her next novel, FAITHFUL, will be released November 1, 2016.

Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Weist. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, Redbook, Architectural Digest, Gourmet, Self, and other magazines. Her teen novel AQUAMARINE was recently made into a film starring Emma Roberts.

Author Links: