Shelf Candy Saturday No. 258: Suitors and Sabotage, by Cindy Astey

Welcome to Shelf Candy Saturday!

This is my weekly feature

showcasing beautiful covers!

It also provides information, 
if available, on their 
very talented creators!

Here's my choice for this week!

Suitors and Sabotage
Cindy Anstey
Hardcover, 336  pages
Swoon Reads
April 17, 2018
Art, Historical Fiction, Mystery,
Romance, Suspense,
Young Adult Fiction

My Thoughts About This Cover

Here is another GORGEOUS cover in which typography is one of the important design elements, although not the only one, of course. And I LOVE everything about this cover! It's obviously a Regency romance, in the vein of Jane Austen's novels, although mystery and suspense are also included in the plot. What I think is most noticeable, though, is the romance element, due to the beautiful silhouettes. 

I ADORE all of that ornamental scrollwork all over this cover! Those swirls lead the eye everywhere, and one takes in not only the couple at the bottom of the cover, but also the nicely framed title, done in a typical, and very lovely, 19th-century font, as well as the horse and carriage at the top left, and the mansion at the very top and center. 

I would never have imagined that I would actually love a cover done in such muted colors, as I usually gravitate to those with bright ones. However, these work very well here! And I especially like how the title stands out, because it's been done in white, with the caps in light gray. Such a nice touch!

Another design element I like is how the author's name, as well as the light "cover chatter", have been so well incorporated into the overall design. In no way do they distract from it! 

The creator of this AWESOME cover design is Eileen Savage, the Senior Designer at Penguin Random House, for the Young Readers division. She is, of course, based in NYC, as that's where this publisher is located.

Savage obtained her B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in Communications Design in 2011, from Syracuse University, located in the city of Syracuse, in the state of New York, USA. 

She has previously worked with the Penguin Group USA, Viking Children's Books, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, all based in NYC.

I think that, lately, I've begun to notice more covers that highlight typography in their designs. So I will definitely be featuring more of them!

Online Links

LinkedIn

Reedsy: Eileen Savage

What do you think of 
this week's cover?
Please leave a comment
and let me know!

Book Review/Giveaway!! Hero's Return, by B.J. Daniels

 

Hero's Return

(The Montana Cahills, Book 5)

B.J. Daniels

Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

HQN

March 27, 2018

Contemporary Fiction, Romance,

Mystery, Suspense

The prodigal Cahill is back—and ready to confess

Tucker Cahill disappeared from Gilt Edge, Montana, hoping to escape a secret that has haunted him for nineteen years. Then, when a young woman’s remains are found in the creek near his family’s ranch, he has no choice but to face his demons. The truth that sent him running years ago could take away his freedom now.

Kate Rothschild came to town looking for vengeance—and Tucker Cahill. What she finds is a tortured and irresistible man who’s more than meets the eye. Caught up in the past, they are drawn deeper into a twisted game that’s not over yet. And the consequences could prove fatal for them both…

Note

The author provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honestly enthusiastic review!

This is my second B.J. Daniels book, and she is now an auto-buy author for me! Her skillful mix of romance, mystery, and suspense have made this reader stay up very late, frantically turning pages until the totally satisfactory ending was reached! Besides, these novels read like movies! This is especially true of the chapters dealing with the edge-of-your seat struggle between the heroes and the villains. I am adding more of the Montana Cahill books to my Goodreads shelves, as they are really exciting!

I've never read anything quite like these novels before, to be honest. They have an undeniable Western flair, as they all take place in the fictional town of Gilt Edge, Montana (there is actually a mining ghost town by the same name, interestingly enough). There are no ghosts in these novels, though. Instead, the romance novel fan will find cowboys -- gorgeous, wonderful cowboys with a heart of gold. (I say this in spite of how dorky it might sound, because it just happens to be true.)

This novel, like the one I have previously read (Cowboy's Legacy), tells the story of one of the Cahill brothers. This brother, Tucker Cahill, really stands out in the family because he mysteriously disappeared from Gilt Edge nineteen years before this novel starts. Events begin to flow rapidly, one after the other, as soon as he returns. But why did he escape from the town? And why has he chosen to return now, after nineteen years? The answers unfolded in an unforgettable tale that made me yearn to pull up stakes and move to this Montana town, surrounded by beautiful mountains, and yes, I need to say it again -- beautiful cowboys! Lol. 

Tucker soon meets an indomitable woman -- Kate Rothschild, scion of the very political Rothschilds, and investigative reporter. She, too, has a connection to the mysterious events that had taken place nineteen years before. What's more, she has a very personal interest in these events, and won't be deterred from finding answers, even at the risk of her life. 

Of course, sparks fly between Kate and Tucker, and they inevitably become a team as they search for these answers. Their impromptu investigation takes them to other Montana locations, and they find themselves digging into the past, even having to visit a cemetery....

Although the romance is definitely part of the plot, Daniels skillfully interweaves it with a story that has more twists and turns than a bucking bull trying to throw a cowboy off its back! Just when the reader thinks they've guessed what's going to happen next, Daniels throws the proverbial monkey wrench into the works, making it hard to put the book down for even one whole minute. 

The characters are solidly vivid, and very easy to relate to, as well. I loved Tucker, of course! He's such a sweetheart! Besides, he admires Kate, and wants to help her find her own answers. As for Kate, she's extremely independent, eager to shake off her prominent family's political heritage, and strike out on her own. She is brash and outspoken, and yet, soon falls under Tucker's undeniably charming spell. 

As for the secondary characters, I loved them all, and now want to read about their own romantic adventures in the previous novels! Darby and Mariah, Trask and Lillie, Billy Dee and Henry -- all of them form a warm, cozy family where every family member is unconditionally accepted and loved. Last but not least are Flint and Maggie. The latter appears only briefly in this novel (her story, as well as Flint's, is told in Cowboy's Legacy), but Flint does play a bigger part in this novel. He is, after all, the town sheriff, and his brother's strange connection to the skeletal remains discovered near the town creek worries him.  It is his duty to investigate, and he hopes his brother doesn't have a sinister connection to those remains.

In regards to the secondary characters, I loved the subplots they were involved in! Three of the Cahill brides are pregnant, with two of them about to give birth, and probably on the same day..... Another of these characters is also involved in a very poignant search for the daughter she had given up for adoption years before. The denouement of this subplot is a bittersweet one. However, there are also hints of yet another romance in the works, which made me sit up and take notice. I need to keep track of this! 

As for the villain, that person is very well drawn, and utterly Machiavellian in a totally insane, yet believable, way. In fact, when this person was fully revealed, I was reminded of a Hitchcock movie. There was that element that bordered on terror.....that feeling that, if something went wrong, tragedy would ensue. 

I love the pacing of this novel, too. This is a very important component of plots dealing with mystery and suspense. Happily, Daniels makes sure that the reader's interest never flags. Even when she deals with the budding romance between Kate and Tuck, she still manages to connect it to the mystery of the unknown body found near the creek. Their relationship develops even as they strive to uncover clues to the mystery that began so long ago...

Eventually, it becomes all too clear that the whole affair related to the skeletal remains is a sordid one, involving murder and blackmail, as well as the rather sinister religious fanaticism of a very, very strange family.....

I have nothing but great things to say about this novel! You can almost breathe in that clear Montana mountain air, while you sit down to eat Billy Dee's chili, and ponder the conundrums of the Cahill clan. And then you just NEED to follow those Cahill boys around, poking into mysteries until the bad guys (and/or gals) are dealt with, and everyone can mosey on over to the family-owned bar and eatery, and celebrate yet another wedding and new baby arrivals! So treat yourself. Get cozy, wherever you might happen to be (preferably all tucked up -- pun intended -- in bed), and plunge into this wonderful, bigger-than-life romance, mystery, and family drama, all rolled up into one!

MY RATING:

Purchase Links

Amazon/Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

 

You can WIN a mass market 
paperback copy 

of Outlaw's Honor, Book 2 in the 

Cahill Ranch series!!

This giveaway starts at midnight today, 4/17/18, and ends at midnight on 5/9/18!

***THIS IS A US ONLY GIVEAWAY***

You must be 13 or older to enter,

and actually perform the action

for all the entries selected.

***ALL ENTRIES WILL BE VERIFIED***

You will have 48 hours to reply to an

email notification of your win.

After that, another winner will be chosen.

***GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE 
WHO ENTERS!!***

a Rafflecopter giveaway

B.J. Daniels' life dream was to be a policewoman. After a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist, she wrote and sold 37 short stories before she finally wrote her first book. Since then she has won numerous awards including a career achievement award last year for romantic suspense.

She lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, two Springer Spaniels, Jem and Spot, and a temperamental tomcat named Jeff. When she isn't writing, she snowboards, camps, boats and plays tennis.

Website/Facebook/Twitter



To access the complete tour schedule, just click on the button below!

  

Blog Tour: The October Men, by David Impey

Welcome to this stop in the 
blog tour for The October Men,

sponsored by 

Bewitching Book Tours!!

The October Men

David Impey

Trade Paperback, 340 pages

BigBear Communications Ltd.

March 20, 2018
Kindle Edition, 328 pages
David Impey
March 20, 2018

Conspiracy Theories, Mystery, 
Science Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Otto Parsons, a brilliant young Oxford physicist, is missing. The October Men is a story of Otto’s experiment in quantum physics – trying to create zero gravity without going into space – which yields spectacularly unexpected results: time travel. Professor Dan Sibley, ever more desperate to secure funding to keep the experiment running, allows their work to fall into the control of men with an utterly different agenda. Otto's disappearance is the first link in a chain of events, which tie together monumental historic moments including the sale of a lost van Gogh painting, the discovery of rare film footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the discovery of a hoard of rare art treasures in a French cave, and the murder of a financial advisor in the Cayman Islands.

The scientists initially try to fund the experiment by producing a historical TV series that uncovers the truth behind the Roswell Incident and the assassination of President Kennedy, among others. Inevitably, the show goes viral and attracts unwanted attention. As the project requires ever more funds, sponsorship is sought elsewhere, and control of the equipment quickly passes to a shadowy cabal of international criminals whose activities have global consequences, as they exploit the equipment to take advantage of the financial and art markets.

When the truth slips out, human existence itself comes under threat.

The October Men is the stunning debut from David Impey, full of twists and turns that will keep you gripped. If you like well-crafted thrillers by John le Carré and Colin Dexter or thought-provoking science fiction by John Wyndham, then The October Men is the novel you must read.

Purchase Links

Amazon US/Amazon UK/Amazon CA

This is the first full-length novel by David Impey. He originally graduated in Chemistry and, afterwards, worked in high-tech industry either on the marketing/commercial side or in advertising.

David has helped write campaigns with a heavy emphasis on demystifying supposedly obscure areas of science that affect everybody on a day-to-day basis, and has won several awards for his work.

His first published work was an April Fool’s article in a yachting magazine and, since then, David has been a frequent columnist and contributor to industry journals and online blogs, as well as setting up some and editing others. He also developed a TV series about health called “The Dose”.

When he’s not writing, David is a composer, producer, and keyboardist. He has worked as a musician for 20 years, principally as a composer of soundtrack music for corporate clients ranging from sherry to paint to insurance and cruise lines.

Some of his music has been used extensively by TV companies across Europe, including the UK and the Netherlands. David lives near Oxford with his wife and insane dog. 

Website/Twitter/Facebook
Amazon Author Page

To access the complete tour schedule, please click on the button below!

Author Interview/Giveaway!! Boneseeker, by Brynn Chapman

Welcome to the Boneseeker Blog Tour,

sponsored by

Prism Book Tours!!

For my stop, I'm featuring an interview with the author, Brynn Chapman!

There's also a tour-wide giveaway!!

Boneseeker

(The Boneseeker Chronicles, Book 1)

Brynn Chapman

Digital Edition, 213 pages

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

January 10, 2018

Trade Paperback, 286 pages

January 10, 2018

Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance, 
Suspense, Young Adult Fiction

Aspiring scientist Arabella Holmes doesn't fit the role of a 1900s lady. Her father, Sherlock, landed her a position at the Mütter Museum to pursue her dream of becoming a purveyor of abnormal science, or what her father calls a "Boneseeker."

Henry Watson’s two-fold mission at the Mütter Museum is to join their team of forensic anthropologists in unearthing unusual antiquities and to watch over Arabella. If only he could get her to speak to him, instead of hurling knives in his general direction. Assigned to a most secret expedition to investigate a mysterious skeletal hand discovered in upstate New York, Arabella and Henry are soon caught in a scientific debate, and the search for the truth may have deadly consequences for those involved.

Are the bones from a Neanderthal? Or are they living proof of fallen angels known as Nephilim?

Watson and Holmes must put aside their differences, trust their instincts, and rely on one another to survive to uncover the truth.

*This is a new version of a previously published edition.

An Interview with Brynn Chapman

Welcome to A Night's Dream of Books, Brynn!

Maria: If you have a favorite Sherlock Holmes story, which one is it? 

Brynn: "The Adventure of the Creeping Man".

Maria: What type of research did you have to do for this novel?

I do a copious amount of research for every novel. For BONESEEKER, I expanded my library and study of Forensic Anthropology books ( I do have an anthropology minor), and also made a study of historical non-fiction resources on murders and relevant science beliefs, and societies of the time period. The science of phrenology, for instance, was very much alive and en vogue in 1910.
 

Here is the definition:

phre·nol·o·gy

(frĭ-nŏl′ə-jē)

n.

The study of the shape and protuberances of the skull, based on the now discredited belief that they reveal characterand mental capacity.


While on holiday last week, I visited one of my favorite vintage shops. The owners travel to Europe and obtain many of their artifacts. Here is a picture of a bust with Phrenology’s beliefs cast over the skull. The words are difficult to read, but each ridge and protuberance along a person’s skull was said to represent personality traits. The one along the longest ridge in the second picture reads, "destructiveness".

Maria: If you could meet Sherlock Holmes in person, what question(s) would you ask him?

Brynn: What was your greatest regret?

Maria: Do you think an AI computer could ever match Holmes's brilliant deductive and observational skills? 

Brynn: Um, yes. I have just begun studying the science of AI and am fascinated and terrified. Holmes was compared to “Babbage's adding machine” of course. LOL.

Maria: In your opinion, what's the difference between plotting a mystery novel, as opposed to other genres? 

Brynn: Well, BONESEEKER is not a mystery per se, because it doesn’t follow the mystery formula. I would say it falls closer to historical thriller with a large dollop of romance.

Maria: How did Holmes prepare Arabella for her future scientific work, and did he also train her in sleuthing skills?

Brynn: I want you to picture Sherlock Holmes, any Holmes from historical canon to Cumberbatch—and picture him with a child.

Fortunately, Arabella inherited the Holmesian propensity for science. So from the time she was small—Holmes made science part of her daily life and routine. It was Watson who constantly intervened, trying to provide Arabella with a more normal childhood.

When Holmes insisted she learn the periodic table of the elements, it was Watson who suggested she be permitted to skip rope, to the reciting of the elements. As she grew, so did the difficulty of the lessons. The bone obsession developed on its own, with no help from Sherlock Holmes.

Maria: Thanks for visiting, Brynn! I can't wait to read your book!

Brynn: My pleasure ! Thanks for having me, and I'm glad you want to read my book! 

 

Praise for Boneseeker

Winner of the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest

"Creative, meticulously researched, and terrific fun!"  
Grace Burrowes, NY Times  
Best Selling Author

"The characters, the setting, the descriptions and 
the mysteries and relationships all work together seamlessly to create a truly wonderful 
story that I completely adored." 
Best Books Ever Blog

"The settings are intriguing and the way they are described make you feel as if you are immersed in the story. I could feel the gloom and damp. That is rare in so many books! Boneseeker is a book I highly recommend, and I give it 5 stars!" 
Christy's Cozy Corners Blog



Purchase Links

Print/Digital Editions
Amazon US/Amazon UK/Amazon CA
The Wild Rose Press

Digital Edition
Barnes & Noble

GIVEAWAY #1: To enter to win a Boneseeker audiobook and the pictured charm necklace ("And though she be but little, she is fierce." - Shakespeare), send a copy of your Kindle purchase of Boneseeker to publicity.brynnchapman@gmail.com. US only.

GIVEAWAY #2: To enter to win a Boneseeker ebook and a $10 Amazon Gift Card, enter via the Rafflecopter below. Open internationally. Ends January 24th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Born and raised in western Pennsylvania, Brynn Chapman is the daughter of two teachers. Her writing reflects her passions: science, history and love—not necessarily in that order. In real life, the geek gene runs strong in her family, as does the Asperger’s syndrome. Her writing reflects her experience as a pediatric therapist and her interactions with society’s downtrodden. In fiction, she’s a strong believer in underdogs and happily-ever-afters. If her ancestry tree is true, she is a descendant of the House of Stuart.

She also writes under the pseudonym R.R. Smythe.

Website/Goodreads/Facebook
Twitter/Pinterest



To access the complete tour schedule, just click on the button below!