First, the back copy:

Samantha Evans is determined to make a name for herself in the cutthroat world of advertising. Newly hired by a prestigious ad agency, she volunteers to work on location in Mexico City as a personal assistant to the beautiful and driven creative director Katrina Edwards.

At first the association seems promising. But Ms. Edwards seems preoccupied in a way that makes Samantha increasingly uneasy. In fact, many in the group seem like they are not being completely open about the project including David Ayala, the mysterious and moody photographer for whose attention the two women find themselves competing.

After several strange accidents and numerous appearances by an unknown man, Samantha discovers the truth: not everyone on the team is in Mexico to create a stellar advertising pitch. When her sleuthing leads to her abduction, she is brought to the pyramids of Teotihuacán and comes face-to-face with the venomous evil of the South American crime boss known as “The Serpent.” Now Samantha must not only fight for her life, but she must also discover if she can trust the man she’s come to love.

Here’s the gorgeous author: **waves** Hi Kim!

The good stuff: the author knows her Mexico stuff. The setting is portrayed in clear detail. I had no trouble picturing anything and had complete trust that the author was telling me like it is.

The main characters were interesting and well developed.

The mystery is cool–there’s a nice twist I didn’t see coming.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I will complain that the beginning is pretty slow, and sometimes, all that lovely Mexican description kills the pace. I have to admit, the cover and title had me expecting a different type of book. This is definitely a romantic suspense novel, heavy on the romance.

Click here to buy: Venom

And click here to visit the author’s website: K.C. Grant

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Here’s the blurb:

Mandy Steenburg thinks her doctorate in education has prepared her to run any school district – until she tangles with the moonshine-making, coon-dog-owning denizens of a tiny district in Pacific Northwest timber country. She’s determined to make a difference, but the local populace still looks to the former superintendent for leadership. When Mandy lands in the middle of an old feud and someone keeps trying to kill her, instinct tells her to run. And though she has to literally swim through perilous waters, she finds a reason to stay and chance the odds.

At first I thought, hmm. A romance? Not usually my thing. The main character is a school district superintendent? Sounds hard to form a connection.

But, I really liked this book. The writing is skillful. I admit, I’m a grammar snob, and adverbs and point-of-view shifts get my knickers in a bunch. None of that stuff here. I was left to enjoy the unfolding of the story without such distractions.

I’m from Washington state, so I immediately loved the setting. I never met any moonshiners during my years in the Northwest, but things felt realistic and believable.

Although some plot points felt predictable, there were still enough surprises to keep me happy. Plus, it’s squeaky-clean enough to buy for anyone without fear.

One thing that bugged me: the main character gets teased/bullied by the students she’s put in charge of, since they preferred the previous superintendent. I sort of scratched my head at that, because as a kid I had zero interaction with the district superintendent. I wasn’t aware of that layer of administration at all. I checked with my high school daughter, and she agreed. Perhaps in a small district, in a super small town atmosphere, this sort of thing could happen. Still, it stopped me.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a clean romantic suspense full of great descriptions and interesting locale.

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Disclaimer: Author Christy Monson is one of my best friends. But I can say without any qualms that her new middle-grade novel, Texting Through Time, is a great little book, and I’m not saying that because she twisted my arm. Honest!

Actually, I begged for the privilege of being on her blog tour.

Some phones are smarter than others.

In the new book, “Texting Through Time,” published by Cedar Fort, Micah and Alicia’s phone is so smart it can take kids back in time. The siblings accidentally trigger the experimental time-travel app and land at Brigham Young’s side.

In order to get back to their own time, the kids must figure out how to use the phone and then journal about what’s happening by sending text messages. Their adventure takes them to key scenes throughout President Young’s life, from his 11th birthday party to excitement along the pioneer trail to his later years as a prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Today’s kids will love reading about interesting and often little-known details about President Young’s life. With modern-day Micah and Alicia, they’ll learn what it was like to be a kid in New England, go on the trek West, and live in frontier Utah.

“Texting Through Time” is skillfully written by first-time author Christy Monson. Details are thoroughly researched, but Monson never forgets to keep the young reader in mind. The characters and dialog feel realistic and will make it easy for kids to relate to the story. There are spiritual lessons to be learned as well, and Monson keeps these moments age-appropriate and never preachy.

Charming illustrations by Rosalie Ledezma add fun and interest to the pages. (ahem from Proud Margot…Rosalie is my daughter) See some cute previews of these drawings at Confessions of a Logophiliac.

The pre-teen crowd would love finding this delightful book under the Christmas tree. Find more information about it at www.textingthroughtime.com or www.christymonson.com.

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…to see my byline in print.

My review of the new book by Jennifer Chiaverini, The Wedding Quilt, appeared in the Deseret News yesterday, in the Sunday Arts section. You can also see it here:

The Wedding Quilt

To celebrate I’ll give away a free copy of this beautiful hardcover book. To enter, become a follower of this blog and leave me a comment.

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Inklings is the first stop on the virtual book tour for the new book by James M. Conis, The Latter Rain, published by Castle Mountain Press.

I welcomed the chance to read this, as I recognize that I don’t read nearly enough non-fiction, and practically no religious books except the Scriptures. That’s something I’d like to change.

The Latter Rain’s subtitle goes like this: Using the Book of Isaiah as the Key to Unlock Bible Prophecies That Are Relevant Today. I was immediately intrigued, because I’ve always been mystified—and frustrated—by my inability to “get” Isaiah.

The book uses a scholarly but very readable voice. The text is easy to understand, broken up into frequent sections with bold headings. A large amount of Scripture is intertwined into the text, and just as I’d hoped, the passages are explained and discussed.

Although Isaiah is a focus of the book, its purpose isn’t to decode Isaiah chapter by chapter. Rather, it sets out to explain certain symbolism used in Isaiah and then apply that symbolism to other holy books, both in the Old and New Testaments.

I found Conis’s reasoning clear and logical—perhaps because I suspect we share the same faith. Others from a different religious background may see things quite differently. These are Conis’s opinions and interpretations, and some people may feel he is taking a leap of logic in his assertions. He never states his religious affiliation (that I caught, anyway) and I believe he has done that to prevent readers from making certain assumptions. And I agree that for this book, it really isn’t necessary to have that information. He sets out the way he sees it in an easy-to-understand manner, and readers may then draw their own conclusions.

I can tell this book has been the result of a huge amount of research and personal study. I admire people who can produce this kind of work. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is searching for more light and knowledge about the Scriptures. The book can be purchased here: www.thelatterrain.net

FTC disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes, but this in no way affects my opinion.

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Author Tristi Pinkston is excited to announce the release of the third novel in her Secret Sisters Mysteries series.

Help Tristi celebrate her new novel in two ways. First, come participate in the two-week-long blog contest, where you can win a book nearly every single day! All the details are up on Tristi’s blog.

Second, come to the book launch!

You are invited to an

August Authorama!

Saturday, August 13th

Pioneer Book, 858 S. State, Orem

12 – 4 pm

Games, prizes, balloons, face painting,

and Dutch oven cobbler

prepared by world champion cook

Keith Fisher.

Authors Tristi Pinkston, J. Lloyd Morgan, Cindy Hogan,

Nichole Giles, and Heather Justesen

will all be there to sign books.

This is one book launch event

you will not want to miss!

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Toot! This is the first stop on the virtual blog tour for the new book, All That Was Promised by Vickie Hall.

The moment I took this book from the shipping wrapper, I was impressed. The cover image is beautiful. Decorative embossing adds to the book’s charm. I immediately felt drawn to find out what lay inside.

And so I turned the page…

First, a disclaimer. I haven’t read much LDS fiction, and only a very little romance. Not really my thing. So I can’t offer direct comparisons to other similar books on the LDS market. But perhaps someone will find my unique perspective useful, keeping that in mind.

This is Vickie Hall’s debut novel, published by Cedar Fort/Bonneville Books. The story is set in Cardiff, Wales, and is about the birth of the LDS church in this area. The setting is interesting and well-researched, although I didn’t feel facts being pushed at me, the way they sometimes do in historical novels, when the author just has to get that tidbit of research in there SOMEHOW. (After all, it took so long to dig it up. Gotta put it in…) The facts pertaining to the setting felt naturally disclosed.

This story includes a nicely diverse cast of characters that the action intertwines around. I grew to care about each one. Certain folks felt a bit like stock characters, and more development might have helped avoid that, but I still was anxious to see how things came out for each.

Maybe the plot was a little predictable, but although I yearned for more surprise and depth in character reaction, the story was satisfying.

My main complaint is a matter of personal preference. I found the use of omniscient point of view distracting as we danced from one person’s thoughts to another. I like stories with multiple viewpoints, but I prefer a single viewpoint within a section, if that makes sense. Ye Olde Third Person Limited.

A big plus for me was the use of dialect. Authors are often cautioned against trying to duplicate an accent or dialect through phonetically spelling things out. I thought the author’s way of dealing with this was just right. The language added a nice touch of setting and realism without being distracting.

I recommend this book for LDS females of all ages. Although one of the central characters is male, I suspect the womenfolk will be most pleased with it.

Here’s the Amazon link for snapping this up: All That Was Promised

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My writing pal Michelle asked me to post a review for her new novella, Cinders.

Don’t make the mistake I did. This isn’t a fairytale retelling a la Goose Girl or Beauty. This book has more in common with the musical Into the Woods than Ella Enchanted. It’s meant for a mature audience. Not explicit, but not for kids.

Michelle is a great writer. The story reads smoothly, with no mechanical problems–and I’m picky about that. If you are interested in a Cinderella story with a darker edge, this may be the one for you. You may not understand her. You probably won’t agree with her actions. You may wonder who to root for in this story. But perhaps you’ll enjoy a Cinderella like this.

You’ll find the book for sale here, and Michelle’s author site here.

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