Monday Book Review: “Closer than Blood” by Gregg Olsen

http://www.amazon.com/Closer-Than-Blood-ebook/dp/B004IWR3EW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1314033484&sr=8-3

It’s true that Blood is thicker than Water but it’s also true that you hurt the ones you love most.  Both are good sayings for “Closer than Blood”.

In this story, Gregg Olsen paints a picture of the epitome of a love/hate relationship between twins Tori and Kendall, one a little prettier than the other, one a bit more aggressive and assertive than the other. Maybe a little bit psychotic. One car accident as teens and a slip of the tongue pushes one over the edge. As families are wont, they lost touch then a sudden string of seemingly unrelated events bring them back together. There is an ultimate agenda but will it be found out in time?

Gregg weaves together seemingly disparate threads into a beautiful quilt of words that both engage and enthrall readers.  His descriptions of area cities and landmarks are spot-on and uses them as additional characters rather than backdrops. The characters are three dimensional, with flaws one can relate.  The plot and story lines are believable and move along quickly.  All in all, another great read from Gregg Olsen.

Top Ten EBooks from Yesterday and Today Week Ending August 19, 2011

Top 10 EBooks last 7 days from www.Gutenberg.org:

1. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana (6017)
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4227)
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (3735)
4. How to Analyze People on Sight by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict (3298)
5. The Best American Humorous Short Stories (3203)
6. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2715)
7. Ulysses by James Joyce (2618)
8. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (2523)
9. The Art of War by Sunzi (2345)
10. The Bible, Old and New Testaments, King James Version (2230)

TOP 10 EBooks last 7 days from www. Amazon.com:

	1. 626 days in the top 100 The Help Kathryn Stockett (Author) Kindle Edition $9.99
	2. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 9 days in the top 100 BLIND FAITH CJ Lyons (Author) Kindle Edition $0.99
	3. Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours 12 days in the top 100 Second Son (Kindle Single) Lee Child (Author) Kindle Edition $1.99
	4. 44 days in the top 100 Caribbean Moon (A Manny Williams Thriller) Rick Murcer (Author) Kindle Edition $0.99
	5. 462 days in the top 100 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $4.69
	6. 443 days in the top 100 Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $7.70
	7. 361 days in the top 100 Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $7.14
	8. 66 days in the top 100 Now You See Her James Patterson (Author) … Kindle Edition $12.99
	9. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 155 days in the top 100 One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original) David Nicholls (Author) Kindle Edition $9.99
	10. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 31 days in the top 100 The Mill River Recluse Darcie Chan (Author) Kindle Edition $0.99

Monday Book Review: “K is for Killer” by Sue Grafton

http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Kinsey-Millhone-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0030MQJ5U/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1313417439&sr=8-3

In this installment of the quirky gumshoe, Kinsey the perpetually perky detective with the fast tongue and faster gun takes on a Mother’s quest to solve her daughter’s murder.

As Kinsey delves into the young woman’s recent history, she uncovers a seedy past that would make her mother blush. Prostitution, high stakes money and the mafia round out this tale, not to mention sibling jealousy and possible unfaithfulness.

This is what Sue does best: fully rounded characters, even if they only share a few pages with Kinsey. Even the baddest character she creates you can identify with and still imagine the scene.  Each scene is rich and dripping in detail, from the derelict cabin in the woods to the small blue house in town. You tend to bond with the characters and find yourself rooting for them.  The many clues that pop up are indeterminable until Kinsey has that “AHA!” moment near the end.

I don’t try to solve the mystery before hand, as I realize there is a rare treat before me that I let unfold.

Top Ten EBooks from Yesterday and Today Week Ending August 12, 2011

Top 10 EBooks last 7 days from www.Gutenberg.org:

1. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana (6153)
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4433)
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (3507)
4. The Best American Humorous Short Stories (3298)
5. How to Analyze People on Sight by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict (3284)
6. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2851)
7. Ulysses by James Joyce (2572)
8. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (2495)
9. The Art of War by Sunzi (2395)
10. Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (2209)

TOP 10 EBooks last 7 days from www. Amazon.com:

	1. 619 days in the top 100 The Help Kathryn Stockett (Author) Kindle Edition $9.99
	2. 37 days in the top 100 Caribbean Moon (A Manny Williams Thriller) Rick Murcer (Author) Kindle Edition $0.99
	3. 455 days in the top 100 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $4.69
	4. 59 days in the top 100 Now You See Her James Patterson (Author) … Kindle Edition $12.99
	5. 436 days in the top 100 Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $7.70
	6. 354 days in the top 100 Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $7.14
	7. 38 days in the top 100 A Stolen Life Jaycee Dugard (Author) Kindle Edition $11.99
	8. 50 days in the top 100 Stealing Faces Michael Prescott (Author) Kindle Edition $0.99
	9. 230 days in the top 100 Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His… Todd Burpo (Author) … Kindle Edition $5.00
	10. 28 days in the top 100 Deceitful Moon (The Second Manny Williams Thriller) Rick Murcer (Author) Kindle Edition $2.99

Where are the Jobs, then?

Big businesses, conglomerates, millionaires and billionaires have had roughly 10+ years of the lowest tax rates and/or no taxes to create and sustain American jobs so the middle class can live and thrive.

Well, where are the jobs?

Republicans have cried and wailed for years that taxes would hurt and strangle job growth and the middle class if the rich and big businesses had to pay taxes.  Now all the middle class and poor see are jobs swiftly moving overseas, jobs in American states cut, benefits like full coverage health insurance stricken and slashed. Where are all the investments that the Republicans promised of the Rich and big business conglomerates?

Did they mean just for themselves?  That’s all Americans are seeing these days from their homeless encampments.  Their own homes long gone to foreclosure, banks razing empty houses in lieu of working with homeowners.

What is the endgame?  Do we all move to China, India or Indonesia for these American jobs? Will all major cities turn into Detroit, were all we see are pictures of urban decay, lawlessness, death and destruction? Buildings crumbling, people gazing out with hollowed, glazed over eyes? Hope and dreams crushed under the heel of endless poverty? Overseen by govermental rules, regulations and offices like DSHS, Social Security? Will there even be governmental agencies like DSHS and Social Security in the near future?

So many people would like a hand up, not a hand out. It’s about time the rich and big business conglomerates invest in Americans and America again.  We deserve it.

Monday Book Review: “J is for Judgement” by Sue Grafton

http://www.amazon.com/J-Judgment-ebook/dp/B003GY0KPW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1312825585&sr=8-2

Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone is quirky, fun and a great detective.  The protagonist is a fully rounded person, with strengths and foibles just like a real person.  She’s not perfect, which makes her perfect for detective work.  Personally, I would love to see Sue’s file on Kinsey.  We learn a little bit about Kinsey with each book that comes out as she works on the case (that usually corners her into accepting).

In “J is for Judgement”, she is asked to investigate a dead man that was seen thousands of miles away from her hometown of Santa Theresa, CA, in a Mexican resort town sipping umbrella’d drinks with a mystery woman. From there, Sue sets of a web that Kinsey must unravel.  And unravel it does, back in good old Santa Theresa. As usual, there’s a large sum of missing money and investors wanting the hide of the aforementioned missing/presumed dead, man.

What I love about Sue’s series is how detailed (but not obnoxious) the minor characters are.  Kinsey’s landlord, Henry (a spry octogenerian) and his cohorts, from his persnickety brother to the brassy tavern owner ‘just a few blocks down the street’ (who has her eye on the brother).  Each book brings out rich, vivid detail that is eagerly swallowed by eyes many times over around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Ten EBooks from Yesterday and Today Week Ending August 5, 2011

Top 10 EBooks last 7 days from Gutenberg.org:

1. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana (5991)
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4320)
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (3578)
4. The Best American Humorous Short Stories (3261)
5. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2957)
6. Ulysses by James Joyce (2767)
7. How to Analyze People on Sight by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict (2665)
8. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (2447)
9. The Art of War by Sunzi (2325)
10. Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (2200)

TOP TEN EBOOKS LAST 7 DAYS FROM Amazon.com:

	1. 612 days in the top 100 The Help Kathryn Stockett (Author) Kindle Edition $9.99
	2. 30 days in the top 100 Caribbean Moon (A Manny Williams Thriller) Rick Murcer (Author) Kindle Edition $0.99
	3. 52 days in the top 100 Now You See Her James Patterson (Author) … Kindle Edition $12.99
	4. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 448 days in the top 100 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $4.69
	5. Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours 31 days in the top 100 A Stolen Life Jaycee Dugard (Author) Kindle Edition $11.99
	6. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 429 days in the top 100 Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $7.70
	7. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 347 days in the top 100 Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins (Author) Kindle Edition $7.14
	8. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 43 days in the top 100 Stealing Faces Michael Prescott (Author) Kindle Edition $0.99
	9. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours 18 days in the top 100 A Small Fortune Audrey Braun (Author) Kindle Edition $2.99
	10. 223 days in the top 100 Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His… Todd Burpo (Author) … Kindle Edition $5.00

Previous Health and Technology Webblogs

To those looking for http://www.TheTechGadget.com and http://www.EncourageHealthyHabits.com, I moved them offline, due to monetary and traffic issues.

If, at any point, someone is willing to help me navigate a free webhost, I can move both blogs back online.  I could no longer justify paying hosting fees out-of-pocket, with so very little traffic and hits with no advertisers or backers.

I do miss posting daily on health and fitness tips on the health blog and technology/gadget information and news on the tech blog. Maybe one day they’ll be back.

Monday Book Review: Echo Park by Michael Connelly

http://www.amazon.com/Echo-Park-Harry-Bosch-ebook/dp/B000OT8GDA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1312242632&sr=8-2

Michael Connellys famous detective, Harry Bosch, delves back into a murder thirteen years prior that takes him on a merry-go-round of interviews, evidence and mystery. Who are the real good guys and bad guys? Are your best friends cold-blooded killers?

Michael Connelly creates a fantastic character that has spawn numerous other books in the series.  Harry Bosch has been written as a well rounded character, with both good points and bad points, with his flaws for everyone to see.  He’s not written as a superman type of frontman. Rather, he’s written as someone you would love to have coffee or a beer with.

In Echo Park, a young woman disappeared, only her car and a few belongings were ever found in an abandoned car in an apartment complex’s empty garage. Harry keeps coming back to the same case, the same characters and the same outcomes.  Now there is a reason to reopen the decade plus case. This may be the case that does Harry in with guilt.

Hats off to Michael Connelly for creating a believable storyline and a beloved character.  Hopefully readers will love my Novels as well as his have been.

Last weekend to get my debut Novel, Aside of Murder, FREE!

Last weekend to get it #FREE! https://www.smashwords.com/boo​ks/view/34429 Use code SSWSF on the smashwords link above.

Available on:  Amazon’s Kindle Store, barnesandnoble NOOKbook store, and  Smashwords (in a variety of E-Reader formats)

What happens when an embezzling bank executive and a high class call girl blackmail each other into marriage? Revenge and Murder.

 

     Shelley, a naive law student from a poor background was tricked into becoming a call girl by her boss, the Assistant District Attorney. She vows to get out of the ‘business’ by blackmailing Gerald Johnson, (who, in turn, blackmails her into marriage). Gerald is an embezzling Executive Vice President at one of the nations biggest banks. Gerald, along with a crooked insurance salesman, Bill Belcher, is heading the night deposit theft ring.
He is feeling the pressure from one of the bank’s investigators, Joan, for the night deposit theft investigation. No sooner than Joan delves into it, she is partnered with Detective McIntire from the police department. The investigation proves dangerous the further Joan and the Detective get to the center of the case, and find their friend’s lives at peril. As a child, Joan’s parents abandoned her for a life in France, and as an adult Mama and Papa Miller, the elderly black couple who own a grocery store downtown, ‘adopted’ her and her best friend, Sue Phillips along with Sue’s husband, John.
They all find themselves thrown into a murder investigation when Shelley Johnson is missing from her home, and pools of blood are found instead. Gerald flees from country to country as a result and finds himself face to face with Shelley’s accusing spirit wherever he travels.
Joan and Detective McIntire find themselves and their friends and family even deeper into Gerald’s complicated scheme. What culminates affect everyone.

 

 

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