Review : Tall, Dark, and Deadly by Cheryl L. Reed

About 10 years ago I have been fascinated by the Henry Parker (by author Jason Pinter) series.  It was a story about a young ambitious reporter to whom happened to be in some serious troubles throughout his adventures.  When I saw that Poison Girls has a female reporter as the main character,  I could not resist and asked to review it!!!  I was not disappointed at all!  It is a unique story that is bringing us through a roller coaster of thrilling events.

 Natalie is a reporter for the Chicago Time and she decides to investigate about teenage girls that are dying after they took some spiked heroin (called poison).  While doing so she became in contact with 2 teenage girls: Anna and Libby.  Her investigation is driving her in the drug underworld and some people are really annoyed to have her poking around.

The story was fascinating and very well written.  It started a little slow, but in the middle, the pace is changing and it is becoming a real page-turner.  Poison Girls provoked a real ethical dilemma on my end. Natalie is being really present in Anna and Libby life, That had me reflect about how sometimes our emotions can bring us into circumstances that we never thought we would have to face.  It is also a story that brings awareness to the drug addiction that kills too many people every year.  It is an inside look into a world of deceit and despair. I also really enjoyed the political side of the story.  It is reminding us that people that have power and money have always an easier time to do whatever they want.

The only reason why I haven't given 5 stars to this book is my lack of emotional connections with the characters. In my humble opinion, I felt I was reading the words but could not feel what the author was trying to convey.  To a certain extent, I was feeling that emotions were intertwined with facts and it was speaking to my head instead of my heart.  There were plenty of occasions throughout the story that should have had me going through a wide range of emotions, but that has not happened.   The emotional components of a story are really important to me.  That being said, it is a book worthy of reading if you are into the thriller genre. However,  to some readers, it might be a hard read, especially for those who lost someone to drug addiction.   

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher to have given me this book for review.

Me.. being vulnerable.

Wow, it has been a long time since I published a post on here.  Today, I am not reviewing anything.  I am just sharing a little bit about myself.  In October, I am turning 40, which means I did a lot of introspection.  My anxiety became so bad that I have been on sick leave since April. I was using alcohol to self-medicate and I was smoking way too many cigarettes a day.  All of that together meant that I was in a constant fog.  Everything was so hard to achieve, in the end, just cooking dinner was a big success.  I am not ashamed of myself, not anymore.  There was a lot of self-acceptance that needed to be done on my part.    Way more than I originally thought.  I was fine with being gay and I must say that my current relationship is showing me what true love and support really are.  What I had yet to accept, was some parts of myself.

At the root of everything, there was my huge fear of being boring.  I have been fighting all of my adult life to fit into a mold, to feel like I have something to give in the world, to be entertaining. Fighting to have that social life that television and people were telling me that I should have.  It didn't work out well for me.  At the end of every single day, I was so exhausted that I was not even able to do a single thing for myself.  So I let myself go.  I thought that it was something wrong with me and went to a psychotherapist, my doctor prescribed me medication and so on.  Last week, I realized that I am an introvert and that I need to respect myself.  My oxygen is music and books, that is part of myself, it is my passion.  It might not be as honorable than fighting crime, volunteering for people in need or being a nurse, however, it is who I am.  I spent so many time in my life watching everyone doing what they loved and feel I should be able to do the same, but it was not working this way for me.  I find solace in my passion.  I would love to do coaching and reviewing books and be sharing my passion. It was a time for me to let go of all those comments and feelings that other know best what is good for me.  There is no mold for me out there, and it is perfect that way.

A couple of weeks ago a synchronistic event happened in my life.  I saw an email in my inbox and it was a giveaway on facebook.  I didn't know the author and haven't heard about the book before.  It was a little voice inside of myself telling me I should attend that launch party. I decided to connect to the event and unexpectedly I really connected with the author: Patricia Yager Delagrange.  She told me how much she appreciated our discussion on Facebook and that single event has been the start of becoming at peace with myself. Little by little, it built back my confidence and really show me the way to go.  I ended up winning Mending Fences book and I will make sure to publish a review here in the near future.

I don't have social phobia, socializing is just taking a lot of my energy and I don't enjoy at all doing small talk.  I get that some people are a social butterfly and I am glad that they are able to connect and feel good while doing so.  You know, I am just being myself.  Am I proud of all the reviews that I committed to doing and wasn't able to finish; not at all.  Am I proud to have let down people that were believing in myself? Nope.  I am not a victim. just a man that did what he thought he had to do to survive.  The thing is I had gotten it all wrong.  I see clearly now, and to those that were disappointed by my actions, I apologize.  I am not quite sure that someone will read this post, it doesn't really matter.  What that matters is that I fully realized one thing: you have to follow your truth, the truth of who you are.  Trying to make you fit in a mold will break you.   I wanted to share, mainly because I don't wish to my worst enemy to go see a doctor because your family thinks you are in psychosis because you are just not able to take it any longer.  That doesn't worth it.  If people are going away or judging you so be it.  Being with those who really love you and understand you are all that life should be about.  Following your passion as well.  It took me a lot of hardship, self-sabotage, and alcohol to bring me to my knees.  Don't wait until you are at the end of your rope, there is help all around you and you are the only one that can commit to living your truth, no one will ever know what's best for you.  Much love for ya all! A special Thank you to my hubby:  you will never know how much your love helped me these last 2 years

P.S. What next for this blog... well I have a couple of ideas! This month I decided to revisit 3 novels that I read in my early teenage years,  I am planning to share on that and also go back to publish some reviews.

Review : Tall, Dark, and Deadly by Heather Graham

Heather Graham is one of my go-to authors when I need to read a good romantic suspense.  I always liked the way that she is able to take us into the world she is creating in her stories.  Tall, Dark and Deadly is definitely a page turner.  All the ingredients of a good suspense are present: A lot of twists and turns, some shady characters and keeping me guessing about the killer up until the very end of the book.

This book was written back in 1999 and it is funny to see how things changed in the last 18 years.  When reading a book and people are trying to call someone on their landline it is always making me realizing that cell phone is quite a recent addition into our world.  It was an interesting trip to my early twenties when high-speed internet was just starting and cell phones were still a luxury. it just added a little nostalgic element that was quite enjoyable.  Add to the mix a story set in South Florida and that really warmed me up (hahaha).   

One of the thing that is impressing me the most about this book is that I did not care that much about any characters in this story (except for one).  You have to understand that. to me, characters are making about 60% of the book and the story 40%.  The fact I am giving 4 stars equal a flawless execution storyline wise. 

   

Marnie disappeared without a trace, but her friend and neighbor Sam is certain that something bad happened to her.  At first, her entourage and police are not taking her seriously. You have to understand that Marnie is not particularly liked and a lot of people had a perfectly legitimate motive to take her out.  A story that is taking us into the swap and a somewhere else that is hot: A strip club As I said before, the plot and storyline are thoroughly enjoyable.

The main character Sam was lacking depth.  The author could have replaced her with any other characters and it would not have made any differences.  While having great qualities like to be of service and loyal, she is also stubborn and making some decision that had me raising my eyebrows a couple of time throughout the story.  Rowan is Sam's ex and a music star and he is also her new neighbor.  This character was more complex and he had a much stronger presence than Sam in the book.  I need to talk about Loretta, she was a secondary character in the story, but she was so fascinating to me.  I really wanted to know more about her, with Loretta,  the author created a character that gave that much-needed star quality in this book.

Bottom line, it was a great read and I really enjoyed the ride!!! If you looking for a quality romantic suspense, this one might be a good one for you!

I give this book 4 stars and low heat for the love scenes!

Review : Forbidden Stepbrother by Carmen Falcone

I will start this review by being really honest: this story is totally out of my comfort zone and if it would not have been written by Carmen Falcone, I would never have considered reading it. This being said, Carmen hit another homerun with this novella. She has that magic touch that is taking me straight into her story and it is making me forget all about what is going on in my normal life. In my humble opinion, it is the single most important quality that we can look into a writer. I am also always excited when I am reading a book from Carmen because I know that I will have a good time. A word of warning, if you are unable to read a story that is pushing your limits and imagination in love scenes, you might want to skip this read. Sometimes a story strikes some chords that are resonating with us more than we were realizing at first. Tiffany is overworked, she is having insomnia and she needs to find herself in a remote location. I am currently going through a challenging time in my life. I had to make a lot of decisions concerning my well being and also learning to let go with all that craziness that is surrounding me. I was seeing a lot of myself in Tiffany. In her doubts, her guilt, her unspoken desires. Carmen was able to develop a strong and relatable character in Tiffany. What I love the most is that Tiffany is not perfect, she doesn’t have a dream body as per societal norm, but she is herself and that’s what makes her desirable. Santiago is a more challenging character to like at first. Once we got to know him, though, we can only have admiration and respect for his determination to not let the surrounding circumstances telling him what he could or could not do in his life. Under those walls, we find a golden heart and we also understand that he tried to control his emotions/desires all of his life. Which is opening the door for a question: How much of ourselves/our real desires are we sacrificing to live a life of what is expected from us instead of thriving? The story is taking us in a situation that is still considered taboo: a step brother and a step sister that are desiring each other. That pushed my limits, which was kind of funny because I didn’t think that I was so prude or that this story would shock my values. It was a little uncomfortable at first, however, Carmen Falcone wrote this story is always with class and the hot love scenes were inspiring! In the end, this novella is also a good way to have us see what some our taboos might be and making us envision it in a totally another light. I totally recommend this great novella! Verdict: 5 stars and at the top of my range in regards to the heat!