Tag: TLC Book Tours

Books

♦ Hope and Redemption are ‘What Blooms from Dust’ in James Markert’s New Novel [REVIEW]

A huge dust storm moves across the land during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
A prodigal son. A child for sale. Both get a second chance in the midst of the 1930s Oklahoma Dust Bowl in James Markert’s What Blooms from Dust. (Photo courtesy US Department of Agriculture, Flickr)

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I have always loved survivor stories: those tales where people beat the odds, transform their lives, and wind up with something better. So it brings me great pleasure to bring you our latest Diamond Review title, James Markert’s What Blooms from Dust. In this redemptive story set against the 1930s Dust Bowl, we are introduced to what may likely become two of modern literature’s most unforgettable characters.
Continue reading “♦ Hope and Redemption are ‘What Blooms from Dust’ in James Markert’s New Novel [REVIEW]”

Unknown's avatarJathan Fink3 Comments
Books

Loud and Loving ‘Rainy Day Friends’ Give a New Widow a Second Chance at Life [REVIEW]

Paso Robles Vineyard
In Jill Shalvis’s new novel, Rainy Day Friends, a California winery offers a young widow a fresh start, a new career, and a family to call her own. (Photo by Harold Litwiler, Flickr)

When a shy young widow finally discovers the reason why her marriage to her late husband had never felt quite right, it rocks her to the core. Then a new job prospect at a winery in California’s Central Coast region appears on the horizon, and it offers her hope, a zany group of friends, and even a chance at love. But will she seize the day or run and hide from this new beginning? Find out in Jill Shalvis latest novel, Rainy Day Friends.  Continue reading “Loud and Loving ‘Rainy Day Friends’ Give a New Widow a Second Chance at Life [REVIEW]”

Unknown's avatarJathan Fink3 Comments
Books

Spirited Widow Courageously Pursues Dream to Paint ‘Midnight Blue’ [REVIEW]

Delftware in a window
A young woman with a dream. A past she has to escape. A talent that can’t be denied. Lose yourself in Simone van der Vlugt’s Midnight Blue. (Photo by Thomas, Flickr)

When her husband meets an untimely end, a young widow leaves the small village she’s lived in her entire life to reinvent herself in the big city. But try as she may, she can’t seem to outrun whispered rumors about why she really left. Will she ever escape the past and make her dreams of becoming a skilled artist a reality? Find out in Dutch author Simone van der Vlugt’s enchanting new novel, Midnight Blue.  Continue reading “Spirited Widow Courageously Pursues Dream to Paint ‘Midnight Blue’ [REVIEW]”

Unknown's avatarJathan Fink3 Comments
Books

Japan’s Sacred Peak Offers Quiet, Contemplation, and Murder in ‘Trial on Mount Koya’ [REVIEW]

Monk heading to Gobyo
A Buddhist temple may seem an unlikely place for a mystery, but Susan Spann’s ninja sleuth Hiro Hittori discovers death and treachery inside its walls in Trial on Mount Koya. (Photo by ccdoh1, Flickr)

A ninja and a priest walk into a Buddhist temple. Although it may sound like the beginning of a joke, it is actually the premise for the sixth installment of what is one of the most unusual and fascinating mystery series I’ve encountered in recent years. Penned by novelist Susan Spann, the latest Hiro Hattori novel, Trial on Mount Koya, reunites fans with her ninja sleuth and pays homage to one of the greatest mystery writers who ever lived, Dame Agatha Christie.
Continue reading “Japan’s Sacred Peak Offers Quiet, Contemplation, and Murder in ‘Trial on Mount Koya’ [REVIEW]”

Unknown's avatarJathan Fink2 Comments
Books

‘The Lost Vintage’ Takes Readers On A Sensory Journey to the Past [REVIEW]

French vineyard
A trip to France teaches a young sommelier about much more than wine in Ann Mah’s The Lost Vintage. (Photo by Mark Fusco, Flickr)

Young love, delicious wine, family history, and the French countryside. It’s all here in Ann Mah’s sumptuous new novel, The Lost Vintage. Behind this book’s gorgeous cover you’ll meet a woman who journeys from San Francisco to France with the goal of building upon her knowledge of fine wine. What she learns instead are lessons even more powerful and life changing, ones which will enhance much more than her educated palate.
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Unknown's avatarJathan Fink1 Comment