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The English Heart

The English Heart
Title: The English Heart
ASIN: B077BCKKX2
Publisher:
Author:
Author's Twitter: @helenahalme
A stylish 1980’s Cold War love story based on true events. Young Finnish student Kaisa falls head over heals in love with Peter, a dashing newly qualified naval officer. Kaisa realised she’d never felt like this before. This was love. The stuff she’d read about in books since she was a teenager; the films she’d watched. This was how Ryan O’Neal felt about Ali MacGraw in Love Story, and Barbra Streisand about Robert Redford in The Way We Were. Kaisa grinned. She’d wanted to pose the same question to the Englishman that Katie had to Hubbell, ‘Do you smile ALL the time?’ ” When a young Finnish student, Kaisa, is invited to the British Embassy cocktail party in Helsinki to celebrate a Royal Navy visit to Finland, she’s not looking for romance. After all, her future has been carefully planned: she’s to complete her degree, marry her respectable, well-to-do Finnish fiancé Matti, and live happily ever after. Enter the dashing Peter, a newly qualified naval officer. Like a moth to a flame, Kaisa falls head over heels in love. Kaisa and Peter embark on a long-distance relationship, but at the height of the Cold War, while the Englishman chases Russian submarines, Kaisa is stuck in Finland, a country friendly with the Soviet Union. Can they trust each other? Can their love go the distance? A stylish 1980s Nordic love story based on true events.

Assessed for Awesome Indies (Previous title: The Englishman)

 

 

 

The Darkness

The Darkness
Title: The Darkness
ASIN: B008X8ZM8G
Category:
Published: August 12, 2012
Author:
Author's Twitter: @carver24
For Andrew Davidson, tragedy marks a turning point… He’s a respected G.P. but when his brother is found with his throat cut, his thoughts turn to anger and revenge. Known villains, who have evaded justice thanks to the efforts of Cairnburgh’s cleverest lawyer, begin to disappear. For rape victim Rhona Kirk, getting on with her life means taking control… She starts a new life in Dundee but haking off her past is difficult, and the men she’s connected with also go missing. When the threats start, she accepts help against her better judgment. For DCI Jack Carston, solving the puzzle is a race against time… He searches for the links between these vanished persons, aware all the time of his own darker impulses and sensing the bond between himself and the vigilante. What he finds is beyond his worst imaginings.

Assessed for 

Enduring Endurance

Enduring Endurance
Title: Enduring Endurance
ASIN: B00EHLWGTQ
Category:
Series:
Published: August 10, 2013
Author:
Author's Twitter: @acspahn
Infusing the traditional science fiction format with humor and awkward coworkers, Enduring Endurance follows the not-so-best-and-brightest of humanity as they explore the galaxy by accident.   Infusing the traditional science fiction format with humor and awkward coworkers, Enduring Endurance follows the not-so-best-and-brightest of humanity as they explore the galaxy by accident. Captain Thomas Withers expects the worst when he’s assigned command of the Endurance, the least-respected ship in the United Earth Law Enforcement Corps. He gets it, and then some. After a poorly executed experiment throws Thomas and his crew out of Earth’s solar system and into humanity’s first meeting with aliens, he must rely on the outcasts of the corps, not only to get home, but to survive the trip at all.   Please note:  The Endurance series is no longer available as separate volumes. The complete series of books 1 to 5 is available as one book.  Please click here.

Assessed 

Please note:  The Endurance series is no longer available as separate volumes. The complete series of books 1 to 5 is available as one book.  Please click here. 

 

Not Without Risk

Not Without Risk
Title: Not Without Risk
ASIN: B077C6Z1XP
Publisher:
Published: November 10, 2017
Author:
Author's Twitter: @PeterTrewin
When Martin Bennett, the backroom brains in a regeneration company charged with bringing back Merseyside’s former prosperity, sees an ex-friend murdered on a hospital escalator and discovers that the body was too hastily cremated, he feels compelled to investigate.   In order to discover the truth about the murder, he must navigate the Merseyside underworld peopled by bent solicitors and coppers, corrupt politicians and violent thugs. He forms an alliance with the mayor’s right hand woman, who is out of favour with her corrupt boss, and uncovers not only the surprising story behind the murder but also a conspiracy to carve up Merseyside’s green belt.   The journey will not be without risk. For both of them.  

Assessed for 

A Dog’s View of Love, Life, and Death

A Dog’s View of Love, Life, and Death
Title: A Dog’s View of Love, Life, and Death
ASIN: B06XGKSBM4
Published: June 5, 2017
Author:
In A Dog's View of Love, Life, and Death, human beings, content they know the answers to life’s big questions, continue making the same mistakes time and time again. Dogs, being their closest non-human companions, and knowing a little more than humans think they know, assist them discreetly with their evolution of consciousness. After spending twelve years paralyzed from the neck down, Seamus McGarry can’t quite believe he’s communicating telepathically with a dog named Rosie. Millionaire Will Roper is living the life and feeling in control of his destiny. But his anger issues are landing him in hot water. If that isn’t enough, Saddam Hussein, his dead mother’s dog, and a man living in a doorway have all crossed his path. Things will never be the same again. Old-timer Lennon, a Harlequin Great Dane, New York, born and bred, feels life is passing him by. That is, until a dog shows up at the shelter and helps him understand his existence here isn’t quite what it seems. Dolores Fanon, a recovering addict, has been clean and relatively serene for 3 years. However, life’s just dealt her a low blow. She’s struggling to cope, and when a psychic working for the N.Y.P.D. appears in her life, secrets from the past come flooding into the present.

Assessed for 

 

Plaint for Provence : 1152 in Les Baux

Plaint for Provence : 1152 in Les Baux
Title: Plaint for Provence : 1152 in Les Baux
ASIN: B014O1DQII
Publisher:
Published: November 29, 2015
Author:
Author's Twitter: @writerjeangill.
Summoned to the court of Les Baux, Estela and her lover, Dragonetz, are embroiled in two rival claims for power as their feuding liege lords gather in Provence. Although Estela is reluctant to leave her idyll with her young child Musca, and her pursuit of Arabic medicine, she welcomes the chance to show her musical skills and to support Dragonetz, who must use his swordsmanship to play peacemaker. Both of them must face their own personal demons as the storm-clouds gather over Provence. . In this third volume of the Troubadours Quartet, Jean Gill, the ‘master of historical intrigue’, continues to weave the gripping adventures of Dragonetz and Estela seamlessly into real historical events. Medieval France comes alive in all its facets, from healing with leeches to training a goshawk.

Assessed 

 

 

Preferred Dead

Preferred Dead
Title: Preferred Dead
ASIN: B017TRA68C
Category:
Series:
Published: November 20, 2015
Author:
Author's Twitter: @acspahn
On planet Thassis, the zombie apocalypse is over. The zombies won. Now what? The UELE Endurance arrives to find Thassis a world of death. As Captain Withers struggles to pass a performance evaluation and first officer Viktor Ivanokoff fights his feelings for security chief Areva Praphasat, the crew seeks a way to undo the damage that has been done. They have no way of knowing that what happened to the Thassians happened on purpose, and that the individuals behind it are lurking closer than anyone suspects.   Please Note:  The Endurance series is no longer available as separate volumes. The complete series of books 1 to 5 is available as one book.  Please click here.

Assessed for 

Please Note:  The Endurance series is no longer available as separate volumes. The complete series of books 1 to 5 is available as one book.  Please click here. 

Zihaen

Zihaen
Title: Zihaen
ASIN: B010NRFQUS
Categories: ,
Publisher:
Published: June 29, 2015
How did his parents and brothers die? Where their deaths really accidents, or were they killed? These questions young Ghyll Hardingraud must answer before he can ascend Rhidauna's throne. Ghyll’s search for the truth leads him and his Companions on a journey back to the past as he slowly unravels a dark conspiracy. Once crowned, the young King Ghyll still has to finish the mission his dead uncle imposed on him. The journey takes him and his trusted friends through inhospitable lands and dangerous swamps to the endless steppes of Zihaen, looking for the Voice from the West. He discovers he isn't the only one. His vindictive enemy pursues him, aided by undead forces.

Assessed for 

One Night at the Jacaranda

One Night at the Jacaranda
Title: One Night at the Jacaranda
ASIN: B01EZ6S4D4
Publisher:
Published: April 28, 2016
Author:
Author's Twitter: @DrCarolCooper
The lives of a disparate group of Londoners intersect one night as they each search for someone special. Dan is trying to conceal a stretch in jail, while time is running out for cancer-stricken Sanjay. Geoff is a stressed doctor with erectile trouble, and Michael is the kind of man best avoided. Lawyer Laure is desperate to rewrite her abusive past but, for single mother Karen, sex is a distant memory she hopes to relive. Undercover journalist Harriet doesn’t have an agenda, other than writing articles to repay her debt to her live-in lover. She’s only there on assignment, but soon she has to choose between the comfortable life she knows and a bumpy road that could lead to happiness. As they all discover, finding happiness with someone special means finding yourself as well.

Assessed