Saturday, August 19, 2017

Book Review: A Minor Fall by Price Ainsworth

A Minor Fall
Title: A Minor Fall

Author: Price Ainsworth

Stars: 4.25 stars out of 5

Review:
A story that encompasses love, deception, guilt, despair, and tragic loss. When you read this story your feelings with run the gamut from distain to despair. But the ending will leave you hoping for a brighter future for the two primary characters in this life changing drama. 

I enjoyed this book and have rated it 4.25 stars. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a story that will take you through a wide range of emotions.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

Synopsis:
The Minor Fall is a modern interpretation of an Old Testament saga. Davy Jessie is a young, personal injury trial lawyer working as an associate in a top-drawer law firm in Houston, Texas in 2005. In addition to trying difficult (sometimes impossible to win) cases assigned to him by the firm, Davy also assists Tim Sullivan (one of the named partners in the firm) in prosecuting more serious cases. Sullivan is a flamboyant, fashionable, facile at formulating a memorable turn of phrase, philandering litigator with a long history of trial victories and the material rewards that a contingency fee practice can yield. Davy is enamored with Sullivan and attempts to emulate Sullivan’s professional (and personal) behavior.

After Davy wins one of the cases he was not expected to win, Sullivan designates Davy to lead the firm’s efforts in representing a group of landowners in eastern Kentucky whose properties have been contaminated by oil field production. Beth Sheehan, a contract lawyer hired by the firm to help with discovery on the case, travels to Kentucky with Davy where they have a brief affair, Davy returns to find that his wife Michelle is pregnant. The fallout from the affair and the stress of preparing the case send Davy spiraling into depression and emotional paralysis. Along the way down to his moral crisis, Davy contemplates existential questions about the nature of law, the importance of literature, the existence of God, and what (if anything other than single malt Scotch or cold chardonnay) gives meaning to life as he considers losing his wife, leaving the law firm, and abandoning the practice of law.


Hardcover320 pages
Published April 18th 2017 by SelectBooks

About The Author:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15558561.Price_Ainsworth
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Price+Ainsworth&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Price+Ainsworth&sort=relevancerank

Friday, August 18, 2017

Book Review Avenging the People by J.M. Opal

Avenging the People: Andrew Jackson, the Rule of Law, and the American Nation
Title: Avenging the People

Author:  J.M. Opal

Stars: 2 out of 5

Review:
This has been a very hard review for me to write as I find myself liking some parts of the overall material presented but filled with disgust with the end conclusion. I expected to have more information about President Jackson but was left with nothing at the end. The author did forewarn the reader early on that this was a revision work for which I was grateful. Approximately 34% of the book was a source listing for the author's references. If the author had written this book during the President's life I have no doubt he would have been challenged to a duel for insulting his honor.

I have rated this book 2 stars and would not recommend it to anyone else.

I obtained an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

Synopsis:
Andrew Jackson towered over American life during the second quarter of the nineteenth century, so much so that the period has been dubbed the Jacksonian era. With the passionate support of most voters and their families, he broke through the protocols of the Founding generation, defying constitutional and international norms in the name of the "sovereign people." And yet Jackson's career was no less about limiting that sovereignty, imposing one kind of law over Americans so that they could inflict his sort of "justice" on non-Americans. 
Jackson made his name along the Carolina and Tennessee frontiers by representing merchants and creditors and serving governors and judges. At times that meant ejecting white squatters from native lands and returning blacks slaves to native planters. Jackson performed such duties in the name of federal authority and the "law of nations." Yet he also survived an undeclared war with Cherokee and Creek fighters between 1792 and 1794, raging at the Washington administration's failure to "avenge the blood" of white colonists who sometimes leaned towards the Spanish Empire rather than the United States. Even under the friendlier presidency of Thomas Jefferson, Jackson chafed at the terms of national loyalty. During the long war in the south and west from 1811 to 1818 he repeatedly brushed aside state and federal restraints on organized violence, citing his deeper obligations to the people's safety within a terrifying world of hostile empires, lurking warriors, and rebellious slaves. By 1819 white Americans knew him as their "great avenger." 
Drawing from recent literatures on Jackson and the early republic and also from new archival sources, Avenging the Peopleportrays him as a peculiar kind of nationalist for a particular form of nation, a grim and principled man whose grim principles made Americans fearsome in some respects and helpless in others. 


Hardcover336 pages
Published June 1st 2017 by Oxford University Press, USA

About The Author: 
J.M. Opal is Associate Professor of History at McGill University. He is the author of Beyond the Farm: National Ambitions in Rural New England and the editor of Common Sense and Other Writings by Thomas Paine.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Book Review Entanglement by Corbin Coltrane

Entanglement
Title:  Entanglement (An International Spy Thriller)

Author:  Corbin Coltrane

Stars: 4 out of 5

Review:
A fast paced industrial spy novel with a hint of US Government involvement. The good guys are abducted and transported to China by a ruthless Chinese business mogul who wants the new technology that one of them is developing. If you are a fan of action adventure stories you will enjoy this book.

I have rated this book 4 stars.

I obtained this book from Amazon in Kindle format. 
Thank you Frank

Synopsis:
Dr. Shane Somers is a 28 year old physicist and engineer who develops a new form of telecommunications based on Albert Einstein's theory of Quantum Entanglement. His new invention makes the fastest internet connection look like the Pony Express by comparison and could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars if brought to market. Meanwhile, China's top secret agent is determined to acquire the technology for Mr. Chu, the ruthless owner of Chu Industries, a network of over-sized factories in China known for their disregard of the environment and inhumane treatment of its employees.

Magnus Gunnarsson, Shane's long time best friend and former high school rival, pays Shane a visit after not seeing him for several years. Magnus informs him that he now works for TAG, an organization that doesn't officially exist, but has the mission of countering international corporate espionage while also acquiring new forms of technology for the United States in the name of national security.

It is now up to Shane and Magnus, reunited best friends, to track down China's super spy and reclaim the technology before it's too late. But the infamous spy has a few tricks up his sleeve that neither of them see coming. Despite the odds stacked against them, they must succeed... America's economy and global dominance hangs in the balance.
 



Kindle Edition339 pages
Published July 6th 2013

About The Author:
Corbin Coltrane
In addition to writing, I have worked as a consultant on the production of the major motion picture, "Paranoia", starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, and Liam Hemsworth. The movie is based on the best-selling book by Joseph Finder. Before I took up writing, I was an avid adventurer. Some of my exploits have included: Backpacking through the Siberian wilderness, climbing the White Mountains in the dead of winter, traversing the jungles of South America, kayaking the entire length of the Maine Island Trail, and diving on shipwrecks off the atlantic coast. I served in the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, and earned the Billy Mitchell Award presented to me by senator William Gormley. I also earned the United States Marine Corps' Distinguished Athlete Award for Wrestling. My international relations include serving as a U.S. student ambassador to the then Soviet Union while living in Moscow for a short time. I currently reside on the Jersey Shore with my beautiful wife Jenny and our two sons, Sawyer and Easton. 

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Book Review Beautiful Criminals by Eric Tipton, Susanna Rosenblum

Beautiful Criminals: A Novel
Title:   Beautiful Criminals

Author: Eric Tipton, Susanna Rosenblum

Stars: 3.75 out of 5

Review:
The story starts out a little heart breaking as Amanda is trying hard to connect with her daughter. The authors are able to pull very detailed story with lost of colorful characters and keep everyone growing, developing and changing into people readers will fall in love with.
No matter how hard Amanda tries to go straight everyone around her is back in the game pulling her into their dead end lifestyles. 
Beautiful Criminals has a list of endless colorful characters that readers will enjoy. The story starts off a little slow but within a chapter or two it is off and readers will have to hold on for the ride.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the advance copy.

Synopsis:
When Amanda Cooper steps foot out of jail, she’s determined to never go back. Two years behind bars means she’s missed her daughter, Taylor, turning into a teenager, and she doesn’t want to lose another moment with her. But as a convicted con artist, Amanda has few options for getting out of Los Angeles and securing her dream life: predictable, boring, and bordered by a white picket fence. The trouble is Amanda’s not the only one with a con. At every step of the way, someone is trying to pull her back into the game.

In her first attempt to go straight, Amanda takes a dead end retail job. But she soon discovers that her boss, Russ, is stealing from his employers by the truckload—and wants Amanda in on his crooked plan. Then Amanda gets roped in by FBI Agent Stevens, who reveals another startling truth: Amanda’s mom, Joyce, and her lover, Bruce, are involved in a scheme that smuggles military arms to a cartel. If Amanda can get the FBI agent the information he needs, Joyce will get off scot-free…but if she doesn’t, they’ll all go to the cooler.

As Amanda maneuvers and manipulates her way towards some semblance of freedom, she can only win the game by changing the rules. But along the way she takes her eyes off the prize: Taylor. Given her family history, Taylor can’t help but get into her own brand of trouble. Just as Amanda’s new life is within reach, she realizes that her final gamble might mean losing everythin


Paperback288 pages
Expected publication: August 15th 2017 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books/Alloy 

About The Author(s):

Eric Tipton, Susanna Rosenblum

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MG7FUN0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Book Review How To Marry A Marquess (A Wedded By Scandal Novel) by Stacy Reid

How to Marry a Marquess (Wedded by Scandal, #3)
Title: How To Marry A Marquess (A Wedded By Scandal Novel)

Author:  Stacy Reid 

Stars: 4.25 out of 5 

Review:
Just when you think all story lines have been exhausted it is refreshing to be proven in error. This is a well told historical romance which will leave you wondering just how dense the hero can be and what will it take to open his proverbial eyes. If you enjoy tales with strong independent minded heroines this is a story you will enjoy.

I have rated this book 4.25 stars.

I obtained an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.
Thank you Frank


Synopsis:
Lady Evie Chesterfield is a darling of the ton who refuses to become engaged. She’s been desperately in love with her brother’s friend, Richard Maitland, Marquess of Westfall, since forever. But the dark, dangerous marquess only sees her as a friend and refuses to marry any woman. When circumstances change and Evie has no choice but to take a husband, she decides to convince London’s most notorious gentleman to marry her by seducing the scoundrel.

Richard Maitland decided long ago that he wanted nothing to do with love. So when the gorgeous, off-limits Evie asks him for lessons in seduction, Richard knows he’s playing with fire. Despite Richard’s determination to protect her from his dastardly reputation, he is tested at every turn by his need for the infuriating, but enticing, Lady Evie. Before too long he is faced with making an impossible choice.



ebook279 pages
Published August 14th 2017 by Entangled: Scandalous

About The Author:
Stacy Reid
I am an unapologetic romance lover. I read it. I write it. Enough said. Well..I also have a warrior way "Never give up on my dreams." I spend a copious amount of time drooling over Rick Grimes from Walking Dead, watching Japanese anime and playing video games with my love, Dusean. 



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