The Good Daughter

This book has magical powers. It forced me to read it in one sitting. I was unable to do anything else. Book in hand, I blindly got ready for my day, I huddled by a window seat on the train- nearly missing my stop, and I hid like Constanza at work. Feverishly reading while hiding.

This was me but reading a book.

Nothing gets in between me and a great book. Nothing. And Jane Porter writes one hell of a Good Book.

THE GOOD DAUGHTER is Jane Porter's second novel in the Brennan Sisters Trilogy. THE GOOD WOMAN was the first and was an amazing read of straight up Women's Fiction. It's all about Meg's journey in an unsatisfying marriage and the choices she makes to reclaim her life and be happy. It's at times gut wrenching, loving, and makes us all think about the state of our own relationships. In the end, while you get a feeling all will be okay for Meg, you still aren't sure. You wonder about the other sisters and their story lines. I love that. I love when books mirror life. Not neatly wrapped up into a HEA package. No end credits. Just a satisfying end to the journey of the character.

Meg's tale got me so excited to read about Kit, our lovable Catholic School Teacher in the THE GOOD DAUGHTER. This is a more of a Romantic Women's Fiction read and I LOVE that its different from the first in the series, doesn't follow some archaic formula. I loved getting to read from not only the other sisters POVs but the guys too. There is a villain in this story and it's no where near a romance novel cliche where the woman needs to be saved by the hero.

The secondary plot lines are seamlessly woven into Kit's story. Kit is tired of being so good that she neglects herself. So worried about pleasing others that she puts herself in harm's way. For once in her life, and after ten years of living with someone who had no intention of marrying her, Kits sets out on her own. She finds out what Kits likes, loves, and won't stand for. She takes time to get to know herself again and the people she meets along the way, like a very sexy bad boy named Jude, only make her journey all the more enjoyable.

Jude is no cliche either. While yes he has long hair, tattoos, rides a motorcycle, and has a mysterious job, he's not this wounded hero that needs saving either. I really identified with him. The only thing I didn't like was Kit's worry about her family not wanting her with a "low life". I hated that Kit and those around her would be so judgemental. I grew up in a rough neighborhood and that kind of thing always rubs me the wrong way.

Kit also has some past baggage. Abuse from childhood. And to be honest I could hug Porter for not diving all too much into it. Leaving it there in the background. Something Kit's never opened up to anyone about. Something that keeps her from being able to enjoy intimacy and love. Something she is trying to deal with on her own. Again, no hero needs to save her. I know people who've been where Kit was. Some never told their spouses and dealt with their pain with a quiet grace, in the way that they needed to survive, to heal. Somewhere down the line I can only imagine Kit opening up to others but at this point in her journey that's not the focus. That takes courage to write about. It's honest and it's real.

So much about Meg and Kit and the entire Brennan clan is honest and real. They feel like family.

Maybe it's because I'm Irish from a big city. Maybe it's because I have siblings. Maybe it's because I too have most of my family in law enforcement or civil service. Or maybe, just maybe, like I said above, Jane Porter writes on hell of a book.

I think it's the latter. You should find out for yourself.

Isn't Jane Porter just so cute!

Fireworks Over Toccoa

Sometimes you pick a book and sometimes a book picks you. This has been happening to me a lot lately.

I mean, just look at this cover. A beautiful starlit sky. A beautiful couple dancing. The slight smile on the man's face, the gentleness in which he seems to hold her hand, how his palm presses against her back- keeping her close. Can't you feel rustle of their hair, the heat of their cheeks touching... I can.

And that's just the cover. Jeffrey Stepakoff's words reached out from the page and held me fast, each passage captured my heart, and left me profoundly changed. This love story, and the true story that inspired it all, will remind you that everything does happen for a reason. That who we are today is the culmination of all the paths we've embarked upon and those who journeyed along with us.

Every so often a story comes along that reminds us of what it’s like to experience love for the first time – against the odds, when you least expect it, and with such passion that it completely changes you forever.

Lily Davis Woodward was married for just days before her husband was sent abroad to fight in WWII. Now, he and the other soldiers are returning, and the small town of Toccoa, Georgia plans a big celebration. Jake Russo, a handsome Italian immigrant, also back from the war, is responsible for the elaborate fireworks display the town commissioned. After a chance encounter on a starlit field, he steals Lily’s heart and soul- and fulfills her in ways her socially minded, uper class family cannot.  Torn between duty to society and her husband- and the poor, passionate man who might be her only true love- Lily must choose between a love she never knew and a commitment she'd already made.

Poignant and elegant, Fireworks Over Toccoa is a mosaic of all the emotions that only love can make possible...

Jeffrey had me at World War II and a love story. Throw in fireworks and 4th of July and I was sold. See, me and the hubby's anniversary is the 4th of July so the holiday and the thought of brightly colored skies makes my heart go pitter-patter.

Emily Giffin, Bestselling Author of Love The One You’re With, even praised this heartfelt story, “A luminous love story that readers won’t soon forget, Fireworks Over Toccoa transports you to another time and place. It is at once heartbreaking and triumphant—an affirmation of love in all its forms.”

The book opens with a couple of boys playing near a resovoir. They find something in the murky waters that has not seen the light of day for decades. When the historical society displays the artifact in the local paper, the original owner cannot believe its resurfaced after all these years. It brings forth a rush of memories that cannot be contained. An elderly Lily sets off with her granddaughter Colleen, to reclaim what is rightfully hers. A granddaughter she believes is about to marry the wrong man. Along the way she can only hope to show Colleen that there is no such thing as the perfect man or perfect life. Lily hopes that by sharing her past Colleen will make the right choice for her future.

The passage below is after Lily meets Jake in the field where he is setting up the fireworks display. Lily sees a burst of color in the sky and gets out of her car to investigate. She walks, unknowingly, to where Jake is testing the fireworks. He rushes to her, pushes her to the ground and covers her from an explosion. After he helps clean a wound on her knee he realizes he doesn't want her to go.

Jake realized that Lily was shaking her head. "You okay?" he said.

"I'm just remembering, I've got a trunk full of ice cream and butter."

"In this heat?"

Lily realized her groceries were probably ruined. "I'm not usually like this. Really. I don't know what's wrong with me today."

Jake laughed. Incerasingly certain that he was seeing a part of this young woman that very few ever saw. A part she kept carefully hidden, maybe even from herself. And he liked it. He liked it a lot.

Jake had learned during his time at war that there are moments in one's life, critical moments, small moments, passing flutters of a second, in which decisions are made and actions taken, perhaps the slightest of offers extended, that the time on the surface seems simple and transparent but upon consideration or reflection are proven to be instants that can change the course of everything.

As she stood there in her sandals in that field, smiling comfortably at him, an evening breeze kicking up, tossing her hair, rippling her dress, the feel of  the skin of her leg rooted in his mind like a lovely haunting melody, growing louder and more resolute each time he tried to forget it, on a level that he was not wholly aware of at the time, this was one of those moments. It could have ended there, Jake knew. There was nothing else between them, and the last thing he needed was a complication. He was decidedly avoiding such things in his life. That was one of the main reasons he was here after all. Say goodbye, wish her well, do the show, and move on to the next town, he told his conscious self.

But after several years living by his gut, literally surviving on what it directed him to do, he once again found himself acting on that core instinct. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" he asked. "I don't have much. But there's some risotto, and I'm not entirely bad with my little camp stove. And I suppose we could have ice cream soup for dessert."

Lily was a little taken back by the offer. But she continued standing there. "You saved my life, you bandage my knee, I can't have you feed me, too. The Ladies Auxiliary will throw me out of Toccoa for being such a poor southern hostess."

"So, we won't tell them."

How long had it been since she'd been invited to dinner, to anything, by someone besides her parents or someone who was connected to her parents? Dinner. More time with this man. Yes. That was exactly what she wanted. Was it okay? Was it proper? Was it right? She didn't know. But she was in the middle of a grassy field and the sun was going down and Jake Russo had been nothing but nice and kind and interesting, and all she knew for sure was that she wanted more. And that, that certainly felt right.

"I can stay."

Later, Jake opens up to Lily about his experience over seas and in battle.

For the first time, Lily got a glimpse into what Jake Russo had been through, what hurt him so deeply and caused him to wander cross-country without home or community. More than anything she wanted to soothe that pain, kiss away the anguish, but she dare not approach that place. She dare not battle an apparition she could not see or touch or know. So she remained silent and let instinct take over once again, running her hands through his hair. He liked that. His body was so responsive to her touch, so sensual. Could you love someone you'd known for barely one day? What if you felt that you'd known that person your whole life, even though you just met him?

"You can share anything with me, Jake. Even, that," she said as gently as a person could.

Jake inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. What could he say to her? I am sharing everything with you, he thought. Every time my chest expands with breath against yours, every time my heart beats in tempo with yours, I am sharing everything. How could he make her understand? He opened his eyes. "You asked me when we had dinner in the field if I had changed," he said. "What I've come to believe is that you have to cherish...this, the present. Life and death...it's a matter of breath, a heartbeat...a single footstep." He thought about Lorena, who had stepped on a mine in her vineyard, and he held Lily even tighter thinking about the simple timing of things. He had seen so much that was arbitrary- things you couldn't make sense of, let alone try to explain with words. He held her even tighter and tried to convey these thoughts with the stroke of his hands, the pound of his pulse, tried to pass them through his touch. "This, the here and the now, Lily, this is what you count on."

Oh sigh and super duper knee jerking sigh. Want to know how it ends? You'll need to buy the book for that. I've already read Jeffrey's second novel, The Orchard, and am reviewing it over at Heroes and Heartbreakers. Another must read love story by this amazing author.

Here's a little background on this master of words. His bio had me worshipping at the altars of literature, screaming, "I'm not worthy..

Jeffrey Stepakoff was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received a BA in Journalism. In 1988, the day after getting his MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon, he drove to Hollywood where he began writing for film and television.

Jeffrey has “written by” or “story by” credits on thirty-six television episodes, has written for fourteen different series and has worked on seven primetime staffs, producing hundreds of hours of internationally-recognized television, including the Emmy-winning THE WONDER YEARS, SISTERS, WILD CARD, HYPERION BAY, THE MAGIC SCHOOL, C16: FBI, ROBIN’S HOODS, LAND’S END, FLIPPER, SONS & DAUGHTERS, MAJOR DAD, THE YAKOV SMIRNOFF SHOW, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, HAVE FAITH, SIMON& SIMON, and DAWSON’S CREEK where he was Co-Executive Producer.

Stepakoff has also created and developed pilots for many of the major studios and networks, including 20th Century, Paramount, MTM, Fox and ABC. And he has developed and written major motion pictures, including Disney’s TARZAN and BROTHER BEAR, and EM Entertainment’s LAPITCH, THE LITTLE SHOEMAKER, Croatia’s selection for the 1998 Academy Awards.

A few years ago, Stepakoff returned to Atlanta, where he lives with his wife and three young children, and began writing fiction. FIREWORKS OVER TOCCOA is his first novel. Presently, he speaks around the country, teaches dramatic writing at Kennesaw State University, and is hard at work on his second novel for St. Martin’s Press. In his spare time, he builds forts in living room with sofa cushions.

You can read excerpts of both Fireworks Over Toccoa and The Orchard at http://jeffreystepakoff.com/

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Cruelty To Innocents Blog Tour

I used to be a James Patterson fanatic. I devoured his books.  I inhaled Dan Brown, Stieg Larson, Elizabeth Kostova, and any other adrenaline rushed reads I could get my hands on. You can say I went through this Thriller/Killer phase. Then somehow I got to reading those mushy love stories and I haven't really picked up a thriller since.

A while back CK Webb chatted about her and DJ Weaver's new release, Cruelty To Innocents. We are FB buddies and you know how those cyber-author-friend relationships go. You chat about the writing life and strangers on the interwebz become comrades in arms. I believe in supporting fellow authors and I agreed to join this blog tour as soon as CK asked.

I won't lie-I was a bit nervous about it. It had been so long since a read the genre. But, who doesn't love a free read. The blurb alone gave me chills:

What if you were in your car alone with your small child and you came upon an emergency scene? Would you stop to help? What if, while you are trying to assist a victim of an accident or mugging, you left your young child alone in the car, thinking he or she would be safe. What if, instead of help, the call to 911 brought a terrifying, sinister result?

Someone’s abducting children from 911 emergency scenes in Aberdeen Maryland, while their parents call for help and lend aid to accident victims. Someone who’s also listening in, is a monster and vicious child abductor. In the midst of the chaos and confusion of the scene, that monster slips in and steals the innocent children leaving behind no trace for authorities.

Sloanne Kelly is unprepared for what awaits in her hometown as she travels back to Maryland. Her goddaughter is one of the victims and the clock is ticking. Together with her best friend and a local fireman, Shawn Tyler, Sloanne will face the most insidious of criminals and fight to recover the children before there is anymore, Cruelty to Innocents.

The opening scene will leave you breathless, jaw dropped, and turning the page in a flash. They had me at psycho! I love when thrillers open with the bad guy. This creep is taking little kids at the scenes of 911 emergencies. The horror! *Shakes fist*

As the story progresses you not only have to know who the killer is and if his victims will live, but you become invested in the characters as a whole. This is not seen in many thrillers. As a former Patterson junkie I loved this approach. For me, this was a story about the characters, their lives, and how these unspeakable crimes have affected them-brought them together. I am a character driven writer so I relished every detail about Sloanne, Shawn, Skip, Chloe, Patty, Dani, and the others. As the mother of a teenage daughter I actually teared up in places, the emotion in this story is that good.

In Thrillers/Mysteries and in real life the act of the crime itself becomes the focus, the subject, the plot.The victims are treated as secondary characters. In Cruelty To Innocents it was about the victims and their loved ones. I fell in love with them all. As an aspiring writer and a detailed critique partner I could've noted the telling and passive bits but, for me, it didn't matter in the least. The story was that good. It's a fairly quick read at 162 pages and there is a major WTF moment at the end where your heart races and head shakes at the same time. I love when that happens.

You are also left hanging, I know I was. Now, I'm awaiting the next book in the 911 Abduction Series.

I have a free copy to give away. The 9th person to email me at charli555 at comcast dot net will be the winner! Thanks for stopping by and check out CK Webb and DJ Weaver on facebook, their blog, the Cruelty To Innocent's Website, CK Webb's Book Review site, and on amazon.

Son of Ereubus, Book Review

Since time immemorial, Man has lived in fear of losing his soul to the darkness of Saint Ereubus. For generations, the Ereubinians have wielded that power and ruled like gods. Three thousand years ago, Man irresolutely placed his faith in a mythical world. That world, Adoria, now holds Man’s final hope. As the last stronghold of Man is threatened, the fates of three strangers become forever intertwined and everything they once believed will be irrevocably changed as they discover...

Their time has run out.


After reading that little snippet, I was bound and determined to read this book. Son of Ereubus is book one in the Guardians of Legend Trilogy written by the talented, J.S. Chancellor.

A few months ago she highjacked A.J. & Charli Bite Back. I knew it then. This author would be, will be, BIG. Before I begin my review of this book, which left me salivating for more, please allow me to pay honor to this wonderfully gifted author with a comparison to J.R.R. Tolkien, the prolific English novelist who penned the enormously successful, Lord Of The Rings tales. His incredible ability to world build on a grand scale can clearly be seen in Chancellor's work. Both are, undeniably, masterful story tellers which will, as Tolkien has, live into legend.

Set in a time where Man lives in fear of the soul stealing creatures of Ereubus, Man's final hope is the Adorians; fabled beings who dwell in a realm beyond the reach of Man.

Whilst most of the human world has fallen into darkness or slavery, Ariana remains free, raised in Pallingard, the last of the human strongholds, unaware that she is of Adorian blood, and destined to be part of something larger than she. Whilst I was piqued by her, it was Garren who completely stole the stage.

He is Eruebus, and therefore, Ariana's sworn enemy. Garren sweeps onto the planes as a vile, bloodthirsty hellion. The reader is determined to despise him, for his deeds are no less evil than massacre and death. Yet, when he spares Ariana's life, surprising even himself, you are taken in by this complex character, and are left in despair, sure there is some good in him.
J.S. Chancellor has created a rich, carefully crafted world, with religion, culture and a history all their own. One can taste, touch, smell and hear, thus completely drawn into the tale. One cannot help but read on in search of Man's salvation, or, damnation. I fear giving away too much, and hope I've given enough to tantalize you, the reader, to read this spellbinding book.

Wow. 'Twas the first thing that entered my mind when I finished reading Son of Ereubus, accompanied only by, I hope I shall be lucky enough to review Book II, so that I may discover where Chancellor takes Garren and Ariana. To see what fate has in store for them, the Adorians, and their fight against the Dark Goddess, Ciara.

From beginning to end, this tale screams epic with a powerfully strong heroine and a sympathetic anti-hero leaving you wanting more. Brilliant in its complexity, coupled with the age old themes of good versus evil, Son of Eruebus, in my humble opinion, is the next big thing in fantasy.
Son of Ereubus: Guardians of Legend, Book I
J.S. Chancellor
Rhemalda Publishing
ISBN: 978-0982743744