Smorgasbord Book Promotions – Summer Book Fair 2023 – #Contemporary #Romance Stevie Turner, #Supernatural #Adventure John W. Howell, #ComingofAge, #Family #Relationships Beem Weeks

This year in the second part of the Summer Book Fair, I will be sharing my recommended books from the last 12 months and sharing either my review or one of  their top reviews.

The first book today is a book that has many twists and turns Stevie Turner  – and her contemporary romance – Falling.

About the book

Death seems preferable to wasting what remains of his youth in prison.

James Hynde, fortified by several tots of whiskey, climbs up onto the roof of Parker Mews’ multi-storey car park and peers over the parapet. The game is up. The police will soon seize his millions, the Maserati, the London townhouse, and the Caribbean mansion on Windjammer Island.

Should he jump feet first or hold out his arms and topple over and over like a somersaulting gymnast? He closes his eyes, feels the breeze on his face, and pitches forward into the unknown.

Sixty feet below, Olivia Benet, a budding ballerina, rushes along Parker Mews towards the entrance to the multi-storey. Her interview for the Royal Ballet had taken much longer than expected, and she has but a few short minutes left before her parking ticket expires.

James has no idea of the consequences his action will have on his and Olivia’s lives.

‘Falling’ made the finals of the 2022 Page Turner Writing Award.  

One of the reviews for the book

DGKaye 5.0 out of 5 stars A fun romp  Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸

This is a story of both the literal falling and everything else that falls around James Hynde’s world after his intended demise falls apart, leaving poor Olivia Benet to take ‘the fall’. As always, Turner always delivers a good story in the women’s fiction category.

James Hynde was in a world of trouble due to his greed and decides the only way out of his mess is to commit suicide – but he couldn’t even get that right because when you’re running bad, the streak continues. Sadly, James’ lame attempt of jumping off a building landed him right on top of poor, innocent 19 years old, Olivia Benet, below. She broke his fall and got the brunt of injuries and paid the price by ending up in a wheelchair and losing her dream to join the ballet company.

Olivia decides to visit James in jail before she began her suing endeavor, to see if she can detect any remorse. Her visits became more frequent to the jail as the more James was rude, the more she felt she had to hear something compassionate. On one of her visits, he finally opens up to her and apologizes. This broke the ice, and we see an ‘interesting’ relationship develop between them. James eventually bares his soul to Olivia, telling her some juicy scoop about some of the money he’d swindled and where it was. This interested Olivia.

When James gets out of jail, his relationship with Olivia heats up. They get together, and then again separate. Later when they reunite, they decide to start up a new business together, out of the city, away from the competition. Some new shady characters are introduced in the new business, along with some baggage from James’ past – mainly, a greedy ex wife.

So, what happens when ex-wife Fiona shows up? Well, you’re going to have to read on to find out what exactly she is after!

Stevie’s books never disappoint. With engaging characters and wonderful plot lines, this book is a lovely escape read.

Read the reviews and buy the book: Amazon UK – And: Amazon US

A small selection of other books by Stevie Turner

Read the reviews and buy the books : Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – Follow Stevie : Goodreads blog: Stevie Turner on WordPress – Twitter: @StevieTurner6

The next book is another that I very much enjoyed and is by John W. Howell the sequel to the excellent Eternal Road... another supernatural adventure…The Last Drive

About the book

In the sequel to Eternal Road – The final stop, Sam and James are reunited to look for two souls, Ryan and Eddie. Ryan was killed in Afghanistan, trying to avoid a schoolyard with his crippled plane. Eddie Rickenbacker, Ryan’s hero, is to guide Ryan to his Eternal Home, and now both are missing.

The higher-ups believe that there has been some interference in Ryan and Eddie’s journey by Lucifer, so Sam and James have the task of finding Ryan and Eddie to get them back on the road despite the evil interference. Unfortunately, the machinations designed to prevent Ryan and Eddy from completing their journey takes the pair to horrifying testing grounds. The places visited represent the best work of the Devil. They are the trenches of World War I in France, gladiators at the Roman Coliseum, the sinking Titanic in 1912, Hiroshima 45 minutes before the bomb, and the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943.

This book is for you if you like plenty of action, strong characters, time travel, and a touch of spiritual and historical fiction. So, join Sam and James as they try to find the missing souls while staying one step ahead of the Prince of Darkness, who is determined to destroy all that is good.

One of the reviews for the book

Elizabeth Gauffreau 5.0 out of 5 stars A Sequel Full of Surprises!  Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸

As the sequel to Eternal Road, The Last Drive by John Howell features the two main characters from the first book: James, a young man who was recently killed in an car accident, and Samantha (Sam), a now-grown friend from James’s childhood, who was murdered when she was seven years old. In Eternal Road, Sam served as James’s spirit guide to help him find his eternal home.

In The Last Drive, Sam has been asked by the Archangel Michael to find Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I flying ace, and Ryan Sanders, an Air Force pilot who was recently killed in Afghanistan when he stayed in his burning plane to avoid crashing into a civilian settlement. Eddie is serving as Ryan’s spirit guide to find his eternal home; however, the two have gone missing. The Archangel suspects they have crossed paths with Lucifer, who is forever trolling for souls who haven’t yet found their eternal home.

Sam’s response to the Archangel is the same as mine would have been: “ ‘I’m surprised God and yourself don’t keep track of this kind of thing.’ ” Including this exchange in the opening chapter is a good demonstration of Howell’s skill in suspending the reader’s disbelief in the fictional world he has created.

The Archangel’s response to Sam’s question raises thorny questions of free will, predestination, and Divine intervention. These questions hover over the four main characters’ subsequent interactions with Lucifer. In fact, at one point, Sam proposes a deal with the Devil that took me completely by surprise–but was oh, so right.

As the prime mover of villainy, Lucifer chooses to torture Sam, James, Ryan, and Eddie with a series of moral dilemmas by plunking them into horrific historical events, including the sinking of the Titanic, the Auschwitz concentration camp, and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. For people who are essentially good, this would be the equivalent of being dangled over a lake of fire by one ankle.

However, the Lucifer of The Last Drive tries to present himself as the charming rogue or, at times, the cartoonish, mustache-twirling villain–all in an attempt to manipulate the souls he is going after into underestimating him.

One aspect of the novel I particularly appreciated was that, although the same afterlife “rules” were carried over from Eternal Road to The Last Drive, new ones were introduced that surprised me, in particular that education continues into the afterlife. Although this feature of the afterlife is used as a plot device to give Sam and James the knowledge they need to extricate themselves from Lucifer’s clutches, I think it’s more than that. If we think of the afterlife as eternal paradise, then it makes perfect sense that the ability to learn and gain new knowledge would be a part of it. Learning for its own sake is, at its heart, a joyous and life-affirming act. (Take THAT, Lucifer.)

To sum up, I found The Last Drive an engaging and satisfying read. The stakes of the plot are high, the action fast-paced, the historical research thorough, and the main characters well-developed and likable (with the exception of Lucifer, of course). In addition to the other surprises I’ve noted, the ending of The Last Drive also surprised me–in the best possible way. I highly recommend this surprising sequel to Eternal Road! 

Head over to buy the book: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK

Other books by John Howell

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – and on: Amazon UK – Goodreads:John Howell Goodreads – Blog: John W. Howell. com – Twitter – @HowellWave

The final book today is the intriguing and highly recommended collection of stories Strange Hwy by Beem Weeks...

About the collection

If you ever find yourself on the Strange Hwy—don’t turn around. Don’t panic. Just. Keep. Going. You never know what you’ll find.
You’ll see magic at the fingertips of an autistic young man,
•A teen girl’s afternoon, lifetime of loss.
•A winged man, an angel? Demon—?
•Mother’s recognition, peace to daughter.
•Danny’s death, stifled secrets.
•Black man’s music, guitar transforms boy.
•Dead brother, open confession.
•First love, supernatural?—family becomes whole!
You can exit the Strange Hwy, and come back any time you want.
See, now you know the way in, don’t be a stranger.

One of the reviews for the collection

Mae Clair 5.0 out of 5 stars Americana at its best  Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸

This is a fantastic collection of short stories, many of which have a coming-of-age theme. The author has a talent for capturing young voices and setting mood, especially in earlier decades. Many of the stories carry the flavor of the 1950s and 1960s, breathing vivid life into the past. Weeks offers us a slice of Americana in each story. The voices are authentic, descriptions vivid, and the writing polished. Each and every one is a gem, but there are several I must call special attention to.

“Sweetie Girl”—poignant, raw, and sad—addresses the pain of Alzheimer’s; “Memory of a Robot” is filled with the magic of what makes a spring afternoon special; “Overcome (Holy Water”), takes a look at a flood in the Jim Crow south and the change in brings in people (it gave me goose bumps of the good variety!), “Wordless” is about a man learning to read, and his daughter setting a path in life. Finally, “Looking for Lucy” the story which closes the book addresses separation and forgiveness with a unique and brilliant twist.

This is the second collection of short stories I’ve read by Mr. Weeks. He truly has a talent for this form. Highly recommended! 

Read the reviews and buy the collection: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK

Also by Beem Weeks

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – Follow Beem Weeks: Goodreads – Website/Blog: Beem Weeks – Twitter: @BeemWeeks

 

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books. Sally