Friday Reads: Carpathian by David L. Golemon

Carpathian (An Event Group Thriller) by David L.Golemon is my FridayReads for this week. This is #8 in the Event Group Adventures.

The book starts out talking about the Exodus from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the fall of the walls of Jericho.There is of course suggestion of paranormal help. And then the disappearance of the many of the treasures of the people. 

From Goodreads.com: “Today a treasure of a different kind is unearthed at the lost ruins of Jericho, one that will change the history of God’s Chosen People for all time—the petrified remains of an animal that could not exist. Enter the Event Group. Led by Col. Jack Collins, the Group’s brilliant men and women gather to discover the truth behind not only the Exodus, but also the magnificent animals that led the defeat of Pharaoh’s army. On a whirlwind race to save the most valuable treasure and artifacts in the history of the world from those who would destroy them, the Event Group will come face-to-face with every myth, legend, and historical truth that has ever unfolded in the mythic and larger-than-life Carpathians—-or as the area was once known, Transylvania, the land of Vlad the Impaler."

  Right Now I am on about page 104. It’s interesting.

Friday Reads: Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian

I Just finished Return to Fender by Virginia Brown and will now be starting Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian. There’s not much I can say about it right now other than what the website and Goodreads or Amazon has to say about it. It looks like a good book. It’s been on my To Be Read list for a little while now, and I feel blessed to have an advance copy to check it out. 

From Goodreads.com: 

Cobweb Bride is a history-flavored fantasy novel with romantic elements of the Persephone myth, about Death’s ultimatum to the world. 

In an alternate Renaissance world, somewhere in an imaginary “pocket” of Europe called the Kingdom of Lethe, Death comes, in the form of a grim Spaniard, to claim his Bride. Until she is found, in a single time-stopping moment all dying stops. There is no relief for the mortally wounded and the terminally ill….

And one small village girl, Percy—an unwanted, ungainly middle daughter—is faced with the responsibility of granting her dying grandmother the desperate release she needs.

As a result, Percy joins the crowds of other young women of the land in a desperate quest to Death’s own mysterious holding in the deepest forests of the North…

And everyone is trying to stop her.

Friday Reads: Return to Fender by Virginia Brown

This is what I am reading this Friday. Return to Fender is book 4 of the Blue Suede mystery series written by Virginia Brown. It came out in May 2013 published by Bell Bridge books.

Someone is trying to kill Jordan Cleveland. Tootsie, Jordan's friend and fellow drag queen, asks his friend Harley to look into it. Harley can't resist. It can't be that dangerous for her. After all someone is out to get Jordan not her.

"But, after Jordan is sideswiped by a car and ends up in the hospital, trouble starts to turn Harley's way. The next thing she knows, she's dangling off the side of the city's famous Peabody Hotel while an anonymous thug tells her to mind her own business... or else.

Things can only get worse." (from the back of the book)

For more information before my review appears check out the publisher's site, link above, or Goodreads.com.

Friday Reads:Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall

This Friday I am reading Whistling Past the Graveyard  by Susan Crandall. I'm finding it hard to put this book down.

It's the summer of 1963 in Mississippi. Starla is 9 years old and living with her paternal grandmother Mamie. What her father calls her "red rage" where she speaks out without thinking or acts out without thinking often gets her in big trouble. Afraid if she stays she will go to prison for "assault with batteries," Starla finds herself running away to Nashville on  the spur of the moment hoping to find her Momma. Momma left her and her Daddy when she was 3 years old to go to Nashville to become a famous singer.

And so she meets up with Eula, a black woman, and James, a white baby, on the road. And the adventure begins. I'm only 18% along so far. I just started it, but I expect I will get a long way into the book today. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Review: Still Life in Brunswick Stew by Larissa Reinhart

 Larissa Reinhart's Still Life in Brunswick Stew came out May 21st from Henery Press.

Take one sassy, southern, persistent heroine add one friend dead of possible poisoning, sprinkle in a bunch of viable suspects, a pickup that won't start consistently, 2 disapproving policemen, and a murderer that's hard to pick out before the end of the book and you have a recipe for a nice humorous, cozy starring CherryTucker.

Cherry Tucker and her friend Eloise are spending the weekend at the
Sidewinder Annual Brunswick Stew Cook-off selling their arts when Eloise suddenly gets sick and dies. Cherry is convinced it is because of all the stew that Eloise consumed. Surely someone must have poisoned her. Then food poisoning breaks out at the festival, and the police dismiss her death as just a bad case of food poisoning.

Cherry can't take that easy dismissal of her friend's death. She starts investigating on her own. The police start getting irritated with this habit of hers, especially her boyfriend Luke and her Uncle Will. Repeatedly she finds herself in more danger than she thinks the situation merits. And of course, the closer she gets to the murderer, the more danger she finds.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It really is a humorous cozy mystery. Cherry is a little off the wall at times in the choices she makes, for example climbing down a rose trellis wearing a dress and flip flops, but she is loyal, sassy and persistent when it counts. Most of the time her train of thought and behavior seem mostly reasonable. And Larissa Reinhart does small towns well.

If you like mysteries with the elements of a cozy, small town south, strong female protagonist and humor, then you will probably like this book.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for my unbiased opinion.

Friday Reads

This week I am encouraging you to check out Friday Reads on the web or on Twitter. To quote the site: FridayReads is a global community of thousands of people who come together each week to share whatever they’re reading. Our goal is simple: to raise reading’s visibility and encourage more people to join in!


Every week thousands of people chime in on Facebook on their FridayReads page, on their homepage (FridayReads.com), on Tumblr, and on twitter using the hashtag #FridayReads and let the world know what they are reading. And audiobooks count too. Kindle, Nook or paper - it doesn't matter just so long as it's a book. Kids books are fine. Middle grades, YA, Grown-up, whatever you're reading just post it.


You can see what other people are reading in the feeds and lists as they appear, but Friday Reads also does a blog post about which books were the top listed books for the week. This is interesting as sort of real world information and not necessarily what the newspapers are saying, but what people are really reading. 


Check it out on Tumblr  this week and participate for a chance to win a copy of The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore. This is the sequel to I Am Number Four.


I've been participating in Friday Reads for a while now and I find it interesting to share and see what other people are reading as well as watch the number of people admitting to reading climb each week.


Give it a shot, why not? Let them know on the web or on twitter what you've been reading or are reading today.