Talk about Tuesday Book Review - Truth-Stained Lies by Terri Blackstock

When truth doesn’t make sense, will lies prevail?

Cathy Cramer is a former lawyer and investigative blogger who writes commentary on high-profile homicides. When she finds a threatening note warning her that she’s about to experience the same kind of judgment and speculation that she dishes out in her blog, Cathy writes it off as mischief . . . until her brother’s wife is murdered and all the “facts” point to him. The killer has staged the crime to make the truth too far-fetched to believe. Working to solve the murder and clear her brother’s name, Cathy and her two sisters, Holly and Juliet, moonlight as part-time private investigators. Juliet, a stay-at-home mom of two boys, and Holly, a scattered ne’er-do-well who drives a taxi, put aside their fear to hunt down the real killer.

Stakes rise when their brother’s grieving five-year-old son is kidnapped. As police focus on the wrong set of clues, the three sisters and their battered detective friend are the only hope for solving this bizarre crime, saving the child, and freeing their brother.

It's been awhile since I read this book, but I never got around to writing my review about it.

What can I say? I love all of Terri Blackstock's books, and this is no exception!
A few things I enjoy about her writing: the books are suspenseful, easy to read, and well thought out.
This is book one in a trilogy, which I also enjoy because it means the story keeps going.

This book in particular has an excellent balance of all the characters, with good family dynamics and a bit of romance thrown in there. If you have a hard time following a lot of characters, then you might not like this one, but I thought it was well written and a fun read.

If you like suspense books, then this is one I would definitely recommend!

~Sela

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NetGalley as part of their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Some links are affiliate links, which I may receive a small compensation from in connection with their affiliate program.

Talk About Tuesday Book Review - The Watchers: Knight of Light

Talk About Tuesday is for reviews or just to let you know about a product I love. I mostly review books but occasionally something else will come available. Today, it's a book :-)

Watch the trailer: http://youtu.be/m-RxVN_FKL8 

All the training in Heaven couldn't prepare me for the war on earth, nor for the love, loss, or loneliness humans feel. There are things worse than death, and every last one of them is hunting people like us. Even though we all feel human at times, we must remember, we are not them, we are their watchers.

In England, 1270 A.D., Auriella flees her village after being accused of witchcraft. Pursued by nightmarish creatures, she struggles to accept the truth about her humanity. Filled with fairies, dwarves, pixies, dragons, demons, and monsters, Knight of Light is an enthralling tale that will capture the imaginations of readers young and old.

Auriella is special. How special we don't yet know. She is an orphan and must flee her home only to fall in with a witch, dwarves, pixies, fairies, knights, and even nobility. All as she is discovering who she really is and what special powers she possesses. She must endure many trials and hardships along the way, but she perseveres and becomes the Knight of Light.

What I liked:

The overall concept of the book was fun. The world in the book has enough fantasy but enough reality to make it relateable and easy to understand. The author uses common fantasy characters, such as pixies, dwarves, and fairies that really needed little explanation. The main character is easy to like, which is good :-)

What I didn't like:

The character development was very shallow. The book moved to fast to really tell a good deep story. There were some significant plot elements that got glossed over in a page or so where it could have really deepened the story and the credibility and personality of the characters. 

Overall, this book was a fun read, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series, but I am hoping that the characters are developed more as the series progresses.

~Sela

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through Tomoson as part of their review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Happy 2016!! And a new plan for this here blog...

I have no idea if anyone will actually read this since it's been a full 2 years since I've blogged ANYTHING but here goes!

I *hate* the words "New Year's Resolutions", they just rub me the wrong way. So this is NOT a post about New Year's Resolutions. Rather, it's something that I've been thinking about and dreaming about for many months, and just haven't put into play yet.

I miss blogging. I enjoy being able to share what I'm doing in a longer format than just a Facebook post. I like being able to blog about all the areas of my crazy life. I want the accountability to myself of posting something about school, family, homemaking, and my business every week.

So, here's the plan. It's not going to be perfect. I'm sure that I will miss days, even if I have the best intentions not to. And there is grace for that. But here is what I would like to do, at least for now, and we'll just have to see how it goes.

• Menu Plan Monday (Food/recipes)
• Talk about Tuesday (Review/product recommendation)
• What are we learning Wednesday (Homeschooling)
• Thankful Thursday (My journey to 1000 gifts)
• Fashion Friday (Jewelry usually, sometimes other fashion tidbits)
• Pictures on the weekend

These are the major areas of my life right now, so this is what I want to tell the world about. :-)

And at some point, I'll get the look of the blog updated to include new pictures of the little people...they're a lot bigger now!

~Sela