Meet Author Jeffrey James Higgins and Enter to Win a Copy of His Debut Novel, Furious: Sailing Into Terror

Today it's my pleasure to have an old schoolmate on the blog, Jeffrey James Higgins. We went to high school together and are Facebook friends. He's the, third, I think, of our graduating class to be a published author. Jeff, did I miss someone? You, John Hunt, and Maggie Smith? Plus Tim Baer, who graduated a few years before us.

Jeffrey James Higgins is a former reporter and retired supervisory special agent who writes thriller novels, short stories, creative nonfiction, and essays. He made the first narco-terrorism arrest, convicted the world’s most prolific heroin trafficker, and convicted an Iranian spy. He has wrestled a suicide bomber, fought the Taliban in combat, and chased terrorists across five continents. Jeffrey has appeared on CNN Newsroom, Investigation Discovery, CNN Declassified, New York Times, and Fox News. He was a finalist Adelaide’s 2018 Best Essay Contest and a quarterfinalist in ScreenCraft's 2019 Most Cinematic Book Competition and 2021 Cinematic Short Story Writing Competition.

Review & Giveaway: Lady Rosamund and the Horned God by Barbara Monajem

Series: A Rosie and McBrae Regency Mystery #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes, though not recommended by the author
Publisher: Level Best Books
Source: the pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 20th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Google Books |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Widowed Lady Rosamund spends the first months of her mourning in the Lake District, where it’s safe and peaceful, and murders are exceedingly rare. Luckily, she is rescued from this tedium by a house party comprised of playwrights, poets, and actors—an immoral set of persons with whom no respectable lady should associate. Even so, she hardly expected to wake in the wee hours to find one of the guests lying dead.

As if that wasn’t troublesome enough, Gilroy McBrae is at the same party, masquerading as a footman to investigate a series of thefts. Was the sudden death an accident—or murder? Almost everyone had reason to loathe their unpleasant fellow guest. Rosie must set aside her confused emotions about McBrae and work with him to find the culprit before an innocent person is accused of the crime.

Review & Excerpt: The Setup by Carol Ericson

Series: A Kyra and Jake Investigation #1
Publisher: Harlequin Intrigue
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Ebook April 1, 2021 / MMP March 30, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Harlequin | IndieBound | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from publisher:

With a serial killer on the loose… 

Secrets get you killed.

Detective Jake McAllister isn’t aware Kyra Chase is connected to a twenty-year-old unsolved murder. He sees his new case partner only as an unwelcome distraction. But with the body count rising, they’ll need to trust each other to help them catch a killer who seems to know more about Kyra than Jake does.

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.

For more action-packed stories, check out the other books in the A Kyra and Jake Investigation series by Carol Ericson:

Book 1: The Setup

Heartfelt or thrilling, passionate or uplifting—our romances have it all. Visit TryHarlequin.com to sample FREE books from among 12 different series. It’s just a taste of the new books published each month—every story a journey guaranteed to leave you with That Harlequin Feeling.

Review & Giveaway: Arrowed by Avery Daniels

Series: Resort to Murder Mystery #4
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Blazing Sword Publishing Ltd.
Source: pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 1st, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

It all began when a dying man with an arrow in his chest grabs her ankle.

During a heat wave at a Santa Fe resort, Julienne has the resort owner pressuring her to solve the murder. The victim is a high profile business man who made enemies rather than friends, leaving Julienne with a roster of suspects. She was supposed to be training the staff and spending quality time with Mason rather than investigating a murder. The heat turns up when an old girlfriend of Mason's checks in and is determined to get back together.

Arrowed is the fourth book in Avery Daniel's Resort to Murder series and is an exciting contemporary cozy mystery. If you like Cleo Coyle, Maddy Hunter, Duffy Brown, Lynn Cahoon, and Annette Dashofy, then you'll love this series with a strong intelligent sleuth, lavish settings, and tantalizing mysteries.

Buy this spunky clean cozy mystery and start enjoying Julienne's adventures today!

Review & Excerpt: Flight by Laura Griffin

Series: The Texas Murder Files #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 30th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When former forensic photographer Miranda Rhoads moves to the seaside town of Lost Beach, she's decided to make her living as a wildlife photographer and put crime scenes behind her. But her plans are quickly upended when one morning, she comes across a couple sleeping in a canoe, entwined in an embrace. Looking closer, she realizes the man and woman aren't asleep – they've been murdered.

Detective Joel Breda sets out to find answers – not only about the unidentified victims in the marshy death scene, but also about the aloof and beautiful photographer who seems to know more about his investigation than he does.

As they begin to unravel the motivation of a merciless serial killer, Miranda and Joel must race against the clock to make an arrest before the killer can find them first.

Bea Reviews A Wild Legacy by Celeste de Blasis

Series: Wild Swan Trilogy
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes but not recommended
Publisher: Bookouture
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Feb. 15th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from Amazon:

Lexy Culhane follows in stunned silence as her father bundles her younger brothers onto the train in a midnight flight away from the only life they have ever known. It seems impossible to her that her gentle, loving mother could have shot a man.

Despite the shock, Lexy soon grows to love her new home at Wild Swan, the grand horse farm in Maryland run by her formidable grandmother, Alexandria Falconer. It is from Alex that Lexy has inherited her fiery and rebellious spirit, and which eventually leads her headlong into a career as a crusading reporter during the final days of the frontier wars.

When Lexy meets enigmatic fellow reporter Hawk MacKenna, she feels she has finally found her soulmate. But Hawk’s life is shadowed by a mistake from his youth, and still haunted by her mother’s actions, Lexy struggles to trust him. When her relentless curiosity about his hidden past comes between them, Hawk leaves for the battlefields in the West and Lexy accepts an invitation from distant relations in England. But when she is offered a chance to stay, she faces a test—can she choose between building a new life in this foreign land, or returning to face the pain, and the love, that she left behind?

A stunning, dramatic and heartfelt story by beloved storyteller Celeste De Blasis, set against the backdrop of the most turbulent age of American history. Perfect for readers who love Poldark, Outlander and Daphne du Maurier.

A Wild Legacy was originally published as A Season of Swans.

Bea and A Voracious Reader Review A Spelling Mistake by Nancy Warren

Series: Vampire Book Club #3
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Ambleside Publishing
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Release Date: Nov. 6th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Oops...

With great power comes...great big trouble when you make a mistake. Between managing a book shop in a postcard-pretty village in County Cork, Ireland, running a book club made up of vampires, and solving murders, my life is pretty full. Throw in that I'm a middle-aged witch with some powerful magic, if I do say so myself, and sometimes my brain hits overload. Is that what happened? I don't know, but when magic goes wrong in a town as quirky as Ballydehag, hold onto your broomsticks. You're in for a crazy ride.

A Spelling Mistake is book 3 in the Vampire Book Club series of cozy paranormal mysteries. Each can be read alone and there is no bad language or gore. There is humor, murder solving and a touch of romance from the best-selling author of the Vampire Knitting Club series.

EXCERPT: Cold Cruel Kiss by Toni Anderson

Today we are celebrating the release of the newest romantic suspense title from New York Times Bestselling Author Toni Anderson by participating in the blog tour! COLD CRUEL KISS is a Cold Justice Crossfire novel and it is available now. Add it to Goodreads and join Toni's FB group for exclusive updates.

Check out my review of "Cold Cruel Kiss" here.

Bea Reviews Cold Cruel Kiss by Toni Anderson

Series: Crossfire #4; Cold Justice #14
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Toni Anderson Inc,
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Jan. 28th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When the daughter of the US Ambassador to Argentina is kidnapped in broad daylight on Christmas Eve, the FBI sends one of its best negotiators to investigate.

Supervisory Special Agent Max Hawthorne arrives at an embassy thrown into chaos as US and local law enforcement hustle to track the young woman. Is this a simple kidnap for ransom, or part of a political agenda? Could it be something more sinister?

Lucy Aston has something to hide. Preferring to stay in the shadows, the lowly, fashion-challenged office assistant resents being assigned to help Max. But Max can’t resist a puzzle…he’s starting to suspect Lucy Aston is not what she seems.

When rumors emerge of a suspected Russian spy operating out of the embassy, Lucy’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble. As she and Max race to rescue the ambassador’s daughter, Lucy has to do whatever it takes to keep her cover from being blown—even if that means betraying the man she’s falling for.

Bea Reviews A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton #6
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes, but not recommended
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Feb. 9th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's next Rockton book, A Stranger in Town, the biggest mystery is the fate of the town itself.

Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home.

When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, the sole survivor of a hostile attack, it’s all hands on deck. Even a member of the elusive Rockton council comes in to help. This council member also comes bearing news: Rockton is being shut down due to the hostile situation.

Casey and Eric must now race to save the town that has allowed residents to have a fresh start, away from the mistakes of their past, while also getting to the bottom of this latest attack.

Review & Giveaway: Pursuit Of The Truth by K.D. Richards

Series: West Investigations #1

Publisher: Harlequin Intrigue 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Jan. 26th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Harlequin | Kobo |

* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

His skills can keep her safe.

Her secrets could get them killed…

Security expert Ryan West’s worst fears come to life when hotel CEO Nadia Shelton is pushed in front of a taxi and nearly killed. Someone will do whatever it takes to find the brother Nadia thought was dead, and the only way Ryan can protect her as they uncover the truth is to stay strictly professional. But the sparks igniting between them are nearly impossible to ignore.

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.

For more action-packed stories, check out the other books in the West Investigations series by K.D. Richards:

Book 1: Pursuit of the Truth

Bea Reviews Cry Wolf by Charlie Adhara

Series: Big Bad Wolf #5
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes but not recommended
Publisher: Carina Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Jan. 18th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Google Books | Kobo | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Don’t miss this thrilling installment in Charlie Adhara’s suspenseful paranormal mystery series, Big Bad Wolf.

Agent Cooper Dayton never thought anything could be harder than solving murders. Until he had to plan a wedding.

After taking down an old adversary, Agent Cooper Dayton of the Bureau of Special Investigations has earned a break. Not that planning a wedding to his sexy shifter partner, Oliver Park, is necessarily stress free, but it’s better than worrying about the ominous warning, delivered months ago, that Cooper’s life is in danger.

When he’s dragged to an event by his family, Cooper braces for an awkward evening, but instead finds himself in the middle of an ugly feud between Park’s ex and a rebel pack leader. What was supposed to be a quick outing turns into a full-blown murder investigation after the pack leader ends up dead, Park’s ex goes missing, and Cooper and Park are sent a series of disturbing wedding gifts that are somehow connected to it all.

The list of potential suspects is long, and with the bodies piling up, Cooper must turn to the one person he trusts the least: the villain he’s already put behind bars once and who has nothing to lose by lying and everything to gain if Cooper is out of the picture—for good.

Bea Reviews Lethal Intent by Cara Putman

Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 12th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When Caroline takes a job with a promising medical start-up, she believes she’s on the side of angels . . . until she’s asked to go too far.

When the judge she’s clerked for dies, Caroline Bragg starts over as in-house counsel for a pharmaceutical start-up working on innovative adult stem cell research with the potential to save thousands of lives. But when her charismatic new boss ignores her legal advice, Caroline's left unsettled. Then the company launches into headlines when a furious family demands answers regarding how the start-up used their deceased relative’s cells for innovation—with neither informed consent nor agreement for compensation. Caroline must defend the work of the company even as she realizes informed consent couldn’t have been given and the business is operating on questionable legal and ethical grounds.

Caroline’s friend Brandon Lancaster is at risk of losing his life’s work—a group foster care called Almost Home that has provided for sibling groups needing a landing place. He’s desperate for a solution, but then the pharmaceutical company’s he invested his last dime in is losing value fast. He’s been counting on the eventual sale of the start-up to save Almost Home, but with every other effort failing, he’s out of options and out of time.

With the start-up in trouble, Caroline's and Brandon’s problems intersect. He needs the story to end so he can salvage his investment, and she wants the truth to come out. Will their relationship survive? And will they survive the changes that are inevitably headed their way?

Bea Reviews Leave No Trace by Sara Driscoll

Series: FBI K-9 #5
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Kensington Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Dec. 29th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

FBI handler Meg Jennings and her search-and-rescue K-9 partner are heading south where it’s hunting season. But this time the prey is human.

One arrow through the heart could be a tragic hunting accident. A second one, within days, looks more like a crime. That’s when Meg Jennings and Brian Foster of the FBI’s Forensic Canine Unit head to Georgia to investigate. With their dogs Hawk and Lacey, Meg and Brian are enlisted to follow the scent of a killer. At first, nothing seems to connect the two victims–a county commissioner and State Patrol officer. But the blood sport around the southern town of Blue Ridge is just beginning.

As the body count rises, the compound bow killer becomes even more elusive, appearing and vanishing like a ghost. However, with each new slaying Meg is beginning to suspect the grim design that’s escalating in the shadows. At its heart, a tragic event that reaches back nearly two centuries in Georgia’s history is now turning Blue Ridge into a hunting ground. But as Meg gets closer to solving the puzzle, the closer she is to stepping into the crosshairs of an elusive murderer with deadly aim, and motives as deep and dark as the woods

Review & Giveaway: The Forever Girl by Jill Shalvis

Series: Wildstone #6
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 12th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Books-A-Million | Bookshop.org | Google Books | IndieBound | Kobo |

* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis does it once again with a heartfelt story of family, forgiveness, and secrets that have the power to change the course of more than one life.

When Maze returns to Wildstone for the wedding of her estranged bff and the sister of her heart, it’s also a reunion of a once ragtag team of teenagers who had only each other until a tragedy tore them apart and scattered them wide.

Now as adults together again in the lake house, there are secrets and resentments mixed up in all the amazing childhood memories. Unexpectedly, they instantly fall back into their roles: Maze their reckless leader, Cat the den mother, Heather the beloved baby sister, and Walker, a man of mystery.

Life has changed all four of them in immeasurable ways. Maze and Cat must decide if they can rebuild their friendship, and Maze discovers her long-held attraction to Walker hasn’t faded with the years but has only grown stronger.

Review & Giveaway: Dirty Deeds: An Urban Fantasy Collection by Faith Hunter, Diana Pharaoh Francis, Devon Monk, & R. J. Blain

Read As A Stand Alone: Mostly
Publisher: Pen & Page Publishing
Source: publicist in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 12th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When the going gets tough, the tough get their hands dirty. Join NY Times Bestselling author Faith Hunter, USA Today Bestselling author R.J. Blain, and National Bestselling authors Diana Pharaoh Francis and Devon Monk on a wild romp where the damsels bring the distress and what can go wrong will go wrong.

Venture into a thrilling spinoff tale from the world of Jane Yellowrock; join vacationing gods in what appears to be a quiet, ordinary town; visit a supernatural hotel where the bedbugs could very well eat you; and dive into the zany, deadly world of the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series.

In this collection of all-new urban fantasy novellas and other stories, no job is too big or too small — if the price is right.

Review & Excerpt: Agent Under Siege by Lena Diaz

Series: The Justice Seekers #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 1st, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | BooksAMillion | Book Depository | Google Books | Harlequin | IndieBound |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from publisher:

Can they outsmart a killer …who’s already escaped justice?

The Kentucky Ripper is in prison…or is he? When no one will help Teagan Ray find the man who really abducted her, former profiler Bryson Anton agrees to investigate. But soon their search takes two jolting turns—brutal attacks from a cunning suspect…and a powerful mutual attraction.

Hello 2021! Goodbye 2020!

 

Well, 2020 sure wasn't the year I expected when it started. I didn't anticipate a pandemic, or the protests, though those were needed. I didn't expect getting laid off from work for 3.5 months. Thank you, COVID-19. Grrrrr. I didn't expect my hermetic tendencies to become such a positive thing. The shutdown, though inconvenient at times, didn't bother me as much as it did some of my family and friends who are so much more social than I am. I didn't expect to have a meltdown and spend a day huddled in bed sobbing my guts out when my state's lockdown was extended yet again. I really wanted to get back to work, and the extension revealed that I wasn't as mentally and emotionally okay as I thought I was. I'm doing better these days.

Bea Reviews The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman

Series: The Invisible Library #7
Read As A Stand Alone: Possible, but not recommended
Publisher: Ace
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 29th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A professional spy for a mysterious Library which harvests fiction from different realities, Irene faces a series of assassination attempts that threaten to destroy her and everything she has worked for.

Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian's job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected. But when they both narrowly avoid getting killed in an assassination attempt, she decides that learning by doing is the only option they have left - especially when the assassins keep coming for them, and for Irene's other friends as well...

In order to protect themselves, Irene and her friends must do what they do best: search for information to defeat the overwhelming threat they face and identify their unseen enemy. To do that, Irene will have to delve deeper into her own history than she ever has before, face an ancient foe, and uncover secrets that will change her life and the course of the Library forever.

Bea Reviews Take It Back by Kia Abdullah

Series: Zara Kaleel #1
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 8th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

From author Kia Abdullah, Take It Back is a harrowing and twisting courtroom thriller that keeps you guessing until the last page is turned.

One victim. Four accused. Who is telling the truth?

Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest legal minds, shattered the expectations placed on her by her family and forged a brilliant legal career. But her decisions came at a high cost, and now, battling her own demons, she has exchanged her high profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, helping victims who need her the most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe.

When Jodie, a sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, accuses four boys in her class of an unthinkable crime, the community is torn apart. After all, these four teenage defendants are from hard-working immigrant families and they all have proven alibis. Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her.

But Zara does--and she is determined to fight for Jodie--to find the truth in the face of public outcry. And as issues of sex, race and social justice collide, the most explosive criminal trial of the year builds to a shocking conclusion.