So Damn Lucky by Deborah Coonts ~ My Thoughts

So Damn Lucky

So Damn Lucky by Deborah Coonts 
Series: Lucky O'Toole #3
Kindle Edition, 384 pages
Published June 13th 2015

Magician Dimitri Fortunoff appears to have a fatal accident while performing his final trick at the performance marking the end of a forty-year run of one of Las Vegas’ most renowned burlesque shows. Soon after, his body disappears and the questions mount for Lucky O’toole, head of Customer Relations for the Babylon resort, the crown jewel of the mega-resorts dotting the Las Vegas Strip.

But the timing couldn’t be worse. Her live-in lover, Teddie, is on tour with a young and lovely pop star. Paxton Dane, a handsome Texan long on charisma and short on history, is forcing himself into the void of Teddie’s absence, and a suave French chef is proving to be equal parts charm and venom, seasoned with a dash of irresistible.

But Lucky can’t shake the question: Did Dimitri Fortunoff really die or is this an elaborate hoax? The trail leads her through the miles of storm culverts under the city of Las Vegas, to the hordes of believers who gather at Rachel for a glimpse of a UFO, to hints of secret programs at Area 51, then culminates on the catwalk above the crowd attending the annual, Harry Houdini Séance on Halloween, where Lucky must risk her life to catch a killer.

My thoughts about So Damn Lucky ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"Some things in life are best savored alone—sex is not one of them."

Lucky O'Toole has a great life. She is head of Customer Relations for the Babylon resort, she has a lot of respect in the community, she has a set of parents who love her, and a boyfriend who may or may not want to commit. Well, that last part might not be so great.

I love this series. I never know what kind of adventure I will be starting when I open the next book. I know I can count on great characters getting into all kinds of trouble. And lots of humor. And there's always the mystery that Lucky has to solve but that's what makes this series a pageturner. How can so much go wrong? It's so much fun trying to figure out how it's all going to turn out.

I enjoy being a part of Lucky's world and I can't wait to start my next adventure with Lucky and her crew.  

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Read my thoughts about  

Wanna Get Lucky (book #1)
Lucky Stiff (book #2)
Lucky in Love (book #2.5)

Deborah previously visited The Book Bag and talked about the 'voices in her head'. Read what she had to say here.

Find the complete list of the Lucky series books here.

About the Author

My mother tells me I was born a very long time ago, but I’m not so sure—my mother can’t be trusted. These things I do know: I was raised in Texas on barbeque, Mexican food and beer. I am the author of Wanna Get Lucky? (A NY Times Notable Crime Novel and double RITA™ Finalist), its five sequels, Lucky Break being the latest, four between-the-books novellas and the first in a new series, Crushed, a novel of wine and love.

Currently I’m stretching my writer muscles working on a women’s fiction/contemporary romance series set in Napa, a dark thriller, a romantic suspense series featuring a female helicopter pilot, as well as the next Lucky adventure—all very different projects. So, if you see me with a glass of Champagne in hand, you’ll understand. I can usually be found at the bar, but also at www.deborahcoonts.com.

Connect with Deborah

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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Lucky in Love by Deborah Coonts ~ My Thoughts

Lucky in Love

Lucky in Love by Deborah Coonts 
Series: Lucky O'Toole #2.5
Kindle e-book, 122 pages
Published Published June 13th 2015 by Deborah B. Coonts

Lucky O’Toole, the Vice President of Customer Relations for the Babylon, one of Las Vegas’ most over-the-top strip properties, is seriously regretting booking a reality television show, The Forever Game, into the small theatre at her hotel. One thing she knows for sure: Vegas does NOT need a dose of reality.

The four couples competing in the Forever Game add their own mischief to the incendiary mix normally available in Sin City while competing for a Las Vegas wedding extravaganza. The host of the show, Trey Gold, appears interested only in keeping the spotlight on himself while the contestants run-wild sampling all Vegas has to offer, threatening to blow the whole show out of the water.

Not only must Lucky keep the couples from killing each other, killing their relationships, or ending up on the front page of the Review-Journal, she has to navigate the rocky road to love herself. Teddie, her live-in lover is leaning more-and-more towards chasing a new dream as a singer, leaving Vegas…and Lucky behind. And a new French chef who seems determined to muddy the murky waters of love even further.

Then there’s Lucky’s mother, Mona, who never could leave well enough alone….

My thoughts about Lucky in Love ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"'Did you know my wife is seriously into chicks?' The guy was brave, I'd grant him that. Approaching a woman in a bar with that line was no small feat, even in Vegas."

And so begins another fun romp into Lucky's world. I love Lucky and this series is such a treat to read. First of all, it's set in Vegas, and who doesn't have a good time there?

Then there's the fun, quirky set of character. I love catching up with them with each new story and it's wonderful to see the characters grow and move forward with their lives. Some series I have read just seem like things stay the same. Not this one—you never know what is going happen. The humor in this series and the great characters keep me coming back for more.

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Read my thoughts about  

Wanna Get Lucky (book #1)
Lucky Stiff (book #2)

Deborah previously visited The Book Bag and talked about the 'voices in her head'. Read what she had to say here.

Find the complete list of the Lucky series books here.

About the Author

My mother tells me I was born a very long time ago, but I’m not so sure—my mother can’t be trusted. These things I do know: I was raised in Texas on barbeque, Mexican food and beer. I am the author of Wanna Get Lucky? (A NY Times Notable Crime Novel and double RITA™ Finalist), its five sequels, Lucky Break being the latest, four between-the-books novellas and the first in a new series, Crushed, a novel of wine and love.

Currently I’m stretching my writer muscles working on a women’s fiction/contemporary romance series set in Napa, a dark thriller, a romantic suspense series featuring a female helicopter pilot, as well as the next Lucky adventure—all very different projects. So, if you see me with a glass of Champagne in hand, you’ll understand. I can usually be found at the bar, but also at www.deborahcoonts.com.

Connect with Deborah

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Release Week: Exposed in Darkness by Heather Sunseri, a Guest Post, and a #Giveaway!

Exposed in Darkness

Exposed in Darkness by Heather Sunseri 

Series: In Darkness #1

Print and e-book, 350 pages

Genre: Romantic Suspense, Adult

Published January 10th 2017 by Sun Publishing

Just days before the running of the biggest thoroughbred horse race in the world, an act of bioterrorism kills Kentucky’s lieutenant governor, and former FBI Special Agent Brooke Fairfax receives a video of the murder from her long-time anonymous source. When Brooke discovers domestic terrorists are actually after the governor—her late husband’s brother—and that the radicals are eyeing more targets, she heads to Kentucky to stop the threat.

Shortly after the political assassination, the FBI zeroes in on one person: international mogul Declan O’Roark. Though Brooke has been out of the game since her husband was murdered, her former boss thinks she is the perfect candidate to connect Declan to the crime.

Despite the FBI clearly establishing means and opportunity, Declan remains unfazed; his motives have nothing to do with murder, but with getting closer to Brooke Fairfax. And Brooke finds the case becoming even more unclear as she falls for the FBI’s number one suspect.

Voices 

Welcome to The Book Bag, Heather ~~ I have heard other authors say that they 'hear voices in their head' and that is how they write their books: the characters are telling their stories. Not being a writer myself, that concept has always intrigued me. Does this happen to you? How do you come up with your stories?

I’m not really a “voices in my head” kind of person. That’s not to say that I’m not still a little bit crazy, because I tend to become my characters as I write.

For example, in Exposed in Darkness, my main character, Brooke, falls and sprains her dominant arm pretty badly. I spent so much time trying to imagine every scene with her unable to use her shooting arm or the arm/hand she used to wash her hair – you get the point – that I began imagining that I was the one with the hurt arm. I would get up from my desk at the end of the day, and I would still be thinking about how “I” can’t use my right arm for whatever task I was doing next.

To write my stories, I try to put myself into each scene and into the head of the character whose point of view I’m writing from, then I imagine that scene playing out like a movie on the screen. What am I seeing, smelling, hearing? When another character does something, what does that look like, how does it make me feel, and how do I react to it?

As far as how I come up with stories? I’m a “what if?” kind of person. I read or hear something on the news, or I watch a good movie, and I begin playing the “What if?” game. For Exposed in Darkness, I started by thinking of the many ways we are being terrorized these days, and I began asking the very difficult, and very dark, questions of how a terrorist could strike a crowded event. Then I went through the motions of how my amazingly strong female protagonist could stop the attack.

About the author

Heather Sunseri is a recovering CPA who began writing novels in order to escape the mundane life as a muggle. After twenty years in the corporate world, Heather decided to use her business savvy and curious mind to start a publishing business anchored by fictional stories. She is proof that one can be a numbers person and a creative… And that it’s never too late (or too early) to get a do over.

She’s married to the love of her life, mom to two amazing kids, and caregiver to the best golden retriever and one very, needy cat. When she’s not writing, she’s making homemade pizza and drinking Kentucky bourbon.

Connect with Heather

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Lucky Stiff by Deborah Coonts - My Thoughts

Lucky Stiff

Lucky Stiff by Deborah Coonts 
Series: Lucky O'Toole #2
Print and e-book, 344 pages
Published July 13th 2015 by Deborah B. Coonts (first published February 15th 2011)

Lucky O'Toole--Head of Customer Relations at The Babylon, premier mega-resort on the Vegas Strip--thinks it's just another night in Las Vegas. A tractor-trailer has spilled its load of a million honeybees, blocking not only the Strip but the entrance to her hotel... the District Attorney for Clark County—apparently the odd man out of a threesome on the twelfth floor—is hiding in the buff in one of the hotel's laundry rooms... and Numbers Neidermeyer--one of Vegas' less-than-savory oddsmakers--is arguing with Las Vegas' ace private investigator, the Beautiful Jeremy Whitlock.

The next day, Lucky discovers Ms. Neidermeyer was tossed into the shark tank at the Mandalay Bay Resort as a snack for the Tiger Shark. When the police show up at the Babylon with a hastily prepared search warrant, applied for by the District Attorney himself, and Jeremy lands in the hot seat, Lucky realizes her previous night was far from routine.

Amid the chaos of fight weekend, the hiring of an eccentric new French chef, and her madam mother's intentions to auction off a young woman's virginity, Lucky is drawn into a deadly game where no one is what they seem, a game that will end only when she discovers who made fish-food out of Numbers Neidermeyer.

Lucky O'Toole and Fabulous Las Vegas—life doesn't get any better.

My thoughts about Lucky Stiff ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—'Millions of enraged honeybees had done the impossible: Single-handedly they brought the Las Vegas Strip to a standstill.'

Okay, I'll admit it. It has been awhile since I read book #1 in this series. But I was excited to get a chance to add Lucky Stiff to my review list. And it was like connecting with an old friend again. You know what it's like—you don't see or hear from that good friend for a number of years but when you reconnect, it's like you just saw each other last week—you just pick up where you left off. That's the way I felt with Lucky. I was right back in her world, like I had never left.

This series is such a fun set of stories. Lucky and her cronies are so unique and the people and problems they run into kept me so entertained as I flew through the pages. It felt like I was experiencing the craziness of Vegas, but from an insider's point of view. These people were just doing their job, making sure that everything was running smoothly.

Lucky Stiff starts off with a truck full of bees loose in Vegas. I loved it! A very good friend of mine works at the local honey farm and her life is all about bees so it was a treat to see bees be such a big part of this story. I love it when I can find a personal connection to the story I am reading. And someday..... I hope to take a trip to Vegas. It's on my bucket list and Lucky's stories make me want to go even more.

I am looking forward to continuing on with this series and I don't plan to be away from Lucky's world for very long. I enjoyed my time there and I can't wait to go back.

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My thoughts about Wanna Get Lucky (book #1) are here.

Deborah previously visited The Book Bag and talked about the 'voices in her head'. Read what she had to say here.

Find the complete list of the Lucky series books here.

About the Author

My mother tells me I was born a very long time ago, but I’m not so sure—my mother can’t be trusted. These things I do know: I was raised in Texas on barbeque, Mexican food and beer. I am the author of Wanna Get Lucky? (A NY Times Notable Crime Novel and double RITA™ Finalist), its five sequels, Lucky Break being the latest, four between-the-books novellas and the first in a new series, Crushed, a novel of wine and love.

Currently I’m stretching my writer muscles working on a women’s fiction/contemporary romance series set in Napa, a dark thriller, a romantic suspense series featuring a female helicopter pilot, as well as the next Lucky adventure—all very different projects. So, if you see me with a glass of Champagne in hand, you’ll understand. I can usually be found at the bar, but also at www.deborahcoonts.com.

Connect with Deborah

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

The Torment of Rachel Ames by Jeff Gunhus and a Giveaway!

The Torment of Rachel Ames

The Torment of Rachel Ames by Jeff Gunhus

Print and e-book, 150 pages

Published November 10th 2015 by Seven Guns Press

Genre: Thriller, psychological thriller ​

Suffering from writer’s block, novelist Rachel Ames escapes to a lake cabin to calm her mind and regain a sense of herself. The location is perfect. Isolated. Beautiful. Inspiring. It even comes with a good-looking landlord who shows an interest in her. But she can’t shake the sense that something terrible has followed her to the lake, something just beyond her consciousness, something out on the edge where the sounds of a raging fire and sirens linger whenever she slows down to listen. 

Determined to make the cabin work, she tries to settle in and give her new life a chance. But when strange things begin to happen around her, she wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake. As the darkness that’s followed her manifests itself in inexplicable ways, her concept of reality is stretched thin and she realizes nothing at the lake is what it seems. As she fights to survive with her sanity intact, she understands too late that the location she’s chosen for herself is far from perfect. 

My thoughts about The Torment of Rachel Ames ~~

Wow! This book blew me away! As I was reading it, I kept thinking, this reminds me of Stephen King, kind of that creep, suspenseful, not making much sense type of story. One where I just had to keep reading because I knew, or hoped, that I would get to the part where it did make sense -- I just had to keep going.

And then, lo and behold, the author throws in some references to one my favorite SK novels, The Shining. Loved it! There were other parts of the book that had the feel of SK as well. I had sort of forgotten how much I loved a good psychological thriller but this book brought it all back to me.

This story had me going up to the very end and then when I was done, I just sat there with my ereader in my hands, absorbing what I had just experienced. The next thing I did was check out the author's website to determine which book I would read next. Well done, Jeff! You have a new fan.  

About the author 

Jeff Gunhus is the author thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books for adults have reached the Top 100 on Amazon and have been Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalists.

After his experience with his son, he is passionate about helping parents reach young reluctant readers and is active in child literacy issues. As a father of five, he leads an active lifestyle in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to constantly keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the City Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel.

Connect with Jeff

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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