5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, E-Book, Fiction, NetGalley, RATING, Read in 2013, READING CHALLENGES 2013, Review Book

2013.5 REVIEW – A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate by Susanna Calkins

Tara

A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate
by Susanna Calkins

Copyright: 2013
Pages: 349
Rating: 5/5
Read: Jan. 18 – 22, 2013
Challenge: 2013 Eclectic Reader Challenge
Yearly count: 5
Format: E-Book
Source: NetGalley

A Murder at Rosamund's GateBlurb:  For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly killed, and Lucy’s brother is wrongly arrested for the crime. In a time where the accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent, lawyers aren’t permitted to defend their clients, and—if the plague doesn’t kill them first—public executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she may never see her brother alive again. Unless, that is, she can identify the true murderer.

Determined to do just that, Lucy finds herself venturing out of her expected station and into raucous printers’ shops, secretive gypsy camps, the foul streets of London, and even the bowels of Newgate prison on a trail that might lead her straight into the arms of the killer.

Review: I received this book via NetGalley. It was an impulse request, but I knew that it was a book that I really wanted to read.

I actually finished this book a few days ago, but for some reason I couldn’t immediately put my thoughts together on how to approach the review. But I’ve now gathered my thoughts and I hope that I am able to convey to my readers just how much I really did enjoy this book.

However, that’s not to say that it wasn’t without its faults. First of all, this is most definitely a historical mystery. But I was a little frustrated that it took 100 pages until we really got to the “mystery” part of it. The only reason I kept reading the book through all that was because Ms. Calkins really set the stage beautifully in my opinion. There was just something about the writing and the introduction to all the characters that really drew me farther into the story.

I really enjoyed Lucy’s character. She seemed so real to me. And I liked how Ms. Calkins made her more than just a servant – she was a young woman with thoughts and opinions of her own. It also helped that her household master was quite receptive to hearing the chambermaid’s opinions. I’m absolutely positive that this would have been almost unheard of during the time this book was set (London during the plague years).

The mystery part of the book was quite interesting to me. I will admit that I had no idea who the killer really was until he was revealed. That’s always something that I really appreciate out of a good book.

When the book reaches its conclusion the reader is left wondering where Lucy will go from there. I will admit that I was a little frustrated that it seemed to end so abruptly. I was left with a lot of questions that I wanted answers to immediately. Hopefully I will be able to meet Lucy again in another book in the future.

Either way, this is definitely a historical mystery not to be missed. I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, but when I do this is exactly the type of book that I’m looking for. I know this book will make a big splash in the book world – and it definitely deserves to. Highly recommended.

AUTHOR, Book Review, E-Book, Fiction, R, Read in 2013, Review Book

2013.18 REVIEW – Blood Money by Doug Richardson

Tara

Blood Money
by Doug Richardson

Copyright: 2013
Pages: 280
Read: April 4-11, 2013
Challenge: No Challenge
Yearly count: 18
Format: E-Book
Source: Author for review

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000032_00037]Blurb: The disillusioned Marine’s plan seems simple enough: steal a refrigerated tractor trailer loaded with frozen blood product; drive the pirated cargo from Reno, Nevada to the Port of Long Beach; collect a million dollars. Yet even the most deliberate plans can go sideways. On his campaign south, the Marine’s “inner idiot” takes charge, leaving a smattering of dead bodies in his wake.

In the dark before dawn, a telephone rings. Kern County Sheriff’s detective Lucas “Lucky” Dey, no stranger to being awakened with bad news, answers the call. But this time, the voice on the phone tells Lucky that his ill-fated younger brother has been gunned down on a blackened desolate highway.

As Lucky chases the former Marine and his black semi-rig into the bowels of Los Angeles, he’s thrust into a landscape of competing agendas. Conrad Ellis, the multi-millionaire entertainment mogul, demands justice for the murder of his starlet daughter. Ambitious federal attorney Lilly Zoller is determined to turn any opportunity into her personal spotlight. Rey Palomino, the morally challenged contractor, colludes with the former Marine hoping to crawl out from under a crushing debt. LAPD detective and dedicated single mom Lydia “Gonzo” Gonzales, reluctantly accepts her assignment to “babysit” the unrestrained Kern County detective hell-bent on avenging his brother’s death at any cost.

A knee-breaking private detective, some unwitting feds, and a coterie of gang-busting L.A. Sheriff’s deputies further complicate the scenario and round out the cast of characters in this explosive and unpredictable thrill ride.

Review: This is a book that starts out with a bang and never lets up until you’ve hit the final page. When I was originally pitched this book and first found out that Mr. Richardson had actually written some pretty famous movies, I was immediately intrigued and wanted to read his book. I’m very happy that I got this opportunity.

Overall the book is quite good. As I stated above, this is a fast-paced, roller-coaster ride of a read. The pages kept flying as I was anxious to get see how things ended up.

As most of my faithful readers know, I am huge on character development. Personally, I felt that Mr. Richardson did a great job in creating the characters, but I felt a little disconnected with them. I guess you could really say that I never really “liked” any of the characters. However, for some reason, it works for this book. I can’t really explain it, but it just felt right for the situation.

I felt as if the writing was very good, it never lagged, but most importantly it felt real. Nothing was forced, everything felt like you were right in the conversation with the characters.

I would definitely recommend this book. I have to say that there is quite a bit of violence in this book, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.

About the Author:

DougRichardsonHiResDoug  Richardson  was  born  in  Arcadia,  California.  The  son  of  a  career  politician,  Doug  grew  up  outside  Sacramento  and  inside  the  state  Capitol.  He  used  to  talk  his  way  into  then-‐Governor  Ronald  Reagan’s  office,  just  to  get  a  handful  of  jellybeans.    Doug  left  Northern  California  for  Los  Angeles  to  attend  the  University  of  Southern  California’s  School  of  Cinema.  For  as  long  as  he  could  remember,  Doug  had  wanted  to  be  a  movie  director.  But  in  pursuing  his  goal  he  discovered  how  movies  are  really  made:  in  the  writing.    After  finishing  college,  Doug  signed  a  two-‐year  contract  with  Warner  Brothers.  In  1989  he  garnered  national  attention  when  his  spec  screenplay  was  the  first  in  Hollywood  to  sell  for  a  million  dollars.  Doug’s  first  feature  film,  the  sequel  to  Die  Hard,  Die  Harder,  was  produced  in  1990.  He  has  since  written  and  produced  feature  films  including  the  box  office  smash  Bad  Boys  and,  most  recently,  Hostage.  To  date,  Doug’s  features  have  grossed  over  800  million  dollars  worldwide.    Blood  Money  is  Doug’s  fourth  novel,  preceded  by  Dark  Horse,  True  Believers,  and  The  Safety  Expert.      Doug  continues  to  write  and  develop  for  feature  films  and  television.  He  lives  in  Southern  California  with  his  wife,  two  children  and  four  mutts.

Cover Reveal

Cover Reveal: Touching Melody

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TouchingMelody_CVR_LRG

About the book:

Touching Melody by RaShelle Workman
Series: Forever First #1
Publication date:  June 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
Synopsis:

Maddie Martin’s first weekend at college is nothing like she’s used to. It’s wild, like the wilderness on which the University of Bellam Springs sits. Roped into going to a frat party, she literally runs into Kyle Hadley. The boy she’s loved since she was nine. The boy she promised all of her firsts to. But that was before his father killed her parents.

Determined to stay away from him, she throws herself into her music. Practicing piano eases her heavy heart, calms the sadness, and pushes away images of Kyle’s face.

Until it doesn’t.

Her music professor asks her to play a duet for their annual Graduation Gala. Doing so means she’ll be assured another full ride scholarship. It’s an opportunity she can’t pass up.

But Kyle is the other half of the duet. And that means hours and hours of practicing.

Days and months of seclusion – just the two of them. And it’s more than just music. It’s passion like Maddie never believed was possible.

The inevitable happens. She falls in love with him all over again.

But, will loving him be enough to erase all the hate in her heart for his father? Can she look at him, and not see the evil in his family tree?

And maybe it’s all a set up. Maybe Kyle is only pretending to care so he can finish what his father started, and kill her too.

 

amazonprofileAbout the author:

RASHELLE WORKMAN lives on a mountain with her husband, three children, and three dogs. From her back porch she can see the city lights and imagine… She’s the bestselling author of the Dead Roses series (Sleeping Roses is being translated into Turkish, and will be available in print wherever Turkish books are sold in 2014), the Immortal Essence series, and the Blood and Snow series.
Author links:

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Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, April 15, 2013

Tara

Mailbox Monday time again! And April’s host is Mari at MariReads

Just one book this past week. Something a little out of my comfort zone, but it sounded intriguing when I spotted it on Shelf Awareness.

After Visiting Friends: A Son’s Storyby Michael Hainey

after visiting friendsMichael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family’s back door early one morning with tragic news: Bob Hainey, Michael’s father, had been found dead in the night, alone on a dark Chicago street. The cause of death, a heart attack. Thirty-five years old, Bob was a bright and shining star in the hard-living brotherhood of the 1960s big-city newspapers, where booze-soaked nights bled into dawn. And then suddenly he was gone, leaving behind a young widow, two sons, a fractured family, and questions about the mysteries of his death that would obsess Michael long into adulthood.

Man years later, and now a seasoned reporter himself, Michael finally summons the courage to search out the truth of what happened that night – no matter the toll on his family. At the heart of his riveting quest is Michael’s mother, a woman of great courage and tenacity – and a steely determination not to look back. Prodding his relatives and tracking down a network of his father’s colleagues who abide by an honor code of silence, Michael sees  beyond the long-held myths and ultimately reconciles the father he had imagined with the man that he comes to discover. Perhaps most powerfully of all, his decade-long journey leads him to a moving rediscovery of his mother.

After Visiting Friends is a heartrending and beautifully written memoir of a family’s legacy of secrets, a universal story about how we find ourselves.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Read in 2013, Review Book, S

2013.17 REVIEW – Evidence of Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel

Tara

Evidence of Life
by Barbara Taylor Sissel

Copyright: 2013
Pages: 304
Read: March 29 – April 4, 2013
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly count: 17
Format: Print
Source: Publicist for blog tour

20130331-102247.jpgBlurb:

On the last ordinary day of her life, Abby Bennett feels like the luckiest woman alive. But everyone knows that luck doesn’t last forever…

As her husband, Nick, and daughter, Lindsey, embark on a weekend camping trip to the Texas Hill Country, Abby looks forward to having some quiet time to herself. She braids Lindsey’s hair, reminds Nick to drive safely and kisses them both goodbye. For a brief moment, Abby thinks she has it all—a perfect marriage, a perfect life—until a devastating storm rips through the region, and her family vanishes without a trace.

When Nick and Lindsey are presumed dead, lost in the raging waters, Abby refuses to give up hope. Consumed by grief and clinging to her belief that her family is still alive, she sets out to fine them. But as disturbing clues begin to surface, Abby realizes that the truth may be far more sinister than she imagined. Soon she finds herself caught in a current of lies that threaten to unhinge her and challenge everything she once believed about her marriage and family.

With a voice that resonates with stunning clarity, Barbara Taylor Sissel delivers a taut and chilling mystery about a mother’s love, a wife’s obsession and the invisible fractures that can shatter a family.

Review: I do believe that 2013 is going to go down in the record books as the year I read the most awesome books, ever! Seriously. I just keep reading winner after winner!

So where do I start in the love-fest that will be this review? How about with this – go buy a copy and move it to the top of your to-read pile, ASAP!

For me this book started off and never let up. I was constantly wanting to know exactly what happened to Nick and Lindsey. Were they dead? Did Nick run off and take Lindsey with him? Personally I couldn’t get through the pages quick enough to find out what happened to half of Abby’s family.

Abby … oh, dear Abby. My heart broke for her character. I wanted her to have closure so badly. I know that there are a lot of families out there that never get closure, but I was really hoping that she would get it in the end. You had to pity her a little bit. But at the same time I wanted to shake her out of the funk she got in. I don’t really want to say that her character really got obnoxious, because it’s hard to tell how anyone would react in that situation – everyone grieves differently – but, at the same time it was difficult to believe that she was as naive as she was acting.

But Nick is really the character I want to talk about. I had an issue that we never really got to “know” him. He disappeared within like the first 10 pages and then everything regarding him was from other people’s perspectives, whether it was Abby, Kate, Abby’s mother or Nick’s co-workers. I understood why Ms. Sissel set the book up in the manner she did, but I felt as if Nick really never got to have his own say into what happened in his and Abby’s marriage. It would have been nice to have his perspective on a few things – was Abby really that naive or did she look the other way because it was easiest? I think it would have been interesting to see that perspective of the story. But it didn’t hurt my overall opinion of the book itself, I just think it would have been an interesting direction to have gone in.

But Kate is really the one character I did. not. like. Period. She was shady. And yet she wanted to be Abby’s best friend. She betrayed her. And yet she expected Abby to just forgive her for everything. And Abby did just that. It just irritated me, because I felt as if Kate really took advantage of Abby. I don’t know, there was just something about her that rubbed me wrong I guess.

Overall, the storyline was interesting. While the outcome was somewhat predictable, there was definitely one wild character that came out of left field in my opinion. It definitely added the twist that really helped the book to its exciting finish. The writing was excellent.

I can’t say enough about this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to anyone. It definitely makes me want to read Ms. Sissel’s previous books!

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**I received a copy of this book to be part of a blog tour. I received no monetary compensation and all opinions expressed are my own.

AUTHOR, Author Debut, Book Review, Fiction, L, Read in 2013, Review Book, TLC Book Tours

2013.16 REVIEW – Untold Damage by Robert K. Lewis

Tara

Untold Damage
by Robert K. Lewis

Copyright: 2013
Pages: 289
Read: March 25-29, 2013
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly count: 16
Format: Print
Source: Author for TLC Book Tours

Untold DamageBlurb: Estranged from his wife and daughter, former undercover cop Mark Mallen has spent the last four years in a haze of heroin. When his best friend from the academy, Eric Russ, is murdered, all the evidence points to Mallen as the prime suspect.

Now Mallen’s former colleagues on the force are turning up the heat and Russ’s survivors are asking him to come up with some answers. But if he wants to serve justice to the real killer, Mallen knows he’ll have to get clean. Turning a life around is hard work for a junkie, especially when a gang of low-life thugs wants him dead. Bruised, battered, and written off by nearly everyone, can Mallen keep clean and catch a killer?

Review:

Sometimes the darkest moments of our life give us the brightest chance at our redemption.

Page 55 of ARC

When I was originally pitched this book I thought it sounded like a pretty decent read. I had no idea just how enjoyable I would find it. I was very pleasantly surprised by this debut book by Robert K. Lewis. I honestly feel like this is such a wonderful start to what can be a great new series.

I have to begin this review by talking about a couple of the characters. My faithful readers know that I am a huge stickler for some good character development. To me the characters will make or break a book, especially a series. Mark Mallen is such an interesting character. If I had to choose one word to describe him I would select flawed. And boy oh boy, is he ever flawed. I mean, he’s an ex-cop, who used to work undercover in narcotics. And why is he an ex-cop? Oh, you know, because he got hooked on heroin during his undercover stint and got kicked off the force. Can you get any more flawed than that? I don’t think so. But there’s just something about him that works. I think it’s the fact that he wants to be better. As the reader, we really get to see the transformation that so many junkies never get to experience: the want to get clean. And it’s a tough road. He detoxes cold turkey while in the drunk tank in jail. That’s tough. There are many times throughout the book that you think that he’s going to relapse. Personally I found myself rooting so hard for Mallen to get out of certain situations still clean. I wanted him to stay clean. I wanted him to succeed. His character is just so real. In my opinion, he’s a great main character. It’s hard to blend flawed and likeable at the same time … but Mr. Lewis certainly does so almost effortlessly.

In my opinion another character who must be discussed is Gato. Some would call his character more periphery than some of the other characters. But there was just something about Gato that didn’t really feel right. First, Mallen meets him while he’s in the drunk tank detoxing. Obviously that’s not the best time to meet your new best friend. But for some reason, Gato offers him friendship. And Mallen takes him up on it when he’s clean and back on the outside. But for some reason, something rubbed me the wrong way about his character. He was almost too helpful. He never questioned Mallen. Even when most guys would walk away from Mallen and the crazy things he was asking of Gato, he stayed. He just seemed too eager to help Mallen. I might be making more out of it than there is to it, but like I said, something felt off …. I have a feeling that Gato is going to ask Mallen for help in the next book, and I think it’s going to be something big (bad?) that he’s going to be requesting. Just a feeling I have, though.

The storyline itself is interesting. It was fast paced and kept me guessing until the end. The killer was predictable, but I found it fun to work “the case” with Mallen. I liked seeing him brush off the rust of the past four years and get back into his groove with investigating. It was definitely fun. I also liked that the reader gets Mallen’s history. It was definitely necessary to include this information. To me it only made Mallen that much more enjoyable – it was very easy to see how he ended up where he did. I didn’t necessarily feel sorry for him, or think it was excusable, but it really put things into perspective.

Overall, I can’t recommend this book enough. And I’m excited that Mr. Lewis is busy at work on the next Mallen book 🙂

Connect with Robert K. Lewis:

Robert K. Lewis

Website

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

**This review is posted in conjunction with the TLC Book Tours blog tour. I received a copy of this book to review in exchange for my honest opinion. I received no monetary compensation and the opinions expressed here are my own.

tlc logoPlease be sure to check out the other stops on the tour:

Monday, April 8th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
Tuesday, April 9th: Crime Fiction Lover
Wednesday, April 10th: Booksie’s Blog
Thursday, April 11th: Tales of a Book Addict
Wednesday, April 17th: Ace and Hoser Blook
Monday, April 22nd: Joyfully Retired
Tuesday, April 23rd: Must Read Faster
Wednesday, April 24th: A Bookworm’s World
Thursday, April 25th: she treads softly
Monday, April 29th: Crazy Shenanigans
Tuesday, April 30th: My Two Blessings

Miscellaneous Ramblings

That moment …

Tara

… when you can’t help but laugh because your husband didn’t use “the shield.”

Boy mommy’s should understand what that is 🙂

Oh it’s been one heck of a week around our house. I’m on jury duty during the month of April and it is going to be one mess of a month. I can only hope that I will get called soon and be sat on a jury so I can be done. It’s hard when you’re a part-time stay-at-home-mom. And your babysitters are an hour away in the town where you work. But, Kentucky doesn’t seem to care a lick about that situation. I just want to get it over with so they won’t call me for another couple of years. By then it will be much easier with Garrett … of course by then I could have another little one too, you never know.

I finished a really good review book this week, “Evidence of Life” by Barbara Taylor Sissel. I CAN’T WAIT to share my thoughts on it with you. It was such a great book. I could gush for a long time about it, but you’ll have to wait until 4/11 to read my review. I hate when I finish a good book and I can’t immediately share my thoughts with you guys. I’m not a very patient person.

We booked our trip to Vegas over my birthday. Woo! Last year was the first year in ages that I stayed at home over my birthday and while I enjoyed it because Garrett was a teeny tiny baby, I am ready for a weekend getaway with my husband. Bonus is that my brother-in-law and his fiancee are going with us, we’ve never been out to Vegas with another couple our age, so we are looking really forward to having a blast. The bad news is that I only have 3 months to get my body into swimsuit shape. … Round is a shape, right? Ugh. I never have to worry about bikinis again, Garrett leaving me with a lower stomach full of stretch marks took care of that … but I need to lose about 20 pounds (I’ve got a lot more than that to lose, that’s just my goal for July). Either way, I’m really looking forward to the trip!

I can’t hardly believe that I’m already thinking about Garrett’s first birthday. When did my baby become not such a baby anymore? It’s really sad. My mom said that this is the point when she started to get the itch for another child (sadly, I was an only, they were never able to conceive again), and I will say that I have the itch, but it’s definitely not strong enough to even consider it right now. I’m kind of looking forward to having him be a little more self-sufficient for a little while longer before I jump back into another pregnancy and have to start the infant stage all over again. Besides, this year is busy busy – I’ve got Vegas planned, two weddings to attend this fall as well as our 10 year high school reunion … I have no intention of being pregnant during any of that. My clock ain’t ticking yet 🙂

I found out a few weeks ago that a good childhood friend lost her 4 year old son. He had health issues from the day he was born, but to know that she had to bury her son. It just pains me so much to even think about it. I definitely hugged Garrett a little tighter the night I heard the news. I reconnected with her sister on Facebook this week, and she gave me her cell phone number, but I haven’t been able to work up the courage to call or text her yet. What do I say to her? I know I shouldn’t be so selfish, but I’m just at such a loss at to what to say to her … I don’t want to put her into hysterics or anything, but I want her to know that I’m here and thinking about her. It’s a fine line I have never had to walk before – I’ve never known someone who lost their child other than miscarriages. Definitely going to be a hard phone call to make, but it’s one I need to do sooner rather than later.

Well I’ve rambled a lot longer than I had anticipated. And Garrett has napped a lot longer than I anticipated too 🙂

I guess have a good weekend and wish me luck with the jury duty, lol.

Recipes

RECIPE: Fettuccine Alfredo

Tara

Fettuccine Alfredo (4 servings)

  • 4 oz.  Cream Cheese, cubed
  • 1/2 cup  Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 3/4 cup  milk
  • 1/4 cup  (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
  • 1/4 tsp.  white pepper
  • 1/8 tsp.  garlic powder
  • 8 oz.  fettuccine, cooked, drained
  • 1/8 tsp.  ground nutmeg

Directions

  1. Mix cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, milk, butter, white pepper and garlic powder in medium saucepan; cook on low heat until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended.
  2. Toss with hot fettuccine. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Recipe Source: Kraft Recipes

download

Personal Review: I am like a fettuccine alfredo addict! Seriously. It is my absolute favorite pasta, ever.

I have been making this recipe since I was a junior in college in my very first apartment! It’s not necessarily “the best” alfredo sauce I’ve ever had, but I like it because it’s an easy meal to put together on a weeknight. I always add a smidge more parmesan cheese to this recipe, and I never measure out the garlic powder or white pepper.  And I omit the nutmeg.

I highly recommend adding more parmesan cheese than the directions call for. Since this recipe doesn’t use whipping cream, the extra cheese adds much more flavor to the sauce.

Cover Reveal

Cover Reveal: Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets

Tara

Bathing Beauties Cover- FINAL

About the book:

Publication date:  April 2013 
Genre: New Adult Jazz Age Mystery

It’s 1927 in Galveston, Texas—the “Sin City of the Southwest.” Jasmine (“Jazz”) Cross is an ambitious 21-year-old society reporter for the Galveston Gazette who tries to be taken seriously by the good-old-boy staff, but the editors only assign her fluffy puff pieces, like writing profiles of bathing beauties. The last thing Jazz wants to do is compare make-up tips with ditzy dames competing in the “International Pageant of Pulchritude and Bathing Girl Revue.”

She’d rather help solve the murders of young prostitutes who turn up all over town, but city officials insist on burying the stories during Splash Day festivities. After Jazz gets to know the bathing beauties, she realizes there’s a lot more to them than just pretty faces and figures. Jazz becomes suspicious when she finds out the contest is sponsored by the Maceos, ruthless Beach Gang leaders and co-owners of the Hollywood Dinner Club, where the girls will perform before the parade and pageant.

Worse, her half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis, a speakeasy on a rival gang’s turf, asks her to call in a favor from handsome Prohibition Agent James Burton—an impossible task that could compromise both of their jobs and budding romance. While Agent Burton gives her the cold shoulder, she fends off advances from Colin Ferris, an attractive but dangerous gangster who threatens Sammy as well as Burton. In the end, she must risk it all to save her friends from a violent killer hell-bent on revenge. Inspired by actual events.

Ellen M. Collier - Author PicAbout the author:

Ellen Mansoor Collier is a Houston-based freelance magazine writer/editor whose articles, essays and short stories have been published in several national magazines. Formerly she’s worked as a magazine editor, and in advertising and public relations (plus endured a hectic semester as a substitute teacher). She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Magazine Journalism, where she enjoyed both coffee and colorful cocktails. A flapper at heart, she’s the owner of DECODAME, specializing in Deco to retro vintage items (www.art-decodame.com).
Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets is the sequel to Collier’s Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play.
Links to Purchase Book 1: Amazon
Barnes & Noble

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