Pandora's Incredible Journey by V.K. Sansone

Children's Fiction

An adventurous fantasy tale of a young polar bear's life and her struggle to survive and protect her cubs after losing her mate. A good read with a new twist!

A Tweens Book of Shorts by V.K. Sansone

Pre-Teen Fiction
Short Stories

A great read for your pre-teens with some really good short stories that will help them learn to grow and understand when they enter the adventurous and often troubling road to adulthood.

A Strange Day at the Zoo by V.K. Sansone

Children's Illustrated

A delightful children's book about a little girl named Tina who travels to the city zoo with her class. While there she discovers she can hear the animals talk, but no one else can! A must read!

Review of Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Title: Prime Time
Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
ISBN # 978-0-7783-2717-2
Publisher: MIRA Books
Date: 2009

About the Author:

Award-winning investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is on the air at Boston’s NBC affiliate. Her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure and millions of dollars in restitution. Along with her twenty-six Emmy and ten Edward R. Murrow Awards, Hank has won dozens of other regional, national and international journalism honors for her hard-hitting investigations. Hank began her television career reporting and anchoring the news in Indianapolis and Atlanta. She’s also worked as a proofreader, a radio reporter, a legislative aide in the United States Senate and—in a two-year stint as editorial assistant at Rolling Stone magazine—helped organize presidential campaign coverage for Hunter S. Thompson. She and her husband live just outside Boston.

About the Book:

In the cutthroat world of television journalism, seasoned reporter Charlotte McNally knows that she'd better pull out all the stops or kiss her job goodbye. But it's her life that might be on the line when she learns that an innocent-looking e-mail offer resulted in murder, mayhem and a multimillion-dollar fraud ring.

All too soon her investigation leads her straight to Josh Gelston, who is a little too helpful and a lot too handsome. Charlie might have a nose for news, but men are a whole other matter. Now she has to decide whether she can trust Josh…before she ends up as the next lead story.

Review:

“...you’re only as good as your last story.” Investigative reporter Charlotte McNally, better known as “Charlie”, is forty-something now and in order to keep her job, she has to stay on top of the younger generation clamoring for her position. With sweeps coming up, she needs something big and isn’t too happy about being sent to interview a widow (where’s the story in that?) by her manager, who has made it clear if she doesn’t make a stand, this might be her last year with them. Charlie knows she’s good at her job and she wants to keep it that way.

But then the interview with the widow takes an unexpected twist. Brad Foreman’s car accident may not have been an “accident” after all! Apparently he had been sending Charlie emails and his widow wanted to know why she never returned any of his messages. With Brad’s recent spotlight and then his sudden death, combined with the messages he had sent Charlie, this all combined sent out an alarm to Charlie’s experienced gut instincts, so she checks out her emails. What she uncovers winds up being a scam—and it was also now possible that Brad Foreman’s so-called “accident”... might really have been a murder!

Charlie and her producer, Franklin (loved his character!) are on the brink of something really big. They’re sure of it! The investigation leads Charlie to Josh Gelston. But Charlie is not sure if she can trust him and to make things worse, she also can’t deny her attraction to the man.

Hank Phillippi Ryan delivers mystery, murder, romance and knowledge in the field with humor, and her familiarity of Boston makes Prime Time a riveting, first-person POV (usually a pet-peeve of mine) and I look forward to more books from this author. She’s dynamic in real life and it reflects in the dialogue and plotting of her writing as well.

A real page turner from a promising new author!



Reviewed by Cindy Bauer for Bookpleasures.com

Cindy Bauer is the author of the Memory Box Trilogy, Chasing Memories (2006 & 2008), Shades of Blue (2007 & 2008) and Crystal Clear (2009), an Inspirational Fiction series. She is an avid reader, a freelance writer and editor, and reviews books for Bookpleasures and New Leaf Press. She recently joined the staff at Visual Arts Junction and contributes articles on writing, publishing and marketing works. With the completion of her Inspirational series, Cindy plans to write in the mystery/suspense genre, which is her favorite to read and to review. Visit Cindy Bauer Books to learn more!

A Circle of Souls

Title: A Circle of Souls
Author: Preetham Grandhi
ISBN # 978-1-59955-235-4
Publisher: Sweetwater Books
Date: 2009

About the Author:

Preetham Grandhi, MD, immigrated to the United States from India to pursue a career in child and adolescent psychiatry. He currently resides in Westchester County, New York, with his family.

About the Book:

The sleepy town of Newbury, Connecticut, is shocked when a little girl is found brutally murdered. With the murderer on the loose, the police desperately look for any clues to lead to his identity. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist in a nearby hospital is also in a desperate search to find the cause of seven-year-old Naya Hastings devastating nightmares. Afraid that she might hurt herself in the midst of a torturous episode, Naya s parents have turned to the bright young doctor as their only hope. When these two situations converge, they set off an alarming chain of events. In this stunning psychological thriller, innocence gives way to evil, and trust lies forgotten in a web of deceit, fear, and murder.

Review:

In this debut psychological thriller by new author, Preetham Grandhi, a seven-year-old named Naya Hasting, now in the care of Dr. Peter Gram, a psychiatrist appears to be communicating through her dreams with recently murdered, ten-year-old, Janet Troy.

But that’s not all! Thirty years prior, there was another murder committed in almost the same manner and now the town of Newbury, Connecticut has something to worry about. Are the two murders connected? Do they have a serial killer in their midst?

Once Dr. Gram realizes Naya must know more about the recent murder of little Janet, in whatever unorthodox manner, he decides to try to help the FBI find the killer through Naya, who sketches images from her dreams and chillingly, are the only clues the FBI has in their search for this faceless, “bad man”.

Dr. Gram and FBI agent Leia Bines, an expert in cases involving children, combine their efforts and specialties in this page-turning, gripping novel. Naya also talks to the dead girl while sleepwalking and during their conversations, Janet shares snip-its of information the FBI on the case don’t have, including information never brought forth to the public on the never-solved murder three decades ago, making the case even more puzzling and the story, more intriguing.

Preetham Grandhi backs up his plotting with his own medical knowledge in psychiatrics, making the story even more fascinating and believable. With each chapter broken down into time periods during days in a week, Grandhi’s ever-twisting plot, descriptive prose and attention-grabbing dialogue will keep the reader engrossed as the author draws the reader deeper into the crevices of the mind of a disturbed child.

Also, Grandhi has masterfully blended the suspense of a thriller with the Federal agent assigned to the case and the psychological knowledge of the doctor assigned to the child whose parents have entrusted him with her care.

In the end, Dr. Gram is forced to accept the many lives a soul has actually had previously and his own past lives eventually led to the person he is today, compared to the person he was in another time, another realm. This isn’t easy for him to deal with at first.

As a debut novel, the author has done very well and I’m looking forward to future works. A definite must read!



Reviewed by Cindy Bauer for Bookpleasures.com

Cindy Bauer is the author of the Memory Box Trilogy, Chasing Memories (2006 & 2008), Shades of Blue (2007 & 2008) and Crystal Clear (2009), an Inspirational Fiction series. She is an avid reader, a freelance writer and editor, and reviews books for Bookpleasures and New Leaf Press. She recently joined the staff at Visual Arts Junction and contributes articles on writing, publishing and marketing works. With the completion of her Inspirational series, Cindy plans to write in the mystery/suspense genre, which is her favorite to read and to review. Visit Cindy Bauer Books to learn more!