Drive Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Releasing Feb 1st!

Title: Drive Time
By: Hank Phillippi Ryan
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2797-4
Publisher: Mira Books

Ms. Ryan has really outdone herself on this last installment to the Charlotte McNally series. This time Charlie’s aiming to stop a car scam operation while at the same time, planning for her upcoming wedding. By far the best of the four McNally stories, Ryan has held nothing back in this one. Full of action including high-speed car chases, hidden video, stakeouts, and even her fiancé and stepdaughter get tangled up in the weaving of deception, secrets and murder.

Ryan has a knack for storytelling and her real-life experience in news reporting is highly reflected in her writing. She has a very unique voice and the ability to make each story in her books better than the last one. Though her characters are fictional, you can only suspect that the McNally character reveals many of Ryan’s own qualities, which appears to add humor and hands-on investigation into even to the grimmest of crimes.

Her stories in this series are well written, the plots are intriguing, the characters are extremely realistic and the background settings are right on target. I’ve read all four books in the McNally series and have to admit I’ve loved them all, but this last one, Drive Time, tops them all. A difficult task in outdoing the last great read, Ryan has handled the task with the ability to keep all the characters, old and new, in place – their personalities never faltering.

Also due to her experience in getting the facts and reporting the news, she’s able to use her talents as well to make her stories realistic, allowing the reader into the mind of McNally, and laying out the details to make everything fit into place exactly right, holding the reader in suspense until she lets go of the climatic ending.

What I really enjoy about Ryan’s writing is that you can’t figure out the plot and ending before finishing the book. I just didn’t want to put it down. A real page-turner!

Ryan is an amazing new talent in writing mysteries laced with realism, facts, and plenty of action! I’ll miss the series and hope she will add more later on!

Reviewed by Cindy Bauer for Bookpleasures.com

Cindy Bauer is the well-seasoned author of the Memory Box Trilogy (Chasing Memories, Shades of Blue and Crystal Clear), an Inspirational Fiction series. She is an avid reader, a freelance writer and editor, and reviews books for Bookpleasures.com. She's also a volunteer staff member at Visual Arts Junction and contributes articles on writing, publishing and marketing works.

The Raven Saint

by M.L. Tyndall

Grace Westcott has spent a lifetime caring for the poor, the sick, the less fortunate. She’s the epitome of chaste womanhood and righteous living. So when she’s kidnapped by the mercenary French sea captain, Rafe Dubois, she immediately begins to search out God’s reason for allowing her to be put in such a dangerous and compromising position.

Perhaps she’s there to bring salvation to the captain and his disreputable crew. Or her task could be to reach Nicole, the unwed mother and surprisingly caring woman of the night who helps Grace when no one else will. But then, maybe she’s been sent to save the captain’s beautiful, abused young stepmother. So many possibilities…so few answers.

The only thing absolutely certain in Grace’s mind is her unexpected and ridiculous attraction to Captain Dubois. He kidnapped her, subjected her to the leers and bawdy comments of his ungodly crew, and intends to sell her to a Spanish don. Yet something about Rafe Dubois draws her like a moth to flame. Despite his desire to appear cold and uncaring, Grace catches glimpses here and there of a softer, more tender man…one she could love and respect, under different circumstances.

Captain Dubois holds a personal grudge against Grace’s father. Selling the Admiral’s youngest daughter into slavery seems only just and fitting, given what the man took from Rafe. A painful past has left its mark. A childhood scarred by his hypocritical father’s cruelty and deception…the violent death of a beloved mother… betrayal by the woman he loved. Rafe has no use for religious Pharisees and trusts no woman.

Then he forces Grace Westcott aboard his ship, and even his own heart proves traitorous.

The Raven Saint is an exciting tale of high seas adventure, love and betrayal, faith and trust, spiritual deception and revelation. The heroine—after looking in every possible direction in search of a reason for her abduction, discovers the answer within her own soul. The captain must decide whether to risk his heart, his ship, and all that is dear to him to save his beautiful, captive saint.

M.L. Tyndall delivers yet again. This third book in the Charles Towne Belles series does not disappoint. Every page adds something new and unexpected, holding the reader captive until no page is left to turn. Packed with pathos, adventure, humor, and an intricately woven spiritual message, it fully satisfies, yet leaves one longing for more. Don’t miss The Raven Saint.

Reviewed by Delia Latham