Book Review: The Quick and the Thread

Title: The Quick and the Thread

Author: Amanda Lee

Series: Embroidery Mystery

Book in Series: 1

Genre: Mystery

Format: Kindle

Publisher: Berkley

Published: August 3, 2010

Pages: 324

My Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: 

When Marcy Singer opens an embroidery specialty shop in quaint Tallulah Falls, Oregon, she throws a soiree and a Stitch-In. Soon Marcy's sign up sheet for embroidery classes fills up and everyone in town seems to be willing to raise a glass-or a needle up to support the newly opened Seven Year Stitch.

Then Marcy finds the shops previous tenant dead in the store room, a message scratched with a tapestry needle on the wall beside him.  Now Marcy's shop has become a crime scene, and she is the prime suspect.  She will have to find the killer, before he puts a stitch in her.

My Thoughts: 

This book is the first in the series, I am a little late in the game in reading this.  I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book.  I have to tell you this book was excellent.  It is nice to see a mystery that also includes a needle specialty shop for cross stitch.  I am an avid stitcher and this was right up my alley.  The story and the plot were very well written, and the whole story just flowed.  

We follow along with Marcy to help her find out who killed someone in her storeroom.  It takes us on a journey into cross stitching and murder.

This is definitely a must read mystery, especially if you are a cross stitcher, or even a crafter.

I give this book a rating of 5 stars!!!!

About the Author:

Gayle Trent (and pseudonym Amanda Lee) writes the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating Series and the Embroidery Mystery Series.  The cake decorating series features a heroine who is starting her life over in Southwest Virginia after a nasty divorce.  The Embroidery Mystery features a heroine who recently moved to the Oregon Coast to open an embroidery specialty shop.

Readers will be looking forward to future adventures.  RT Book Reviews nominated The Quick and Thread for a 2010 Book Reviewers Choice Award in the Amateur Sleuth Category.

Gayle Trent lives in Virginia with her family which includes her own "Angus", who is not an Irish Wolfhound, but a Great Pyrehees who provides plenty of inspiration for the character Mr. O'Ruff.

 

Book Review: Centurion Witness

Title: Centurion Witness

Author: Ed Mitchell

Genre: Historical Fiction/Thriller

Format: Kindle

Publisher: California Coast Publishing

Published: October 20, 2021

Pages: 185

My Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

The centurion is a seasoned warrior of Rome's frontier army, decorated for saving the lives of the ambitious generals, yet haunted by the harm caused during the recent battle.  His last assignment is, to again, be a body guard for the powerful.

 Quickly he is entangled in the security conflicts between Rome's governor in Judea and its religious leaders who want Jesus of Galilee killed for sedition.

The immediate political and religious struggle for control of the body of Jesus propels the centurion to guard his tomb.

My thoughts:

This book is very will written.  It takes us into the era of when Jesus is alive and right before he is crucified. It takes on a journey of the centurion who guard is his tomb, and how he came to guard his tomb and the events leading up to that and also what occurred after.  I was raised in a Methodist home and have always believed in Jesus and God.  I loved this book as it gave us another point of view into the events, and how the centurion strived to do five good deeds to redeem himself.  This book was excellent and I would most definitely recommend this book to everyone.  Hence why I gave it five stars.

About the Author:

Ed Mitchell was a foster child who later graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  He went on to be an Airborne Infantry Ranger, a RAND Corporation Fellow, an aerospace systems engineer and community activist fighting to protect water resources in California.

Along the way Ed became a national award winning author by weaving his real world experiences from foxhole to space into his contemporary adventure/thrillers.

 

Book Review: Shock Wave

 

Title:  Shock Wave

Author: Al Pessin

Genre: Thriller

Format: Kindle

Publisher: Pinnacle

Publication Date: January 25, 2022

Pages: 368

My Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:

Vital seaports in Jordan and Israel erupt in fire and destruction.  It's the first strike from a terrorist organization determined to increase hostilities throughout the Middle East.

There's only one way to combat the threat. It's Operation Shock Wave...

Saddiq Mohammed al-Assali is America's most wanted terrorist.  His cells in Israeli and the Palestinian territories are ready and eager to usher in a maelstrom of violence between the two nations.  Each will blame the other.  Iran will be implicated.  And the United States will be drawn into yet another Middle Eastern war.

To stop aal-Assali, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Bridget Davenport assigns Lieutenant Faraz Abdallah to infiltrate the terrorist's cabal.  But as Faraz uncovers and sabotages al-Assali's plans one by one.  Bridget herself becomes a target and Faraz must take decisive action in a deadly game of international deceit.

My Thoughts:

While I love political thrillers, I just couldn't get into this book.  While it was well written, the plot was very slow starting.  That is why I am giving this 3 stars.  That is my honest opinion.

About the Author:

Al Pessin's first novel, the thriller Sandblast was published by Kensington in March 2020.  The book was short listed for the 2017 Bosque Fiction Award, and was a top five selection among all unpublished book length submissions in the 2018 Royal Palm Literary Awards.

Al was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years based in Hong Kong, Islamabad, Bejing, Jerusalem, and London.  In all he spent thirty nine years as a TV/radio broadcaster, editor, and manager at the Voice of America. His most recent assignments had him reporting from the war zones, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and East Ukraine.

Al lives in Florida with his wife Audrey and their precious labrador Rory.

 

Book Review: The Starless Crown

 

Title: The Starless Crown

Author: James Rollins

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Format: Audiobook

Series: Moon Fall

Book in Series: Number 1

Pages: 560

Publisher: Tor Books

Publication Date: January 4, 2022

My Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

A gifted student foretells an apocalypse.  Her reward is a sentence of death.  Fleeing into the unknown she is drawn into a team of outcasts;

A broken solider, who once again takes up the weapons he's forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home.

A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother's shadow and claims a purpose of his own.

An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe.

On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful, and deadly ways, and uncover anicent secrets that hold the key to their salvation.  But with each passing moment, doom draws closer.

My Thoughts:

I love books by James Rollins, and while I am not into this kind of genre, I enjoyed it.  With that being said, the plot was a little slow, but a very well written story line.

About the Author:

James Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers. His writing has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold more than 20 million books. The New York Times says, “Rollins is what you might wind up with if you tossed Michael Crichton and Dan Brown into a particle accelerator together.” NPR calls his work, “Adventurous and enormously engrossing.” Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets matched with stunning suspense. As a veterinarian, he had a practice in Sacramento for over a decade and still volunteers at local shelters. Nowadays, Rollins shares his home up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with his two golden retrievers, Echo and Duncan. He also enjoys scuba diving, spelunking, kayaking, and hiking. Of course, he loves to travel and experience new places around the world, which often inspire his next globe-trotting adventure.