What drew me to A SOLDIER’s QUARTET was the fact that it was based on true circumstances and I have a soft spot for the stories ofA Soldier’s Way Home
What drew me to A SOLDIER’s QUARTET was the fact that it was based on true circumstances and I have a soft spot for the stories of soldiers. I was also both impressed and charmed by the author who took time out from his lively and wonderful “retirement” to research and tell the story of a fallen soldier in a letter from a grieving father.
The letter having been a souvenir of “the Great War” having fallen into the hands of Conrad Bentley (sounds suspiciously like Colin Baldwin) for him to obsess over until the mystery was solved, and write an interesting and worthy story that could be carried back to the soldier’s family.
The writing is beautifully done to the point of being absolutely poetic, and it’s impossible not to be touched by Baldwin’s work. I appreciated his desire to give these lost soldiers a voice, but I confess that I had a difficult time finishing the book. It pops from place to place and time period to time period, and not that it’s poorly done or anything, but I am not a fan of that style writing a story. The story was good and the writing was excellent and I couldn’t give it less than four stars no matter how long it took me to finish....more
This was a surprisingly fun audiobook with an excellent performance by Dick Hill. I always enjoy the Jack Reacher stories, but The Creation of Reacher
This was a surprisingly fun audiobook with an excellent performance by Dick Hill. I always enjoy the Jack Reacher stories, but can only read so many in a row because they tend to be “formulaic”. These short stories are anything but formulaic and give us an idea of where our hero Jack Reacher came from, starting from his childhood as a Marine officer’s youngest son. It gave us a few important instances in his life from the age of 13 to about the age of 2o. Each and every story was both fun, interesting and insight into who Jack Reacher eventually becomes. Needless to say, since it was Jack, there’s going to be action.
The section with Reacher’s Rules were not only interesting, they made perfect sense and quite a few will make you smile, especially if you have been in the military. I found this entertaining and I wish there more short life lessons from Jack. Definitely a five star....more
Josh Duffey ended up working at the same place as his wife in the U.S. Department of State and he couldn’t be happier. Nicole works wiFamily Assigment
Josh Duffey ended up working at the same place as his wife in the U.S. Department of State and he couldn’t be happier. Nicole works with the diplomats and Josh is a special agent in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Because of his prosthetic leg, Josh spends most of his time at a desk, but is often tasked with security jobs in the field. Heck, Duff is practically a legend after some of the scrapes he’d been in and gotten out of bringing protectees with him.
This time they were going to Ghana, the largest stable republic in Africa and Josh and Nicole both had good positions and decided they could bring the kids.
Some bad actors saw the rich nation of Ghana as ripe for the taking and was already planning a reception for the American Ambassador and the President of Ghana. Somehow you just know that Duff is going to be right in the thick of this mess, because that’s just how he rolls.
Mark Greaney can really write some exciting action and believable espionage, and this was his best book yet. Josh Duffy is just a good guy who always does the right thing, but he certainly isn’t a superhero, yet somehow he’s always on top of the action.
If you like action, spys and good guys doing the right thing, you’re going to love Sentinel, and Mr. Greaney gives you some bad guys you will love to hate. I gave this an easy five star. I read between Kindle and Audible, but the Audible performance was top notch. Don’t miss it in whatever format you read it in!...more
Two Signal Techs, one British and one American reach each other from nearly eighty years apart. One to keep a war from starting and one to give Allies
Two Signal Techs, one British and one American reach each other from nearly eighty years apart. One to keep a war from starting and one to give faith that a war will eventually end.
Time travel stories are hard to swallow, but this one was well done and had just the right amount of allied patriotism to add some warmth. I really enjoyed this short story by Kate Quinn....more
We all knew that sooner or later we would learn what made Nate Romanowski walk away from his Special Forces unit and become an outlaw. TheNate’s Story
We all knew that sooner or later we would learn what made Nate Romanowski walk away from his Special Forces unit and become an outlaw. The source of Nate’s problem with his old unit has decided to start taking out members of that once elite team one by one until Nate is the last man standing. The people coming after Nate do not appear to be in the same league as the men he once served with, so Nate has a hard time believing they are new members of that elite unit.
Joe is having his own problems since he has been given a new trainee who seems exceptionally green, and Sheridan is drifting away from him now that she is far away at the University.
The once quiet town of Saddlestring has an uncommon evil in its presence, and all hell is about to break loose.
I think this has been my favorite Joe Pickett book so far, probably because there are mysteries that have finally been solved. Five stars....more
For those of you who don’t know what it stands for, MASH stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. For anyone who has seen the mWell Loved Characters
For those of you who don’t know what it stands for, MASH stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. For anyone who has seen the movie or the Television show, there are familiar characters that we have already come to love. Radar O’Reilly hears everything and seemingly knows what’s coming before it ever gets there. Hawkeye Pierce from Crabapple Cove Maine and Duke Forest from Georgia. Trapper John and Ugly John isn’t far behind, and of course Colonel Henry Blake and Hot Lips Margaret Houlihan are the same as we remember them trying to keep Hawkeye and Trapper out of trouble. It’s the wonderful and colorful characters that made MASH the hit Movie, TV show and book that it has always been and trust me, the book was just as fun, funny, touching and sometimes heart wrenching as the live action, although I don’t think it took itself as serious as the television show did.
It was an easy five star hit. It’s a short read, and I liked it so much I did it in one sitting....more
Iris and Roman have been separated by gods and by war, but their strength and their love helped them survive along with their friThe Pen and the Sword
Iris and Roman have been separated by gods and by war, but their strength and their love helped them survive along with their friends.
Iris is back at her flat in Oath with her brother Forest who escaped the power of the god Dacre after being mortally wounded and healed by that god. Iris is still writing on behalf of the goddess Enva at the Inkridden Tribune.
Roman’s father tried to bribe her to annul her marriage to Roman, but she refused and her written word and her stubbornness made her that much more interesting to Dacre.
Roman slowly regains his memories and as he does he realizes he is not fully healed and that Dacre leaves his “healed soldiers” not entirely healed so that that are always under his control.
Little by little as Roman learns secrets that he manages to pass to Iris, and she and her friends work to save as many people as possible.
This was another wonderful book that is filled with the most exquisitely written subtleties of both romance and heroism. These are just simple people who aren’t trying to be heroic or having graphic sex, but a story that might have been written in a gentler time for lovers of literature. The sequel is never as good as the first book, but it was a fitting end. Is the pen mightier than the sword? You only understand the question if you read the book. Personally, I think it’s still up for debate....more
Iris Winnow didn’t have much except for her ability to use words and her pride. Her words often flowed like honey, bLetters Through the Magic Wardrobe
Iris Winnow didn’t have much except for her ability to use words and her pride. Her words often flowed like honey, but she wore her pride like armor. Iris wrote for the Oath Gazette where she was in hot competition for the columnist position with a slick young man named Roman C. Kitt. She had quite a few unflattering possibilities for the middle initial, but Kitt came from money and it was always easier for him to get to work on time. They had an almost light-hearted rivalry and for some reason everyone in the office seemed to think they were an item, which was odd since Kitt was in an arranged marriage.
Iris had been writing from home in the evenings because since her brother Forest went to fight for Enva her mother had started drinking and eventually lost her job at the diner. Iris hoped to write about the war or something of interest about where Forest was to help her get the columnist job and maybe help the soldiers. She remembered a story about a magic wardrobe, and having no other way to write to Forest, she wrote him a letter and slipped it under the door of what was once their mutual wardrobe. She got an almost instantaneous reply, but it wasn’t from Forest. It was from a mysterious friend somewhere in Oath named Carter. They got to know each other and he helped her through some of her most difficult days, and then her mother never came home. When writing up the obituaries she found a Jane Doe that fit her mother’s description, left the office without explanation to identify the body. It was Kitt that came to her house with her coat the next day when she didn’t show up for work.
Iris quit her job at the Oath and went to The Inkridden Tribune to go to the front as a War Correspondent. She said goodbye to Carter and didn’t write to him again until she was far away from Oath and him.
This is where our story started to get very emotional, because war always is, even fantasy war if it’s written well. Rebecca Ross is either personally familiar with the ugliness of war or she did her due diligence, because she brought the sidelines and the frontlines into stark relief. Among the darkness and pain, she wove in a romance which she left hanging off a frightful cliff. This is a book you will definitely want to follow into the sequel....more
Lieutenant Torres sent out in command of a group of that although they are in space, they call themselves part of tFuturistic Military Space Adventure
Lieutenant Torres sent out in command of a group of that although they are in space, they call themselves part of the Navy. The lieutenant has apparently worked with these Warriors in the past, and there are us strongly knit group being sent to find out why a colony disappeared.
Our heroes are no sooner on the planet before they see a flying disc, from which emanates a beam of light into which disappears one of their own. Before they knew what hit them, Jenkins was gone and so was the flying saucer.
Their mission being to search for the colony, lieutenant Torres takes her men and starts searching the planet. They see a glowing light in the side of a mountain and decide to investigate. Inside they see a holographic display that looks like a history of what happened on the planet in the past almost like a warning, the lieutenant decides that they should move on inside the tunnel.
There were more wonders and adventures to be had on this amazing planet.
The story had a lot of possibilities, but had a lot of holes. This looks like a wonderful adventure with excellent characters. Unfortunately, none of the characters were developed, which leaves a lot to be desired. I felt that I was being generous giving it three stars, and they were all for the plot.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review....more
Shockingly realistic combat practically opens the story of Josh Duffy illustrating the lives of military contractors and anyone wDeadly Double Crosses
Shockingly realistic combat practically opens the story of Josh Duffy illustrating the lives of military contractors and anyone who serves in combat operations. The sudden deafening blasts, the need to push through chaos and the blood, with Duffy’s career ending injury where he pushes on against all odds to save the wife of their primary protectee shows you the heart of of the main character.
Because of his injury Duffy went from private military to mall cop which was particularly embarrassing when confronted by former teammate Mike Gordon with whom he had served in the US Army in Jalalabad.
Oscar Cordoza made his living as a back door diplomat for the cartels, using chartered aircraft from different companies, never leaving a trail, keeping the cartel leaders focused on profits. Cordoza becomes the key player in what is ultimately one of the ugliest double crosses in the history of cartel double crosses. What Cordoza doesn’t know is that his double cross isn’t the only one going down in the Sierra Madre Occidental and the UN delegation is right in the middle of it all.
A female interpreter named Flores is the prophet of doom traveling with the UN delegation who has Duffy’s ear, and to make matters worse there are more than 20 SAMs (surface to air missiles) that were stolen and believed to be in the hands of the cartels. On their first night there is an attack where Duffy’s teammates have their first casualty, but Duffy proves his ability to lead. Our characters aren’t getting a sense of something being off, but attentive readers are.
This is a really action packed story that not only gives your adrenaline a lift, but it also gives us a look into the life of the people who live in the Sierra Madres. It’s well written and sensitive to the issues of not just the drugs and the cartels, but the everyday people who get dragged along with them. It’s also more than an action story, there’s a deeper twist within a twist that kept me on the edge of my seat. Mark Greaney has another powerful character to keep up with now. I hope he doesn’t lose the last one!...more
A GIRL CALLED SAMSON written more beautifully than poetry, is a story that fills your heart till it breaks.
The setting is the time of the RevolutionarA GIRL CALLED SAMSON written more beautifully than poetry, is a story that fills your heart till it breaks.
The setting is the time of the Revolutionary War, from the uprising, until the beginning of the new nation of America. An abandoned child becomes an indentured servant as she is given away by her mother. The first woman she works for is harsh and abusive. One day Pastor comes and takes her to a large family with ten boys where she is treated well and her life truly begins.
The Thomas family always had plenty of work to do, even with all those boys and Deborah or Rob as they called her, could do as much work as any of them. Her ability to work as hard or harder than anyone else is one of the things that sets her apart from other young women.
Reverend Conant, who brought Deborah Samson to the Thomas family, introduced her through correspondence to his sister Elizabeth. He wanted so much for her intellect to be encouraged, and to give her a friend to share her thoughts with. The relationship with Elizabeth was to change the course of Deborah’s life forever.
One by one, the boys grow up and go off to war, and the oldest asks which of them she will choose, and she doesn’t know what he means. Of course he means which one she will marry? To Deborah she feels like just Rob, a sister, and they’re really all her brothers, and she can’t imagine marrying any of them, and one at a time they’re gone. Then one day, Mrs. Thomas wants her to marry some strange, older man, and she refuses. Deborah becomes Rob and then dressed as a young man, and decides to enlist in the Continental Army.
The story of how one woman hides among men and succeeds in the Continental Army is inspiring, sad and heartfelt, and that courage and feminine strength helped build America.
It is a quote from the book that says it all:
“In no place on earth, can a man or woman who is born into certain circumstances ever hope to truly escape them. Our lots are cast from the moment we inhabit our mothers wombs, from the moment we draw breath. But perhaps that can change, here in this land.”
This is a masterpiece of the heart, of American history, and of the written word. Well done, Ms. Harmon....more
This was the story of a guy from a security company who is hired to find and watch the runaway wife of a rich Russian. The security gPart One of Three
This was the story of a guy from a security company who is hired to find and watch the runaway wife of a rich Russian. The security guy and the woman get close and he finds that she wasn’t really a wife, but the abused mistress of a Russian gangster and of course they fall in love and he tries to help her escape.
This is a fairly good story and if you’re into drama, and you’re patient enough to go through three books for the pay off, the romance wasn’t bad. I just didn’t like the story enough to read three books worth. This writer does way better things that ends after one book....more
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