Review: EXPLOSIVE CHRISTMAS SHOWDOWN by Darlene L. Turner

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Explosive Christmas Showdown by Darlene L. Turner, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours.

About the Book

Title: Explosive Christmas Showdown

Series: Crisis Rescue Team #2

Author: Darlene L. Turner

Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense

Release Date: October 25, 2022

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

A bomber brings terror to Christmas

as the presents go tick…tick…boom.

With criminal investigative analyst Olive Wells at the center of a bomber’s dangerous game, she’ll do anything to catch the culprit—even work with her ex-fiancé and his K-9 detector dog. But with the Christmas rampage drawing ever closer, Zac Turner’s convinced the attacks are personal. Can they piece together their ties to the bomber…before another gift explodes?

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound | Christianbook | BookBub

About the Author

Darlene L. Turner is an award-winning author and lives with her husband, Jeff in Ontario, Canada. Her love of suspense began when she read her first Nancy Drew book. She’s turned that passion into her writing and believes readers will be captured by her plots, inspired by her strong characters, and moved by her inspirational message.

Connect with Darlene by visiting darlenelturner.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

My thoughts on the book:

The Jingle Bell Bomber is actively seeking victims to target and the team has to rush from one place to another trying to defuse bombs before they harm people. This is a love story as well an an intriguing suspense tale of bodies piling up and a team of experts stymied about where to go next to stop his vicious attacks. Olive Wells is an analyst and her colleague Zac Turner is an expert at finding and defusing bombs. Zac’s intelligent and intuitive dog Ziva made this book for me! She knew just where to go and when and also knew who needed her gentle presence to calm them. She is a trained bomb sniffing dog as well as a tracker, but she is so much more. Her personality stood out in the book to me and I really enjoyed getting to know her and her people. The characters were all well developed and the pace was fast, with action that was non-stop as the team raced from one place to another, following clues left by the JB, their term for the Jingle Bell Bomber. There are also sub-plots about secrets that Olive and Zac have that eventually have to be revealed for them to try to have a relationship. Faith is also a strong element in the story as the characters who have moved away from God ultimately decide that they need to totally depend on Him to keep them safe and to help them plan a future. The credible characters and their quest to save lives had me mesmerized from beginning to end. I should also note that the weather was almost a character by itself as it kept snowing and interfering with the investigation and the team’s ability to get to places quickly. This was very realistic as the book was set in Canada at Christmas time and added to the emotional turmoil of finding a deadly bomber before he strikes again. Fans of clean romantic suspense will enjoy the story of Zac, Olive and Ziva. I would rate the book with five stars for entertaining and clean content.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Tour Giveaway

(3) winners will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight October 24, 2022 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on October 31, 2022. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

Review of Mountain Fugitive by Lynette Eason

With non-stop, fast-paced action, this was a book that I had trouble putting down. Dr. Katherine Gilroy is a small town doctor and the sister of a fugitive, but when the story begins she doesn’t know that. At least, not until she meets Dominic O’Ryan, a federal Marshall intent on finding Noah and safeguarding him until he can testify against a drug lord. But Dominic is convinced that Noah killed his friend and fellow Marshall Carl, so he has even more reason to find him. The chase is on throughout the book, with more than one character getting injured in their quest for justice. I was happy to see Creed as the town sheriff since I got to know him in a previous book. All of the characters were realistic and the twists and red herrings were perfectly placed. In the genre of clean romantic suspense, this is a book not to miss! Evil is evil and good is good, and the ending, although not surprising, was wonderful to read!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harlequin via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Clean Christian romantic suspense
Photo from Amazon author’s page

About the Author

Lynette Eason lives in Simpsonville, SC with her husband and two children. She is an award-winning, best-selling author who spends her days writing when she’s not traveling around the country teaching at writing conferences. Lynette enjoys visits to the mountains, hanging out with family and brainstorming stories with her fellow writers. You can visit Lynette’s website to find out more at http://www.lynetteeason.com or like her Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/lynette.eason

Connect with the Author 

Website: https://lynetteeason.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynette.eason

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lynetteeason

Releases Tomorrow, 9-28-21! Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Target

Powells

Bookshop

Indiebound

Google Play Store

Harlequin

Excerpt:

Excerpt of Mountain Fugitive by Lynette Eason (Sep 28)

Love Inspired Suspense

Add Mountain Fugitive to your Goodreads!

Heart pounding a rapid beat, Katherine pulled Hotshot to a stop between the men and the direction the bullets had come from, praying the person wouldn’t shoot the horse. She slid from the saddle, leaving the reins trailing the ground, then snagged the first-aid kit from the saddlebag. US marshals according to the vests the men wore.

Looked like their prisoner or fugitive had turned the tables on them. Which meant the person was either gone now that he’d taken care of the threat—or she was now a target because she planned to try to help the men. A quick scan of the area didn’t reveal anything unusual or worrisome, but the trees could easily be hiding the sniper.

Still using the horse as a shield, she hurried to the man closest to her. The bullet had hit him just above his left ear and he’d landed on his side. His brown, sightless eyes stared up at her and she knew he was beyond help. She checked his pulse anyway and got what she expected. Nothing.

She closed the dead man’s eyes then turned her attention to the other one. A pulse. She focused on his head. A gash just below his hairline bled freely. A low groan rumbled from him and Katherine placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t move,” she said.

He blinked and she caught a glimpse of sapphire-blue eyes. He let out another groan. “Carl…”

“Just stay still and let me look at your head.”

“I’m fine.” He rolled to his side and he squinted up at her. “Who’re you?”

“I’m Dr. Katherine Gilroy so I think I’m the better judge of whether or not you’re fine. You have a head wound which means possible concussion.” She reached for him. “What’s your name?”

He pushed her hand away. “Dominic O’Ryan. A branch caught me. Knocked me loopy for a few seconds, but not out. We were running from the shooter.” His eyes sharpened. “He’s still out there.” His hand went to his right hip, gripping the empty holster next to the badge on his belt. A star within a circle.

“Where’s my gun? Where’s Carl? My partner, Carl Manning. We need to get out of here.”

“I’m sorry,” Katherine said, her voice soft. “He didn’t make it.”

He froze. Then horror sent his eyes wide—and searching. They found the man behind her and Dominic shuddered. “No. No, no, no. Carl! Carl!” He army crawled to his partner and sucked in a gasping breath, cupped Carl’s face and felt for a pulse.

Katherine didn’t bother to tell him she’d already done the same—or what he’d find. After a few seconds, he let out a low cry then sucked in another deep breath and composed his features. The intense moment has lasted only a few seconds, but Katherine knew he was compartmentalizing, stuffing his emotions into a place he could hold them and deal with them later.

She knew because she’d often done the same thing. Still did on occasion.

In spite of that, his grief was palpable, and Katherine’s heart thudded with sympathy for him. She moved back to give him some privacy, her eyes sweeping the hills around them once more. Again, she saw nothing, but the hairs on the back of her neck were standing straight up. Hotshot had done well, standing still, being a buffer between them and a possible sniper, but Katherine’s nerves were twitching—much like when she’d worked with the police department. “I think we need to find some better cover.”

As if to prove her point, another crack sounded, and Hotshot reared. His whinnying scream echoed around them. Then he bolted for home. Katherine grabbed the first-aid kit with one hand and pulled Dominic to his feet with the other. “Run!”

Many thanks to Harlequin for the opportunity to read and review this Christian romantic suspense. I love when I can recommend books to all of my readers!

Review of CHRISTMAS PROTECTION DETAIL by Terri Reed

Mostly clean read with some intense scenes and some violence

This was a very fast-paced read with action that was almost non-stop. From the first page when Deputy Kaitlyn Lanz responds to a car crash outside the Delaney compound, the action and the interaction between the main characters begins. Nick Delaney is a multi-millionaire (by birth) and should be haughty and arrogant and unapproachable. However, he is none of those things. When his friend Lexi is critically injured trying to come to him to escape ruthless villains, he volunteers to take care of her tiny infant Rosie and vows to do all that he has to do to protect her. With car chases, ambulance rides, gate-crashing weapons teams and various other heart-stopping action scenes, this book is not your typical laid-back Christmas romance. The suspense was thrilling and the developing relationship between Kaitlyn and Nick was subtle and mostly hidden for most of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed how invested both of them were in protecting Rosie and in finding Lexi’s secret and turning it over to the authorities. There were multiple surprises in the book that definitely kept me glued to the pages. I highly recommend this book to those who like a lot of suspense and a little bit of Christmas thrown in.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harlequin via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Available on December 15, 2020! You can pre-order today. Purchase Links:

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335403223_christmas-protection-detail.html 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-protection-detail-terri-reed/1136975731?ean=9781335403223&st=AFF&2sid=HarperCollins%20Publishers%20LLC_7651142_NA&sourceId=AFFHarperCollins%20Publishers%20LLC 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Christmas-Protection-Detail-Inspired-Suspense-ebook/dp/B0886F4H3F/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Christmas+Protection+Detail+%28Love+Inspired+Suspense%29&linkCode=gs3&qid=1603823591&sr=8-1&tag=haperpublican-20 

Indie Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335403223 

BAM: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781335403223?AID=10747236&PID=7651142&cjevent=de6507c3188211eb804700ae0a24060c

About the author:

Award winning, multipublished author Terri Reed discovered the wonderful world of fiction at an early age and declared she would one day write a book. Now she’s fulfilling that dream by writing for Love Inspired. She is a member of both Romance Writers of America and American Christian Fiction Writers. You can visit her online at http://www.terrireed.com or email her at terrireed@sterling.net or leave comments on http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/ or http://www.loveinspiredauthors.com