I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A mother and mastermind criminal attempts to thwart authorities and the obsessed and disgraced former investigator hot on her heels by destroying evidence of her crimes amidst a deadly storm in author Russell Little’s “Murder by Storm”.
Advertisements
The Synopsis
Marilyn is a master of deception, a chameleon living multiple lives to shield her sweet son while ensnaring naive couples in her web of schemes across Houston, Texas. Free from the clutches of the law, she weaves her plans with calculated precision. But shadows from her past loom large—her deranged mother and subservient stepfather, relentlessly badgering her with their fearful questions.
And then there’s O.C. Simms, the disgraced police detective obsessed with bringing her down. Fired for failing to catch her, Simms is haunted by the belief that Marilyn murdered her lover and lawyer, Ed. He’s relentless, determined to hunt her until he’s either vindicated or dead, defying his former captain’s orders.
As a hurricane bears down on Houston, Marilyn sees both a threat and an opportunity. The storm’s fury will devastate the city, creating chaos and diverting attention. Amid the tempest’s destruction, she crafts her most daring plan yet, aiming to exploit the storm to erase all traces of her crimes. But Simms remains undeterred, a relentless force pursuing her through the floodwaters.
Can Marilyn turn the storm to her advantage, keeping the police at bay and obliterating the evidence? Will she slip through the cracks of justice once more? In this high-stakes game of cat and mouse, the storm is just the beginning. Dive into a crime thriller where every moment is a battle for survival, and every decision could be her last.
The Review
What a captivating thriller! The author does an incredible job of balancing the stories of Marilyn and O.C., giving readers each the perspective of the criminal and the police at the same time. The cat-and-mouse element of the story really is played up well, and the chilling background of the hurricane and the criminal using the chaos from the storm to erase their crimes adds to the mounting tensions between Marilyn and O.C. overall.
The character growth was on point in this novel, allowing the reader to become invested in the story as each protagonist had more of their backstory revealed, and their journey saw them grow over time. Marilyn’s backstory with her mother and stepfather, as well as the relationship with her son, added more heart and complexity to her story, while O.C.’s struggle from the first book and the love and family he finds for himself along the way add to the rising stakes in the book’s closing chapters.
The Verdict
Heart-pounding, thrilling, and entertaining author Russell Little’s “Murder by Storm” is a must-read psychological and crime thriller. The narrative’s twists and turns and explosive cliffhanger will have fans eager for more from this masterful storyteller. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy on October 22nd, 2024 or preorder your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
Advertisements
About the Author
Russell G. Little is a writer and practicing divorce attorney. Murder for Me is a fictionalized compilation of the many people he’s encountered over his lifetime and thirty-two-year career.
He lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife of thirty-two years, Melinda.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A couple happy and in love find their world torn apart as tense political divides amongst the nation brings out a second side to one of them, spiraling out of control in a tense psychological thriller in author Jackson Liva’s “Rising Up”.
Advertisements
The Synopsis
Can a toxic relationship change your life for the better?
Serena and Greg are the perfect match: she’s a sexy, fun, charismatic yoga instructor, and he’s a laid-back regular joe with a heart of gold. And their whirlwind romance lifts them to dizzying new heights. But when the presidential election throws the country into a deep political and cultural maelstrom, one of the couple’s personalities suddenly splits in two.
Stuck in the midst of escalating psychological attacks, a steady stream of gaslighting and lies, as well as a mysterious disappearance on a tropical vacation, their tumultuous relationship slowly begins to reveal sinister secrets that bind the two together – secrets that expose lifelong wounds, as well as eerie parallels to America’s relationship with its president.
Only by rising up to their inner demons and following the guidance of their Higher Selves will both they – and their country – stand a chance of finding true peace and happiness.
Step into a deeply authentic and emotional novel that artfully weaves together astute political commentary, insightful reflections on psychological abuse, and a striking yet sympathetic picture of toxic codependent relationships.
The Review
This was a compelling and gripping read. The author does a wonderful job of capturing the thoughts, emotions, and heat of both the romance beforehand and the tension after the political strife enters the lives of these characters. The world-building was really top-notch in this book, as the author brought to life the real-world struggles of the political divide that still holds strong in many parts of the world, most strongly felt in the United States, of course.
The character development and the powerful themes of politics, relationships, and mental health were beautifully brought out throughout this narrative. The buildup of tension and toxicity throughout the main character’s evolution as individuals and as a couple drew the reader in carefully, like a bad car accident one can’t look away from. The venomous nature of politics in this day and age and how it impacts our relationships in families, friendships, and romantic entanglements has never been more pronounced than it is now, and the author weaves through these conflicts with honesty and a profound sense of reflection.
The Verdict
Memorable, honest, and engaging author Jackson Liva’s “Rising Up” is a must-read psychological literary fiction drama that readers won’t want to put down. The twists and turns in the story, as well as the shocking buildup of tension that highlights politics and mental health awareness, all into one package, made this book one people will turn to time and time again in this day and age. If you haven’t yet, preorder your copy or pick it up on July 4th, 2024!
Rating: 10/10
Advertisements
About the Author
I’m an established novelist, and Jackson Liva is the pen name I created to protect the privacy of me and my family. If Rising Up helps others heal from a toxic relationship, or navigate through a current situation, I want to make sure it’s out there.
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A young woman struggling with grief and her journey to owning her identity showcases the heart of a psychoanalytical relationship with her therapist in author Roberta Satow’s “Our Time is Up: A Novel”.
Advertisements
The Synopsis
This book is a memoir-like novel that captures an era, an ethos, and a sociopolitical sensibility through the eyes of a young woman struggling with autonomy, guilt, sexuality, and grief in the late 1960s. Both patients and therapists will recognize their own struggles in this depiction of Rose’s gradual blossoming in the sunlight of her analyst’s honesty, integrity, and devotion. I know of no other work that conveys analytic treatment, training, and passion so intimately and in such a pitch-perfect voice.
Our Time is Up is a profoundly moving dive into the nuance and beauty of the psychoanalytic relationship. Written with humor, compassion and an intimate understanding of the analytic process, the book shows love and loss and the true boundaries of time. It is a frank and refreshing fictionalized account of how a person comes comes through psychoanalysis to sit in the psychoanalyst’s chair herself. It is the important and deeply personal story of an interior journey.
The Review
This was a heartfelt and compelling read. The author worked intensely to highlight the rich character dynamics between the protagonist and their psychoanalyst. The balance between the protagonist’s conflicting childhood and her work to better herself and confront that trauma in her adult life was profound and powerfully moving. The honest atmosphere that the author established during the protagonist’s sessions with the analyst and the tension that mounted as each childhood experience was peeled away like a layer in an onion made this narrative feel alive and heartfelt in its delivery.
The relationship and actions taken between the protagonist and her psychoanalyst were the pinnacle of this narrative. Through honest conversations between the patient and analyst, the reader can get a heartening insight into how therapy and working through past conflict can be an enriching experience, not without struggles but emotionally rewarding. The experience of how her past experiences in childhood color her modern experiences with relationships and her understanding of her womanhood were honest and insightful and led the reader to be moved by the author’s world-building and character development in the process.
The Verdict
Ultimately, this was a story about being human and the human experience we all must endure throughout this life. While each person’s experience is unique, the direct nature of the protagonist’s relationship with her mother in childhood and later her psychoanalyst in her adult life made this an engaging, thoughtful, and remarkable story that has quickly become a must-read psychological contemporary American fiction novel. if you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
Advertisements
About the Author
Roberta Satow, Ph.D. is a practicing psychoanalyst in Washington, CT. She is a senior member of the faculty and control analyst at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Dr. Satow is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In addition to her non-fiction book Doing the Right Thing: Taking Care of Your Elderly Parents Even if They Didn’t Take Care of You (Tarcher/Penguin 2006), she is the editor of Gender and Social Life (Allyn
and Bacon, 2000) and she has written a novel Two Sisters of Coyoacan (2017). Dr. Satow writes a blog for Psychology Today:
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Advertisements
A woman must navigate her way through a dangerous cult and the killer going after them in author Luke McCamley’s “The Gods Who Want To Die”.
The Synopsis
A devoted mother is torn between love of family, and loyalty to a religious cult leader whose demands become increasingly bizarre-and deadly.
To all appearances, Shelly Grinstead is a happily married woman with three children. But appearances can be deceiving. There’s a dark past behind her, and a greater darkness looms ahead. Shelly is a firm believer in Necrotheism, a religious cult that helps immortal gods end their lives through the ceremonial mock-deaths of cult members. The only problem is, the latest deaths aren’t just ceremonial; they’re real. Someone is killing those who kill the gods, and no one knows who, or what, or how to stop it.
Shelly is also in love with cult leader Magnolia Blanchot, whose increasingly bizarre demands threaten to rip Shelly’s family apart. The police are just as bad in their own way, blackmailing Shelly’s son into playing bait for the killer. Whether that killer be god or man, Shelly’s not sure.
When tragedy strikes close to home, Shelly is forced to choose between loyalty and betrayal, faith and disbelief, life and death-before her tenuous grip on reality slips away….
The Review
This was a gritty, yet wonderful blend of dark psychological horror and fantasy. The harsh realities of cult life and the psychological trauma and mind games that occur for people lost in these groups were extensively explored in this novel, allowing the more fantastic and supernatural elements of the mythos of this world to feel grounded and engaging to readers.
The author did a remarkable job capturing gripping character development and vivid imagery in this novel. The passionate and cruel reality of protagonist Shelly and her situation within the cult and her family really highlights the horror of this storyline and the depth of the world-building that went into the author’s narrative, allowing the gripping psychological drama to take hold in the reader’s mind.
The Verdict
Memorable, captivating, and entertaining, author Luke McCamley’s “The Gods Who Want To Die” is a must-read psychological horror and fantasy read. The twists and turns in the narrative, the grim horrors that the author brings to life through captivating detail, and thoughtful looks into the narrative made this a brilliant read. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
Advertisements
About the Author
Luke has a background in teaching philosophy, religion, and ethics. He has written two novels and is currently working on a third. Formerly a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Luke left the cult in 2014 and experienced a profound transformation in values and outlook. He has two children, and currently lives in the west midlands in the UK. Major influences on his work are authors such as Chuck Palahniuk, Bret Easton Ellis, Alissa Nutting, Marisha Pessl, Iain Reid, Matthew Stokoe, and William Burroughs. His style is one that typically blends elements of true crime stories with philosophical, moral, and supernatural themes including fantasy horror. On a personal level, Luke subscribes to the philosophy of Absurdism, inspired by the writings of Albert Camus.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A complicated love triangle between a man, his ex, and the married woman he’s having an affair with threatens to explode in a complex web of revenge and heartbreak in author Regina Buttner’s “Down a Bad Road”.
Advertisements
The Synopsis
Longtime bachelor Ron Burley has a rule against messing around with married women in his rural upstate New York town, but sassy, lovely Lavender has convinced him to break it. Their steamy affair sets someone off, but it isn’t Lavender’s clueless husband-it’s Marta, Burley’s clingy childhood friend and ex-lover.
Marta knows Burley is on the verge of going broke, so she secretly tries to lure him with a lucrative job offer and some enticing fringe benefits. Although he’s sorely tempted, Burley’s afraid to trust Marta due to the sketchy circumstances surrounding their bitter breakup years ago; but this might be his only chance to get back at her for what she did.
Suspicious of her boyfriend’s romantic history, Lavender visits a psychic for a tarot card reading in a creepy cabin in the Adirondack woods. Watch your back, the psychic warns her. Burley and Marta aren’t the innocent people they’re pretending to be. Someone’s out for revenge, and this love triangle could turn deadly.
The Review
This was a truly compelling and captivating read. The author did an amazing job of finding just the right pace and tone to capture the devious nature of these characters and their outlooks on life. The slow burn that the author utilizes here as the story progresses and the interwoven lives that these characters lead made the story feel more explosive and alive on the page. The world-building and atmosphere that permeates the narrative really drew me into the story and found the heart of a great psychological and domestic thriller beating life into the fictional world around these characters.
The true heart of the story though rested in the unique characters the story utilizes. The way the author writes, the reader never truly knows who the true “protagonist or hero” may be, as each takes steps in both good and bad directions throughout the narrative. Yet as the story progresses and new characters are added to complicate the story for these characters, the level of deviousness that each is capable of showcases the theme of morality not being a black and white scale, but a multitude of shades of grey instead.
The Verdict
Memorable, chilling, and entertaining, author Regina Buttner’s “Down a Bad Road” is a must-read psychological thriller of 2023! The twists and turns in both the narrative and the character development will leave readers shocked, and the haunting story that unfolds as these characters come clashing together will leave readers breathless by the final page. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
Advertisements
About the Author
Regina is a registered nurse-turned-writer who was raised in beautiful upstate New York, where she spent many happy years exploring the winding back roads and scenic hiking trails of the Adirondack mountain region. She recently traded the snowy northern winters for the tropical breezes of the Sunshine State, where her favorite pastimes are kayaking among the mangroves, strolling the gorgeous beaches, and attempting to teach tricks to her boisterous corgi.
Join us as we celebrate the blog tour launch of Down a Bad Road by Regina Buttner. You’ll have the chance to read an interview with the author and win a copy of the book.
Return to A Lit Life to read a guest post from Regina Buttner about how a visit to the Stillwater Hotel in Upstate New York inspired the setting for Down a Bad Road.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A man goes in search of answers to seek the answers to how the brain and consciousness are connected in this unique blend of fiction and non-fiction elements in author Arnon Levy’s “The Mindful Brain”.
Advertisements
The Synopsis
The Mindful Brain is a meeting place between professional basic issues of psychology, positive psychology, psychotherapy, mind and brain, and human life, from the 21st -century perspective, together with a futuristic fictional story.
Norman, the main protagonist of the story, is an international press correspondent who came to Israel a few years ago. After his girlfriend Tal hits the road on a voyage of self-exploration to the famous Ashram on the island of Lesbos, Norman decides to leave on his own lifetime journey to look for answers to existential dilemmas that have preoccupied him since long ago. After a brief but staggering visit to an old friend who found his safe haven in a small village in Brittany, France, Norman left for Paris, where he met the enigmatic amazing old Kim.
Kim presents Norman with bewildering existential Koan riddles and unveils before him a new conception of psychopathology and psychotherapy and their relations to the riddle of the brain-consciousness relationships. These pointed Norman to a new way of thinking which went beyond the common conceptual paradigms and opened the gate to his in-depth understanding of his inner world and the world in which we live. The last chapters describe the sermon on the mountain in which Norman integrates all the groundbreaking insights that emerged during his journey, into a whole unified view of the meaning of the human story.
The Review
This was an absolutely thought-provoking and engaging story! The author struck such an incredible balance between fictional storytelling and real-world applications to psychology and the study of the mind overall. The way the author challenges the reader to answer questions about themselves throughout the book and examines how our brains are able to tie into the greater concept of consciousness overall was so mind-bending and had me really enraptured with the author’s words. The practices and techniques discussed and spoken about will also benefit readers who are searching for methods of searching inward for answers to their more existential questions about life.
The fictional aspect of the narrative was also quite captivating. The characters felt very fleshed out and realistic, while the narrative took on a great idea of blending futuristic settings and elements into a more “magical” quality of storytelling. For me, the blend of fiction and nonfiction ties greatly into my interests in the point in which science, magic, and reality all intersect, for I do believe that there is a point that exists like that, and this book really captured that heart and theme quite well.
The Verdict
Memorable, captivating, and wildly entertaining, author and Prof. Arnon Levy, Ph.D.’s “The Mindful Brain” is a must-read novel and an absolutely engaging read. The exploration of psychology and the mind overall within this fictional setting is so unique and creative and does a great job of attracting a wider audience as a result that will devour this book instantly. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
Advertisements
About the Author
Prof. Arnon Levy Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and psycho-anthropologist. His book “The Mindful Brain” results from his 40 years of clinical experience in psychology, psychotherapy, psychopathology, and coaching psychology. In his previous books, arnon established the basis for the concept of Dynamic Positive Coaching Psychology discussed in “The Mindful Brain”. Arnon founded and directed Coaching Psychology programs at Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan Universities and supervised his graduate students to a Ph.D. degree in coaching psychology in collaboration with Middlesex University UK. Arnon was the chairman of The Israeli Association for psychotherapy(IAP) and is today Vice President of the International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP).
