Reviews Archives - Page 16 of 18 - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

A Review…The Forsaken by Ace Atkins

Five out of five quills! REVIEW ‘The Forsaken’ by Ace Atkins

This author and I have much in common; we both have a collection of original paperbacks by John McDonald (Travis McGee) and we both love Robert Parker (Spenser). Where we differ is Ace has achieved perfection in prose writing which I aspire to….someday.

I strongly recommend to my readers that if you are going to read stories about Ace’s main character, Quinn Colson, that you do so in order. There is a strong story thread throughout the series and you will enjoy these books so much more.

The Forsaken doesn’t disappoint. It’s my favorite to date. As in his other books Ace gives his readers a strong sense of the old south, Mississippi to be exact. How do I know this? I lived there for four years in the 70’s and since then have moved in and out of the south; New Orleans and currently Savannah, Georgia. Without it ever seeming like a travel log, before you are many pages into the book, you can smell the dust of the back roads, the earthy slightly rotten smell of the bayous sticks in the back of your throat. You may have never met the ‘good old boys’ but you know them and the women who follow along. Continue reading “A Review…The Forsaken by Ace Atkins”

Stellar Review for “The Taste of Murder”

REVIEW ~~~ The Taste of Murder is Book 5 in Sugarek’s ‘The World of Murder’ series (previously acclaimed by this reviewer as a tight, compelling series that builds powerful scenarios and believable protagonists) and is especially recommended for prior fans of the books who want a continuation of the same successful devices employed in the previous titles: emotion-driven protagonists and a whodunit scenario that puzzles readers as much as the characters doing the investigating.

With its dash of romance, culinary-based intrigue, and a New York City setting, The Taste of Murder is as riveting as its predecessors and offers much to newcomers as well as prior fans. And having the subject be a culinary competition mystery is perfect timing, by the way, given current TV viewer interest in cooking show competitions (which are proliferating – sans murder scenarios, of course!)he story opens on the set of a cooking show competition where four chefs are charged with using ingredients from three mystery shopping bags. All is progressing smoothly … until a world-renowned chef/judge keels over dead.
Cut! Continue reading “Stellar Review for “The Taste of Murder””

Review~~’The City’ by Dean Koontz

REVIEW ~~ ‘The City’ by Dean Koontz (5 out of 5 quills)

True to Dean Koontz’s style he starts the reader off with a great tale of a musical family….Grandfather is a ‘piano man’ , mother is a jazz singer and eight year old Jonah is a wanna be piano man without a piano. You see, Mom is a single parent, married to an absent, then back again, no good, shiftless man. Theirs is a tight-knit lower middle class family squeaking by. The.City.Koontzindex

Then on about page 100, the weird stuff starts to happen and you know you are back in another of Koontz’s scary plots. ‘The City’ does not disappoint; you’ll love the characters in the story, good and bad. The story is written in first person from Jonah’s point of view and it certainly took me back to being just a kid with very real monsters under the bed and in the bedroom closet. And Jonah Kirk is a great kid; not too good, he’s still a kid and isn’t above lying to get out of potential trouble. He has a mentor who becomes an unlikely but loveable friend when he needs a friend the most.
As always, it’s a chilling, terrifying tale where you hope that good triumphs over evil but, not until the last few pages, will you know if Koontz sees it your way.

Continue reading “Review~~’The City’ by Dean Koontz”

Review~~Loretta Chase’s Vixen in Velvet

REVIEW! (5 out of 5 quills) Vixen in Velvet (The Dressmakers)

One thing about Loretta Chase; she NEVER disappoints. Her historic romances are more than the words imply. She is witty and her humor is so subtle….you must pay attention or you’ll miss the nuances.

“Have you any idea what my wife and her sisters have been through these last months, while you and Swanton idled abroad?” Clevedon said. “While your cousin was in Venice murdering the English language–“
“I shouldn’t call it murder, ” Lisburne said. “Flesh wounds, no more. You give him too much credit. And it was in Florence that he composed his latest batch of verse.”

Her characters are rich and full. And they appear in other books which makes a reader want to come back for more. She takes you to London, in the 1800’s; the sounds, the smells, the sights. With every book, she teaches the reader about what it was like then to be a woman, sometimes a woman without a livelihood or means to support herself. I always learn something from her fiction…this time, dressmaking and fabrics of that time. Continue reading “Review~~Loretta Chase’s Vixen in Velvet”

A review: ‘Blood Day’ by Sarah Butland

I was asked to review a short story, ‘Blood Day’ by Sarah Butland, a new friend on Facebook.

REVIEW: The hook at the beginning of this short story is effective. I wanted to stay and see where this was leading and it began to draw me in very quickly. The story is disturbing but very well written. Is our heroine in a state of a psychotic break or a genius trying to find herself and fit herself into a mundane and terrifying world?

‘Writer’s often say their characters are not a part of themselves but are themselves and that writing is
simply thinking on paper. Then I wonder why I didn’t think at all when I wrote as much as I did.’

Sarah is a talented writer and it is my hope that she develops this into something more.~~ Trisha Sugarek, WriteratPlay.com

‘Home to Seaview Key’, A Review (author, Sherryl Woods)

A REVIEW! (5 out of 5 quills)

Sherryl Woods, once again, plunges her reader into a love story, on the first page, with a sexy kiss shared by strangers on a beach. The story keeps us interested with love fraught with complications, small town politics, and charming and funny characters.

I am a reviewer who does not give the reader the entire story in my review. I hate when that happens, don’t you?! But I will promise you that you will be rooting for Abby and Seth by Chapter two. They both deserve ‘forever’ love, but with the baggage that they both carry (and I’m not talking trains here) will they be able to find a common ground?

And the little town of Seaview Key….every one of us wishes we could live there. Surrounded by ocean, salty breezes, ice tea on the wrap-around porch and populated by folks that care about their community and each other. Continue reading “‘Home to Seaview Key’, A Review (author, Sherryl Woods)”

You needn’t Suffer Waiting for the New Season of Downton Abbey — a Review

REVIEW (5 out of 5 quills)

HEIRS and GRACES Newest book in the Royal Spyness series
by Rhys Bowen

Impoverished, royal Georgiana Rannoch is set another task by HRM, the Queen. ‘Get thee gone….’to a grand country house and help an uncooperative Heir adjust to his new station in life and a mammoth fortune. Said heir, Jack, has been snatched from a sheep station in Australia, brought to England, and is the most reluctant of future Dukes.

‘Jack jumped to his feet. “How can you talk calmly of eating when your son is dead and everyone thinks I stabbed him?” he shouted.
“Such an outburst, the dowager Duchess said. “Hardly seemly for a duke, John. Really you will have to learn to control your emotions. Of course I’m upset at the loss of my son. I am outraged that somebody chose to murder him. But I am also aware that it is up to us to set a good example, chin up, best foot forward and all that. This household will continue as usual, except for the fact that we be in mourning for the requisite amount of time….’ Continue reading “You needn’t Suffer Waiting for the New Season of Downton Abbey — a Review”

“Fingal O’Reilly, Irish Doctor” A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest book

5 out of 5 Quills A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest release

‘yer face is as long as a wet Sunday…’

Oh, I’m a big, BIG fan of Patrick Taylor’s work. I never miss buying his latest. What’s not to like….for me, the daughter of a second generation Irishman? In 1998 I spent a month in the west counties of Ireland looking for my paternal roots. My, my! Did I find them! My father’s name still appeared above ‘drapery’ shops in the small villages I traveled to. So, for me, reading Taylor’s series called ‘Country Doctor’ is like return visits to ‘the ole Sod’.

In this newest offering Patrick Taylor seamlessly takes the reader from his early days as a young doctor (newly graduated) practicing in the slums and tenements of Dublin (in the 1930’s), to twenty plus years later where he has been a GP in the tiny village of Ballybucklebo.

If you start out with the first book, An Irish Country Doctor, and continue reading the series, you fast become one of the villagers. You know everyone and everyone knows you. The series is the story of Fingal O’Reilly’s life, his patients, his young doctor proteges, his loves and all the people that make up the village of Ballybucklebo.

The charm of Taylor’s language is unparalleled. “He’s about as deep as a feckin’ frying pan–and twice as dense.” and, “How’s life abusing you?” Bob asked. “It’s good to be off work and heading to play rugby, I can tell you that for free.” Fin replied. and
Continue reading ““Fingal O’Reilly, Irish Doctor” A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest book”

Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander…a review

5 out of 5 quills A Review of Tasha Alexander‘s latest Release

I don’t know about you but I love the characters in a story ‘below the stairs’ as much as the main characters in stories such as Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs and of course in all of Alexander’s ‘Lady Emily Mysteries’. This author has always given her readers a little taste of the servants’ lives surrounding her main characters: investigators, Emily and Colin Hargreave.
But in Behind the Shattered Glass we get to walk behind the ‘green baize door’ and join the servants in the kitchen. And what wonderful characters they are!

This is a tangled murder mystery and I think, one of Alexander’s best. A beautiful country home, love is in the air, and the rich aristocrats are doing what rich aristocrats do; shooting, drinking, dancing seducing, riding, and sleuthing.

Continue reading “Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander…a review”

‘If You Could See What I See’…by Cathy Lamb * A Review

Five out of 5 quills A Review of Cathy Lamb’s new release, ‘If You Could See What I See’

Every time I read one of Cathy’s amazing stories I think to myself, “this is the best one yet!” And I’ve read them all! Once again Cathy has out done herself with her characters and her story line. I understand from my upcoming INTERVIEW with her, featured here August 22nd, (and runs in three parts) that this author fills journals full of story treatments, characters, and plots before she begins to write her novels. In my opinion it certainly ‘shows’ and we, the readers, benefit from this meticulous work.

Her latest offering ‘If You Could See What I See’ is about a family of women who own and run a lingerie company. Set in current times with a failed economy they struggle to find a way to keep the doors open and their employees working. The grandma, the mother and the three sisters are wonderful, unique in their own way, and quirky to say the least. The teenagers, that make up the fourth generation of this wacky family, lend a charming and fresh angle to an already wonderful novel.
Be ready to cry, laugh, sigh, and feel outrage.

A real page turner, you won’t be able to put it down!

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Don’t miss my Interview with Cathy Lamb August 22, ,27, and 29.
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name:: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Karen Robards, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Walter Mosley, Loretta Chase, Nora Roberts, Raymond Benson and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Sue Grafton is August’s author with a bonus chat with Cathy Lamb. and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Receive my posts in an email. Sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

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