Review - Partners Again by Arthur T. Lee

Albert McTweed has such an active imagination that PJ McDougal, his imaginary friend, actually comes to life and helps Albert with his troubles.

Albert is an intelligent young boy who lets life's experiences ooze into his drawings. He lets his imagination, in the form of a cowboy named PJ, take on a life of its own. PJ, always in precarious situations that seem to have one dreadful outcome, stays focused on the problem at hand and takes advantage of luck and common sense to save himself.

The author's dedication to entertaining his readers is as prevalent as his desire to inspire education. He includes definitions of certain words in the back of the book. The prose is descriptive and engages all of the senses. Short, tight sentences add to the unpredictable, interesting, and constantly active pace of the story. The two main characters, Albert and PJ, come alive through their vivid perceptions of their individual worlds.

Arthur T. Lee realized when he was a very young boy that writing was what he had to do. It took several school years and encouragement from teachers before he decided to embrace writing completely. Partners Again is his first novel, but several more for middle grade and young adult are in the works. Arthur is a long time advocate of increasing child and adult literacy. Arthur and his family live in the northwest.

Partners Again has something for everyone and is a recommended uplifting family read. It's a wonderful reminder of the enjoyment and power of the imagination.

Title: Partners Again
Author: Arthur T. Lee
Publisher: Nobility Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9802297-0-7
Pages: 240
Price: $9.99

Reviewed for Allbooks Review

Review - Spun Tales by Felicia Donovan

Spun Tales
Written by: Felicia Donovan
Fiction / Mystery
Rated: Excellent (*****)
Review by: Lisa Haselton

Linda Jordan just needs a little more time to put the finishing touches on her newest medical thriller before submitting it to her publisher by the deadline, but life isn’t that easy.

The Black Widow Agency accepts a case involving a well-known and easily recognizable author. While trying to keep Linda Jordan secluded from fans and protected from foes while she finishes her latest novel, the Black Widows need to figure out how to deal with a required upcoming speech the author needs to give in a highly public location.

Also challenging the Black Widows is a co-worker who is continually absent and unavailable without explanation. The women balance worry with work as they struggle without their computer geek and hunt down the mysterious person or persons who don’t want the controversial medical novel manuscript to ever see print.

Author Felicia Donovan uses her computer forensics experience to create an intelligent and fun story line with women of varying skill sets (from finance to cyber geek), and ages (from twenty-something to sixty-something) righting the wrongs done to their clients. Her writing balances crime-solving with insight into the lives of the four main characters. She portrays strong women with soft sides and weaknesses.

Felicia Donovan began writing stories early on and completed her first novel before graduating high school. She became a teacher, but always felt compelled to return to the joy of writing fiction. Felicia left teaching to join a New England-based police department where she discovered the fascinating world of computer forensics. She resides in the bucolic countryside of NH with her two children and three dogs. She has a deep affection for her family, her friends, fine chocolates and well-spun tales.

Spun Tales is a wonderful continuation of the Black Widow agency series. Like the first novel, this is an engaging read. It is entertaining, suspenseful, fun, and fast paced. The four main characters are further developed and overcome new challenges. I highly recommend this novel to any mystery lover, especially those interested female leads.

Spun Tales is available through: http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bn.com/, other online outlets, and local book stores. Keep an eye out for the third in this series, Fragile Webs.

Title: Spun Tales
Author: Felicia Donovan
Publisher: Midnight Ink
ISBN: 978-0-7387-1310-6
Pages: 234
Price: $13.95

Review - Freezing Point by Karen Dionne

Ben Maki is focused and determined to supply the world with fresh water before the need hits critical levels.

The technology, people, and polar cap event finally fall in line and Ben Maki is poised to realize his dream of having an endless resource provide clean drinking water to millions. Staying at the forefront of budgets and years of knowing his company’s competitor could sweep in and take credit, keeps Ben on edge.

He juggles dealing with protestors, an unsatisfied boss, and his daughter’s school science project with an unknown scientist called “Iceman.” The surprises Ben encounters continue to surprise him and cause him to question everything he’s known as truth since the inception of the project.

Debut novelist, Karen Dionne, has crafted an amazingly engaging, fast-paced novel that makes the reader wonder just how the ratio of fiction to reality plays out. The science research is woven seamlessly into the storyline, and the reader can’t help but become educated about the earth’s fresh water resources. Short chapters are filled with tight writing and no extraneous detail. Thriller writing at its best.

When Karen Dionne first moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, her indoor interests were stained glass, weaving, and constructing N-scale model train layouts. Eventually, her creativity turned to writing. Karen’s short stories have appeared in Bathtub Gin, The Adirondack Review, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine and Thought Magazine. She worked as Senior Fiction Editor before founding Backspace, an Internet-based writers’ organization. She and her husband live in Detroit’s northern suburbs.

Imagination mixed with a good dose of real science combine with a lot of answers to the ‘what if’ question to make Freezing Point an adrenaline rush from start to finish. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an ice cold thrill ride. It feels like Perfect Stormwith ice caps instead of stormy weather. Totally engrossing.

Title: Freezing Point
Author: Karen Dionne
Publisher: Jove
ISBN: 978-0-515-14536-6
Pages: 320
Price: $7.99