Reading Fanatic Reviews
All Kindle Unlimited ReviewsNOTE: These books were in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program at the time that I posted the reviews. They may not still be in the program, as authors can opt out every 3 months. If you find a book that is no longer in the program, don’t hesitate to contact me, and I will update the review.
Big Heart Ventures by Tina Ruseva
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Big Heart Ventures*
Purpose Beyond Profit for Entrepreneurs
What are big-heart ventures? In this book, the author discusses the concept of purpose-driven entrepreneurship. What is this? The author defines it as a business with both effect and efficacy, meaning that it can add value for customers (thus allowing profitability) while keeping ethics and the bigger picture in mind (the heart part). She believes that a false dichotomy exists between for-profit and non-profit businesses. A purpose-driven business is profitable but not at the expense of long-term values, both on a personal and global level. She discusses this dichotomy, a little about the history of entrepreneurship, and goes on to detail what she means about purpose-driven entrepreneurship.
I think, in general, that her ideas are good ones. We definitely have seen lately, and throughout history, how businesses quite often do what we as consumers and humans considered to be reprehensible or unethical. Big companies have made recent headlines about how they’ve abused the trust we put in them to keep our data and privacy safe. As consumers, we would be able to trust businesses more if they weren’t just about the bottom line but saw the bigger picture and acted ethically.
The author is of Bulgarian descent and has spent much time living in Europe. It is clear that English is not her first language. Still, having chosen to write this book in English, she should have had it edited by a native English speaker. I am not sure if it was edited at all. There is definitely awkward phrasing, wrong words, and incorrect punctuation. This does distract some from reading, and therefore, from the message.
Bats & Bling by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Bats & Bling*
Missing Brooch and Murder
Presley is happy to be providing a swanky gown for Veronica, a mover and shaker in town, for a charity Halloween event. Veronica is ready to dash off to dinner but doesn’t want to take the expensive brooch she brought to match to her gown with her, so she asked Presley to hold it for her in her safe. The next morning, the brooch is gone. Who has access to the safe? Was this some plan? Soon, though, there are more significant problems when Veronica turns up dead, and her husband disappears. Did he have something to do with it? Are the theft and her death linked?
Yet again we have another installment of this series without Cooper. I enjoy the books more when he is in them; he’s a great counterpoint to Presley. Katy is still in Chicago helping Presley run Silk. This book was shorter than the last two. I enjoyed the previous two because there were more elements to the mysteries involved in these longer works. This installment is relatively short, and the big murder doesn’t happen until close to the halfway point, not really giving enough time to develop the unraveling of the mystery. So compared to the previous couple of books, this was a disappointment. There are definitely some issues, too, with punctuation and grammar that were more noticeable here.
Still, if you enjoyed this series, you will most likely enjoy this one, even with its limitations.
Advertising, Branding & Marketing by Dixie Maria Carlton
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Advertising, Branding & Marketing*
May Help New Small Business Owner with Lack of Marketing Knowledge
This brief guide’s original subtitle suggests that it will help a small business owner make their branding, marketing, and advertising more effective. However, in my reading of it, I didn’t get the sense that this book was about effectiveness; the author must have agreed because the subtitle was changed to say that the book is a “quick and easy guide achieving great marketing outcomes in a small business.” I think both subtitles overstate what the book can offer. It is more like a rough sketch describing aspects of marketing including, but not limited to, branding and advertising. Some topics she touches on include targeting your market, positioning your business, customer service, networking, promotions, and online marketing. The author’s goal is to help you understand the basics of these so that you can grow your business through a good marketing plan.
Just to be clear, this guide is aimed at small business owners of actual brick-and-mortar establishments. While some information may be relevant to online businesses, it is mostly about local, walk-through-the-door businesses.
As I stated, this book is very short, just around 120 pages. So if you are looking for an in-depth discussion of the book’s topics, you won’t find that here. Within each topic, though, the author does provide definitions of key concepts as well as what the topic means to your business. Nearly every chapter could be a book itself. Some chapters are very short, positioning your business being only 5 pages and increasing your market share only 3!
Some ideas in this book seemed to harken back to business ideas that were more suited to business in the last millennium before the internet became such a prominent feature in our lives. I wonder at the efficacy print, TV, and radio advertising in the modern age where many get their news online and stream or read content that used to only be available through traditional media sources. I actually ran a brick-and-mortar small business in the early 2000s, and even back then, marketing and advertising were rapidly changing. While there is some mention of online marketing and social media in this book, it is a very small portion of the contents. I’m wondering at the relevance of some of what she talks about regarding advertising and promotion.
I think this book might be of value to a brick-and-mortar small business owner, or someone who is considering becoming one, so long as they understand its limitations in scope. The book gives a glimpse of critical factors that are important to the success of your business and does provide some idea of what needs to be done for each. Don’t expect to learn enough about, say, promotion or networking to fully execute a strategy. You will need to look elsewhere for more actionable ways to implement them.
Finding Claire by Barbra Dawson
Available at Amazon (KU), though the book is offered at Kobo, Mondadori, and Angus & Fergus for free.
The author may be planning to have Amazon price-match to these other sources.
Finding Claire*
Potentially Good Story Ruined by Bad Grammar and Punctuation
The book opens at Claire’s funeral. Soon, her son is given a box of diaries and other things of his mother’s that will help explain some questions the son has about her, his father states. The bulk of the book, except for a little at the beginning and the end, relates Claire’s later teenage life.
I had a problem with this book on a variety of levels. First, I didn’t really see the need to bracket Claire’s story with the modern context of having it seen through her son’s eyes after her death; this added nothing to the story as not much was done in either of the small modern-day portions. The end, especially, could have been so much more (and have been the reason for the modern parts) if he had some interaction with the young man mentioned in the diaries who was so pivotal in his mother’s early life. That would have made this modern-day bracketing make sense. But as that did not happen, it seems rather pointless.
Another odd thing I found about the book was that even though the son is supposedly reading these papers and diaries, the story itself is related as any regular story would be, with a fair amount of dialogue. I don’t know about you, but when I write in a diary or a journal, I don’t write dialogue! So, unless the son has an excellent and spot-on imagination, this isn’t actually a good representation of what supposedly happened with his mother.
The most significant issue I had, though, was that the book was poorly written from a grammar, punctuation, and usage standpoint. So much so that I was utterly distracted from reading the story. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such terribly inconsistent and non-edited work in publication. I did receive an ARC of this book, so I double checked the Amazon preview to see if the final book had been edited before I wrote this portion of the review. The preview seems to be no different from the version that I read. The author appears to be British, but most of the rules of grammar and punctuation are the same between these two variants of English. She seemed to have no understanding whatsoever of how to punctuate dialogue, and there was a lot of conversation in this book. Capitalization is wrong, commas are wrong, and other random punctuation is thrown in around dialogue. Both in dialogue and narrative sections, sometimes ending punctuation is left out. Word choice was occasionally wrong, like bare vs. bear. It seemed hardly a paragraph went by without an error, making it so I could barely concentrate on the story.
The story itself about the coming of age of a young girl had its merits, but these were overshadowed by the structural problems of the book as well as the grammar, punctuation, and usage issues.
Accessories & Alibis by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Accessories & Alibis*
Proud New Entrepreneur…and Mysteries!
Solange’s husband is giving Presley ownership of Silk. Before the ink is even dry, one of the employees of Silk, Roxanne, is arrested for the murder of her boyfriend, Drew. Roxanne swears she is innocent and wants Presley’s help in clearing her name. All is not well at Silk either, as some merchandise has been ordered on the company accounts but doesn’t seem to exist. Also, Solange’s husband left out a little detail or two about the business’s financial state.
Did Roxanne kill her boyfriend? What will Presley find out? Will Silk be able to survive financially? Will Presley regret her decision to become a business owner?
I was sorry to see that Cooper didn’t feature heavily in this installment of the Presley Thurman Mystery series. At the end of the previous book, they had finally gotten back together after being on the outs for a while. In this book, he’s in New York working for a client. Katy still here in Chicago, supporting Presley as she starts her new business. I enjoy watching their friendship. This particular installment feels like a combination of mystery and chick lit, which is not a bad mash-up. I like how in the last two books the author has increased the complexity of the plot to include more mysteries than just one. This book isn’t just about Roxanne and Drew’s murder; it is also about mysterious happenings at Silk as well.
This book seems to have more issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage than some of the other books in the series, which is unfortunate as I do enjoy reading about Presley’s happenings.
If you’ve enjoyed the previous mysteries in this series and the quirky cast of characters that always seemed to surround Presley, you may enjoy this book. By the way, if you are new to the series, the author does a good job setting up the world by telling you a little about some of the previous mysteries as they relate to Presley and her friends currently.
The Going Back Portal by Connie Lacy
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Going Back Portal*
Time Portal to Dark Time in American History
Kathryn, an investigative TV journalist, loves her grandmother, but thinks she is not quite in her right mind when she starts talking about seeing a Cherokee woman at a farm nearby. The problem is, there is no farm close to them. After investigating with Grandma, Kathryn changes her mind when she is transported back to the 1840s. Forest Water is a woman from that time who was left behind on the trail of tears and trapped on what used to be her family’s farmstead by a brutal white man. Kathryn keeps going back in time, wanting to help the young woman. Soon, she finds that more is at stake than the woman’s freedom and her life.
Will Kathryn be able to help the Cherokee woman? Can she keep the dangers at bay? Will Forest Water be free of the man harming her?
This book was well written. There’s a good mix of dialogue and narrative prose; she doesn’t hit you over the head with a lot of backstory all at once. The story unfolds naturally, as we learn along with Kathryn. It’s clear that Kathryn and her grandmother have a good relationship, even when Kathryn doesn’t believe her. It’s always lovely to see warm, intergenerational relationships. Oh, my goodness, poor Forest Water! What she had to go through! Even though this is fiction, it brings home the atrocities that happened at that time.
This book is a real page-turner. The author made the time travel aspect seem plausible. You can’t help but feel for these two women as they struggle against forces that are so strong. Yet, the fight is important. I loved how the author interwove romance relationships for both of the women into the plot. Something for them both to have hope for.
If you enjoy time travel and romance steeped in one of the dark times in America’s past, you might enjoy this very different take on time travel romance.
Romance & Revenge by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Romance & Revenge*
Problems with Roommate’s Company
Presley’s back in Chicago, and Katy is staying with her and Jared while she puts the debacle of her near wedding behind her. Presley thought Cooper was still out of the country after his failed proposal, but she finds out he’s been back to their hometown. Why hasn’t he called to let her know that he is back in the States? Jared has some unexpected time off from work because one of his co-workers has been murdered. On top of that, his company is suffering because someone is leaking their ideas to rivals, who then present the same ideas to the potential customer, making Jared’s company appear as if it is the one that is stealing concepts.
Why was Jared’s co-worker murdered? Who is the mole, and is that related to the murder? Can Jared’s company get its reputation and clients back? Will Cooper give Presley a call? Or will she have to call him?
This book concentrates on figuring out the murderer, but Presley can’t get Cooper out of her mind. I was glad to see Cooper back, even peripherally, because I do enjoy the dynamics of a couple. I like seeing more of Katy; she has some big decisions to make, and it was interesting to see her work through them. The author has created a well-developed but small set of secondary characters that add substance to the series, particularly in this novel where we see more of Katy and Jared.
Handbags & Hooligans by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Handbags & Hooligans*
What Happens in Vegas
Before she can really start her new job as a Mary Kay consultant, Presley leaves town for Las Vegas. Her friend Anne has been involved in wedding planning, and she and her fiance decide to ditch all the plans and just run off to Vegas instead. Presley’s younger brother lives in Vegas. Unfortunately, his girlfriend has gone missing, and it appears the brother has secrets as well.
Will they find the missing girlfriend? What secrets have been hidden . . . and by whom? Will the wedding still go off without a hitch? Does a new career await Presley in Las Vegas?
This book wasn’t quite as humorous at the last one, but it was fun to get a little more insight into Presley’s family. I like how the author has been setting up each book of the series with a prologue that describes a key scene that is relevant to the central mystery of the book.
If you have enjoyed the previous books in this series, you will enjoy Presley’s next adventure.
I received a free copy of this book, but this did not affect my review.
Stilettos & Scoundrels by Laina Turner
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, and Angus & Robertson
Stilettos & Scoundrels*
Who Killed the Senator?
After a MeToo moment, heroine Presley quits her job in HR and decides to become a journalist. The day after her first interview, her subject–a senator–is found murdered, the weapon being a stiletto heel. Was Presley the last one to see him alive? Her ex-boyfriend Cooper thinks she’s a suspect.
Who murdered the senator? Does this spell the end for Presley’s new career . . . and her freedom? Will old feelings resurface between her and Cooper, or will they be at each other’s throats?
This is the debut novel for the author. I think she was attempting to do one of those quirky, funny cozy mysteries, with humor, but she fell out short of the mark. I’m willing to cut her slack as it is her first book. I am interested to see what happens in book 2.
Just a side comment . . . This book is full of brand names and cultural references. I wonder if that dates a book and/or makes it less accessible to those who aren’t familiar with these references. Books can live on Amazon and other online book stories for a long time. Will a reader ten years from now understand what the references mean?
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
Truth and Solace by Jana Richards
Truth and Solace*
Compelling Third Installment of Excellent Series
After Lies and Secrets (books 1 and 2), we finally have Truth in the Love at Solace Lake series. Maggie, the youngest of the Lindquist daughters, is the heroine of this second-chance-at-romance story. When she was a young teenager, she fell in love was a young man named Luke who was a few years older than she was. After dumping her in a most dramatic and painful fashion, he went to California for schooling and ultimately got a job there. He comes back to the Minnewasta area because his mother is terminally ill with lung cancer. He works in hotel and restaurant management and has agreed to do that temporarily at the lodge so he can be with his mother in Minnesota. Because of their respective jobs in the lodge, Luke and Maggie often work together, which is not always easy for Maggie. They have so much shared history and still-existent feelings for each other, but there are also hurt and abandonment issues.
Will Maggie be able to look beyond the past hurts? Can Maggie and Luke find love again as adults? How will Luke deal with his mother’s illness? What truths will be revealed?
Yet again, the author has written a fantastic book. The past backstory and the current plotlines weave together and mirror each other in a complex way that was beautifully done.
I was wondering how she was going to handle the first chapter, which in the other two books of the series showed the sisters’ parents’ deaths from that book’s heroine’s perspective. But I knew that Maggie was just a baby when her parents died. In this book instead, Maggie gets into a fight with her grandmother about Luke just before her grandmother dies, causing Maggie to feel guilty that she may have caused her heart attack.
In this book, you will finally learn the truth about the death of the girls’ parents as well as the truth about Maggie’s parentage, which was hinted at in the prior book. Another truth revealed in the book is the reason why Luke left back when they were younger.
Yet again, this author is not afraid to address difficult and taboo topics, which are not common in contemporary romance. In this book, she looks at sexual harassment, parental abandonment, cancer, and marital infidelity as well as continuing to address alcoholism. Even though there are many hard topics she explores, she does so with sensitivity and compassion.
If you enjoyed either of the first two books of the series, you will find answers to the questions raised in them, told in the compelling way you have come to expect from this author. If you haven’t read the other books and enjoyed heartfelt contemporary romance, I suggest you start with Book 1 and make it to this one because the journey of the characters in these novels is amazing to watch unfold.
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