Janelle TaylorBesprekingen
Auteur van Stardust and Shadows
Besprekingen
I knew Ashley Fontainne could pen an off the chart novel, but this is my introduction to Janelle Taylor. They are both now must read authors for me.
Operation DFC – Die for Country
Operation DFC – Die for Cathy
Operation Seek and Destroy
John Sims had been a POW, so when the CIA recruited him for his first mission, to save POWs and MIAs, he never hesitated when Dave Carter asked him, “So, you’re willing to die?” His answer, “Absolutely.”
John thought the service would give him freedom from the brutality of his father, but he hadn’t anticipated the price. He knew what it was to be tortured and starved, kept prisoner for two years by the North Vietnamese, before he was rescued, the sole survivor of his unit.
I was a teenager during the Vietnam War. I remember a lot of things about it, The Draft, Agent Orange, not being allowed to win and how the service men were treated when they came home. I used to read a lot of WWII & Vietnam history and novels. I cannot imagine what it would be like, whisked from the life you have in the United States and plopped down in the jungle, in the desert.
In John’s case, he also gave up his past, his present and maybe even his future, hiding his real name, breaking all ties with family and friends. BUT, he would keep secret Cathy, his first love and the love of his life and Brad, his best friend that looks out for Cathy, Brad’s cousin, when John was away.
John has no idea what is coming, and neither did I. It was so much more than I expected, even though I knew Ashley Fontainne was capable of doing most anything to her characters. Now, I see that Janelle Taylor will too, so I will be looking for more of her work in the future.
My emotions were all over the place: angry, surprised, shocked, appalled, terrified, sad, heartbroken, horrified, furious, devastated…I could go on and on, looking up words and synonyms to describe my feelings.
I never saw half of what was coming throughout the novel. I read and read, not even thinking about when I would reach the end. I was just reading to find out what came next…UNTIL…DAMMIT…there was no more. I never even thought about it being a series. I guess you could say there is a cliffhanger, because the characters mission is not complete. Now it’s time for Lewis Roger Lee Bradford (Wolfman) from Shreveport, Louisiana to seek retribution. Black Viper, Red Dog, and Raccoon will be along for the ride and they are out for blood.
I sure do hope you Ladies are writing fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Operation DFC by Janelle Taylor & Ashley Fontainne.
See more at http://www.fundinmental.com
1. Beautiful, aristocratic girl who disdains feminine pursuits, which yeah, fine, sure, if you don't wanna dance and stuff don't dance or whatever, but you know, being feminine isn't necessarily a bad thing.
2. Dead mom, and loving over-protective father who raised his daughter like a son, but she's not at all boyish (see no. 1).
3. Beautiful Girl fighting with Loving Father about whom to marry, because she's 19 and god, that is so old, her ovaries have practically withered and fallen out, but she wants to marry for love just like Daddy did, have some sympathy.
4. Allusions to suspense-y sub-plot, more info later.
5. Aristocratic Lordly-Lord, who is also a spy, who is also a mega dick-wad, whinging to himself about how Dear Old Grand-Dad wants to see his heir married and procreating, yadda yadda, marriage is for losers, all women are deceitful betrayers, blah blah blah.
6. Coincidence that Lordly-Lord's Dear Old Grand-Dad just happened to be thinking that Beautiful Girl would make the perfect wife for Lordly-Lord, seeing as how they're neighbors and such; Lordly-Lord thinking that she's probably a total dog and anyway, he's not marrying some ice maiden who hasn't just married the first dude to ask her, clearly she's a total bitch and god, 19 is so old.
7. Rape, not forced seduction if you were wondering, since plucky Beautiful Girl was asleep when it started and when she woke up in the middle, Lordly-Lord was like "Welp, I've already begun, might as well finish since you're not a virgin anymore".
6. Lordly-Lord making excuses, since you know, Beautiful Girl shouldn't have been asleep, naked (while her nearby pile of clothes obvs belonged to some kind of plebe), asleep, kissing him back whilst asleep, beautiful, asleep, breathing, and/or asleep, oh no the temptation was just too much.
I'll give it another chapter, but I'm pretty sure I'm done.
ETA 8/20/2013: Yep, made it to chapter 5, it's over.
Betsy Reed gets some news at the doctors that she just can’t believe. Even worse, she doesn’t want to believe and she doesn’t trust the test results. While hiding this secret from her husband, Reed, he is also keeping a secret from her. When they go away to her parents’ cabin for the Christmas weekend, they both reveal their secrets to each other. Will they be happy? Or devastated by each other news?
This was a cute and quick read, but I’m not sure I’d pay to read it since it’s only 48 pages. If you want something light and fluffy and can get your hands on a free copy I’d definitely suggest reading it, if not I wouldn’t waste my time or money.
Published By: J. T.
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: 4
Book Blog For: GMTA
Review:
"A Christmas Surprise" by Janelle Taylor was a nice short Christmas holiday novella. This novel was of 'heart wrenching, deeply moving and emotionally fervent tale' that would keep you turning the pages until the end. With this mother finding herself pregnant Betsy Reed was in shock and wondering how her husband, Tommy would react. They had planned on waiting a while but now she was pregnant and Betsy was 'having a hard time telling her husband for fear he will not be happy.' It appears that both of these two had secrets and only if they had shared, and then their is the neighbor Peter who now had guessed what was going on. Now, this is the time you must pick up this good read to see how it will all turn out. How will Tommy's reacted to the wonderful news?
If you want to read a short story with a lots of 'sparkles and shines' especially during the holidays then I would recommend "A Christmas Surprise" for you.
Published by: Bell Books Inc.
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Book Blog For: GMTA
Rating: 4
Review:
"Straight from the Heart," were two sweet novellas and one that was the "author's own happily-ever-after romance." This author, Janelle Taylor is a true romantic. I really liked all three because I also like romantic novellas. I found all three stories well written.
The first story finds a divorced woman(Kimberly)stranded in a cabin with the attorney (Stephen) who accepted her ex husband's case. Now how this will come out? I will leave that up to you to read.
Next...we have
'Winds of Change" and in this novella we find a husband(John) has disappeared and Luke James who was a fugitive from law is found helping the 'beautiful redhead' Dorry Sims around on the farm. Again, I will stop here and let you pick up this section of the book to see what come out from this story.
Last...
the non-fictional part of the book is a story of the author (Janelle) and and her husband Michael's sweet romance of falling in love.
If you are in for a sweet, short romance novella, you have come to the right place. All of these stories are entertaining and will keep you interested right up till the last one. Would I recommend these short stories? YES!
The story of the Valley of fire has a lot of mistakes they are always jumping ahead trying to out figure the other person so
they don't risk thier hearts. They also have people trying to hurt someone because of jealousy.
Kathleen Alexander is visiting the Valley of Fire when her car breaks down and her jug of water is empty. She passes out in the middle of the road.
Steven Winngate was riding his motorcycle on his way to a business meeting when he almost hit the car in the middle of the road.
He could not wake the blond and he figured out the car was not working. So he locked up her things in the trunk and tied her
to him on his bike to take her to get help. Steven finally came upon cop car and flaged them down and told then where he found her. They asked for his id and thought he was not The wealthy oilman. They also saw his gun in his boot so they cuffed him, when he got angry at them. Before they could get him to the jail they found out he was telling the truth.
Kathleen also goes by the way Brandy Alexander writer but she does not like to tell people who she is. The ER Doctor comes on to
her and she says not. He figures out who she is and asks her out a few times a day. He snooped in her briefcase and then uses
that information and lies to get rid of Steven.
Steven comes to visit Kathleen but gives false name because too many women come on to him because he is rich good looking &
powerful. Because of what the doctor told him he thinks Brandy faked her car trouble to meet him and get a false story for his
magazine cancelled. Plus he thought she was writing a story about him and her rescue.
Brandy is shocked when he tells her he owns the magazine. Brandy is falling for him but he is keeping secrets from her and she does not want him to know how much she cares.
Thier are a few love scenes. A lot of fights before things work out.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review from Netgalley
05/14/2012 PUB Bell Bridge Books
One of the terms of inheritance is that she must live in Blueberry, Maine for 30 days and buy two items a day from the town stores. A townsperson comes at 8:00 am daily to collect the receipts and Olivie must sign that they were collected. Not a problem? HAH! As usual, the stipulations bring old history to light and not only is someone trying to kill her, they are aosl trying to damage Kayla Archer,Zach's 13 yr. old daughter! and it just gets better.....
** "Straight from the Heart" by Janelle Taylor.
O. M. G. If this were a play, I'd say the actors were chewing the scenery. Horribly overdone. It's an okay premise--the hero's law firm represented the heroine's ex-husband in a custody battle, and a mutual friend sets them up to be stranded in a cabin together. But the story goes downhill from there. Every reaction is exaggerated--frex, at one point the hero throws his head back and laughs... at something mildly amusing. And what was up with the "wheat bread"? Am I missing something? They've got bread, and it's mentioned multiple times, and there's only one kind of bread, but every time it's mentioned it's always "wheat bread." Really started to drive me nuts. We won't mention the exclamation marks.
*** "Summer Fantasy" by Jill Marie Landis.
TV screenwriter's agent sends her to Kauai to relax and get over writer's block. The handsome Hawaiian B&B owner is the hero. The descriptions were very nice. I saw the "twist" coming from the first assumption the heroine made about the hero. Too much Fred (authorial intrusion) took away from the story. And the heroine... first, she's a the pinnacle of her profession at age 25. I thought we'd given that up in the 80s. And then she's all hot for the hero, so she's hostile toward him, comes on to him and then gets mad at him for responding.
*½ "Early in the Morning" by Stella Cameron.
WTF moment #1: we have a couple who's on the eve of getting married, and they've--or rather she's--just now decided they ought to discuss sex. WTF moment #2: so he repeatedly changes the subject, avoids the question, and finally accuses her of being sex-obsessed. WTF moment #3: she doesn't actually dump his sorry butt. I have zero problem with a couple deciding to wait until marriage for sex. But I do think it's something they would/should discuss before, you know, the night before the wedding. And his reaction? That really doesn't bode well for a happy marriage. WTF moment #4: we get the reason for his reluctance--his ex-wife told him he wasn't any good in bed. Isn't that pretty much standard? Don't an awful lot of divorcing people accuse their exes of being bad in bed? WTF moment #5: the aliens show up. And.... Oh, god, I can't go on. It gets worse from there, if you can believe it. It's a complete mess. What the aliens want, how they communicate, how the couple plans to get away, and then how things change at the end--none of it makes any sense. Okay, I've got to add one last WTF moment because I just can't believe it: WTF moment # whatever: they don't want to have actual sex where the aliens can observe them. BUT they have no problem with getting completely naked and having oral sex.
***** "Sultry" by Anne Stuart.
This is why I bought the book. And it made it worth it. Stuart's an exceptional author. From the first page, I felt myself relax and sink into the story of a saloon owner and the town's new sheriff. She packed a ton of story into a novella length, and I still didn't feel rushed or like things were left out. Emotional, lush, descriptive, even suspenseful. She makes it look so easy. Quite possibly, the contrast between this story and the others in the anthology account for a half a star here, but it deserves it for being stuck in a book with duds.
Onze site gebruikt cookies om diensten te leveren, prestaties te verbeteren, voor analyse en (indien je niet ingelogd bent) voor advertenties. Door LibraryThing te gebruiken erken je dat je onze Servicevoorwaarden en Privacybeleid gelezen en begrepen hebt. Je gebruik van de site en diensten is onderhevig aan dit beleid en deze voorwaarden.
I am writing this review, without the benefit of a blurb or synopsis. I have already met some of the characters and know some of what is going on, but I am not sure what to share and what to keep to myself. So, here goes….
The characters are damaged and carry a lot of baggage, much of it through no fault of their own. In 1944 soldiers were experimented on. Could it be passed on to their children? The young men had no idea what life had in store for them, but they man up and do what must be done.
“That’s some paranormal, genetically fucked up shit for sure. I mean, cue the Twilight Zone theme…”
After reading the first book, I knew they would be out for revenge and would make the cartel pay. Along the way Rafe inserts himself into a situation to save an innocent, pregnant woman. I wept WITH him on more than one occasion. The guilt he carries is a heavy load. I hope he learns to ask for help, but right now he is on his own. My heart broke for him. The voices in his head….
Eduardo has no clue the creature he created is on a lethal prowl.
Rabid Wolfe three; cartel zero. I’m on a roll.
S&D: Those we seek…we will destroy. Those who betray them will pay the ultimate price. The problem is, who is the betrayer? There’s always one in the bunch. I thought of one person and….well…I’m not telling, but I was right and it will cost someone their life.
The action began from the opening pages, but when they got to Central America it ramped up to a frenetic pace. My head was spinning, waiting, anticipating the bad to come. The mental and emotional turmoil the four team members go through brings forth many emotions. The richness and depth of the characters make them come to life on the pages. I feel empathy, sorrow, anger, rage, fear, and compassion. I want them to come out of the war they are fighting whole, with hope and a future in store for them.
The ending…awesome! Yeah, I may have been able to figure it all out, but I never even tried. I was so into what was happening in the moment, I let the authors lead me where they wanted me to go. I never paid attention to where I was in the book. A lot of the time I will check to see how much I’ve read, how much I have left, but this time, I was in the moment and stayed there.
I found moments where the authors could have ended the book, but they kept giving me more and it kept getting better and better, leaving me very happy. I love it. That is the excellence of this powerhouse team, Ashley Fontainne and Janelle Taylor.
See more at http://www.fundinmental.com