Review: Web of Deceit by Darlene Cox

I got a review copy of this one from Bostick Communications.



About the Book

Peter Brock is a man to be envied. He is young, handsome, intelligent, a founding partner of one of New York’s most prestigious law firms, and a respected member of the International Community of Currency Traders. But, that isn’t enough to fulfill his goal in life. When he meets James Campbell , a very wealthy New York diamond dealer who would like to keep more of his wealth out of the hands of the IRS, Peter starts weaving a web of deceit to divert the bulk of Campbell’s wealth to his own account. But, he needs a little help.

He enlists Delilah, a strip-club dancer, to learn, through pillow talk, the extent of Campbell’s wealth; and Jenny, a fl ight attendant for a major airline, to smuggle loose diamonds to Europe on international flights. As a co-conspirator, how can Campbell yell “foul” at the risk of spending his remaining days in a Federal prison? The perfect Plan—so Peter thinks. Unfortunately, his law partner, Jack Morrison, gets wind of the Plan and decides to toss in his ante.

Now the game gets interesting—a case of diamond cut diamond. When two people wind up dead, Jack says “enough,” leaving Peter hopelessly entangled in his web.

As Jack says: “That’s what happens when little fish try to swim with the predators.”

My Review

This had a pretty good story. It took a few chapters to really get into the story, but once it took off it really went. It was a pretty faced paced story (excluding a few parts) that really did keep you guessing.

The character development was ok. I didn't really connect with any one character, but they were all believable characters. While the flashbacks do help to connect who each character is and how they are part of the story, they do seem to detract a bit from the overall story line. Some of the flashbacks were a bit long and gave a little more information than I felt was necessary.

The mystery of whodunit really was done quite well. I never expected the ending, not even a clue... Which made me have to rethink everything I was figuring. When I read the paragraph that made me realize who was responsible I had to read a few times to make sure I was reading it right. I like those endings that really throw you off. And it wasn't a crazy ending, it was just unexpected.

It was a pretty good story, but there were a few distractions. I'd say it was enjoyable to read and given the chance I'd read another of Cox's books.

Web of Deceit

Closed: Giveaway: Audiobook The War Lovers by Evan Thomas

Thank you to everyone that entered. There were 21 different entrants and a total of 36 entries!

Here are the three winners:
1) nfmgirl
2) traveler
3) MJ

Emails are being sent to the winners. Thank you again for entering and congratulations to the winners. I hope you enjoy them.

All winners were chosen using Random.org

-Jennifer

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Books I can giveaway 3 copies of this one!



About the Book

On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in the Havana Harbor. Although there was no evidence that the Spanish were responsible, yellow newspapers such as William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal whipped Americans into frenzy by claiming that Spain's "secret infernal machine" had destroyed the battleship. Soon after, the blandly handsome and easily influenced President McKinley declared war, sending troops not only to Cuba but also to the Philippines, Spain's sprawling colony on the other side of the world.

As Evan Thomas reveals in his rip-roaring history of those times, the hunger for war had begun years earlier. Depressed by the "closing" of the Western frontier and embracing theories of social Darwinism, a group of warmongers that included a young Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge agitated loudly and incessantly that the United States exert its influence across the seas. These hawks would transform American foreign policy and, when Teddy ascended to the presidency, commence with a devastating war without reason, concocted within the White House--a bloody conflict that would come at tremendous cost.

Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, THE WAR LOVERS is the story of six men at the center of a transforming event in U.S. history: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, McKinley, William James, and Thomas Reed, and confirms once more than Evan Thomas is a popular historian of the first rank.

The giveaway will end 6/2/10 at 11:59pm (EST)

Rules:
1) Only winners from the US and Canada
2) No PO boxes

To enter:
1) Leave a comment with your email address (so I can contact you if you win!)
2) Get an extra entry for following my blog (let me know if you're a new follower or have been following for a while!)
3) Get a third entry for mentioning this giveaway: On your blog, facebook, twitter... anywhere (Make sure to leave me a link or your SN so I can verify!)

The winners will be randomly drawn and notified by email.

Good Luck and thank you for reading my blog!

Closed: Giveaway: Audiobook God Never Blinks by Regina Brett

Thank you to everyone that entered. There were 16 different entrants and a total of 29 entries!

Here are the three winners:
1) karenk
2) janetfaye
3) Tina

Emails are being sent to the winners. Thank you again for entering and congratulations to the winners. I hope you enjoy them.

All winners were chosen using Random.org

-Jennifer

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Books I can giveaway 3 copies of this one!



About the Book

Already an internet phenomenon, these wise and insightful lessons by popular newspaper columnist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Regina Brett will make you see the possibilities in your life in a whole new way.

When Regina Brett turned 50, she wrote a column on the 50 lessons life had taught her. She reflected on all she had learned through becoming a single parent, looking for love in all the wrong places, working on her relationship with God, battling cancer and making peace with a difficult childhood. It became one of the most popular columns ever published in the newspaper, and since then the 50 lessons have been emailed to hundreds of thousands of people.
Brett now takes the 50 lessons and expounds on them in essays that are deeply personal. From "Don't take yourself too seriously-Nobody else does" to "Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift," these lessons will strike a chord with anyone who has ever gone through tough times--and haven't we all?

The giveaway will end 6/2/10 at 11:59pm (EST)

Rules:
1) Only winners from the US and Canada
2) No PO boxes

To enter:
1) Leave a comment with your email address (so I can contact you if you win!)
2) Get an extra entry for following my blog (let me know if you're a new follower or have been following for a while!)
3) Get a third entry for mentioning this giveaway: On your blog, facebook, twitter... anywhere (Make sure to leave me a link or your SN so I can verify!)

The winners will be randomly drawn and notified by email.

Good Luck and thank you for reading my blog!

Closed: Giveaway: Street Boners by Gavin McInnes

Thank you to everyone that entered. There were 9 different entrants and a total of 13 entries!

Here are the three winners:
1) Sean
2) kisah Jo
3) Elise

Emails are being sent to the winners. Thank you again for entering and congratulations to the winners. I hope you enjoy them.

All winners were chosen using Random.org

-Jennifer

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Books I can giveaway 3 copies of this one!



About the Book:

Fifteen years after founding Vice, Gavin McInnes has poured his creative juices into a new endeavor: StreetCarnage.com. Growing in size and influence at an alarming rate, the site's main feature is the new and improved version of Gavin's "DOs and DON'Ts," now tantalizingly called Street Boners.

These Boners have been polished and compounded into a book that takes the best of the site and adds hundreds more gems! With 1,312 photos, hilarious captions, and a harsh new rating system-from one to 10 kitten faces-STREET BONERS makes sure no glorious fashion statement goes unnoticed. Innocent citizens are either damned to hell or relentlessly exalted into heaven. Chloe Sevigny, Debbie Harry, Fred Armisen, and Tim & Eric also contribute their scathing wit to the book, and the end result is a New York fashion bible no bathroom should be without.

The giveaway will end 6/2/10 at 11:59pm (EST)

Rules:
1) Only winners from the US and Canada
2) No PO boxes

To enter:
1) Leave a comment with your email address (so I can contact you if you win!)
2) Get an extra entry for following my blog (let me know if you're a new follower or have been following for a while!)
3) Get a third entry for mentioning this giveaway: On your blog, facebook, twitter... anywhere (Make sure to leave me a link or your SN so I can verify!)

The winners will be randomly drawn and notified by email.

Good Luck and thank you for reading my blog!

Review: Frigate: November by Robert Wacaster & Paul DeGeorge II

Thank you to Robert for sending me this book to review.



About the Book:

United States Naval Commander Marlon Smith is a renegade. After striking another naval officer, he is sent to command the U.S.S. November. She's a ship full of problems. But after taking command, he finds out she's more than she appeared to be. The November hides secrets he hadn't counted on, and with a Navy Seal in charge of the Ship's Defense Force, an Air Force Sergeant in charge of intelligence, a Jewish Chaplain, and a supporting cast of other crazies, he'll be taking her out on a wild pirate hunt. Come along on an adventure you will never forget, aboard the Frigate: November!

My Review:

There's so much I want to say about this one I don't know where to start. First off I didn't think I'd like a Navy book as much as I did! I know little about the military and have never has a particular interest in understanding how the military works. But since I love to read and will rarely turn down a book I agreed to read it in hopes that something would be interesting about it... And there was some interesting things in it, like the whole book!

The book is well written, even when "navy" words are used I still was able to understand what was going on. Plus it's a fairly humorous book there were a few times when I'd read a passage to whoever was around because I didn't want everyone to think I was nuts for laughing while reading a book with a picture of a ship on the front (How humorous could a book about a boat be?)

I really liked the cameos in this book. And I only use cameos because I don't know what else to call it. You'll have to read it to figure out what I'm talking about :-)

The book is paced really well. Even though it did take me a while to read this one it wasn't because the story moved slowly, I just kept getting called away from it... The chapters are also pretty short, which is good for when you have to keep setting it aside....

There really isn't anything I didn't like about this book. The characters were well developed. The speech was realistic. And the end was a surprise. While I already let Robert know how I thought it should have ended I have to say that the ending he used works very well....

Overall a good story. I think I'm going to have to read some of Wacaster's other works (which is good since I already have a few sitting here!)

Frigate: November