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Blood of the Dragonfly: The Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series, Book V by Hawk MacKinney (Book Spotlight)

Adult Fiction (18+), 227 pages

 
While dangling a fishing hook from his flat bottom skiff before dawn, former SEAL-turned-PI Craige Ingram spots grey-black smoke coiling above the treetops across the river in the direction of the Georgia bayous and Corpsewood Manor. Bayou or bogs, fire in the uncut cypress and pines bodes a sense that the river is no barrier to the fire that threatens his ancestral home, Moccasin Hollow. Neither are the bodies later found in the burned mansion of Corpsewood Manor. Craige wastes no time in helping his ex-SEAL buddy Lt. Graysen MacGerald who is now Head of Buckingham Homicide Investigations by unofficially investigating the bodies and an exquisite dragonfly brooch found in the mansion with a reputation for evil, hauntings, and mystery.
 
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Excerpt

Craige had known Mattie to flip-flop a few times between past and present about things and happenin’s. Mix details of what and when and turned backside forward. Her seein’s coming in jumbled threads were often hard to make sense of. She frequently had no idea what the seein’s meant, but she never wavered about describing what she was sensing. Craige unhurriedly placed his cup into its saucer and carefully unfolded the inner wrappings of the jeweler’s box, and opened the box. Crisp sunbeams slanting through the lace of the window curtains glinted across the brooch, flashing shards gleamed along the truly diaphanous lifelike wings. He hadn’t told Mattie anything about where he’d found it or about Gray’s investigation. The hovering intaglio shimmered as though hoarding its secrets, beckoning with an unreal seduction, as he laid the brooch in her palm.

Her cup delicately paused in mid-air. “How lovely.” Mild ripples trilled across the smile lines of her face. She squinted for a closer look, “There’s something carved into the shiny black jewel.”

“A dragonfly.”

“How fanciful. I’ve seen butterflies, crickets, frogs, all manner of doodads for lapel pins and lavalieres but never a dragonfly such as this. Its wings even look see-through. I’m sure—” Her words stopped.

Her pleasant expression crumpled into clouded bemused bewilderment. The sunny room seemed to feel smothered. Her teacup quivered. Ever so carefully, she placed her cup just so in its saucer. Her eyes grew wide in a pinched strained expression. She pulled back, as though some shapeless trepidation hovered about her, ready to seize her. Her hand moved up to the starched bleached, crocheted collar of her navy-blue paisley print dress. She clutched her throat, then gingerly rested her hand aside the unsettled quiver at her cheek, “How dreadful.” She stared at the brooch in her palm. As if the brooch was blistering hot with blazing embers, Mattie tentatively placed it into Craige’s outreached hand, “Such beauty to be so wicked.” In a shaded whisper, “Mister Craige, take this vile thing with its temptations.”

Craige had seen her upset by her visions, but never so abrupt. “Mattie, let’s not go any further with this if it bothers you.” He placed it back in its box.

“Ugliness and cruelty always hover about those what are vulnerable. Such occurrences do bother me, but too shy from it implies acceptance. Good people must be watchful. Malice feeds on fear; drives good folks from facing it. The poor dead creature was being burned, burning away her name so she will be forever forgotten, so no one will ever know what happened to the poor unfortunate woman. There are others. I can’t see their faces. Someone was with her—another woman either with or perhaps following her.” Mattie caught a quick, shallow breath, “You must have nothing more to do with such a bloodstained harbinger. It didn’t belong to her. She took it,” Mattie frowned, “And now she’s dead.”

“Took it from whom?”

“Evil wanted it. It is a bringer of trouble.” Mattie winced, “Someone wanted it from—” Her face puzzled, “Flames were too hot for the hand that reached for the brooch. That awful fire couldn’t wipe clean where she died.”

“She died in the flames?”

“Perhaps somewhere near? Or perhaps somewhere else. I get no feeling of where.”

Mattie’s words didn’t surprise Craige so much as stirred a thing deep inside him, somewhere in those secret whispers between sleep and awake and an unfinished nightmare. From Frannie at PDK to Mattie’s forewarnings, Craige no longer discarded happenstances as coincidence, especially Mattie’s bit about “another woman.” He wrapped the brooch. Closed the box lid tight. “Can you see how the fire started?”

She shook her head slightly. Her expression one less of fear than trepidation, “Only the faces watching you, watching your friend.”

“Who’s watching Gray?”

“Not Lieutenant MacGerald. Your other friend, the one visiting you, the one who swims in the ocean and jumps out of airplanes and hunts with a bow and arrows.”

Her words jarred Craige. Only Gray, Fred, Mabel, and Terri knew Spinner was here. He hadn’t mentioned Spinner to Mattie or that he even had a visitor at Moccasin Hollow.

“Mister Craige, you must take extra care. That pretty bauble in its velvet box belongs to some kind of devil. Washed in blood with terrible long-dead secrets, crawling from their long-dead places. Don’t keep it near you. There is smoke and fire over your home, over that bauble from where she burned.” Mattie’s hands trembled as she reached for her cup of tea and took a long slow sip to calm herself. Her tremulous cup rattled into its saucer, “I will feel so much better once that pretty thing is rid away from you.”

He stood, “I want to let Gray know what you’ve told me.”

A bit calmer, Mattie insisted, “You must promise to not keep that thing inside your home.”

“I will take care.”

Mattie’s face strained, “I most truly enjoy the tea.”

Her hand still lingering at her throat, as Mattie stood in the doorway and waved as Mister Craige drove away. She hadn’t wanted him to know how upset it had truly made her.

* * *

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Meet the Author:
Author Hawk MacKinney
Hawk MacKinney began writing mysteries for his school newspaper, served in the US Navy for over 20 years, earned two postgraduate degrees with studies in languages and history, taught postgraduate courses in the United States and Jerusalem, authored professional articles and chordate embryology texts on fetal and adult anatomy, and is well known for his works of fiction. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel, was nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award. Both his CAIRNS OF SANCTUARIE science fiction series and the MOCCASIN HOLLOW MYSTERY series have received worldwide recognition.
 
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Into the Crossfire: First Force Book 1 by Cindy McDonald (Book Review)

Jack Haliday has a score to settle. 

It has been four years since ex-Navy SEAL Jack Haliday, had an explosive run-in with a biker gang, wounding their leader, Gunner. During those years, Jack had acquired everything he ever wanted: a beautiful wife, daughter, and a lovely home in the suburbs–everything was just about as perfect as it could get, until Gunner returned to twist Jack’s world inside-out with a vengeance that he could never have prepared for. 

Now Jack has a score to settle and he’s got some friends to help him do it.

 

 

(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 

Starting from the end of chapter three, Into the Crossfire was non-stop action. There were kidnappings, gun battles, a knife fight, and a house fire. Basically, Cindy McDonald threw everything at us but the kitchen sink and that’s a good thing.

Honestly, there wasn’t too much I would change. I adored Lil, the 4-year-old cutie pie. Every time she entered a scene she cut the tension drastically and this book definitely needed it. It was an intense read.

 

Other positive things to note:

Cindy McDonald integrated the flashbacks moments featuring Dr. Rayne Lee very nicely into the storyline. She also didn’t overwhelm us with a bunch of team members. She introduced us to only a handful, which means many more books in the series. All in all, a good read.

Recommend: YES!

Heart Rating System:

1 (lowest) and 5 (highest) 

Score: ❤❤❤❤

 

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For 26 years Cindy’s life whirled around a song and a dance–she was a professional choreographer. She taught ballet, jazz, and tap. During that time she choreographed many musicals and an opera for the Pittsburgh Savoyards. Most recently, she has retired to write her novels. She resides with her husband and Cocker Spaniel, Allister, on their Thoroughbred farm know as Fly By Night Stables near Pittsburgh.

You can also find out about her cozy mystery series, Fiona Quinn Mysteries, and her children’s books under her pen name, C.S. McDonald. 

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Into the Crossfire: Amazon Purchase Link
To The Breaking Pointe: Amazon Purchase Link
Into the Dark: Amazon Purchase Link
To the Brink: Amazon Purchase Link
Into the Dawn: Amazon Purchase Link
Complete series: Amazon Purchase Link

 

 

 

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Protecting Piper & Guarding Gwen by Cynthia Eden (Author Showcase)

She was off-limits.

Eric Wilde has always known that Piper Lane isn’t for him. She is his younger brother’s best friend…and probably more. But that hasn’t stopped Eric from wanting her. For longing for the one woman that he can’t have. Sure, he’s rich, successful—he’s built a security empire, and he’s got the world at his feet. Only he doesn’t have her. 

He is the one man she needs the most.

Free-spirited Piper Lane has always considered Eric to be the enemy. He’s seemed to resent her, and the guy just flat-out makes her nervous. Every time she’s around him, she winds up doing something horribly embarrassing. But, this time…everything has changed. This time, he’s the one man she needs the most.

Something is stalking Piper.

A stranger has broken into Piper’s home twice, and she feels like someone is following her. Watching her every move. She needs a professional to help her—so enter Eric Wilde. He promises her protection, he promises to put his best investigators on her case, and he even moves her into his house. Suddenly, the guy who has always been the villain in her life…he’s now playing the role of hero.

Everything will change as the danger mounts. 

And maybe Eric isn’t so bad, after all. The more time that Piper spends with him, the more she realizes that her feelings for Eric are far more complicated that she ever imagined. Desire explodes between them even as the danger deepens around her. Someone in the dark is targeting Piper, and he is determined that if he can’t possess her…then he will destroy her.

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Lights. Camera. Action.

Gwenevere Solomon is the current “It” girl in Hollywood. The star of a dozen films, she seemingly has the world at her feet. Gwen’s problem? She also has one very dangerous stalker at her door. His attacks are getting bolder, and Gwen is becoming more and more afraid. Because this stalker…he knows secrets that she’s fought hard to keep buried. The kind of secrets that can destroy a woman’s life.

A ghost from her past can save her.

Gwen needs protection, and she needs that protection now. So enter her new leading her man…Simon Forrest. Tall, dark, and ever-so deadly, Simon is the lover she left behind. Or rather, the lover who left her behind. He went off and became a SEAL, saving the world and riding one adrenaline high after the other. But he’s back now, and as part of Wilde Securities, he’s supposed to offer the best, most discreet protection service in the business. He’ll pretend to be her lover so the press won’t realize her life is going to hell, and Simon will stop her stalker.

He can keep his hands off her…and keep her shielded at the same time.

Simon never got over Gwen, and the fact that she’s been filling the big screen with her gorgeous self? Yeah, it’s just made her even more tempting…and put her even further out of his reach. Simon was never good enough for Gwen, and he knew it. But this time, he can help her. He can catch the stalker, unmask the jerk, and keep Gwen shining in her spotlight. Easy as pie. Or, it should be.

Except…Simon might not be able to stop himself from falling for her all over again. 

Because when the cameras stop watching, that’s when the real action begins…GUARDING GWEN, a sexy romantic suspense from New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Eden.

Author’s Note: Love sexy suspense and second chance romance? Then GUARDING GWEN is for you. A stand-alone romance with no cliff-hangers, this title features one red-hot, alpha hero and a strong, funny heroine who has plenty of secrets hiding in her past.

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A SEAL’s Secret by Tawny Weber (Book Review)

Subject: Lt. Commander Mitch “Irish” Donovan

Mission: A fitness queen with a hands-on approach!

Navy SEAL Mitch Donovan always plays to win. The push-up contest at the Halloween party should have been a piece of cake. Except that the cake in question is a hot woman dressed as a delicious dessert. Now the only exercise on Mitch’s mind is restraint…

Livi Kane may have “abs of steel,” but she has the all the confidence of a pudding cup. This hunky SEAL, however, makes her forget everything—except for a workout involving his hot, naked bod and a whole lot of sexy, sweaty delight. But Mitch has his secrets—and Livi certainly has hers. All it will take is one unexpected encounter to turn this steamy attraction into an even bigger secret that will start showing any day now…


 
 
Two people who take pride in their bodies – you can’t get a better match-up if you tried. Their relationship started on a push-up dare/challenge and turned steamy fast. Yeah, the dare might sound boring but it was actually written quite well with flirty moments weaved into the minute standoff. 
 
My only complaint was the plot was sort of lacking and I found myself more interested in the supporting characters than the ones I was supposed to be concentrating on. 
 
However, I did enjoy this tale. Maybe enough to give the author another purchase. 🙂
 
Heart Rating System – 1
(lowest) and 5 (highest) 
Score: ❤❤❤1/2
 
Purchase links ——> Kindle and Paperback
 
 

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The ‘Hot SEALs’ Series by Cat Johnson (Multi-Book Review)

(Hot SEALs #1)
 

Ten years of dedication to the Navy taught SEAL Jon Rudnick one thing—he’s not afraid to risk life and limb for his country. But when navigating military red tape begins to present more challenges than the enemy it makes Jon question his future. So does Alison Cressly, the woman he can’t get out of his head. When Ali’s life is threatened and military rules won’t allow him to intervene, Jon decides it’s time to take back control.

 

 

(Hot SEALs #2)

Zane Alexander was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but the rebellious bad boy traded it, along with his share of the family fortune, for a Navy SEAL trident and freedom from his controlling father.

Ten years later, Zane’s teammates are depending on him to secure the startup capital they need to open their security company and he’s gambling on his skills at covert operations to get it. For a million dollars he’ll fake interest in Missy Greenwood, the Senator’s daughter his father wants him to date in exchange for the investment.

When Missy is kidnapped and Zane and his team are sent to Nigeria to rescue her, there’s no more faking it when the danger and the emotions turn very real.

 
 
 
(Hot SEALs #3)
 
 
As a combat hardened Navy SEAL, Thom Grande has fought terrorism around the globe, but he can’t fight is his ex-wife. Or her lawyer. Or the alimony payments. Just when he thinks his life can’t get any worse, bad luck smacks him up side the head—literally. Now he’s got a traumatic brain injury and can’t remember his own name. The good news? He can’t remember his ex-wife or the woes she’s causing him either.
Virginia Starr has the worst luck ever with romance. But maybe her luck is changing because one hell of a hot man just showed up at her door in the middle of the night. One problem—he can’t remember anything, including who he is. The more Ginny sees, the more she realizes, that might not matter all that much.
 
 
(Hot SEALs #4)
 

Retired SEAL Chris Cassidy knows the bro code—no messing around with teammates’ sisters. However, Chris never was one for following rules. Besides, his teammate Rick’s gorgeous sister Darci is worth breaking the rules for.

Darci Mann is tired of being alone. Since Zane, the bad boy SEAL she formerly had a crush on, fell in love with someone else and her best friend Ali found her own happy ending Darci’s feeling her single status extra keenly. Though she suspects her brother’s buddy Chris would be willing to change her status . . . if she decides to let him.

When a routine assignment turns deadly and Chris switches from charming joker to capable trained warrior willing to kill or die to save Darci’s life, she might have to reevaluate her feelings about the perpetual bachelor and her own future.

 
 
The premise of the series was very intriguing. I admit, between the covers and the synopsis of the stories, I purchased the entire set. However, the potential for a great series didn’t occur. For me, Cat seemed to drag the stories along until the final chapters. Then, I felt she hurried up the tales to end it. Too quickly in my book. 
 
Examples: 
 
Night with a SEAL: Jon doesn’t stay in contact with Ali after they have sex and she gives him a goodbye blow job but after she’s held hostage at the bank, he now wants her. Again, the declaration happens at the end. Talk about Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am. Why did she have to take him back after he treated her so coldly? Ever hear of playing hard to get. SHEESH! 
 
Saved by a SEAL: Another book featuring a man giving a woman the brush off only to have the heroine (or in this case, damsel in distress) take him back without batting an eye. I know Missy had a crush on him for years but, seriously, let him work a little bit to prove he won’t hurt her again. 
 
 
SEALed by Midnight: Thom shows up at Virginia’s barn with amnesia and she welcomes him into her “home”. After a single PG night together, he wakes up with his memory intact, returns to his team (without her knowledge), and then ventures back to her. Suddenly he doesn’t remember or care why he avoids relationships. One night and BAM he wants a future with a woman he’s only known a couple hours. I call FOUL!  He takes her to meet his parents on day two together and she agrees to try the long distance thing. Again, I say FOUL. Wouldn’t you want to be close to a person during the honeymoon stage? As a reader, I couldn’t find this believable or how he suddenly got over his fears of the bitch ex. How desperate is she for a man that she’d agree to this. He’s basically a freaking stranger. 
 
This story didn’t seem plausible in the least. The characters didn’t click for me. 
 
Kissed by a SEAL: Chris is jealous of the attention Darci gives to Zane; her attraction to him. However, during the last pages of the book, he seems to forget how she’s wanted Zane all this time. He doesn’t address it at all. WTH. I know he wanted her for years but wouldn’t any sane person wonder/question if her heart still belongs to another man. No, in this case, Cat has the couple talk for about 5 minutes, announce they are together to his brother and hers, then they begin shagging. Come on, really! 
 
So much potential……
 
Man, I hate writing a bad review. I like to say something positive since I know the time/love/dedication writer’s place during the creative process. With that said, Chris was a total lovable guy. His humor made him a likable character. All the “cast” were likable in their own way. 
 
 
 Heart Rating System:
(lowest) and 5 (highest) 
Score: ❤❤
 
 
 
Night with a SEAL – Kindle / Paperback / [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]


Saved by a SEAL – Kindle / Paperback / [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]


SEALed by Midnight – Kindle / Paperback


Kissed by a SEAL – Kindle / Paperback

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