Just My Opinion

Welcome to Her Books…the place to sample great books written by women, for women.

With Book Club Picks, we’re giving you a delicious sample of eight Book Club Favorites sure to provide lively discussion at your next meeting. These are books from the authors you love, books that will touch your heart, lift your spirits, make you smile and sometimes send chills down your spine.

The books we’ve chosen are all winners—best-selling, award-winning stories, books that have proven themselves to be discussion-worthy. And…this is a big plus, ladies…every one of these books also offers a ready-made list of discussion questions you’ll find on the author’s website.

So get started…read through the samples to discover your next favorite author and book club selection.

Table of Contents

Finding Emma by Steena Holmes

Composing Myself by Elena Aitkin

Spare Change by Bette Lee Crosby

The Scandalous Ward by Karla Darcy

The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge by Christine Nolfi

The Promise of Provence by Patricia Sands

Broken Pieces by Rachel Thompson

Depraved Heart by Kathleen Valentine

*****

Megan tapped her fingers against the steering wheel to the song on the radio. Something about a girl and a white horse. She didn’t really listen to the song, she just liked the beat.

She pulled her phone out of her purse and scrolled through the notifications. Seven new emails and one text message. She glanced up, noticed the car in front of her still hadn’t moved forward in the line for the drive-through. She should have just gone inside and ordered, but when she compared the line of people standing at the doors to the line of cars, waiting in her vehicle won, hands down.

She clicked on the text message from her husband—hurry home. A smile bloomed on Megan’s face. Her fingers danced across the phone’s keyboard as she texted him back. The man needed to have some patience. It had been too long since they played hooky. Just the thought sent a flutter of excitement through her stomach. It had been too long indeed.

Megan glanced in her side-view mirror. With two cars behind her, it was too late for her to change her mind and suggest they just make coffee at home. She could be here awhile.

She placed her phone on the passenger seat and thought back to when she dropped Alexis and Hannah off at school. A block away from the school grounds, Alexis had begged her to pull over. Up ahead were a group of kids she recognized and there was no way she was going to be caught with her mom. Megan waited as they sprinted down the sidewalk to catch up with the group. Only Hannah, her eldest, looked back to wave. True to her word, Megan didn’t drive away until she knew the girls were safe inside the school yard.

Her phone buzzed. Another text from Peter. As she reached down to grab the phone, the bobbing of yellow curls in her rearview mirror caught her eye. Her heart stopped.

Emma.

She grabbed the steering wheel hard and forced herself to take a deep breath. She tried to remember the steps her counselor gave her to do the next time she thought she saw her missing daughter.

Number one: take a deep breath. Right. Megan filled up her lungs and tried to exhale only to have it catch in her throat.

Those yellow curls bobbed again, beside an outstretched hand.

Number two: count to five. One. Megan let out the air trapped in her lungs. Two. She looked in the mirror again, desperate for another glimpse. Three. She drank in the sight of the little girl. Hair in pigtails with a pink ribbon attached the elastics. She wore a spring jacket, white with large colored flowers.

Turn your head. Please turn your head.

Megan held the steering wheel tight, the counting stopped as she waited for a view of the little girl’s face. With her head half turned, a tiny dimple showed as the girl beamed a huge smile up to the woman who held her hand.

Emma has a dimple.

The phone vibrated on the seat again. Megan ignored it. Her hand crept over to the door handle, her fingers grasped onto the latch, and she pulled it open. That was her daughter. She knew it. The yellow curly hair, the dimple in her cheek, she looked the same size and age. It had to be her.

She opened the door and swung her leg out, only to have her Jeep lurch forward. She jammed her foot on the brake, put the car in park, and hopped out.

The girl was gone. Despite the cars behind her, she ran across the parking lot and grabbed onto the store door as it swung shut.

Her daughter and a strange woman stood before her. Their backs were turned. She paused, listened to the gentle cadence of Emma’s voice, letting it wash over her before she stepped forward and yanked her daughter’s tiny hand out of the woman’s. The little girl turned.

Megan sank to her knees, her vision blurred by the tears that swelled up in her eyes.

“Emm. . .a.” Megan’s voice faltered as she looked into the eyes of the little girl before her. They were brown. Brown. Not blue. Not the sea blue that shone when Emma was happy or the pale blue that glimmered when they were filled with tears.

Not Emma’s eyes.

Megan stood and took a step back, she held her hands out in front of her.

“I’m so sorry. So sorry. . . I thought she. . . my daughter’s. . . missing for two years,” Megan’s voice faltered. She couldn’t look down at the little girl so she stared only at the woman who looked at her with a mixture of pity and anger.

“I’m so sorry,” Megan whispered again.

She took another step back and something stopped her. She turned only to have her way of escape blocked by an older man who reached out to steady her.   Megan brought up her arms, pushed his hands away, and rushed out of the coffee shop. Tears blocked her view and she almost stumbled off the curb.

A horn honked. She looked up and a woman in the van parked behind her scowled. Megan hurried to her Jeep, opened the door, and fumbled with her seatbelt. The honking continued while her phone buzzed. Megan placed her head in her hands as sobs tore through her body.

Not Emma. All she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and succumb to the pain of what had just happened.

The van behind her honked again, this time longer. Megan put the Jeep in drive and pulled ahead. She was boxed in on all sides in the drive-thru. No way to escape, no way to get away from the woman with her child, the child that looked so much like Emma yet wasn’t her.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre –  Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG

More details about the book

Connect with the authors on Facebook

Website http://herbestbooks.com/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cain, The Vampire by Dina Rae

Many accredit Vlad Tepes, the Prince of Romania (Wallachia), for bringing vampire lore into the world.  He was Stoker’s inspiration for Dracula and infamous for sadistic means of torture.  He impaled his enemies and publicly drank their blood during estate dinners conducted on the palace grounds.

Then there was Erzebet Bathory.  According to urban legend, she killed her chambermaids and bathed in their blood to prevent herself from aging.  It turns out that this never happened, at least the baths of blood part of the story.  On an interesting sidenote, Prince Charles is supposedly related to both Bathory and Vlad, a luscious tidbit for New World Order theorists.

Anyway, vampirism goes back much farther than the 15th and 16th centuries.  Before Stoker, Bathory, Tepes, Judas Iscariot, Moses, and even Abraham, ancient writings finger Cain as the world’s first vampire.  Some scholars believe Satan, not Adam, was his father.  The academic jury is still undecided on whether Eve was raped or seduced, but all concur on the forbidden fruit being used as a metaphor for the child that she bore.  Yes, this interpretation is unconventional and controversial.  Regardless, all theologians agree that Cain committed the first murder in the world after he murdered Abel, his brother or half-brother.  The story is more detailed in other writings, stating that Cain ate his brother’s flesh and drank his blood.

If the Luciferian father theory is true, then Cain would be the first nephilim.  These creatures are described as being giant, polydactyl monsters.  They consumed Earth’s natural resources at an alarming rate.  They were also described as cannibals (Cain).  Scholars believe Cain and his ancestors caused God’s wrath.  The Flood’s intention was to wipe them off of the earth.

If you like horror with a religious twist, check out Dina Rae’s Halo series, Halo of the Damned and Halo of the Nephilim.  The prequel, Halo of the Madonna, is available on Amazon for .99.

Halo of the Nephilim, sequel to Halo of the Damned (60 reviews, 4.3 avg. on Goodreads), has just been released and now available through major book distributors.

Death’s Servant – C.J. Ellisson

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre – Urban Fantasy

Rating – R

4.9 (77 reviews)

Free until 31 December 2013

Jonathan Winchester has clashed with his alpha one too many times. After another argument he leaves the Manitoba pack, his only home since the werewolf attack that changed his life. He returns to his home state of Virginia to start a new life free of pack politics. Jon finds work and meets a young waitress, Raine, who appears to be a lone werewolf, too.
As their relationship progresses, Jon's embroiled in more intrigue than he bargained for and a danger bigger than he can handle. He's running scared until his own alpha tendencies surface, making him unable to leave the pretty werewolf's problems behind. The young man is desperate to save Raine--even if his efforts may lead him straight to death.
Journey along in this first prequel novel involving the favorite characters from the bestselling V V Inn series. Written at reader demand, this stand-alone story explains how the beloved Jonathan came to serve the deadly redheaded vampire, Dria.

Chapter 1

“Jason, wake up” I yelled for the hundredth time. For the hundredth and one time he stirred in the bed mumbling, “Five more minutes.” He had stayed up Thursday night to watch Friday the 13th, Part Six. When I told him to cut off his new television at 12:00 am because he had an appointment with his probation officer at 9:00 am, he mumbled as the masked Jason on television cut up some poor white woman after having her screaming and running for ten minutes, “Five more minutes.” Jason was famous for his five more minutes. Mama said that he was born five days late and he’d probably be late for his own funeral. But I was determined that I wasn’t going to be late for school this morning. So, after I turned the slab bacon strips in the frying pan, I politely went into the refrigerator and took out the pitcher of cold water and threw it on him. He gave a yell which woke up Mama and I’m sure a few dead people. Mama came out of our bedroom running and screaming, “What’s the matter, Jay?” That’s what she calls him. Jay, which is short for jaybird cause he ain’t got much sense. He is nineteen and six feet two, which means he’s too old to be whining over a little cold water.

“Why you do that to him, Loresha?”

“Cause she’s crazy, Mama.” He used his pointer to circle his head.

I went into the kitchen and started beating two eggs for my breakfast. Me crazy? I didn’t steal a bucket of subway tokens from a subway station and then try to sell them outside the same station. He’s the one that has to appear in court every month to show that he’s making progress in a GED program and working for PAL as a youth aide. I go to regular school. I’m in the eleventh grade. I ain’t got to report to anyone except Mama Police.

Mama Police entered the kitchen and picked up a slice of bacon. She slammed the cabinet door after pulling down a cup. I didn’t say anything to her. I knew she didn’t want me to remind her that her job interview was at ten o’clock. I just scraped my eggs onto my plate because the look on her face said that she was not in a friendly mood. The faucet water thundered into the coffee pot.

“Why must everyone wake when you wake up, Loresha?”

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Young Adult

Rating – PG

More details about the book

Connect with Brenda Faye Collie via email

Website http://www.daylightbooks.net/#!

If you could live any where in the world where would you live? I’ve always thought that I wanted to live on a sailboat and sail around the world, until I worked on delivering a sailboat from Florida to St. Marteen.  We were hit by heavy weather and the boat almost sank.  This cured my lust for the open seas.

So I would have to say that I consider myself to be very fortunate in that I live on the beach, which to me is far better than being in a boat on the ocean.  As I watch the sailboats traveling north in the summer and south in the winter I have a great appreciation of how hard they are working to reach their destination.   And as I sit on my balcony I raise my glass of wine and toast them for the lifestyle they have chosen, and I am grateful that I have chosen mine.

What is your favorite season? I enjoy observing the changes of seasons. Since I live on the beach, I find it especially interesting to compare the sunrises as the sun travels from the northern to southern latitudes.  Since I am an astrologer I enjoy observing the seasonal movement of all of the planets. It’s amazing how different the sky appears at different time of the year.

I especially love the summer months because the days seem to long.  I wake up earlier, motivated to exercise.  I love to swim.  The YMCA were I swim has an outdoor pool and it’s a lot more enjoyable to swim in the summer—although I do swim year round.  Thankfully they do close the pool when the temperature drops below 40 degrees.

How do you write? I can’t even imagine how Shakespeare, Mark Twain or anyone wrote prior to the widespread use of the computer.  My computer is in my home office which is where I like to start my day.  When I was writing my book “An Astrologer’s Journey” I got into the discipline of wakening up at 5 a.m. every morning and writing.  I woke up energized and ready to write.  I was inspired.

When a thought came to me when I was away, I would jot down notes.  I always carried a note pad in my purse.  I have never been motivated to get a iPod, but guess it would come in handy for those inspirational moments.

Now that my book has been published, I have gotten out of the habit of my morning writing ritual.  But I still use my home/office computer.

Where do you get support from, do you have friends in the industry? My book has been favorably reviewed by the two leading periodicals in the field of Astrology, so I have met writers and reviewers that way. They have helped me raise my profile in general in the industry. I was very fortunate when I finally decided, or I should say was motivated, to write my book, “An Astrologer’s Journey,” in that I had the support of good friends.  For example, my yoga instructor, who is a very good writer herself, volunteered to edit and proof my work as I was writing.  She was also instrumental in helping me find a professional editor and publisher, with whom I became good friends.   He turned out to be a very inspirational and a motivating factor during my laborious, intense writing days. I don’t know that I would have stuck with it had it not been him.  There is something about have another person being involved or interested in your work that is motivating.

How much sleep do you need to be your best? Fortunately, I learned a long time ago to accept that I am a person who requires at least 8 to 9 hours sleep a night.  Many years ago when I had my first astrology reading, I learned that my Mars was in the sign of Pisces which was indication of a person who needed a lot of sleep.  I had always known that about myself; the astrology reading just validated it and helped to accept it.

I don’t beat myself up for it, nor do I try to keep up with people who don’t require as much sleep as I do.  I just accept that everyone has their own requirements.  What was really tuff when my son was born.  He was a child who required and still does require very little sleep.

An Astrologer’s Journey is an entertaining and inspirational voyage through a life guided by the stars. You don’t need to “speak” astrology to enjoy Kelly Lowe’s secrets to living a happier, more fulfilling life through astrology. She relives 30 years of stimulating experiences, during which she convinces many others to “come on board” and make her passage their own. Whether or not you are a follower of astrology, you will enjoy this journey and come away with a deeper understanding of how this ancient practice can help anyone sail with more favorable winds on life’s changing seas. It’s filled with entertaining stories and insights that will help make life’s difficult cycles easier to navigate.

Kelly Lowe is an astrological counselor, teacher and author whose special talent lies in helping clients to understand themselves and cope with difficult cycles in their lives. A past president of the Astrological Research Guild, she has taught astrology at Seminole State College and Daytona State College, and has appeared on national television and as a regular guest on numerous radio shows.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Memoir / Astrology

Rating –PG13

More details about the author

Connect with Kelly Lowe on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://astrologytalk.com/

Why Book Covers Are So Important

by Steve Wilhelm

When I am looking to buy a book in the bookstore, or an eBook online, the first thing that catches my eye is the book cover. Now, unless I am already looking for the new book from a top author that I like or a specific book that I have heard wonderful buzz from someone I know who has read it or maybe a review in the newspaper, I have to admit, I am going to be swayed by the book cover. If the cover is bland or so generic that I have no idea if it even relates to the title of the book or the content inside the cover, chances are I will not purchase it, much less give it a second glance. On the flip side, if the cover is so complex that I have to struggle to find the title of the book, or it makes me have to try and guess what the book is about, I might hesitate in the purchase.

There has to be balance in what is portrayed on the cover to capture the eye of the reader, as well as draw interest to what is contained inside. If there is a scantily clad, big breasted young lady in the arms of a muscle bound pirate against a moonlit sky full of stars, well, that would definitely catch my eye and probably provoke some interest. It would also tell me that it’s probably a soapy, chick book full of sex and adventure. Not that I have anything against that kind of book. But it’s just not for me. But that’s a constructive cover for a certain genre and a specific reader. If the cover is a plain green and has a turtle inside a circle with the title of, say, “The Frantic Pool,” I might spend a minute or two trying to figure out what the cover means. It could, of course, be a brilliant cover and title and have specific meaning to the plot. So that cover has done what it is supposed to do, which is generate the interest of the reader.

The cover doesn’t have to be generated professionally by a graphic designer or a company that specializes in covers. If one can’t afford the services of those, that’s fine. But they should definitely put in the extra time and effort to create something in his or her own budget that doesn’t look like it was created on an etch-a-sketch or a napkin at the local coffee shop. Unless, of course, that’s the effect one is trying to convey.  But do go the extra mile to create something classy and presentable, something that the readers will enjoy and take a second look at. A cover that the author can be proud of, because that’s what people are going to see in bookstores when they pick up books, or browse the internet sites that sell eBooks. People are going to see that cover first.

Remember, the book cover can make or break the book.

Buy Now @ Amazon @ Smashwords

Genre - Thriller/Romance

Rating – R

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Steve Wilhelm on Facebook

Website http://stevemutt.wordpress.com/

Pirate Trials: Hung by the Neck Until Dead – Ken Rossignol

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre – Non Fiction

Rating – PG

2.5 (2 reviews)

Free until 31 August 2013

Second in the series of Pirate Trials from news reports of the days and actual trial documents. NOTE: This is not a pirate romance novel or a Johnny Depp adventure of fantasy and make believe, but the details and drama from first person confessions and details of the charges against real pirates. This is not Hollywood. The real words of one pirate issued to a crowd who were waiting for his execution with his admontion to others to avoid the temptations brought on by hard liquor might be a little too much for some souls.  Parental guidance is the way to go for children and some adults need to avoid the tedious drama of this non-fiction and retreat to the safe haven of romance novels with pirates who are simply "hung" and not "hanged".
Join this bloodthirsty crew of pirates on ships which includes the dying declarations of the most brutal and vicious deeds ever set upon innocent civilians and merchant ship crews. The Demon Rum is cited as the chief cause by one pirate for his awful and murderous acts. Their day of reckoning came when they faced their final day of judgement when captured in Spain.
When a crew of passengers leapt from their disguise to overpower a steamship after it left New York on a trip to Portland, Maine, the pirates claimed the ship in the name of the Confederacy, at the height of the Civil War! Learn what happened to the ship and the pirates.