BEG FOR MERCY written by Jami Alden

BEG FOR MERCY written by Jami Alden

06/11 - Grand Central Publishing - Mass Market Paperback, 448 pages

What will you see when you stop having blind faith – love or deception?

Megan Flynn knew Sean, her ex-Army Ranger brother did not kill that woman even though the State of Washington was ready to put him to death for it.  She has never stopped looking for answers and going over every detail available and still she finds that will alter her opinion that he was framed. 

Sean has given up but Megan moves on with her search and fate finds her face-to-face with the man she thought she loved Cole Williams.  The problem with that man turned out to be a relationship breaker when Cole was the officer that arrested him and never changed his mind about what happened.  However, a new set of serial murders that have too many similarities to Sean’s case have alarms going off in everyone’s head even Cole’s.  Cole is still not sure he believes Sean is innocent but once he starts to question himself he cannot walk away from Megan or the case.  He lets his feelings for Megan compromise his duty as a by the book police officer and they both find themselves searching for answers without any support except each other.

Megan is able to stumble upon some overlooked pieces of evidence and soon discovers that the serial killer not only knows Megan he sees her as his salvation.  Megan chases through doors that lead nowhere and avenues that keep closing off but with Cole running alongside her things move faster but are they moving in the right direction or could they still be chasing ghosts?

With time running out, the serial killer getting close and Megan unable to hold back her true feelings from Cole any longer what started as a small fire too soon becomes an eternal flame.  Megan has to trust Cole but can she let herself completely forget the past and run into the arms of her future? 

What an amazing plot Ms. Alden has written here, not only unique but to close to reality.  You are drawn to the story, intoxicated by the clues and rooting for Cole and Megan.  I am a person who reads the last chapter first but not this time because I wanted to be surprised and shocked is a better word to use this time which makes for a scream when you read it discovery.

Memorial Day - Remembering those who served ....

Today is Memorial Day in the United States.  It is a time to remember those who have served to preserve our freedom.

For me it includes my father, father-in-law, my brother, and especially my dear friend Kim who every day is a reminder of what the face of the military looks like.

CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’ written by Kate George

CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’ written by Kate George

03/11 - Mainly Murder Press - Paperback, 252 pages

If pushed are you strong enough to shove back?

Bella Bree MacGowan is in California with her boyfriend trying to do anything but be part of another “accidental” murder investigation.  She was just standing there trying to enjoy the view, take some pictures, and not see a woman fall off a bridge after being shot in the head.  For pity sake what is it with people being killed around her?

Bree learns fast that this murder has ties to the rich and powerful who know how to bury the secrets along with the bodies.  Figuring out who all the players are and what affiliation they have to what branch of the government is just the beginning of the nightmare; the shape-shifting alien is another problem – say what?  Bree is not buying any of the stories she is being fed, but after she is drugged, kidnapped, and forcible detained against her will she begins to wonder if her only salvation is going to come from some otherworldly place.  Everyone around her apparently has no worry for her safety or the truth only the desire to fix the mess the high profile Senator has created.

However, Bree is not going quietly into the kidnapping night she is going to figure out an escape route and hopefully well escape.  She has no background in any of this cloak and dagger world but if she uses her journalism skills, she can write a way out of this disaster and maybe figure out who the real skunk is.

Wow, this book is fun and it is nonstop action with an adventure at every page.  Bree is so amazing and just not going to say, “I can’t do this” at any time.  The men may prove a challenge but I suspect there is something good happening in the next chapter of Bree’s life, just stay tuned.

10 business e-mails you shouldn't send

By Andrea Bartz and Brenna Ehrlich, Special to CNN May 25, 2011 7:10 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Imagine a tiny boat afloat on a thrashing sea, water pouring through a gaping hole in the hull.

A sailor is frantically bailing dark, angry water, but no matter how much he scoops, the water line never seems to recede -- more waves just pummel him in the face like a particularly insecure middle-school bully.

That, my friends, is our metaphor for the average worker's e-mail inbox.

Yeah, we know, there are tons of new communication technologies out there, but e-mail still reigns supreme in the worker realm: A recent study even shows that e-mail eats up the most mobile time among Americans.

Which is why we think it's high time to outline some of the most annoying practices when it comes to business e-mails -- practices that might make your compatriots drown themselves in frustration.

Read on to avoid making these 10 mistakes:

1) "YELLING" Ever get an e-mail like this? Subject line: MY CLIENT URGENTLY NEEDS TO SPEAK WITH YOU!Hot tip: When you type in all caps, you're basically likening yourself to those crazy dudes who yell about the End Times on the subway (who are perhaps a bit subdued at present). Yeah, no one wants to talk to you. 

2) Going all kindergarten with your fonts Remember when LeBron James spurned the Cleveland Cavaliers and joined forces with the Miami Heat, prompting Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to pen a long letter on the team website tearing into James?  Remember what font Gilbert used? That's right, Comic Sans -- aka "The Great Underminer." Stick to Helvetica, folks, and people will remember your sentiment instead of your poor choice of typeface. (To say nothing of pink fonts and Word Art-like signatures splashed across floral graphics.) 

3) Misnomers Unless you are supremely stupid, senile or illiterate, there is no real excuse for getting a business contact's name wrong, because it's right there in his/her e-mail address. Consider this cautionary tale.

If you're prone to typos, well, then, that's what copy-paste is for. 

4) Emoticons  As we have stated in the past -- back when we called for a brief break from the smiley -- emoticons have reached "STD-like proportions since their inception, spreading from one person to another like particularly expressive herpes."  OK, we can see the necessity of using a placating "smiley" in an e-mail to a contact who might need a spoonful of sugar to make the "your idea sucks" medicine go down. But nix emoticons from any initial e-mails with new contacts. 

5) Overly informal greetings  "Helloz Sar-Sar! Imma tell you about a super rad product that, let's face it, all of us gurlz should totally peep if you have a burnin' hot love life but want to avoid burnin' hot other things (you know what I'm talkin' about!)."  No one has a strong enough stomach to deal with epistles of this sort on a daily basis. Save the LOLCat speech for when you're old and gray and shooting off adorable, kitten-packed e-mails to your grumbling grandkids. They can't fire you for being obnoxious. 

6) Rambling  Allow me to narrate the internal dialogue of the average desk-bound minion: "Spreadsheets sure have a lot of lines... I'm hungry... I hope no one notices this hickey that Joe from accounting gave me after Happy Hour last night.... I'm hungry... Look! There's a blue bird outside and it cocked its head at me!"

Get to the point. You have approximately three sentences to cut through said desk worker's mental clutter before she -- Oh, someone sent me a video of a dog hugging a turtle! 

7) Unclear subject lines  Do you have important news? Then, by all means, say so in your subject line. Hiding a vital correspondence behind a "Subject Line: Hey" is not doing anyone any favors -- except for your competition. 

8) Sending too many e-mails in a row  You probably spend, oh, 20 hours per day glued to some form of computer-esque device (soon the machines will destroy us all), which means that when you don't receive an immediate response to your e-mail, it's possible to, well overreact -- much like a clingy lover waiting for an answer on that "Dinner tonight, then a different kind of spooning?" text.

Don't be a desperate loser. Wait at least 24 hours before sending a follow-up e-mail, unless it's an emergency, in which case there's this handy thing called the phone or, you know, the five-second walk over to your co-worker's desk. Yeah, we know, real life communications are hard. 

9) Clip art  I imagine most of you are intelligent enough to figure out why this is not OK.

10) Not using the right method of contact Never message a business contact on Facebook. Seriously. Why? Because Facebook is where you go to look at pictures of people from high school when you're drunk -- there's even a plug-in to prevent you from ruining your social media life whilst whiskey-soaked.

Sending a business-oriented message via Facebook is like wandering into a debauched party and expecting everyone to listen to you when you start talking about sales figures.  If you're having issues finding someone's professional contact info, sure, send him/her a message on Facebook or Twitter asking them for that info, but don't carry on a whole convo right then and there. Unless you're looking for dirt on said contact, in which case be sure to send the ol' message at around 4 a.m., when his defenses are down.

TAMED BY A HIGHLANDER written by Paula Quinn

TAMED BY A HIGHLANDER written by Paula Quinn

Book #3 in the Children of the Mist Series

07/11 - Grand Central Publishing - Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages

Do we have to sacrifice everything for the love?

Mairi MacGregor is a feisty, sword-wielding lass used to fighting for her life and her way of live.  She may have been in love with Connor Grant since she was six years old but it did not mean she liked him and would love to use one of the swords strapped to her body against him, again.  Connor had left her seven years ago living up to his family name to be a soldier for a Protestant King of England never looking back at the Catholic Scottish life where he came from.  Mairi now finds herself standing next to Connor on his new home turf and she is not a happy lass at all.

Connor begged Mairi to come with him, wrote her letter after letter begging for her hand in marriage, yet she refused to leave the highland hills.  Connor never gave up on their love and spent the last seven years staying alive so that they he could show her the life he had built and try to be reunited with his only love.  Mairi is not falling for the looks of seduction or whispered words of passion because she felt betrayed and deserted by this man and cannot forgive him regardless of anything he does.  But once danger looms and violence erupts the walls of contention go down for both of them and the united force of figuring out where the King went, who tried to kill Connor and who really needs protecting and from whom.

The King’s court is full of spies, secrets, betrayals, too much family for Mairi but this is what Connor is accustomed to everyday, and he knows that no one can really be trusted and has started to wonder if that is the life, he still wants to live.  At some point Connor and Mairi will both have to choose if their love is strong enough for one of them to give up the land they love for this life they could build together.  That is just not going to happen today because the sun is shining and the scent of heather is in the air and two people that have a better way to spend an afternoon alone.

This series is one hit after another and I enjoy it more with each book.  Connor and Mairi are fascinating because they spare with each other as much as with the enemy.  Strong women add so much to the story and when paired with a bossy highlander nothing was fireworks happen after that.  Paula Quinn keeps her books historically accurate which adds to the depth of the story and challenges the reader to pay attention or you will miss some important clue.

Special SOS Aloha Blog with Laurel McKee and LADY OF SEDUCTION

Aloha to Laurel McKee and LADY OF SEDUCTION

Let's start Memorial Day Weekend with historical author Laurel McKee as she celebrates the release of  LADY OF SEDUCTION - the third book in the Daughters of Erin series. 

"Ancient castles, Gothic novels, and a reclusive, dangerous man, oh my!"

Kim:  I love the tag line for LADY OF SEDUCTION.   Can you give us a recap of the series and a preview of the story?

Laurel:  I have loved spending time with these characters so much! It's hard to say good-bye to them, but I tell myself they've gone to live their HEAs. The Daughters of Erin series centers around the 3 energetic, rebellious Blacknall sisters, Eliza, Anna, and Caroline, and their hunky heroes, at a very turbulent time in Irish history (the first book is set in 1798, the year of the Uprising, and the last is in 1803). "Lady of Seduction" is the story of Caroline, the youngest sister, and Grant Dunmore, who was the villain of book two, "Duchess of Sin" (I totally love a dark villain turned hero!). Caroline might be my favorite of the sisters (but don't tell the others!), since I adore a bookish, studious heroine forced to find her adventurous side. I also loved getting to use the windswept, wild beauty of the Irish islands as a backdrop to the story. It fed into my deep love of all things Gothic and Bronte-esque!

Kim:  I enjoyed the pictures of Ireland on your website.  Can you share any tidbit you learned on the trip? What was your favorite castle? 

Laurel:  I don't get to visit Ireland nearly as often as I would like! The scenery, the history, the food, the friendly people--it's all so wonderful. It feels like coming "home" every time. I once did a boat day trip to visit some islands (which inspired the backdrop of this book), and even though I didn't run into as much trouble on the seas as Caroline did (thankfully!) it was windy day with choppy waters, and it felt adventurous to me. The islands are gorgeous and wild, with beautiful ancient ruins on the cliffs.

It's so hard to choose a favorite castle or site! I really did love Castletown, which was owned by Louisa Conolly, one of the famous Lennox sisters of the Georgian age (the sisters were one of the inspirations for my Blacknall sisters). It's an gorgeously restored example of Georgian Neoclassicism, with ornate plasterwork, Venetian chandeliers, and mosaic floors. It gives a great glimpse at Ascendancy life in the period. (But I also love any and all medieval ruins, LOL).

Kim:  I'd like to know more about you,

"When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network--even though she doesn't cook."

What is your favorite dance?

Laurel:  LOL! That is so hard to answer. I take ballet and flamenco classes, which are both lots of fun (and great after a long day sitting at my desk) with a smattering of ballroom and Latin. I even teach a class full of (very energetic) 5-year-olds ballet. Their recital is next weekend and they are VERY excited! I think my favorite dance is the samba. It's hard (especially when trying to perfect samba rolls) but it's so joyful and fun.

Emmitt and Cheryl perform the Samba
on Dancing with the Stars

Kim:  What is the cheesiest souvenir?

Laurel:  I mostly have the usual stuff--teapots shaped like the Tower of London and the Eiffel Tower, a plaster miniature Venus de Milo, fridge magnets. But when I was a child my grandparents visited Lourdes and brought me back a seashell grotto with a little backlit Virgin Mary perched on a (strange) crab's claw. When plugged in it would light up. I loved it so much, and was so sad when the seashells started snapping off! I think it started my deep love of souvenirs...

Kim:  If you did cook, what is your favorite cuisine?

Laurel:  I love stuff like Indian and Thai, which I imagine would be hard to recreate at home! So I stick to restaurants for those. At home I can cook some things, as long as they're pretty simple--pasta with tomato sauce, baked salmon. My grandmother was a wonderful cook, and would make wonderful classic Irish stuff like corned beef, sticky toffee pudding, and fish and chips around St. Patrick's Day (and soda bread all the time!)

Thai food ... yum!

Mahalo, Laurel, for joining us at SOS Aloha!   Mary Gramlich, The Reading Reviewer, posted her review here:

Is love the ultimate leap of faith out of your safety net?

Mary is giving away her review copy through her website ... and has an extra copy for me to giveaway here.

To enter Leave a comment which are open through Saturday, May 28, 10 pm in Hawaii.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, May 29.

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawai