Socrates' Book Reviews...: E-Book Challenge

Showing posts with label E-Book Challenge. Show all posts

Thursday, May 29, 2014

2014 E-Book Reading Challenge Completed-Wrap Up Post

My second completed reading challenge of the year.

Blog Tour: Murder Is Academic by Lesley A. Diehl (Review)

About the Book

Review: Uncharted (An On The Island Novella, #1.5) by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Genre:
Fiction

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
Dutton Adult (Penguin Group)

Release Date:
July 2013

Review: Guidebook to Murder (A Tourist Trap Mystery) by Lynn Cahoon

Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
eKensington

Release Date:
April 2014

Blog Tour: The Corpse With the Emerald Thumb by Cathy Ace (Review, Guest Post)

About the Book

Review: Mai Tai for Two by Delphine Dryden

Genre:
Romance

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
Cosmo Red Hot Reads from Harlequin

Release Date:
May 2014

Review: The Bali Mystery by Linda Weaver Clarke

Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
E-book

Publisher:
Red Mountain Shadows Publishing

Release Date:
April 2014

Blog Tour: Organized For Murder by Ritter Ames (Review and Giveaway)

About the Book

Release Date: February 24
Approximately 250 pages

Synopsis

The right business hook is the most important criteria for success, and Kate McKenzie thinks she’s found a perfect one. As an organizational expert, Kate knows Americans are running out of space and money, and renting more storage units is usually not the best solution. Starting an organizational business, Stacked in Your Favor, in her new hometown of Hazelton, Vermont seems like an answer to her family’s budget problems and an answer to southern Vermonters’ prayers. Business looks good when she snags collector, Amelia Nethercutt, as her first client, signing on to organize the wealthy woman’s eccentrically-filled mansion. But things take a turn beyond chaos when Amelia is murdered and Kate’s fingerprints are found on the poison that killed her.

My Review

Kate McKenzie and her husband, Keith, along with their twin six year old daughters, move to his small hometown in Vermont. Keith’s hockey career has come to an end, but he’s starting over as a sports anchor for a small radio station. Kate has her own career to take care of and she has come up with the perfect business idea. She’s a pro at organization, so she puts her skills to good use by forming a new company, Stacked in Your Favor.

Starting a new business isn’t easy, but she manages to get a wealthy client, Amelia Nethercutt, and things start looking up. Then, the rest of the Nethercutt family interfere and Kate isn’t so sure she wants to continue with this job. Talk about a dysfunctional family, the Nethercutts are that and much more.

As it turns out, the decision is out of Kate’s hands when Amelia is found dead. To make matters worse, Kate’s fingerprints are all over the crime scene making her the main suspect. Not only does Kate want to save her company, but she wants to save herself from a life in prison. With the help of a new friend, Meg, they begin their own investigation and are continually surprised to find out what’s going on in the Nethercutt mansion.

This is an entertaining new series with a unique theme – organizing. I love organizational tips (even though I very rarely follow them), so I really enjoyed the ones that were mixed in throughout the book. There was one chapter, though, which I thought delved into the organizational information a bit too much, but overall I thought it was quite informative. Almost like getting a cozy mystery and an organizer in one book.

The characters are well developed and I thought Kate handled investigating in a methodical way, which fit her character perfectly. Her friend, Meg, is a great sidekick for her. These two kept getting themselves into all kinds of crazy situations and I hope to see more of that in future books.

As for the storyline, I was totally on the wrong track of who the killer was. I kept changing my mind as I tried to follow along with Kate’s investigating skills. I thought this was a fun book to read and a great start to the series.

For reading challenges:
2014 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
2014 ARC Reading Challenge
2014 E-Book Reading Challenge
Where are you reading? challenge (Vermont)

FTC Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review for this blog tour. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author

Ritter Ames lives in a small town in the middle of America, but spends each day globe trotting the art world from her laptop, with her cat riding shotgun and Pandora blasting from the speakers. COUNTERFEIT CONSPIRACIES is her first full-length fiction. A second cozy mystery series, starting with ORGANIZED FOR MURDER will be released by Gemma Halliday Publishing in January 2014. She tries to blog regularly at http://ritterames.wordpress.com/ and uses her Pinterest boards at http://www.pinterest.com/ritterames/ to capture great places and ideas she wants to use in both series. Follow her blog and boards to learn more about Ritter and her upcoming books.

Author Links

Web page: http://ritterames.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ritter.ames

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RitterAmes

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ritterames/

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!!

Thanks to author Ritter Ames we have two fun giveaways going on. One is through this blog for one e-book of one of Ritter's books, either Organized For Murder or Counterfeit Conspiracies - winner's choice!

Just a few simple rules...

1) You must fill out the rafflecopter form below.

2) Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old

3) US Residents Only

4) For one extra entry: Tweet about this giveaway.

5) For one extra entry: Leave a comment for the author.

6) For one extra entry: Follow this blog...old followers, too! Just let us know how you follow and under what name.

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

The giveaway begins on April 13th (midnight est) and ends on April 20th (midnight est).

The winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. The winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. I will announce the winner here on my blog.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The other giveaway is a tour-wide giveaway sponsored by the author!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Participants

March 31 – Chloe Gets A Clue - Interview
April 1 – A Year of Jubilee Reviews - Review
April 2 – i blog 4 books – Review
April 3 – Book Club Librarian – Review
April 5 – Mysteries Etc – Review
April 6 – Cozy Up With Kathy – Interview
April 7 – Bea’s Book Nook – Review
April 7 – Queen of All She Reads – Review, Guest Post
April 8 – Brooke Blogs – Review, Guest Post
April 9 – Thoughts in Progress – Review, Interview
April 10 – Melina’s Book Blog – Review, Guest Post
April 11- I’d Rather Be At The Beach – Review
April 12 – StoreyBook Reviews – Review
April 13 – Socrates’ Book Review Blog – Review