"The New Mrs. Collins" by Quanie Miller (5 Stars)

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The New Mrs. Collins

by Quanie Miller

Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal Suspense

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Leena Williams is about to be the new Mrs. Collins and she could not be happier.

Until the letter came. From the woman who claims SHE is going to be the new Mrs. Collins.

It's all downhill from there. Leena is a woman left at the altar and her ex-fiancee' has little to say for himself. But boy oh boy, the folk in town have more than enough to wag their tongues at! The new Mrs. Collins is stunningly gorgeous, she owns a lingerie and kinky toys shop, and she's a homewrecker to boot. Leena knows that's not all that Adira Collins is. But how can she be sure that the strange goings-on aren't just her imagination? That there really is a bad seed inside the new Mrs. Collins?

I was given a copy of this supernatural story by the author in exchange for my honest review, and I will tell you it's a gem! Full of southern charm, suspense, mystery, paranormal happenings, and blood in the eye, "The New Mrs. Collins" is a book you'll not want to put down until you've lost a night of sleep and read it straight through to the end. Both thumbs up for this one!

GOODREADS | AMAZON | Author's WEBSITE

"Dead in Bed" by Bailey Simms (5 Stars)

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Dead in Bed

The Complete Novel
by Bailey Simms

Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Horror

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I was given a copy of this truly unique and original tale by the young lady who wrote it. Instantly intrigued from the first page, (who wouldn't be? It begins with the main character naked in a motel room with no idea how she got there), "Dead in Bed" keeps you guessing, gawking, and laughing from start to finish.

Told from a first person perspective, our protagonist wakes from a night of sex and booze with no idea how she got to the Starlight Motel or with whom she'd had her night of debauchery. Her iffy memories recall the unlikelihood that it was her husband she'd shared the encounter with, and she is forced to backtrack to the evening before, which started with an unexpected and unexpectedly mutilated dead body and her brother in law, who is too hot and under-appreciated by his wife. Naturally, a trip to the beer garden afterwards seems the thing to do. Meeting up with old friends and making a new one was great and all, but which one of them had she gone to a hotel with...?

Ashley is left wondering as she tries to head back to the fairgrounds where she assumes she left her vehicle and meets a few unexpected surprises: someone in the back seat, a road block preventing her from leaving the fairground, and a gun in the front seat of her car.

And that is just the beginning. The book picks up again as Ashley is in a race to find out what's happening to her friends and family, why people are acting out their sexual frustrations to horrifying consequences, why there are people dying, and what manner of grotesquery is living inside the human minds of these victims? Literally!

"Dead in Bed" is a horror mystery centered on a terrifying illness that causes sexual aggression in its victims. A thoroughly entertaining and oft times shocking read written by a very talented gal who shares her own personal story with the readers at the end of each 'chapter' or 'installment'. I cannot say enough how impressed I am with her and her book, and I hope to read so much more from her in the future!


Don't want to commit to buying the book yet? Good news! "Dead in Bed" is a 7 part serial and you can get the first part at amazon.com for free!

GOODREADS | AMAZON | Author's WEBSITE

"I, Mars (Mindcop Dossiers #2)" by T.A. Uner (4 Stars)

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I, Mars

The Mindcop Dossiers #2
by T.A. Uner

Genre: Sci-fi/Paranormal

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**I was given a copy of this title after reading and reviewing the first book in this series, "Doctor Mars", by the author in exchange for my honest review.**

"I, Mars" (I love the titles in this series) takes place on Mars and the planet's moon, Phobos, with the latter's mining facility (Javelin) now seized by the genetically engineered terrorist known as Slow Fly. Slow Fly is a bad dude and he's abducted Liberty Rise's assumed dead boyfriend. And he's using him to control "Regulator", the main computer at Javelin, attempting to turn man and machine into an omnipotent weapon at his disposal.

When Mindcop mutant, Liberty, discovers that Cal might not be as dead as everyone believed, she takes matters into her own hands, defying orders and using whatever means necessary to save the man that she loves. Which also means she's in it for a showdown with the nefarious Slow Fly.

I found this book to be even more enjoyable than book 1, my issues with "Doctor Mars" mainly due to a lack of descriptive details and background history of Mars and it's mutants. At the end of this novella, the author explains that the first book was purposefully lacking these missing details in order to urge the reader to use their imaginations. I honestly believe that his decision to add in more detail in "I, Mars" to be a winning choice. Yes, we need to use our imaginations when we read, but we also need some guidelines. The reader doesn't want to build from scratch, after all, and one example is the author's setting of the planet Mars. In Book 1, we only know that Mars was terraformed to have a breathable atmosphere. But I wanted to know what that meant. Was there still red desert on the planet's surface? What did the sky look like? Did Mars look like a second Earth? In Book 2, the author gives us the answers to these questions, and more, and I, for one, was delighted to read them!

Though I'd like to comment on the ending and the showdown, both sweet for different reasons, I shall refrain. I don't want to give anything away. =D

For more:

Read my review of the Mindcop Dossiers, Book #1, "Doctor Mars"!

GOODREADS | Amazon | The Author's WEBSITE

"Doctor Mars (Mindcop Dossiers #1)" by T.A. Uner (4 Stars)

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Doctor Mars

The Mindcop Dossiers #1
by T.A. Uner

Genre: Sci-fi/Paranormal

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I was given a copy of this short story (43 pages) by the author in exchange for my honest review, and he was right - you can knock this book out while relaxing in the sauna (or on your couch with a lazy lunch, maybe listening to the cheeping of birds outside, a lovely fan blowing on your face... or heck, I don't know, while waiting in your doctor's office!)! And that was both good for me, and where I also might have liked a wee bit more information to back up the story.

Short stories can be hard to pull off anyway. There is a lot of detail you have to condense, especially if you're inviting someone into a world of your own design. This book takes place on Mars, long since colonized and terraformed with an atmosphere like Earth's. It also involves a new sub-species of humans, called Mutants; people with paranormal abilities. I would have liked to have more details about both, maybe a bit of history squeezed in, and how Mars is connected still to Earth, but maybe the author wasn't ready to reveal all of that yet. I can understand that. If it was a stand-alone I would feel the missing details were too important, but it isn't. It's a series and there's plenty of story time to reveal more.

T.A. Uner introduces us to the Mars year 2137, where we meet Mindcop Liberty Rise, who is investigating the death of a young man she quickly discovers was murdered via his ties to some kind of Genetics testing program. Her ability to Mind-shift (send her mind back in time to view a person's history - cool, right?) makes her a valuable asset to the investigation, but her detective partner's mutant prejudices get under her skin fast. That, and she finds him to be blunt and rather offensive. But it's all in the line of duty as Liberty drums up the leads and they get closer and closer to the answers they're searching for.

As "Doctor Mars" is the first in a series, you might expect an annoying cliffhanger but the author doesn't do that to us. You know who the bad guy is, you have your answers, and you can guess what book 2 is going to bring you - and you want it, too! So get your copy, put it on your tablet device, and remember it's there the next time you're in the mood for a quick, engrossing read. And if you're at the doctor's office, you'll find you won't even be annoyed that they made you wait.


Check out my review for "I, Mars", the second installment in the Mindcop Dossiers series!

GOODREADS | Amazon | The Author's WEBSITE

NeverEnding Email Foils Plans

So, an update from me, to remind myself to post regularly and so that my readers know I'm truly making the effort to regain my read2review stamina.

I've spent a lot of hours getting back to people via Goodreads, reacquainting myself with the book titles and authors I made a commitment to, refreshing my memory of those books I read while I was stuck sick in bed, and clawing through a gazillion emails, barely making a dent I might add. =S I had planned to get back to a few authors today and then post a review or three, but I got swept away and squished under the weighty mass of messages and emails accumulated over 5 months of inactivity. I *know* there are more author emails - I spotted a couple I can't seem to find again, probably buried some 30 pages back, but I am going to have to call it for today and beg your patience with me a little while longer. I've already overdone the sitting up today and I'm gonna pay for it. I will accept it as my penance but will also accept flogging by  live guppies.

Tomorrow we are celebrating my husband's birthday so I don't plan to be on, but Monday... oh, Monday... I will post a review BEFORE I open that dastardly email! I will conquer you yet, Neverending Email! May the Power of Chihuahua defend you!

Yeah. I'm going to lay down now.


Best wishes,
Your Sinister Sister


P.S. I see that there is still a problem with blogger warning people I'm a scary link. I'd sure like to know why it does that...

Where, oh Where, Have I Been?

Dear readers, I know at least one or two of you have noticed my absence (especially if you've been waiting on me for a review), so you have probably tapped your chin. stroked your glorious mustache, and wondered where I could be. Oh why have I been absent for the last 5 months? Have I been abducted by aliens? Did I join a cult worshiping the purple unicorn? Alas, no. I've been mostly bedridden since Thanksgiving of last year. No joke. I missed holiday and birthday get-togethers, I forgot important dates, a dearly loved relative passed on and I was unwell to the point that I could hardly acknowledge it. If it weren't for my truly precious, loving family, I'm not sure I'd have made it out the other side of this. 

The last two months have been near daily doctor appointments, new medications, procedures, blood tests, scans, and therapy. I've had so much blood drawn, been on antibiotics for a disease I DO NOT have, and wound up crazy ill with some mystery ailment that led to dozens of vials of blood from my veins, side-effect heavy meds, an ER visit, an endoscopy, a brain scan, and lordy I'm just too exhausted from it all to keep talking about it. BUT I will say this - I beg you, pay attention to what medications you put in your body and understand that you know yourself best. Sometimes doctors don't have all the answers and sometimes while trying to help you, they make you worse. Be aware. And advocate for yourself.

Now that I am finally feeling human again, I wish to give my deepest and heartfelt apologies to the authors who have been patiently waiting on me. Likely wondering if I jumped ship and gave up blogging; gave up reviewing. I have not. I just had a forced break from it.

To get back on track and try to find my rhythm again, I must not accept any more books until I have caught up on what I owe. So as of today, I am not accepting new books for review, and I won't be doing any book tours until I have my entire backlog of reading commitments satisfied. If you have dropped me a line in my email (ogeezum, my email is so huge, it scares me so!) or made a request of me through Goodreads, I will gladly accept when I work my way there, if you are still interested, of course. But after today, I won't take on new books until I get caught up. (Hopefully, that won't be too far away, as I did get lots of time to read while convalescing!)

I'll update my blog tomorrow and will get back to posting reviews in a few days. Please bare with me a little longer. And if this message to you is barely coherent, well... I'm rusty.


Best wishes and good health,
Rebecca, aka your sinister sister