Checkmate

Welcome to Jean Hackensmith's Virtual Book Tour. I am pleased to review Checkmate.


Checkmate by Jean Hackensmith is the first book in the Brian Koski "Stalker" Series. This book is about Caryn Deaver. Her husband, Dan, severely abused her through the course of their marriage and then he ties her and their children up and sets the house on fire. They were able to escape. He is sent to prison for eighteen years. Caryn moves on with her life. She even has a boyfriend Cheyenne Fire Chief, Zach Riker. Then her ex husband is released from prison. And everything changes. He begins a sadistic stalking game. He calls it Checkmate. He decided on thirteen moves until the last move. Each move in his game getting progressively worse. After each move he leaves a note counting down until the last move, increasing the psychological terror that Caryn and Zach feel as they wait for the last move. The last move will be the death of Caryn and Zach. With the help of Brian Koski, they try to find and stop Dan before he stops them.


When I read the description for Checkmate, I thought the book would be good, but I was wrong. It was Awesome! I was unable to put this book down until the end. There were a lot of "Oh my god" and "I can't believe this" moments in this book.


Hackensmith made Caryn, Zach, and Brain strong and vulnerable. She made them into real people that you cared about. She created a great villain in Dan. The kind of villain I like, true evil.


I can't wait for more books in this series. If they are going to be anything like this book, I will have some sleepless nights ahead. YEAH!

This romantic thriller is a you have to read this book.

35 Miles From Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980

35 Miles From Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980 by Emilio Corsetti III tells of the events leading up to the ditching and what happened during the rescue and the aftermath of the ditching. Flight 980 is the one and only open water ditching of a commercial airline jet.

This true story about a jet ditching is a riveting read. Corsetti is able to tell the reader what happened in a clear, concise manner. Even with all the technical parts of flying an airplane, Corsetti made it easy to understand. I found his end notes and his bottom of the page notes very helpful in furthering my understanding as to what was happening.

The most intense part for me was the crash and the rescue. I saw and felt the chaos that had developed when the crew and passengers realized that they had to ditch the plane. The frustration of looking for the life vest under the seats and trying to get them to fit properly. The anxiety of trying to retrieve a life raft and it being accidentally inflated by a passenger inside the plane and then the stewards were unable to get it out of the plane.

After I finished reading the book I thought WOW!! I am so glad that I read this book. If you like true survival books or even if you don't; this book is worth the read. If you want to know more definitely read this book.

About The Author: (from the book)

Emilio Corsetti III is a professional pilot and regional and national publications including Chicago Tribune, Multimedia Producer, and Professional Pilot Magazine. A graduate of St. Louis University, Emilio has been covering aviation and space topics for more than fifteen years. This is his first book. For more information about the author and this book, please visit the author's web site at http://www.emiliocorsetti.com/.

On a personal note:

I don't know if I should say this or not but I am. Corsetti's home town is Lake St. Louis, MO. The coincidence is that I grew up about 5 miles from Lake St. Louis in O'Fallon, MO. My parents still live there. What a small world.

Discussion Groups: Tuesday Thingers

I found Tuesday Thingers through J.Kaye's Blog. The questions is about discussion groups, which groups we are members of and participation.

Yahoo Groups:

A Novel Challenge

Ladies Book Club 2

TBR Challenge

The Literacy Circle

Shelfari Groups:

Shelfari Group Admin

100 + Book Challenge

Readers of Romance

Debbie Macomber

Dark Hunter's

Tudor History

Law of Attraction

One Book, One Chicago

I am usually a lurker. I enjoy reading what others have to say but to make comments on my own SCARY.

A little off topic but in away relates. I started the blog because I watched my daughter on her school blog and she did not care what she wrote about, she just did. I thought to have that courage. I always wanted to but was to scared. Since I enjoy books and found book challenges, I thought I would blog about books but I still am scared and wonder what people think, my writing style, when I write do I make sense. Everyone else's blog is better, why am I doing this. But I am so glad that I started to blog. Blogging is a wonderful world.

How does this relate to discussions groups? This is how I feel when I respond or think about responding to discussions that I am a member of scared and shy. Who ever heard of someone being shy over the Internet. I just feel that what I have to say is not important. But I am working on overcoming my fears.

P.S. I did not realize that this was for people who belong to the Early Review Group at Library Things. I hope that I did not step on anyone's shoes. I just loved the question and wanted to answer it.

Two for one 5

The Trouble with Lacy Brown by Debra Clopton is about hairstylist Lacy Brown and Cattleman Clint Matlock. Lacy arrives in the small town of Mule Hollow after the town placed an ad for wives, in hopes of saving their small town. Lacy feels that God has led her to this small town to open up her own hair salon. Lacy comes to Mule Hollow without the intention of getting married. She wants to devote her life to Christ and be a witness to him. She then meets Clint. She denies that she is falling in love with Clint. Falling in love was not in her plans. Can Lacy realize that she can fall in love and marry and still be a witness for Christ? Can the town be saved by the ad? You have to read this book to find out.

I enjoyed reading this book. I liked that it was a nice romantic comedy. I loved the hilarious interactions between Lacy and Clint. When I finished reading, I thought what a great theme for a continuing series, women coming to a small town to find love and marriage. When I went to Clopton's website I was very excited to see that I was right she has made this into a series. Whooo Hoo!

Four Little Blessings by Merrillee Whren is about Cassie Rankin, who is raising her nieces and nephews. She moves next door to Wade Dalton, who wants peace and quiet. They feel attracted to each other, but do not want to give into it because of an age difference.

The children help bring Cassie and Wade closer together as well as the many trips to the beach.

There were parts in the book that was slow and seemed to drag on. I liked how the children were incorporated into the story. They were an added bonus. Over all this was a nice book to read

The Matchmaker's Marriage

The Matchmaker's Marriage by Meg Alexander is about Amy Wentworth and Sir James Richmond. Amy decides to befriend a Miss Charlotte Skelmersdale after seeing Charlotte's mom berate her in public. Amy then decides that Charlotte needs to find a strong husband to deal with her Mother. Amy believes that James would be the ideal candidate.

James invites Charlotte and Amy to go on an archaeology dig with Sir William Linden. So they go off to an old manor house to see what they can find. Amy is unable to see the relationship that is developing between Charlotte and Sir William. But at the last minute she realizes that she loves James. Can she make James see that they were meant for each other or is she to late.

When I saw the title I thought it was about a true matchmaker and how she finds her true love. But it is about a young girl doing what she is thinks is right unaware of the consequences. It reminded me of Jane Austin's Emma. A young girl playing matchmaker and not seeing what is front of her.

It was so obvious that there was an attraction developing between Charlotte and Sir Williams. Amy is so wrapped up in her plans of matchmaking that she is unable to see it. There were times that I wanted to shake Amy and tell her to wake up and see what is happening around her.

I wish there could have been more of the character The Countess, the wife of the archaeology party's host the Earl of Laverstoke. Their polite disagreements were great. I would have liked to see more of Amy putting The Countess in her place and The Countess's come backs.

Overall I did enjoy the book.

Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon is part of the Dark-Hunter series. It is book 11 in the series. This book is about Dark-Hunter Sin. He happens to be an ex-Sumerian god who powers were taking away by Artemis. Sin has been trying to find a way to get his power back to seek revenge on Artemis. Until that time he fights demons esp. the gallu that are beginning to stir. They gallu enjoy a bit of human flesh. Sin must stop the gallu before they destroy the human race.

Every hero needs a heroine. Sin's is Kat. Artemis sends Kat to find out what Sin is up to after she discovers that Sin has been collecting artifacts from his past. When Sin sees Kat for the first time, he believes that she is Artemis. He soon realizes the truth and their adventures begin. Sin and Kat start working together to defeat the gallu and start to feel a powerful attraction.

Sherrilyn Kenyon did it once again. Devil May Cry is a thrilling read. I was unable to put it down. I liked seeing how the relationship develops between Sin and Kat and of course how they find ways in defeating the gallu. In the course of reading this books secrets and truths are revealed. Some you suspect others you don't. Kenyon knows how to tie her worlds together. She also introduces Xypher who is a dream god. He will be part of the Dream Chaser Series. If you enjoy paranormal romances, you will definitely enjoy this book.

Happy Reading.

Two For One 4

Here is another two reviews for the price of one.



Mothers of the Year


This book has three stories about women who "come to motherhood in her own way."

From the Backcover:
In Mommy for Rent by Lori Handeland, A Rent-a Mommy job for the Mother's Day Picnic turns into the real thing.
In Along Came a Daughter by Rebecca Winters, a daughter goes to work for her dream mom... and them has to wait for her dad to fall in love.
In Baby Steps by Anna DeStefano, it takes a troubled little boy to help a woman take baby steps towarda loving future with her husband.

I read this book because Lori Handeland had an excerpt on her web site. I wanted to know what happened. So I went to my local Borders and bought it. I loved Mommy for Rent. You felt for the little girl in this story.

I also loved Along Came A Daughter. The dad was jealous of the relationship that was developing between his daughter and her boss. A very cute story.

I felt that Baby Steps should have been a full length novel. I felt that the story was very quick towards it resolution. I would have liked to have a longer story so that relationships between the boy and the woman could have develop slower and incorporate the relationship between her husband and the boy. I think it would have been more meaningful. I just wanted to more out of this story.


The Family Plan:


The Family Plan by Cathy McDavid is about Jolyn Sutherland, her career in show-riding is over because of a fall from a horse and Chase Raintree the local vet. Chase is the father of a eight year old girl, Mandy. Jolyn's brother had an affair with Chase's wife. Jolyn's mother suspects that Chase is not the biological father of Mandy.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was a nice light quick read.

Happy Mother's Day

Enjoy a breakfast in bed.

Happy Mother's Day

Books I bought

I know I have not posted in awhile. I am trying to get on track with my reading. My reading plan is to read light romances (quick reads) on the weekend and books for challenges (longer reads) during the week. I also will try to read at least an hour a night during the week. I hope that this will help me get back on track to finish reading 100 books by the end of the year. So I have been reading more and posting reviews less. Needless to say I have some back log of reviews to post. So keep checking back to see when I posted my reviews until then here our some books that I recently bought at the Salvation Army. $1.00 for hardcover and .50 cents for paperback.

A Christmas Secret by Anne Perry
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus
Journey to Bliss by Ruth Glover
Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble
London Bridges by James Patterson
First Art:Art Experiences for toddlers and twos by MaryAnn F. Kohl (work related)
Enchanted Afternoon by Susan Wiggs (already have)

I bought 5 hardcovers and 3 paperbacks.

Books waiting to review:

Four Little Blessings by Merrillee Whren

The Family Plan by Cathy McDavid

The Trouble with Lacy Brown by Debra Clopton

Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Checkmate by Jean Hackensmith (May 26)

35 Miles from Shore by Emilio Corsetti III (May 22)

Please feel free to comment on any of the books mentioned.

Happy Reading