The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (Debutante Dropout Mystery, #3) by Susan McBride

REVIEW
Sarah Lee Sewell still believed in romance, even in her seventies. Discreetly  being a member of the Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, an exclusive online service for the wealthy, she was enjoying discreet meetings with the carefully selected male members. A woman still needed to be touched by a man, no matter what.

Before she could leave for yet another new date, she is found dead in her luxury apartment in the Belle Meade Retirement Community. Cissy Blevins Kendricks is in shock, losing one of her oldest, dearest and best bridge club friends. Natural causes, as declared by the coroner, did not stick with the mourning Cissy. With her usual skillful manipulation she got her rebellious daughter, Andrea, involved. It is soon obvious that something is heating up, and it wasn't love, when another friend of Cissy's are found dead. Again 'natural causes'.

Romance, however, was not completely lost. It was just encountered in a totally surprising way. Andrea did not find it comfortable. There were issues she needed to deal with before she could accept the inevitable.

This is the third book in the <i>Debutante Dropout Mystery Series</i>. Old and new characters, new challenges and new friendships make this another satisfying, relaxing read. All the books in the series are really great reads on their own. Never a dull moment so far!

ARC received from  edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com


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AMAZON BOOK BLURB

Andy Kendricks is back in the third sassy and irresistible installment in Susan McBride's Debutante Dropout series … and this time she's teaming up with her high-society mama to catch a killer who's targeting rich, lonely widows.

Wealthy Texas widows need loving too … which is why Bebe Kent joined a dating service for "discriminating" seniors soon after relocating to the swanky Belle Meade retirement community. Unfortunately, Bebe didn't even live long enough to meet "Mr. Right." And though doctors declared her death totally natural, extravagant blue-blooded Dallas socialite Cissy Blevins Kendricks believes her old friend's demise was hastened—and she's ready to check herself into Belle Meade incognito to prove it.

Cissy's rebellious, sometimes-sleuthing daughter, Andrea, wants no part of her mother's crazy schemes—yet she's anything but pleased that Cissy is going off on her own, playing a highbrow Miss Marple. So she has no choice but to join her mom in search of the truth—especially when more well-heeled widows start turning up dead …

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan McBride is the author of Very Bad Things, a young adult thriller out from Delacorte in October of 2014. She also writes women's fiction, including The Truth About Love & Lightning (William Morrow, 02/13), Little Black Dress (09/11), and The Cougar Club (02/10). She has a short memoir called In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40 (06/12), about becoming an "accidental Cougar" at 41, marrying a younger man, being diagnosed with breast cancer at 42, and having her first child at 47. Susan was named "Survivor of the Year" by the St. Louis chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure in 2012 and was dubbed one of St. Louis's "Most Dynamic" in 2012 by the Ladue News.

Susan previously wrote the award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries (Avon Paperbacks), including Blue Blood, The Good Girl's Guide To Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night Of The Living Deb, and Too Pretty To Die. She has authored several YA series books for Random House about debutantes in Houston, the debut in 2008 appropriately titled The Debs and followed by Love, Lies, And Texas Dips in 2009. Gloves Off, the third book, has not yet been released.

Visit Susan's web site at http://SusanMcBride.com for more info.
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BOOK INFORMATION 
Genres: Murder, Mystery, Suspense, Dallas Texas, Satire, Romance, Young adult
Formats: Mass Market PB, Avon / eBook, 
Mass Market Paperback: 332 pages
Publisher: Witness Impulse (Harper & Collins) ; 
Publishing date: January 2006 / December 2013
Edition Language: English
ISBN-10: 0-06-056408-3 
ISBN-13: 978-0060564087 
Series: Debutante Dropout Mysteries
Language: English
Awards: William Rockhill Nelson Award Finalist
Purchase links: Buy the book:: Indie Bound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon.com  
                        Buy the eBook: Barnes & Noble | Amazon.com | Kobo
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Books in the Debutante Dropout Mystery Series

MY REVIEWS FOR THE SERIES
#1 Blue Blood
#2 The Good Girl's Guide to Murder
#3 The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club
#4 Night of the Living Deb
#5 Too Pretty to Die

I value you comments, please feel free to leave one. 

Blue Blood by Susan MacBride

AMAZON BOOK BLURB
Mixing a dash of Dallas society, a pinch of Janet Evanovich, and murder in the land of big hair, Blue Blood is the first installment in award-winning author Susan McBride's sassy Debutante Dropout mystery series.

To the dismay of her high society mother, Cissy, Dallas heiress Andy Kendricks wants no part of the Junior League life—opting instead for a job as a website designer and a passel of unpedigreed pals. Now her good friend Molly O'Brien is in bad trouble, accused of killing her boss at the local restaurant Jugs.

Though no proper deb would ever set foot in such a sleazy dive, Andy's soon slipping into skintight hot pants and a stuffed triple D bra to gain employment there and somehow help clear Molly's name.

But Andy's undercover lark soon brings her into too-close contact with all manner of dangerous adversaries—including a shady TV preacher, a fanatical Mothers Against Porn activist … and a killer who is none too keen on meddling rich girls.

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REVIEW
Molly O’Brien had a tough life after she chose to drop her fashion design classes at the Columbia College in Chicago where she shared a room with her best friend Andy Kendricks from Texas. They met at school when foster child Molly was admitted to a prestigious school for wealthy kids through a scholarship. An illustrious affair with a Hemmingway wanne-be convinced Molly that love could conquer all. She followed him to Paris, fell pregnant, got dropped and had to move back to Texas, where she found a job at the hot-spot restaurant "Jugs".

She is accused of murdering the owner, Bud Hartman, and desperate for help, contacts Andy, whom she hasn't seen for ten years.

Rebellious Andy immediately steps in to help the only real friend she ever had. The friendship was not exactly what Andy's mother, Cissy, a Texan high-society dame, had in mind for her heiress daughter. Molly was from the wrong side of the tracks. But Andy made it her mission to buck the system her whole life, like refusing to be a debutante on her 18th birthday, and studying graphic design and computers when she, as a trust fund baby, never had to work.

With her unending love for Nancy Drew and the television series Law & Order, Andy gets to work on solving the murder mystery. Any bra size is possible with the right shoulder pads strategically positioned. Combined with serious hot pants, she did not have much trouble in getting a job at "Jugs" as a waitress to try and find the real killers of the dangerous owner.

"Jugs" is more than just eye candy for men, thorns in the eyes of the Mother of Porn - ladies, the Women’s Wellness Clinic, and points of interested to Reverend Jim Bob.`

There is a lot of appetites to be satisfied in the ensuing drama, adventure, and mystery. As Dolly Parton can attest to: Jugs can be a lot more than weapons of mass distraction and feisty Andy knows how to achieve just that!

My comments: It's a chic-lit book for young women, containing all the elements to demarcate the target audience perfectly. All the young women who ever played a role as a PI, especially a contemporary element of Nancy Drew, are included. The background includes a touch of a Paris Hilton, the reality tv-series The Reals Housewives of Texas, and a similarity with the restaurant-chain Shooters. It is a delightful, enchanting and fun read. There's lots of love lost, but for various reasons other than romance!

Oh, I identified the murderer right from the start. It felt good for a change!

Star rating:
Plot 1; drama 1; character building 1; satire 1; social comment 1. Five stars in this genre.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much, it was presented in such good taste, I would love to read more in this Debutante Dropout Series of 5 books: Blue Blood (#1); The Good Girl's Guide To Murder (#2); The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (#3); Night of the Living Deb (#4); Too Pretty to Die (#5).

Yes, imagine me enjoying this genre! Unthinkable, but very true in this case!

ARC received from edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com

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Genres: 2013-releases, 2014-releases, action, adventure, crime-novel, detective-story, drama, family, fiction, murder, mystery, relationships, reviewed, romance, satire 

Original title: Blue Blood (Debutante Dropout Mystery, #1)

Number of pages: Mass Market Paperback: 333 pages 

Formats: Kindle, Paperback, Nook, Kobo

Publication date: January 2014

Publishers:  Avon / Ebook, Witness Impulse (HarperCollins)

ISBN: 0060563893

ISBN13: 9780060563899)

Edition language: English

Series: Debutante Dropout Mystery #1

Literary awards:  Anthony Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original (2005), Lefty Award (2005)

Purchase links: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Indiebooks, Kobobooks
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan McBride is the author of Very Bad Things, a young adult thriller due out in hardcover October 14, 2014, from Delacorte Press. She also writes mainstream fiction. The Truth About Love & Lightning (02/13) was selected by Target stores for their Emerging Authors program and dubbed "a poignant page-turner" by Publishers Weekly.  Little Black Dress spent five weeks on the St. Louis bestsellers list and was a Target Recommended Read, and The Cougar Club was selected by Target Stores as a Bookmarked Breakout Title and named a Midwest Connections Pick by the Midwest Booksellers Association. Foreign editions of Susan’s books have been published in France, Turkey, Croatia, and Bulgaria.

Susan has penned a short memoir, In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40, which tells her tale of becoming an "accidental Cougar" and marrying a younger man, her cancer diagnosis at age 42, and finding herself pregnant at 47.

Susan wrote the award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries (HarperCollins/Avon), including Blue Blood, The Good Girl's Guide To Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night Of The Living Deb, and Too Pretty To Die. She has authored several YA series books for Random House about debutantes in Houston: The Debs (2008) and Love, Lies, And Texas Dips (2009). Gloves Off, the third book, has not been released.

In January of 2012, Susan was named one of St. Louis's "Most Dynamic People of the Year" by the Ladue News. In April of 2012, she was given the "Survivor of the Year" Award by the St. Louis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. As Susan likes to say, "Life is never boring."

More information on the author can be found on her WEBSITE

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Books in the Debutante Dropout Mystery Series

MY REVIEWS FOR THE SERIES

#1 Blue Blood
#2 The Good Girl's Guide to Murder
#3 The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club
#4 Night of the Living Deb

#5 Too Pretty to Die

The Sisterhood by Helen Bryan

Genres: family, fiction, relationships, historical fiction, Spain, South America, women's fiction 

Formats: Kindle, Paperback, Audio, MP3 CD
Pages:  420

Published:  April 30th, 2013
Publishers: Amazon Publishing

ISBN-10: 1611099285

ISBN-13: 978-1611099287 

Edition language: English

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

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AMAZON BLURB:
Menina Walker was a child of fortune. Rescued after a hurricane in South America, doomed to a life of poverty with a swallow medal as her only legacy, the orphaned toddler was adopted by an American family and taken to a new life.

As a beautiful, intelligent woman of nineteen, she is in love, engaged, and excited about the future—until another traumatic event shatters her dreams. Menina flees to Spain to bury her misery in research for her college thesis about a sixteenth-century artist who signed his works with the image of a swallow—the same image as the one on Menina’s medal.

But a mugging strands Menina in a musty, isolated Spanish convent. Exploring her surroundings, she discovers the epic sagas of five orphan girls who were hidden from the Spanish Inquisition and received help escaping to the New World. Is Menina’s medal a link to them, or to her own past? Did coincidence lead her to the convent, or fate?

Both love story and historical thriller, The Sisterhood is an emotionally charged ride across continents and centuries.

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REVIEW:

Since the publication of The Da Vinvi Code it could have been expected that similar 'what if'- questions would pull a few new surprises out of the hats of history, and this book is no exception. In the Da Vinci Code, the question was asked 'What if Jesus was married or had a family?'. In this book the question is asked ' What if Jesus had sisters or brothers, and Mary did not remain a virgin forever? ' Throw in the theories presented in another recent book 'The Kabbalist' around the true history of Jesus as seen from a Jewish viewpoint, as well as yet another possibility in 'The Shack' of God being a woman, and I can safely declare myself ready to drown my sorrowful confusion in a casket of ancient Roman Posca!

This long and complex tale centers around a history of women and their fate in the Catholic church during and after the Spanish Inquisition in which people from other faiths were forced to convert to Christianity with bloody prosecutions and killings by the thousands for those who still practiced their own religions in secret. 

The Gospel of the Foundress of the Las Golondrinas Convent, Andalusia, Spain, ultimately reveals much more than her own history. It solves the mystery behind the badge around the little girl's neck who was found in a fishing boat by sailors and delivered to a convent in Spanish South America.

This is her, Menina Walker's story, going back centuries and involving the fates of five orphan girls: Esperanza, Pia, Sanchia, Marisol, and Luz. Menina Walker, the little Spanish girl who was adopted and given a new name by American Baptists, was given the medal and The Chronicle for save keeping by the nuns of the South American convent. She grew up in America, decided to study Art History and visit Spain for her college thesis. A traumatic experience drives her to go sooner than later.

As fate would have it, she misses her bus to Madrid and unbeknownst to her, she lands up in the convent where her story begun, centuries ago . 

The reader is immediately pulled deep into the narrative, totally losing a sense of reality, completely vanishing into the in-depth history of the Spanish Inquisition, the fate of the Jewish, Muslim and other converts who were prosecuted by the Spanish authorities and the destiny of the nuns who had to take care, in utmost poverty, of the sufferers of the prosecutions. 

Two story lines are intertwined. The one begins in 1552 in Spain and the second one in 2000 with Menina Walker starting her life as young student.

At first I was mesmerized. The information is so well presented that the reader taste, feel, hear, and smell every single detail. From moldy  dark, dilapidated convents, to the barbaric, 'uncivilized' Incas, the taste of stale bread, and the stinky breaths of rotten teeth - it was vividly presented. The story is a riveting depiction of the terrible lives of so many people in that period of history. 

But by the 50% mark of the kindle version I had enough of the endless historical detail and the endless repeat of horror and hardship in the different story lines of the five girls, their families and the nuns. I just had enough of the never-ending stream of new characters constantly being added with their stories. The superficial, light-weight inclusion of the modern, and romantic, American girl's participation in the story almost derailed it for me. It did not quite fit into the narrative at all! What a pity! It would have been more convincing, to me personally, if she was from South America, or not present at all! 

But! The Sisterhood was a learning curve. Informative, thrilling, suspenseful, masterfully presented. 

I would have loved to rate it five stars, but one stars goes awol for: 1 ) the tedious nature of the information dump.  2) Menina, with her tasteless, money-driven, mass-market, tourist-trap solution just blew it for me! Menina was too obvious an added character to make the book more of a commercially palatable chic lit target. The dignity in the tale of the nuns and the orphans was destroyed. It cheapens the story. No, she was not the heroine in this book at all, sorry! The humble, devoted, dedicated, compassionate nuns unintentionally overshadowed her in every aspect of what it means to be human and to sacrifice everything for the good of fellow human beings.There were just too many protagonists, a too detailed information overload and intense descriptions of the surroundings. However, the historical aspects of the story, with the nuns as protagonists, saved the book. Their stories were the magnificence this tale needed to make it an extraordinary read!I recommend it to anyone who is interested in this part of history and can appreciate the immense wealth of research being presented in this narrative. The story contains many elements of the Greek comedy, Lysistrata, written by Aristophanes, which was performed in 411 BC. in Athens. This aspect provides another enchanting dimension to the book. And then there is the sub-story of the swallows........!  Amazing!

All in all though, a really, really good read! I love this author's writing style and way with words. I will read her again. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Helen Bryan was born in Virginia, grew up in Tennessee, graduated from Barnard College and lives in London where she qualified as a barrister and is a member of the Inner Temple. She left the Bar to write full time after publication of her first book, a layman's guide to the English planning system "Planning Applications and Appeals". Her second book was a biography, "Martha Washington First Lady of Liberty," awarded a Citation of Merit by the Colonial Dames of America. She is the author of two bestselling historical fiction novels. The first "War Brides" is a World War II saga inspired by family holidays in a small East Sussex village, the wartime reminiscences of older relatives and friends, and the true life stories of the brave young women who joined Churchill's Special Operations Executive. Her new novel "The Sisterhood" is a romantic/religious/mystery saga spanning 400 years, set in sixteenth century Spain and Spanish America and featuring an unlikely modern heroine.

The Kabbalist by Yoram Katz

Genres: Historical fiction, Murder, Mystery
Kindle File Size: 2639 KB
Print Length: 339 pages
Printed formats: Kindle, Paperback
ISBN-10: 1484946448
ASIN: B00FI92AP6
Published date: September 24th 2013
Publishers: Yoram Katz; 1 edition (September 27, 2013), CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Edition Language: English
Purchase link: Amazon Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.;  Barnes & Noble

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AMAZON BOOK BLURB: 
An old letter, discovered in Normandy, sends Jean de Charney, a young Frenchwoman, to present-day Israel, in pursuit of a 200 year old family secret. She teams up with local private-eye Yossi Luria and the two quickly realize that the old mystery is lethal and still claiming victims. Their quest takes them back into the Holy Land's history, through the Napoleonic era and the Crusades, right into the origins of Christianity and of Kabbalah – the Jewish mystical tradition. What is this old secret that people in the 21st century are ready to kill for? It turns out to be startlingly more profound than a family mystery, with direct impact on Jean and Yossi’s personal lives. 

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REVIEW: 

Murder embedded in a historical mystery...surprising, thought-provoking, thrilling, controversial 


Isreal. Safed, Jerusalem.

A murder mystery turns into a journey through history, starting at Shimon – Galilee, 149 AD, passing through the ages to March 6th, 2010, spanning the life of Yeshua Ben Yossef aka Jesus, The Roman Empire, the wars in Europe, including the Napoleonic wars, WWII, the Israeli wars.

The death of a monk, on January 16th, 2006 quietly phased out as a burglary gone wrong. However, behind the scenes, another story is enfolding when a private investigator,(an ex-cop) Yossi Luria, gets involved in a case to solve a mystery for Jeanne de Charney, a masters degree student of France who is looking for information on her family.

His investigation opens up a hornets nest around secret documents which are claimed by both Christian (possibly also known as 'The Holy Grail') and Jewish religious groups. The origin of the "Kabbalah" becomes the center of all events, including the murders. For some keepers of the secret, the secret scrolls are an essential negotiating tool, for others it is proof that Jesus was not a Christian at all...

Who was Jesus really? History has taught us to always consider who the recorders of history are.Each conqueror claims a different version. This story proves it.

Through these wars and deadening battles, these documents would be handed over from generation to generation for safekeeping and to protect the status quo. But there were different groups demanding possession and ownership and people would die in the process...

This book is a riveting, cannot-put-it-down, detective tale, embedded in a historical mystery that keeps the reader mesmerized while feeding astonishing information through the narrative. A brilliant book in which Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" is contradicted with an equally profound hypothesis.

The author says: "One thing I learned in the process of writing this book is that it is not too difficult to come up with a conspiracy theory and substantiate it. It is probably as easy as defending an old and improbable established myth. The lesson I take from this, and which I hope to share with you, dear reader, is that we should always use common sense and good judgment when
examining a new and thrilling conspiracy theory, as well as when examining an old and established dogma. Both can be incredibly enlightening, terribly misleading or even both simultaneously– it is up to us always to keep an open, inquisitive and critical mind." - Yoram Katz.

I do not believe in fate, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it was fate having me read three books in succession about the French Revolution, the world wars and the clashes of Religious dogmas through the ages, by totally different authors from different nations.

The more astounded I became, reading this book, the more I remembered the quote(anonymous): "Different people build different bridges to God, but instead of worshiping God they worship the bridges instead."

I did not like Dan Brown's commercially-driven books at all, mainly due to the hype that was built around it to sell it, and partly because it aimed to shock. I was disgusted when it ended. I gave all his books away, just wanted to get rid of it.

The Kabbalist, on the other hand, inspires the reader to rather think, to measure, to debate, with no shock-value intended at all, although the story is spellbinding. This book kept me reading and reading with the intention to read it again and digest more of the ideas and theories expressed in it. Although it is also partly historically correct, and partly an imaginary 'what if' - exercise, I can somehow relate more to it.

The different viewpoints from the different religious denominations were presented objectively and I am sure many readers would love to debate these issues, since so many hypotheses were offered.

I recommend this book to historical fiction enthusiasts who also enjoy a mystery that covers hundred of years and end up as the background to a fascinating murder. However, it is essential to approached this book with an open mind.

The characters were exciting, the clues well-hidden. The story fast-moving. The information staggering. Love plays a role - an endearing one. The combination of these elements worked perfectly. An excellent experience.

This book needs a big audience.

Five stars.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Yoram was born in Haifa, Israel.
After serving his mandatory three years in the IDF (as most Israelis do), Yoram studied and completed his B.A. in psychology and Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Having spent two years in Europe and Africa, Yoram returned to Haifa for his B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, and has spent most of his career since in the hi-tech industry, half of it in senior managerial positions.

In one of his roles, Yoram relocated with his family to Singapore for three years - a cultural shock and an experience that will be probably reflected in a future novel.

Reading has always been an obsession. Fiction, history, science, nonsense and virtually everything is routinely devoured by Yoram in large doses.

At some point, while spending a lot of time in business trips, Yoram started using the long flights and time between meetings, realizing that his life experience, as well as living in a county which is steeped in history and adventure, serve as great catalysts for writing.

"The Kabbalist” is Yoram's first published novel.

Yoram is happily married with 3 grown-up children and looks forward to becoming a grandfather next year.

(Information source: Yoram Katz)