Steven Ramirez

Steven Ramirez

Book Review—Writers’ Retreat

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I’ve been reading J.P. Choquette for a while now and have found her stories to be inventive and creepy. She insists on placing her characters in the worst possible situations and watching them squirm. I imagine her sitting at her desk, rubbing her hands together, saying, “Let’s see you get out of this one, bud.”

With Writers’ Retreat, the author has outdone herself. In a way, she’s turned the tables if you believe the writer Flora Rossi might be a proxy for the author. I’ll leave that one to the experts. In any case, this novel is chilling. Her descriptions are just detailed enough to make the reader see and taste everything, including the awful tea Venetia likes to serve her guests. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that Flora suffers in this novel—and you feel that, too.

If you’re looking for something to keep you up at night, grab this book. And if you’re thinking about going on one of those writers’ retreats, choose Hawaii—trust me.

Book Description

You’ve never been to a writing retreat like this.

Flora Rossi is under deadline and her agent has made it clear: meet it or the publishing house will drop her. Still recovering emotionally from a tragic accident and with her creative muse missing, the acceptance letter to Idyll Weiss Writing Retreat comes at a perfect time.

A full week away to write in a rustic home deep in the Vermont woods with a handful of other writers will be just what Flora needs to rekindle her creative spark. The fact that the exclusive writing getaway is led by bestselling author-turned recluse, Venetia Valentine? It’s the stuff of dreams.

Or nightmares.

Because the retreat isn’t quite what Flora or the others expected. Secretive staff, no electricity, a missing writer, and unanswered questions about the Retreat Center’s dark past are just the beginning.

As hard as it was to get into the retreat, getting out will be even harder.

Where to Buy

Amazon
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Kobo

More Reviews

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Book Review—All Those Masks

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All Those Masks Cover

I love Los Angeles, especially when reading about the city’s sometimes notorious past. S. R. Mallery loves LA, too, because when she writes about the period between two world wars, the words pour out, creating a landscape you can see and almost touch. In All Those Masks, she’s got her work cut out for her, taking on Hollywood, corrupt policemen, and the Klan. And she succeeds beautifully.

Detective fiction requires a body. In All Those Masks, it’s a Jewish journalist who is found brutally murdered. And all signs point to the local chapter of the Klan. As Frank Lozano and his team investigate, the author takes us on a dizzying jalopy ride that introduces us to speakeasies, movie stars, a vicious police captain, and a bevy of side characters with colorful backgrounds.

If you enjoy fast-paced historical fiction with strong female characters, splashes of humor, and romance, I heartily recommend this book. Careful, though. You might just fall in love with Los Angeles, too.

Book Description

In 1927, Private Eye Frank Lozano is on a mission. After he left the corrupt Los Angeles police department, he had formed his own detective agency, and with his two fellow sleuths, a grammar-correcting secretary, and a beautiful, yet quirky researcher who makes his heartbeats soar, he looks forward to handling cases the way he thinks is best.

Then he encounters true evil. A murder that is most probably linked to either to the Klan—still alive in Southern California—or Chicago mobsters is bad enough. But when his secretary’s husband is wrongfully arrested and put in jail for the slaying, Frank and his cohorts go on the warpath to put the true killer in jail.

Much like this series’ Prequel, Trouble In Glamour Town, film stars float in and out. Here, we are introduced to the famous film idol, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, wrongfully accused of rape and murder, as well as Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. Also surrounding the case are two of the very first policewomen in the country: Los Angeles’ Alice Stebbins Wells and New York’s undercover detective, Mary Sullivan.

Bottom line: Will this eclectic team find out who the true killer is before he—or she—lands another victim?

Where to Buy

Amazon

More Reviews

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October 2023 Highlights and Getting Lost

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Let’s Get Lost Cover

Greetings. I realize it’s only October, but I can’t wait for 2024. Why? Because I have a new book coming out, my first historical fiction novel. It’s called Let’s Get Lost—like the Chet Baker song—and it’s pretty freaking wild. The story is set in 1960 and takes place in New York. Have I got your attention? Read on…

BOOK BLURB

Adam West is wealthy after his parents’ tragic death at Bland Corporation. Nevertheless, he accepts a position in the company’s Marketing department under Bruce Donovan, who resents his presence. Bruce’s daughter Jenny schemes to make the junior executive her boyfriend to trick her father into buying her a coveted sports car. But to her surprise, they fall in love.

After being given a massive ad campaign, Adam visits the Science division, where he learns they are working on time travel. The chief scientist Dr. Irenka Lewandowska seduces him at a hotel but dismisses their encounter as insignificant. Guilt-ridden over the affair, Adam seeks help for his project. Bruce pairs him with a washed-up English drunk, Del Dillard, who learns of the boss’s plans to torpedo the campaign. Disillusioned and depressed, the Englishman takes his own life.

The shock of Del’s suicide triggers Adam, and after running amok, he is taken to a mental hospital. Eventually, he is released, but not before Jenny sees him in his pathetic state, wearing a patient gown. Deeply ashamed, he seeks refuge with his scientist uncle. There, he discovers a disturbing experiment—reanimating the severed head of the mass murderer Karl Hiller.

Adam’s half-brother Fox stumbles onto the test subject’s true identity and decides to blackmail the West family. However, Karl Hiller can control minds and has big plans for the suggestible encyclopedia salesman. Wishing he could start over, Adam realizes he must confront the incredible forces entangling his confused life. And he needs to win back Jenny.

If only he had a time machine…

LISTEN TO THE LET’S GET LOST PLAYLIST

NEW RELEASE

Writers Retreat Promo

You’ve never been to a writing retreat like this.

Flora Rossi is under deadline and her agent has made it clear: meet it or the publishing house will drop her. Still recovering emotionally from a tragic accident and with her creative muse missing, the acceptance letter to Idyll Weiss Writing Retreat comes at a perfect time.

A full week away to write in a rustic home deep in the Vermont woods with a handful of other writers will be just what Flora needs to rekindle her creative spark. The fact that the exclusive writing getaway is led by bestselling author-turned-recluse, Venetia Valentine? It’s the stuff of dreams.

Or nightmares.

Readers of books by Ruth Ware, Jennifer McMahon, and Susan Hill will enjoy this slow-burn suspense. Loaded with twists and turns, Writers’ Retreat is another unputdownable suspense novel by J.P. Choquette. PREORDER NOW

BOOKS TO ENJOY

Check out these October book deals. Just click an image to see the titles.

99-Cent Fiction

Mayhem & Motives

October Mysteries

Halloween Special

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

The Consultant Poster

What are you prepared to do to advance your career. You’d be surprised. Starring the inimitable Christoph Waltz.

Logline. Follows a relationship between employee and boss, asking how far we will go to get ahead, and to survive.

July 2023 Highlights and Anniversary Edition

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A book cover with the title of " tell me when i 'm dead ".

Greetings. Wow, can you believe the year is half over? For the past few months, I’ve been getting things ready for the relaunch of my first thriller trilogy, Hellborn Series. Book 1 is Tell Me When I’m Dead, and this month, I’m celebrating its tenth anniversary. Cue the party poppers. To mark the occasion, I updated all three books, and the action is even more wicked. But that’s not all. Now through the end of July, you can pick up Book 1 for ninety-nine cents.

A black and white image of an amazon logo.

Book Blurb

A strange plague ravages a quiet town, turning its victims into dead flesh-eaters who hunt. With ravening hordes surging, the beleaguered security force is outnumbered. To survive, Dave Pulaski, his wife, and a band of former guards must fight the hostiles.

Books to Enjoy

Time of Death Cover

Medical Examiner Dr. Giselle Norwood has stumbled upon a serial killer—or two. Time of Death by Audrey Walker.

Time of Death Cover

With the clock running out, can Emma Pepper prove she’s being framed, or will she go down for a crime she didn’t commit? On the Run by B.P Stevens.

KU Cleanish

Check out these Kindle Unlimited Clean-ish Adventures in Scifi, Action, & Fantasy. The promotion ends August 6, 2023.

Recommended Viewing

A girl in a dress and tie looking at the camera.

What happens when you take Chucky from the classic 1988 horror movie ‘Child’s Play’ and add a cute little girl robot powered by AI? You get ‘M3GAN,’ now showing on Amazon Prime. But I warn you—she can be very protective. Check out this horror sci-fi thriller from James Wan and Blumhouse. Starring Allison Williams.

Logline. A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a life-like doll that begins to take on a life of its own.

Book Review—The Ghost Bride

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A book cover with a woman laying on top of a bed.

Admittedly, I know little about Chinese history and folklore. But fairy tales are universal, and The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo is infinitely magical. The story is set in the late 1800s in a British colonial town in Malaysia. Like many young women of the time, Li Lan’s only option is to get married. And usually, though the groom may not be the girl’s heartthrob, at least he’s human, right? But a ghost?

It would never occur to a Westerner to hitch themselves to a spirit, even if it meant financial security for life. Well, okay, maybe if you’re paying off a student loan… But Li Lan’s family is strapped, and the wealthy Lim family is in a position to get them out of their troubles—if only she agrees to pierce the veil in a creepy wedding ceremony.

The Ghost Bride is a heroic tale. And like other heroes’ journeys, the protagonist must change. Li Lan starts out as a relatively unassuming girl, especially when dealing with the Lim family. But there’s a feistiness in her that only manifests after she crosses into the ghost world. Her arduous journey through faux cities and houses is thrilling. And her rejection of the scheming groom, Lim Tian Ching, is vicariously satisfying—like watching a paper funeral offering burn.

Book Description

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family’s only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim’s handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family’s darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.

Where to Buy

Amazon
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Books-A-Million

More Reviews

Did you enjoy this review? Check out my other reviews here. And don’t forget to follow me at BookBub.

April 2023 Highlights and AI Fun

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A cat is playing with another cat on the floor.

Greetings. I hope winter wasn’t too hard on you. Usually, Southern California is a breeze compared to the rest of the country. But this time, the environment did a number on us. Lots of rain, occasional hail, and snow on the Hollywood sign—whew! Let’s hope spring is nice and calm.

For the past few months, I’ve been exploring the wonders of generative AI. I created the photo of the playful cats using DALL-E. If you’re interested, here’s the prompt.

a cat wanders into another dimension and discovers its twin;realistic;color photo

I thought it would be nice to have a story to go with the image, so I used ChatGPT and Bard to tell me one. I fed both apps this prompt:

tell me a story in 50 words about a cat who wanders into another dimension and discovers its twin

Here’s the result from ChatGPT:

A curious cat wandered into a mysterious portal and found itself in an alternate dimension. As it explored, it stumbled upon its identical twin. Amazed and bewildered, the cat learned that there were infinite possibilities in the multiverse, and happily embraced its newfound companion.

And here’s what Bard came up with:

A cat wandered into the woods and found a strange portal. It stepped through and found itself in a strange new world. There, it met its twin, who was everything it was not. The two cats became friends and explored the new world together.

So, what did we learn? The Matrix is real. Seriously, though, this is exciting stuff. Let’s hope the mad geniuses creating these systems apply some ethics.

Books to Enjoy

Shadows Cover

What if you thought you were losing your mind? What if all those nightmares were real? Could you survive a demon bent on torment and death, a nightmare feeding on your fear? Shadows by Joan De La Haye.

Recommended Viewing

A poster of the movie vengeance

Okay, I know a lot of you out there love podcasts, especially when they reveal something strange and tantalizing. I guess that’s the purpose of podcasts, really. So, if you’re a fan, check out Vengeance, now showing on Amazon Prime Video. It’s a wild story, and Ashton Kutcher is scary-good.

Logline. A writer from New York City attempts to solve the murder of a girl he hooked up with and travels down south to investigate the circumstances of her death and discover what happened to her.

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