On Flowers and Thorns Blog Today

I'm visiting on Lorrie Struiff's Flowers and Thorns blog today. I hope you'll stop by to leave a comment. Lorrie is new at this blogging business, so she's really pleased when folks visit her blog.

I'm feature...what else...Witches of Galdorheim series. The first two books are now in print. They're available on Amazon at the introductory absolutely rock-bottom price of only $5.99 for a paperback. They're great gifts for your tween to 14 year old fantasy reader. When they get just a bit too old for toys, then books are the best gift to give them.

About Lorrie

Lorrie lives in West Mifflin, PA, thirty minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. She lives at home with her favorite toy—a computer.

Once a gold medalist teacher/manager for a big-name ballroom dance studio she has retired and now enjoys the quiet life of writing and watching TV. But she loves to have lunches with local authors to keep abreast of the challenging world of publishing.

Lorrie writes in many genres so you never know what she will come out with next. She never wants to bore her readers and enjoys the thrill of entertaining them by writing a good story.

Lorrie's books include:
Call on the Dead Club (hilarious!)
A Heap of Trouble (western humorous romance)
Gypsy Blood (paranormal detective)
Wild Blackberries (paranormal)
and a bunch of short stories

Find out more on her blog.

Quick Review - Gypsy Blood

Gypsy Blood by Lorrie Unites-Struiff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rita is a cop. However, she's also of Romany blood and has a crystal that helps her find the bad guys. Using it, she can see the face of the last person the corpse saw before death. This works pretty well until, the last face isn't right. Rita thinks that her crystal's not working right, so she consults mom.

Problem is, the crystal is working fine, but the killer is...not so easy to find.

From that beginning, Gypsy Blood leads you into the realm of gypsies and a dark family secret. A major hunk, Matt, shows up to work the case. Rita is attracted, but tries to keep her distance. However, Matt knows things about the serial killer stalking the streets that Rita does not know. Together, they must find a horrible beast from the past who's killing prostitutes, but only because the taking is easy and the beast needs blood.

Ms. Unites-Struiff carries the story into the realm of the supernatural, along with some hot scenes between Rita and Matt, to take the reader along on a wild, supernatural ride. Great read.

*** Previously reviewed under the title Gypsy Crystal


View all my reviews

Lorrie Struiff's Gypsy Blood (and a rant about e-readers)

Thank you Marva for inviting me to be a guest on your blog today. I really want to vent about E-readers. I think many of your fans will agree with me.

WHY I HATE E-READERS

  

So, with all the fuss about E-readers, I broke down and bought one. Now this has to be the sorriest thing I have ever purchased.

I read the instructions. I played with it, got on a book buying site and lo and behold. There were four books by one of my favorite authors, Ginger Simpson. Well, I just had to push the buy buttons.

Next, I saw four by you, Marva. Hmm. And I know you are a fantastic writer. Oh, a mystery and a YA trilogy. Bet I’d like the mystery and my kids would enjoy your YA novels. Not expensive at all. I pushed all the buy buttons again.

Oooh, I ddn’t know Cate Masters had e-books out. I love her romance novels, but these are only in e-book format. Oh what the heck, I may as well add a few more books to this new contraption.

Oh my, look at these books by Tabatha Shay. I love series. They look pretty good. And what hunks on the covers. Push, push, push, push, push.

Margaret West. Name seems familiar. I went to her site. Wow, paranormal. I love paranormal. Push, push, push.

I was having such a grand time finding my other favorite authors, and ahem, some I didn’t know, but the covers and blurbs tempted me beyond my rational judgment.

Feeling smug, I settled down and started reading the many, many wonderful bargains that I found, and I enjoyed them for weeks—being the avid reader that I am.

Hey, this was neat, fun.

It was neat and fun until I received my charge card bill in the mail. Did I really purchase all those books? Where are my brains?

Then I began to hate the E-reader. It’s like an addiction you can’t quit. Maybe I should start an addiction to an E-readers group. Learn to fight our impulses.

Well, it’s something to think about while I just peruse the buy site again.

Oh my, a new one by Jude Pittman.

Push.

***

Do you like mysteries? Paranormals? Romance? Thillers? Gypsy lore?

Well, how about all of those genres rolled into one?

Meet Rita and Matt in GYPSY BLOOD available today at

http://www.amazon.com/Gypsy-Blood-Born-Romany-ebook/dp/B008190LLK/

And inexpensive too. All you addicts out there, just hit push.

(Instead of a blurb, let me tell you a little about the book.)

Rita Muldova, my homicide detective has pure Roma blood. She wears a mystical crystal amulet that gives her the power to see in a dead victim’s eyes the last image the deceased had seen. What a career boost. Now, with the task force, she is hunting for the “Ripper,” a serial killer loose in her town that is targeting prostitutes. But, oh, oh, for this murderer, the crystal has stopped working.

A yummy FBI agent, Matt Boulet, has been on the Ripper’s tail since the killings started in New Orleans. He has a yen for Rita and they have a weird connection. Plus, Rita would like to jump his bones.

Rita’s mother, Anna, is a great seer whom Rita turns to in time of troubles, but Anna can’t offer Rita an explanation of why the crystal has stopped working. Anna does tell Rita the lore of their clan. Rita is both shocked and horrified of the tale.

Filled with gypsy customs and lore, the novella takes you on a wild ride into the mystical world of the paranormal with plenty of thrills and chills.

(Excerpt)

Chief Lipinski rose to his feet. “Back off, people! I have my orders, too. We follow Boulet’s plan. Hank, you and Sully hand out these sketches to as many girls you see walking the streets before Della and Rita start their rounds.”

Della nudged Rita. “Guess we get our ‘Sluts R Us’ duds out of mothballs.”

Rita nodded. She would follow orders, but too many unanswered questions floated in her mind. She raised her voice. “Since he’s such a big, strong, badass, who lived to provide the sketch?”

“Me.”

The way Boulet uttered that one word made her teeth click together.

Boulet tugged down the ribbed collar of his sweater. A red scar marred the cords in his thick neck. “My partner and I were doubling him. We were too late to save the woman. He nicked me first. While I was trying to stop bleeding, he took out my partner.” He studied the floor, then his eyes hardened as he made eye contact with everyone in the room. “But now I know this bastard, and I’ll be ready for him.”

“Sounds more like a personal vendetta,” Rita said.

“Yeah, that too.” His lips pulled back with an ironic chuckle. “More than you can imagine.”

For more details and reviews, visit my website at http://struiff.wordpress.com/

Thank you for reading. 

Gypsy Blood Now Spreading

Gypsy Blood now available on Amazon.

Everyone has secrets.

Homicide Detective Rita Moldova has a secret, a crystal amulet from her Roma bloodline that allows her to see the last image a victim had seen in their eyes before they died. Now, a ritual killer is terrorizing her town and the crystal’s magic has suddenly stopped doing its job.

FBI agent, Matt Boulet, is sent to lead the task force and gives the group strange orders. Worse, Rita senses he is holding back a deep, dark secret about the killer.

When she confronts her seer mother’s advice, she learns another secret about their clan that she finds impossible to swallow.

Rita swims through a whirlpool of confusion as the investigation continues. Can Rita deny the lore of the ancients? Can she deny her growing feelings for Matt Boulet?