Abby’s Promise 

He walked out of my life eight years ago, and for the first couple of years, I wrote him faithfully.

Then life happened, and we lost track of each other. Now he’s back; appearing one day on campus and sweeping me off my feet. He looks the same—rough stubble on his square jaw, broody brown eyes, thick brows that always lifted when I made him laugh. My Jo-Jo has come home after eight years in Afghanistan.

She looks the same as I remember her in high school, but now she’s all woman—sophisticated, educated, and just as curvy as ever. And now she’s a professor, and I’m falling for her all over again like I did at senior prom. War screwed me up, but every day Abby was my saving grace.

She promised one day she’d never let me go, made me promise I’d come back to her. I’ve come back to claim that promise. There’s just one problem: Abby’s moved on. How will I convince the love of my life that a day never went by without her on my mind?

Author Bio

 Rebekah Dodson is a prolific word weaver of romance, fantasy, and science fiction novels. Her works include the series Postcards from Paris, The Surrogate, The Curse of Lanval series, several stand alone novels, and her upcoming YA novel, Clock City. She has been writing her whole life, with her first published work of historical fiction with 4H Clubs of America at the age of 12, and poetry at the age of 16 with the National Poetry Society. With an extensive academic background including education, history, psychology and English, she currently works as a college professor by day and a writer by night.

Links

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/authorrebekahdodson?ref=br_rs

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My Review

A story of second chances, love, and old fashioned thinking. A young woman who tried to move on with her life after her best friend and the love of her life leaves her behind. She decides to move on, but her choices could be the end of her.

Abby and Joseph (Jo Jo, Joey) were best friends, but Abby was really in love with Joseph. Too bad he was too young to realize that looks are only skin deep. Joey needed to get away from his father or he would lose himself. Joey has returned now, eight years later and has found that Abby moved on while he was away. He’s finally realized that Abby is the only girl for him.

These two go through a lot of turmoil before they are actually able to get their HEA. They have to deal with Abby’s job, Joey’s narrow minded father, and Abby’s past before they can make a life together. Their passion and love is the only thing that will help them get through everything. Joey needs to figure out his life and where he wants to go and what he wants to do, Abby needs to overcome her past and the narrow mindedness of the people in the small town they live in.

I liked this story and found it to be very real. It’s very well written and it had me cheering Abby on for being such a strong woman who knew her own mind even though she had a lot to overcome from her choices in her past. She is a woman who has a mind of her own and works very hard to prove her worth and her love.

I give this story a 3.5 star review and look forward to reading more by Ms. Dodson. This was my first book by Ms. Dodson, but I will look for more as I like her writing style. I would love to read Randy’s story.

It’s my pleasure to be the final stop on the Blog Tour for “Another Good Killing”, by Stephen Puleston.  Inspector Marco is a very talented Detective and has a great team working with him on is cases.

Another Good Killing (Inspector Marco #2)
Does any man deserve to die?
When a well-connected and wealthy banker is found dead in his luxury car in the middle of Cardiff, the motive for the crime seems clear. The killer even left a note telling the world the man deserved to die, simply for his greed.
But despite the obvious clues, seasoned detective, John Marco has his doubts that this was just a disgruntled employee. The killing was too clean, the crime scene too perfect. Marco also has a gut feeling that the family of the victim are hiding something…
And when another business executive is murdered, Marco’s fears come true – there is now a serial killer to catch. An online video points to a violent anarchist group, determined to make the bankers pay for their perceived sins. But Marco doubts a ragtag bunch of anarchists would be granted breathing space in the world of the sophisticated uber rich.
As the case progresses and Marco starts piecing together the clues, things take a dramatic twist when a member of Marco’s team is kidnapped. Now the killer has made things personal and Marco faces a race against time to bring the murder to justice – before it’s too late…

Biography

I write crime fiction based in Wales and about Wales. The rural landscape of north Wales provides the backdrop to the Inspector Drake novels. And Cardiff the capital of Wales provides the setting for the Inspector Marco novels set in a modern urban environment.
I love the novels of Raymond Chandler, Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Henning Mankell, Val McDermid – the list could go on! And I enjoy watching detective series on the television the recent Hinterland series based near Aberystwyth in Wales was great. One of my favourites is the French series Spiral but The Bridge and Broadchurch and the Rebus series with Ken Stott and Kenneth Branagh in Wallander are great too.

I have been on writing courses at the Welsh Writers Centre in Llanystymdwy, North Wales tutored by Matt Whyman and Marcus Sedgwick as well as crime writing courses with Peter Robinson and Andrew Taylor at the Scottish Writers centre.

I was born in Anglesey an island off the north Wales coast and after leaving school in Holyhead I went to University in London before training as a solicitor/lawyer. I practised in a small family business doing criminal work in the magistrates and crown courts, divorce and family work.
I still live on Anglesey, North Wales near the beach and the mountains of Snowdonia.

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My Review:

Another Good Killing was another great read by Stephen Puleston, It was fast paced, with twists and suspense throughout. The way that Detective Marco figures out each case is unique and his instincts are generally always on. He gets that “gut feeling” when something feels off or not quite right, and when he investigates further or looks as the facts again he can generally find a clue that will help him.

In Another Good Killing, DI Marco feels that he has messed up and put one of his team in danger. It leads to a touchy situation for him and almost causes him to back slide. I was rooting for him the entire time while reading this section that he would walk away. His intensity for his work as well as his loyalty to his team and the people that he cares about is what makes him a a great character. DI Marco does a lot of reflecting in this story on his life and his family. This story helps him realize what is important in life and helps him to analyze his life and make changes.

I enjoyed reading this story and found it to really challenge my detective brain as well as it did DI Marco’s. I give this story a 5 star review. I highly recommend the DI Marco series to readers who like a good challenge when reading a crime thriller and like to play a couch detective while reading. I look forward to more DI Marco stories in the near future.