Spring Fling Blog Hop

Happy first day of spring!
And welcome to the Spring Fling Blog Hop!  

 

I loooooove spring. It's my favorite season. This might sound strange, but summer reminds me that autumn is right around the corner, and that makes me think of winter, which is so cold. Spring is the beginning of sunshine, flowers, open-toed sandals (pedicures), and sleeveless shirts.  

Picnics. Strolling hand in hand. Love. Weddings. Honeymoons.

 

What's your favorite season and why? Leave me a comment with your email address and I will draw a winner of an ecopy of Lily in Wonderland.

 

 

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

 

Blurb

Lily Tucker is down on her luck and considering a career strutting her stuff around a pole when she gets a call about an unexpected inheritance. It’s every girl’s dream—her estranged grandmother’s kicked the bucket, leaving Lily a house on a private island in Wonderland. 

When she reaches Wonderland, though, she finds a house that’s more like a hovel, a job waiting tables at the local diner, and a crime wave that seems to begin and end with Lily herself. Sexy deputy Toby can’t decide if he should arrest her or drag her off to bed—until it becomes clear that Lily’s not the criminal. She’s the target.

 

Click here to enter the grand prizes.

 

Check out the other participating blogs for more great prizes.

Amazon Author Page
Goodreads
 

Adventures in Housesitting

While my mother and her hubby are where the sun does shine, I'm acting as houseitter. Basically I feed a cat that isn't theirs, water plants (the plants are theirs) and keep the house in one piece. Sounds simple enough. Even for me.

December 26 - I left before the sun came up and returned after the sun went down. I had my car checked out because I think the hill my poor Subaru climbs each day will be the death of it, but the service dispatcher says no, I'm crazy (he didn't really say that, but might as well have). I ate leftover pasta from Christmas eve and did laundry and dishes. I did not do the Risky Business dance I said I would. I did do some serious editing and light reading, sprinkled with chatting online.

December 27 - My day went something like the day before. I conned the service department into checking out my car again, but turns out I am still crazy -  nothing is wrong. There is no strange burning smell coming from the rear driver's side tire area. It's my imagination. Ate leftover cheese, crackers and summer sausage from Christmas eve and drank a beer (maybe two). I indulged in a bubble bath. I have not seen "the cat" but something ate all the cat food. I watched The Scapegoat on PBS, which was very good.

December 28 - Ventured out to get gas and groceries. I bought everything I need to make my morning smoothie, but forgot to pickup my magic bullet. I walked 5 miles. I'm going to actually cook tonight. Chicken and rice. I broke the turn knob in the shower. Hope my mother doesn't read this. Note to self - get some glue.

Aspen Gold!!!

Aspen Gold finalist!!!! Sounds amazing, right?

 

Bargain!!!!

If you missed Pleasant Lake P.D. for free on Amazon, never fear.

It's still a bargain at 99 cents on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. If my math is right, which it probably isn't, that's about 900 words per penny.

 

Blurb

Alexandria Moreno, parking enforcement officer for the serene town of Pleasant Lake, has signed on with the FBI to nail a gorgeous suspected criminal, Miguel Diaz, who’s passing himself off as a legitimate businessman. Alex’s assignment is to use her feminine wiles, of which she has few, to infiltrate Diaz’s world and find some evidence for a conviction.

To complicate matters, she’s teamed up with Detective Roman Plow, who is her ex-boyfriend, though the FBI doesn’t know it. As they focus on retaliating for past wrongs, real and imagined, their smoldering love/hate relationship brews. They’re not exactly an ideal team.

With her bumbling nature, a steamer trunk full of emotional baggage, and no investigating skills, Alex spends most of her time reminding herself that the tall, dark, and handsome Miguel Diaz is not her real boyfriend and struggling to keep from falling into his bed. As she tries to dig up dirt on her undercover lover, the steamy investigation leads to a fight for her life. But who is behind the attacks?





If you haven't read Pleasant Lake P.D., now is the time. Why, you ask? Because it's free on Amazon.

 

Amazon

Alexandria Moreno, parking enforcement officer for the serene town of Pleasant Lake, has signed on with the FBI to nail a gorgeous suspected criminal, Miguel Diaz, who's passing himself off as a legitimate businessman. Alex's assignment is to use her feminine wiles, of which she has few, to infiltrate Diaz's world and find some evidence for a conviction. To complicate matters, she's teamed up with Detective Roman Plow, who is her ex-boyfriend, though the FBI doesn't know it. As they focus on retaliating for past wrongs, real and imagined, their smoldering love/hate relationship brews. They're not exactly an ideal team. With her bumbling nature, a steamer trunk full of emotional baggage, and no investigating skills, Alex spends most of her time reminding herself that the tall, dark, and handsome Miguel Diaz is not her real boyfriend and struggling to keep from falling into his bed. As she tries to dig up dirt on her undercover lover, the steamy investigation leads to a fight for her life. But who is behind the attacks?

Words I Write Crazy!!!

From Goodreads:
Alexandria Moreno, parking enforcement officer for the serene town of Pleasant Lake, has signed on with the FBI to nail a gorgeous suspected criminal, Miguel Diaz, who’s passing himself off as a legitimate businessman. Alex’s assignment is to use her feminine wiles, of which she has few, to infiltrate Diaz’s world and find some evidence for a conviction.

To complicate matters, she’s teamed up with Detective Roman Plow, who is her ex-boyfriend, though the FBI doesn’t know it. As they focus on retaliating for past wrongs, real and imagined, their smoldering love/hate relationship brews. They’re not exactly an ideal team.

With her bumbling nature, a steamer trunk full of emotional baggage, and no investigating skills, Alex spends most of her time reminding herself that the tall, dark, and handsome Miguel Diaz is not her real boyfriend and struggling to keep from falling into his bed. As she tries to dig up dirt on her undercover lover, the steamy investigation leads to a fight for her life. But who is behind the attacks?


My Review:
Oh, this was a really hilarious book! Funny, funny, and more funny! The way Alex is, hiding behind one liners to cover her pain and her thoughts that she's not worth it, and that everybody abandons her, well, they might have abandoned her, but they didn't really know her, or really have a choice, and Miguel is a rescuer. He's going to help, and he's going to stay!

While my copy was around 600 pages, and that it would be about 250-300 in a paperback copy, this book just flew by, from Alex's worry-ings about if she could actually snoop around in Miguel's life, to what's she supposed to do with her Mom and what someone's twin was doing, and the guilt of what she had to do to prove Miguel innocent prove...not what she intended, and some pretty bad stuff happens because of that. But all the conflict was really good!

I really enjoyed the romantic conflict, between Roman, who is a man-slut, and Miguel who supposedly is a sex slave trafficker, even though he seems nice and sweet, and then add in what Roman did to Miguel's sister...yeah, there's not a lot of good will between Roman and Miguel, and Alex was caught in the middle of it!

Pleasant Lake P. D. was a hilarious book, really enjoyable, and a lot of fun! I really hope you guys check it out, because it was a really fantastic read!!!

Author: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Read: September 17th, 2012
Source: Innovative Online Book Tours Review Copy
Reason Why: Sounded like a good book!
Publisher: Medallion Press
Published: September 1st 2012

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

http://writingcrazyme.blogspot.com/2012/09/pleasant-lake-pd-review.html

Open Book Society

Pleasant Lake P.D.
By Kelly Fitzpatrick
Author’s website: http://www.kellyfitzpatrick.webs.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Vicki.
Welcome to Pleasant Lake where the scenery is picturesque, the fun is frolicking, the small-town mentality is comforting (read: stifling), the emotions are on overdrive, the crime is petty and the bad guys seem like good guys.
Alexandria Moreno has wanted to ‘tackle dirtbags, cuff ‘em, and throw ‘em behind bars’ her entire life. Unfortunately, her stints in Pleasant Lake Police Department’s Animal Control and Parking Enforcement have been a smidge longer than she anticipated. Officer Moreno, Meter Maid Extraordinaire, is constantly passed over for promotion, for one reason or another – but mostly because the Chief of Police doesn’t think she is cut out for the big guns… or a police issued 9mm.
Enter FBI Agent Kilgore, a stoic no-nonsense task-master with an undercover mission for Alex. She must infiltrate the inner circle of Miguel Diaz; a suspected crime lord and nasty piece of work. It soon becomes clear that Alex has been chosen for this particular mission because; unbeknownst to her, Miguel has taken quite a fancy to her. Miguel has been profiled as a chronic rescuer and due to Alex’s ‘basket case’ tendencies the FBI have decided she is in good need of rescuing. And the worst thing? Alex’s infuriating ex-manfriend-slash-sex-buddy-slash-colleague, the insatiable Roman Plow, is her new partner in crime fighting.
And so begins the wackiness.
As it turns out Miguel Diaz is charming, hunky, super generous and oozes sex-appeal. Alex struggles with her attraction to the supposed criminal from the get-go as well as her residual attraction to ex-sex-pest, Roman. She chalks it all up to her self-imposed celibacy and desperately tries to cling to her professionalism. A futile task indeed.
Whilst attempting to uncover Miguel’s dastardly dealings, Alex falls hopelessly head-over-heels in love; except she doesn’t realize she’s in love and is reluctant to even broach the topic because of her major abandonment issues. Also, there’s no getting past the sex-slavery ring that Miguel is orchestrating no matter how gray she makes it or how many times she asks herself: ‘Would it really be so bad to be in love with a crime lord?’
Kelly Fitzpatrick weaves romance and comedy with a healthy dose of dramatic irony. In Alex Moreno, Fitzpatrick has created a romantic heroine that the reader can relate to whilst appreciating the very unlikely screwball antics. The classic romcom themes and motifs are integral to the fast pace of the novel. And all throughout it seems as if Fitzpatrick is very aware of these stereotypical scenarios. Fitzpatrick embraces first person narrative and dramatic irony in such a way that the reader feels an eyebrow-raising-eyerolling-kinship with the author, as if to say: “look at these silly people doing silly things, let’s mess up their lives a little more…”
One specific theme that is presented incredibly well is the love-triangle. Fitzpatrick takes an unusual tack with a theme that is arguably hugely over-used in contemporary romantic fiction; there is no predictable winner, no clear good guy and hearts do get a little trampled. The realness of Alex is something that is palpable through the use of this theme. It can be said that Alex subconsciously encourages and manipulates the love-triangle, whilst trying to figure out who she actually wants to be with.

‘I’d never had men fight over me. I feared someone would get hurt. I also felt a little afraid they’d decide I wasn’t worth the battle and go grab a beer together.’

Shallow? Yes. Truth? Hell yes. I have no problem calling you a liar if you can say you wouldn’t have the same thought process if you had two incredibly hot guys trying to win your heart!
Fitzpatrick is extremely skilled when it comes to comedic banter. Her characters aren’t stand-ups they’re just regular people forced into an irregular situation; trading jibes and taking names. Unless your funny bone has been surgically removed you will laugh out loud on several occasions.
Pleasant Lake P.D. will be the perfect post-summer pick-me-up. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and I’m looking forward to reading Fitzpatrick’s other work. If you’re craving sexy romcom with a hint of action? Run, don’t walk to get this book!