jbronderbookreviews

My Review

5 stars

Jessica Faraday has been going to school to be a doctor. Her husband Murphy Thornton is in the Navy. Both are finding that they are having a hard time having some quality time together. Jessica suggests Date Night and they are about ready for a steamy night in when Murphy gets a new case. A former officer has had a lead relating to Chef Natalie Stepford but is killed before anyone can figure out what was going on.

Murphy suggests date night happen at Natalie’s kitchen studio. There the couple finds that Natalie is drop dead gorgeous and has several couples in attendance. But after the class Natalie is discovered dead. Murphy and Jessica learn that there is a lot more to Natalie than just her cooking class and blog. But then Murphy is kidnapped putting Jessica into a panic. We still don’t know the connection to Sex Kitty and time is running out to save Murphy and catch the murderer.

This is another great mystery from Lauren Carr. Things are getting strained between Jessica and Murphy but date night should save the day, well until a murder happens. I loved the whole Sex Kitty side of the story with the great twist of Murphy being kidnapped. I didn’t expect how that ended. But to find out why the retired officer was killed, so sad. I don’t want to give too much away, you just have to read/listen to this book.

And speaking of listening to this book, Mike Alger does an amazing job at narrating this book. I have come to think of him as part of Lauren’s books and can’t wait to hear him narrate the next book.

This is a killer, Ha, series and one I recommend for any mystery lover. I adore Lauren Carr’s books and can’t wait to get my grubby little hands on the next one.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to listen and share this book.

Five Best Tips for Authors

By Lauren Carr

“What advice would you give to a budding writer?”

Without any doubt, this is the question I am most often asked. Depending on my mood, or what may be on my mind at that moment, I may not always give the same answer. So, here, I have comprised my most FA (Frequent Answers)!

1) Write every day. Even if you aren’t feeling like it or don’t think the words you are typing on your laptop are literary gems–write. Athletes have to train every day. Even though you may only be exercising your mental and creative muscles, you are training to. Also, just like athletes, you can’t kick back and let yourself go after having “made it.” You need to continue training even after you have finished writing your masterpiece—and getting it released.

Just like with athletes, the more writing you do, the better you will get. Also, you will be surprised when you go back to read stuff that you had thought was less than adequate at the time you wrote it. Out of that pile of rocky words, you could find a shiny gem!

Several years ago, I wrote the rough draft of a book that I knew I would not be publishing before I even got halfway through it. The mystery and plotline were good, but there was a problem with the characters. Years later, after completing Shades of Murder, I realized that this book was the perfect vehicle for the first Lovers in Crime Mystery. In a matter of days, I edited the rough draft I had written and released it as Dead on Ice.

2) Read. It is easy for writers to want to spend every spare moment they have creating their own literary masterpieces. Yet, the truth of the matter is that there is no better way to learn how to be a great writer than to read what has already been written—whether that writing is good or bad.

As an editor, I once worked with a writer who had a serious issue with stopping everything when she introduced a new character to tell her readers that character’s entire backstory. I explained her problem to her many times but she failed to understand what I was trying to tell her until she read a book in which another writer did the exact same thing. Seeing her mistake made by another writer showed her what she was doing wrong and she’s never had this issue again.

3) Write what you want to write, not what’s hot right now. When you write what you know and are passionate about, the words will come naturally, which will make for easy reading for your readers. However, if you write what is selling right now, or what you think will get you a big publisher or agent or movie deal, then the words will not come so easily because—wait for it—those words aren’t yours. They’re the words of publishers, agents, and movie producers. This is one sure way to get writer’s block!

4) Live Life. By nature, writers are introverts. That’s why self-promotion is so hard for us. It is extremely easy for us to retreat into our literary world. While you may be churning out great work, you also risk getting out of touch with the world around you—which contains a wealth of inspiration for your current and future work-in-progress.

My greatest story ideas have come from getting out there, meeting people, and learning things about the world around me. My plotline for Murder by Perfection was inspired by a conversation with a friend about everyone’s quest for perfection. The idea for my current work in progress (upcoming Lovers in Crime mystery) hit me like a ton of bricks during a discussion about family secrets revealed as a result of genealogy research.

5) If you want a career in writing, treat your writing like a career. That means embracing my tips above and then some. If you have a day job, make time to write in the evening—just like you would if you had a second job. Approach your writing as a second job that you want to make your primary career. That means embracing all those little unpleasant tasks that come with any career—like self-promotion, learning new writing techniques, and taking advice from those who have gone before you—even if you may not like it.

This last tip may seem like a “duh, yeah!” piece of advice, but I can’t tell you how many talented writers I have worked with who were in positions that I would have killed for when I graduated from high school and/or college and wanted to be an author. More than one protégé were in positions in which they had parents, grandparents, or spouses bank rolling them while they pursued their dreams—only to have them play around on social media, write a few pages of their work-in-progress and then invite me to meet them for lunch to ask why their careers are going nowhere.

The difference between a hobby and a career is in the attitude. The writer who dives into the world of writing and publishing, learning how to identify his own darlings so that he can slay them before they go to the editor (even though it’s not pretty and fun!) and investing the time in learning the ins and outs of the ever-changing world of book publishing will end up with a career as an author—and loving it!