DRIVEN TO INK by Karen E. Olson is the third book in the A Tattoo Shop Mystery series. The protagonist, Brett Kavanaugh, is a female tattooist who owns her own tattoo shop, The Painted Lady.

The series can be read as a standalone. No, you do not have to read the books in sequence, but if you do, you would most definitely benefit from knowing who Brett Kavanaugh and her friends are, and appreciate them more.

GIRL INTERRUPTED is a memoir that is all of these: Poignant. Funny. Optimistic. Fascinating. Stirring. It is heartbreaking and it is memorable. It drew me in immediately and got me hooked like drug.

In 1967, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put into a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. There she met with the other girls in the psychiatric ward: […]

DEAD MEN’S DUST, the first Joe Hunter thriller is a good read. Joe is a former Special Forces soldier who has worked 14 years as a counter-terrorism agent. The book has the necessary ingredients that make a good thriller, but it did not excite me as much as Lee Child’s Jack Reacher.

Having read the first and second books of the Troubleshooters series, I knew I have to move on quickly to the third, OVER THE EDGE. The Troubleshooters series features action-packed thrillers of a certain group of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs.

OVER THE EDGE is a page-turner. In this installment, the focus of the story is on Senior Chief Stan Wolchonok and helicopter pilot in the naval reserves, Lieutenant Teri Howe. Stan is rock steady—to him no difficult challenges are unsolvable. Come to Stan and the problem WILL be solved. He takes Teri under his wings when he sees how she is being treated by her male counterparts. Teri shares her disturbing past […]

THE DEFIANT HERO is the second book of the Troubleshooters series and I read it in March this year. I had totally enjoyed the experience—what a great mix of intense adventure and love story that involves a group of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs.

In this installment, the focus of the story is on Navy SEAL Lieutenant junior grade, John Nilsson, and translator, Meg Moore. John has not seen Meg in years but when she calls for him for help, all the memories of her being with him come flooding back. But what’s shocking though is that she’s not the victim but rather the person who is holding a foreign ambassador hostage.

What John does not know is Meg […]

TALK TO ME LIKE I’M SOMEONE YOU LOVE by Nancy Dreyfus, Psy.D is a special book. It’s special because of its flashcards concept. The idea was inspired when the author was working with a particular couple (unrelenting wife versus emotionally withdrawn husband). As a last resort, the author scribbled on a scrap of paper, Talk to me like I’m someone you love! and gently instructed the husband to hold it up to his wife. She noticed things began to shift between the couple and a strikingly more mutual connection began emerging in front of everyone’s eyes. There are more than 100 “flashcards for real life” that can be used immediately during a crisis, which I think is a wonderful relationship tool that’s both unique and insightful. […]

LAST NIGHT ANOTHER SOLDIER… by Andy McNab: Who would have known that a 112-page book would pack so much punch and take me for a suspenseful ride into the ‘Green Zone’ in Afghanistan? I was contemplating whether to do a full review or a short one, and decided to go full.

LAST NIGHT ANOTHER SOLDIER… is the story of four young men in the British Army, told from the point of view of an eighteen-year-old squaddie, David ‘Briggsy’ Briggs. Almost immediately, readers are taken into action, in the middle of a major contact with the Taliban in total darkness. Rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) streaked across the sky, heading straight towards them. […]