More #IndieAuthors–Can’t Get Enough of These

I can’t wait to share these Indie books with you. I just know you’ll love them as much as I did:

1. Orion’s Gift–two people, estranged from their mates, find a second change in Mexico
2. Desolation Bluff–what would you do if the best day of your life was also the worst?

–a note about my reviews: I only review books I enjoyed. I need to be inspired to write. That’s why so many of my reviews are 4/5 or 5/5

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Orion’s Gift

by Anneli Purchase

I’ve read several of Anneli Purchase’s excellent fiction books (read my reviews for Julia’s Violinist and Marlie). They always have interesting characters who get into trouble and then figure out how to get out of it. As I get to know them, I like and respect them, and start rooting for everything to work out well (I like happy endings). Orion’s Gift (2012) was one of those. It is a delightful story about dreams, love, loss, heartbreak, rejuvenation, and new beginnings. Sylvia is in the perfect marriage with a handsome man every woman wants, except he just happens to be a wife beater who barely likes her, much less loves her. Kevin works endless hours trying to kickstart the family bookstore despite his wife’s constant complaints, bullying, and no help. He realizes he’s spending time at the bookstore as much to get the business going as to escape his hopeless home situation. He receives a healthy inheritance that allows him to escape. Both pack up their cars with basic necessities, grab what money they can, and flee to Baja, Mexico, hoping the slow life of a wanderer will put dreams and hope back into their lives. Along the way, they find each other. Both are wandering with no particular goal. Both like art and drawing. Both want nothing more than to find out what life can offer other than disappointment, lies, and stress. They fall in love but can’t escape their past. How they finally do find their way to a future is a satisfying read that reminds us all that romance can’t be planned. It just is. And true love can conquer all.

Highly recommended for those who love happy romances that end well.

Desolation Bluff

by Toni Pike

In Toni Pike’s Desolation Bluff (Chapman Reid Publications 2019), blind romance writer, Oliver Cameron, has the good fortune of miraculously regaining his eyesight. He can’t wait to tell his beloved wife, Vanessa, and best friend, Ray, about his good fortune. Before he can do this, he finds them in bed together, professing their love. He decides to continue to pretend he is blind so he can see if this is simply a bored fling or something else. It doesn’t take long to figure out it is the latter. Oliver decides to play with them by causing a number of accidents they would never blame on a blind man, each increasingly more devious until he begins to anonymously accuse them of their deceit.

I loved everything about this book. Oliver is blind but not weak (yay!) and discovering that everything he’d thought was his world isn’t makes him determined to clean his life up and start fresh. How he does it is fascinating, clever, often feels good, and is always very satisfying. I cheered for him every step.  Despite being novelette length, the characters are well-developed and the plot is intricate enough to keep any reader’s attention. Recommended for those who love strong people who don’t quit.

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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Man vs. Nature saga, and the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice,  a columnist for NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, Laws of Nature, Summer 2021.