Dame Alice Hits Hollywood by Allie Mahoney – Book Review & Guest Post – Blog Tour

Today, I have two-part blog post for you. As part of a blog tour for historical fiction, cozy mystery Dame Alice Hits Hollywood by Allie Mahoney, I’m doing a book review along with an author guest post.

So, before we get ahead of ourselves, let me first share with you the book synopsis. Then, it’s the book review and the guest post, where the author talks about the ‘dream cast’ for her book.

This post is part of a blog tour, though I’m running a bit late posting my review.

 

Book synopsis for Dame Alice Hits Hollywood

April 1937: When Penelope Greenleigh, assistant at Ten Spot Press, learns she'll be heading to Hollywood to supervise script changes on the set of Lady Irwin's Diamonds, she should be thrilled. Who wouldn't want to mingle with movie stars in sunny California?

But there's a catch: Penelope, 29 and from Cape May, New Jersey, has been asked to impersonate Dame Alice Cartwright, the world's bestselling mystery author, who's 47 and lives in Copley-on-the-Wold, England.

On the night Penelope arrives in L.A., Lady Irwin's lead actress disappears and a Harry Winston necklace goes missing. Soon, gossip columnist Hattie Holiday threatens to expose Penelope's deception, mobsters are coming after the film's boozy director, and worst of all, Dame Alice's script has gone from murder mystery to Fred and Ginger-style musical!

The action unfolds at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Trocadero, and hotspot Chasen's as Penelope works to solve the crimes alongside a handsome detective and a hapless studio flunky. Can she find the diamonds, the actress, and survive a wild week in Hollywood?

 

Book Review of Dame Alice Hits Hollywood

Dame Alice Hits Hollywood is a quick-read novella by Allie Mahoney. It’s my first read for Mahoney but it’s unlikely to be the last.

Dame Alice Hits Hollywood is a different kind of mystery. There’s no death involved. However, a character and the Harry Winston necklace, a unique piece of jewelry with massive diamonds, disappear in the early chapters.

The book opens with a series of telegrams between the Farley Brothers studios and author Dame Alice Cartwright.

The Farley Brothers, who are producing a movie based on the Dame’s mystery novel, ask the Dame to be present for script edits. The Dame, on the other hand, is working on another novel and doesn’t seem interested in being present for the edits.

The result?

“Penelope Greenleigh, you’re about to become Dame Alice Cartwright for the next three weeks.”

Penelope thinks she’s under enough pressure posing as the Dame but then the lead actress, Zsa Zsa, in the movie inspired by the Dame’s book disappears, along with a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry.

Now, Penelope posing as the Dame, along with her best friend Molly, and now-fired Farley Brothers’ assistant Toby, search for the necklace. Penelope and Molly also begin asking questions to learn more about Zsa Zsa and why she disappeared.

“It was one thing to type up Dame Alice’s murder-filled manuscripts, but another to land in the scene of an actual violent crime.”

The book is narrated from Penelope’s first-person perspective. Penelope is 29 and an American, while the Dame is in her late 40s and British. So, we get a lot of sarcasm and humor.

“Toby, you need to taste the stew,” Molly told the kid, handing him a spoon. “Is it beef, or is it Barry?”

“How’d I know if Mr. King was the main ingredient?”

As the story progresses, Toby receives a note saying:

This intrigues both Penelope and Molly, who begin to dig into The Beverly Hills Burglar’s previous thefts – seeing as the police are constantly busy playing music at various homes in Hollywood.

The book is fairly quick-paced. At 140 pages, the book takes place over the course of a week, from start-to-finish. It can be read in a sitting or two.

Several times while reading Dame Alice Hits Hollywood, I felt like I was reading – or watching – a play. The scenes were akin to a play rather than a story. In each scene, we have lots of people coming and going, as if on stage.

As one character exits, another comes in to deliver a certain piece of information and then leaves.

I don’t know if this was intentional on the author’s part or not, but it felt a bit odd.

What’s interesting about Dame Alice Hits Hollywood is the setting. The book is set in the late 1930s and in Hollywood. So, there’s lots of fancy lunches, dinners, dresses, and everything in between.

Penelope maybe posing as Dame Alice but she’s not on the Dame’s financial budget. So, instead of living luxuriously in Hollywood, Penelope has to make due by sleeping on Molly’s couch and borrowing Molly’s clothes.

The book picks up pace when the real Dame sets foot in L.A. and confronts the Dame-posing Penelope.

It’s exciting to see that the quartet, Penelope, Molly, the Dame, and Toby, will appear in the coming books. Dame Alice Hits Hollywood is the first in a series of cozy mysteries. It can be read as a standalone.

Overall rating for Dame Alice Hits Hollywood by Allie Mahoney: 4 stars

 

My Dream Cast for Dame Alice Hits Hollywood!
By Allie Mahoney

 

Sure, these actors are A-Listers, but why not think big when I envision an on-screen version of my new cozy mystery?

In Dame Alice Hits Hollywood, it’s 1937 Los Angeles, and the action takes place in Beverly Hills, at Chasen’s and the Brown Derby restaurants, and at fictional Farley Brothers Studios in Hollywood’s heyday. Can you picture the glossy convertibles, palm trees, and stylish pool parties? This story of impersonation, a missing movie star, stolen Harry Winston gems, and gangsters and gossips is made for the big (or small) screen!

As Penelope, the publishing assistant who’s been tasked with impersonating bestselling mystery author Dame Alice Cartwright on the set of Lady Irwin’s Diamonds, I imagine Selena Gomez. Yes, she’s too beautiful to be anonymous, but Selena has the ability to fit right in with Steve Martin and Martin Short, and she’d give Penelope just the right air of excitement at landing in L.A.

Since we’re conjuring star power, how about the gorgeous Zendaya as Zsa Zsa Le Coque, the actress who’s mid-fling with an Argentinian aristocrat while not quite divorced from her soup mogul husband?

Dame Alice Cartwright is based on my favorite author Agatha Christie, and when the real Dame shows up in California, she appears to be an introverted, retiring figure until she sips a few daquiris and starts solving crimes. I aspire to hire the real-life Dame (the highest honor in Britain) Emma Thompson. The reserved author unbends a bit while in L.A., and Thompson would do that with so much skill.

As Toby, the studio flunky and sidekick to Penelope, who could resist Simu Liu? While Liu himself is innately cool, which Toby isn’t, Liu is also very funny and doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously. And would Bryan Cranston be available to take on the role of canned foods millionaire Morty Le Coque?

Finally, as the big-hearted, boozy oil heiress Emerald Elliman, whose mansion adjacent to the Beverly Hills Hotel hosts many starry soirees, I envision Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham inviting actors, gangsters, screenwriters, and the Dame herself to party like it’s 1937!

 

About the author

A longtime magazine journalist, Allie Mahoney has written for Town & Country, Time Out New York, and Cosmo. 

A lifelong Agatha Christie fan, her shelves are also filled with the books of P.G. Wodehouse, Dave Barry, Sophie Kinsella, and Carl Hiaasen. Additional guilty pleasures: Classic Hollywood movies, fashion, dogs, Bravo tv, BritBox, Phillies baseball, and the beach.

 

Inheriting Her Ghosts by S.H. Cooper – Book Review

I got the opportunity to read Inheriting Her Ghosts by S.H. Cooper as part of the Book Blogger Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) 2022.

It came in 5th place among the 10 finalists.

This review was supposed to go up earlier in May but life gets in the way… so, here it is.

 

Book title: Inheriting Her Ghosts

Publisher: Sleepless Sanctuary Publishing

Length: 120 Pages

Genre: Horror, Adult 

Publication date: 9 July 2021

Book Synopsis:

Inheritance often comes with strings attached, but rarely are they as tangled as those hanging over High Hearth.

When Eudora Fellowes learns she's the sole heir of her estranged great-aunt's seaside manor, she believes it will be the peaceful escape she's longed for.

What awaits, however, is a dark legacy shrouded in half a century of secrets, and it doesn't take long before Eudora realizes she's not the only one to call High Hearth home.

Add Inheriting Her Ghosts by S.H. Cooper on Goodreads.

 

Book Review of Inheriting Her Ghosts by S.H. Cooper

Inheriting Her Ghosts is my first read for S.H. Cooper and certainly not my last. It’s a horror novella of with a sort-of well-known premise. A woman inherits a mansion in the middle of nowhere but what she finds there isn’t what she expected.

The book opens with a strong and powerful statement:

“The house inherited me as much as I did it. We were alike, this house and I. Both filled with bones that creaked and dark hallways where memories lingered still.”

Eudora Fellows, 43, inherits her estranged great-aunt’s seaside manor, named High Hearth. She hopes it’ll be a peaceful escape from society. So, she packs up some of her belongings and takes her large dogs and heads for High Hearth.

But when she arrives there, she discovers that the people in town believe it’s haunted. They despise the house and its former resident, Eudora’s great-aunt.

Despite the fairly-traditional premise, Cooper draws you in with her writing. Her words flow on the page and you can’t put it down even if you’re not deep in the action.

“I awakened something in this house, and the more I sought to understand it, the more it resisted, resented, and in its anger, it took power.”

Though it takes a while for Cooper to get into the ‘action’ in Inheriting Her Ghosts, you still enjoy Eudora’s reflections, her descriptiveness. The book just flows…

“There is a darkness in High Hearth, one that has trapped the dead, and it stems from her.”

One of the things I liked about Inheriting Her Ghosts is that the main character isn’t the usual teen or mother, but a 43-year-old woman with a cynical, strong character.

“At forty-three, I was an oddity…there were expectations, and I’d failed to meet them all...I’d never much cared for the male species. Or, more accurately, the human species as a whole.”

There are many memorable quotes and lines in Inheriting Her Ghosts. I’ve mentioned a fair number in this review, but believe me, there are many more!

“Late was the hour of our arrival. High Hearth stood as a grand silhouette against the sky, its spires and peaks piercing upward and mall the more imposing by the night. The sight of it sent waves of cold washing down my neck, but they did not, could not, run deep enough to extinguish the firestorm within.”

 

Overall rating for Inheriting Her Ghosts by S.H. Cooper: 5 stars.

About the Author

S.H. Cooper is a Florida based, multi-genre author with a focus on horror and fantasy. Her work has been published by Sleepless Sanctuary Publishing, Cemetery Gates Media, and Brigids Gate Press.

In addition to short story collections and novels, she is also the writer for the horror comedy podcast, Calling Darkness.

When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing, talking about writing, or sleeping (wherein she dreams about writing). She is kept up and running through the tireless efforts of her extremely supportive family and coffee.

Connect with S.H. Cooper via her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

 

About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.  

If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or Twitter.

BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Find Inheriting Her Ghosts via Amazon Canada, Amazon US, and Amazon UK.

 

Arrival by Henry Bassett – Book Review

Book: Arrival

(The Black Bear Brotherhood Book 1)

Author: Henry Basset

Number of pages: 35

Publication date: 1 March 2020

 

Synopsis:

A bear, known only as Caver, recounts when his planet was covered in nature and not yet tainted by human touch.

The book has many strong aspects that make the reader think. However, there are some downsides as well.

Arrival by Henry Bassett is a nine-chapter novella about a world of bears that gets invaded by humans.

Since then, humans have branched out from another world and enveloped his planet.

The differences between the two species result in an atmosphere of fear which rips apart the old way of life and enforces the creation of an apparently more civilized one.

However, how much will be lost in the process?

 

Book Review by Nadaness In Motion

Arrival is narrated from the first person perspective of Caver, a bear in a world inhabited by bears only – or at least that is what it appears to be because we don't see other animals except the fish that bears hunt and eat.

"I no longer remember my original name; Caver is what they call me and it's one of the few words of theirs that I can process."

It's interesting to see how bears would look at the sounds people make, their voice, what they carry and what they are doing.

Bassett shows human voices as "screeching" from a bear's perspective. That said, I felt the word "screech" was over used in Arrival.

Once the humans invade the bear planet, they force the bears into slavery and take over their resources, laying waste to their forests.

"Polar bears, in flying eggs, who have deformed and thinned bodies?"

Arrival somehow reminded me of George Orwell's Animal Farm, though on a much smaller and different scale.

As Caver is given an axe and forced to chop off trees, he picks a tree and is surprised by this idea of "choice."

"I chose this tree, it was my choice; what a strange term for this forced and designated activity."

The "big brother" or rather "watchful government eyes" theme is particularly present in Bassett's Arrival. There are different groups of humans and we see everything from Caver's eyes.  

"It's the uncertainty that prevents me from being truly at ease with the situation."

Arrival alternates between the present state of bear enslavement and some flashbacks for when the humans first arrived.

Overall, I think Arrival has great potential. The ending isn't amazing but the novella can go much farther.

 

Overall rating: 2.5 stars

Note: I received a free copy of Arrival from its author Henry Basset in exchange for an honest review. This did not, in any way, influence my review.

Bellamy by Darcy Coates – Book Review

There was something wrong with Bellamy. [Leanne] had been running from it for most of her life. It had brought her home, though.  Perhaps it had always intended to. Perhaps no one ever truly escaped the building."

Bellamy is a creepy short story by author Darcy Coates. I think I downloaded this book when the author offered it for free for a limited time for newsletter subscribers. And I'm glad I downloaded it.

The story opens with Leanne who has returned to the orphanage where she and her brother were placed nearly 30 years prior. We later learn that her brother disappeared from the orphanage and was never found.

"The exterior was flat and grim, more like a warehouse than a home." – This is the first description the reader gets of Bellamy.

Bellamy is narrated in the third person but it's clear that the main view point is Leanne's, who has been struggling to forget about this so-called home. The reader quickly notices that Leanne wants no connection with the home, whereas the 'home' wants Leanne. It's as if she escaped when she shouldn't have.

"Thirty years should have been long enough to forget the home. Thirty years should have been long enough for the dreams to stop."

As the story progresses, Leanne goes back inside the run-down orphanage. However, there was a purpose to Leanne's visit; "she wasn't there just to call up old memories."

Both through memory and flashback, we're told that children were disappearing in Bellamy. I liked how Darcy Coates interweaved Leanne's memories into the story, giving the reader the perfect background about events that happened 30 years prior to the story being told.

When Leanne enters the once-upon-a-time home, she also enters the places she wasn't allowed to explore as a child and there Bellamy's secret or rather secrets are slowly revealed.

Bellamy scared me and I loved it! There were lots of twists that kept me on edge and that had me read the book/story in one sitting. I can probably read this novella over and over.

Overall rating for Bellamy: 5 stars

Add Bellamy by Darcy Coates on Goodreads.

Note: I originally meant to publish this book review October, aka my month of Halloween but the month flew by and obviously I didn't publish the review.

Update: Bellamy by Darcy Coates has made it to Nadaness In Motion's Top Books of 2019.

Dead over Heels – Short Story Book Review

Dead over Heels

by Theresa Braun

Published by: Frith Books

Publication date: 26 November 2016

Genres: Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Romance

Synopsis:

Veronica’s first date with Sebastian not only stirs up a powerful attraction, but also a series of supernatural events that will tear them apart.

After countless hours of dead end online dating, Veronica meets up with Sebastian at a reportedly haunted restaurant, since he knows she has a fascination with the paranormal. While enjoying their meals and each other’s company, they share a shocking supernatural experience. Their romantic connection is overshadowed by the ghosts of their own pasts that threaten to destroy their budding relationship. Veronica decides she must return to the restaurant to face her past and dig up more answers. Unfortunately, she realizes she must go back, this time with a reluctant Sebastian. In the end, they join forces against the evil that stands between them, but will they make it out alive?

Book review by Nadaness In Motion

Dead over Heels by Theresa Braun is a fast-paced paranormal short story.

The story is narrated from the first person perspective of Veronica, a woman who has spent years under the illusion that her mother left her and her father "because she didn't love them".

Veronica has spent years in search of love. She decides to make a wish on a candle then, after giving up hope, meets Sebastian via an online dating site. After they meet, the two feel as if they've known each other for a long time.

I liked how the story has a strong opening that ended with "I never knew that finding the one would be such a double-edged sword."

The two decide to meet at The Riverside Restaurant, which is rumoured to be close to a haunted area.

Veronica is cynical but entertaining. She's also quite descriptive, very down to earth and relatable.

How long does it take to read Dead over Heels? An hour tops. (An hour and a half if you're a very slow reader).

Overall, I enjoyed reading the – sad but – interesting story. 

"Hey, could you send a couple of drinks to that table over there?" Sebastian shot me a wink as he spoke.

The server's mouth fell agape. "Sir, who do you mean?"

"The two over there." Sebastian motioned to the couple.

Just then, the pair released their hand-holding, got up and started toward the door. She adjusted the sweater over her shoulders. He cradled the small of her back, kissed her temple and they were gone."Sir, no one has been sitting there all night."

(Overall rating: 4 stars)

Note: I received a free copy of Dead over Heels by Theresa Braun via the Xpresso Tours Review Opps in exchange for an honest review.

Nadaness In Motion's Top Books from 2016

I'm thrilled to reveal my top picks from 2016. Not all of these books were published in 2016 – some may have been released in 2015 – but I received and reviewed them last year and they were GREAT.

The books are not in any order whatsoever and are all highly recommended.

To avoid repetition, I've included a link at the bottom with the book reviews page for your leisure, so you can read my full reviews of these amazing books.

To the authors: Thank you for the opportunity of allowing me to read and review your work.

I've read many amazing books this year, here are my top - top - picks! 

The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel

The first instalment in The Oakwood Mystery Series, is a super-paced good read, perfect for a bibliophile and a mystery lover!

The story's main character Charlotte – Charley – Carpenter, joins an elite reading group focused around mysteries to help boost her sales. A murder takes place and the characters discover that the murder takes up after their reading list. 

"Most of the Agathas seemed to be enjoying themselves, as if the poor woman had been killed for their entertainment. Be honest, Carpenter. You're just as curious as the rest of them."

Black Water Tales: The Unwanted by Jean Nicole Rivers

The Unwanted is a horror novel set in the remote city of Borslav. Blaire Baker volunteers as a teacher at St. Sebastian Orphanage, where she will spend a year. St. Sebastian is not an ordinary orphanage. It is a place where people come to leave their 'unwanted' children.

"The loneliness she carried was dark and telling of a grotesque obscurity of the heart, one that haunted her every move and moment."

The Corpse with the Ruby Lips by Cathy Ace

 

A new instalment in the Cait Morgan Mystery Series, this novel is a different mystery by all means. Cait goes to Budapest to teach for a month; there one of her students, Zsofia, asks that she look into her grandmother's death which occurred almost 40 years prior on Cait's university campus.

One of the things I liked about this instalment was Ace's use of books, a saga to be exact, that might mirror what has happened to the family. The author also handles a variety of themes and problems such as Alzheimer's and alcoholism, to keep Cait – and the reader – away from finding the truth.

"'Careful' is my middle name," I mugged.
"Not it's not, and it never will be. Your middle name's much more likely to be 'catastrophe.'"

Jess Under Pressure by E. Graziani

"Just as randomly two human cells come together to create life, it can easily and indiscriminately be snatched away."

Jess Under Pressure is a powerful novella of regaining one's life, overcoming obstacles, breaking free and above all learning to live and love once again.

The story is about Jessica Britton, a renowned psychologist, whose book Give More, Do More, Be Better has inspired thousands of women. However, things are not perfect for the doctor, who discovers her husband cheating on her when he and her publicist die in a car crash.

Set Me Free by London Setterby

 

The theme of being set free does not only apply to the protagonist Miranda but also to Owen and the whole town of Falls Island, all of whom need to be set free from a tragedy that happened seven years before.

Everyone has a secret in the novel.

“I knew enough about grief to know that it never truly went away, even after seven years. Sometimes it was just a stone you carried around with you, hardly remembering it was there, and other times it hit you with its full shrieking malevolent force – always at the strangest moments, like when you were driving or at the bank.”

Kings or Pawns by JJ Sherwood

The first instalment in the Steps of Power series, the novel deals with Hairem, who has ascended the throne after his father's passing, and who has to deal with a council of corrupt members, all working on their personal gains and away from the needs of their respective elven realms.

There is also the army general Jikun, whom we see as a bit selfish but nonetheless skilled and who at least has an idea about the duties of his role as a general and the sacrifices he has to make.

"Unlike the palace treasury, [the personal finances] of the council members were filling up like a halfling's pockets in a treasure trove."

The novel directed my interest towards the politics of running a country, and had me wondering what happens when a good leader is surrounded by corrupt ones.

Dreams of Her Own by Rebecca Heflin

"She'd never been so close to a man before. Unless you counted rush hour on the Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown."

The novel is the third and final instalment in the Dreams Come True Series. This time, the story is about Millie, assistant to best-selling romance author Darcy Butler.

The book is full of beautiful imagery and quotes, as well as comic and silly situations that happen to no one but Millie. They cracked me up and made me want to give her a hug.

I loved Millie and her character development.

(Note: Adult content)

Stake Out by Lily Luchesi

 

Stake Out is the first paranormal, romance and crime novella in the Paranormal Detectives series. Easily read in one sitting, the book is fast-paced, action-packed and highly enjoyable.

Detective Daniel Mancini survives an encounter with a man named Vincent, whom we learn is a 200-year old vampire. The encounter forces him into an early retirement. Two years later, he is approached by a beautiful young-looking woman, claiming she is from a lesser known FBI division called the Paranormal Investigative Division (PID).

The Other Me by Maha Gargash

Written by Emirati author Maha Gargash, the novel has beautiful prose handling the lives of members in one Emirati family and the workings within that family. It is a story of how very different women rebel against one man. 

Set in Egypt and the UAE in 1995, the novel covers various themes such as women, education, love, family, duty, and entitlement. 

"I'd overpowered them. I'd broken them and slashed their resolve."

The Grey Forest by Maureen Griswold (short story collection)

 

It is a collection of nine short stories, spanning several genres from realism to the paranormal to social criticism and current issues. The stories are beautifully written and the style is fairly consistent throughout the collection.

For me the star of the collection "The Neighbour's Girl", which was inspired by the US entering Iraq under various pretexts. The little girl may have almost been silent throughout the story but her silence spoke volumes. "The Neighbour's Girl" is by all means the most profound piece in the collection. 10 stars for this one.

Tales of the Rose Rabbit by Kirsten Weiss

A companion chapbook of poetry and poetic prose for the Witches of Doyle cozy mystery series, the book features a variety of poetic styles and themes mostly dark, but sometimes with a bit hope at the end. The main themes are war, darkness, hope and fantasy.

Metamorphosis by Jennifer Carole Lewis

"Living in the past doesn't change it. It only destroys the present."

Metamorphosis opens with former army corporal Ron McBride escaping from his captors and freezing in the Canadian wilderness. He carries the ashes of a friend, whom he was unable to save in the last book and hopes to give them to her family in a place called "Ekurru".

Almost frozen in the cold, Ron wakes up in Doc's cabin, where he meets his rescuers. He later discovers that the place is home to highly intelligent massive-sized bears.

The novel is quick-paced, paranormal, action, romance. Simply brilliant.

"The warmth hit him like truck, sparking an irrational temptation to crawl directly into the tiny fire to thaw his frozen body."

Full reviews can be found here.