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Breach of Trust (The Madeline Dawkins Series Book 8 ) by Cynthia Hamilton – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

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Breach of Trust (The Madeline Dawkins Series Book 8)Breach of Trust by Cynthia Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Breach of Trust is Book Eight in The Madeline Dawkins Mystery Series. Madeline and her team are at it again with a few new cases to try to solve. Case number one comes when Madeline is asked to come to Monte Verde, a retirement home that her father has recently moved into. She is concerned that her father is not settling well in his new environment but quickly finds out that she was asked there for other reasons. The facility director asks Madeline to try to solve where the poison pen letters are coming from that are being sent to residents of Monte Verde. Someone is threatening to expose dark secrets from their pasts that could destroy lives. Case number two involves a woman being intimidated and bullied by her ex-husband. Then, of course, is trying to find a daughter who left home so that she could join a cult. Their hands are full, as usual, as they are kept busy with the new cases.

As they start to dig into each case, they discover that the residents of Monte Verde are not as innocent as they may seem. They all seem to have some deep dark secrets that are best left buried. A case involving an estranged ex-husband brings painful memories from Madeline’s past to the surface and puts her on edge. The ex-husband is using bullying and intimidation so that his ex-wife gives up her share of the marital assets. His techniques are concerning and almost criminal which act as triggers for Madeline about her past. The distraught father of a missing girl who is desperate to find his daughter pulls on heartstrings. Throughout all of the cases Madeline must try to also help her own father at Monte Verde.

Another great book by this author who is great at weaving all of the different storylines and cases together. It was fun to read the story and try to solve the cases along with Madeline. The characters were well developed and relatable, especially Madeline. She was smart, brave, and determined. I could feel the emotions she was experiencing as she relived the trauma from her own past and tried to work through it to save a woman in similar circumstances. This was a great read full of danger, secrets, lies, shady dealings, intimidation, tension, and some super sleuthing by Madeline and her team.

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Other People’s Money (The Madeline Dawkins Series Book 7) by Cynthia Hamilton – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

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Other People's Money (The Madeline Dawkins Series Book 7)Other People’s Money by Cynthia Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Other People’s Money is Book Seven in the Madeline Dawkins Series. Madeline and her team have taken on several new cases. Jane, a friend from Madeline’s past, asks for her help to figure out who is embezzling money from her husband’s company. As Madeline and her team begin to investigate the first case, a second one pops up when a woman goes missing. The third case involves a wealthy man and a gold digger. The man’s son asks for Madeline’s help to uncover the truth about the woman and save his dad from her greedy clutches. As Madeline and her team start to investigate, they end up with more questions than answers and discover that the cases are somehow intertwined. Madeline and her team seem to be hitting roadblocks in their investigations of each case.

This was a fantastic book with a great storyline. One seemingly straightforward case leads Madeline and her team to other cases. Each case seems to be wrapped up somehow with the other cases as Madeline and her team follow the trail of other people’s money. The team works great together as they follow the trail of clues and even though they hit a few roadblocks along the way it does not deter them from being relentless in solving each case. Madeline feels overwhelmed by tackling so many cases at once, but it does not deter her from doing what she needs to do in order to solve the cases. She is tough, smart, and determined. This book has embezzlement, a missing bookkeeper, a clever gold digger, elaborate cons and scams, manipulation, secrets, tension, drama, suspense, mystery, and a few twists and turns.

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How to Make a Flying Carpet (Alex, the Inventor) by Lois Wickstrom – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

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How to Make a Flying Carpet (Alex, the Inventor #2)How to Make a Flying Carpet by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When a magnet on the refrigerator breaks Alex knows that she must find a use for it because she does not like wasting things. Alex uses the magnets in a variety of ways as she tries to figure out the best use for it. As she experiments with what to use the magnet for, she learns what a magnet does. She learns that magnets stick together but can also pull apart. Alex also learns that magnets stick to metal but not there are some types of metals that magnets do not stick to. After trying the magnets in different ways and learning more about them Alex comes up with the idea to use them to make a flying carpet.

This was another great book by this author that teaches kids about magnets and how they work. Through the use of illustrations and easy-to-learn text the author teaches kids that magnets stick together, and that they will stick to certain types of metals but not others. At the end of the book is information about Earth’s magnetic field as well as what makes a metal magnetic. It is explained in a manner that is easy for younger children to learn. This book not only teaches kids about magnets, but also about not being wasteful, learning to be resourceful and recycle, and about learning to use their imagination.

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Raising Elle (Sweet Valley Series Book 1) by S.E Reichert – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

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Raising ElleRaising Elle by S.E. Reichert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Elle Sullivan returns to her hometown of Sweet Valley in the hopes of leaving the life she lived in LA behind her. She returns to her family home battered, bruised, and holding tightly to secrets of the lifestyle she left behind. Feeling frightened and alone, Elle is unsure what reaction to expect from her family that she has not spoken to in years. When her family welcome her home with open arms, she feels relieved, but is still nervous and on edge as she flees her past life. Elle is determined to get a fresh start, so she pushes her fear to the side, puts on a brave face, and throws herself into helping her family fix up the family ranch.

What Elle did not count on facing was her childhood sweetheart, Blake, still living in Sweet Valley. When she runs into him immediately after returning home old feelings start to surface. Blake is just as surprised to see Elle and is forced to come to terms with his feelings for the girl he never got over. After Elle left, Blake’s life started to spiral downwards, and when she returned, he had finally hit rock bottom. When Elle needs help around the ranch fixing it up, she offers Blake the chance to help her. She feels that this will give him the chance to sober up and start getting his life back on track. In the process, Elle, and Blake work together to help one another get their lives back and build a brighter future.

Warning, this has some sensitive subject matter and may cause triggers. It also has some strong language that may offend some. As a survivor of domestic violence this book was a hard read for me. It had a lot of triggers and dredged up some painful memories of my own past with my abuser.

As hard as it was to read about what Elle had gone through it was truly inspiring to see how courageous she was as she pushed through her fears and trauma. Moving forward after abuse is hard to do and there is always a part of you that feels scared and vulnerable. It is difficult to face those fears head-on and push through them so that you can create a better life for yourself. I appreciate how difficult this was for not only Elle, but for Blake as well. Facing the demons of your past like Elle and Blake had to do is scary and requires inner strength and courage that you do not even realize you have.

I loved Elle’s family and the love they had for one another. It was heartwarming to see how they stood together no matter what. It pulled on my heartstrings when her family embraced Elle with open arms even after years without speaking. They were there for her, no questions asked, and without judgement. That brought tears to my eyes and truly moved me. Even the way the small community was so close-knit, and all pulled together was truly inspiring. This was a beautiful read full of gut-wrenching emotions and hard topics like domestic violence and alcoholism. The author did a good job of writing about these sensitive topics and making the characters relatable.

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A River of Crows by Shanessa Gluhm – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

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A River of CrowsA River of Crows by Shanessa Gluhm
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sloan Hadfield’s life was changed forever in 1988 when her younger brother disappeared while on a fishing trip with their father. Although Ridge’s body was never recovered their father was charged for his murder and sent to prison. It was suspected that their father killed Ridge while in the midst of one of the blackouts he was prone to having from his flashbacks of his time spent in Vietnam. After Ridge’s death his mother started to spiral out of control and slowly descend into madness that had her repeatedly being admitted into a mental facility. After her mom was committed to a mental health facility long-term, Sloan moved away to attend college and start a life of her own.

Twenty years after her brother’s death, Sloan is forced to return home to look after mother who has been released from the mental health facility. Sloan is reluctant to return home because of the painful memories from her past but she is the only family her mom has left. After suffering from a recent divorce, she really has nowhere else to call home. Seeing her childhood home dredges up her painful childhood and how much she misses her brother, and her childhood prior to his death. They were once a happy family but now she feels lost, alone, and bitter at how her life turned out.

Missing her brother, Sloan visits their favorite place, Crow’s Nest Creek, which also is where he was last seen. This is the place Sloan, Ridge, and their childhood friend, Noah, spent countless hours watching the crows. This is the one place that helps her feel close to her brother and where she feels a sense of calm. Sloan still has numerous unanswered questions about her brother and what happened to him twenty years ago and starts reliving the moments leading up to his disappearance. When the body of another young boy who disappeared around the same time as her brother is discovered Sloan starts to wonder if the two disappearances were somehow linked. As she starts to ask questions and search into her brother’s disappearance, Sloan is shocked at the secrets that are revealed. The truth shocks her to her core.

This book was intense and impossible to put down! I was a bit upset when I was interrupted a few times while trying to read it because I needed to see what happened next. I was not prepared for the twists and turns the storyline took and I am certain I gasped out loud at points throughout as the truth behind Ridge’s disappearance were revealed. The storyline was well developed, well laid out, and clearly thought out from start to finish.

The characters were ones that I immediately felt a connection to. Sloan was to be admired for standing by her mom no matter how bad things got. Caroline was one that I both loved and hated at the same time. As I was able to catch a glimpse into her past, I could empathize with her because of the trauma she has been through. This helped to explain her actions to a certain extent. However, it is not a reasonable excuse for her outrageous behavior and violent outbursts. When Sloan made excuses for her, or covered up and lied for her mom, it made me want to slap her. Yet, at the same time, I could understand that she still loved her mom and wanted to protect her. It was a true rollercoaster ride for me as I felt the emotions alongside each character. This book had action, suspense, drama, intrigue, lies, hidden agendas, betrayal, sinister family secrets, and a lot of information about crows. I have a whole new outlook on the lives of crows and a whole new respect for them. This book did not disappoint and I will definitely be looking for more by this incredibly talented author!

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The Last Cabin Girl (Detective Josie Thompson Series) by Tom Swyers – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

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The Last Cabin GirlThe Last Cabin Girl by Tom Swyers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Josie is a waitress working in a small diner in her hometown that she cannot wait to leave. After leaving her abusive husband she is waiting for her divorce to be finalized so that she can start fresh somewhere else with her two kids. Unfortunately, life has other plans for Josie and suddenly she is mixed up in a murder case.

When Josie discovers a body floating in the river near the isolated cabin that her and her kids live in, she chooses to look the other way and not say anything to anyone about what she saw. From personal experience Josie knows what the reaction would be from friends, family and the local folks who love to gossip. Josie knows this because she was teased and ridiculed years ago when she saw a body in the same river when she was younger. What Josie never expected was for the FBI to charge her with one of the murders. Now faced with living her life behind bars and never seeing her children again, Josie is desperate to prove her innocence. But who can she trust to help?

As Josie starts looking into the mystery of the dead bodies in the river, she stumbles onto some dark secrets that have been held for years. Secrets that even her own parents have kept from her about her identity and where she came from. Secrets that they will not divulge for fear of what will happen to them all. Josie is already struggling with her own personal demons as well as growing concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic so this news could not have come at a worst time. Still unsure of who to trust Josie asks the help of her brother to solve the murders and prove her innocence.

The author did an amazing job of keeping the reader hooked and wanting more. I found this book impossible to put down as it took some twists and turns that I never saw coming. The character of Josie was well written and contained many layers. As the story unfolded there were moments that I could not help wondering if Josie really was innocent. Was Josie capable of murder? Did she black out during one of her episodes? There were so many questions that begged to be answered which of course required reading until those questions were answered. I highly recommend this psychological thriller!

View all my reviews@TaraJohnsonBarnes