Review: A Dozen Deadly Roses

A Dozen Deadly Roses 
by Kathy Bennett

2011, self-published
Romantic Suspense set in Los Angeles & Las Vegas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jade Donovan is a training officer for the LAPD who is being stalked by an unknown enemy who leaves dead roses for her. It started with twelve roses, then each day another box arrives with one fewer rose. She fears what will happen when the roses stop coming. She has a four-year-old son who depends on her. Then her professional life is complicated by the return to the LAPD of Mac Stryker, her former alcoholic training officer and Donnie's biological father. Now the tables are turned.

Mac Stryker lost his job five years ago for being drunk on the job after losing his wife and daughter to carjackers. Now a recovering alcoholic, he is rehired but has to go through training under the guidance of his former student Jade Donovan. He still finds her attractive. For years, he's dreamed of making love to Jade, not realizing the dream is a memory.

When Mac figures out Jade is in danger, he springs into action to protect her and Donnie, putting her heart in danger, too.

This is an exciting fast-paced romantic thriller written by a former LAPD officer. The characters are sympathetic and the details of police work authentic. I look forward to reading more books by Kathy Bennett.

(Purchased from Amazon for my Kindle.)

Linda

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My Town Monday: LA's New Champ

Last Thursday,
American skater and LA resident Evan Lysacek won gold at the World Figure Skating Championships in front of an ecstatic hometown crowd. He's the first American man to win the competition since Todd Eldredge in 1996. Evan, who was in second place going after the short program, skated a flawless program to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He was thrilled, esp. since he loves attending games at the Staples Center. He has lived in LA for the last six years and is coached by the legendary Frank Carroll who also guided Michelle Kwan and Linda Frattiane to world titles. (I know Los Angeles doesn't seem like the kind of place that would be a mecca for skating, given the warm, sunny weather, but competitive skating went indoors a long time ago, and quite a few well-known skaters have called Southern California home, including Peggy Fleming and Sascha Cohen.)

Evan Lysacek has been on the scene for a while now (he's 23, practically an old man by skating standards) and I've witnessed his ups and downs, so I was really hoping he'd win. I had to work on Thursday night, so I set the DVR. My DH knew Evan had won before I could watch, but he thoughtfully refrained from telling me. Seeing him win brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. It was well-deserved and a long time coming. What made it more remarkable is that he skated that well with a stress fracture in his left foot. He didn't say anything about that until after he'd skated because he didn't want it all to be about the foot. What a Mensch!

Here's video from YouTube of Evan's short program at at the recent Four Continents Championship where he came in second to Canada's Patrick Chan who earned silver at the Worlds.



Linda

My Town Monday is the brilliant brain child of writer/blogger Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Go to his blog to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

Skating World Comes to LA

Last week the World Championships of Figure Skating were held here in Los Angeles.

I've been an avid skating fan ever since my husband bought me my first VCR in 1984 right before the Sarajevo Olympic Games. I set the device to record every day before going to work, then watched in the evening, fast-forwarding through everything that wasn't skating. I was hooked and I've been watching ever since. For me, figure skating is the perfect melding of artistry and athleticism, and it's the only sport I really enjoy watching.

It has been interesting to watch the sport for so many years, and to see how national fortunes rise and fall. When I started watching, the Soviet Union dominated the sport, but at the moment Russia isn't a force. Japan dominates ladies skating, with the exception of Korea's Kim Y-Na while our ladies are struggling to stay competitive. They're young, though, and I expect that to change. China is a huge force in the pairs event. For the first time since I've been watching, the US has a strong, competitive ice dance field. And we have some of the strongest male single skaters in the world.

I'd thought about trying to attend the event at LA's Staples Center, but didn't follow through. But thanks to the Oxygen Channel, I was able to watch lots of skating, starting with four hours on Wed. for the Pairs and Men's short programs. I had to work on Thursday, so I set the DVR. On Friday I went on a skate-watching binge: six hours, including the Men's free skate, the ladies short program and the original dance. The men's free skate was the highlight since Evan Lysacek captured the only win for the US. More about Evan on Monday.

Last night Kim Yu-Na lit up the ice, winning the first world medal for Korea. She also became the first woman to rack up more than 200 points in the new scoring system. Her skate was amazing, both artistic and athletic. The complete package, as commentator Sandra Bezic likes to say. Kim is a talented singer and that seems to help her feel the music. Though young, she's the most popular celebrity in Korea, and seems like a delightful young lady. She's coached by Candian skater, Brian Orser, two-time Olympic silver medalist. It seems like a great pairing. It was great to see Joannie Rochette take the silver medal, the first time a Canadian woman has been on the podium since Elizabeth Manley's second place finish in 1988.

The year's worlds was more important than usual because the results determine how many skaters each country gets to send to next year's Olympic Games in Vancouver. Thanks to Evan and Brandon Mroz, who came in 9th in the men's competition, the US will be able to send three men to Vancouver. We'll have three dance teams, too, courtesy of Belbin and Agosto's silver medal and Davis and White's fourth place finish in ice dancing.

You can check out the results here.

Now all eyes are on Vancouver. I can't wait.

Linda

Book Expo America in LA

On Saturday, I went to Book Expo America, the premier trade show for the publishing industry, for the very first time. It was impressive, exhausting and overwhelming.

I'd offered to spend some time helping out at the EPIC booth, so that was my first stop. (For those not familiar with EPIC, it's the Electronically Published Internet Connection, an organization of e-book authors and publishers.) Here's a picture of the booth. I'm on the left, EPIC President Carol MacLeod w/a Lynn Crain is in the middle, and author Kathryn Sullivan is on the right.

We talked up e-books to people who stopped by, demonstrated our e-book readers and answered lots of questions. Amazon had a large booth at the show to demonstrate the Kindle, so there was a lot of interest in that. I took mine along to demo. We took turns wandering around. Here are a few more pictures.




















On the left: RWA President-Elect and friend Diane Pershing at the RWA booth.

On the right: My good friend Patricia Thayer signing her book for a fan at the Harlequin/Silhouette booth.

By the time I got home that night, my feet and shoulders were sore, and I felt brain dead, but it was a fun day. BEA is in New York next year, so I won't be there.

Has anyone else ever been to BEA? If so, where and when?

Linda

Note: Links updated 6-3-08, 8:40AM