Book Review and Tour Giveaway: Breaking the Story (Scottie's Adventures Book 2) by Ashley Farley

I like Ms. Farley’s straight forward, easy writing style.

Breaking the Story (Scottie's Adventures Book 2)
by Ashley Farley

File Size: 1091 KB
Print Length: 215 pages
Publisher: Leisure Time Books; 1 edition (March 17, 2016)
ASIN: B01B1U6E0M
Genre: Suspense, Romantic Suspense
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Passion, peril, and a scandal that will rock American politics.
Scottie Darden's life is a disaster. Her marriage has become toxic, and her career as a photojournalist has stalled out. To attract the attention of the main players in the news industry, she needs a standout story with a unique perspective. What she finds is a scandal that could turn the 2016 presidential election upside down. But before she can release her damaging images to the media, Scottie must uncover the truth behind the photographs. She turns to handsome mystery man Guy Jordan for help. When they join the campaign trail in search of answers, their investigation quickly becomes deadly.
Hop on board for a wild ride of adventure where desire ignites, lives are threatened, and secrets are revealed.

Review:
Scottie is strong minded, bright and a talented photographer. She has a creative but impulsive streak that gets her into trouble. She is currently hunting for the perfect photojournalist opportunity to catapult her career.

Scottie returns home from covering the Republican Convention to find her husband in bed with another woman. The marriage was on the skids anyway and she is better off kicking the cheating, dead weight out of her life. Still, it isn’t easy to walk away from an eight-year marriage and it puts her in a vulnerable position.

Scottie runs into a handsome stranger, Guy, she met at the airport and he lends her an ear. But Scottie isn’t ready for a fling and Guy doesn’t want to be the rebound guy.

Scottie tries to focus on her job by finding a way to get a unique, exclusive shot of the Democratic presidential candidate. Scottie manages to snap some potentially explosive images before she is chased away. She returns home to discover her apartment ransacked and realizes she has stepped into trouble again. She is unable to identify the man in the photos and calls Guy to see if he can help since he seems to be connected to the campaign scene.

Scottie and Guy set off to follow the campaign trail in hopes of spotting the mystery man again. Nothing develops along the professional path but things heat up between Scottie and Guy on a personal level. Then things heat up on a danger level when the FBI gets involved to help identify the man and confirm that he is dangerous. Suddenly the man they are hunting is after Scottie. He knows who she is and how to find her.

When Scottie learns that Guy hasn’t been totally truthful she pushes him away. She is glad that she always has her brother, Will, to call on for support. Scottie hopes the powerful man will leave her alone but she becomes even more of a target when the picture she took is leaked to the press.

This story moves quickly with an easy reading style and fast paced story. I like Scottie’s integrity and her strong relationship with her brother and parents although she struggles not to lean on them too much. I liked Guy and how he cares about Scottie. Her distrust is understandable but I was still hopeful for their relationship. The suspense is engaging but much of the detail I found to be on the unbelievable side.

Although I try not to be bothered by editing errors in ARC versions, I was distracted by a few that I thought were glaring. I hope they were cleaned up before the final version.

This is a fast read with engaging characters and suspense. I recommend it to readers who enjoy light romantic suspense with engaging characters.

I received this title through Caffeinated Book Reviewer and NetGalley for an honest review. This qualifies for NetGalley Challenge,  and "B" (tour book) on Alphabet Soup Challenge.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28793180-breaking-the-story

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/hy7whbx

Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/h6xn6xy

iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/j826qcc

Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/zfh4dzw

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Excerpt:

If only Scottie could find a way to get up close and personal to the senator. And they've photographed them every which way but naked. Sneaking into Caine's hotel room was out of the question, not that Scottie would ever consider taking images of her in the nude, but there was nothing wrong with sticking close to her in the hopes of capturing a candid moment.

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I first met Scottie in Merry Mary which is another book that readers of contemporary fiction might enjoy.

About the Author:
Ashley Farley is a wife and mother of two college-aged children. She grew up in the salty marshes of South Carolina, but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, a city she loves for its history and traditions.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. SAVING BEN is not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.

HER SISTER'S SHOES—June 24, 2015—is a women's novel that proves the healing power of family.

MERRY MARY a heartwarming story of the powerful connection between a caring soul and an innocent child in need released October 15, 2015.

Social Media:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Tour Giveaway:

One winner will receive a 50.00 gift card to Amazon or Paypal. Open Internationally
Ends 3/31/16.

Entry-Form

Book Review and Giveaway Link: Merry Mary by Ashley Farley

This presents a soft-hearted dilemma for an infant and a wanna-be mother.

Merry Mary
by Ashley Farley

• File Size: 930 KB
• Print Length: 92 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Leisure Time Books; 1 edition (October 15, 2015)
• ASIN: B01434AX6E
• Genre: Christmas Novella, Holidays
• My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

A young woman longing for a child stumbles upon a Christmas miracle.
Investigative journalist Scottie Darden is photographing the homeless for her Lost Souls series when she makes a discovery that could change her life forever. Under a makeshift tent in subzero temperatures in a downtown city park, she finds a woman's dead body with her infant child. Without her cell phone to call for help, Scottie makes the split-second decision to take the baby home. Her initial instinct is to provide the baby with food and shelter until her family can be located. But as her fondness for the baby grows, she finds herself facing a life on the run or worse—prison time for abduction.
Curl up with Merry Mary this holiday season. A heartwarming story of the powerful connection between a caring soul and an innocent child in need.

Review:
Scottie is a photojournalist who takes pictures of the homeless in the park. She plans to do a galley presentation of her “Lost Souls” images. One morning the week before Christmas, while delivering food to the homeless, Scottie finds a dead woman with a crying infant. She doesn’t have a cell phone and the Lost Souls all disappear. Scottie’s primary thought is to get the child to a warm spot, to clean and feed her, until family can be located.

Scottie is reluctant to turn the child over to services where she may end up in foster care. One day leads to another and a few days later one of the Lost Souls appears at Scottie’s home to check up on the child.

The police have found the body and located family. But Scottie is afraid that family will harm the baby. Scottie has her own reasons to be vulnerable about infants and now she has to decide if she will flee with Merry Mary or accept the responsibility for her actions.

I have mixed feelings about this story. I admit I cringed each time Scottie failed to report that she had found the child. I enjoyed how Scottie’s family, her ‘Irish Twin’ brother, her formal mother, and her lawyer father, all gather to help her even if they didn’t support her decisions. I loved Scottie’s compassion for the Lost Souls and especially for the infant. I disliked her leach of a husband - she deserves better.

The writing style is direct and easy to read. It moves well with a natural sense of events and dialogue. I was satisfied with the story’s ending and think that I might enjoy following Scottie in the next book. I recommend this to readers who are interested in a quick Christmas read that offers an interesting balance of compassion and realism.

I received this for review tour through Kim at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Link to Merry Mary Tour: http://wp.me/p3vHcl-if

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26122667-merry-mary

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Mary-Ashley-Farley-ebook/dp/B01434AX6E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1445102083&sr=1-1

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/merry-mary-ashley-farley/1122576823?ean=2940152110548

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/merry-mary/id1033638269?mt=11

Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/merry-mary

About the Author:

Ashley Farley is a wife and mother of two college-aged children. She grew up in the salty marshes of South Carolina, but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, a city she loves for its history and traditions.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. SAVING BEN is not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.

HER SISTER'S SHOES—June 24, 2015—is a women's novel that proves the healing power of family.

Look for MERRY MARY this holiday season, a heartwarming story of the powerful connection between a caring soul and an innocent child in need.

Author Links:

Website: http://www.ashleyfarley.net/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshleyWFarley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleywfarley

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6916019.Ashley_Farley

Excerpt from Merry Mary

    “Shh, don’t cry,” she said, rubbing the baby’s tummy.
    What would become of the baby? Scottie didn’t think the Commonwealth had the authority to place the baby up for adoption without permission of next of kin, which meant the baby would be placed in a foster home until the police could track down the father. If the father even wanted the child. If the father even knew he was the father.
    The baby began to wail, presumably with hunger. “Don’t worry, little one.” She picked the baby up and held her tight. “We’ll get it all sorted out. In the meantime, I have plenty of formula and diapers to keep you comfortable.”
    By the time Scottie got the baby inside, and mixed up a bottle from the supplies in her baby cabinet in the kitchen, the little girl was screaming, flailing her arms and legs in hunger. Scottie plopped down on the leather sofa in the adjoining family room, propped her snow boots up on the coffee table, and brought the bottle’s nipple to the baby’s mouth. The infant took the nipple between her lips, then thrust it back out with her tongue. Scottie turned the bottle upside down on her arm, letting a few drops of formula leak from the hole in the nipple, before returning the nipple to the baby’s lips. When she tasted the formula, the baby began to suck greedily.
    “Careful now, baby girl. Don’t drink too fast or you’ll upset your tummy.” The baby stared up at Scottie with bright eyes. “We need to give you a name, don’t we?”
    Scottie had been in the process of picking out names for her baby when her daughter was stillborn at thirty-one weeks. She’d been torn between Kate and Liza, after her grandmothers Katherine and Elizabeth. She ended up calling the baby Angel, which seemed appropriate for an innocent child who never drew her first breath.
    Scottie’s eyes traveled the room, coming to rest on the nativity scene on the mantle above the fireplace. “Why don’t we call you Mary after the Virgin Mary?” She caught sight of the needlepoint pillow Brad had brought down from the attic—a green background with Merry Christmas in curlicue script in red across the front. “Or Merry, which seems appropriate for a spunky little girl like you.”
    The baby stopped sucking and smiled up at her.
    “I agree,” Scottie said. “I like them both as well. Merry Mary it is, then.

Tour Giveaway:

Ashley is giving away $50 gift card (INT) choice of Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Paypal.
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