Happy Wednesday! Per usual, I'm a wee late getting this one up today. In all the excitement of getting new windows today, I spent the better part of my evening cleaning the old ones. Today's guest is Maggie Thom, author of Tainted Waters. Enjoy!
BLURB:
He
didn’t commit suicide but who’s going to believe her...
Frustrated
at being fired from her latest job and overwhelmed by her consolatory family,
Sam decides to move to the family’s cabin at the lake. A place she hasn’t been
since her dad committed suicide there twenty years before. Or did he? Snooping
is something she’s good at but someone seems to be taking offense to her
looking too closely at what has been happening at the lake. What she discovers
is shocking. Now she must uncover what’s real and what’s not. All that she
learned growing up, may be false.
Keegan,
who has recently moved to the area to finish his latest book, is also trying to
find out if his grandfather, who’d passed away ten years before, died of
natural causes or was murdered.
The
descendants of the four families who own the land around the lagoon are dying
off. Since Sam and Keegan are the only ones questioning the deaths, they find
themselves working together to seek the truth. Are people being murdered? Who
would benefit from their deaths? Why would there be barricades and armed guards
at the north end of the lake?
To
stay alive, Sam and Keegan must find the answers and convince others, before
more people are killed... including them.
Excerpt:
“You’re fired!”
Sam’s hands slammed down on the arms of the office chair as
she jerked forward. “Because some dude stole a necklace from his wife, pawned it
and got the insurance for it? And I had the nerve to tell the story?”
“You’re fired!”
There was so much more she wanted to say to him. To tell
him. It wasn’t fair that she was getting kicked to the curb for other people’s
lies and secrets. It wasn’t her fault that she felt truth should win out at all
costs. Climbing to her feet, she stared hard at her boss, debating about
telling him again why she’d written that story. The blue vein bulging from his
forehead and the deep crimson color of his puffy cheeks told her it was
pointless and might just cause a heart attack.
“The story didn’t run, so what’s the big deal?”
His mottled face started to shake with fury. Sam picked up
her coffee which she was glad she’d set down when she came in and took a step
back. The last man she’d seen that angry had thrown a punch.
“Only because I caught it. Nothing and I mean nothing, gets
printed in this paper without my say so. Very sneaky Samantha. Not acceptable.
You’re done here. And don’t worry you won’t ever work in this industry again.”
She shook her head hoping something would fall into place
and this would all make sense. It wasn’t like it was any different than any of
the other stories the newspaper wrote – they got details, or as many as they
could and then skewed them sideways if that’s what made the tale sensational.
Only she hadn’t needed to do that. The facts themselves had been enough to make
the story astounding. For once the paper might have been able to print the
truth and nothing but the truth. The informant who’d put her on to this
situation had been right, it had been unbelievable. She wished she’d been able
to thank him but that was part of the agreement – no names, no thank yous, no
mention of where the story started. And she couldn’t tell anyone because it
wasn’t actually supposed to have been hers to tell.
“I’m fired.” It didn’t compute.
“Of course. I don’t say things I don’t mean. Now get out.”
She eyed Mr. Donner, the man that she’d thought she was
going to have a lot of respect for, the man she’d envisioned thanking in the
future for all he’d taught her. For taking her under his wing and making her
the exceptional journalist that she was. Okay she knew that was crap but she
had hoped that her initial ‘feeling’ about him had been wrong. Besides she
figured that even if he wasn’t more than a pompous figurehead, there had to be
some people at the paper that she could learn from. To date, unfortunately,
she’d only been patted on the head and given the lame jobs. Still, she’d
actually started to believe that this work might be her calling. Well, until
she’d taken it into her head to run with a tip she’d been given. It hadn’t
really been meant for her but since Tom hadn’t been at his desk when his phone
kept ringing and ringing, she’d figured it had been hers to run with since
she’d been the one to answer it. She had planned to show them what she could do
and that would have been the start to her amazing career.
Another damn dream dashed.
REVIEW:
Tainted Waters is a story full of mystery, betrayal, and dark secrets.
After Samantha's father commits suicide near the lake house they went to, Sam has found herself in the midst of a bad luck streak. Job after job, she can't hold and her family is smothering her. When she gets fired form her reporter job over a story she wrote, it seems like the last straw. But a series of events leads Sam to Keegan, who's investigating his grandfather's suspicious death, and the scandal they slowly uncover turns Sam's world on its head.
Overall, I enjoyed this story. The characters were, for the most part, easy to like. The plot moves along swiftly, and everything falls into place. I got a little confused at times with all the head hopping between players in the scandal, but it was quickly explained. The author did a good job creating a mystery, and I'll look for more from her.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Maggie Thom
took the challenge and leapt off, leaving a fulltime twenty year career in
management, to write full time. After her initial panic that she might need a
straight jacket, she published her first book Captured Lies, October 2012. And
now is excited to release her second novel, Tainted Waters, April, 2013. Her
third book, Deceitful Truths (sequel to Captured Lies), available fall of 2013.
An avid reader and writer her whole life, she decided to break the monotony of
wishing to be an author by making it happen. Married to her best friend, she is
learning that humor, love and patience help her navigate her way through her
twins’ teen years. Her motto: Escape to read and Read to escape.
She can be
found at:
Tainted
Waters is available to be purchased at:
13 comments:
Lindsay, thank you for hosting me today and for the review of Tainted Waters. I'm so glad you liked it. There is a lot going on in the story and getting 'confused' is a good thing. :) Adds to the mystery, the suspense, the 'who done it'. I'm so glad it was all cleared up for you. I make sure that all of the loop holes are tied up by the end of my stories. :)
Thank you for hosting
Thank you for the review. The story sounds very compelling.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
Thank you Ingeborg. I hope you get a chance to read it. Thank you for stopping by.
Very nice review
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
I love how swiftly this book moves, it holds my attention as I have to pay attention to follow the quick pace, the mystery as it unfolds.
i loved this story and the fast pace. It kept me intrigued and turning the pages - enough so, that I read it in one sitting!
Thank you for your review. I love a good mystery read.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thank you bn100, Mindgardner, Helen and Mary for your comments and for stopping by. I appreciate your support on my tour. :)
Thanks for your review and the excerpt.
kareninnc at gmail dot com
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I love getting this well rounded picture of the book on this tour!
andralynn7 AT gmail DOT com
Thank you to everyone who participated in my Review Tour for Tainted Waters. Thank you Growing Up Little for reading, reviewing and hosting me. I really appreciate it. Thank you to everyone who stopped by for a quick peek and to those of you brave enough to leave a comment. :)
And now to the winners:
Rita Wray won the $25 gift certificate
Amanda Roach won the signed ecopy of Captured Lies.
My apologies Lindsay's Scribblings. Thank you for hosting me. I tried to edit my response but it was already gone. That's what happens when you try to save time. Thank you so much for kindly reading, reviewing and hosting me this week. :)
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