Gold Guns Girls (Cities of the Dead)

Gold Guns Girls (Cities of the Dead)

William Young

Christian / Spirituality / Fiction

Fyodor Volkov had risen from nothing to be wealthy beyond his dreams. But the zombie plague had forced him to retreat to his vacation house in the suburbs of Moscow, and he soon found himself scrabbling for subsistence like everyone else.This is the seventh story in the series. A new story will be released each week through the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012.Every housewife needs an alias. Donna Stone has one--and it happens to be government-sanctioned.Oh sure, you need to be ruthless to take on Russian mafia bosses, rogue dictators, and terrorists set on destroying the world. But it takes real killer instincts to survive suburbia. Try juggling the fifth grade phone tree during a shootout with skinhead arms dealers, or driving carpool while being chased by Chinese double agents.Donna’s life wasn’t always this complicated. Five years earlier she was just another woman with two preschoolers, a baby bump, and an adoring husband: Carl, with whom she lived happily ever after in a McMansion in the Orange County, California community of Hilldale. But Donna’s life was changed forever the night she delivered her baby: Carl’s car blew up on the way to the hospital.Turns out Carl was a “hard man”—an assassin—for the black ops organization known as Acme Industries. The hit on Carl was carried out by the Quorum, a terrorist cell he was tracking. The Quorum’s motto: “Show me the money.” Governments and corporations do as they’re told—or suffer bloody consequences.Carl left something behind that the Quorum wants badly. To protect herself and avenge Carl’s death, Donna joined Acme. Whereas her hostessing skills rival Martha Stewart’s, her marksmanship is second to none.A good thing, too, because the Quorum has planted a sleeper cell in Hilldale. For Donna, that’s too close for comfort. Will she be able to save her family before the Quorum blows up Los Angeles?Acme’s way of flushing out the Quorum is by “bringing Carl back from the dead.” But terrorism makes strange bedfellows--and brings new meaning to that old adage “Honey, I’m home…”*Not her real name."Adorable is not usually the word that comes to mind with a title like The Housewife Assassin’s Handbook, but it was just what I needed to pull me out of my reading doldrums. From the handy little homemaker/assassin tips at the beginning of each chapter to the thankless job of being a single parent with catty neighbors, this book hits all the right notes. Donna works for the good guys, Acme Industries, undercover by taking down drug lords and terrorists with a matter-0f-fact attitude while worrying about making it to her carpooling duties.Granted, the book ended with a hook that made me want to immediately get the next one, which is always a smart move and I was excited to see that there are actually 11 books in the series (including a prequel). I now want a week at the beach to read them all. Think Alias meets Desperate Housewives meets The Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Live a little, add some spice to your life, give this little book a try and give yourself a reason to smile. I know I did and now I’m completely smitten." -- Barbara Vey, BarbaraVey.com
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Riverlilly

Riverlilly

William Young

Christian / Spirituality / Fiction

Runaways Jai and Ceder set sail in a boat full of holes, with a plan full of holes, searching for anything to hold onto in a world where nothing is what it seems.Runaways Jai and Ceder set sail in a boat full of holes, with a plan full of holes, searching for anything to hold onto in a world where nothing is what it seems. Never did they imagine their desperate voyage would ignite a maelstrom of primeval forces roiling to the surface at every turn, churning the fate and free will of every friend and foe they meet into a proper froth. Following a boy and girl who have never met before the night they flee a life of slavery and begin their journey across the open sea, Riverlilly is at heart a simple tale of young love struggling to stay afloat. Steered by waves they set in motion centuries past, leaving in their wake ripples that will rock their trusty boat a thousand years hence, together Jai and Ceder struggle to hold course against the tide of an inescapable truth: the farther away they try to run, the faster they will be reeled back to the beginning.Riverlilly is a YA Fantasy. Jai and Ceder's adventure takes place in a world not unlike Oz or Wonderland, with a wide cast of colorful characters that can be as startlingly wise as they are whimsical. There is an almost fairy-tale form of logic that underpins this world, and Jai and Ceder are as new to its quirks and Quixotisms as the reader, although most fantasy fans will get a fuzzy tinkling of familiarity throughout. Mind you, this is not an Epic, End-All Battle Between Good and Evil; there are no knights in white armor or damsels in distress, no wizards, no elves, no dwarves, no dragons (at least not in the traditional sense.) This is a smaller, more personal story, yet the pages are absolutely dripping with magic that drives the story forward at every turn, but as a powerful a narrative force as it can be, most often the existence and influence of the supernatural remains out of sight and out of mind, like the invisible currents below the surface of the sea that carry Jai and Ceder's little skiff from one shore to the other. Mystery, humor, and suspense abound, but at its core this is the adventure of a lifetime for two wide-eyed kids who have never so much as dipped a toe in the ocean but find themselves stranded on a boat full of holes by the end of the first chapter. Are you ready to set sail?
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