BOOK REVIEW: FINDING FOCUS BY JIFFY KATE

Title: Finding Focus

Author: Jiffy Kate

Genre: Romance

Published on: June 1, 2012, self-published (first edition)

Sheridan “Dani” Reed is a recently unemployed photojournalist living in New York City. Her boyfriend is vacationing without her, and her best friend has abandoned her for a job in the south.

Is a quarter-life crisis a thing?

After accepting a freelance job in Louisiana for Southern Style magazine, she feels the bleakness of her life back in New York fading in the rearview mirror. Getting back to her southern roots seems to be just what she needs to lift her spirits and spark her creativity. During her stay, she meets playboy Micah Landry and his colorful family. She knows she should avoid him and keep things professional, but his southern charms are hard to resist.

Through the lens of her camera, she finds the beauty and soul of the Landry Plantation, but it’s her beauty and soul that capture Micah’s attention.

When an unexpected phone call takes her back to New York, she’s forced to face the life she was trying to escape head on.

Will her trip and the Landrys only become fond memories, or will Dani find her way back to them and her beloved south?

In their debut novel, Jiffy Kate bring you a story of love, adventure, and finding a place to call home.

Coming-of-age and finding-yourself types of stories are among my favorites. They make for rich, compelling character arcs. This is the case for Sheridan “Dani” Reed, the protagonist of Finding Focus. She’s a New York photojournalist who’s been feeling stuck for a while. Dani has had “artist’s block”, for lack of a better term. Don’t get her wrong, Dani loves photography. She’s simply lost her inspiration. After months of dealing with this block, Dani got fired. Her boyfriend, Graham Harrison, was not pleased about it.

Dani has also been feeling sort of lost. Her feelings for Graham are waning. Dani loves him, but their relationship has been anything but passionate or intense lately. Also, Dani’s best friend Piper Grey moved south for work. The last straw comes when Graham decides to go on a trip by himself. He claims to need some “me-time”. Dani is incredulous. She’s not thrilled that her boyfriend of four years wants to travel without her. It’s not a dudes’ trip, so this speaks a lot about the state of Dani’s and Graham’s relationship.

PROTECT YOUR LOCAL FILES WITH ENCRYPTION

If you’re like the average user, you own more than plenty of computer files. People that don’t keep them saved to their computer store them on portable devices. That brings into question the safety of your data. What if it, or your computer or USB flash drive, got stolen? Data is the most invaluable part of your computer. That’s because all your documents, photos, and music are irreplaceable if lost or corrupted.

Every computer user should backup their files regularly to prevent loss. For extra sensitive data, there’s a way to secure it even more. The solution is file encryption. This is a method used to protect digital data. Contrary to popular belief, encrypting files isn’t a task only brainy computer users can handle. Some encryption methods are complex, but a few can be used by anyone. I’ll cover one program in this article: AES Crypt.

BOOK REVIEW: CASSIDY JONES AND VULCAN'S GIFT BY ELISE STOKES

Title: Cassidy Jones and Vulcan's Gift

Author: Elise Stokes

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published on: December 4, 2011 by JACE Publishing LLC

An Ancient Secret Has Risen. A World In Peril. Can This Evil Menace Be Stopped?

Two months after being infected with a strange retrovirus, Cassidy Jones continues to live a double life as she struggles to master her astonishing superpowers. School has become the only normal thing left in her life—except for tall, dark, and handsome Emery Phillips, who shadows her every move, ensuring her secret is safe. But when a sleepover at Catamount Mountain Zoo takes a menacing turn, the world hovers on the edge of disaster as Cassidy is drawn into another riveting and perilous mystery that threatens the planet.

Fourteen-year-old superhero Cassidy Jones returns in book two of her series. If you recall, she gained superpowers after a lab accident. The only person Cassidy told about it is a boy named Emery Phillips. He’s the genius son of the scientist who created Formula 10X. With Emery’s help, Cassidy saved Dr. Serena Phillips from a rich megalomaniac. She and her family now live next door to the Joneses. This works well, as it gives Emery a way to keep an eye on Cassidy. He and Serena are still unsure how Cassidy’s powers will keep developing.

Serena is now working on a way to make Cassidy normal again. The latter isn’t sure she wants to be a super-powered mutant for long. During the showdown with the lunatic, Cassidy inexplicably stood back up after his cronies killed her. Cassidy fears the idea of having immortality now. If she really has it, that means her loved ones will eventually die and leave her alone. And this is not the only side effect Cassidy is worrying about. Formula 10X also gave her a prey drive. Early in the book, Cassidy almost chased down a crook who was picking on a homeless man. Fortunately, the man (named Joe) was able to snap Cassidy back to her senses.

BOOK REVIEW: TURN TO ME BY TIFFANY SNOW

Title: Turn to Me

Author: Tiffany Snow

Genre: Romantic suspense

Published on: December 19, 2012 by Montlake Romance

When Kathleen Turner, office runner for the prestigious Indianapolis law firm of Kirk & Trent, started dating the boss she knew the risks. Senior Partner Blane Kirk is known for being a notorious player - the Baskin Robbins of dating with a different flavor every month. Kathleen is the happiest she’s been in a long time, especially as Christmas approaches, but she’s always known there was a termination date on her relationship with Blane.

She just didn’t expect that termination to be her funeral.

A festive afternoon of Christmas tree shopping turns life-threatening when Kathleen and Blane become targets for an unknown gunman. They make it home alive, but Kathleen realizes her boyfriend has been keeping secrets. The deadly kind.

Blane’s current case is drawing heated debate and stirring the pot of public fury. Kathleen is horrified by the threats – and worse – being directed at him. A former Navy SEAL stands accused of the wrongful death of an American citizen during a military operation overseas. The case has far-reaching political and military implications. Someone with a lot of money, and even more clout, wants Blane to lose.

As dead bodies of people connected to the defense start piling up, it becomes painfully obvious that disappearing witnesses and altered testimony are no longer enough for whoever is intent on guaranteeing the SEAL gets convicted. Kathleen and Kade, Blane’s brother and ex-FBI-agent-turned-assassin-for-hire, are on the trail of the killer.

Unfortunately for Kathleen, he’s already moved for the end-game – by painting a target on her...and pulling the trigger.

Sweet, wannabe lawyer Kathleen Turner is back for another adventure. After successfully foiling a criminal plot, she and boyfriend Blane Kirk have been getting to know each other better. Turn to Me finds them all but head over heels for the other. Kathleen’s happy because she’s lasted longer with Blane than his “flavors of the month” ever did. For his part, Blane seems to finally have found a woman that could catch his long-term interest.

In my opinion, that’s not much of a surprise. Despite being a rather average woman in some ways, Kathleen is said to be quite beautiful. She’s well-endowed, both in body and in mind. The only thing Kathleen has to worry about is Kandi-with-an-I, one of Blane’s long-enduring ex-girlfriends. Kandi is also gorgeous, and comes from a rich political family. This is exactly what it sounds like: a potential arranged marriage. Apparently that’s still a thing, this far into the twenty-first century.

BOOK REVIEW: BEHIND THE HANDS THAT KILL BY J.A. REDMERSKI

Title: Behind the Hands that Kill

Author: J.A. Redmerski

Genre: Thriller, romance

Published on: May 6, 2016, self-published

Even professional killers need vacations, but for Victor Faust, his vacation in Venezuela is about more than relaxation and time alone with Izabel Seyfried. It is a chance for him to come clean to Izabel: to tell her the truth about why he sent her to Italy with his brother, the truth behind his interest in Nora Kessler, and about his knowledge of Izabel’s child with her former captor. But before Victor can spill his soul, reality proves that for some killers, vacations are just pipe-dreams.

Attacked and kidnapped, Izabel finds herself stuffed in a suitcase, while Victor later wakes up imprisoned in a cage. In any other situation, Victor would find a way out and save himself and the woman he loves—but not this time. When the identities of their kidnappers are revealed, Victor loses all hope, and begins the mental process of accepting his and Izabel’s last moments together. And Izabel’s final moments of life.

As if his circumstances are not complicated enough, members of Vonnegut’s Order are finally closing in on Victor. And when they do, he comes face-to-face with someone else he once knew and loved, who could either help him, or make a grave situation much worse. Victor’s past has finally caught up with him: the women he has cared for, loved, and killed; the families he has destroyed; the unforgivable crimes he has committed. And now he must face the consequences, and pay the ultimate price for absolution.

But when it is all over, Victor may not have the strength to pick up what is left and move on. Because the event changes him. Because love changed him. And because, unlike before when he thought it is was for the best, he cannot imagine a life without Izabel in it. 

Back in book one, Killing Sarai, I never thought this series would go beyond five books or so. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing; In the Company of Killers has become one of my favorite book series of all time. The way the author writes these stories and develops her characters is marvelous. There are a lot of stories left to tell in this saga, and this time it’s Victor Faust’s turn. Izabel, Fredrik, and Niklas have already had their own books. And Nora too, in a way.

Behind the Hands that Kill opens with Victor’s reminiscences. It turns out he had a love interest when he was young. Considering the life Victor’s led and the way he is, this was surprising. The series hasn’t yet delved into Victor’s life before Izabel, which I found interesting. This book isn't his origin story, but it does reveal a lot about his past. Anyway, Victor’s first love and her family have really odd names, and not because they’re Venezuelan. Her name was Artemis, which is unusual but not totally strange. One of her brothers has an even weirder name: Osiris.