Michael E. Burge grew up in the Chicago suburbs and a small town on the Wabash River in Southern Illinois. In the late sixties, he left college to serve on a U.S. Navy destroyer out of Norfolk, Virginia. Upon leaving the service, he transitioned to a career in the burgeoning computer industry, positions in product management and marketing. He is now pursuing his lifelong interest in writing, publishing his debut novel, Bryant’s Gap, in 2015 and his second, Melding Spirits, in 2017. Michael also plays piano, paints, and is an avid golfer. He and his family currently live in Illinois.
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Book Review – The Secret – Katharine Johnson
Love, Lies, and Betrayal in Wartime Italy. Two girls growing up in Mussolini’s Italy share a secret that has devastating consequences. Against a backdrop of fear, poverty and confusion during the Second World War, friendship is tested, and loyalties are divided until a chance encounter changes everything. Their lives diverge when beautiful, daring Martina marries and moves into Villa Leonida, the most prestigious house in their Tuscan mountain village, while plain, studious Irena trains to be a teacher. But neither marriage nor life at Villa Leonida are as Martina imagined. And as other people's lives take on a new purpose, Irena finds herself left behind. Decades later, a tragedy at…
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#GiveAway Book Review – The Winner Maker – Jeff Bond
Bob Fiske — the 74-year-old dinosaur who’s taught Honors English and coached varsity football for five decades — is missing. To his Winners, class favorites Fiske designated over the years for their potential to “Live Big,” it’s heartbreaking. Fiske did more than inspire with soaring oratory; he supported their ambitions into adulthood. Four of his brightest former stars reunite to find him, putting high-octane careers on hold, slipping police barricades, racing into the wilds of Northern Michigan for clues about the fate of their legendary mentor. Others don’t see a legend. They see an elitist whose time has passed. When a current student — female — disappears just hours into…
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Book Review – Three Strikes – Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg
I Take Care of Myself in Dreamland by Ross Klavan Bartok is horribly scarred. Wounded in the Army, he roams through 1970’s New York, a city of perpetual night, punctuated by crime and populated by streetwalkers, hooker bars, strip clubs, easy drugs and a feeling of doom. There’s one thing on his mind: an experience he had when his Army truck exploded, an experience he calls Red River. More than bliss, more than spiritual. But nothing goes right. Bartok loses his girl, his money, any possibility of support and decides that he’s finished, he’s going to end it but before he does, he’s going out on the town for one…
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Giveaway|Book Review – The Last Weekend of the Summer by Peter Murphy
They have been coming to their grandmother Gloria's lake cottage since they were babies. Now Johnnie and Buddy have families of their own and C.C. has a life full of adult drama and adventure. And this trip – the only stated purpose of which is to bring the family together for the last weekend of the summer – seems full of portent. Gloria has been hinting that there's more on the agenda than grilling and swimming, and when the three siblings learn that their estranged father will also be in attendance, it becomes clear that this weekend will have implications that last far beyond the final days of the season.
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Book Review – Murder Notes – Lisa Renee Jones
Hola world! Today I am reviewing my current read, “Murder Notes” an amazing crime fiction by Lisa Renee Jones. Thanks to NetGalley for an exclusive E-copy of the book. I’ve just started reading yesterday, and I am already more than 30% into the book. That explains the pace of the book, especially the super-crisp writing of the author.
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Take the POLL! Book Exchange Drive!
Hey World, We would love you all to join our exchange drive. To serve you our best, we’re trying to survey your opinions and ideas, for a better, bigger event! Help us create one! Let’s read more! Thanks! Xo!
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Crime Fiction Book Giveaways!
Hey Guys! I am giving away some of my very close-to-heart books this week, I’ve chosen a good 5 of them. So if you’re interested, all you’ve to do is give me a ping @ swathblog.gmail.com Here are the list of books! The Perfect Husband – Lisa Gardner Genre/Form: Fiction ISBN: 0553587692 9780553587692 Document Type: Book Author: Lisa Gardner Tess Williams thought she was marrying the man of her dreams. Jim Beckett a police officer who did he’s job well and was well thought of by his colleagues. Tess believed he was a loving and caring person unlike her father who was an abusive man. Being a young bride at…