So much emotional goodness in such a tiny little package.

I swooned at every aspect of this story. From the sick-kid start, to the happily ever after fairy tale-esk tone of it. Accepting family rep, ride or die friendship rep—all of it was perfection. I loved the way this retelling took the source material and wove it throughout to make a new tale. It paid homage while pointing out the flaws in the best way possible. Toss in a little science and you've got a adventure fit for any Sleeping Beauty enthusiast. (No, you don't need to be familiar with any of the source material to enjoy this story.) Not to mention the lesbian rep. ugh. This novella is soo good.

With a terminally ill child in our household it definitely cut deeper. Alix E. Harrow is one of my favorite authors, and this book is another must read with it's poetic word choices, and life themes woven into it. I am so excited to see where the next installment will take us.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves retellings, and enjoys stories where the heroine takes control of their own destiny. ( )

There is hard-ass, then there is bad-ass, and then there is Camaro Espinoza.

“The Night Charter” is only the first novel in Sam Hawken’s Camaro Espinoza series but Hawken has been developing the character over the past few years and there are also novellas and short stories available. The novellas were previously available on Amazon kindle but are currently (January 2016) embargoed there. Fortunately, Hawken is generous enough to freely share some of the novellas (currently, 2 out of 4) at Wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/user/SamHawken) and several short stories at the Camaro page on his weblog (http://www.samhawken.com/?page_id=9268).

I mention all of that upfront, because as soon as you finish “The Night Charter” you will immediately want more Camaro and you may not have the patience to wait for the next novel in the series.

Ex-Army combat medic Camaro Espinoza is running a catch-and-release charter boat business out of Miami, Florida. She is drawn into running a special night charter against her better instincts, due to her empathy with reformed ex-con Parker Story and his attempts to make a better life for himself & his teenage daughter Lauren. Before too long Camaro is up to her ears with crooks, cops, Cuban secret police and Cuban expatriates. Hawken teases us with hints of Camaro's back-story in the novel and that extra level of mystery does help to draw you in. Fortunately, he also provides the links to help you fill in some of those gaps.

I’ve already read comparisons to everyone from John MacDonald’s Travis McGee, to Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, and to Stieg Larssons’ Lisbeth Salander, but Camaro Espinoza is her own character. Long may she ride (or sail, as the case may be)! ( )

The Night Charter – A Gripping Thriller

The award winning crime writer Sam Hawken has written an absolute stonking thriller that grabs you by the throat, dodging the bullets and delivers you at the end breathless. This book deals with a whole realm of crime, criminals and the kidnapped, while bringing together various strands of the story to a crescendo. No boring steroid ape of an American male stereotype but a kick-ass female who can stand on her own two feet and then some, whether on land or sea.

The writing draws you in and keeps you wanting more and more, the choice of words are like bullets that hit the target every time. Sam Hawken is a skilled crime writer who knows how to hook a reader and keep them interested, which is surprising as he is a Manchester United fan. United fans are not the sort capable of stringing a coherent sentence together usually. Sam Hawken has disproved the rule that all Manchester United fans are idiots, which in the main they are; he is a first class writer.

Camero Espinoza has run away from her previous lives, as an army medic and that which she had in New York, to start over again in Miami, owning and operating a charter boat The Annabel. A boat that she may have bought in cash but one that earns her a good living as a charter taking fisherman out in to the Atlantic.

Parker Story is an ex-con with a 14 year old daughter Lauren who survives in Miami but has the opportunity of a lifetime to earn some easy cash. He just needs to hire a bout get it close to Cuba, pick up a package and come home, deliver package to customer. Nothing could be easier, even if he is working with his ex-cellmate Matt Carter and his crew.

Parker hires Camero to sail her boat and pick up the package and take them all back to Miami nothing could be easier as long as they keep away from the coastguard and do not raise attention with the police or FBI.

While we only ever get hints at Camero’s past what we do get to see is a woman who can survive on the streets and the high seas. She can see that Parker is out of his depth with Carter and does not trust him. Parker asks her to take care of Lauren if anything should happen to him and keep him out of Matt’s hands.

As the bodies pile up Camero realises that she will have to do everything in her power to protect Lauren, while avoiding the police wherever possible. At the same time she does not want to put Lauren in danger from Carter or the Cuban gangs so she needs to live on her wits to keep them all alive.

What we get is a high paced thriller, with human interest stories, pumped up with a slick hero in Camero Espinoza; this is a book thriller readers will love. Camero is a star in-waiting and I truly hope that she will make another breathless outing, sooner rather than later. The Night Charter is a winner a taut, exciting, pulsating winner at that brought to us from the excellent mind of Sam Hawken. ( )