99¢ BOOK OF THE WEEK

The BIRD WITCH - The Mattie Saunders Series Book 4

August 31 to Sept. 7th

at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Can you love someone whose worldview is different from yours? Who is committed to a cause that excludes you because of your race? Simon is an Indigenous person dedicated to the struggle for justice for First Nations people. Mattie loves him but is love enough?

Birds are dying. At the Saunders Bird Rescue and Sanctuary where rescued parrots abandoned by their owners are rehabilitated and re-homed, a deadly virus has them dying in Mattie's hands. In the midst of this outbreak, she's called to investigate a mortality event where dozens of starlings fly into the pavement as if committing suicide.

Mattie looks to Simon, her rock and refuge, for support, but after spending weeks at a remote protest site, as soon as he returns home he begins working with Wendy Walters, the attractive, ambitious Indigenous politician on her re-election campaign. Mattie's just about had enough.

When Simon proposes a vacation on the Mexican Riviera, Mattie sees it as an opportunity to recover from the death of her beloved birds. She's also hopeful it's an indication Simon's reconsidering his priorities. She didn't realize while on vacation he'd want to attend the Conference of Indigenous Peoples in Chiapas. Mattie's annoyed but decides to indulge her passion and do some tropical bird watching rather than attend a boring conference.

But Simon's conference turns out to be anything but boring when a deadly firefight erupts between the Mexican Army trying to arrest suspected terrorists and revolutionary Zapatista's.

Now Simon is missing, and Mattie is determined to find him, but to do so she must first escape being kidnapped by corrupt Mexican police and avoid abduction by vicious cartel members.

The fourth book in The Mattie Saunders Series, The Bird Witch combines romance and action with environmental themes for an exciting exploration of contemporary culture and issues.

"Fantastic voice! Great writing...great discovery!"
- Bryan Fagan, author of Dempsey’s Grill

"A great book. The characters are believable and relatable... makes me want to go back and read the other three!"
- Laurie Ingebritsen, author of Unexpected Healers

"Great book. Highly recommend."
" ...it is a joy to read a character that can make you feel so many different things but still enjoy her overall."
- Goodreads review by Industry

“If you’re tired of the same old romance “formula” books that all read identically then this book could be for you. “
- Clark Wilkins, author of Survive - Love and Murder in Alaska

"A very professionally written ecological thriller book."
- Tony Parsons

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FREE E-BOOK. JUNE 23 -27

The Bird Witch

Book 4 in The Mattie Saunders Series 

DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY AT

https://amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Can you love someone whose worldview is different from yours? Who is committed to a cause that excludes you because of your race? Simon is an Indigenous person dedicated to the struggle for justice for First Nations people. Mattie loves him but is love enough?

Birds are dying. At the Saunders Bird Rescue and Sanctuary where rescued parrots abandoned by their owners are rehabilitated and re-homed, a deadly virus has them dying in Mattie's hands. In the midst of this outbreak, she's called to investigate a mortality event where dozens of starlings fly into the pavement as if committing suicide.

Mattie looks to Simon, her rock and refuge, for support, but after spending weeks at a remote protest site, as soon as he returns home he begins working with Wendy Walters, the attractive, ambitious Indigenous politician on her re-election campaign. Mattie's just about had enough.

When Simon proposes a vacation on the Mexican Riviera, Mattie sees it as an opportunity to recover from the death of her beloved birds. She's also hopeful it's an indication Simon's reconsidering his priorities. She didn't realize while on vacation he'd want to attend the Conference of Indigenous Peoples in Chiapas. Mattie's annoyed, but decides to indulge her passion and do some tropical bird watching rather than attend a boring conference.

But Simon's conference turns out to be anything but boring when a deadly firefight erupts between the Mexican Army trying to arrest suspected terrorists and revolutionary Zapatista's. Now Simon is missing, and Mattie is determined to find him, but to do so she must first escape being kidnapped by corrupt Mexican police and avoid abduction by vicious cartel members.

The fourth book in The Mattie Saunders Series, The Bird Witch combines romance and action with environmental themes for an exciting exploration of contemporary culture and issues.

"Fantastic voice! I'm not typically a "series" reader but loved this author's voice. Simon is an Indigenous native who struggles for justice for First Nations people. His character study is VERY interesting writing. Great writing...great discovery!" FIVE STARS

"A very professionally written ecological thriller book." FIVE STARS "

"... a great book. The characters are believable and relatable and continue to evolve as the story progresses. ...I didn't have to read the other three books in order to step into the main character's journey. Although, having read it, it makes me want to go back and read the other three! "...a great job of weaving the complexities of relationship into the story, and I could really feel the push-pull Mattie and Simon experienced between their desire for relationship and a need to pursue their passions."

"Great book. Highly recommend."

"Mattie, despite being severely flawed (on purpose)... her faults do not make it harder to root for her although, at times, it's easy to find yourself annoyed with her. ...it is a joy to read a character that can make you feel so many different things but still enjoy her overall." "Simon, was my absolute favourite character ... sweet and kind and endearing and patient and so well written" "One of the subplots in this book was romance and it was honestly so well done...interesting and refreshing and sweet."

"The writing ...was so nice, witty, and refreshing. I thought it was lovely."- Goodreads review by Industry

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To start, I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided I HAD to read this. I shall quantify this by saying, as someone who has lived her intire life dealing with the reality of slaver, racism, and mysoginy, I despise dealing with it in my fantasy world. I actively avoide books and movies that are racially charged or heavy with the sexism. Sometimes you can't avoid it, and sometime and book/movie is so effing fantastic that I can give it a pass. Dread Nation is going on the list. But make no mistake, the racism really grated on me.  Also, it was in first person perspective, which I normally loathe; this was not bad.

With that being said, this was an amazing story, and what drew it to me was zombies, combined with historical fiction, and black people in the forefront. The characters were fun and likeable, even when they were unliekable. The world building was amazing and the writing was incredible!

We follow Jane McKeene a half black/white girl who is a student at Miss Preston's School for Negro Girls (I think that's what it was called.) Basically when the dead decided to get up and walk during the battle of Gettysburg The Civil War "ended" and the war vs the Dead began. The North still "won" and blacks were given freedom, but not really. They, along with indigenous tribes were swooped and placed in combat schools where they taught them how to be on the frontlines in the battle against the dead, as well as beat their culture and "savageness" out of them so that they can better serve their white betters. Sigh, I'm letting the bitterness bleed into the review.

Anyway Jane gets thrust into crazy adventures and all around bad situations with her nemisise Kathrine Devaraux, who is also of mixed race, but a goody-goofy know-it-all, which irks Jane to no end. There are devious plots, secret "utopia" towns, crazy scientists with vaccines and terrible experiments. There is also the dead, which the characters refer to as shamblers. There's a lot of death, allies, betrayals and grudging friendships.

I've heard the narrator before and they were amazing. They captured the voices and brought the world to life.

Just read/listen to it; it was great!

I'm going with 3 stars because I don't know how I feel about this novella.  I wanted to love it. I didn't hate it.  There were parts that I got lost in.  However, there were parts that lost me.  I own the hard cover, but had to borrow the audiobook from the library to get through it.  Perhaps a re-read at a later date...

Talk about a wild ride! 10-out-of-10, will listen again! This was amazing. The story was sad and heart-wrenching, yet hopeful. This made me cry.

Xiomara is a teenage girl trying to navigate life with so many things pulling her in different directions. It spoke to so many teenagers living similar lives. There are parents who try to live their lives through their children, parents, who think they're doing what is best for their children, but are actually putting them in cages to live the lives they want for them rather than letting their child just live, forcing instead of guiding. It was so sad and it upset me so much as a parent. The ending was hopeful, because the family as a whole sought outside help to deal with their issues, which so many families need to do, but do not. It gave me hope that while things would never be perfect, they could get better.

I am so very glad that I bought the audibook version of this book, because hearing the author's words, in her own voice made it more powerful and profound for me. This was excellent and I look forward to reading/hearing more from the author.