Location: United States
Member Since:
Nov. 25, 2020
Nancy Dunham
Nancy Dunham's favorite authors on Smashwords
Smashwords book reviews by Nancy Dunham
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Virga Joy (or the Adventures of El Colonel De Corona)
on Feb. 18, 2021
(I had a chance to enjoy this book in an online serialization prior to publication, and bought it on its release date.) _Virga Joy_ is a travelogue, memoir, entrepreneurial manual all rolled into one. The descriptions of the settings (Afghanistan, Germany, Costa Rica, and Washington, DC) are immersive. The reader is invited to sit and stay awhile. The characters are fully-drawn men and women; who actually relate to each other. The action - yes, there's plenty - is cinematic and well-paced. I refer to _Virga Joy_ as my "go-to 'happy place' book'". It's one I'll gladly return to while I await its hoped-for sequel.
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Operation Free Bird, a Campbell/Greene Adventure
on Sep. 11, 2021
[I was able to read a pre-publication version of this book, and purchased it on its release date.] The wait for the next installment in the Campbell/Greene Adventures is over! Once again, the team of Douglas Kimball (and Simon Templar) delivers the perfect weekend getaway or staycation book. The story takes up after the medical cliffhanger at the end of book one , "Virga Joy". As Colin Campbell, recovers from typhoid at a military hospital in Germany, in hopes of completing his Marine enlistment and returning to Costa Rica, he showcases his jazz piano talents for fellow patients, staffers, and even Armed Forces Radio and Televsion. Meanwhile, at the "Rancho del Piper Nigrum", Colin's friend and partner in business and adventure, botanist Alan Greene, who'd been hastily removed from Afghanistan - and his covert work there - keeps the black pepper plants and citrus groves in good shape awaiting his friend's return. At the back of Alan's mind, a mission of another kind awaits: His British colleague in Afghanistan had presented him with a letter containing a safe-deposit box key from a bank in Mumbai, and instructions about getting the contents to his wife in London, should he be kidnapped and killed. This had happened. Alan's sense of duty, and Colin's being assigned to a position with the Defense Intelligence Agency combine in a whirlwind that takes readers from Germany and Costa Rica, to DC, and London - with a side-trip for Alan - to visit an Afghan friend, who's living in Paris. That visit leads to a race against time. Small-time thugs, who've been listening in to internet chatter, are convinced that Alan holds the key to a "treasure" spirited out of Afghanistan. They kidnap Alan, in hopes of receiving ransom, or killing him and recovering the treasure. The U.S. State Department initiates a multi-national, joint-forces rescue plan - with a now-recovered Colin in the mix. Will they get to Alan in time?... Did I mention that Fleur, Natalie - and a host of friends old and new - in Costa Rica are making plans for a wedding? As always, the duo of Campbell and Greene offer us immersive locales, cinematic adventure, and a dash of romance, to keep us wanting more. Enjoy this latest entry in my "go-to happy place" series, until the "three-quel".