BOOK REVIEW: Shadow of the Desert Queen by Olivia Rose

 

Shadow of the Desert Queen, A Lady Elizabeth Hawthorne Mystery by Olivia Rose was a 1920s cozy mystery. The feisty Lady Elizabeth wears exquisite gowns, drives a Duisenberg around London, and solves mysteries with style and ease. Great start to a new series. I will be back for more.

ART: The Journey by Texas Collage Artist Parker Kaufman

Oh, a special treat today from the man who was the original "Vision" in Vision and Verse,  our own witty and talented Parker Kaufman!

 

“The Journey”

This piece by Texas Collage Artist Parker Kaufman is entitled "The Journey".  It's 18" x 22".  

It's based on the premise of each person having or embarking on a journey  discovering who they are, what their part is in the grand scheme of things, and if they play a part at all. 

VISION AND VERSE DISCLAIMER

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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information, such as email addresses or home addresses. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.

SCHEDULE: April 27 - May 1, 2026

 Monday, April 27 - ART:

The Journey 

by Texas Collage Artist 

Parker Kaufman

Tuesday, April 28 - BOOK REVIEW:

Shadow of the Desert Queen

by Olivia Rose

Wednesday, April 29 - INTERVIEW:

Humanitarian Author

Dr. Dave Wasambla

Thursday,  April 30 - TV TIME:

The Missing 

(Tubi)

Friday, May 1 - BOOK:

Charming Deception

by Carol Ann Kauffman

VISION AND VERSE DISCLAIMER

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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information, such as email addresses or home addresses. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.

BOOK: 47-O Ford Deseveno

 

This is a story of love; love discovered in the wrong place and time, love lost, and love found, love reimagined in a new time.

Dr. Olivia (Liv) Bellamy works at a cryogenic facility in Ohio that her grandfather, William Ulysses Bellamy, founded. 

One day, an alarm sounds. A tube is beginning the thawing process. But no tube extraction was scheduled for today, this week, or this month.

Liv finds the beeping tube hidden in the basement. Inside the tube is a tall, slim male humanoid who Liv finds fascinating.

Paperback and ebook: 

https://www.amazon.com/47-Deseveno-Carol-Ann-Kauffman-ebook/dp/B0B77JPT9M?ref_=ast_author_dp

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TV TIME: Significant Other (Paramount +)

From the first scene of Significant Other, you know one of the two main characters is not to be trusted. The problem is… which one, because suspicion keeping bouncing between them! 

Marika Monroe does a fantastic job in this “Troubled, unprepared lovers go into the woods, oblivious to trouble around them” trope.

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INTERVIEW: Literary and Metaphysical Author Colette Saucier

Colette L. Saucier

 Louisiana

USA

Welcome to Vision and Verse, Colette. Can you tell us a little about what you’ve written? 

My published works are Pulse and Prejudice—the paranormal adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic—which retells the story from Mr. Darcy’s point of view as a vampire. (Austenprose Readers’ Choice Top 5 Book of 2012); the contemporary romance All My Tomorrows, selected a 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semi-finalist; and my new release, the romantic suspense thriller, Alicia’s Possession.

What is your favorite genre to write?

Literary and metaphysical fiction, but I haven’t published in those genres yet!  So I would have to say Romantic Suspense.

Favorite food. 

Lobster.

Where would you like to visit? 

My goal is to visit all the continents, and I only have Australia and Antarctica remaining.

Favorite musical artist. 

Pink Floyd

How old were you when you started writing? 

I was reading and writing even before I began kindergarten, but I wrote my first short story in the third grade when I was eight. By junior high, I wrote novellas that my classmates would pass around.

Where do you get your inspiration? 

Anything can be an inspiration. With my new release, Alicia’s Possession, my daughter had just bought a house on a lake that got my creative juices flowing. All My Tomorrows resulted from an argument I had with my other daughter. For Pulse and Prejudice, I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before. I had read adaptations of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view and a vampire variation, and I decided to blend the two.  My current work in progress, The Widow?  I’m keeping the inspiration a secret for now.

What do you do when you get a writer's block? 

First, I try meditation, which is how I work out any scene anyway. If that doesn’t work, I use a technique called proprioceptive writing. I took a workshop on it, and it is an amazing tool to get your juices flowing. If all else fails, I go to Amsterdam.

Who is your favorite author? 

William Shakespeare

Best book you ever read. 

When I am reading The Magic Mountain, I think it is the best book ever written, but when I am reading The Brothers Karamazov, I can’t imagine anything better.

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?

It cannot be one person because I had twins. My children completely changed my life. From the moment they were born, I didn’t make a single decision, I didn’t move, without thinking of how they would be affected. They were the primary motivating factor in most of my behavior until they left home.  Even today as adults, they still influence me. I want their happiness more than I want my own.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?

John Lennon. Although Pink Floyd is my favorite band, The Beatles are a close second. I think I might love George more, but I have always felt a certain affinity with John, like we shared a certain level of insanity.  In Strawberry Fields, he wrote, “No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low;” but the original lyrics were that no one was on his wavelength; everyone was either higher or lower. He changed it to make it more esoteric. I empathize with him and that feeling, especially when I was growing up and had trouble making friends. Of course, I can always fall back on another line from that song:  “Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out. It doesn't matter much to me.”

What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer? 

Marry well.

Colette is the bestselling author of Pulse and Prejudice—the paranormal adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic—which retells the story from Mr. Darcy’s point of view as a vampire. Colette was selected a “2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semi-finalist” and Austenprose's “Debut Author of the Year” for 2012.

Colette has been writing poems, short stories, and novellas since grade school. Her interest in literature led her to marry her college English professor, but eventually a love of history encouraged her to trade up to a British historian. Technical writing has dominated Colette’s career for the past twenty years, but finding little room for creativity in that genre, she dedicated 15 months traveling to Europe and Britain, researching Regency England and vampire lore and literature, to complete her first full-length novel Pulse and Prejudice. She is currently researching and writing a sequel entitled Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth set in Antebellum New Orleans, as well as the romantic suspense thriller, The Widow.

Colette lives in South Louisiana with her historian husband and their two dogs.

www.facebook.com/ColetteSaucierAuthor

colettesaucier.blogspot.com

www.colettesaucier.com

About Alicia’s Possession

Haunted by a traumatic accident and her husband’s betrayal, Alicia believes she can never trust again. Now she must surrender her will to Mason if she wants to find out if the bizarre events terrorizing her are the work of the paranormal, her own paranoia, or something far more sinister.

After recovering from a freak car crash that put her in a coma and left her with no memory of the accident, wealthy socialite Alicia Pageant becomes convinced there is a connection between the mysterious disappearance of her neighbor and a series of bizarre occurrences inside her own house; but everyone—including the detective called to investigate—thinks the woman’s head injury has left her unable to distinguish reality from fantasy.

As Detective Mason Crawley investigates this “suspicious incident,” Alicia’s palpable sadness and vulnerability awaken his instinct to protect her and lead her into the light; but when her story begins to unravel, each new piece of information creates more questions than it answers. He begins to wonder if he is falling in love with a woman who is a witness to a cleverly-concealed crime, dangerously delusional, or a murderer.

“A great story. It's got everything—sex, crime, cops, more sex, a twisted mystery, knot tying, and a superb denouement.” — Chuck Hustmyre, screenwriter and bestselling author of THE AXMAN OF NEW ORLEANS

http://www.colettesaucier.com/alicias-possession/where-to-find-alicias-possession/


Secret  Cravings  Publishing  Store - All eBook formats

Amazon for Kindle

Amazon UK for Kindle

Barnes & Noble for Nook

Bookstrand - All eBook formats

Omni Lit - All eBook formats

All Romance  - All eBook formats

BOOK REVIEW: Leave It Up to Love by Kristy Woodson Harvey

This was a cute, little short story about two women authors and their journey in writing and life’s milestones, both the good and the bad. 

Well-written with solid characters and a beautiful setting, Leave It to Love by Kristy Woodson Harvey focuses on Elizabeth, a famous, seasoned writer whose husband has passed away and she just can’t seem to get back into the creative flow to get her new book finished, her handsome son who is also her agent, and Elizabeth’s favorite barista. 

VISION AND VERSE DISCLAIMER

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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information, such as email addresses or home addresses. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.

 

ART: British Watercolor Artist Emma Faull

Emma Faull's bird watercolors are some of my favorite. There is a gentle beauty in them as well as amazing detail. 
 

VISION AND VERSE DISCLAIMER

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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information, such as email addresses or home addresses. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.

SCHEDULE: April 20 - 24, 2026

 Monday, April 20 - ART:

British Watercolor Artist

Emma Faull

Tuesday, April 21 - BOOK REVIEW:

Leave It Up To Love

by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Wednesday, April 22 - INTERVIEW:

Literary and Metaphysical Author Colette Saucier

Thursday, April 23 - TV TIME:

Significant Other

(Paramount+)

Friday, April 24 - BOOK:

47-O 

by Carol Ann Kauffman

VISION AND VERSE DISCLAIMER

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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information, such as email addresses or home addresses. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.

BOOK: Bentley Square by Carol Ann Kauffman

 

Strangers meet on the train. 

She, a beautiful, wealthy businesswoman. 

He, a down on his luck office manager. 

They have nothing in common. 

And yet, they are drawn to each other with an undeniable hypnotic magnetism. 

This is the story of Rebecca Robbins, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the country and Mark Ramsay, a man shrouded in dark mystery and hiding in the shadows from death squads amid international intrigue.

Available on Amazon in ebook and paperback:

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Y9DPIC 

One of the most endearing introductions to this book took place at a book club. The presenter described it as "You finally get a nice, cute, sweet, lovable boyfriend with a job... 

and everybody's trying to kill him."

Excerpt:

Chapter 1: Probably a Shoe Salesman

Becca sat in her usual reserved compartment window seat on the train into the city that morning. She watched the throngs of people waiting, waiting for transportation into the big city, waiting for a way out of their hard, dismal lives, waiting for a miracle. The closer the train got to the city of Skylar, the sadder they looked, the shabbier they dressed, and the more hopeless they appeared.  

She looked for him, still in the hopeful, gainfully employed, trying to make a living group, in a brown suit, white shirt, dark tie, neat, clean, well-groomed. Not the most handsome man she’d ever seen in her life, not even the best-looking guy at the train station, but there was just something about him she found completely mesmerizing. Something inside her came alive when she saw him. Her heart leaped. He made her smile. She wanted to run to him, hug him, cover him with kisses, and feel his strong, loving arms wrapped around her.  
   Eyes forward, neither a smile nor a frown. Neither the dejected, forlorn type you want to flee from, nor the overly happy, deliriously optimistic sort you want to shake back to reality. He was aware of his environment. He was ever watchful. Cautious. Controlled.  

   He was there waiting for the train every morning. She imagined his life. He was probably about thirty, a father of one beautiful child, an adorable little girl who had her Daddy’s eyes, with a pretty stay-at-home wife who fussed over him and called him Darling.  He probably worked at one of the many shoe stores downtown, was a very good salesman, and had a good sense of humor. She bet he had a great smile when he chose to give in and let it out. He was a kind man with a very gentle soul. He had tons of friends, but not much family, if any. He carried the heavy weight of responsibility and he didn’t own a weapon, didn’t like guns or violence. He drank too much and ate too little. His name was probably…oh, maybe, Richard.

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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information like email addresses, home addresses, etc. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.