Friday, November 22, 2013

"The Weeping Bride: Brides and Dark Secrets Series" by Pembroke Sinclair

REVIEW
The Weeping Bride:
Brides and Dark Secrets Series
by Pembroke Sinclair


The Weeping Bride by Pembroke Sinclair is on tour for the month of November. The tour stops here today for my review. Please visit all the other tour stops as well. Brought to you by Bewitching Book Tours.


Description
Scorned at her own wedding, The Weeping Bride has vowed to make every bride from her hometown miserable until she finds her own happiness. When the groom at a friend's wedding disappears, Melanie and Tyler must solve the mystery of the Bride to save him. Time is not on their side. Will they find him before The Weeping Bride's revenge is satiated?

Excerpt
Sarah moved around the hotel reception room, her back straight and eyes focused. She stopped at a table and straightened a fork, unbent the corner of a name card, and pulled a dead leaf off the lily and baby’s breath flower arrangement, all the while mumbling under her breath. She stepped to the middle of the floor and brought her right hand to her mouth, her index finger tapping her lips. Sarah turned slowly, taking in every inch of the room.
“Sarah,” a familiar voice spoke behind her. It sounded small in the large, empty room.
She turned to face the speaker.
“What are you still doing in here?” her mother asked.
“Just checking on some last minute things.”
Her mom walked across the room and embraced her daughter. Sarah laid her head against her mom’s shoulder and took a deep breath.
“Everything is going to be just perfect,” her mom said softly. “And if it’s not, you’ll still be married.”
Sarah nodded. “I know. I couldn’t sleep. I figured I’d do one last walk through.”
Her mom pulled away and held Sarah at arm’s length. “You’re going to have dark circles under your eyes if you don’t get to bed. I have something that will help you sleep.” She turned and headed out of the room, stopping at the door. “Are you coming?”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah. I’m on my way. Just one more thing I need to check.”
Her mom rolled her eyes and left the room.
Sarah made her way to the wedding parties’ table and checked to make sure the bouquet holders were in place. She knocked one off, and it fell under the table. Bending down, she lifted the tablecloth. She found the plastic piece and snapped it back into place. As she stood, something caught the corner of her vision. She turned. In the far corner of the room, a white mist gathered from the floor, slowly creeping up. Squinting, she took a step forward. The mist shimmered and took shape.
“No,” Sarah whispered under her breath. She backed away.
The mist solidified yet remained translucent, taking the shape of a person. Within a few seconds, a woman dressed in a long, white, flowing gown stood before Sarah. She held a bouquet of wildflowers and a veil covered her face, but Sarah could see she was crying. The bride took a step forward.
“No!” Sarah screamed and ran for the door.
She hurried down the hall to the elevator and punched the button. Shifting from one foot to the other, she mumbled under her breath for the thing to hurry. The doors opened with a ding, and she rushed inside. Sarah hit the button for the sixth floor, and then punched the door close button. She stamped her foot on the floor, cursing the elevator in her mind as it crawled to its destination. Sarah squeezed through the doors before they opened completely and ran down the hall. Stopping in front of the door, she pounded three times. She waited for a few seconds before pounding three more times.
“Mark!” She kicked at the door. “Mark!”
“What’s going on?”
Sarah turned. Tyler, her fiancé’s best man, stepped into the hall, lines of concern wrinkling his forehead.
“Have you seen Mark?”
“Not since the rehearsal dinner. Why?”
“I need to know where he is.”
Tyler shrugged his shoulders. “Last I heard he was going to get a drink with the guys. He was planning on being in bed by ten.”
Sarah glanced at her watch. 9:30.
“Do you know which bar they went to?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Why didn’t you go with them?” Anger and accusation tainted her tone.
Tyler furrowed his brow. “I had some other things to do. What is this all about?”
Sarah turned without saying another word and headed to her room. She kept telling herself everything was going to be all right. It was fine. Nothing was going to happen. She’d get her phone and call Mark. Everything was fine. Inside her room, door closed, she collapsed onto the floor and cried.
“Sarah?” Her mom knelt next to her. Fear shook her voice. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Sarah took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down, but it didn’t work. “The Weeping Bride! I saw the Bride!”
Her mom brought her hand to her mouth and gasped, “Oh, no!” She wrapped her arms around Sarah’s shoulders and cried.

Review


By Lynda Dickson
On the eve of her wedding day, Sarah sees a vision of a ghostly bride crying and knows this to be a bad omen. When Sarah's fiancé Mark goes missing on their wedding day, her friend Melanie (who has herself been jilted) teams up with best man Tyler to try and locate Mark in time for the wedding.
Together they learn about the legend of the Weeping Bride. Many years ago, Keiralyn was set to marry Adam but, when tragic circumstances intervened, Keiralyn vowed that no bride in Lionkol would ever be happy. Melanie and Tyler make it their mission to reunite the Weeping Bride with Adam, break the curse, and find Mark.
But will Melanie ever find happiness of her own?
TheWeeping Bride contains a bit of everything: romance, horror, ghosts, and mystery. I applaud the author for not padding the story out with unnecessary detail. It is a quick, easy, and satisfying read.

From the Author
In 2009, eTreasures Publishing published my first novel, a sci-fi adventure story. Since then, they have published my two YA zombie novels, my religious zombie novella, two children’s picture books, and two novellas with romantic elements. I have an urban fantasy novel about dragons and a vampire novelette that was published by MuseItUp Publishing. Musa Publishing has published my novelette with romantic elements and a collection of short stories. I have a middle grade urban fantasy novel that was published by Little Devil Books. My nonfiction book about slasher films was published by Scarecrow Press.
Writing is my passion. I enjoy creating fantastic worlds and memorable characters. I’m an active promoter of my works and love to talk to readers at book signings and readings. Doing giveaways on Goodreads has been an exciting experience, and having contests for readers has been fun. I actively promote various authors on my blog and participate in blog tours to promote my own work.
I write under several different pen names. For my children’s titles, I write under J. D. Pooker, and for my YA and adult novels, I write under Pembroke Sinclair. My nonfiction work is done under my real name.
I am a member of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and am on a committee to create membership criteria for iPAL, which is a sister group to the Published Authors Liaison group and focuses on independent and self-published authors. I am also a member of the ALA and really enjoy doing library visits.

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