Thursday, November 21, 2013

Fair Disclosure Book Tour and Review

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NEWLY RELEASED ..........

FAIR DISCLOSURE: A New Jillian Hillcrest Mystery

Jillian and ex-husband Chad are enjoying a play at a local community theater when a scream interrupts the production upon discovery of a bludgeoned volunteer. When it turns out that the victim is someone Jillian interviewed for a job at her company, she becomes involved in another crime, drawn ever deeper by a second murder, an irate investor, the participation of law enforcement amateurs, an increasingly unreliable assistant, and suspicious stock trading at her company. Meanwhile, Chad is pressuring Jillian to say “yes” to a second marriage.



About Jillian Hillcrest
Jillian Hillcrest is a PR Executive at a small biotechnology company in Silicon Valley who—through no fault of her own—gets drawn into solving murders.


Jillian grew up with her mother in a small town in Pennsylvania, although they moved to California when she was in middle school. Her mother now lives in southern California. Jillian never got to know her father, as he was killed in the Vietnam War. She got married right after graduating from Cal to Chad Bradbury, who is a marketing executive at a biotech company in Alameda, CA. They got divorced after 10 years of marriage, and, quite frankly, are not sure why. They still enjoy getting together. In particular, they enjoy going to restaurants and drinking wine.


As the head of corporate communications, Jillian is responsible for updating investors, employees, the media, partners, and the community about Harmonia and its products. You might wonder about the name of the 200-person company that develops drug products for autoimmune diseases. The founder compared balancing the human immune system with singing in harmony. In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the goddess of harmony and concord.

Review:

I love a good murder mystery.  I mean really who doen't?  I have to admit that I was a little hesitant to read this one, though.  Truthfully, the stock market, investing and all that goes along with it bores me tears.  I know it shouldn't but it does.  I was pleasantly surprised that though this book has a lot to do with this world, it turned out to be interesting and exciting.  If find it even more intriguing that this book was inspired by actual events.

While Fair Disclosure - A Jillian Hillcrest Mystery is a sequel, I didn't feel lost.  In fact, it has only made me want to go check out the other books that Joyce T. Strand has written.  It did take me a little bit to get into the book but once I did I had a hard time putting it down.  You never know what was going to happen next.  Ms. Strand does a great job of shifting suspicion from one person to another.  I love books where you think you know the answer and then all of the sudden you change your mind, you keep going back and forth

I would really be interested to know how much of this story is about true events.  I'm sure most of the insider trading is based on true events, but murder?  I wonder.  I mean I know it is a cutthroat business but I did not think it literally was one.

I give this book 4 stars, only because I found it hard to get involved in the book in the beginning.  While there is some violence in the book and some sexual innuendos, there are no explicit sex scenes or very graphic scenes.  There is one very intense scene at the end of the book but nothing any worse than other books.  I think that this book is appropriate for anyone in high school or older.  Men and women will enjoy this book.


Buy the book........

Barnes and Noble


Joyce Strand, much like her fictional character Jillian Hillcrest, served as head of corporate communications at several biotech and high-tech companies in Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Unlike Jillian, however, she did not encounter murder in her career. She focused on writing articles and press releases and delivering presentations to publicize her companies.

Joyce has been a mystery fan since she read her first Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy stories as a teen-ager. She has always enjoyed the challenge of following clues to solve a mystery before it is revealed. Therefore Joyce relished the transition from writing press releases to writing fiction.

Joyce received her Ph.D. from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. and her B.A. from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.   She lives with her two cats in Southern California near San Diego.


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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.


 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review Fair Disclosure -- especially since Wall Street makes your eyes glaze over!! (Me, too, by the way). And I love anyone who loves a good mystery. And your instincts are correct -- there were no murders in the real-life situations. I really appreciate and applaud your taking the time to read and review books. Thank you, thank you.

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