A Nice Review

by KasieMiehlke — Lemoncella Cocktail by Rene Natan

Post Number:#1 by KasieMiehlke » 19 Mar 2017, 20:12

[Following is a volunteer review of “Lemoncella Cocktail” by Rene Natan.]

 

Patrick is down on his luck. He has just been fired and on his way home his car broke down. He suddenly hears a cry for help and plunges into an icy river to save a young girl’s life. A case of mistaken identity throws him into a massive police investigation. Danger is lurking around every corner. Kidnappers, murderers, terrorism, and trafficking become a constant presence. Can Patrick remain level headed as the investigation forces him to face his past? Can a family survive the terrible tragedy that envelopes them?

The author, Rene Natan, has turned her love of storytelling into a prolific career. She has won multiple awards and has several books published. She has an amazing ability to capture the reader’s attention and Lemoncella Cocktail is no exception. She created multidimensional characters that are extremely relatable. The precision that she describes the locations and events throughout the book transported me into the story. This book has inspired me to read more of her works.

The best and worst qualities of humankind are present throughout this book. Greed and wrath drive the antagonists while the protagonists make their choices based on love and morality. Desire is a force that is present on both sides of the characters. Desire to find the criminals and the criminal’s desire to escape creates a battle of wills. The good versus bad aspect of the book will allow the message to survive the test of time.

Two major crimes that are becoming more and more prevalent seem to be the major factor in Lemoncella Cocktail. Natan does a great job at showing how trafficking and terrorism are often intertwined. She also shows the dangers that are faced by both the people committing the crimes and those who try to capture them.

I give Lemocella Cocktail by Rene Natan 3 out of 4 stars. It is a gripping thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. There were several incorrectly used words, flu instead of flew, and also several missing words. I believe that another round of editing would correct these problems and would allow for a perfect score. Natan does a great job at making her characters relatable and creating realistic events. Overall I found this book to be extremely well laid out. This was a fantastic read and I will not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great who-done-it story.

 

From Archway Publishing

Rene Natan narrates thrilling story bleeding with reality

‘Lemoncella Cocktail’ follows young man whose fate takes sharp turn after he saves girl from drowning

STRATHROY-CARADOC, Ontario – Published author Rene Natan returns to the literary scene with another thrilling story she titled, “Lemoncella Cocktail” (published by Archway Publishing). Natan invites readers to visit Northern America and learn of the unfortunate reality that involves terrorism and weapon trafficking.

Involved in a murder at younger age, Patrick Carter, now 25, plans to stay out of troubles and live a life without confrontations. Being a lifeguard during the day and a bartender at night is his ideal way to spend a summer on the shores of Lake Huron.

Unfortunately, one day, as he walks along the Ausable River on his way home, an unmistakable cry for help makes him plunge into the river, fight the strong current and pull a girl to safety. But his good action is not without consequences, since the 14-year girl, thought to be a witness to a massive weapons exchange, is marked to death – and so, it seems, the man who saved her.

Patrick is not keen on cooperating with police and is reluctant to move from his comfort zone to a world of suspicion and violence even if his life is at stake. He wavers – and his hesitation could be costly.

As readers follow the journey of Patrick, they will get to learn more of the ugly reality of trafficking and terrorism. Colored by the hand the media plays in the development of the story, this tale not only excites and entertains but also informs and inspires.

“Lemoncella Cocktail”  By Rene Natan

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Rene Natan (aka Irene Gargantini Strybosch) is the author of several short stories and 10 novels, in genres varying from thriller to romantic suspense. Some of these have gained international recognition. “The Blackpox Threat” won first place in the 2012 Dragonfly Book Awards and was a finalist in the 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards; “The Loves and Tribulations of Detective Stephen Carlton” got Silver in the 2015 Global Ebook Awards; “The Woman in Black” won Second Place in the 2015 Five Star Dragonfly Awards. Her books are available on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com. A former professor of computer science with Western University, she lives in Strathroy, Ontario. Readers can visit her online at http://www.vermeil.biz.

Keyword 1.       Lemoncella Cocktail

Link: http://bookstore.archwaypublishing.com/Products/SKU-001075718/Lemoncella-Cocktail.aspx

Keyword 2.      Rene Natan

Link: http://bookstore.archwaypublishing.com/Author/Default.aspx?BookworksSId=SKU-001075718

Keyword 3.      trafficking

Link: http://justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/tp/

Keyword 4.      terrorism

Link: http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-scary-reality-of-terrorism-in-canada/

Keyword 5.      Northern America

Link: https://www.ethnologue.com/region/NAM

EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact:

Marketing Services, Tel: 888-242-5904, Fax: 812-961-3133

Email: pressreleases(at)archwaypublishing(dot)com

(When requesting a review copy, please provide a street address.)

 

How I created the protagonist of Lemoncella Cocktail

As I said in my previous blog, Lemoncella Cocktail was inspired by a story I heard in the older days. A teenager had killed his father in the attempt to protect his mother. He grew up shy and averse to challenges or confrontations. Avoiding being in the spot light seemed to be his main concern. He surprised everybody when  one day he risked his life to save a drowning girl, thus becoming a celebrated hero.

In his event there was drama; it could serve as a dynamite stick to ignite the readers’ attention in a work of fiction—possibly a thriller. Once chosen the starting point, I had to build the character of the protagonist, Patrick Carter.

The young man had to be familiar with water rescue and aquatic traumatic stress—so I made him a certified lifeguard serving on the shores of Lake Huron.

Naturally he has to be physically strong, so he is tall and muscular. He has to have another job to complement his daily income, so I made him a bartender at night.

Now, his action has to provoke some problems, right? So, what is better than saving the life of a person the mob wants to eliminate? That would put him in jeopardy, in the middle of a conflict, since now the mob not only wants to kill the girl, but also the good Samaritan who has seen who had thrown her into the river. His he married? No, he’s 25-year old and very handsome, so this offers me the occasion of introducing a bit of romance. But the girl he likes belongs to a social level much higher than his. After all, Patrick does not even have a stable job!

Why the mob wanted to kill the girl in the first place? Because she is believed to have witnessed a massive weapons exchange. Now we have crime. So, I can now present the bad guys, and the lawful group that chases them. The latter is a specialized task force, comprising members of Public Safety Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, working with the coastguards of both Ontario and the United States.

No good novel wins a prize or gain many readers without a constellation of characters—some nice, some bad—who interact with the main personas by importing a few of their problems. There is the son of a business man who is anxious to make quickly much more money than his father ever did in his life and in doing so he becomes an arms dealer; there is a very young woman who, not confident in the understanding of her family, tries to solve her problems by herself—and so she goes from one perilous situation to another; there is a seven-year old kid who looks for a father figure…

All these events, situations and characters have to tie in together, making the story flow without a glitch.

I hope I have done just that!