Saturday, July 7, 2012

Book Review: The Aspen 2-Million Winner-Take-All

When I was contacted by Nicole Langan at Tribute Books to do a review for The Aspen 2-Million Winner-Take-All by John Morris,  I had no idea what the book would bring so far as entertainment is concerned. Well, Murderers, let me tell you, every great once in a while, you get a book written by a storyteller of the old school. You are entertained from cover-to-cover. Although those books are hard to find sometimes, they usually find you when you least expect them. This happened to me with this book. Pure entertainment, and unbelievable craftmanship by an author that I didn't know. From page one, Morris had me hooked and soon I was thrilled to be in possession of The Aspen 2-Million Winner-Take-All.


Is this beginning to sound like a five blood drop review? I hope so because author John Morris deserves his kudos. Yes, Murderers, I gave this read FIVE BLOOD DROPS!!!

The story:
Morgan, the main character, owns a sort of "lived-in" house in Aspen, Colorado, in the elite section called the West End. He was a popular chap, had a little business going for himself, and thought life was going somewhere.

True enough, it was. His rather stand-offish neighbor, Risa, became his worst nightmare when her dog suddenly turns up missing and eventually discovered dead. Poor Morgan wasn't even around when the deed happened, but of course, he was blamed.  Not only blamed, but threatened with a million dollar lawsuit and a promise to run him out of town on a rail, as they say.

He wasn't too worried about the lawsuit and the million bucks, but he was pretty upset about the forced out of town business. He had roots in Aspen. And a man uprooted, is well, like a dead tree.

His best shot at getting Risa over her million dollar temper tantrum was to win a golf tournament. Not just any tournament, mind you, but one that had a 2-million dollar winning pot. Either that or find out what the woman's worst secret was and blackmail her.

Like that would ever happen!

Then again, his best friend and legal advisor, Justin, said, "Make her fall in love with you," and herein we have the lead-in to door number three.

Well, let me tell you, what follows is the best romp of a read I've had in years.  Mr. Morris is funny, but not in a slapstick way. His writing flows so well, you are engrossed in the story and don't even realize how he managed to captivate you. He is a master at getting out of the way of the story and letting it live. The situations in this book are so well-written, I could truly imagine being out in the snow looking at that house of Morgan's.  In fact, I stood side-by-side with this character and felt every ill-timed moment as they happened. Yes, Morris is that good at making you a part of this tale.

Thank you John, for writing a book that took me out of my dreary day and allowed me to watch someone else wiggle through life. I hope to never have the problems that poor Morgan did, but after reading your book, I feel like I went through it all vicariously anyway.

Great book, Murderers. Go out and visit his blog tour stops, and whatever you do- go out and visit Mr. Morris' sites, and for heaven's sake, get this book!



John Morris' Bio:
John Morris lives in Aspen, Colorado, with his loving wife and two wonderful children.  Having worked many of the same cowboy / construction / bartender / ski-patrol jobs as his fictional counterpart Morgan, he can vouch for how easy it is for a good-looking guy to get in trouble there.


John Morris' Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Morris/392376524117530


The Aspen 2-Million Winner-Take-All Blog Tour Site:
http://the-aspen.blogspot.com/

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186
  



eBook
Price: $6.99
Pages: 281
Release: May 10, 2012


iBookstore buy link:
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=dcSBhG3Rj8w&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fbook%252Faspen-2-million-winner-take%252Fid526795549%253Fmt%253D11%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30

Also available through Kobo, Sony, ebooks.com and http://search.overdrive.com/classic/retail/




3 comments:

Tribute Books said...

Kim, I'm delighted that you enjoyed John's book, and I hope you continue to enjoy your vacation. Thanks for the review!

Unknown said...

Kim, Thanks for the kind words. I'll plead guilty to being "old school" in the sense that I want to give readers value for their money, and especially for their time. Thanks again, and I hope your summer finds you more good reading! John Morris

Kim Smith said...

Thanks very much to Tribute Books and Mr. Morris for letting me in on this awesome read!