CURSED CASINO by Sara Brooke_Blog Tour and Review

Book Blurb

The Van Vincent Hotel is ready to reopen. 

It sits along the Mississippi coastline, welcoming tourists with its lavish shops and a vast casino that's home to sparkling slot machines and elegant gaming tables.
A group of friends is gathering for a reunion and a chance to experience the luxury of the Van Vincent before it officially opens, but a night of gambling turns into a night of hell.  
Because when darkness descends on the Van Vincent, the dead don't always stay underground. And the phantoms of the past like to play for keeps.

Take a haunting trip around the internet with author Sara Brooke as she talks about life, writing and the paranormal. There will also be reviews of Sara's latest book Cursed Casino, book giveaways and excerpts from Cursed Casino.

Cursed Casino Tour Stop List
March 14 – The Dead Centre – Guest Post from Sara Brooke
March 15 – The Cerebral Writer – Guest Post from Sara Brooke
March 16 – Evil Girlfriend With a Pen – Guest Post from Sara Brooke
March 17 – Mallory Heart Reviews – Review of Cursed Casino
March 18 – The Blog World of Kat Yares – Excerpt from Cursed Casino
March 19 – My Cozie Corner – Review of Cursed Casino
March 20 – The FlipSide of Julianne – Interview with Sara Brooke
March 21 – Fundinmental - Excerpt from Cursed Casino
March 22 – Timothy Dean's Pirate Radio – LIVE Interview with Sara Brooke
March 22 – Sylv-Jenkins – Guest Post from Sara Brooke
March 23 – Krystal's Enchanting Reads – Guest Post from Sara Brooke
March 24 – The Cerebral Writer – Excerpt from Cursed Casino
March 25 – A Girl and Her Kindle - Review of Cursed Casino

Meet Sara Brooke
Sara Brooke is a horror and suspense novelist living in South Florida. A lifelong avid reader of all things scary, Sara's childhood dream was to write horror books that force readers to sleep with their lights on. Her first novel, Still Lake, was released Spring 2012. Sara's influences and favorite authors include Bentley Little, John Saul, William Blackstone, and Joe McKinney.

Find Sara Online
Sara Brooke on Facebook
@SaraBrooke8 on Twitter
Biting Dog Press on Facebook


Book Giveaway
Biting Dog Press is giving away one set of the complete Sara Brooke digital library. These books include The Zyne Project , Still Lake, Kransen House,  and Ghost Swim. To post this contest for your readers, simply paste the code below onto your site. This giveaway runs from March 10 (12:00 am EST) through March 30 (12:00 am EST).

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Review of CURSED CASINO by Mallory Heart Reviews:

Review of Cursed Casino by Sara Brooke

5 Stars

Sara Brooke demonstrates a hallmark of an excellent writer: starting off soundly, and then improving with every single new writing, whether it’s novel, short story, or novella. If I had to choose between all of Ms. Brooke’s publications to date, I think I would select “Cursed Casino” and “Kransen House,” though I rate all excellent and well worth rereading.

The reader’s hook in “Cursed Casino” grabs the reader immediately; I don’t know how anyone could put the book down after those scenes, certainly not me.  I like Sara’s approach to character backstory. I really liked the concept of rebuilding the exact same type of hotel and casino, with the exact same name, on the exact same location-two years after the destruction, because that is SO tempting fate and SO inevitably going to have ugly consequences. In both cases (prior to the hurricane, and in the contemporary renovated casino) it’s amazing how totally naïve the patrons and management are: sort of a “it can’t happen here mentality” (I’m thinking of, for example, the Jonestown Flood, the Toccoa  Falls Flood, and of course Katrina) simultaneously with a “it won’t happen to me, if it happens at all” hubris. Gotta love it..because of course the readers knows how wrong that is.

       And I like that gentle telegraphing, by which the Supernatural elements are brought in subtly at first. By Chapter 3 I had serious chills going on, ready to see what this author could bring forth. Another good element is in Ryan’s recounting of the history surrounding the end of the prior casino/barge and the lobbying to build the new one. In the background, I could easily visualize the “new ownership” being some kind of holding company orchestrated by the Devil, or some demonic element, specifically to create a similar situation in which to wipe out hundreds of people at one time, as did the hurricane.

       I think that the best theme for me in this story is the working out of the karma due to the hubris, the sheer overwhelming GREED that motivated the construction and operation of the first casino, and then the new construction of the replacement; that GREED that determined that hundreds of lives lost was an immaterial cost of operation. Such arrogance, to rebuild at all, plus in the same location, and then to schedule opening for the anniversary date!

              I really did not expect any of the denouements of the last several chapters (though I applauded all) and not of the Epilogue-but again, the outcome was very fitting. In summary, this novel rocks!