The Bean Sidhe by Ernest L Canning - Book Tour - Book Review - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Ernest L Canning and his new book, “The Bean Sidhe,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Ernest and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

The Bean Sidhe

by Ernest L Canning

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GENRE:  Fiction / Thriller / Suspense

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BLURB:

Percy thought he had it all figured out; good education, good job, good wife, work hard, play by the rules. But he discovered very late in life that not everyone has read the same rule book. Tired, angry, and bitter, Percy, for the first time in his life, decides he wants to kill someone. Revenge for someone he barely knew. Percy quickly learns that murder isn't as easy as it looks, and keeping the whole mess secret even harder. A funny, gritty look at killing your fellow man.

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EXCERPT ONE:

The keys for apartment 507 still hung in the lock, the door not fully closed. She had watched him go in. He looked like hell. Lou must have tried to drown the little turd.

She turned to study the wet footprints leading back to the elevator. Did he have only one shoe on? Like Grandpappy Hughes would have said, “the wee lad looks like he’s bin rid hard and put away wet.”

The building was starting to look its age. Built in the early sixties, it still wore its inaugural colours and trappings. The carpet was worn in the center, the plastics and fabrics were yellowed and faded. Decades of meal preparation and continuous occupancy had left the place smelling like a cross between a donair shop and a cat house.

Leaning closer to the door, she heard a shower running somewhere in the apartment.

She had tried to warn this Percy fellow that Lou Bonas was not the kind of guy to be messing about with; on the upside, the little bugger was still among the living.

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MY BOOK REVIEW:

This book is interesting, intriguing, compelling, and entertaining!!

This book follows a unique, clever story line filled with dark, callous, satire humor, sarcasm, and immoral behaviors.

The Bean Sidhe’s main character, Percy, is at his wit’s end, he’s done being the good guy, the guy who follows the rules and does as he’s told.  With nothing left to lose, Percy sets his sights on revenge and committing the ultimate crime, murder.  Percy chooses his victim, Lou, a despicable thug with a long record of abusing his wife, assault, attempted murder, and even murder charges, yet somehow he keeps getting away with it and ends up back out on the street.  Percy carefully beings planning out every little detail, but he quickly learns that you can’t truly prepare for everything and committing murder isn’t as simple as it looks on TV.

This book portrays a comical, realistic viewpoint of seeking out revenge and trying to get away with murder.

This book follows Percy, a recently retired accounting auditor, who’s life plan just completely came crashing down.  Percy, had been a dedicated worker who never missed a day’s work in 35 years, was never late, nor ever missed a deadline.  He married Lorrie, the girl he met in college, who became a lawyer, and they had been married for over thirty years.  They lived a routine life, leaving their condo every morning at 7:30am and walking to their respected workplaces then meeting back up at home around dinner time.  They had made plans for Percy to retire first, followed by Lorrie a few months later, then selling their condo and moving down south.  Unfortunately, two weeks after Percy’s retirement party, instead of retiring as planned, Lorrie accepted a job promotion that took her two hours north of their home.  At first they tried to make it work with Lorrie coming home on weekends, but then work kept her busy, with time quickly passing, and before Percy knew it, Lorrie was packing her bags and leaving for good.  Now all of Percy’s plans of their joint retirement venture went up in smoke as it was just him, all alone.  Percy quickly took to drinking and watching the news.  Percy was never a risk taker, always a thorough planner, but after years of playing the good guy boy scout and still ending up alone with nothing, he’s decided he’s done playing by the rules that no one else is following and he’s out for revenge.

While Percy couldn’t have picked a better victim than Lou, a loud, foul mouthed, belligerent drunk, it turns out Percy isn’t the only one planning to kill Lou.  Lou’s Sister-In-Law, Georgina, is tired of Lou getting away with her sister’s murder and she’s out for vengeance.  With two killers on Lou’s drunk stumbled tail, who will get to him first??

Unfortunately, I found this book to be slow paced, often confusing and at times awkwardly written.  The beginning of the book starts out oddly and I would have cut most of the first 11 pages, which felt unnecessary and only added to the confusion.  First off, there’s the narration and tense shifts that are distracting.  Then there’s the timeline errors.  For example, one minute Georgina is sitting in the Black Stag bar spying on Lou and then the author strangely distracts the reader with multiple pages of random ramblings of mostly unrelated details, then picks up saying, “and that brings us to why Georgina Hughes was outside the Black Stag in a van borrowed…”  I thought she was inside the bar??  Then there’s the strange, uncharacteristic details.  While this book is just starting out and we are being introduced to Georgina, we are informed that she used to be a police officer, having had that type of job automatically ensures that the character would have certain traits, such as surveillance and recon skills, critical thinking, physical stamina, attention to detail, community awareness, strong communication skills, etc.  So, Georgina knew Lou and his cronies would be at the Black Stag – as mentioned a place she had been past dozens of times, but had never been inside until now.  But, when she does go inside she almost faints when she sees two former colleagues and police officers, Hank sitting at the bar, and Alice coming out of the kitchen.  Turns out Hank and Alice own and run the bar with just one other employee, a cook.  Seems odd that at the same time, it mentions the extensive research and weeks of following and surveilling Lou, who practically spends the majority of his time as a patron at that bar, and she had no clue to who ran it not to mention didn’t manage to see one of them coming or going in the hours spent watching the bar.  This just seemed very puzzling.

Also, I have a ding about the car Percy selected.  Percy is shopping for a cheap, inconspicuous getaway car and he chooses to buy a car that has a broken seat height button so he can barely see through the window as he peers out through the steering wheel, not to mention the broken radio that is stuck on a classical station on full blast, unable to turn off, change the station or lower the volume, which had already drawn a neighboring crowd thinking there was a street concert playing.  So not only does he not really know how to drive, but he also can’t see to, and the blasting music certainly isn’t all conspicuous!!  In a world where there are thousands of cheap, used cars available, it seemed ridiculous that he would choose said car.  Also, to note, Percy is said to have paid Bunny for the car on book page 24 (eBook page 29) and then again it says he paid her for the car on book page 25 (eBook page 30).  Seems odd to have paid her twice??

With that said, I really did enjoy the overall story line as it was stimulating and thought-provoking.  I found most of the characters entertaining and somewhat relatable.  I totally understand the desire of revenge and vengeance and being pushed to your limit.  Now I don’t condone murder, but I’m not going to lie, people like Lou, and while he is technically a character, his type does exist, I certainly understand someone wanting to eliminate that kind of person.  This book also included many entertaining scenes, such as the red light and surprise siren chase which was hilarious!!  Plus, many other comedy scenes portraying what seemed like simple tasks turn into anything but during a murder.  Also, I think after years of crime TV shows, murder doesn’t seem as complicated as it once was thought to be, especially with shows like CSI practically showing viewers how to get away with murder by removing evidence and altering crime scenes.  However, in real life, murder is not so simple, people get caught, and it’s more likely to turn into an episode from the Investigation Discovery TV Network Series than a clever episode of HTGAWM lol.

An interesting note, this book is written using the metric system while describing characters in centimeters and kilograms.  While the metric system may technically be the most used measurement system in the world, as an American, we’re still on the Imperial System here.  I have to admit it seemed a bit strange reading these sizes, and I found myself using Google to covert the measurements, as Percy is described at weighing never more than 70 kilograms, and while he is described as petite, 70 kilograms sounded child size lol, but turns out to actually be 154.3 pounds.

This book is on the shorter to average side with 164 eBook pages.  This book is written without chapters, only a dinkus, a string of three asterisks together, used to indicate transitions.  Personally, I think chapters are important as they help structure the overall story and provide readers with suitable story breaks.

There are some predictable scenes.  However, there are still a few very unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming but will enjoy watching unfold!!

This book is not currently listed as part of a book series.  It can easily be read as a standalone.

Please note that this book is full of rough, dark, crude, language filled with profanities and expletives.

All in all, there were a few hang-ups for me, but overall, I still enjoyed reading this book and would still recommend it!!  I think all fiction, mystery, thriller, and suspense readers will like this book too!!  So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading - you won't be disappointed!!

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations**

Did you find this review helpful???

If so, please, please, please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/ROH4802XHGJHB

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AUTHOR BIO:

Ernie was raised on a dairy farm in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. A compulsive maker of things his whole life, Ernie was lucky enough to have a couple of his pieces included in the folk art display at the 1986 World's Fair held in Vancouver, Canada, and had the folk art book, From the Heart, published the same year. Those pieces still reside at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC. When allergies prevented him from continuing in one art form, his busy mind pushed into another. The Bean Sidhe was the result.

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CONNECT WITH ERNIE:

Website:

https://www.ernestlcanning.com

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22076192.Ernest_L_Canning

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59883089-the-bean-sidhe

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3HAdvRv

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3bhgP85

Amazon US Hardcover:

https://amzn.to/3b2wMyC

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Bean-Sidhe-Ernest-L-Canning-ebook/dp/B09NFD3Z6C

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Bean-Sidhe-Ernest-L-Canning/dp/0228870011

Amazon CA Hardcover:

https://www.amazon.ca/Bean-Sidhe-Ernest-L-Canning/dp/0228870003

Apple Books eBook:

https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-bean-sidhe/id1600312768

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bean-sidhe-ernest-l-canning/1140782816?ean=9780228870012

Barnes and Noble Hardcover:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bean-sidhe-ernest-l-canning/1140782816?ean=9780228870005

Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Bean-Sidhe-Ernest-L-Canning/9780228870012

Book Depository Hardcover:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Bean-Sidhe-Ernest-L-Canning/9780228870005

Indigo Chapters CA eBook:

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-bean-sidhe/9780228869993-item.html

Indigo Chapters CA Paperback:

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-bean-sidhe/9780228870012-item.html

Smashwords eBook:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1120301

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Ernest will be awarding a $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.