The Day It Happened (A Miranda's Rights Mystery)

Although I have never read any of Linsey Lanier's full length mysteries featuring Miranda Steele, I felt obligated to read a few of the blurbs on these full length books' Amazon pages to get a better idea about the character before writing this review. Miranda is a woman who, as the full-length series begin, is looking for her missing daughter. Lanier attempts to explain what originally happened to Miranda in "The Day It Happened," billed as a "short story" prequel to the full-length series. While “The Day It Happened” is certainly short and fairly well written, this work would be hard to classify it as a story in the traditional sense.Lanier’s protagonist Miranda is a woman who, as "The Day It Happened" begins, is stuck in an abusive marriage with a cop who has very good connections to protect him from any legal repercussions for what he might do. Before the story begins, Miranda has the misfortune of being raped and becoming pregnant, which does not sit well with her husband. Shortly after the baby is born, the husband inflicts about as sadistic a punishment as possible on Miranda and she winds up literally out in the cold on her own.Lanier is a skilled writer, and she does a good job in “Day” of creating an empathetic main character in Miranda and letting readers in on the thought processes of an abused woman. From what I’ve learned on the subject of such abuse, the author’s description of what occurs seems quite accurate and the events described, although a bit far fetched, are within the bounds of credibility in the realm of thriller fiction. “The Day It Happened” becomes a compelling read up until the last couple of pages.Unfortunately, the conclusion of the story goes considerably off track. Instead of some final event occurring to provide dramatic closure, the story simply ends. Further, before that, the author rushes through the couple of previous pages that take Miranda from being out in the cold to the position in which she presumably finds herself at the beginning of the first full-length book in the series. In fact, the story ends with the author posing several questions (presumably to readers), then stating that readers can find out the answers in the later, longer books. Even though the ending isn’t a traditional cliffhanger, the style of writing resembles that of 40’s movie serials.“The Day It Happened” is short, listed as 23 pages in its Amazon blurb, with the actual story taking up about 60% of that total (with the balance including an excerpt from Miranda’s first novel). Since the story is offered free, I can’t complain about receiving value for the money. But the description of this work as a “short story” is off, and this doesn’t feel quite right as a standalone work. My hunch is that this story may well be an excerpt from a novel that was edited out for pacing purposes. In any event, while it shows a good bit of authorial quality, it also needed some more editing before it could be considered a really good story on its own.

Oak, Park IL. Miranda Groth was blessed with a new baby Amy.Leon let her know it was her job to take care of the child.She had put the child up for adoption.1 day he threw her suitcase in the front lawn dragged her down the stairs & threw her out onto the porch.Miranda found a job at a construction site.She went back to her maiden name Miranda Steele.I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written mystery (short story) book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great mystery movie, or better yet a mini TV series. To be continued. A very easy rating of 5 stars.Thank you for the free author; Felicity Books; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; bookTony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

I've read several books in this series and I've enjoyed them immensely. I thought this book would be more than just a quick synopsis of Miranda's life before meeting Parker. Instead, this was like reading the prelude in a book. A brief back story of how the main character began. Even so, you'll find more details in the flashbacks found in later books than you read in this one. I realize this was only a short story; an extended preview, but I expected more.

This "book" represents one of my pet peeves. The cover of the book with an empty cradle is very engaging. The story, which is very short, begins with a mother who is searching in her home for her missing baby and learns the baby was given away by her husband. So she begins searching for her daughter. And then the book ends.Oh, yeah, if you want to know if she finds her baby you can buy book 2 in the series, but you still won't know because you also have to buy books 3, 4, and 5. But you STILL won't know because book 6, which may or may not be the final book, comes out this fall (fall of 2013). So a book you thought was "free" will end up costing you at least $10 and that's without adding in book 6, which of course is not out yet and so is not priced yet.Don't even bother... There are many books that I think are "keepers" but this one I think is a "skipper".

This was just the story that introduces the character and sets the tone for "Someone Else's Daughter." Miranda was raped and impregnated. After having a daughter and wanting to keep her, her a-hole cop husband forges her signature and releases her daughter to a closed adoption. Then he throws her out into the snow. This begins the Miranda's Rights series that sends the heroine on a quest to find her child and to never be abused again. It was well written, and the concept is great. It was disappointing that it was so short. This is a trend now with authors, but I think it should say, "Introduction to Someone Else's Daughter." If you are up front with what you are trying to do, the readers will respond better. Still, I liked it, and I will read on. So tragic, so sad, so unforgivable.

Not near enough plot to go on. Seems half finished. Started out decent, then kinda seemed rushed and lacking details. There was no back history of Leon and Miranda. Other than knowing they were married and she had been raped and conceived a child due to the rape. There was nothing explaining why Leon was so cold towards her, outside of her being a rape victim, there had to be another reason as to why he treated her s coldly. Leon seemed to be abusive. That was not the first time he had put his hands on Miranda. What made him hate her to an extent of not wanting to help her get the help she needed to heal? A lot of blank spaces.

The Day It Happened (A Miranda's Rights Mystery Book 0) is not a short story, it is the prologue to Someone Else's Daughter, the first book in the Miranda's Rights Mystery series. The author re-wrote it and extended by about six pages, 11 in total.The writing was good and it set up the scene for a story full of possibilities following Miranda's efforts to find the daughter who had been stolen from her, however...There are five books in this romantic mystery-suspense series, and a further three (so far) in a new series which seems to feature the same main characters, Miranda and Parker.This is a massive put-off for me, as I don't feel I can commit that much time to just one author and finding out what happened to the protagonist's daughter. I like my books to work as stand-alone pieces, with a good plot and a satisfying resolution.I looked at reviews for each book in the series and was disappointed to find copious and consistent reports of bad editing, with incorrect spelling and grammar. Given that each title (except for the first one) is priced at over £3, I find this completely unacceptable. I therefore glanced at the original prologue and this version does indeed appear to be a vast improvement.Beware: although this excerpt did not contain any graphic sex scenes, many reviewers bemoaned the presence of unnecessary bedroom content in all books.My recommendation is to try out Someone Else's Daughter, as it is currently offered as a freeby - love it or hate it, you won't be out of pocket!

It's free so can't complain. Fine for my mothers who goes through books at the rate of knots.

Good book but not much more information than in the original book which I absolutely loved and couldn't put down.

Good read

First time I'd read one of her books