Time Off For Good Behavior by Lani Diane Rich
Released: May 23, 2012
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 260
Format: Kindle
Source: Freebie
Rating: 3/5
For Wanda Lane, life has been one long string of screw-ups. Her abusive ex-husband keeps threatening to kill her, she just lost her crappy job, and a head injury has left her hearing phantom music no one else can hear. It isn't until she hits the rock bottom of her bottle of scotch that she begins to wonder if maybe -- just maybe -- the problem is her.
I didn't fall in love with this book right away; in fact I was typically bored early on and wanted to just chunk it mainly because I don't think I liked Wanda and her smart ass mouth and attitude but after taking a moment to step back and re-evaluate my way of thinking I saw her in a new light and my whole perspective of Wanda changed and I began to enjoy the book a bit better.
Initially I was thinking of her as crabby and foul mouthed but then I took into consideration some of the things she had been thru, even though alot of it was her own doing, and that she wasn't always this way and after a while it genuinely seemed she wanted to change but had no clue where to start. I went from hating her character, to feeling sorry for her, and by the end of the book I was all "You go girl!"
If you've ever had an identity crisis or just plain out felt there was no help for yourself then I think you will totally enjoy this one.
Fire and Ice by Karen Maneely
Released: November 28, 2012
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 324KB
Format: Kindle
Source: Freebie
Rating: 2/5
Bobbie Burke loves to play hockey and is the most talented playing in a large Burke family, with four older brothers. The only problem is Bobbie's a woman and the most she could ever hope for, now that she graduated college, is maybe a spot on the US Olympic team.
The Philadelphia Fire just finished the previous season last in the league. Management is desperate to turn the team around and make it to the playoffs. What they needed was a forward that could score goals and win games.
This was a wonderful love story between teammates. Bobbi grew up in a houseful of men hockey players having lost her mother at a very young age so she was no stranger to playing rough. She has had to overcome alot of obstacles to play in this basically male dominated sport but she loves the game and has put personal relationships on the back burner as far as having a major rule of not dating other hockey players so Connor has his work cut out for him when he becomes very attracted to her being not only her teammate but captain of her team.
I am not even a sports fan but was able to enjoy the story and I loved the relationship between Bobbi and Connor and also the friendship Bobbi made with Laura, one of her teammates wives. Bobbi had never really had any female role models to relate to so it was interesting having her go thru all these different relationships and evolve not only as a pro hockey player but as a more feminine character as well.
What I didn't like and why I gave such a low rating to such a wonderful story was the amount of editing errors. I usually don't even mention problems with editing but there is just so many of them as well as one whole chapter that is just totally missing. Without going into alot of detail it was a really significant chapter where something happens to Bobbi and she has to miss a few games. It just really took alot away from the story having to constantly read and re-read just to make passages make sense.
**edited to add that the missing chapter has been added since I downloaded my copy.
Speed Dating With The Dead by Scott Nicholson
Released: June 25, 2010
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 349 pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Freebie
Rating: 2/5
When Digger Wilson brings his paranormal team Spirit Seekers International to the White Horse Inn, he is skeptical that his dead wife will keep her half of the bargain. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, and just before she died, she promised to meet him there.
But when one of the conference guests channels a mysterious presence and an Ouija board spells out a pet phrase known only to Digger and his wife, his convictions are challenged.
I wish I could tell you that I LOVED this book because I wanted to so much as the storyline made for an exciting read but alas I can only give it a mild "like". I picked it up full of expectations but even after the first 100 pages I was not feeling it at all and had I not been depending on it to fulfill several reading challenges I may have marked it DNF and I almost never do that. I trudged on and eventually about middleways it did begin to get interesting with ghosties popping out left and right and folks started disappearing but still although it redeemed itself in the end I felt it was just too little to late plus I never became involved or even really cared about any of the characters, not even the main ones being Digger and his daughter. I will say I did take great pleasure in a few of them getting exactly what they deserved especially Janey Mays!
On the upside though I do believe this would have been a far better movie than book. I would love to kick back and watch this on the screen!
Unbreak My Heart by Helen Scott Taylor
Released: April 3, 2012
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 132 pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Freebie
Rating: 2/5
They were inseparable until family conflict tore the teenaged sweethearts apart. Nine years later, she turns up at his prestigious hotel with the paparazzi at her heels and the six-week-old daughter of her celebrity ex in her arms. She has nowhere left to run except back to the place where she left her heart. Can they forgive the pain of the past, accept each other as they are now, and rediscover the childhood love that was snatched away from them?
A really quick read but it lacked something and I can't quite put my finger on it. We've got a young man and woman who were teenage sweethearts but boys father didn't think girl was good enough for his son so he finds a way to part them and yada yada boy breaks girls heart and she moves on and winds up with another man and has his baby and now is on the doorstep of teen sweetheart who supposedly never got over her either but it seems they are both too busy living in the past to try to have a future together.
I got annoyed after a while because they couldn't decide whether to rekindle what they once had or leave it be and then they kept misunderstanding how the other was feeling but if they had just sat down and talked and got to reknow each other and take more time maybe all the nonsense that went on could have been avoided.
I did enjoy the tender scenes with Andre and the baby though. It's rare to have such a sweet interaction between a baby and a man especially when it's not his own!
Fury by Anya Bast
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 116 pages
Format: ebook
Source: Freebie
Rating: 3/5
Author Site: Anya Bast
Nikki is a cougar shifter living in a werewolf world. When she's promised as a mate to a wolf shifter named Merrick, the fur flies. Cats are solitary and proud. No way will she be tamed, not even if Merrick’s touch drives her insane with need.
Highly erotic so I don't recommend anybody under 18 to read this but oh boy it was really good. I quickly fell into the storyline and could not stop reading until done!
Nikki has been chosen by the Elders to be the queen but she doesn't feel as though she is qualified...she's not even a wolf! She's a cougar! It's up to Merrick to convince her that not only is she qualified to be his queen but has all the qualifications she needs to share his bed!
The only time I put this down was to quickly turn on my air conditioner! Oh my gawd Merrick....that's all I can say!
Thirst by Claire Farrell
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 154 pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5
Author Site: Claire Farrell
Ava Delaney calls herself a hybrid - a living, breathing human who happens to have vampire poison running through her veins. The only thing greater than her thirst for human blood is her capacity for guilt. She does her best to avoid the human world, for everyone's sake.
The action starts out right away with Ava trying to save a human and ending up making him her slave by accident and not knowing how to get rid of him. Her troubles only maximize as she reaches out for help and everybody is trying to kill her for one reason or another!
This was a funny vampiric comedy of errors and my heart went out to poor Ava even as I was laughing my butt off at her predicaments. Here she is trying to help innocents and she seems to be the one who gets into trouble for it.
It does have some serious moments to where you'll be sitting on edge hoping for the best and although I can't exactly say whether the ending was happy or not it did set up part/book 2 very well!
Pretty When She Dies by Rhiannon Frater
Released: November 24, 2008
Publisher: Createspace
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 227 pages pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Free on Amazon
Rating: 4/5
Author Site: Rhiannon Frater
Amaliya wakes under the forest floor, disoriented, famished and confused. She digs out of the shallow grave and realizes she is hungry...
I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I actually only have a copy because it was a freebie for a short while on Amazon and was recommended by a fellow book blogger who raves about Rhiannon Frater books!
Well Rhiannon Frater has a new fan! I was immediately drawn in with her descriptiveness coupled with the alarming situation Amal finds herself in! Yea, it was another vampire story but it just had a different feel to it for me. I could almost imagine myself drifting alongside Amal, like I was there with her in her grave and adventures afterward. I also relished the fact that it just wasn't another one of those Mr nice guy vampire swooners. (which I am not knocking but I enjoyed having a break from) Here we get to actually experience some realization that vamps are not all cuddly and sweet!
Night School:Vampire Hunter Bk.1(Angel) by Michelle Cornwell-Jordan
Released: March 18, 2012
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 56 pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Author
Rating: 4/5
Fifteen year old Dasheen Bellamy’s world is turned upside down, when she is accused of killing her father and godmother. Dasheen cannot remember the events of the night her world turns upside down, but she feels inside that she is innocent; due to lack of evidence against her and with no other family; Dasheen and her younger brother Jordan, are sent to the elusive and mysterious Ame’ Academy ; a residential school where all is not what it appears.
Kudos and my hats off to you Michelle! You have packed alot of punch and excitement into just a mere 56 pages and I could not stop reading for a minute! I am very excited to continue on with this series! The little girl that haunts Dash/Angel has me intrigued and I only wish I could have learned more about her as well as Rafael. I can't wait to find out what happened to Dash's parents and how she comes to have special powers.
I really enjoyed the technique that was used by writing the story in blog/journal type entries. It made the skipping around in the story more easier for me to follow along with and seemed to keep me wondering what was going to happen next.
I sort of figured out ahead one part that happened but I wont mention it because it's a spoiler but I am interested to see how that plays out because it's a really bad place for a couple of the characters to be in and how they will handle it.
********Guest post********
Character Interview: Dasheen Bellamy (Angel) Night School: Vampire Hunter.
Interview by Michelle Cornwell-Jordan
I have conducted interviews and now it’s my turn in the hot seat! I am to be interviewed now, that my book Night School: Vampire Hunter is on tour… I will say I am nervous by all of this! So to help me out, Angel, from Night School Vampire Hunter says she will show me how it’s done:) So, why don’t we go see what she has to say! Thanks all for joining us:)
Interview:
Me: Angel, I am so glad that you are joining me and helping me out today:)
Angel: Oh, no problem:)
Me: I wanted to first start with the question, how does it feel to have an entire book written about
you and your experiences? Now that the book’s going on tour, that will be even more eyes on
you?
Angel: It was weird at first, so many people talking about well… I don’t know my life. I mean…
I was just trying to keep myself and my brother alive, (you know…Vamps can be hazardous…);
trying to be a normal kid, when all of a sudden, I have an audience! But its okay, everyone has
been pretty cool, so I’m getting used to it.
Me: I can only imagine…wow...okay, next question…Have you always known that you were
this phenomenal, wicked, Vamp Hunter, and that with your special essence, it’s believed, you
are destined to change the human and supernatural world forever!..(Um, take your time with that
one:)
Angel: Okay, wow…you just put that one right out there huh? Um, no… I didn’t know that I was
to be the key in some type of apocalyptic, battle with mankind…thought I was just a normal kid
that had luck that sucks…But the perks are awesome!…now that I am trained, I’m getting faster
and stronger and learning more moves…I can even take on Ismet..
Me: For our readers, now who is Ismet again? And also how do you get along with the other
girls?
Angel: Ismet is one kick butt Jinn (Genie), she’s not from some bottle that crosses her arms
and blinks on command; She is from an old race of beings that evolved from Fire…they are the
protectors of the Divide…
Me: The Divide?
Angel: Yep, I just learned about all of this too…the Divide is the barrier between the
supernatural world (unseen to us) and ours. Ismet was one of the greatest warriors amongst her
people...
Me: How did she end up at Ame’ Academy? There must have been a great threat to warrant such
a fighter to be here???
Angel: It was. Me.
Me: Oh…okay…well, how about my second question, do you get along with the other girls? I
believe you all have made somewhat of a team, correct?
Angel: We’re a team now, but at first…I wasn’t sure… I’ve always liked Elin (she’s half
Vampire/half Human) the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet, unless you threatened someone she
loves…then wow, she’s scary…and I already told you about Ismet, I have much respect for her
mad skills:)
Me: And?
Angel: (Sigh)…and yep, there’s Belladonna, a stuck up Natural- Born Vamp that I am surprised
I haven’t staked yet!
Me: Is it the fact you’re a Hunter and she’s a Vampire? Even though, the Natural-Born Vamps
pose no threat to Humans?
Angel: No, it’s from the fact she’s a snob, and always trying to give me a makeover!
Me: Lol….well, I’m sure ALL of you make a great team, you are really cleaning up Kincaid
Texas:)…but aren’t you’re leaving out someone….Rafael? What IS your relationship with him?
Angel:O-o-o-kay…didn’t think you would bring HIM up! Well, he’s just RAF…he’s my
friend...He sort of just showed up at Ame, and well that’s when things got really weird! Then
things got really bad…dark, and when I didn’t think I had anyone, well Raf was there…
Me: Alright:) What is Rafael? His mad skills?:)
Angel: Um, I rather not say…he just is…:)
Me: Fair enough, thanks for the interview!
Angel: See, not so bad right? Even though, you threw in some tough questions!
Me: Lol, well, you’re a good sport! I guess will wrap this up…see you around Ame’ Academy:)
Angel: Yep, me and all the other creatures of the night!:) Lol!
Bio:
Michelle Cornwell-Jordan is a book lover, with YA paranormal adventures as her favorite genre, although she can be a glutton for any young adult title.
Michelle’s other love is writing, Michelle has been writing about as long as she has been a bibliophile! Losing herself in a fantasy world that she or others have created is how she loves spending her spare time...
One last thing about Michelle, she believes that she has her own secret powers:)
Wander Dust by Michelle Warren
Released: November 3rd 2011
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 241 pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Author
Rating: 4/5
Author Site: Michelle Warren
Ever since her sixteenth birthday, strange things keep happening to Seraphina Parrish.
The Lady in Black burns Sera’s memories.
Unexplainable Premonitions catapult her to other cities.
The Grungy Gang wants to kill her.
And a beautiful, mysterious boy stalks her.
A very addictive book. Didn't want to put it down! The story opens celebrating Seraphina's 16th birthday where the weird things first began happening and continued until her father was convinced he was not giving her the proper care or attention a teen girl needs so he shipped her off to live with her deceased mother's sister where the action really takes off even more!
Sera seems to be a lonely misunderstood teen which really in itself is quite typical of being a teen but once the mysterious things begin happening to her, she finds herself running from people/things she doesn't know of or even know if they are real, her aunt is acting a bit secretive towards her, and this boy keeps following her around like a stalker!
I really loved this book and I am not one who usually cares for time travel but I find it fairly easy for me to keep up here and actually looked forward to the leaps Sera began taking. There really wasn't much romance or anythng like that involved unless you count the sickening mushiness of her dad and his girlfriend at her birthday dinner. (Yucko) It tends to lean more towards Sera unveiling what's happening to her and why however towards the end there are some instances but dont want to get to involved because I dont wanna spoil anything...just know this is a wonderful story full of time travels, mystery, betrayal, and surprises! I am looking forward to book two which.....
ta da I am showing you the just revealed cover for!
The Soulkeepers by G.P. Ching
Released: March 21, 2011
Publisher: DarkSide Publishing
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 310 pages
Format: ebook
Source: Kindle
Rating: 2/5
Author Site: G.P. Ching
When fifteen-year-old Jacob Lau is pulled from the crumpled remains of his mother's car, no one can explain why he was driving or why the police can't find his mother's body. A beautiful and mysterious neighbor offers to use her unique abilities to help him find his mom. But in exchange she requires Jacob to train as a Soulkeeper, a protector of human souls. He agrees to her demands, desperate for any clue to the mystery of his mother's disappearance. But soon Jacob finds himself trapped in a web of half-truths, and questions her motives for helping him.
Sadly I had a hard time with The Soulkeepers. I really don't know if it was the religious parts or what but I can say I would have found it a bit more enjoyable if they had not been thrown in. I just don't think I needed to know every few chapters who believed what and who didn't. I just felt like it should have been mentioned in the synopsis somehow but instead when I read the above synopsis I had no clue about all the religious parts inside.
There were some other parts in the story that I really didn't get or see why they mattered either like what difference did it make if his mom was Chinese or why did the grandfather stipulate in his will that the family business could only be passed to a male heir when he knew nothing of Jacob and only knew his other child had a daughter? I also had a hard time wondering why Uncle John seemed to welcome Jacob with open arms but it was his wife and daughter who dissed Jacob?
Other than that Jacob's character was very fleshed out and it was interesting following him thru his many life changes and obstacles to find his mom and even fall in love. This was just not the book for me it would seem and I just don't see me continuing with the series.
Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan
Released: July 24, 2010
Publisher: CreateSpace
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 310 pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Amazon Freebie
Rating: 5/5
Author Site: J.L. Bryan
Jenny's touch spreads a deadly supernatural plague. She can't control her power, so she devotes her life to avoiding contact with other people in her small Southern town. Her senior year of high school, she meets the one boy she can touch...but if she's going to be with him, Jenny must learn to use the "Jenny pox" inside her to survive his devious, manipulative girlfriend, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all.
Not recommended for readers under eighteen.
I heard of this book from Loretta over at Between the Pages and OMG I finally had the chance to read it and loved it! Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention Loretta!
Jenny was an amazing character with a deadly power to kill anything her skin came into contact with including her mother on the day she was born. Her and her father have lived in fear of Jenny's gift/curse becoming exposed and having her exploited by doctors and such and Jenny has had to live her entire life in gloves and full body suits just to be able to have some semblance of an ordinary life. It broke my heart because she had no friends and no hopes for a future especially of falling in love and having kids of her own until one tragic moment when she has to rely on the help of a fellow classmate, Seth and realizes she is able to touch him without him suffering any discomfort, only his girlfriend, Ashleigh pure hates Jenny with a passion and things begin to heat up and other folks with hidden powers begin to emerge.
I can't believe I waited so long to read this one! It was fantastic. The characters were great and I loathed Ashleigh and her possee. There were a few all knowing moments but for the most part I couldn't imagine what was gonna happen next which I love in a story! I love having surprises tossed at me and Jenny Pox was full of them.
