Possession of my Soul

Possession Of My Soul is written by Kia Carrington-Russell and is the first book in the Three Immortal Blades Series. The story revolves around the main character Karla, who is an unassuming teenage girl who finds herself thrust amidst a war, where each side of the fight remains unclear in their true intentions.

Karla as a character is relatable. She isn’t annoying in a way that some main characters can be. She finds herself coming into her own with womanhood as well as new-found abilities. My main complaint about her, was that I don’t think that any of her love interests were believably built up. I wanted there to be more of a background to the emotions. There is a lot of thrust upon emotions in terms of those who acquire her fancy. Otherwise, I enjoyed getting to see her find herself and find ways to stand up to adversity and find a strength she never knew she was capable of.

The story itself is an interesting take on fantasy. There are a lot of typical factors, but shown in a new light. There are Starkorfs who are essentially vampires, but almost in a zombie type of fashion if they are not of very pure blood. There was not any real detail about the actual way that one would become a Starkorf, or if it is merely something that one is born into. If so, it would be interesting to know more details about how actual procreation worked, if it was any different than humans, those sorts of aspects. Given that this is the first book of the series, it would be good to see if that was explained in more detail in later books.

I did enjoy the ancillary characters and getting to know them. They did seem as if to be from a distance as a reader. The connection with their emotions wasn’t quite there. Truly reading this book felt like it was going to be a 3 star type of book about 75% of the way in. Kia definitely pulls it out for the last part of the book which caused me to up my rating to 4 stars. She definitely ends in a blaze of glory and leaves her ready to read more of the story.

Overall I give this book 4/5 stars. Kia has potential as an author as she hones her writing skills. I hope to see more of a connection into the feelings of the characters of a world that she does a great job describing. I love a lot of the new twists on unique abilities and would love to read an entire book about the elementals as well as some background about a particular wolf creature. If you are into fantasy, paranormal, young adult, fiction, woman empowering, romance, etc, you may very well find yourself interested in this book.

*I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.

HSC (Highly Sensitive Child) or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)?

I am doing research right now and I found a section in a book that reminded me so much of Liam's issues with his last day and hit the nail right on the head, so I wanted to share it, because it was always my argument against any claims that he as a 2-3 year old had ADD: many teachers or counselors are most familiar with the attention deficit disorder...an HSC (highly sensitive child) who naturally notices sounds and movement will be highly distractible in distracting environments which could lead to the diagnosis of ADD. However, such a child will have good concentration when there are no distractions, which is not typical of children with ADD/ADHD. If the disorder began due to a change with a new teacher or school, often a poor fit is the real cause. A teacher who demands that children be highly focused at all times, may result in an HSC that unable to focus, making them more aroused or anxious which will further decrease their ability to focus.

Thank you, moving my son to a more suitable environment made ALL the difference in the world, even if I did it without reading this book first. Liam was labeled as a trouble child with no discipline because he had issues sitting in a chair with little to no activity for the majority of his day, at the age of 2-3 years old. 

He is now a leader, and a good example, and was always at the top of his class in what he actually knew in terms of his education, so now he is excelling even more. 

I was even advised by his daycare to talk to his pediatrician about medication for ADD. He is a CHILD, he is MEANT TO BE A CHILD. Stop trying to force medicate because you don't want to allow children to thrive and grow if it causes you to exert any extra effort. If you can't handle it, then PLEASE, for the LOVE OF OUR FUTURE, STAY OUT OF THE ROLE of being any part of shaping child's life. 

Rant over. For further reading check out her book "The Highly Sensitive Child"

Easter 2015 Portraits

Liam got the most adorable Easter portraits done this month and I just got them back the other day.  I wanted to share their cuteness with the world!  Enjoy!