Fangirl

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I must say that I went into this book expecting it to be maybe a 3 star read. I would have never picked this book up on my own, but my group voted on it for this month's read and I am very happy that they did.

I love how REAL the characters were in this book. Cather (Cath) and Wren are identical twins who have just entered into their Freshman year of college and Wren wants to break away from having to do everything together. She wants to meet new friends and be more independent. Cath is an introverted girl with a bit of social anxiety disorder. The twins have a lot of opposition between their personalities.

Although this story is written about twins, I could see a lot of the difference in personalities between my sister and myself. There were so many relateable parts of Cath's personality to me. There were time in the book where I laugh and even a time when I had tears run down my face for Cather.

Many realistic issues are faced in this book to include familiar upset, and disorders throughout each family member. The whole book revolves around Cath's fanfic writing for another created story that is interwoven within the book. You get to know the characters within this story and within the canon and Fanfic of Simon Snow's world.

I left this book wanting more of a wrap up ending, but hoping instead that it means we will see more of these beautifully written characters. Superb job, I definitely connected with this book. 5 Stars for me.

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The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are a parent in any sense of the word, I find it safe to assume that you would be hard pressed to read this book without being swept up in some kind of emotion.

Stedman has beautifully articulated the Light Between Oceans, but it's a rather painful read. The topics are extremely sensitive and it's hard to determine whose side you are on. This book deals with VERY real issues that have no right or wrong answers.

The Light Between Oceans lives on in the grey of life, in between the white and the black of the decisions that may be right or wrong. I felt tears roll down my face a number of times, for a child, for a mother, for a father in many different capacities and through the eyes of several characters.

Worth a read for the realism and the way that the tale is told. I wish the end would have told more of what came to pass in between, but I suppose it decided to just tell what needed to be told. A solid 4 stars for me.

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Hell On Heels

Hell On Heels by J.A. Coffey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book 3 in the Southern Seduction Series and finalizes out the trilogy of the main 6 characters of Coffey's story and I must say that she has "nailed" it again... Slight pun intended.

Jess & Matteo will forever be my reigning couple, but the passion between Stan and Caroline was steaming up my kindle... Although I loved the men in the other books, I felt an affinity to Stan the most. Having learned to harbor somewhat of feelings of disgust for the pain he caused Jess and his rumored affairs, Coffey did an amazing job of humanizing him.

Stan seemed the most complex of all of the men and his character was well developed and his internal battle of emotions came across the page beautifully. Caroline is second only to Jess for me, and I loved her fiery personality. This book had more humor than the others and I enjoyed the ride immensely.

Another entertaining and delightful read from the Southern Seduction series, I hope to revisit these characters again in the future. Don't miss out on an easy 5 star read.

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The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest is written by Melanie Dickerson and paints the picture of rising from the ashes of life.

The story revolves around the character of Odette, a girl adopted by her rich uncle who experience poverty after the death of her parents.  This leads her to illegally hunt deer to feed the hungry and poor.  Odette is an eligible bachelorette, but has the good fortune of not being pressured by her uncle to marry.  She has not yet found someone that she can see herself spending her life with, but one festival she finds herself attracted to a man she has never met before: Jorgen.  Jorgen is the hunter is this Robin Hood-esque tale.  The attraction is foreboding of what will come in the future. 

Unfortunately a lot of the story is disjointed and has the flow interrupted with the repeated injection of a few words like “ja” that take away from the story.  (Think of Save the Last Dance and the horrid overuse of the word “Aight”).  I have nothing wrong with adding in accents or other languages, but when it is limited to a few constantly used words it begins to grate on my nerves and become annoying in the reading, making me want to skip over dialogue. 

The redeeming qualities of this novel were the ancillary characters.  I wish I had the chance to get to know them more, as they were described well and felt as though they had more depth and life than the main characters.  I love the independence and strength that Odette stood for, but as the story progressed the dialogue was not developed in a believable manner.  The mystery element was interesting, but it would have been nice to have more misdirection.  I enjoyed being able to read the story from both Odette’s and Jorgen’s eyes.  It added an element of duality from the male and female polarity.

If this book were to be truncated into a short story, I think it would have taken off a lot better.  It had enough of a plot to last through a short story.  Instead it felt stretched and thin in content as if there was a lot of filler instead of actual story development to turn it into a full-length novel.  I would say that Melanie Dickerson has great potential as an author, and I would check out a book of hers that was more recently written.  Hopefully with more editing in story development, as she definitely has a grasp on story telling.  Less filler, more story.

Overall I give this book 3/5 stars.  It had great potential, but I felt let down.  The combination of stories such as Robin Hood/Swan Lake/Romeo & Juliet were present, but fell flat. You may be interested if you enjoy reading romance, fairy tales, young adult, fiction, retellings, etc.

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

Is This What I Want?

Is This What I Want? Was written by Patricia Mann and is the sequel to Is This All There Is? 


Is This What I Want takes place 4 months after the end of Is This All There Is and Beth is still in a self-discovery process.  While the first book was more of a PG-13 rated, I would definitely classify the sequel as saucier.  In self-discovery Beth certainly is exploring many different parts of herself. 


Beth’s married and personal lives are explored after she has experienced the range of emotions that come after an affair.  I love that as a reader we got a more intimate look into the mind of Rick (Beth’s husband).  It gave more depth to the story to know his reactions and thoughts to similar events.


Reading the book I mostly just was feeling bad for the low self-confidence that Beth was battling and how she was feeling the need to redefine herself in potentially destructive ways.  I commend Rick for his ability to put love before hurt and for Beth to be honest and open and willing to work on something as they learned to grow together as a couple.


Sometimes it was painful to read through some of Beth’s experiences and wanting to have her learn things that weren’t always by experiencing “the hard way.”  I enjoyed also seeing the introspection of the lives of some of the married friends within Beth’s lives and how she was justifying behavior according to the friend whose advice matched more with her inner desires.


I give this book 4/5 stars.  Overall it was still very eye opening to go through the hard parts of a marriage with Beth and Rick.  I didn’t feel quite as connected to Beth as I did in the first book, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the honesty and realism of the story.  If you enjoy reading chick lit, fiction, relationship, woman empowering, romance, etc., then this book is for you.


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

Ohio 2029

Ohio 2029: Utopia Has Never Been So Wrong is written by D.A. Winstead and is about the state of affairs of the country after a huge stock market crash that has caused America to split apart amongst its political parties, and this is the fallout.

In a sense it can definitely be classified as a dystopian novel, but it is scarier than most. While reading this book I could feel this as being a VERY real possibility for our country. I would like to think that things would never go this far, but it is hard to define a VERY real divide in America between the two major political parties.

Starting with an intro from 2015 that features an economic implosion that makes the last major crash look tame in comparison. The timeline then moves on with short snippets and news headlines, the reader is caught up to the future. The public has completely rejected the Democratic Party with the crash happening during Obama’s time in office. The Republican Party has now been lifted up as saviors, disbanding big government and sectioning it out to different states. However, there is still a lot of anger and rebuilding that must take place.

Rioting occurring in many states leads to those locations being partitioned off as zones, and as things get worse, marshal law is brought into the zones for order. To teach the country a lesson and to move forward, any openly affiliated Democrat is then moved to within reach or even put inside of the zones for punishment. The theory is that if they want to live in a state of being supported by the government and in a state of sharing all that they have, then they can do so within those zone. In the meantime the rest of the country will move on with life and rebuild in a stronger and smarter way, albeit more carefully and strictly with many freedoms American’s have known unable to be given back at this time.

In the middle of all of the chaos the story follows the lives of two families. One is a red state senator’s daughter named Mary Catherine Marshall and the other the boy who used to live next door Maddie Garner. Maddie’s family was relocated to the dirtiest and most violent reform zone in Cincinnati, Ohio. In a way this is a modern political party Romeo and Juliet, but it is so much deeper than that.

Winstead has created a world that is scary to think about and one I hope we never come close to. With so much hate and fear in this world today, it is easy to see how a novel of this caliber could take hold within our hearts. The scenes came alive before my eyes in a desperate manner of living for many. The people were real and easy to connect, root for, and abhor.

I give this book 5/5 stars. Definitely something I probably wouldn’t have picked up on my own, but I would have missed out on some wondrous storytelling, strewn from the heart of our country’s security fears. Winstead translated these fears and bleak outcomes in brilliance. If you are into futuristic novels, sci-fi, political thrillers, romance, dystopian, fiction, suspense, etc., you should definitely pick this one up.

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

The Flip

The Flip is written by Michael Phillip Cash and is about a married couple that flips houses.

Julie is the wife and works full time, devoting her additional time to flipping houses in hopes of gaining enough capital to one day quit her job.  Brad is the husband who is very handy at fixing things around the house, which led him to meet Julie.  He does most of the dirty work with the house flipping.

When discovering a house with a price that is just “too good to be true”, Julie can’t pass up the opportunity to fix up an old house on Bedlam street in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island.  There are so many quirky and antique features that she can’t help but fall in love with, even dreaming on fixing it up enough to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast.  Brad does not feel the love for the house the Julie does and views the project as more than it is worth.  He finds himself hating the house more with each moment he spends gutting it out and fixing it up.  Not long before the project is begun, there are a series of strange occurrences that seem to only be logical if explained by paranormal behavior. 

Cash has written a book that delivers believable humans, and also paints a picture of paranormal duo with a rich history between them.  It is very interesting to read this book from the living and the paranormal aspects equally.

The Flip is a fast paced read and easy to get into, it is easy to picture many of the features and events that take place.  Unfortunately I was also left with a lot of unanswered questions in relation to things such as the sentinels.  I couldn’t find the rapid pace of the romance between certain characters as being plausible to suddenly speed up and show acceptance with such a small event.  It made no sense that this power would not have been exerted over the annoying paranormal duo before now. 

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars.  The beginning and the middle of the book were spectacular, but the end and the wrap up were enough to bring a lesser book down to a mere 3 stars.  The quality of Cash’s overall writing and the way that a reader can get into the book make it hard to award less than the 4 stars.  I wish the ending was completely scrapped and rewritten, or perhaps the books had more events to lead up the final outcome.  I would definitely read another of his books, and hopefully there will be better closure.  I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading fiction, historical fiction, romance, paranormal, ghost, military, civil war era, etc.

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

The Last Lover

The Last Lover is written by Can Xue (pen name for Deng Xiaohua), and translated from Chinese into English by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen.

If Quentin Tarentino was living in a Vanilla Sky-esque world in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode and writing in traditional Chinese metaphors, this book would be the result. This has to be the strangest book I have ever read. Having a little bit of background in Chinese culture, I was able to understand some of the writing stance of the author. Many Chinese stories are told through metaphors (much like reading Aesop’s fables).

In the Last Lover, we follow along the journeys of the characters Joe: a worker at a clothing factory and separately his wife Maria. Vincent: the owner of the clothing factor and separately his wife Lisa from the gambling city. Reagan: the owner of a Rubber Tree plantation who buys his uniforms from the clothing factory and briefly his sometimes mistress, Ida.

Each of these characters is on their own journey through their thoughts and every single one of them has trouble telling reality from the created worlds within their minds. There is a blending of realities between characters as they each feature at some point or another within the “reality” of the other characters. Can Xue has also created many other interesting characters along the way.

I can’t really say that this is a “good” book, but I can’t very well rate it below 3 stars. If nothing else, the creativity and originality of the Last Lover is beyond comparison. Can Xue paints beautiful descriptions of the people (when relevant) and their locations. She does an amazing job of making you constantly question reality, just as each character does themselves.

The beginning is a little hard to get into the flow with her unique style of writing. However, once you grasp the way that Can Xue has chosen to tell her story, you are more easily to follow along with the journeys. The characters themselves are definitely interesting to get to know, and I think that Maria and Joyner were definitely my favorite characters. Can Xue depicts the fears and desires from the depths of each character’s psyche.

Overall I still stand by my 3/5 star review due to the actual story as a whole. I had many grand illusions of what the point of the book itself would be. I should have known, given the Chinese desire to leave a story with a messed up ending, but I even anticipated this and still felt extreme disappointment in the final closing scene. I wanted there to be a better wrap up of all that had transpired. In its way there is a closure, but I wanted something more from the intense journeys that were traveled with the characters than the ending that fell flat from such expectations. If you are interested in taking a journey unlike any other, this book is still worth the read, and it is definitely a unique story of its own. I could easily see it being made into a Vanilla Sky type of movie and again, I must commend Can Xue on her beautiful originality, even if the journey was a bit messed up along the way.

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

The Order between Sisters

The Order between Sisters is written by Chelsea M. Brown and is narrated by Eliza, the older sister. 

The book is set in a college location and features around the relationship that Eliza has with her sister following behind her like a lost puppy as she is tapped to become a member of a secretive elite society.  Eliza feels that her sister getting constant “legacy” status is not fair.  Legacy, meaning that as a relative, she is instantly given top consideration for becoming a member of a sorority as well as the secret society. 

The book starts out a bit rough with a feeling of Eliza having great disdain and lack of respect for your younger sister, even having a feeling of selfishness for her own space.  I felt that the connection between Eliza and her sister was able to be breached much too easily for the disdain originally depicted in the beginning.

The story was a light enjoyable read and was a good new adult college romance.  My biggest complain about this book is the setting for the story is done in one manner and there seems to be a gap in flow between the start of the book and the growth that is seen developing with Eliza amidst various relationships that she develops.  It would have been interesting to see any of the points of view from the Little Sister Victoria.

Overall I give the book 4/5 stars.  Although I feel that there could be some more development and editing conducted in the book, once it really got going, it was a quick and enjoyable read.  Chelsea definitely has a gift for storytelling and with a bit more polishing; this could easily develop into a 5 star novel.  I look forward to any future novels that she writes.  If you are into new adult, fiction, romance, college, secret society, sister relationships, etc., then you should definitely check this book out. 

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

Pants on Fire

Pants on Fire is written by J.A. Coffey and is book 2 in the Southern Seductions series. This novel features the main characters of Chase and Suze. Suze is the best friend of the character Jessica from Liar, Liar (The first novel in the series).

Chase is the “golden boy,” an All-American football hero until an injury puts him off the team for good. Now he has returned to his hometown of Atlanta, and hopes to cross paths with the one girl that he walked away from: Suzanne Collier.

Suze is a rising debutante in the charity arena. Coming from money, her goal is to make a dent in the charity business as an event coordinator and secure her future as such. At one such event she finds herself face to face with the one man that caused her to harden her heart against all other: Chase Weston.

Chase’s true drive is to help children in athletic programs and to do that he needs help from Suze to get him in the right direction for council approval, but his ulterior motives and feelings from his past may get in his way. Suze wants to go for the revenge sex to get Chase out of her system for good, but finds that working together on a professional level isn’t nearly as bad as she anticipated.

As far as the writing is concerned, I felt that I could relate a lot more to Jessica from book 1 as opposed to Suze. Suze and Chase both seem to want for nothing in the realm of money and both are avid game players in love.

Coffey has written realistic characters and their tension is palpable through the pages. I still felt that there was more heat and passion between Jessica and Mateo in book one, and this book didn’t quite match the action. Overall, it was still an enjoyable pleasure read and I highly recommend it.

5/5 stars. A great pleasure novel for a light read, with a big of life distress. I am definitely interested in checking out the third installment of the series “Hell on Heels” which was released this year. If you enjoy reading fiction, romance, chick-lit, contemporary, erotica, etc., then you should definitely check out Pants on Fire!

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


Here is my review of the first book Liar, Liar

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.

The Doppler Affect

The Doppler Affect is written by Shawn H. Phillips and features several different POVs throughout the story.  There is an original Doppleganger aka Shapeshifter and a banker named Chris Sands. 
Dr. Phillips has created a story unlike any you have ever read.  His combination of scientific explanations of mythology in the fiction arena are astounding.  The characters are creative and original and each has their own agenda and fight.  Depending upon world views, the "bad guy" can shift from time to time.  Overall the changing points of view allow for a well-rounded vision of the playing field in the story.


My biggest complaints are that the timeline does shift forward and back to fill in the story and sometimes I would have to go back and forth to the dates to figure out what time I was reading about.  The POV shifts were easy to follow for me, but the timeline in the first third of the book jumped quite substantially, this was not an issue in the remaining parts of the book unless a large amount of time had passed.  It could have been a bit more seamless, if there was a specification of years passed since the last passage (such as 15 years later, 20 years earlier, etc.)  My only other complaint is that each character is so in depth, that it was almost too many main characters in such a short amount of page coverage in the last half of the book with so many additional characters added.  I LOVED all of the characters and their descriptions, but I had a hard time grasping many personalized identities about many of them.  I would have loved to have a bit more background and time spent getting to know the characters where appropriate. 

All in all, I felt as though this book was a great "pilot" for setting up the reader into a much larger scheme that is to come.  I definitely hope that Dr. Phillips will continue on with the amazing abilities and identities of these characters and the book definitely ended with a huge opening for a possible continuance of the story.  The character I would most like to explore more of would be the cross-breeds and Candice.  I was never able to full determine if the dark and light sides were all here or a mimicking doppleganger.  I also would have liked to see more of DeSean who seemed to disappear.  Ultimately I am left wanting more details, and hope to see these in the likely future installments of the story.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars for creative and originality.  There is a bit of a rushed feeling in the end, and I would have liked the pace to remain with the detail oriented feeling that was felt in the rest of the book.  The possibilities of all of the introduced characters and abilities are endless.  I highly recommend The Doppler Affect, especially if you are into fiction, paranormal/fantasy, sci-fi, mythology, romance, mystery, suspense, etc.  

*I did receive a copy of this book for free in exchange for a fair an honest review. 

**This is an 18+ novel as there are some graphic adult scenes. 

A Human Element

A Human Element is written by Donna Galenti and is the first book in the Element Trilogy. The book revolves around 3 main characters, Laura Armstrong an adopted girl who exhibits amazing healing abilities, Ben Fieldstone, a boy whose past links to the site of her birth, and X-10 or Charlie who has a darkness within and has been fueled to anger and an obsession with Laura that has turned to black hatred as he is forced to watch her from afar.

A Human Element covers a span of time periods as we watch the characters grow and develop into whom they are, shaped by forces around them. Each of these characters knows loss in a painful way. Donna was not afraid to face painful and REAL issues head on. There are definitely some areas that graphically deal with encounters such as rape, addiction/depression and death that seem to follow each character. If you are overly sensitive to any of these issues you may find some parts are painful to read.

Galenti did an amazing job of bringing each character to life, whether ancillary or main, they will all be as if before your eyes. I also must commend her on adding in the realism and “humanity” aspect so that no character is 100% perfect or 100% evil.

This book is one of many dark twists and turns and leaving you with many questions that cause you to pass through the pages wanting to know more. Galenti is a superb storyteller and is one that we will see more from in the future. She has the gift of bringing her story to live, the visualization and attention to detail in both character and setting make her rise above many other independent authors that do not devote the time to show a true love for their story as it is transformed into the written form.

Overall, I award this book 4/5 stars. This is an amazing story in the stages of development, although it could definitely be cleaned up a bit (at least on the Kindle copy that I read). This would help eliminate any break in flow. Otherwise, the story was really great and definitely worth the read. This is definitely a story unlike any you have read before. If you are into sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, suspense, romance, fiction, young adult, etc you will definitely want to check this one out!

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

If you are interested in viewing the author spotlight that I wrote on the fabulous Donna Galenti, check it out here: Spotlight on Donna Galenti

Air Riders Review and Author Spotlight

REVIEW

Air Riders is written by Echo Fox and is book 3 in the Equilibria Series.  It is featured around the main character of Tai who is from a race of people that live in harmony with the wind. 

The Zephyrus build things with wind, create wind weapons from any semblance of a sound and live in a world with two other races.  There are the less flying creatures known as the Daiku who seem to resemble some sort of flying reptile that are a defensive breed by nature.  Then there are the ground bound Riku who are described as fast and reptilian like  that will attack either Daiku or Zephyrus for food if they are within reach. 

Air Riders starts out with a Prologue that shows us the character of Aiko going through an intense defensive and emotional time.  As I woman I felt for Aiko and was intrigued by her as a character.  This prologue painted a picture of her which would stick with me through at least the first third of the book.  Following the prologue we are immediately introduced to Tai, who is a young up and coming leader in the Hunting Wing who has proven his skills in hunting and earned much respect.  He is pledged to bond with a beautiful Zephyrus from the Teaching Wing named Keiko. 

Tai lives and breathes his hunting wing and can only be distracted by his love for Keiko.  The Daiku have all of a sudden begun attacking the Zephyrus, which leaves me as a reader quite suspicious and also throw the entire lives of the Zephyrus into chaos.  Tai must do all that is in his power to defend his love and his people from succumbing to the attacks coming from the Daiku, but more importantly those coming from within his own people. 

I did not read the first two books and initially I thought that they may have answered some of the questions that I had within Air Riders, however as I have looked into them, they seem to overall be standalone books about entirely different races and main characters with only an end game lead up in common.  With that being said I want to talk about the few negative aspects I felt were found within Air Riders.  There were many things that were described that seemed to need to be assumed by the reader, whereas I would have liked to have gotten a better grasp on things.  For instance, the other Zephyrus, there was not much talk about their living arrangements, how they would communicate across distance and what would happen to them during the coming together of the battle.  I also was never able to fully grasp just how many people we were talking about.  In a way, I found some of the Zephyrus qualities akin to Native Americans had they held mythological beliefs.  Although many of the Daiku and Riku are talked about, it was hard to get a really clear picture of exactly what they would look like, for me anyway.  Lastly I felt as if they Zephyrus were a bit TOO ignorant and unquestioning of anything going on or of all the people who wound up missing.

Brilliant points to this novel will first start with the sheer genius possessed by Echo Fox in her creation of many aspects of this world.  The air elements and how many things that she utilizes them within her story were wonderful.  It was nice to use a familiar religion base that was not overbearing but still was able to shed light onto some of the beliefs and culture of the Zephyrus.  Tai and Keiko was real, as was the pain that was felt by Aiko in the rare moments that it was glimpsed.  The end held a big shocker for me and I definitely found myself with tears in my eyes.  Echo did a superb job of creating relatable characters with real personalities.

Overall I give this book 4/5 stars.  It was definitely a wonderful read, it could use a tad bit of extra explanations within the story for lesser aspects but overall it is a solid good book.  I would love to read the first two books in the series as well as any that follow.  I highly recommend her writing style and her genuine sense of great story telling.  This book held aspects for any interested in fiction, mythology, fantasy, romance, suspense, mystery, young adult, etc. 

Author Spotlight

Synopsis of the book:

Tai is in love and he wants to fly across the mountain shouting it to the skies. He is ready to share his life with Keiko, when a strange event turns his world upside down.

The Daiku, long-time prey of Tai’s tribe of Zephyrus, start fighting back. With the whole tribe in danger from the reptilian creatures that roam the dark forest below, Tai must put all his knowledge of hunting to the test to help safeguard his people.

With the Daiku becoming an ever more erratic threat, control of the hunters is given to a fast-rising star of the Hunting Wing, Aiko, and for a while all seems to be going to plan. The Daiku can be defeated and Tai can finally live his life with Keiko.

However, is everything as it seems? Is Aiko really the Zephyrus’ salvation? Or will Tai need to gamble everything – and everyone – he loves for the greater good?

See the book trailer on Youtube

Excerpt:

Tai closed his eyes and was transported back into his memory. He remembered the rush of cold air over his shoulders, pressing against his head as he rose through the hair. He was following Keiko,
upwards, towards the Ororan undulating through the sky above the mountains.

Keiko dipped through the gossamer curtain, the waves of light flickering over her skin and casting rose pink tones to her hair. A glimmer of soft sea foam green swept over her shoulder as she glanced
back over her shoulder at Tai.

‘Race you!’ she called.

Tai grinned and summoned a wind to bear him along but before he could gain on her, she flipped; diving deep into the curling colours, riding the air faster and faster, disappearing from view behind
a deep purple wave of light.

Blinking in shock at her speed, Tai shook his head in wonder and then jumped onto the back of the wind he had summoned.  Whooshing through the air, Tai clashed through the delicate ripples of
colour. He raced along on the wind, glimpsing the ground in the distance as he flew above. 

Every other second or so he caught a glimpse of Keiko’s long white blond hair whipping fast around a pattern of deep pink or coloured pale green as she dove alongside a curtain of moving light. She
was so fast!

Tai felt an exhilaration bursting in his chest, he was smiling so widely he could feel his cheeks begin to ache in the cool air rushing over his face. His own white hair flickered around his neck and
back as he flew. He wondered briefly what they would look like to anyone down below.

-How did you make Hunter when you’re so slow?- Keiko’s voice snickered joyfully in his ear as she darted over a shimmering wave of lilac. She laughed, he could hear that without her pushing her voice to his ear, and blew him a kiss.

Determined to catch her; Tai stopped chasing and dropped through the light like a stone. He plummeted down, feeling his adrenaline spike as he went into free fall through the glimmer. Catching
himself in a bundle of warm air, Tai eyed the wheeling and dipping Ororan above him and spied Keiko following the movements of the light ahead of him. Sneakily, he flew straight underneath the colours, watching to see where the next ripple would place Keiko.

Smiling, he rose up through the air and appeared directly in front of her, catching her startled face just before she crashed into him.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding them both still in the air as she pummeled his shoulder.

‘You cheated! Couldn’t catch me after all, huh?’ she squealed, laughing.

‘What do you mean I cheated?’ sputtered Tai. ‘I think you’ll find I’m the one who tracked you down and caught you. And that’s why I made Hunter.’

She curled into his chest, allowing him to carry both of them through the soft streams of colour as they descended back to the ground. Tai alighted and started to stoop, to put Keiko back on her feet
but she stopped him. Her hand crept up his arm and caressed the side of his face and they looked at each other.

Tai saw himself reflected in her violet eyes as she leaned forward and planted a sweet kiss on his lips. Tai felt his heart race and he hugged her tighter.

‘I think I may be falling in love with you Tai.’ whispered Keiko in his ear.

He smiled and kissed her again.

‘I know I’m in love with you.’ he murmured. ‘Absolutely, irrevocably, in love with you.’

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About the Author:

Echo Fox lives in a sleepy town in the south of England with her partner and supremely fluffy cat. She studied Classics and Archaeology at university and is forever inspired by the myths and legends of the past. Echo finds the best writing fuel is freshly baked cookies and she is always 100% more productive on a sunny day.

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• 1st book Wave Singers on Amazon
  
• 2nd book Earth Drummer on Amazon
• 1st book Wave Singers on Goodreads
  
• 2nd book Earth Drummer on Goodreads
  
• 3rd book Air Riders on Goodreads

Giveaway:

Win a $20 Amazon gc (open internationally) or an arrow charm necklace (restricted to residents of the USA or UK). This giveaway will run 10/1/14 – 10/29/14. Enter through Rafflecopter! 
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Liar Liar

Liar Liar is written by J. A. Coffey and Julianne Floyd and is the first book in the Sexy Southerners Series.  It is about a fraud examiner named Jessica Barlow...  Jessica also happens to be single and has dabbled in a dating site or two.  On her first solo case, she is tasked with investigating the fraud of the exact same dating site that she is currently registered with.

I just have to say that this was one of the most fun and entertaining reads that I have encountered in a long time.  It is definitely ranking up there as one of my top guilty pleasure books.  The flow of the book was fantastic, the dialogue and descriptions were titillating.  The view point of an outsider looking in as opposed to in-character narration worked superbly for this book. 

The main character Jessica sat very well with me as I could see myself in her many times over as someone having used dating sites with mediocre luck and worse luck with the men that I have dated in the past.  I also loved that the getaway resort was in Montana, as I myself am from Montana.  The headquarters are in Texas and I currently reside in Texas.  There were just so many uncanny similarities that made this book closer to me.  Matteo was definitely a wonderful sexy addition as the supporting character of this book. 

Coffey was very in tune with her writing of any teasing or sex scenes, but there was one in particular that stood out to me.  I must commend her on writing one of the most descriptive, steamiest foreplay scenes that I have ever encountered in my entire adult reading time.  Even had the whole book been crap it would have been worth it just for the picnic scene alone after whitewater rafting.  However, don't let that make you think that this book is ALL about sex.  It is not, it is about finding the ability to trust someone enough to be open enough to them to be able to experience such highs with someone else, and to find the ability to heal after mass destruction of one's heart. 

The characters were well described and personified and it was easy to relate to them as actual people (especially for me).  There may have been a couple of slightly cheesy moments when Matteo (Matt) is pouring it on a little think in his descriptions of Jessica, but the book was so damn good that it was easy to overlook and you didn't even care, you just went with it.  This is the sign of truly amazing writing skill.  Some people just have this ability to make a story flow even if not every little detail is perfect.  That is the TRUE art of story telling.

I give this book and obvious 5/5 stars as it has high re-readability value and is also the first in a series, which I cannot wait to read the next book.  The book that I was gifted had an except from the beginning of the next book and I already read it twice and need to get into it ASAP!  This book is definitely for MATURE audiences and if you are not comfortable with sex scenes than you are first of all missing out, and second of all may want to shy away from this one.  It is a book full of romance, woman empowerment, fiction, sex, and chick lit (I still don't really get what that really pertains to, but it sounds good here, so I am going to go with it.)  Although female readers may be more attracted to this one, my male readers could learn a thing or two from a few parts of the book. 

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

The Glass Heart Girl

Book Review

The Glass Heart Girl is written by Michelle Diana Low and is a book about statutory rape and the painful recovery process that Alena goes through in order to find a way to open her heart up completely to the man that she loves years later.  

The concept of this book is very exemplary and the base of the story is definitely well done.  Unfortunately I spent a lot of time, especially in the first third of the book wondering why so many common words that could have been used were instead interchanged with weird sounding thesaurus words.  There is a scene in which Alena and Phillip first meet and are kissing and it’s calling their mouths orifices…  I wasn’t sure if I should be picturing myself in a laboratory or in a porno….  I kept thinking back to the movie “10 Things I Hate About You” and how the counselor Miss Perky was trying to write an erotic romance novel and coming up for different names for sexual parts.   

I feel like there is definitely a wonderful story in here, but it is still in need of some major editing.  Alena’s trauma that she is going through when described is very realistic and believable when she is in her mind reliving past memories.  This part of the writing was superbly done.  Also the romance with Philip was a bit over the top and seemed geared for a younger possibly immature mindset, but this could tie into the sexual trauma that can be a result of how many people’s minds in love do not fully progress past the point of sexual trauma without healing, if ever.  

What was the biggest negative for me in this book was the way that Alena would sexualize and describe herself with such confidence one second and then immaturely cry and shut down and refuse to talk to Philip about anything.  I felt that there were two different people here and two different story lines that weren’t completely syncing up in a believable manner.  Then you throw in the in love with my friend vibe from the roommate Becca.  I get that the title of the book is glass heart girl, but there was no need to keep constantly saying that she had a glass heart, it did start to get a little old.

Most positive aspects of the book for me were that the characters are all wonderfully described in that you can see them in your mind as people and they have real human emotions, not just words on a page.  The trauma in Alena’s mind and the flashbacks again were wonderfully written and Michelle obviously has skill in this department.  

Overall I find myself giving this book a 3.5/5 stars.  I wanted to love it so much, but it felt so raw to be still.  The flow was constantly being interrupted for me.  The immature feel of the relationship would have been more believable if this would have been a book about a younger girl in high school as opposed to a college age woman (in my humble opinion).  Throw away the thesaurus and let your own words flow!  This got better as the story progressed, but in the beginning it really was breaking up the natural flow of the writing of the story.  There is no need for constant renaming of regular body parts such as mouths into orifices, it just sounds weird.  I would definitely read more by Michelle in the future and would love to see this book finely polished and to read more from her as she develops as an author.  If you are into romance, young adult, sensitive topics, real-life issues, fiction, this book is for you.

Blurb:

On the surface Alena has a wonderful life – she’s a bubbly, vivacious 20 year old woman enjoying university with bestie, Becca, her quirky Californian housemate and Phillip, her amazing boyfriend. But beneath all that happiness there is pain, a despairing sorrow and a heart cut so deep that it might never heal.   She is a wounded woman, psychologically trapped between two worlds – a realm of darkness and desolation and a life of love, hope and freedom. The man, who controlled, manipulated and mistreated her as a child, is a malignant shadow – a dangerous spectre lurking in the backdrop, who is hell-bent on destroying and consuming her. But now she must find the strength to fight for liberation. Banish the demons forever and embrace true love, before she is devoured by the spirits of yesterday.    This is a powerful and riveting story of one young woman’s courage, bravery and determination to overcome a distressing and traumatic childhood and welcome a new life with the man she truly loves.

See the book trailer on Youtube 

Excerpt:

Chapter 3

The Heartthrob

A tall, dark, handsome guy breezes into my dorm room, his long brown  cardigan swooping across the scope of the generous space. I’m sitting on my bed, eyes closed, heart open, feeling the coolness of his sexy ambiance rushing onto my face. It feels refreshing, delightful, satisfying. Slowly, I ease my eyes open halfway, and my glance moves to the doorway, where the presence of an ebony shadow stands proudly, absorbing the light from the corridor. It makes me feel weak in the knees, like a damsel in distress whose superhero has come to rescue her from the tedium of uni life: studying, essays, exams and heavy assignments. My face brightens, and I welcome the distraction.

Quickly, my eyes fully open; my heart races. I know who this sexy 20-year-old guy is. I am so happy he has come. I cannot breathe for a few moments, and I push my hands firmly into the bed, leaving a dent, my imprint of love, in the malleable covers. I lift my body up vertically with these sturdy hands, and swing my bottom, back and forth, using the strength of my body weight to keep me balanced. I stare deep into his eyes, rendering him speechless at the sight of my light acrobatic performance. I’m excited! He knows it. He can see my enthusiasm shining through my eyes.

I am completely stimulated by this luscious visitor, and I can see  his eyes  nearly bursting with fervour. He wants to touch me, I can tell.  But he is much too far away to do more than enjoy my body from a distance. He licks his lips, staring readily at my breasts, nature’s  kind gift to men. I move into his line of vision like an ocean’s soft, iridescent current, and moisten my thin, red lips, desperate for him to come closer. Slowly, teasingly, he ambles towards me, his custom-made jeans with diamond studs at the sides hanging loosely down, sagging at the bottom. The waistband of his blue Calvin Klein boxer shorts is clearly visible, more than adamantly insisting on his sexual prowess.


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Please note: All who want to pre-order need to register first on BNBS – www.britainsnextbestseller.co.uk. Once they register, they can make their order. When readers pre-order the book, they can opt to become supporters, by ticking (checking) the relevant box on the pre-order page. If they do this, they will then be listed as a supporter – their name is added to the supporter list, which is visible to all who go on the page.

Britain’s Next Bestseller

About the Author:

I was born in East London and have lived there most of my life. I started writing stories at six and have enjoyed writing ever since. In 2005 I graduated from Roehampton University and it is then that I found my literary voice. I began writing professionally in January 2014, when my novel ‘Heaven Calls For An Angel’, was published by a digital publisher. I wrote this book as a tribute to a friend who sadly died of cancer. My latest novel, The Glass Heart Girl, I published as an indie author at first. But then I got discovered by a publisher and I am on the verge of landing a book deal.

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Giveaway:

Enter to win one of five autographed posters of The Glass Heart Girl!  Open internationally. The giveaway will run 10/12/14 – 10/19/14. To enter, simply leave a blog comment on the tour post, and please make sure to include a valid email address! Winners will be randomly selected and contacted by the author after the tour is over for delivery. To increase your chances of winning, simply follow the tour and comment at each stop.