Review: Confidante: The Brothel

Confidante The Brothel (Book 1 Confidante Trilogy) by Lilliana Anderson
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Erotic Romance
Release Date: October 22, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Ok, I'll admit it - My mother in law used to be a sex worker. She worked in a brothel, as an escort and, as a madame in and around Sydney Australia in the late '80s. It's something that she has confided in few people outside her immediate family until me. We are polar opposites in many ways but we get each other - as a result I have become the confidante in her life which is how this series has been born.

The exact year was 1989; Angelien was 32 when she made the decision to enter a brothel to help support herself and her two sons. She quickly became the most popular girl there with her Kathleen Turner looks and her excellent 'acting' skills.

This is a biography about friendship, discovery and of course sex.

♥ ♥ ♥

I don’t even know where to start. This book wasn’t what I was expecting at all, but it was still incredibly interesting. I can’t say I’ve ever read anything like this before, which gives it definite points over the other things I’ve read lately. Confidante: The Brothel, the first book in the series, follows Angelien through a month as a prostitute in a brothel.

Review: The Vampires Hope

The Vampire's Hope by Danica Winters
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: Published September 10th 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Ellie Smith, an emotionally stunted dancer, finds more than she bargains for after her human life is taken by the vampire, Master Liam. Once inside the Vampire’s underground lair, the Keres Den, she meets Ian, an immortal Viking warrior, who is infiltrating the soulless prison.

As Ellie begins her training, she learns that the dark tunnels around her are filled with even darker secrets. As the truth of her existence come to light, she is faced with a choice—does she let her past dictate her future, or can she begins to feel again?

♥ ♥ ♥

I have to say that The Vampire’s Hope is not your typical vampire story. It’s definitely not what I was expecting when I first picked up the book. But despite that I thought the story was cute. I love the Greek mythology aspect of it. The whole Pandora’s Box plotline and how Elpis or Ellie was the Hope from the box was unique and well put together.

Review: Stalk Me

Stalk me. (The Keatyn Chronicles #1) by Jillian Dodd
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 1, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Keatyn has everything she ever dreamed of. Her life is following the script she wrote for the perfect high school experience. She’s popular, goes to the best parties, dates the hottest guy, and sits at the most coveted lunch table.

She’s just not sure she wants it anymore.

Because really, things aren’t all that perfect.
Her best friend is threatening to tell everyone her perfect relationship is a scam.
Her perfect boyfriend gets drunk at every party they go to.
It’s exhausting always trying to look and act perfect.
And deep down, she isn’t sure if she has any true friends.

To add to the drama, her movie star mom’s long-time fan has turned stalker. An older man is flirting with her and telling her they should make a movie together. And she’s crushing on an adorable surfer. Dating a guy like him would mean committing social suicide.

So she writes a new script. One where all the pieces of her life will come together in perfect harmony.

But little does she know, there’s someone who will do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen.

♥ ♥ ♥

I have been marinating over this review for hours and even after all that time the only thing I can say is I’m totally Team Cush! I love Cush to death he might have actually been my favorite character in this book possibly even more than Keatyn. I think I’m having trouble because I really enjoyed the style of writing in this book and I really liked the characters, except for Brooklyn, but at the same time there were several things that I didn’t like.

The premise of the story is great and Jillian Dodd writes a fast paces and exciting novel. Her characters are very relatable, funny, and snarky, which of course I love. I love the dynamic between Keatyn and her family. Her Mom and Tommy are great and the fact that there are a gaggle of kids in her house is adorable.

Review: Reckoning

Reckoning (Dark Prophecy #1) by Molly M. Hall
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

"They say the truth can set you free. I found out it can kill you."

Seventeen-year-old Kat Matheson has never revealed the dark secret that sets her apart from everyone else: She can see and hear the dead. Until now, she has been able to ignore the strange apparitions and whispering voices. But it may not be that simple anymore. Haunted by eerie visions and increasingly frightening nightmares, Kat begins to fear she may be the target of a dark and ominous force from beyond the grave. Complicating matters is the arrival of her new neighbor, a young man she instinctively distrusts but is inexplicably drawn to. Gorgeous and mysterious, he seems to hold a disturbing knowledge of her long-held secrets.

As she desperately tries to maintain control, events take an unexpected and violent turn. Discovering that nothing is what it seems and that her psychic abilities may involve far more than just communing with the dead, Kat may be forced to confront her worst fears and the powerful curse that controls her destiny.

♥ ♥ ♥

I was originally drawn to Reckoning because of its gorgeous cover. Yes, I do choose my books by their cover, but don’t judge me for it. I just like looking at pretty things, who doesn’t? The summary of the book cemented my desire to read it and I’m glad it did. Reckoning is about sixteen, soon to be seventeen year old Katriona Matheson, a young woman who has been able to see dead people her entire life.

Her gift is not without danger though and now that she can no longer ignore it, something dark is coming for her. While I really enjoyed this book and the characters in it, the pacing is rather slow. Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing inside Kat’s head and major points for putting in so many awesome bands, Kat’s taste in music is the best.

Review: Summer in Salem

Summer in Salem by Brina Courtney
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: September 2012
Buy Links:

Amzon

Book Description:

Teagen’s summer has been turned upside down by a body, a pentagram necklace, and an old flame.

Nine months ago, Teagan Matthews' boyfriend disappeared and took her sense of stability with him. But when the opportunity to live with her aging grandmother in Salem arises, she decides it's time to get on with her life. A new home, new job and new friends are adding up to a beautiful summer...

...until a young girl's body shows up one night in town, wearing a necklace exactly like Teagan's.

Now a guy looking remarkably like her missing boyfriend has arrived in Salem along with a mysterious stranger who may have some answers that Teagan has desperately been searching for. Teagan must now decide who to trust. It's a matter of life... and her death.

♥ ♥ ♥

Irish accents are hot, which is the first thing you should note about this story even though you won’t know what I’m talking about until you get a quarter way into the book.

Believe it or not the thing that drew me to Summer in Salem by Brina Courtney was the name of the main character. I was reading through the synopsis and it was just such a refreshing and unique name that I figured anyone who can be that creative with just a name, must have an even more creative story to tell. And I was right.

Teagan Matthews is a young woman who has lost her way. A tragic moment in her life forced her to reevaluate things and she hasn’t been the same since. Lucky for her, Teagan’s grandmother is having some issues living all by herself in Salem and so she goes to spend the summer with her and what she uncovers will change her life forever. The secrets shrouded in mystery that Teagan finds awaiting her in Salem frighten and excite her, but they also bring danger and pain.

Review: The Swan Prince

The Swan Prince by C. Margery Kempe
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotica
Release Date: August 14, 2012
Buy Links:



Book Description:

Magic happens when love is true

Lena thought she'd found a prince when Charles rescued her four-year-old half-brother from the waters of the Serpentine. A simple boating accident sparks romance, but the man of her dreams seems to be hiding something. They're both unemployed — times are hard — but there's something else he's not telling her.

One night, Lena sneaks back into Hyde Park to find out if Charles is secretly camping in the park and gets the surprise of her life!

How far is Lena willing to go to rescue the man she's fallen for?

♥ ♥ ♥

I was pleasantly surprised to see that The Swan Prince was a lot better than I originally thought it would be. I originally decided to read this story because I was obsessed with the movie The Swan Princess when I was a little girl and spent a ridiculously long time attempting to get myself to turn into a bird by leaping in random ponds and lakes…Don’t ask.

It was a phase my parents did not appreciate, just like my mermaid phase and the salt in the bath water, anyway, enough about my weird childhood behavior. In The Swan Prince Lena takes her 4-year-old half brother for a boat ride on the Serpentine Lake and mystery man Charles saves him when he falls off the boat and into the water.

Review: Oxford Whispers

Oxford Whispers by Marion Croslydon
Release Date: October 8, 2012 (Paperback)
Age Group: Adult
Genre:  Paranormal Romance
Buy Link:

Buy @ Amazon

Book Description: 

Madison LeBon is dead set against the dead. She has vowed to ignore her Voodoo-stamped heritage and the psychic gift passed down through her Louisiana family. The world of the living is where she wants to belong.

But her resolution shatters when the ill-fated lovers in a painting—the subject of her first history class at Oxford—begin to haunt her. The lovers warn her against their own nemesis, a Puritan from the English Civil War.

In misty present-day Oxford, Madison embarks on a quest to unravel the secrets of the past and understand her personal bond with the painting. To protect herself, she must learn to accept her gift before life imitates art, in all its tragedy.

College becomes more complicated when she falls hard for Rupert Vance, a troubled aristocrat and descendant of one of the characters in the painting. With the spirit of a murderer in hot pursuit, Madison comes to realize that her own first love may be doomed…

Based on a real Pre-Raphaelite painting, Oxford Whispers is full of romance, drama and suspense.
Fall in love for the first time… Again

Two star-crossed lovers in the English Civil War A painting with haunting powers A murderous ghost back for revenge

♥ ♥ ♥

I’m team Rupert all the way!

Yes, yes I know there aren’t really teams in this story, but Jackson does have a thing for Madison so technically you can route for him or Rupert I chose Rupert because of the redemption factor, but I’ll get back to that.

Oxford Whispers by Marion Croslydon is about a young woman named Madison who goes to Oxford to complete her education and winds up getting caught up in a mystery involving an old painting that she learned about in class. One thing you need to know about Madison is that she’s not like everyone else. She has a gift. Her family comes from a long line of voodoo practitioners and not only can she communicate with ghosts, but she has the power of telekinesis.

Review: More

More by T.M. Franklin
Buy @ Amazon
Date Released: October 4, 2012
Review Copy: from Netgalley
Summary:

Ava Michaels used to think she was special.

As a child, she fantasized about having magical powers . . . making things happen. But Ava grew up and eventually accepted the fact that her childish dreams were just that, and maybe a normal life wasn't so bad after all.

Now a young college student, Ava meets Caleb Foster, a brilliant and mysterious man who’s supposed to help her pass Physics, but in reality has another mission in mind. What he shows Ava challenges her view of the world, shaking it to its very core.

Because Caleb isn't quite what he seems. In fact, he's not entirely human, and he's not the only one.

Together, the duo faces a threat from an ancient race bound to protect humans, but only after protecting their own secrets—secrets they fear Ava may expose. Fighting to survive, Ava soon learns she's not actually normal . . . she's not even just special.

♥ ♥ ♥

When I first started this book I wasn’t sure I was going to like. It seemed a bit hedgy and repetitive through the first few chapters, but despite it’s rather slow beginning, More by T.M. Franklin, was actually very well written and I quite enjoyed it. The story follows Ava, a college student, through a pretty traumatic and enlightening discovery about herself and a race of people she never knew existed. The great thing about this story is once it picks up and Ava is thrown into the midst of the feuding race, the story is filled with action.

Ava is apparently this study-o-holic and incredibly bright, but she’s always wanted to be different, special, which is something I think we can all relate to or maybe that’s just me. But the author did a great job of making her relatable. She’s got a sick Dad, a best friend in her roommate, a job, classes and she’s trying to balance it all while having this crazy overwhelming feeling of being watched.

Review: Hanging by a Thread

Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield

Buy @ Amazon

Summer is the best part of the year in Winston, California, and the Fourth of July is the highlight of the season. But the perfect town Clare remembers has changed, and everyone is praying that this summer will be different from the last two—that this year's Fourth of July festival won't see one of their own vanish without a trace, leaving no leads and no suspects. The media are in a frenzy predicting a third disappearance, but the town depends on tourist dollars, so the residents of Winston are trying desperately to pretend nothing's wrong.

And they're not the only ones hiding something.

Clare, a seamstress who redesigns vintage clothing, has been blessed—or perhaps cursed—with a gift: she can see people's pasts when she touches their clothes. When she stumbles across a denim jacket that once belonged to Amanda Stavros, last year's Fourth of July victim, Clare sees her perfect town begin to come apart at the seams.

In a town where appearance means everything, how deep beneath the surface will Clare dig to uncover a murderer?

♥♥♥

After moving back to the small town Clare grew up in, she starts a small business selling her refashioned clothing with her childhood friend and typical popular girl, Rachel. Rachel tries to make sure that Clare fits into her new life, but Clare still feels the challenge of maintaining a balance between her individuality and fitting in when her style and family history cause her to stand out. Her family home is often thought to be haunted by others due to the murder of Clare’s great-great grandmother. The events on the day of the murder left her great-grandmother with a special gift that Clare’s grandmother and Clare inherited. When Clare touches an article of clothing she can often get vision of things that happened while it was worn. The more violent an action committed by the wearer, the more intense the vision is for Clare as well as the drive for justice.

Review: Ashes

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick
Buy @ Amazon

Alex has run away and is hiking through the wilderness with her dead parents’ ashes, about to say goodbye to the life she no longer wants to live. But then the world suddenly changes. An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky zapping every electronic device and killing the vast majority of adults. For those spared, it’s a question of who can be trusted and who has changed... Everyone still alive has turned - some for the better (those who acquired a superhuman sense) while others for the worse (those who acquired a taste for human flesh).

Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the zombies that are on the hunt, Alex meets up with Tom - an Army veteran who escaped one war only to find something worse at home - and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse. This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to find food, shelter, while fighting off the “Changed” and those desperate to stay alive. A tense and involving adventure with shocks and sudden plot twists that will keep teen and adult readers gripped.

***
This book is terrifying…Okay that might be slightly dramatic, but I have this super irrational zombie fear and it’s like Ashes went into my mind, stole my worst fears and brought them to life. Like I said terrifying.

Ashes follows Alex, a 17-year-old with a brain tumor, who chose the wrong day to take off and climb off into the wilderness, or maybe she chose the right day seeming as how a worldwide electromagnetic pulse swept through the world killing the vast majority of adults. The people who survived the attack are either spared or changed.

Thankfully Alex is sort of the later. She survived the pulse that shocked the world , but it changed her giving her some kind of super spidey sense, which is way better than the alternate. Now here’s the problem. I’ve literally been finished with this book for a few days and yet I’m having a terribly hard time reviewing it.

I love Alex. I do. Her character was well thought out by the author, Ilsa L. Bick and while she flounders sometimes, which is expected it’s not every day you deal with some kind of zombie apocalypse, she has a lot of great characteristics. She’s strong, smart, loyal and she’s got this overwhelming sense of good that makes me root for her to shoot some zombie brains.

Preview: The Archived

The Archived by Victoria Schwab
Release Date: January 22, 2013

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.
Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous--it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall. In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hardwon redemption.

***
Initially I chose to read The Archived because the cover art captured my eye, which is pretty much how I start off finding most books I like. We all like something pretty to look, but it’s even better if said pretty thing has something of substance to go along with it and it turns out The Archived does. When I read the summary of this book it piqued my interest. The premises for The Archived is different than anything I’ve read to date and while I felt slightly disconnected from the main character, Mackenzie Bishop in the first few chapters that changed as the story progressed.

Mackenzie comes off sort of distant and a bit cold in the beginning. The way she regards things is almost clinical, but we learn as the story goes on that’s how she was taught to view things and there’s a reason for that. What she feels is so much more than we think and honestly I’m not sure if I would be able to be as objective as she is about things in the beginning if I had to do what she does. Victoria Schwab, the author of this book, does a magnificent job of painting a picture of this ethereal world and wrapping it in a whirlwind of mystery for the reader to unwind.

Review: But I Love Him

But I Love Him by Amanda Grace
Amazon Link

Tonight was so much worse than anything before it.
Tonight he didn't stop after the first slap.

At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track star with friends and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his emotional scars; only he could make her feel so loved-and needed. Ann can't recall the pivotal moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor's rage, a senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything-and everyone-in its path.

This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong.


                                                          ***

But I Love Him is an intense read, gritty and truthful. That being said the author, Amanda Grace, paints a pretty vivid picture about what’s going on within the first chapter and I wasn't sure it was something I wanted to read, yet I couldn't seem to put it down. I finished this book in less than six hours, which I guess isn’t that fast, but since I was reading at work…

Anyway, I really enjoyed the style of writing she used here. Ann’s story begins at the end and works its way back to the first day she met Connor. It was like a yearlong retrospective took place in her head as she lay on the floor of the apartment she shared with Connor, battered and broken for the last time. We saw all the moments leading up to where she was now and the small details where she says she should have known what was going to happen.

Review: The Foul Bowel

“As I felt the anesthetic-induced blackness swimming into my brain, I had no doubt I was checking out permanently from the hotel of life,” wrote 54-year-old John Bradley, a ‘Crohnie’ for the past thirty some of years.

Review: Kissed by an Angel

“When you love someone, it’s never over. You move on, because you have to, but you bring him with you in your heart,” said Dr. Carruthers, Kissed by an Angel.

Review: The Everyday Living of Children and Teens Monologues Volume II

Lights, camera, action is the main theme of Adra L Young’s second book, 'The Everyday Living of Children and Teens Monologues Volume II' (TELCTM.)