Review: Serial Vengeance

Serial Vengeance by Melissa Wren
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Release Date: June 6, 2014
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Olivia Penn already lost her baby and her best friend. She's not about to lose the biggest story of her career. With the help of her police contact, she's on the case of what appears to be a random string of high-profile suicides sparked by guilty consciences.

But there's something strange about the suicide notes: They all say, "I deserve to die." Olivia is determined to break the story that the deaths are the work of a serial killer. She gets her big break when the killer commits a sensational double murder. "The Punisher" is on the hunt, and adulterers among the elite of Washington, D.C. are his prey. The further Olivia pursues her story, the further her life unravels.

And the more she uncovers, the more she begins to think that solving this case will also lead to discovering the truth behind her best friend's mysterious disappearance two years earlier. Willing to do anything to unveil the identity of the psychopath who is behind the successive murders, she finds herself embroiled in a psychological game, and it's become chillingly personal.

A stalker has been breaking into her home and sending threatening messages. Someone is trying to scare her away from her attempts to bait The Punisher with her news stories-someone close to her. It's a dangerous game she's playing, and it all leads up to a magnificent twist ending. Will Olivia's search for truth turn up anything? Or will her tenacious investigation cause her to lose her job, or her marriage-or her life?

♥ ♥ ♥

I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t happen.

I didn’t seem to care about the characters. Olivia often came across as a selfish and pouty child, especially when she was around her husband, Cameron. Nor, did I care for the interaction and conflict between Olivia and Cameron. Their relationship felt flat.

Book Blitz: Inborn (The Birthright Book 1)

Inborn (The Birthright Book 1) by Amy Saunders
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: July 21, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Rosamund Brandt has had a semi normal life for sixteen years. Well, semi normal for a family descended from aliens. Sure, she could create portals and her family had a secret basement. But she went to school, had a best friend, and got her driving permit like every other teen.

However, her definition of “normal” unravels when a killer with multiple powers and an agenda steps into town. When Rosamund herself becomes a target, she has a choice between playing the killer’s game and saving a few, or getting to the core of the murders and stopping them for good.

Rosamund’s choice will save everyone she cares about–or unleash a new era for herself and her family, shattering whatever hope for going back to normal she had.



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Excerpt:

We veered onto a side street, curving around, a sheer drop into the woods on one side. The road straightened for a stretch, and a man marched right down the middle of the street. I fully expected him to hustle to the side, but he didn’t budge as we raced closer. He strutted right toward us, like he was doing it on purpose, aiming his palm directly at the car. I squinted to see better and it looked like something was on his hand.

“What the–?” Bryce’s eyes widened. “Hold on.” He careened left just in time for a blast from the man’s hand device to miss the car and blow up the road instead.

The explosion shot our truck into the air on its side, and before we rammed into the cliff face, I had just enough clarity amidst the panic swirling inside me to shoot us and the truck through a portal. I’d never made one that big and I’m not even sure how I managed it, except I didn’t think too hard. I just reacted and it happened. I guess we were still somersaulting because we hit ground again and I blacked out as an airbag smashed into my face.

Book Blitz: Lumière (The Illumination Paradox #1)

Lumière (The Illumination Paradox #1) by Jacqueline Garlick
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Steampunk
Release Date: December 12, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

Even in a land of eternal twilight, secrets can’t stay hidden forever.

Seventeen-year-old Eyelet Elsworth is no stranger to living in the dark. She’s hidden her secret affliction all of her life—a life that would be in danger if superstitious townspeople ever guessed the truth. 

After her mother is accused and executed for a crime that she didn’t commit, the now-orphaned Eyelet has no choice but to track down the machine—her last hope for a cure. But Eyelet’s late father’s most prized invention, the Illuminator, has been missing since the day of the mysterious flash—a day that saw the sun wiped out over Brethren forever.

Alone and on the run, she finds the Illuminator—only to witness a young man hauling it away. Determined to follow the thief and recover the machine, she ventures into the deepest, darkest, most dangerous part of her twisted world.

♥ ♥ ♥
Teasers:

Book Blitz: A Killing Among Friends

A Killing Among Friends by Toni Morrow Wyatt
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: August 10, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

Sennie Lacefield has always felt safe at her family’s peaceful mountain lodge . . .

The only break in her tranquil life was the death of her boyfriend Patrick Devon, which left her heartbroken and unable to understand Patrick’s sullen, withdrawn brother Lonnie. But when her best friend Reatha Alcoker disappears, her sense of security is shattered. With the help of Reatha’s boyfriend Milo Durham, she launches a search for her friend.

More girls disappear, and bodies begin turning up . . .

When one of the missing girls is found dead in a swamp with a symbol burned into her forehead, Sennie focuses on her growing list of suspects. She can’t count on help from the lazy, lecherous Sheriff Warford Cackley. She also has suspicions the sheriff’s son Rex and his nasty friend Ottis know more than they’re willing to share.

Someone is watching Sennie’s every move . . .

Refusing to believe Reatha is dead, Sennie and Milo continue their frantic search, and Sennie is plagued with threatening messages. When another girl’s body is discovered, she and Milo visit the site and find evidence that Reatha has also been there. Some aerial photographs might hold a vital clue . . . if they can find them in time.

As Sennie unravels a tangled web of secrets, arson, burglary, and murder, could it be that a desire to help Sennie has warped the mind of a murderer?

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Wild desperation raged through Sennie. She ran out of her bedroom, down the main lodge staircase, and out onto the porch. The sun shone on the horizon as it started to peek up over the eastern edge of the mountain, turning everything into a pale, yellow haze. 


She bolted across the porch and down the stone steps. Her tears blinded her, and she missed the second step, landing hard on her knees and the palms of her hands. The shock brought her mind to a standstill, and the fear she had been running from caught up to her. She sat on the stone pavers and cried, not because of her bloody knees and palms, but because of the helpless lost urgency coursing through her.

Review: The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts (The Unbelievables #1)

The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts (The Unbelievables #1) by K.C. Tansley
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: August 1, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

She tried to ignore them. But some things won’t be ignored.

Kat Preston doesn’t believe in ghosts. Not because she’s never seen one, but because she saw one too many. Refusing to believe is the only way to protect herself from the ghost that tried to steal her life. Kat’s disbelief keeps her safe until her junior year at McTernan Academy, when a research project for an eccentric teacher takes her to a tiny, private island off the coast of Connecticut.

The site of a grisly mystery, the Isle of Acacia is no place for a girl who ignores ghosts, but the ghosts leave Kat little choice. Accompanied by her research partner, Evan Kingsley, she investigates the disappearance of Cassie Mallory and Sebastian Radcliffe on their wedding night in 1886. Evan’s scientific approach to everything leaves Kat on her own to confront a host of unbelievables: ancestral curses, powerful spells, and her strange connection to the ghosts that haunt Castle Creighton.

But that’s all before Kat’s yanked through a magic portal and Evan follows her. When the two of them awaken 129 years in the past with their souls trapped inside the bodies of two wedding guests, everything changes. Together, Kat and Evan race to stop the wedding-night murders and find a way back to their own time—and their own bodies—before their souls slip away forever.

♥ ♥ ♥

It’s been a while since I had some uninterrupted time to read and after taking a bit of a break I’m more than happy with the fact that The Girl Who Ignore Ghosts by K.C. Tansley was my first book back. This book follows Kat Preston as she does her best to unravel mystery from the past that she never saw coming. I’ve read a lot of books that involve magic and things, but I have to say I really like the approach that Tansley took with this book.

Kat doesn’t just one day start seeing ghosts, this is something that’s sort of been with her since she was young and the fact that she has to “not believe” in ghosts to keep herself safe is an interesting way to look at things. But all of that changes when the past and present collide.

Author Spotlight: K.C. Tansley

The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts (The Unbelievables #1) by K.C. Tansley
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: August 1, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

She tried to ignore them. But some things won’t be ignored.

Kat Preston doesn’t believe in ghosts. Not because she’s never seen one, but because she saw one too many. Refusing to believe is the only way to protect herself from the ghost that tried to steal her life. Kat’s disbelief keeps her safe until her junior year at McTernan Academy, when a research project for an eccentric teacher takes her to a tiny, private island off the coast of Connecticut.

The site of a grisly mystery, the Isle of Acacia is no place for a girl who ignores ghosts, but the ghosts leave Kat little choice. Accompanied by her research partner, Evan Kingsley, she investigates the disappearance of Cassie Mallory and Sebastian Radcliffe on their wedding night in 1886. Evan’s scientific approach to everything leaves Kat on her own to confront a host of unbelievables: ancestral curses, powerful spells, and her strange connection to the ghosts that haunt Castle Creighton.

But that’s all before Kat’s yanked through a magic portal and Evan follows her. When the two of them awaken 129 years in the past with their souls trapped inside the bodies of two wedding guests, everything changes. Together, Kat and Evan race to stop the wedding-night murders and find a way back to their own time—and their own bodies—before their souls slip away forever.

♥ ♥ ♥



Do you recall how your interest in writing originated or did you always just know you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always made up stories in my head. I thought it was normal. Growing up an only child, I learned to amuse myself by reading. After I finished a great book, I didn’t want it to be over, so I’d imagine myself into the story and go on adventures with the characters. Every night before bed, I’d spend an hour playing in the storyworld inside my head. It was a chance to be anything and anyone I wanted.

Which came first for you, the characters or the plot?

With this book, it was the plot. The murder mystery at a castle and the time travel were there from day 1. This book is very plot driven. The characters of Evan and Kat changed a lot along the way, but the plot—the bones of the story stayed the same.

Is there anything you found particularly challenging when you were writing 'The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts'?

Cover Reveal: Live Me (A Pieces of Broken novel)

Xpresso Promotional Event:

Live Me (A Pieces of Broken novel) by Celeste Grande
Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: November 2015
Book Description:

Broken…
Shattered…

How can you begin to live again when you’ve already been forced to…die?

Evangelina Ricci is trapped in a world that’s a never-ending nightmare, a constant ache in which consumes her every breath. Unable to bear the torture any longer, she does the one thing she can to take back control.

Run.

With her best friend Jace in tow, Evangelina attempts to escape her darkened past by leaving for college and diving head first into an aggressive schedule, determined with everything she is to make a name for herself. There’s only one problem—she can’t run away from the demons she struggles with. The demons that’ll forever be there, locked inside, battering her soul. Hiding behind a flawless façade, Evangelina faces her ghosts until her world is turned upside down, invaded by…him.