Review: Plain Jane Volume 1

Synopsis:

Plain Jane is a fictitious character that transitions from humblings beginnings into a Multi Millionaire. Along the journey she meets a special person; whom she thinks is truly for her, but is he or is he just an opportunist? Jane realizes that the top can, not only be lonely, but troublesome. Plain Jane allows you to follow the life of a rap star. This is a series that continues and continues. Guarantees you’ll be well entertain through every page.

Rating:  5-stars

Review:

Plain Jane Volume 1 by Danielle Bouying is an interesting perspective on life. Here, I got to follow a young woman who went from nothing to something. As readers will see, the life of the rich is not all that glamours. People, even the rich, get used. No one really knows if one is a true friend or friend for a specific reason. Same thing happens when romance begins. Is a lover really into the character her or not…and how she handles it all. I was intrigued. This book gives an inside peek into a rapper’s life and the things that could break her or make her better. Overall, I recommend Plain Jane Volume 1 to readers everywhere. The plot is different than my normal reading and proved worthy of my time. Easy to read and follow along. 

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Review: The Roanoke Girls

Synopsis: 

Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.
After her mother’s suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother’s mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran fast and far away.

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart. 

Rating: 4.5-stars

Review: 

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel is a coming of age story that will captivate readers worldwide. The whole story was an eye opener of how the real world can be so cruel to the innocent. A family with the most dark secrets that will eventually come to light at the end…two elderly family members that should have been the ones that others could rely on…were the real monsters. The scenes made my skin crawl. The horror of what those Roanoke girls went through…was devastating. I can actually see this story being a realistic one. One of the Roanoke girls will make it out alive but the darkness will still continue to surround her. Leaving behind the family was the best thing Lane Roanoke could have done. Her mother and cousin have suffered greatly. One monster is arrested and the other goes free. Not enough evidence to arrest him, too. Sad what can happen in a family and how fast it crumbles. Amy Engel’s writing was great. Her characters felt real. The truth of what happened will stay with me forever…a haunting kind of read. Overall, I recommend The Roanoke Girls to all. 

Review: Murder Is No Accident

Synopsis:

Young Maggie Greene may be trespassing in the old, empty Victorian mansion on a quiet street in Hidden Springs, but all she wants is some private time in the magnificent tower room to write her stories. Certain she’ll be in trouble if caught, she hides when a realtor shows up. But someone else is in the house too, someone even more worried about getting caught. When Maggie finds the realtor’s body at the bottom of a flight of stairs and the other person gone, Deputy Sheriff Michael Keane is called in. He assumes the realtor’s death is a tragic accident–until a second person is found dead in the house. When Maggie is threatened, Michael must catch the murderer before anyone else dies.

Cozy mystery fans will love this third installment in The Hidden Springs Mysteries series from an author who knows how to make small-town America sweet, sentimental–and a little sinister.

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

Murder is No Accident by A. H. Gabhart is a cozy mystery readers everywhere don’t want to miss reading. A small-town that is slowly growing is hiding some secrets. Secrets that involve one or more murders. Between a young girl being inside the mansion when a murder is occurring to an elderly lady whose memory is neither here or there…the sheriff has a lot to figure out…one of the deaths looked accidental but after further digging the investigation leads to murder. The question of who done it and why are hanging in the air as the pages fly by…I loved the suspense and the variety of characters. There are some characters that based on their personalities one would think did it. But then, A. H. Gabhart leaves a surprise just when readers think they have it figured out…

Murder is No Accident is an exciting read. Mystery, mayhem, and murder all in one stunning tale.  I haven’t read the previous books in this series, but I plan on doing so after having read this one. The writing was well-done as well as the character development. I felt like I was there watching the scenes unfold. The ending was just as good as the beginning. Overall, I recommend reading A. H. Gabhart’s latest book. 

Review: The Invisible Leader in Montgomery

Synopsis:

There was a powerful invisible leader of consequential significance in Montgomery during the bus affair, December 1955-December 1956. The invisible leader was unknown to the public. Visible operatives executed the strategy of their leader, who directed activities from behind the scene. The chief subordinate of the invisible leader was Martin Luther King, Jr. King was hand-picked by the invisible leader because of recognized qualities. The belief that an invisible leader existed surfaced five weeks into the bus undertaking. 

City leaders, and many citizens, were of the opinion that the youthful newcomer to Montgomery lacked the community status, credibility, or experience to garner a following of fifty thousand residents overnight and launch such a crusade. Politicians in Montgomery ruled out seasoned leaders in the community of the oppressed, E. D. Nixon and Rufus Lewis, as the boss to whom the young newcomer answered.

The efforts of city leaders and supporters to identify and apprehend the invisible leader were unsuccessful. Several visitors to Montgomery concluded that an invisible leader existed, annotating their position in writing. Various concerns forced the consequential personality to function in the capacity of the invisible leader, while subordinates publicly implemented tasks. 

The bus affair lasted over one year, but the invisible leader went uncaptured. The chief subordinate of the invisible leader, young King, ascended to fame during the axial bus affair. The invisible leader who functioned and commanded from behind the scene remained in obscurity.

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

The Invisible Leader in Montgomery by Wally G. Vaughn took me pack into the heart of history. A time when the black people were struggling with being mistreated by whites. Everyone is a human being yet the skin tones set them apart. Whites did everything to keep blacks out of their circles. Separation of schools, different drinking fountains, and giving up one’s bus seat for a white person. Cruelty like nothing we have seen. Despite their horrible treatment a leader rose among them. Teaching them violence doesn’t end the cruelty. They continued to use non-violentapproaches and it seemed to work. People were taking notice. Blacks were rising up to defend themselves. Martin Luther King Jr. was the man that would make his people proud. Not black and not white, but both people proud. A true leader who made significant outcomes for those suffering. Wally G. Vaughn has created this historical piece, diving readers into the mess of that time. I enjoyed reading this book. I believe that the writer has done an excellent job showing readers the facts. I found it quite interesting to read. Overall, I recommend The Invisible Leader in Montgomery to all. 

Review: Pink Diamonds

Synopsis:

Sex and the City meets Fear of Flying on the dance floor. It’s now or never for Alexis. She’s determined to reinvent herself and make her mark, but when she falls in love with Argentine tango, romance gets in the way. Newly divorced transplant to Los Angeles, Alexis takes up Argentine tango as a way to meet people, but really to resuscitate her comatose sexuality from the deep freeze that was her marriage. She knew she was a goner right after that first tangasm, a fabled phenomenon and here she is having multiples right out the gate. 

Tango sets something loose in her, something wild and hungry. She enters a series of romantic misadventures with the men who give her tangasms on the dance floor but her usual good judgment is confused by shape-shifting lovers and past-life scenes bleeding through into present reality. When her recklessness puts her life in danger, she freaks out. She resolves to focus on work. No more romance. Not until she can heal and trust herself again. 

Then Nico enters Alexis’ life and rocks her world. It is the biggest opportunity of her career. She can’t blow it by getting romantically entangled with the client. Yet if her dreams are true, this isn’t the first time they’ve met. When a former self from a past life barges in, things come to a head. From the sexy milongas of Los Angeles to stylish Milan and sultry Rio, Alexis ignites a passion she never knew and discovers the power of reinvention.

Rating: 4-stars

Review:

Pink Diamonds by Mikhaila Stettler is a seductive yet deep tale. Dancing on the floor is more than just an exercise or an entertainment. For Alexis, it becomes a night of real passion and danger. Past colliding with the future…a whirlwind of events that will change Alexis’s life.  Mikhaila Stettler has created an erotic, fiery, yet engaging story. I found myself lost in its depth. The instant feelings and connection Alexis feels…is so believable. She is an incredible character. One that knows to take it slow but her body says differently. Sex, lust, and love. Powerful, unique, and entertaining…Pink Diamonds isn’t like any other tale. Once I started, I couldn’t stop reading it. Overall, I recommend it to others. 

Review: Secret to Falling in Love

Synopsis:

Status Update: I’m going offline for a while… Wish me luck! xx

Lifestyle journalist and thirty-something singleton Melissa hashtags, insta’s and snapchats her supposedly fabulous life on every social media platform there is.

That is until she wakes up on her birthday, another year older and still alone, wondering if for all her internet dates, love really can be found online? The challenge: go technology free for a whole month!

Forced to confront the reality of her life without its perfect filters, Melissa knows she needs to make some changes. But when she bumps into not one, but two gorgeous men, without the use of an app, she believes there could be hope for love offline.

If only there was a way to choose the right guy for her…

Rating: 4-stars

Review:

The Secret to Falling in Love by Victoria Cooke is a novel all women can relate to…I easily read this book. Every page was filled with realities relationship goals and entanglements. Intriguing, exciting, and believable. Sexy men, online dating, set-up dates…The Secret to Falling in Love has it all. I enjoyed reading this romance. Being a single woman of 27-years, the whole emotional rollercoaster of dating was understandable. I knew what it was like to take interest in a man who turned up to be a jerk or not worthy of the heart. It’s quite frustrating and crazy. But the main character, Melissa, doesn’t give up…she keeps trying. The pressure of being single is difficult. She’s older than me and yet I sympathize with her instantly and continuously. Sexy hot men, darting, and trying to find the one is an adventure that will hook readers. I was definitely lured into the plot. The pacing of the book, was slow, otherwise it would have gotten a full five-stars. I felt that the plot lagged behind when it could have speed up in areas. Other than that, it well-written. A real life kind of character with a real-world experience and love life. Interesting…overall, I recommend it to others. 

Review: How to Stay Fit

Synopsis:

A “Fitness At Home” guide that provides home workout plans to exercise and information about healthy eating for weight loss. No gym? No weights? No machines? No problem!!! Fitness at home is an excellent option for those who don’t have access to gym or don’t have a lot of time to go to gym to exercise. This book provides home workout plans (using bodyweight) for those who want a structured workout plan at home. If you are a beginner, start with the phase 1 part of the home fitness program. The primary purpose of this book is to provide a home fitness workout plan for those who want to exercise at home and eat healthy to lose weight. The books focuses on providing details about the following: What is home fitness program and how will you benefit from it? How to measure your current fitness metrics and monitor your progress in your home fitness journey? How to exercise at home to stay fit and manage a home workout plan? How to keep yourself motivated towards regular exercise? How to focus on what you eat and lose weight? How to lose weight by burning body fat? How to include nutritious healthy foods in your diet? How to stay healthy? 

The first part of the book covers the importance of exercising, measuring initial health metrics, home workout plans and how to motivate yourself to the regular habit of exercising. The home fitness program provides workout plans for men and women, upper body workouts, lower body workouts and core workouts. The second part of this book provides six strategies to eat healthy and diet plans for weight loss. The third part of the book covers the workout steps for warmup exercises, cardio exercises, core exercises, upper body exercises, lower body strength workouts and stretching exercises. In this book, you will find a lot of information about exercising, healthy eating and how to lose weight. If you are wondering how to reduce waistline, how to reduce belly fat, how to reduce body fat and how to lose weight etc., please read this book to understand how regular exercising and healthy eating help to reach your weight loss goals. 

Please visit us at http://www.stayfitneverquit.com for the resources mentioned in this home fitness book. We hope this home fitness book helps you to stay fit. How To Stay Fit – A Fitness At Home Guide: Effective Strategies To Exercise, Eat Healthy And How To Lose Weight – A fitness at Home workout program for your exercise and weight loss goals.

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

This book should have been my health college textbook. It has everything I need to stay fit. Eating healthy and exercising are the two ways one can lose weight. If only using one of the two, the dieting won’t work. Fitness is a goal everyone should have. Both writers, Jessica K. David and Antony Jegadish, created a perfect guide book. These pages are well-organized and well-researched. Need motivation? That too is covered in this How to Stay Fit title. Eating plans as well as fitness programs are found inside…I was truly amazed at how much content was provided. I definitely needed this read. Easy to follow and understand. For those serious about their health, I highly recommend How to Stay Fit.

Review: Doing More with Less

Synopsis:

A sustainable learning organization always has a competitive advantage, and organizational-learning tools can provide businesses of any size with the ability to achieve more with less. This innovation in management is based in science and backed by numerous successful applications.

Author Anthi Theiopoulou, MSc, conducted breakthrough research in organizational learning (OL) best practices and the operationalization of OL principles. As a leading international expert, she offers this guide for applying OL to any business and measuring the outcome.

This overview is for leaders and researchers from a range of backgrounds. It begins by reviewing management strategies and the most current research on OL. Part two covers each component of OL in greater depth to allow leaders to design and implement their own systems. Part three is a sample OL management system, which is highly customizable, uniquely scalable, and it includes the organizational learning self-evaluation tool—or OLSET—developed by the author at the University of Liverpool. This unique element of the methodology allows leaders to conduct an OL capacity audit.

The result of years of experience and research, Doing More with Less turns science into practice. These empirically based guidelines and techniques have the power to make organizations successful in any future.

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

Doing More with Less by Anthi Theiopoulou is an excellent tool for all to have. Inside, is the writer’s in depth research and background experience created to help improve any organization and or business. Organization is key to success. Using this book as a guide and tool, readers can improve their organization and or business with ease. Wanting a successful outcome, a detailed explanation, and a useable model, then, this is the book to read. I was surprised when reading reading it. There was so much about organizational learning that I didn’t know. Anthi Theiopoulou is a brilliant genius. She has not only the skills but experiences to set readers on course for a better and more productive future. Theories and customizable system inside for all to use. As a blogger, I found the depth and answers to be everything I needed. Management is another form of success. If we can get our management and organization down, then there’s nothing stopping anyone of us from being successful. Overall, I recommend Doing More with Less to all. 

Review: Brothers-In-Arms

Synopsis:

Can a Jew and a Nazi survive Hitler’s Germany?
Franz Kappel and Japhet Buchanan never expected their friendship to be tested by the Third Reich. Friends from early childhood, the boys form an inseparable, brotherly bond. Growing up in a little German village, they escape most of the struggles of war until the day Japhet is banished from school for being a Jew, and later has a rib broken when other village boys beat him up. Franz learns he is putting himself in danger for spending so much time with Japhet but continues to stand up for his Jewish friend even at the risk to himself. Then one day their lives are shattered when they see first-hand that the price of being a Jew is dangerously high. 
With the war now on their doorsteps, Franz and Japhet come up with a desperate plan to save their families and get them out of Germany alive. Leaving behind the lives they’ve always known, they move into Berlin with nothing to protect them but forged papers and each other. Convinced their friendship can keep them going, the boys try and make a new life for themselves while trying to keep their true identities and Japhet’s heritage a secret. Taking his best friend’s safety upon himself, Franz joins the Nazis in an attempt to get valuable information. At the same time, Japhet joins the Jewish Resistance, neither friend telling the other of their new occupations.
With everyone in their world telling them a Nazi and a Jew can’t be friends, it is only a matter of time before they believe all the lies themselves, until neither is certain if they are fighting against a race of people or fighting for their homeland. Somehow they have to survive the horrors of World War II, even when all of Germany seems to be against them.

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

Brothers-In-Arms by Jack Lewis Baillot is a tale that takes readers immediately back into the dark and haunting time for Jews. Even their German friends were in danger. Imagine trying to help a Jewish member escape from the cruelty of the Hitler’s Nazis…if caught one’s death could be just as bad or much worse than what the Jews received. Sad and troubling times. A moment in history all will never forget. Jack Lewis Baillot has created a fictional world full of suspense, deadly consequences, and an unforgettable friendship unlike any other. A German Nazis best friends with a Jew. 

Inside this novel, readers meet two boys who grew up being friends. Times have changed and with it their lives are at stake. Japhet Buchanan is a Jew. For that reason alone he is tormented by all. As war breaks out, he and his family will be in grave danger. His friend Fran’s Kappel, a German, works with his friend to get out of Germany with their family. Safety. But getting out will prove most difficult. Brothers-In-Arms had me rooting for both characters and crying too. Both went through so many demons to get to the ending moment. The writing brought back the fears, tears, and memories of WWII. I highly recommend it to all. Plus, the writer has gone even further by breaking more boundaries within this masterpiece. Absolutely, stunning. 

Review: Hunters in the Dark

Synopsis:

From the novelist the New York Times compares to Paul Bowles, Evelyn Waugh and Ian McEwan, an evocative new work of literary suspense

 

Adrift in Cambodia and eager to side-step a life of quiet desperation as a small-town teacher, 28-year-old Englishman Robert Grieve decides to go missing. As he crosses the border from Thailand, he tests the threshold of a new future.
And on that first night, a small windfall precipitates a chain of events– involving a bag of “jinxed” money, a suave American, a trunk full of heroin, a hustler taxi driver, and a rich doctor’s daughter– that changes Robert’s life forever.
Hunters in the Dark is a sophisticated game of cat and mouse redolent of the nightmares of Patricia Highsmith, where identities are blurred, greed trumps kindness, and karma is ruthless. Filled with Hitchcockian twists and turns, suffused with the steamy heat and pervasive superstition of the Cambodian jungle, and unafraid to confront difficult questions about the machinations of fate, this is a masterful novel that confirms Lawrence Osborne’s reputation as one of our finest contemporary writers. 

Rating: 4-stars

Review:

Hunters in the Dark by Lawerence Osborne is dark, gritty, yet most engaging read ever. Nothing will happen like reader’s expect. Twits and turns everywhere. The suspense builds like a fire consuming a forest. Anticipation grows as readers wait to find the unexpected outcomes. I got to travel from my reading spot to Cambodia. Most exciting yet dangerous place I have traveled. The main character, Robert Grieve, is a British teacher, whose life sudden engulfs readers like myself into a steady plot. He leaves his life behind and the new one…is like wild rollercoaster. Karma and humanity tough topics found within the pages. The beginning was a bit slow, but it soon lead to the adventure at hand. Well-written. I recommend Hunters in the Dark to readers everywhere. 

— NPR “Best Books of 2016” – Staff Picks, Realistic Fiction, Seriously Great Writing, and Tales from Around the World selection

Review: The Dark and Other Love Stories

Synopsis:

“The emotional range and depth of [Willis’s stories], the clarity and deftness are astonishing.”—Alice Munro

The characters in the thirteen stories that comprise The Dark and Other Love Stories exist on the edge of danger, where landscapes melt into dreamscapes and every house is haunted. A drug dealer’s girlfriend signs up for the first manned mission to Mars. A girl falls in love with a man who wants to turn her into a bird. A teenage girl and her best friend test their relationship by breaking into suburban houses. A wife finds a gaping hole in the floor of the home she shares with her husband, a hole that only she can see.
Full of longing and strange humor, these subtle, complex stories about the love between a man and his pet crow, an alcoholic and his AA sponsor, a mute migrant and a newspaper reporter—show how love ties us to each other and to the world. 
Rating: 5-stars

Review:

The Dark and Other Love Stories by Deborah Willis is a compelling read. Each story inside contains its own set of emotions and powerful tug. Luring me deeper into its core. The characters are believable and well-developed. The stories are easy to read. Every page brings a new sense of excitement. Never knowing what the next tale will contain. Deep, engaging, and well-told. Deborah Willis is definitely talented. It shows in each piece. The Dark and Other Love Stories is a collection of fictional worlds for readers to explore. Meanings that will not be forgotten. The human heart, soul, and mind are brought up in each tale. So sad but rich…I loved reading every single story. Overall, I highly recommend it to others. 

Review: Cancer Country

Synopsis:

The only symptoms were itching. The prognosis was slightly incredible – a type of cancer that only one in a half million Americans get, and my chances of survival were one-in-ten.
That was the beginning of the journey. Along the way were anger and surprise and relief and fear … a bone marrow transplant … and the feeling of being in a strange country whimsically designed for the absurd.
Visit http://www.cancercountry.com for more information.
From Cancer Country
“In the Medieval world, Death was the standard guy with the scythe, coming around when your time was up. Now then, one morning, drinking coffee in my kitchen around 10 AM, I looked out the window and saw, a few houses away, a twenty-year old guy with a clipboard – a Mormon, a Jehovah’s Witness, or a college kid with some environmental issue.I then had this weird vision of him being Death, of him having started his canvassing miles and miles away, way up in northeast Portland or somewhere, and now, after 67 years of human life, he had made it down here, to me, and in about five minutes would be knocking at the door, and I’d answer it, and he’d ask me if I like unpolluted air and clean water and tall trees, and I’d say Yes, and then he’d ask me for a donation, and I’d write a check, and then I’d sign his petition, and then all this world would be gone, just like that. All the places I’d hoped to travel to – forget it. All the years left with family and friends – over. Yes, that’s it, I thought: the Medieval people had a nice thing going with the black hooded figure and the scythe, but he was so out of date, so past-millennia. This was our hooded guy now: a door-to-door canvasser, clipboard, politeness, a good cause. Death handing you a ballpoint pen that only half-worked.”

Rating: 5-stars

Review: 

Cancer Country by Chet Skibinski is one of the best memoirs about this particular topic. Cancer. It is one of the most scary things that can happen to a human being. One day, we are perfectly fine, the next, we find out we have cancer. The shocking, frightening, sad discovery is a difficult one to swallow. One can live or die. Surviving it is slightly improving but still it takes a lot of will power going through the process. I was able to get lost inside this incredible memoir instantly. It was easy to relate to and follow along. I have lost people to heart conditions…so, I know how they writer felt when told about the cancer found. Anger, frustration, and grief. However, as the book unfolded, I found some humor as the cancer survivor fought back. I thought the book would end in a certain way and then, I was surprised. It took on a completely different path. One that I was super happy with and the emotional journey tugged at me. So many emotions and not knowing until the ending how or where it was going to lead me. Cancer Country is an inspiring read for all. I highly recommend to readers everywhere. 

Review: Brooklyn Streets Meet Wall Street

Synopsis:

Coming from a ruff section of Brooklyn, New York, a young man climbs the ladder to success and falls in love. His happiness, however, can’t last forever, and an important friendship puts his future in jeopardy.
Josh Robinson was drifting through life. When he thinks about the man he wants to be in the future, the only thing he is certain of is that he wants to wear a suit. To Josh, a suit means respect. When people saw his father in a suit, they would go out of their way to call him Mister.

For his future, Josh picks one of the professions where wearing a suit is mandatory: securities trading. The second he sets foot on Wall Street, he knows he made a great decision.

His future looks even brighter when he meets the lovely Lisa. She is gorgeous and intelligent, but their relationship leads to a complicated and messy love triangle that will have severe repercussions for all of them.

In this novel of sweet romance and high finance, Josh is forced to make a difficult decision about his priorities and his future. Can he really have the dream job and the dream girl?

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

Brooklyn Streets Meet Wall Street is an urban fiction novel that readers won’t forget. It literally takes readers straight into the characters’ lives.  Josh is an African American who grew up on the streets and dreamed of doing something better with his life. That dream was working at Wall Street. Financial investments. Wearing a suit to Josh represents respect. Wearing a suit would give him the respect he wants. However, life is never as simple or easy as well plan. There’s always more struggles, tough choices, and mistakes before we get anywhere. I liked how this urban fiction novel was easy to read and follow along to…it represented a realistic side to the street life. The ugly side to how the poor really live and how they struggle to make ends meet. Their decisions to engage in crime shows two sides of them. Survivors and and those who don’t care about humanity. From killing to drugs…readers can feel the violence and intensity of every situation. Coming from this kind of lifestyle is hard to get away from no matter how high one is willing to sprite in the world. James Jimmy Richardson has created an entertaining read that will capture his audiences from everywhere. Well-written, stunning, and well-developed. Overall, I recommend Brooklyn Streets Meet Wall Street to readers everywhere. 

Review: Three Fat Singletons

Synopsis:

Dotty the virgin, Jesse the divorcee, and Mary the man-eater are best friends with four things in common: they are single, obese, pushing 40, and unsatisfied with life.

Together they explore the fat-underworld of London including blind dates, Internet dating, phone sex and the possibilities of lifetime celibacy.

When a week-long getaway to Greece turns into a whirlwind of romance, sex and horrific embarrassment, each one of them will have to decide what they really want in life.

Rating: 4-stars

Review:

The Three Fat Singletons is a laugh-out-loud kind of read. Readers will find themselves relating to the realistic issues of the three women. Being fat is a major issue we see in our world, today. Here, are three friends who are struggling with being over weight. Their heavy weight is the center of their problems. Then, there’s their choices they make…that leads them further into a whole. I thought it was great to read about real women with real issues. Dotty, Jesse, and Mary are as real as characters can get in fiction. It was refreshing. Most books portray skinny or curvy women getting the hot sexy man and lucking out with everything. However, in the Three Fat Singletons, J.M Bartholomew captures reality with ease and flair. I enjoyed following the friends as they went opabout their situations from food to men. Their journeys are not pretty nor the best, but it was quite entertaining. Well-written, funny, and three dimensional characters…I would recommend this novel to readers everywhere. A great women’s fictional piece, as well as a comedy. 

Review: For the Record

Synopsis:

Jennings Offers Another Delightful Blend of History and Romance

Betsy Huckabee might be a small-town girl, but she has big-city dreams. Writing for her uncle’s newspaper will never lead to independence, and the bigger newspapers don’t seem interested in the Hart County news. Trying a new approach, Betsy pens a romanticized serial for the ladies’ pages, and the new deputy provides the perfect inspiration for her submissions. She’d be horrified if he read her breathless descriptions of him, but these articles are for a newspaper far away. No one in Pine Gap will ever know.
 Deputy Joel Puckett didn’t want to leave Texas, but this job in tiny Pine Gap is his only shot at keeping his badge. With masked marauders riding every night, his skills and patience are tested, but even more challenging is the sassy journalist lady chasing him.

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

For the Record by Regina Jennings is a engaging historical read. I love the chase inside this tale. A young woman dreams of being a big writer. However, to get there she will need something much more interesting to publish. That is where Deputy Joel Puckett comes in hand. He’s the star of her writing career. However, her writing may just come with a price that may affect the deputy. The more time she spends chasing him the more Betsy Huckabee likes him. Funny, sweet, and beautifully told. Regina Jennings has captured my attention. Her characters have a way of pulling me deeper into their story. Believable, entertaining, and suspenseful. This romance will keep readers turning the pages until they finish it. After reading this novel, I fell in love with the writer’s work. Her writing style is fun, clever, and masterfully woven. I can’t wait to read more by Regina Jennings. Overall, I highly recommend For the Record to readers everywhere. 

Review: Pepper’s Ghost

 

Synopsis:

Charlotte Alexandra Long is determined to create her own life, but severe reverberations await her at the crossroads of each decision and always the possibility that the very thing she put in place on her own terms could be wiped away by an uncertain future. As Pepper’s Ghost weaves in and out of her experiences as a teen and young adult, and locations in the South and Midwest, Alex emerges from the remains of young Charlotte, but her evolving identity will never escape being an outsider in society’s eyes. After a series of ill-fitting jobs, Alex joins a traveling amusement company as a sideshow performer, where illusion and reality interplay through the metaphor of an old theater trick. She faces challenges from her troubled but devoted father, her self-absorbed mother, a spectrum of circus employees, and emotional ties to memories and places that give solace in times of ambiguity and loneliness.

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Pepper’s Ghost by William Auten is a YA read that will lure readers into its depth. The young character, Charlotte Alexandra, aka Alex, is interesting. She is unlike most leading female characters. What she really is surprised me…her journey was one wild roller-coaster ride after another.  The dynamics of family life are played throughout this read. The parents make the life for Alex a bit more complex than should be. I liked how as a main character she was constantly challenged. Alex took on each challenge moving through life the best she could do. Sometimes things worked out and sometimes not. William Auten portrayed the realities of life along with fantasy in way the just made readers like myself more curious. Memories…and emotions were strong, it was easy to be swept up within them. Pepper’s Ghost is a coming of age tale that comes off as entertaining, mysterious, and deep. The plot was developed and the pace was steady. Overall, I recommend it to all.

Review: Computer Love Inc.

 

Synopsis:

Computer Love Inc. is the story of an imminent bio-robotics boom,
a questionable death, and two young paramedics who stumble into a technological nightmare in the form of a tiny blue chip. With the help of an eccentric godfather, they become compelled to unlock the mystery of what’s become of a famed artificial intelligence manufacturer, forced to make troubling moral decisions along the way. Through sharp twists and action paced faster than an air-car, Computer Love Inc. weaves a complex technological tale of conflict and camaraderie, all the while leading us to ask ourselves: What does it mean to be a true friend? And, should some truths remain unspoken?

Rating: 4 stars

Rating: 

Computer Love Inc. by both Kurt and Jessica Hansen is a fascinating science fiction read. Fans of this genre will immediately fall in love with the plot. It is fast-paced, exciting, and pulls readers into its depth. Technology and the future are major themes incorporated into this well-written novel. I am not usually one to read science fiction, but this one was great. It held my at attention from the start. Plus, it contained mystery, suspense, and a bit of romance. Those are my favorite things to look forward in any read. Both writers put together a compelling read for readers to enjoy. Robots, science, fantasy, and death all in one action packed title. The characters were mostly males who dominated the entire book. Only one female. Quite an interesting world of fiction to explore. Overall, I recommend this book to readers everywhere.

Review: Leaving Amy

Synopsis:

Amy thought she had it figured out—followed her heart and moved forward…but life isn’t always so simple. Things tend to drag you back to familiarity, or in Amy’s case—people. Wesley returns from his stint of love and betrayal, and has a favor to ask of her. When Amy agrees to help, all that was moving forward in her life comes to a halt. As Amy tries to fix the loved ones around her, she begins to lose all that she’s gained. And when the smoke clears, she’s more confused about what’s meant to be and who it’s meant to be with.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Leaving Amy by Julieann Dove is the second tale inside this amazing series. Once more, Julieann Dove has lured readers like myself into her fictional world. I loved following Amy, the leading character, into her new journey. Inside the first one, we found that she and her husband parted. Betrayal and the finding of new love. Then, readers get to this novel, and we see Amy’s new romance coming to a halt. Her world was doing fine until her ex-husband comes walking back into it. Complicated matters turn more complex and devastinng than Amy thought. Life is messy. Julieann Dove has taken life’s greatest and worst moments and spun it into her latest tale. Every thing happens for a reason. The novel, still has the powerful emotional pull that drags me further into the plot. Heartfelt, compelling, and brilliantly told. This second part showed readers a story that is more real and believable than most contemporary novels. I enjoyed that aspect of reading this book. If every novel were happy, swoon worthy, then it would be dull. However,  that’s not the case with Leaving Amy. Never a dull moment. Sad yes. But entertaining too. The most powerful tool with this series and this particular read is that Julieann Dove kept her readers guessing. I never knew what to expect next nor how it would end…and now, I need to know the final piece.  I see Amy growing with each book. Overall, Leaving Amy is a romance that readers can definitely relate to as well as enjoy. I highly recommend this to readers everywhere. 

Review: The Furies’ Bog

Synopsis:

A bog may be Earth’s undoing, but it will be a gift to Mars. Digging up bog bodies and analyzing corpses are the last things archaeology graduate student Felicity Cratchett wants to do. And when unusual mummies are discovered in the subpolar region of Polar Bear Provincial Park, it’s the last place she wants to go. But since her faculty advisor insists that she log more hours in fieldwork, she has little choice. In a remote bog with a small team of scientists, Felicity unearths the greatest secret of our time—a secret with ties to ancient Rome, roots in Botswana, and a link to the first people to exercise abstract thought. This revelation will challenge the conventional theory of human origins and human evolution. Meanwhile, astronaut Lucas Wilson, a man tormented with a deep-seated anger, is terraforming Mars. He reluctantly descends to the Red Planet’s surface with his fellow astronauts, preparing to direct their exploration. Mars, in its birth pangs, will challenge every step he takes, with gas explosions and raging rivers, with damaged fuel processors and limited oxygen supplies. In the midst of these disasters, Lucas must keep his companions from discovering a feat of genetic engineering that will transform Mars like nothing has in over a billion years. The double helix of this masterwork twists all the way back to Earth and Felicity’s mummies. But if he fails, Lucas must decide whether to take up Mars’s sword, or to cast the weapon into a bog.

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

The Furies‘ Bog by Deborah Jackson is truly a unique read. It combines the wildlife study and a mission into one great read. The story started out something like that of the Call of the Wild and then transformed into a whole different universe.  Here, readers will find genetic engineering, human evolution, and a deadly mission. Deborah Jackson created a book that intrigues readers minds. Like the boneless mummies found in the bog. A bog that may be the earth’s undoing. Sensitive material and an unwanted investigation dragged me further into this engaging tale. I enjoyed following Felicity and Baruti  as the plot unfolded. These characters held my interest all the way to the end. The Furies’ Bog is science fiction fantasy novel that I would recommend to readers everywhere. I give it a four star rating due to the slow opening in the beginning. I really had to tell myself to keep turning the pages. Once I got past that, it was like the book took off for me. I enjoyed Deborah Jackson’s writing and look forward to reading the next adventure. 

Review: Rescue Me

Synopsis:

Lane Austin would do almost anything for his local firehouse, even model for a sexy calendar. But now he’s allowed himself to be talked into auctioning himself off. What was he thinking?

Abby has just walked away from a terrible relationship that should have ended years ago. What better way to celebrate than having her cousin take her to watch a bunch of firemen be auctioned off to horny housewives? But when Jenna secretly buys Mr. September for her, her entire world and all of her preconceptions about hunky men will change forever.

Rating: 3 stars

Review:

Rescue Me by Jill Sanders is a difficult book to review, because I wanted to like it so much. I just couldn’t get myself to. There was a huge disconnect. It is written in third person and it doesn’t connect well with the main characters. The male lead – Lane – is connected really well, but when it switches to Abby, I feel like it’s really forced. Also…what is the point of the whole car buying scene? I honestly found no point to it and could have easily been taken out of the book without affecting the plot at all. 

However, I want to like the book because the story line had a LOT of potential, and it’s really rare for me to read an eBook that doesn’t have a lot of errors in it. I didn’t see any while reading, so I REALLY wanted to enjoy this book. I give it a 3 out of 5 for the formatting and grammar. I want the score to be higher, but I can’t ignore how disconnected things feel and some of the really random scenes (such as the car buying one) that seem to have no meaning whatsoever. Still, if you’re a romance fan, you’ll still really enjoy Rescue Me by Jill Sanders. 

Review: Transformed Paris

Synopsis:

Transman spy Charley MacElroy travels to Paris to help French authorities break up a Neo Nazi plot to scatter dirty bombs throughout the city. His older lover Electra comes along to study French, but she soon discovers Dickie Borque, an sinister British aristocrat with lavender hair, may be behind the plot. Charley, however, is not so sure.

Meanwhile, she and Charley begin having love troubles when he suggests opening up their relationship to suit his pansexual desires. After discovering that he may have been fooling around with his attractive new male assistant, Electra moves out in a huff. Soon Charley is wandering the quays alone, trying to find the dirty bombs while wistfully longing for his love.
Electra enlists the help of Dickie’s feisty eighty-something milliner, Odile, to break up the plot. But then suddenly, Electra disappears. Now, Charley must search frantically for both the bombs and Electra amidst the cafes, conversation, and the gleaming, rainy streets of Paris in winter. 
Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Transformed Paris by both Suzanne Falter & Jack Harvey is definitely for adults only due the amount of adult content. Those you love erotica’s will definitely enjoy this read more than those who don’t read eroticas. Other than those issues, I have to say that the writers did an excellent job portraying their characters. The scenes of Paris were great. A famous city that readers can almost see, smell, and hear through the words on the pages. There’s plenty of action, travel, and adventure going on here to keep readers interested. Charley MacElroy is a want to be spy. He is like the guy in Pink Panther movie. Just like the actor from that movie this character wants to help the police solve a case. In this case, to prevent the spreading of bombs. This part of the fictional tale can be quite a nightmare to those who lived in New York City with all the bombings going on…this story will keep readers on the edge of their chairs.  I don’t like Charley so much…but the other characters are great. Electra proves to be the genius in this circle of characters. Overall, Transformed Paris has what it takes to be a fascinating adventure. I recommend it to those who love plenty of sex scenes, danger, and a good mystery. 

Review: Supernova

 

Synopsis:

C. A. Higgins’s acclaimed novel Lightless fused suspenseful storytelling, high-caliber scientific speculation, and richly developed characters into a stunning science fiction epic. Now the dazzling Supernova heightens the thrills and deepens the haunting exploration of technology and humanity—and the consequences that await when the two intersect.

Once Ananke was an experimental military spacecraft. But a rogue computer virus transformed it—her—into something much more: a fully sentient artificial intelligence, with all the power of a god—and all the unstable emotions of a teenager.

Althea, the ship’s engineer and the last living human aboard, nearly gave her life to save Ananke from dangerous saboteurs, forging a bond as powerful as that between mother and daughter. Now she devotes herself completely to Ananke’s care. But teaching a thinking, feeling machine—perhaps the most dangerous force in the galaxy—to be human proves a monumental challenge. When Ananke decides to seek out Matthew Gale, the terrorist she regards as her father, Althea learns that some bonds are stronger than mortal minds can understand—or control.

Drawn back toward Earth by the quest, Althea and Ananke will find themselves in the thick of a violent revolution led by Matthew’s sister, the charismatic leader Constance, who will stop at nothing to bring down a tyrannical surveillance state. As the currents of past decisions and present desires come into stark collision, a new and fiery future is about to be born.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Supernova by C. A. Higgins is the second adventure in this brilliant series. A sci-fi fantasy that brings women up to the forefront and puts them on an unthinkable journey. I found this novel, quite interesting. It had all the right elements of its genre and still swept me off my feet. I love the computer intelligence shown inside this tale. One that is almost human like. Frightening, intriguing, and highly entertaining. Supernova is about computer science, emotions, and choices. Choices that can have consequences…C. A. Higgins is a talented writer who words lured me deep into a fantasy that has it all. Fighting, action, and technology. The emotional journey was like that of a roller coaster ride. Very exciting. Overall, I recommend this tale to readers everywhere.

Review: The Ghost Writer

 

Synopsis:

Once a writer, always a writer . . .

What would you do if you came back as a ghost? You could finally write that novel . . .

Meet Arnold Showalter, ghost.

At night, Arnold haunts the magnificent underground Mystic Caverns of Appalachia. But during the day, Arnold becomes The Ghost Writer, the first “literary voice from beyond the grave.” Yet before Arnold can capitalize on his fame, he must first exorcise the “ghosts” of his own past. And it is easy to become bitter when one is dead . . .

Fortunately, Arnold’s world is rocked when he meets Clarisse, a 15-year-old fatality of a car accident. Her fresh outlook and spunky energy awaken Arnold to the real possibilities of post-life existence. Clarisse inspires a quest that takes Arnold to the farthest reaches of the universe, and deep within himself.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

The Ghost Writer by Damon Norko is a paranormal urban fantasy. Imagine being a ghost, who is a bestseller from the beyond. However, being a ghost even a talented writer doesn’t suffice especially for Arnold. He needs something more to keep him busy. A ghost that is easily bored, is one that will get into a whole leap of trouble. Arnold needs a friend to quake his thirst in his afterlife. Fate is funny, because he ends up getting not one but many friends. Friends who will also get into major trouble along with Arnold. Arnold is a ghost that is not like any others i have read about…he days the norm. Damon Norko has created an unusual yet highly entertaining fantasy that readers everywhere will enjoy. The ghost’s journey and growth as a character are brilliant. Arnold is also, very easy to connect with…his feelings are believable and portray him as realistic. I enjoyed this short easy-to-read novella. The Ghost Writer is one that baits, lures, and hooks. Overall, I recommend it to all.

 

Review: Gatekeepers of the Grapevine

 

Synopsis:

Set in gorgeous Cape Town, South Africa, GATEKEEPERS OF THE GRAPEVINE follows the lives of three women as they navigate through their tumultuous relationships and changing fortunes.

Elizabeth and Carolyn both live in the luxurious gated community of Vintner’s Estate, but Carolyn is harboring a secret. When Elizabeth stumbles on the truth, she plots to use the information to her advantage unaware that her own life is soon to spiral out of control.

Living off the Estate is Elizabeth’s neglected sister Sarah who starts a design business and quickly becomes the darling of Vintner’s Estate. As Sarah’s fortunes rise, Elizabeth battles to regain control as queen bee, only to discover that her own life has been as much of a lie as Carolyn’s.

Filled with scheming and secrets, GATEKEEPERS OF THE GRAPEVINE will keep you turning pages until the very end.

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

The Gatekeepers of the Grapevine  by Jane Paterson is indeed the perfect title to this novel. There are three women whose lives intertwine inside this book. Two are sisters. The other is not. The realistic version of what sisters  can be like is revealed. I liked that it wasn’t forced nor fake. Complete opposites was another theme but regarded the sisters more so. The tale overall, was deeply engaging from beginning to end. I felt that the ending could have been stretched out a bit more. Other than that I found this to be a great read. I enjoyed the suspense and the different lives presented. I got to live through a couple of African women’s lives. That was the most interesting part. South Africa is hardly mentioned in fiction and when it does pop up, it’s usually always a good book. This novel caught my attention immediately upon opening it. The characters will tug readers into a two-way direction. There are some things I enjoyed about them and other things I didn’t like about them. Meaning they weren’t characters I would want to best of friends with but could tolerate if I had to…Overall, The Gatekeepers of the Grapevine is definitely for those who liked Sex in the City. For those who like a good mystery and secrets than this is the book, I recommend to read.

Review: The Cottage

Synopsis:

Michael Phillips continues His Sweeping Shetland Islands Saga.

When Loni Ford is informed that she has inherited property in the Shetland Islands, she laughs. She wants nothing more than to sell it and be done with it. But when she arrives in the North Sea enclave, she is stunned to find that “the Cottage” is not at all what she expected, nor is David Tulloch, the man most of the islanders believe to be the rightful heir.

The locals could hardly be more surprised that the heir is a woman–and an American. Loni, in turn, finds the islanders quaint and a bit behind the times. Expecting David to be as provincial as the rest of his clan, she discovers that there is far more to the man than meets the eye. And there is something about the peaceful atmosphere of the place–and the character of its most prominent citizen–that soon gets under her skin.
Beneath the peaceful surface, however, change is threatening the island of Whale’s Reef. David’s cousin Hardy Tulloch, whose claim to the inheritance now in Loni’s hands was backed by oil investors, has not been deterred in his aim to control the island. But his co-conspirators have plans of their own, plans that put Loni’s very life in danger.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

The Cottage by Michael Phillips is a highly engaging tale. One that brings out the beauty of landscapes, homes, and maybe a bit of romance. A woman is found completely out of her element when she goes to the new place she recently inherited. The Cottage. There’s more to the place than she thought possible. Something about it pulls her attraction. But that isn’t all that draws her attention. One of the locals, David Tulloch, is a mystery. Just when Loni thinks all is well, threats soon come tumbling in and then the danger begins. Her life as she knows it, may just be in jeopardy over the newly inheritance. Greed, love, trust, and danger are all found inside this interesting read. I was captivated by the suspense and lure of the Shetland Islands. The writer’s talent is evident on every page. The characters create a hook that keeps readers intrigued. What will play out is something to be discovered…and before one knows it, the book will be finished. I loved reading this historical novel. The settings were believable. However, I had wished for a bit more romance between the characters. But still, it was clean and enchanting. Overall, I recommend this new tale to readers everywhere.

Review: Jack and Jill Went Downhill

 

Synopsis:

Jack and Jill meet on Freshers Big Party Night at university and for both of them it’s love at first sight. Despite their backgrounds, personalities and interests being poles apart, the relationship flourishes during their university years. It’s not quite as comfortable when their studies are over and they start work, Jack in the City and Jill as a teacher.

Way back when they first met, they’d shared the joke that their names were those of the nursery rhyme. Down the line, they fail to recognise that their lives are matching the plot – Jack falls down and Jill comes tumbling after.

Their relationship is on the rocks. Can it survive?

Rating: 4 stars

Review: 

Jack and Jill Went Downhill by R.J. Gould is a great read. The beginning moved too slow for my own interest. However, the middle was where it got super interesting. I mean there was action and all to enjoy. I felt that R.J. Gould could have left off the first part aka the beginning or shortened to a bits and pieces throughout the book like a flashback from the characters’ standpoint. The characters’ emotional journey hit it off in the middle. The ending made me wish the book wasn’t ending quite yet. The romance between the main characters is symbolic in many ways. I thought the portrayal of the romance between them was real. I can’t see most humans forgiving so easily all the time like most novel would have us readers think is believable. The realistic side of relationships can come off harsh and difficult. But that’s life. The story overall, was entertaining once the action started to come into play. Then, from there the rest was highly entertaining. I enjoyed the title and how the story captured the title onto its pages. I would recommend this read to others.

Review: Hit the Road, Jake!

 

Synopsis:

Thrilling, romantic, and sprinkled with humor, HIT THE ROAD, JAKE! reinvents the ‘buddy movie’ concept with the written word … and a pretty woman. Jake and Lindsey are good at tracking down offenders responsible for petty theft and blackmail, but when new mysteries become personal—slashed tires, spattered blood, steamy love letters, a stolen pet—everything changes.

Who is this enemy that secretly harasses them from town to town? Jake calls in some favors and manages to finagle the DNA testing of several blood samples. The results are shocking, and the dangers they face become deadly.

Practically, newlyweds, the couple thought they’d created the perfect win-win plan. While traveling between Tucson and Estes Park in their RV, Jake would solve embarrassing mysteries that schools wished to keep under wraps, and Lindsey, being the ‘cover’ for their presence, would conduct workshops for teachers. Then all hell broke loose.

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Hit the Road, Jake! by Cricket Rohman is a great cozy mystery that soon gets deadly. The beginning introduces readers a wonderful yet newly wedded couple. Jake and Lindsey and their dogs. This couple is deeply in love with one another and their bantering will keep any reader grinning. It was hard not to laugh along. Then, as they dive into their first mystery case it seems things get peculiar fast. Threats that look like a harmless prank is more than beats the eye. The couple will soon discover fast just how dangerous their mystery case is.

Cricket Rohman’s novel reminded me much of the Miss Fisher Mysteries. Funny, dangerous, and a puzzle not only to the detectives on the case but also to the readers at hand. I was intrigued at the mystery. A rhyming poem, literature, and petty stuff…what was the real MO and who was behind it and the more puzzling question was why. This novel will keep readers guessing and entertained from beginning to end. Hit the Road, Jake! is an excellent mystery full of suspense, intrigue and a great set of characters.

Hit the Road, Jake! by Cricket Rohman is indeed the perfect read. An unforgettable journey with the world’s best couple. Both Lindsey and Jake are a perfect match. Their investigating soon leads them into more than just trouble with their clients. It comes straight to them as well. The humor and romance that fill the pages as well made it believable. I recommend this novel to all. I look forward to reading the other novels by this talented writer.

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Meeting of the Mustangs

 

Synopsis:

For hundreds of years, generations of wild mustangs have roamed large parts of the western United States. Many of these magnificent animals can live their entire lives without ever seeing a single human being. Being completely self-sufficient, they inhabit the wilderness in groups, living together peacefully and posing no threat to any of the other animals with which they share the land.

Through knowledge that has been passed down to them from their ancestors, these horses are masters of survival and know what things to fear and how to protect themselves from those dangers.

This is the story of a special horse. His life begins much the same as the other young horses in his group, but will turn out to be much different. Through no fault of his own, he is separated from everything he has come to know and thrown into an entirely different way of life. Although his world changes drastically, his adventures continue until he finds himself in the unexpected position to repay a kindness that was once shown to him.

Friendship can sometimes be found in the least likely forms, in the most difficult times.

Ratings: 5 stars

Review:

Meeting of  the Mustangs by Cathy Kennedy is almost like that of White Fang and Call of the Wild. The tale instantly sweeps readers into a young horse’s perspective. Everything is seen and analyzed through the animal’s eyes. I enjoyed reading this adventure story. The journey was challenging but good. The plot is one that will melt every reader’s heart. Animals are pure and innocent and when facing dangers by both the wild and by cruel human beings we want to jump in and rescue the animal. But somehow everything works out…if nature allows it to happen. The wild is an extraordinary place. One that captivates all. I found myself intrigued, about the black colt and his journey. Overall, this was a quick and entertaining read. I recommend it to all animal lovers.

 

Review: You Know Me Well

 

Synopsis:

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really?

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other — and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

Rating:  4 stars

Review:

You Know Me Well by both Nina LaCour and David Levithan is a great read. I thought it was wonderful that they portrayed two opposites sexes, each dealing with feelings towards their same-sex. Here, I experienced what struggles both internally and externally teens face when in love with the gender. Different, new, and a deeper understanding develops after reading this novel. However, I wanted to feel a connection with the characters…one the would stay with me even after I finished reading the story. That didn’t happen for me in this tale.

Inside this engaging title, You Know Me Well, readers get to meet two friends. One is a guy and the other is a girl. Both are dealing with their relationships that nobody but them know about…Kate is in love with another girl and Mark loves his another guy. Each friend is there supporting the other one to go after the one they love. Nina LaCour and David Levithan have crafted a realistic, honest, and gritty tale. One that readers will definitely enjoy time and time again. The main theme that stuck out with me was being true to one’s self and taking the risk of going after what makes one happy. Overall, this was a fun read and I recommend it to others.

Review: A Transcendental Yogi Life (With Eternal Stories)

 

Synopsis:

Spiritualism is one of the greatest mysteries in life. But what does it even mean, How do we access it? What power does it hold? What is your purpose on earth? What is God like?Who is a yogi?

With A Transcendental Yogi Life, With Eternal Stories, you delve deep into the life of Yogi’s through short & legendary stories that have left an impact on us which would ripple throughout years to come. Through this book, you would experience if the transcendental life of these Yogi’s can answer the serious questions of life that plague us all.

With insights guided by enlightened souls like Gautama Buddha, Shri Paramahamsa Yogananda, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Shri Ramana Maharishi, Swami Vivekanand & others, you will try and identify how they grew and overcome their day-to-day problems that we too face regularly. Their wisdom will allow you to reach new heights and bring you to a place you never before imagined.

This simple yet highly philosophical book aims to allow everyone—from every phase of life, every age group, and every nationality—to easily understand the beautiful & the peaceful teaching of our great Yogi’s. I am sure this book won’t be perfect, but it will always remain a guiding factor you can return to time and time again.

If read carefully and with an open mind, this book will change your life for the better.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

A Transcendental Yogi Life: With Eternal Stories by Sumit Singh is an interesting book. The writer has put a lot of thought and effort into making this book the best for readers worldwide. I enjoyed reading pages. There are day-to-day issues that pop up regularly in my life. I take on that stress as a normal. When I look at others’ lives that I know, I see the differences. There’s wisdom passed on as readers progress further into the book. I think this is a great guide built for all people. No guide is perfect. However, this one provides the enlightenment, strength, courage, as well as guidance in making past life’s obstacles. Burdens, emotions, and outside environments can have our shoulders feeling heavy. But this read makes the heaviness feel lighter and in a way we feel more energized. A Transcendental  Yogi Life: With Eternal Stories by Sumit Singh is indeed a great read for all. I recommend it to readers everywhere.

 

Review: Ana’s Magic

 

Synopsis:

How far are you willing to go to make your dream a reality? For Ana Wright, the answer to this question is, all the way!

“Ana’s Magic” is a page-turner that tells the story of Ana Wright. A young girl who loses everything, including her close bond with her family due to unfortunate circumstances and a little stubbornness of her own. She is forced to make the intense transition from girl to woman in what seems like the blink of an eye. She finds herself alone, deprived and disheartened with her long anticipated childhood dream seeming far out of reach.

Suddenly, Ana’s life takes an unexpected turn and she finds herself living a lifestyle filled with glitz, glamor and everything in between. Lost in the allure of the high life, “Miami Beach style”, she quickly learns that everything that glitters isn’t gold. Still, she is determined to make her dream a reality, even if it kills her.

Follow Ana on a journey to where glamor meets the streets, love turns bitter and dreams come true.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Ana’s Magic by Adia Kamaria is an intriguing read. Where those with dreams and ambition work hard to make it all come true. But soon things go down south. Family life isn’t what is was. A father who became a drug dealer to give his family especially his little girl everything they wanted. But as with all bad jobs…the high life lasts only so long until it’s destroyed. Ana’s father and another man are soon sentenced to prison for a long time. Her mother is wanting to move back to Jamacia with her kids. The two sons are going with their mother but Ana doesn’t want to go. Her mother is asking her to give up her dreams to go back to the place they came away from…to open up a grocery store. No way! Anger, confusion, and worry creep up within this read. A family who went through tough times are now, facing them again. Finding a school to finish her fashion studies and a place to live are seeming like an impossible reality…but Ana is determined to try. But will she end up failing or making it to the top?

Ana’s Magic is full of drama, crime, and heat. The fashion world is a lot harder than readers think. Working one’s way up costs money and money is the one thing that the main character was running out of…this seemed to cause her to get involved with people who were in bad businesses like her father and uncle were. There’s plenty of adult content with this exciting read. Readers can easily connect with Ana. A character who held bigs dreams and kept on chasing them even when things got tough. Adia Kamaria writes well. There’s never a boring moment. Her characters pop off the pages and entice readers. The big question in this novel is how far is one willing to go for their dreams. Overall, I enjoyed this urban street read and recommend it to all.

Review: I Take You

 

Synopsis:

Lily’s fiancé Will is a brilliant, handsome archaeologist. Lily is sassy, impulsive, fond of a good drink (or five) and has no business getting married. Lily likes Will, but does she love him? Will loves Lily, but does he know her? As the wedding approaches, Lily’s nights—and mornings, and afternoons—of booze, laughter, and questionable decisions become a growing reminder that the happiest day of her life might turn out to be her worst mistake yet.

Unapologetically sexy with the ribald humor of Bridesmaids, this joyously provocative debut introduces a self-assured protagonist you won’t soon forget.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I Take You by Eliza Kennedy is a sassy, sexy, hilarious read. Instantly, I found myself turning the pages fast. The main character is quirky. Her ways are not what I would do yet, the way she is presented is great. Eliza Kennedy has done a fabulous job in creating a leading female character that has more flaws than perfections. That’s what made this book so easy to connect with…there’s a lot of sex with men and things that would leave me utterly speechless. However, Lily, the soon to be bride knows how to live life fully. Lily is about the most impulsive character I have met. Readers will never be able to guess what she does next or why. A woman about to be married may or may not actually get married. Her journey to that moment will string readers along and leave them laughing at the craziness of who Lily is. Overall, I highly recommend I Take You to readers everywhere. This is definitely a must read for all.

Review: Friend

Synopsis:

FRIEND is a story about a set of girlfriends who start out inseparable but are slowly torn apart by jealousy, betrayals, and lies from the inside out. The story is told from the perspective of Bonnie, whose friendships are the center of her life for the moment. Her friends are Cora (the good girl), Leena (the giver of good advice but never the user), Jenelle and Jayna a.k.a. “the Twinzies” (and double trouble), and Hazel (the dime piece whose beauty is, unfortunately, often overshadowed by her selfish ways). After meeting as young girls, in different but equally dramatic ways, they become close, growing up together and learning the ups and downs of female friendship and adolescence.

Then, Donna enters the group. She was seeking a crowd she could consider her click after moving into the city, but she chose the wrong crowd. After meeting Bonnie and Hazel in high school and being brought into the group, she thought she found her click. But when Donna starts dating Pay, her alleged friend, the once uninterested Hazel decides all of a sudden she wants to claim something that once again wasn’t hers. When a secret love square forms, the group is forced to turn a blind eye to the unforgivable actions of one of their own at the expense of another. Throughout it all, Bonnie has been caught between her loyalty and her conscience, and Hazel’s other side becomes more and more evident and starts to create a wedge between the crew.

Bonnie and her new boyfriend Drew then become the target of Hazel’s selfishness; Bonnie decides that her friendship with Hazel isn’t worth the drama or her relationship with Drew and begins distancing herself from it all. Quickly things with this once tight group of girls begin to unravel and they are faced with the reality that their friendship isn’t what it once was. Their former rebellious pastime of boys, drinking, and partying with fake ID’s has turned into a dangerous game of lies, secrets, and manipulation. With all the girls forced to choose sides amid the unfolding drama, the line between friends and enemies has blurred. And these former “best friends” have now become “Frenemies”. You know what they say, there’s an “end” in “friend” for a reason.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Friend by Khadija Styles is an intensifying read. The drama is so thick that readers will be holding their breath with every page. The suspense of when all breaks loose is crazy in a good way. Teens taking life as it comes and dishing out what they want when they want it. Readers will find this novel having pieces of Pretty Little Liars and Mean Girls twists to it. Absolutely a dark tale that somehow finds a way of pulling readers into the fast-paced plot. One moment there’s a group o typical high school girls and then suddenly their world of friendships comes to a screeching holt. Fear, anger, and jealousy all on the line. Surviving rounds of hatred, lies, and betrayal will be the ultimate test for this particular group of girls.

Friend is an edgy YA read with adult content on every page. The end in friend might just be a sign for these high school girls. Khadija Styles writes a novel that shows the dark side to teenagers and what harm they are capable of doing if the right pressure and situation occur. But sometimes, things can blow apart even without the extra spice, to set things off. The story read from a first person point of view. I didn’t know what to feel towards the main character showing me what happens in the book. Feelings are complicated but the book is a definite must-read for all.

 

Review: The Cat Factory & Other Stories

 

Synopsis:

From a 100,000-year-war, in space to the everyday horrors of loss and aging, the new collection by Tim Newton Anderson will spark your imagination and touch your heart as his characters meet horror with humanity.
You will meet:
 An artist who crafts miniature solar systems
 Three youngsters in a children’s home who turn their disabilities into advantages
 A group of unlikely friends who encounter angels at their bingo club
 The ugliest cat in the world who faces murder by an industrialist seeking the perfect pet
 An unscrupulous politician who finds an internet tool to control the population
 A ‘Pataphysical scientist who has accidentally split himself in two, in a rivalry to find the secrets of life and the ultimate joke
 A camera that not only photographs ghosts but captures them
 A man facing the demons of his childhood and another who is haunted by his younger self

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

The Cat Factory and Other Stories by Tim Newton Anderson is an interesting collection of tales that will instantly grab readers’attention. Once readers open up the book, they won’t be putting it down until they finished.  Well-written, intriguing, and different. Each story within touches readers’ hearts and minds. Thought provoking. This book, leads me to thinking…what if these things were to happen…what then? Curious plot lines and interesting characters. I found this collection unique and highly entertaining. Overall, I recommend The Cat Factory and Other Stories to readers everywhere.

Review: The Best Seller

 

Synopsis:

When Maya Smock writes her first novel, everything seems to go her way. Her book practically writes itself. She marries her gorgeous agent. Her name is on all of the best seller lists. Billionaire author Jay McCallister takes an interest in her meteoric rise to fame and invites her into his world of alien-believing celebrities. Her life changes forever when he tells her that they were both created inside of a laboratory. These authors are embedding an alien genetic code within the pages of their novels that originated from Nazi Germany because…

The time has come. They are here.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

The Best Seller by Dina Rae brings out one of the most unbelievable conspiracies of all. Yet, inside the tale, it seems so real. I was hesitant at first when reading this book. Then, I really got into the plot. The story chapters switch between the happening now moment to what happened back when the Nazis were a real threat. Here, readers will find the US government hiding as well as allowing Hitler’s craziest doctors to conduct experiments. Experiments that involve four aliens. Aliens that can easily kill everyone in the room. In the modern moment, a young female who wrote a science fiction fantasy book goes to a book signing. She wants to see if anyone would represent her book and get it published. Fate must be funny. Because she not only found a crazy agent who got her book published but also met her favorite author. Only he acted crazy when he saw her necklace. A necklace that her mother gave her…then there’s his talk, about the aliens are here. Dina Rae knows how to pull her readers, into a world full of weird stuff that leaves them intrigued. I couldn’t stop reading this novel until I read the last page. Imaginative, well-written, and one that conspiracy hunger readers will love. Overall, I recommend this read to all.

Review: This Too Shall Pass

 

Synopsis:

Blanca is forty years old and motherless. Shaken by the unexpected death of the most important person in her life, she suddenly realizes that she has no idea what her future will look like.

To ease her dizzying grief and confusion, Blanca turns to her dearest friends, her closest family, and a change of scenery. Leaving Barcelona behind, she returns to Cadaqués, on the coast, accompanied by her two sons, two ex-husbands, and two best friends, and makes a plan to meet her married lover for a few stolen moments as well. Surrounded by those she loves most, she spends the summer in an impossibly beautiful place, finding ways to reconnect and understand what it means to truly, happily live on her own terms, just as her mother would have wanted

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Review:

This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets is a deep emotional journey. Readers like myself won’t ever forget it. Milena Busquets brought me to Spain. A place where the events were happening. This was a tale of a forty-year-old woman who has just lost her mother. The daughter is speaking about her life and journey to her dead mother. The shock and sadness that the main character felt and thought became my own feelings. The point of view from the daughter was interesting. I found myself lost in this woman’s despair, discovery, and life. Lots of sex within this read. I enjoyed reading this summer novel. It was definitely a refreshing story from what I have read in the past. The tale is about love and loss. Deep, thoughtful, and complicated. The scenes played before me…but it was like getting tiny glimpses into the forty-year-old woman’s life. I wished it went deeper into how she felt when she did have sex or what made her happy…every other book I have read there was at least one thing that made the main characters happy. Maybe, in this tale, it was Blanca’s mother that made her happy. Once her mother died, it was like everything didn’t have any meaning…Overall, I recommend this novel to all. It definitely has kept me guessing.

Review: When the Summer Ends

 

Synopsis:

A tale of love and friendship set in the 1950s, When the Summer Ends tackles society’s views of the times.

Aika Rowland is a young lady affected by undiagnosed Aspergers, and struggling to live her life; her famous family has its own problems and often she is overlooked, finding it hard to fit in with her outlandish clothes and strange mannerisms. That is, until she meets rough, tough Greaser girl, Cherry Knox, the girl who shows her what love is really about.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

When the Summer Ends by Ellie Morris is well-written and shows a lot of issues at hand that our society faces today. As a reader, I could sympathize with the characters. A family going through many issues. Issues like an older brother being gay, a father who can’t stand up to his demanding wife, and the daughter struggling with who she is and developing an attraction to another female. This was indeed an emotional thrill ride. As each cahracter went through their issues and self-discoveries. But desipte all that was happening the sibblings supported one another. That made me feel good. Gender issues as well as sexuality and racisim were also other issues that were brilliantly brought up within this historical read. Quite a journey to go through. Never a dull moment. Love isn’t something that we can box up and define. It’s something that changes as life evolves. Love isn’t hatred. Ellie Morris brings these themes into her highly entertaining world of fiction. Overall, I recommend this new title to readers everywhere.

Review: Love & Hustle

 

Synopsis:

Sometimes things won’t work out no matter how hard you try.

Brittanya and De’Quan have been looking for love in all the wrong places. Once their paths cross, they assume that the love Gods have finally decided to shine a little light on them. Both have been raised in dysfunctional environments. So when things start to happen that are clear warning signs of a toxic relationship, neither seem to be able to recognize it. The last thing on their minds is going their separate ways.

Brittanya’s thug addiction could very well cost her something that she could never recover from. De’Quan, blinded by what could be may very well lose the most precious thing to him, freedom.

Will Brittanya and De’Quan realize that their addiction to each other has negative consequences for them both? Or will they be able to overcome and find the real love that they both so desperately seek.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Love & Hustle by Willnide Desrosier is definitely a dark and edgy read. There’s tons of drama, trouble, and hearts on the line. Inside this urban romance, readers will find a lot of adult content such as drugs and sex. The main characters are an interesting set. Both come from different sides of the world but share the same kind of experiences when they were growing up…Brittanya is a tattoo artist. She doesn’t want any other job but the one she has. College is not anything she wants either. However, like all women, she wants true love. But in her line of work finding that will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Then there’s De’Quan. He’s a thug who wins Brittanya’s heart and he too is looking for true love. For De’Quan and Brittanya finding their true love will be difficult and once found it will be even harder to keep. Consequences, drama, and trouble follow these two as their journey deepens. Every page contained a lot of action and enough juicy details to keep readers hooked. Willnide Desrosier’s writing is great. Her characters come alive. The intrigue is thick and heavy. The romance and heat is hot enough to set the pages on fire. Overall, I would recommend Love & Hustle to readers everywhere.

 

 

Review: Thugalicious

 

Synopsis:

What’s done in the dark always comes to the light.

There is more to Braelyn Diamond Baldwin than meets the naked eye. A savvy business woman by day and a Thugaliscious TrapQueen by night.

Braelyn feels the need to win at everything she does. She is at the top of her game right now but just when she thought she had everything under control, a secret that she’s been keeping is brought to light. This secret threatens everything that she holds near and dear to her heart.

Will Braelyn take drastic measures to stay on top or accept her fate of being dethroned?

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Thugalicious by Tyrianna Gregory is the most complex novel ever. This urban drama is so high the intensity can be felt sizzling from the pages being read. I held my breath waiting for the explosion that I knew was bound to come out…the situations inside this well-written tale are beyond complicated. Nothing like a good messy romance to read. Tyrianna Gregory brings a lot of action, heat, and suspense within this exciting read. Yes, there are a lot of issues happening with the main character Brae but that’s what makes this novel interesting. Life is messy. Crap happens. The writer brought out a realistic character with believable struggles. Yes, I can definitely see a woman struggling with raising a child, with her first love, who doesn’t find out until he’s in the hospital. Then, there’s the issue of her being pregnant and loving another man as well as being buried deep into a dark career. There was never a boring moment on any of the pages. The dialogue was great and the characters fit their roles perfectly. I would definitely recommend this novel to other readers and look forward to the next novel in this exciting adventure. I have to know what happens next.

 

Review: Love Me If You Can 2

 

Synopsis:

Ethan thought that Kayla was down for him until he finds himself locked up and serving 30 days in the county jail. After serving his thirty day sentence, Ethan is released and revenge is on his mind. Kayla has moved on and has decided to work things out with her baby daddy A.J.

Ethan starts following Kayla and A.J and begins to play both of them against one another. Ethan doesn’t plan on Kayla ever having a happily ever after with A.J.

Keandria is devastated when she learns Ethan has been released from jail. She’s fallen in love with James and prays that Ethan stays away from her and their son. But Ethan has other plans. Keandria soon realizes that Ethan wants his family back and is willing to do whatever he can to work things out with her. Who will she choose James or Ethan? Will she forgive Ethan for being abusive and cheating on her?

Jasmine has stepped back into the picture and throws everyone for a curve ball. She wants what she wants and is making it her business to expose everyone’s secrets. She has a lot of anger directed towards Ethan and Keandria and she doesn’t plan on stopping until everything that has been done in the dark comes to light.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Love Me If You Can 2 by Shanice B. is wound up too tight in this urban drama that it’s hard to resist. The plot thickens to a boiling point…who will survive and who doesn’t, keeps readers on the edge of their seats as they race through this exciting tale. I simply can’t get enough of these fabulous characters. Their sassy strong personalities and heated love debates and love triangles keep me guessing. I want Keandria to be with a man that make her happy but now it seems that her new man, as well as her old one, have both sunk low in handling things with her. Who she picks to keep on living with is a question that drives readers further into the plot. Then there’s an unexpected twist with Jasmine wanting to wreck havoc on everybody’s life that has the power to flip the entire plot over and make it interesting…Love Me If You Can 2 is the craziest yet most intense urban drama romance that I have ever read. I absolutely loved reading this new title by Shanice B. Her writing is brilliant and realistic. Overall, I highly recommend this new title to readers everywhere.

 

Review: Love Me If You Can

 

Synopsis:

Some people chase love, some people chase money, while others chase both. Love and money can bring out the best and worst in people.

Keandria is a single mother who is working as an escort to make ends meet. She has just left her abusive baby daddy and is doing her best to make it on her own. Drama soon escalates and turns deadly when her baby daddy makes it clear that he will not help her with their child and would rather spend his money entertaining his new chick, Kayla. Keandria soon finds comfort from one of her clients which complicate matters. Keandria finds herself feeling emotions that she hasn’t felt in years, but soon wonders are they all in vain. Will the love prevail or will past betrayal and hurt destroy her future?

Michele is Keandria best friend and works as a stripper at Choppers night club. When Michele meets Jason one night at the club, things soon start to change. Jason starts to catch feelings and decides that if they are going to be official, she has to stop stripping and find another job. Michele doesn’t want to stop stripping, but she doesn’t want to lose Jason either. Michele will have to decide what she loves the most her money or Jason.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Love Me If You Can by Shanice B. is  hot, sexy, and seductive. The writing takes readers deep into the drama high story. This urban romance is intense…it starts off with a woman who deals with her annoying baby daddy that doesn’t know when to quit. She works her butt off, at an adult center so that she can pull off enough money to take care of her and her child. There is plenty of trouble between parents and the threat of child visitation rights.  A woman fighting to provide for her child finds out that things between her parents are just as bad as her own issues. Then there is her friend who also works as a stripper. She too has men issues. Men screwing other women when they already have a woman who wants them. I rooted for the two women as they kicked their men’s butt out to the curb. The future looks bumpy but it might just be worth fighting for…Keandria has a new man in her life helping her with the custody battle and Michele has a man that wants her but she has to quit her stripper job…can these ladies find the happiness they both deserve or will their battles take everything away? Love Me If You Can by Shanice B. is absolutely a must read for all. I couldn’t get enough of these tough female characters and their men issues. Romance is in the air and drama is so intense that it’s addictive like a drug. Overall, I highly recommend this novel to readers everywhere.

 

 

Review: Reign & Chase (Game by the Pound)

 

Synopsis:

Reign is a young up and coming mogul, a salon owner who is busy trying to build an empire. She’s faced tragedy at an early age but always felt she wasn’t told the entire truth about what happened. But still, she bounced back and stayed on top.

Reign met her soul mate Chase at a young age but due to the tragedy she faced, contact was lost until he felt the need to reach out to her. Once he does they see the chemistry was never lost.

Chase has become a property owner who is very well known by the ladies. But once Reign is back in his life, all that seems to be shut down. Reign’s BFF London, couldn’t be happier about her friend’s new relationship and plans to be involved every step of the way. Although London is focused on the new couple, she is trying to keep what she has going on in her life a secret.

Chase and Reign’s romance is a sudden and unexpected one. With trying to juggle a business, enjoy life, dodge haters, check groupies, and make big moves, there is always something or someone in the shadows waiting to shut it all down….

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Reign & Chase by L. Monique is a powerfully deep novel with tons of real life issues. Both Reign and Chase instantly became my new favorite couple. Life tosses crap our way…and these two definitely have experienced it in heavy doses. Their journey is far from over. The beginning of this emotional thrill ride, I got a glimpse into Reign’s younger life style and her backstory. I can only imagine how hard it was for her to lose someone close at that age. The main character Reign puts on a tough face and attitude but she’s really more caring then she lets everyone believe. Then there’s the chemistry of the two main characters that is beyond hot and steamy. I really liked how L. Monique brought the all the characters to life by giving them real flaws and fears. It just shows that even fictional characters are human too. They have to struggle and survive like the rest of us. This novel was my first one that I have read by this talented writer. She brilliantly puts in enough action, emotions, and spice that carried me through until the ending. Suspense and intrigue hang thickly in this well-written plot. I wasn’t sure what secret Reign’s best friend was hiding or the danger that pops out from nowhere…Overall, I highly recommend this urban tale to readers everywhere.

 

Review: I Am No One

 

Synopsis:

A mesmerizing novel about memory, privacy, fear, and what happens when our past catches up with us.

After a decade living in England, Jeremy O’Keefe returns to New York, where he has been hired as a professor of German history at New York University. Though comfortable in his new life, and happy to be near his daughter once again, Jeremy continues to feel the quiet pangs of loneliness. Walking through the city at night, it’s as though he could disappear and no one would even notice.

But soon, Jeremy’s life begins taking strange turns: boxes containing records of his online activity are delivered to his apartment, a young man seems to be following him, and his elderly mother receives anonymous phone calls slandering her son. Why, he wonders, would anyone want to watch him so closely, and, even more upsetting, why would they alert him to the fact that he was being watched?

As Jeremy takes stock of the entanglements that marked his years abroad, he wonders if he has unwittingly committed a crime so serious that he might soon be faced with his own denaturalization. Moving towards a shattering reassessment of what it means to be free in a time of ever more intrusive surveillance, Jeremy is forced to ask himself whether he is ‘no one’, as he believes, or a traitor not just to his country but to everyone around him.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I Am No One by Patrick Flanery  reminds me so much of the Person of Interest shows that I love. Similar to that show, I Am No One, will leave readers in a nail-biting, and the edge of your seat suspense. Readers don’t know the why’s, when, or the how’s but the most important question that keeps readers going is the who. Who would go out to great lengths to make the main character feel hunted down for a reason? The reason is left unknown and the plot comes with enough action to keep readers reading all night long. The main character is a man of mystery within himself. I love a good book that keeps a reader guessing and interested even after they finish the book.

Inside this popular read, I Am No One, takes readers into one particular man’s life and shows that someone is out to get him.  What is puzzling is that even the main character has no idea why, nor who is behind it all. It leaves for a deep thought provoking storm on the main character’s part and will entice readers further into the juicy plot. Someone is following Jeremy O’Keefe, sending anonymous calls to his mother, and leaves him with records…Patrick Flanery has mastered in creating a mystery within a mystery and leaves his readers begging for more. Readers will feel the paranoia and fear kick in as they make their way through this first person point of view read. The danger isn’t far behind…I enjoyed reading this psychological  and political thriller. Overall, I recommend I Am No One to readers everywhere.

Review: Wilde Lake

 

Synopsis:

The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed stand-alone After I’m Gone, I’d Know You Anywhere, and What the Dead Know, challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility, and justice in this evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family.

Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected—and first female—state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard county doesn’t see many homicides.

As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

The more she learns about the case, the more questions arise. What does it mean to be a man or woman of one’s times? Why do we ask our heroes of the past to conform to the present’s standards? Is that fair? Is it right? Propelled into the past, she discovers that the legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. Lu realizes that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn’t want to.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Wild Lake by Laura Lipman is one riveting novel. Readers everywhere will love reading this book. A young girl knew something had happened…but didn’t know exactly what…now, as a grown adult and working on a new case as a state prosecutor, she finds herself whirling backward trying to figure out what really happened back then with her brother and his friends. Readers can feel the doubt, fear, and an unease about everything. Laura Lipman has beautifully written this story in a way that has readers experiencing every moment through the eyes and ears of the main character. Everything the characters feels, thinks, or experiences so can the readers.

Wilde Lake is intriguing from page one and keep readers sucked in until the last page. This was the very first novel that I have read by Laura Lipman. I was happy that I had a chance to read this new title. A political crime thriller that has enough suspense to keep readers interested. The story fluctuates back and forth from the characters past to the present. I love a good story that goes after secrets and digs up the truth. Family is important especially to Lu. She takes care of her father and she knows there more to the story then what her older brother has told everyone. Yet everything he says is the truth…there’s just things he hasn’t said…they make Lu wonder about the past and it’s what, whos and whys.Wild Lake is nothing like what readers think it is, it’s much more then what the title says. Laura Lipman definitely knows how to captivate her audience and keep them reading all night long. I enjoyed reading this new thriller, and I recommend it to readers everywhere.