Jessica

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

GOOD JOB, MR. STRUMP! YOUR WORDS HAVE PAINTED A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE IN MY HEAD. I did not expect to actually enjoy this book but it sucked me in and soon I felt like I was right there beside the characters experiencing their adventures along side them. I am positive Vreeland will stay alive in my mind for quite sometime. This book could easily become the next hit thing. I would not be surprised if I one day see an animated Anton and Titi on television and little plastic replicas of them in the toy department.

At summer camp Anton runs off into the woods after the other kids play a horrible prank on him and make fun of because of his pointy ears. He falls into a hole in the ground and finds himself in a place called Vreeland. He finds that many things here are the same as home only on a much larger scale, a cherry tomato that won't even fit through the front door. He encounters many different types of people, some have wings and pointy ears, others are short and as round as they are tall, there are even some that have fins and live in the water (mermaids but that's not what they are called). He is instantly drawn to a fairy like girl name Titi and soon finds himself falling in love with her. Anton is believed to be the Chosen One who is prophesied to save the Queen of Peace from the evil Lord of the Weets.

I recommend this book to people of all ages who enjoyed books such as Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan etc.

I seriously wish I could give half stars. 3 1/2

I liked this, especially the oddball main character, Codi. She lives in a world where everything is cookie cutter, no differences amongst the people, nothing exciting... then there is some excitement in the form of a child in a childless village. Codi learns there is more out there, and she has the power of choice, BIG choice.

I wish this were a bit longer. There was so much that could have been expanded, if done right this could be a great story.

This is an inrteresting take on reincarnation and karma. I don't know much about Hinduism. The author says that it isn't really a religion, and the points he brings up are valid. His opinions on Christianity may offend some, I advise to take if you have a strong belief in Christianity and are easily upset when your beliefs are challenged.

I really enjoyed this. I often wonder what is in store for people after they have left this life. Sherman's ideas on this are another possibility. Did this book change my beliefs on anything? No, but it did make me more aware of certain ideals.

A friend of mine just started reading my copy. He is probably more qualified to write a review on this book from a religious standpoint. I will link to his review once he has posted it.

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

SHOULD BE TITLED “JOURNEY, OF TYPOS AND OTHER BULLSHIT.”

A big, fat DNF for this one. The blurb alone should have warned me, but I figured I would give it a shot. One star for the halfway decent cover.

 

Blurb (Bold areas are punctuation mistakes I noticed. There may be more.):

 

What would you do if you wanted a normal life and another one was thrust into your hands? 

What would you do if you had attained success and relative (if not complete) happiness and you were pushed onto a path that clearly designated it as ‘no return'? 

What would you do if he, the man of your dreams walked into your life and you knew, absolutely knew, that one day he would leave because he was from another realm with secrets you couldn't discern. Would you seize the moment? 

Riley Doogan decided to seize the moment, and it cost her all the normalcy she had ever hoped to have in her life and that life was now fraught with terror. 

Part one of Riley's journey takes us on waves of passion and exploding tides of adventure, just the kind she had never wanted to have. She had wanted the ‘white picket fence' the dog, the children and a good, loving man. What she got was bloody hell and a passion she had never thought even possible! 

The title of this book gave me so much hope that I really thought I would like this, but it didn't work for me at all. I imagined a story where we got to read about a girl who traveled from story to story trying to save the world from some evil trying to rid the world of its classic literature; I expected to fall into a rabbit hole of stories .What I got was a confusing story with poor character development, writing that slowly lost its luster as the story progressed, and a blah setting. The only reason for the 2 stars is because the plot had so much potential. I truly hope that in the future this gets a rewrite to address the problems.

This started out with an orphan girl going to an academy. When I first started reading about the academy I got very excited. The buildings are named after famous authors–Lovecraft, Koontz, Poe,
etc. It sounded like the beginning of wonderfulness. I kept waiting for “magic” to happen, but it never did.

I have a dislike for the main character. At times she was shallow, then she would seem too old, too dark, or too nice. She was never consistent.

I think this book would have been better if it had been written from a different perspective. This is first person and suffers horribly from what I call the “I, I, I Syndrome.”

Recommendation: Maybe some will like this better than I did, but for me it is just a nope.

This was not a long book, but a heavy story. In this the author has created not only a story, but also what I hope is an eye opening experience to readers. I know it was to me. We delve into the laws surrounding bdsm type relationships. Let me tell you, some of them completely take away ones rights to personal preference. Some of it is still bouncing around in my head while I try to digest it all.

The story is bridged nicely with the first book, The Companion, also a great book that gives reader a look into a realistic bdsm relationship, not just whips, chains, and orgasms. The first book focused mainly on the submissive side of the relationship, this one follows a dominant new to The Scene (what the bdsm community refers to itself as). The main character is in a normal everyday relationship, but wants to understand how her friend is happy in a bdsm relationship. Well, she gets schooled. There are bumps along the way.

This is not hard core kink. Yes, there is some ugly bumping, but it's not the main focus. There is a lot of understanding to be gained from reading this. Some of this may give you uncomfortable feelings, and push you to really open your mind. I took a step back about halfway through the book to really survey my own marriage. In doing so, I realized that while I may not be a player in The Scene, but there is a dominant role, and a submissive role that both my husband and I play. Yes, that role bounces back and forth sometimes, but it's there.

The writing is top notch, but that doesn't surprise me when it come to this author, she has successfully written in this genre, and science fiction as well. It is obvious that this is written by someone well studied in the culture, it shows in neon lights. 

This is high on my list of book recommendations. Especially to anyone curious about what it really is like to be in this type of relatiknship, for anyone wanting a little more understanding. 

This was good. It is YA dystopian, which is what it seems like so much YA is these days. Does it stand out from the rest? In ways... Yes.

It is set in space. The teen population is very important, they are believed to get be the generation to take them all home. They are on a moon, a prison for those who were not able to meet their obligations financially.

This follows a Theo, a boy with the gift to gab with the machines. In a community where survival is so reliant on these machines, it is a wonderful gift. He does seem to get himself into some typical teenage boy situations through bad judgement. We also have a young flying prodigy, Selena. She is a very sincere and thoughtful character. I liked them both very much. These two will be easy for some teens to relate to. One is a hacker who greaty underestimates himself, the other has a not so wonderful home life, she throws herself into her studies. There are other characters too who are equally unique, but these two are the main focus. They are all well developed.

Some of these scenes in this were very vividly written. At times I felt like I was in the movie The Matrix, when they are pulled into the “real” world. The action scenes were at times difficult to follow, but it all tied together nicely.

I hope this series gets the recognition it deserves, it truly is a bit different from all the other Hunger Games/Divergent clones. This is told from a male point of view, something that is increasingly becoming less common. Rather than having the “hero” we have a group of heroes.

There are two books in this series already published, a third will join the other in the end of June this year. I will definitely be continuing this series, as will my middle child who is currently engrossed in the story. She is very much crushing on the main character... LOL. You should see the look on her face as I type that sentence.

I received a copy from Netgalley for review purposes.

This has a decent story line. The beginning doesn't grab your attention though. With a bit more polishing this could be very good. The writing is a bit simplistic and the flow is not there.

Not as good as her tempest rising series, but I liked it.

Quick read. I enjoyed the book. The author has great potential. Hottie on cover has great pecks.

Warning: May cause carpal tunnel syndrome. This is steamy!

Great for fans of Black Dagger Brotherhood, Lords of the Underworld, Dark Hunters, or Immortals After Dark.

Setta Jay introduces us to a world filled with immortals, demons, hell hounds, dragons, demi-gods/goddesses, shifters, and more. This was confusing to follow, at first. The included glossary was well used and greatly appreciated. This is a standalone novel featuring a M/F couple.

Ebook provided by Netgalley in exchange for honest review.

While I like the designs and crafts focused on in this book. I feel some entries are just the same as others with different fabric or different print. Same basic idea used over and over. Some sections are very simple, like using stamps... and a lot of these selections use stamps.

The directions are easy to follow. The picures are colorful and attractive. It is a pretty hefty book at about 192 pages and the pages themselves are made of a sturdy paper with a pink color making it easy on the eyes (I have found recently that bright white with black lettering really strains my eyes).

For someone who is a beginner at wanting to learn how to create hand stamped pattern printed fabric this may be useful, but I feel there are better selections out there. All in all I see this as possibly being useful to someone, but never would I pay the stamped on the back price of US $22.00/$29.00 CAN. The Kindle version as of now is listed at $15.99, too much.

I wouldn't say I dislike this, but I have a difficult time seeing how to justly the purchase price for the content.

Review copy from Blogging for Books.

So... Hmm, where to start? This one was okay. I have read books by this author that I really liked, then some that I kept waiting for the action to start. This one happened to fall in the second category.

i like the idea. The way the story is it is very dependent on dialogue to keep things going, and sex too. The dialogue to me would have been okay for a story where it wasn't the only thing keeping the story going, but here I feel it needed to be more complex and consistent to the characters. It starts with a man vamp and a human woman kidnapped and trapped together... Oh and they're naked too. No clothes, no sheets, and only a narrow window in which to gauge time and days past. There is starving evamp, and tainted girl. Tainted girl could mean bad bad things for vamp should he lose his control and feed on her heroine tainted energy. Yes, it is one of those, there's lots of cheesy goin' on here.

I feel the the characters fell a bit flat. They didn't seem real, they seemed cookie cutter and convenient to me. I wanted more layers. The woman kinda got on my nerves. The male was mean at times and was forgiven too easily making the woman seem desperate.

i do so like the idea of energy vamps. I like the idea of their history but wish the topic was more explored and more detailed.

book provided by netgalley

Wereleper WOW! I WANT MORE!  (Free on  Amazon)
 
This book completely took me by surprise, ILOVED IT! I had never heard of this author before and accidentally stumbled across this while looking for a book by my favorite author (J R Ward). Well I ended up completely devouring this book and have only read about 20 or so pages of the other. That is how good this book is! As soon as I finish writing this I am going to grab the second installment in this series.
 
This book is set in a world were the human population is aware of the were (shifter) population and usually avoid each other as much as possible. MacKenzie is a mutant, meaning she doesn't fully shift, and is considered a freak by the were community. She has been living in the human society successfully blending in with them and being unnoticed. After years of hiding she has taught herself to not become attatched to people and basically turn her emotions off. She knows she is incapable of love.  

The world Phillip Reeve has created is AWESOME. Not since the Potter books has a book held my interest as well as this one did. I was completely surprised by how much i love this book. I have hopes that there will be a book two. It is a standalone, but there is so much possibility with the way this ended.

This book is set in the future and follows a young, poverish thief named Zen. Zen is a railhead and lives to ride in these trains that run from portal to portal around the universe were society has settled (kinda like gojng down a pipe in Super Mario Bros video games). We have trains that think on there own, an android designed to be humanlike (Raven) , groups of insects hive together that form a sort of very intellegent creature, and so much more.

This book starts out great and doesn't let up until the end. I love the relationship between Zen and Raven. I love the trains, I love them alot. It is young adult, but that didn't stop me from loving this at 33 years of age.

I recommend this to anyone who likes sci/fi or fantasylooking to lose themselves in an easy to read book. This is easily in my top ten books of all time.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ebook for review purposes.

Another peak onto Setta Jay's dirty mind! Keep extra panties with in arms reach. This is hot.

Thank you netgalley for providing the ebook.

I don't even know how to rate this. This author can write beautifully, but there isn't enough balance to action, romance, dialogue, everything. Way too much dialogue. And every bit of it seemed to be a some sort of witty debate.

There were characters who were written to be hated, and hate them I did. I also saw another side to them though that made me almost feel for them and understand why they were the way they were.

This is is way too long. When I saw the page count I was expecting some major world building, a lot of plot, but no. There was only a girl who was messed up by the death of her mother who felt she needed to set out and save the world to right that wrong, she seemed to think she was a hero though. In the beginning I thought this would be a evil vs good, in way it was, but it was more about blending the two and seeing good and evil in all.

So so I would call this monster romance, but not the banging Bigfoot kind.

i feel I should add that this is very disturbing. I almost hate this book, but I don't. I don't know what I think of this. I enjoyed hating almost everything about it?!

My Thoughts:


This is the second installment in the Jackdaw Hammond series by Victoria Alexander. In this book there are two different stories being told at once. One is set in the present time following a Jack.


This was slightly confusing. Every other chapter is in a different time setting. There are a lot of characters to follow. The haracter development wasn't very strong so it was easy to forget who everyone was. 


Present day, you have one girl, Jack, who was saved from death by magic struggling to understand what she has become as a result. Another, Sadie, fighting for her life. Both girls have some weird abilities, which, in my opinion, is really the only thing that saved the book. 


The parts set in the past were boring and gloomy. I really think these parts of the book should have been trimmed down because they seemed to drag on forever. Actually the whole book could have been trimmed down, and would have been much more enjoyable if it had been.


To be honest, this book was all over the place, and slow moving. I am still confused about things, and not because of the way it ended in a cliffhanger. I didn't read the first book, but I don't think it would have made a big difference. I am a huge fan of books from this genre, but this one was just blah. I really wanted to like this. I was excited after reading the synopsis and had seen reviews of this book stating that it would be okay to read it as a standalone.


Also, there is a rather descriptive sexual assault scene. If those things bother you, stay away. The incident is brought up over and over.


Excerpt:


“Borrowed timers are always skinny.” Jack thought back to the moment when she had augmented her life - preserving magic with a mouth full of fresh blood. It had infused her with energy, enough to last three months. For a moment, the craving for Felix''s warm arm, the cut skin against her tongue, the slow pulsing of salt into her mouth, overwhelmed her.


About the Author: 

REBECCA ALEXANDER is the author of The Secrets of Life and Death. She has worked in psychology and education, and has an MA in Creative Writing. She lives with her husband on the coast of England.

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00R04MD7W/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1446229916&sr=8-1



I recieved a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

THIS COMES OUT TOMORROW: DECEMBER 1, 2015!

Oh... I am still in IAD coma... I love this series! I was so disappointed by Cole's choice to feature two newbie characters. Then I read this. THIS IS A CONTENDER FOR MY FAVORITE OF THIS SERIES! Actually it's a toss up between this and Shadow's Claim, which was also a book I didn't think was going to be as good as the other books of this series.

Jo, the female lead, has some wickedly amazing powers. We haven't seen a character of her species <–plural! She's a hybrid, and as much as I want to tell, I won't, it would ruin the surprise. She has no knowledge of the Lore and has only recently come to realize that she isnt the only superpowered being in existence. Before she finds out what her origins are, she thinks of herself as a superhero. She uses her abilities to remove undesirable humans from her territory.

Rune (or Ruin, as Jo likes torment him by calling him that) is an insatiable horn dog who munipulates females by giving them the rife of their life. To him sex is just a tool that he utilizes. He is old as dirt, handsome to a fault, and extremely sure of his abilities both in the bedroom and on the battlefield. He is known as Rune the Baneblood. He is half Fey, half demon. His dark fey blood is black and deadly, as is his kiss.

The two of these characters have amazing chemistry, mind blowing sex, and annoy the shit out of each other. It is interesting to watch their relationship develope.

Phew... this was hot! Definitely a panty soaker. In every book, Cole's ability to write a hot ad hell sex scene and still keep it from turning to plain pornographically gets better and better. This woman could write an obituary and I would wait in line for days to get my hands on a copy of it.

I really hope that these characters are including in future books. I love this book so much that I just preordered a physical copy today from despite the fact that I just read the book.

It felt like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one when I found out that I had been approved to recieve and ARC of this book through Netgalley. Best nonbirthday/nonchristmas gift ever!

My Thoughts: 

This is the best book I have read this year. This book is amazing. I am in love with every part of it. I NEED the next installment NOW! There is no way I will ever forget the ending of this book. I will now be stalking this author's Web page eagerly waiting for news on the next book. 

Dear Author,

Get to writing now! Please. 

Sincerely,

FANGIRL

I really expected the amount of time i spent reading about Cimmerian's Curio Emporium to be more lengthy. Instead, at only 10% into the book, i was whisked into Iscaeld, the cold land inside a snow globe that the main female character had bought a the very beginning of the book. The authentic set a steady pace from the beginning and dove right into the adventure. I love a story that flows nicely and doesn't drag on. On every page something new and amazing happened.

The world that this is set in is rather unique. Iscaeld is a cold place ran by a strict king. The king rules with an iron fists. In this land there are many people with unique and extraordinary ablities. The are mythical beings. This world is beatifully described and as I read the place became real in my mind. Again, perfect.

This is exactly what I expect and want from a fantasy book. A perfect book, for me anyways, needs to be properly portione, and this is.. What I mean by that is that an author focuses too much on one subject and it becomes repetitive and annoying. One scoop action, one scoop world building, one scoop action, then blend.

As for the romance. Yes, we have a budding romance between Sondrine and Shán, but this is more fantasy/adventure than fantasy/romance. I would describe this as Frozenmeets The Lord of the Rings. I don't now what book two will contain, but there were adult situations, not graphic sex, just situations. An example is a scene where the king tries to force himself on Sondrine after she tries to avoid her fate of marrying him.

The Characters: 

I have never said this about any other book before, the characters are PERFECT. I have feelings of dislike and almost hatred towards the viilians, and will forever cheer for my team of good guys. 

Sondrine is an elementalist who puts me in mind of Elsa from Frozen, but she can work with more than just ice. She is young, I think 18 or 19. Her character is amazing. She acts age and she is constantly learning from mistakes, experiences, and feelings. She is a very curious person and so eager to shape her life the way she wants. Her aunt has made the decision that she will marry a man who is just blah. He has a weird obsession with teeth, talks to her breasts instead of her face, and has an unhealthy love for food, his physique shows this obsession. To avoid this marriage, Sondrine decides to run away, but instead of gaining freedom she winds up stuck in a world where a king has basically claimed for his own. There is an Immortal queen who has vengeance against the king and it is believed that Sondrine is the only one who has the power to conquer it's queen.

Shán is a warrior for the king. He pissed the immortal queen off and she wants his head in exchange for what he did. He rescues Sondrine from the freezing wilderness, and out of self preservation, he hands her over to the king. He had no clue how bad it was going to be for her once she got there. He is witty, confident, humorous, and is very popular with the ladies. I like his character and feel that there is much more to him than we know as of now.

There are also some magical and mythical characters in the mix that play a huge role in the story; sylphs, alchemists, monstrous beasts that I can't remember what we're called (kindle battery dead), and more.

Excerpt:

Shán says to Zhang the Elder, “If you can stay with Lark for a moment, I will help Sondrine get cleaned up.”The old alchemist takes my place on the bed, and with his pipe smoke, he creates an incredible spectacle of jungle trees, swinging vines, and wild animals of every sort. When Lark seems thoroughly engrossed and distracted, Shán escorts meme into the culinary. The pagoda is a mass graveyard of glass. One of the rafter has detached itself from the ceiling and hangs unsteadily, like a half-assed evergreen ready to fall with one more good shake.

Recommendation: 

I recommend this to EVERYONE! Especially if you are in the mood for epic fantasy. Honestly, this is one of my all time favorite books. Definitely my favorite of this year. This is fantasy done right. 

I recieved a copy of this book from Story Cartel in exchange for an honest review.

I HATE GIVING ONE STAR REVIEWS.

This book, like so many others by Mac Flynn, started out great then quickly let me down. Gave up about 10 pages before it was finished. Lost all interest and didn't give two shits about what happened to any of the characters. If this wouldn't have been on my 500 dollar galaxy tab s I would have smashed it off the wall. Let me add, that I was in a wonderful mood before reading this..now, not so good. Thank you Miss Kate for recommending this work of crap to me. You're still my best friend though...lol.

Be warned, this is intended for a mature audience.

This is a collection of short graphic novels. These are dark and twisted stories. An artist who paints with human blood, murder, aliens and drugs, and more. There is bloody scenes, wicked graphics, and great dialog in these. I enjoyed over 85% of the stories in this.

I definitely found a couple of authors, illustrators, and characters to follow.

This series is available for Kindle unlimited users.

This is an amazing series geared toward middle grade readers and anyone who loves a tame fantasy story that doesn't feel too heavy.

There are many qualities in the books of the series. There is magic, fantasy lands, a big unusual manor to explorem, and much more. The characters a beautifully written, they display great amounts of courage, intelligence, and compasion. Each book can be read without too much confusion without having read the previous installments, but I recommend reading them in order because there are so many things that each book offers.

This author is very talented. He can really weave a story. The world he created is unique and beautifully set up. There are no plot holes, or confusing moments for the reader. I found little to no grammatical errors. The story flowed smoothly and kept my interest through it's entirety. I hope this author has more to come in the future. He has definitely snagged my interest and I now declare my fangirl status as extreme.

My favorite character in this series was the gigantic white tiger named Rune. He is an amazing beast and loyal friend to Peter, the main character. As a child I know I would have wanted a Rune of my own.

Thank you to the author for allowing me the chance to win this in a Goodreads giveaway. I am so happy that I was one of the ones chosen to recieve both the second and third book in this series.

Like I said about the first book, this is great for Harry Potter and Percy Jackson fans.

I love this series so far. The author tells a wonderful story. The charters are wonderful and we'll thought out, and I genuinely cared for each and everyone of them. This is a lovely book, and a great example of perfect world building.

I have book three and will review not only each book, but the series as a whole when I am finished.

I won this book on goodreads.

The scene- what members of BDSM community their group

D/s- Dominant/submissive

The Companion tells us the story of Susan, a newbie to the lifestyle, and Mark, a long time participant in the BDSM lifestyle. Their journey to happiness isn't easy. They both have demons in their closet. This is part of a three part series, it can be read as a standalone novel.

Susan is unhappy with her life. She has no self respect and lets people use her. She has let it go on for so long that she no longer knows herself. She knows things must change, but she has no clue where to start. She is introduced to ‘the scene' by an encounter at a bar. She is instantly curious and drawn to the lifestyle.

Mark has been a member of the BDSM community for quite a while. Has a built a reputation for being a well respected member of the community. He has recently lost his log term submissive partner. He is reluctant to put himself back into the position where he could have to relive the grief he suffered after the loss he suffered. A friend calls him to let him know that a newbie member to the scene is in need of a Dominant partner. He becomes curious and decides to meet the woman.

When Susan gets her first taste of what life with Mark will be like she is unsure she has made the right decision. She is now, while in Mark's presence, referred by just a single letter, L. She knows that Mark only wants her to do what is best for her, but finds herself not following his rules and hiding things from him. Her old life falls apart and she finds herself in a situation she has never faced. She knows that her way out is to allow Mark to take full control.

There is so much I want to talk about but don't want to spoil parts of the book for future readers. This took me to places I was uncomfortable with, but my vanilla eyes are no longer. So many author's have taken BDSM lifestyle and turned it into a fantasy land of torture and orgasms. It is far more than that. People involved in this lifestyle can range from the curious one timers, or they can make it a complete lifestyle choice.I am curious to see where the author will take this series. The writing itself was top notch. I didn't notice any grammatical mistakes. The story flowed smoothly and at a moderate pace. I like this author's writing. I have learned so much from this book.

Common misconception concerning BDSM:
-It is all about pain. WRONG! After reading this book the words I would use are trust, power, and control.

-The male is always the dominant partner in a heterosexual relationship. WRONG! In this book we meet a couple where the female is dominant.

-Only uneducated women participate in the BDSM scene. WRONG! In general, women who participate in this lifestyle tend to have higher education. I believe the stress that comes with life after a higher education is part of what is enticing about “scene”. To enter a controlled relationship where this isn't constant power struggle, be it taking complete control or letting go of control, leaves so much less to worry about.

Quotes:
“What! You don't want to be becoming no slave, girl, you can trust me on that.!” Kate, L's friend (Kate's reaction when L tells her of her interest in BDSM)

“Our relationship is based on me say, you do. If we get to know each other before we start, then you'll know my buttons. If you know those you can undermine me and that won't help us one bit. The goal here is for you to lose control and trust me to guide you. If you can work me from behind the scenes, then what does that do to my authority.”Mark (Mark and Susan's first meeting)

“Master; if it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have a life that was worth living.” -L (after three months of giving control to Mark)

If you read this book, don't go into this expecting hardcore kink. This is tame portrayal of a real D/s relationship. I recommend this to readers who are curious about what BDSM is really like. I also recommend this to people who think 50 Shades is a horrible portrayal of the lifestyle.