Category: Fiction

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

Foster Love By Janis Reams Hudson

U.S. Agent Morgan Foster’s six-month assignment in Central America turned into a four-year struggle for his life, running and hiding, trying to get back home to his four children. When he finally makes it, he receives the shocking news that his ex-wife had been pregnant with his fifth child when he’d left the country. He has five children, not four! Even more shocking, his ex was killed in an accident two years ago and his five children were shuffled off to a foster home. They live on a farm. In Oklahoma, of all places. He’d never been to Oklahoma, but he’d done time as a foster kid on a farm. No way is he letting his kids stay in virtual slavery one second longer.

Sarah Collins didn’t know how she would have survived the death of her husband if not for the five wonderful foster children they had taken in months earlier. Unable to have children of their own, she and Gary had loved these kids as if they were their own. Now their real father is here, vowing to take them away!

My Thoughts

My grandmother had a huge collection of Kismet romances. The black covers. I was addicted to them. This is one I read several times and am seriously considering buying the kindle edition to read again. This was my favorite among them. The physical descriptions were so real I could see them. The emotions were realistic. And Lordy…I wanted to be in the book…

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

Thirteen Days of Luck by Lacey Dancer

Although her J. B. Starr fans were eagerly awaiting her next best-selling novel, author Pippa Weldon was staring at pages of her characters stubbornly refusing to cooperate with her storyline. When all else fails, travel was guaranteed to refresh her imagination and teach her capricious characters a lesson.

A quick call her travel agent provides the perfect solution to her problem. A Caribbean cruise. Not just any cruise but one featuring a world renown psychic, Joseph Luck. For years, her imagination has flirted with the gift in her futuristic novels. Not only would meeting Joseph Luck provide an opportunity to extend her research but it was just the thing to break the spell of boredom that had taken the edge from her writing.

On her plane trip to the port of call for the cruise ship, Pippa finds more than psychic information on her mind. Always on the look-out for a new look for her imaginary characters, Pippa finds a fellow passenger intriguing. He was male-model handsome with a walk that warned anyone with the smallest intelligence to tread carefully in his presence. This was a MAN in capital letters, a forceful, decisive individual who reluctantly agreed to her exchanging places with his seatmate for the duration of the flight. Pippa enjoyed her time with a very alpha male who parried her questions with skill and power.

Discovering her very interesting prototype’s name was Joshua Luck sharpened her interest. What were the odds? It would have been so easy to simply ask whether they would be sharing the cruise. Instead, she chose silence. She did so love a mystery.

Joshua has come on the cruise to reconnect with his estranged brother, Joseph. After years spent cutting a wide swath on the path of success, Joshua realized that his high-pressure world has demanded a high personal price. He hadn’t expected Pippa, a silver-haired siren with a laser sharp mind that keeps him balanced precariously on the edge of wringing her neck or kissing her senseless. She’s all wrong for him, definitely not his type. Or is she?

My Thoughts

My grandmother had a huge collection of Kismet romances. The black covers. I was addicted to them. This is one I read several times and am seriously considering buying the kindle edition to read again. The three in the series are tied together. I will likely review the other two in the coming weeks. This was good plot, good story and strong characters.

Sunday Reviews

“I will probably be clutching Flowers in the Attic…on my deathbed.” —Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

Forbidden passions have shaped and haunted the Dollanganger family since their first novel—Flowers in the Attic—debuted forty years ago. Now discover how twisted the family roots truly are, and witness the clan’s origins as a result of one wild and complicated relationship. In this evocative and thrilling tale from New York Times bestselling author V.C. Andrews, see Corrine Dixon as a young girl and discover the fascinating family history of the Dollanganger clan.

Two generations before Corinne Foxworth locked her children in an attic, her grandmother, a gorgeous young girl named Corrine Dixon, is swept away by the charms of rich, sophisticated, and handsome Garland Foxworth. After discovering that she’s pregnant, Garland does what appears to be the honorable thing and marries her in a huge ceremony on the luxurious Foxworth Hall grounds. Both families fervently overlook the pregnancy, happy for a suitable resolution.

Now the mistress of a labyrinthine estate, Corrine discovers that nothing is what is seems. Garland is not the man once captivated by her charms, and she’s increasingly troubled by his infatuation with memories of his departed mother.

Can Corrine survive this strange new life? Or is her fate already sealed?

Explore the origins of the legendary Dollanganger family in this page-turning, gripping gothic thriller.

My Thoughts

okay. I am a part of the group of teenagers who actually read this series and I read it way too young. I am aware that most of the VC Andrews books have been written by ghostwriters. Still this one was not terrible. It didn’t even need as much of a tw. There was a scene with questionable consent, and it involves alcohol. Otherwise it was just a historical romance that was told from her pov. I am doubting the accuracy of the times. she is a bit more forward than most women in that era.

I recommend it with the caveat of this is actually better if you haven’t read the series. The knowledge of the rest of the series made me feel like it was written in a manner to shoehorn in.

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce

Discover the origin story of one of the realm’s most powerful mages in the first book in the Numair Chronicles.

Arram Draper is on the path to becoming one of the realm’s most powerful mages. The youngest student in his class at the Imperial University of Carthak, he has a Gift with unlimited potential for greatness–and for attracting trouble. At his side are his two best friends: Varice, a clever girl with an often-overlooked talent, and Ozorne, the “leftover prince” with secret ambitions. Together, these three friends forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms. And as Ozorne gets closer to the throne and Varice gets closer to Arram’s heart, Arram realizes that one day–soon–he will have to decide where his loyalties truly lie.

In the Numair Chronicles, readers will be rewarded with the never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall. Newcomers will discover an unforgettable fantasy adventure where a kingdom’s future rests on the shoulders of a talented young man with a knack for making vicious enemies.

My Thoughts

Okay this is an author that I almost always love the books in. II enjoyed all the other books she has written for this world but this is the newest series. It lives up to her usual.

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

The Next Always By Nora Roberts

The historic hotel in Boonsboro has endured war and peace, the changing of hands, and even rumored hauntings. Now it’s getting a major face-lift from the Montgomery brothers and their eccentric mother. As the architect in the family, Beckett’s social life consists mostly of talking shop over pizza and beer. But there’s another project he’s got his eye on: the girl he’s been waiting to kiss since he was sixteen.

After losing her husband and returning to her hometown, Clare Brewster soon settles into her life as the mother of three young sons while running the town’s bookstore. Though busy and with little time for romance, Clare is drawn across the street by Beckett’s transformation of the old inn, wanting to take a closer look… at both the building and the man behind it.

With the grand opening inching closer, Beckett is happy to give Clare a private tour – one room at a time, in between blueprint meetings and kindergarten pickups. It’s no first date, but these stolen moments are the beginning of something that could arouse the secret yearning that resides in Clare’s independent heart – and open the door to the extraordinary adventure of what comes next….

My Thoughts

Okay this is an author that I almost always love the books in. I borrowed the kindle edition of this trio from the library and devoured three books in three days between major amounts of sleep.

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: A Lisbeth Salander Novel
By Stieg Larsson

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER The thrilling first book in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series featuring Lisbeth Salander: “Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck investigative journalist, and you have the ingredients of Stieg Larsson’s first novel” (The New York Times). Also known as the Millennium series

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

My Thoughts

I have the first three books in this series. I did not realize there was more or I would have all eight. The characters are crisp and delightful The plot is strong. I really enjoyed all three books I have read so far.

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

Dragons within guarding her own by Balance of Seven publishing

Featuring stories by Celosia Crane, Kimberly Gail, Hayley Green, Kristine Haecker, Shannon McRoberts, Finn O’Malley, Leo Otherland, D. Marie Prokop, Jess Reece, Theda Vallee, Deana Rose Wilson, and Amanda Mills Woodlee. Introduction by Dorothy Tinker. Cover Art by Eben Schumacher.

“I am dragon. I am free. You are mine to protect.”

===

A truth-seeker becomes imbued with the power to tip the scales of justice.

A headstrong privateer tempers her courage in the heart of a violent storm.

A pair of mittens leads to a family history rich with dragons.

Sparks fly when a chronically single pilot finally meets her match.

Enter the world of Dragons Within: a place where woman and dragon are one in the same: reigning strong, fierce, and free. Forging bonds with the world of mankind, these unconquerable beings discover a love for the vulnerable, the fragile, the broken.

A pregnant goddess seeks refuge for her children during war. A telepathic soldier finds the courage to claim her humanity. A dragon in human form uses her gifts to protect abuse victims in need. A girl chases a soldier through a desert wasteland to find her missing brother.

Featuring twelve new and emerging speculative fiction writers, this power-driven book delves deep into the journey from treasure hunter to guardian, mercenary to savior, fire-breather to martyr. Transforming rage into righteousness, the women of Dragons Within claim their people, pledging their lives to…guard their own.

My Thoughts

Some really great stories.

Sunday Reviews

Sunday Reviews

Daughter of Time (The After Cilmeri Series Book 1) by Sarah Woodbury

Time travel to medieval Wales!

When Meg slips through time and into the arms of the last Prince of Wales, she must navigate the shifting allegiances that threaten the very existence of Wales–and create her own history that defies the laws of time. Open the door to a world of princes and castles in the prequel to the After Cilmeri series!

Complete series reading order: Daughter of Time, Footsteps in Time, Winds of Time, Prince of Time, Crossroads in Time, Children of Time, Exiles in Time, Castaways in Time, Ashes of Time, Warden of Time, Guardians of Time, Masters of Time, Outpost in Time, Shades of Time, Champions of Time, Refuge in Time, Unbroken in Time, Outcasts in Time, Hidden in Time, Legacy of Time, Renegades in Time. Also, This Small Corner of Time: The After Cilmeri Series Companion.

My Thoughts

This is a sweet romance. The fun times are all off the page. The entire series was a good read.

Sunday Reviews

Winnie’s Courage (Getting Back to Oz Book 1) by Jess Reece

What if the Wicked Witch were real?

Winifred Jones wakes up barefoot and bruised in a strange dungeon instead of her cozy San Diego apartment, and things just get weirder from there when she stops Dorothy Gale from murdering the Wicked Witch, accidentally releasing a magical tornado trapped inside a golden compass. In the blink of an eye, the three women are torn from the Witch’s castle in Oz and thrust into one fairytale world of Winnie’s childhood after another. Fighting for their lives against man-eating apes, bloodthirsty pirates, and sadistic queens, they share just one common goal: to get back home.

Pick up Getting Back to Oz: Book One Winnie’s Courage today, and join Winnie on her quest as she discovers if she has the courage to return home, or stay lost forever in literary lands both familiar and dangerous..

My Thoughts

This is another series I adore…The author is amazing. Her book Sasorie (Not sure I am spelling that right) was amazing too. This is the first of three. Each is an in depth imagining of Oz and three women there. The adventure of Oz is definitely felt but the character’s are better than what was in the original story. This has Jess Reece’s imagination written all over it. I haven’t read the next two because I couldn’t get them yet. I bought both this weekend past and look forward to letting y’ all know what I think.

Sunday Reviews

A Demon in Crises (The Endless Series Book 2) by Finn O’Malley

Some choices awaken what should have stayed buried.
Ren has spent millennia suppressing the most dangerous parts of himself. Becoming a Synergy demon wasn’t fate—it was a decision. One that bound him to ancient laws and kept what he truly is contained.
But when magic awakens in the Earth Realm, everything changes.
Ash was never supposed to matter.
Now tethered to her in a way he cannot break, Ren is caught between restraint and something far more volatile: attachment.
Fate doesn’t make mistakes. A devastating chain of events is already in motion, forcing Ren to confront a truth he’s spent centuries burying.
Some connections aren’t meant to survive.
This time… saving her could destroy everything.

My Thoughts

I love this series, this author, and am always wanting more. the book kept me hooked until the end just like every single one of Finn O’MALLEY’S books. it left me mad because I was wanting more. The world is amazing as always and the characters were worth reading. this one is just got me begging for the next one.