Sunday 4 May 2014

(ARC) Book Review (328): Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1) - Charlaine Harris


Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1)

Publication: 8th May 2014
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 320
Genre: Paranormal
Age Appropriate: Adult
FIRST IN A NEW TRILOGY

From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and her world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a darker locale—populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it…

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...
My Thoughts.
I admit that this is the first ever Charlaine Harris book that I've ever read, although I do own a considerable amount of books in her Sookie Stackhouse series, lack of time hasn't given me a chance to pick them up so far, so when I was given the chance to review this book I jumped at it the synopsis, having me intrigued from the get go.

Written in multiple point of views, three to be exact, we follow Manfred who has just moved to town, being an online psychic he craves the quiet and unobtrusiveness of living in Midnight, whilst being a close knit town this is a place where nobody inquires about your past or your personal life, which suits the residents to a tea, and allows them to keep their secrets close to their chests.

Next up we have Bobo, the owner of the town's pawnshop Midnight Pawn and landlord of Manfred, Olivia (whom no one seems to know what she does, although she does travel a considerable bit) and Lemuel who only comes out at night.
Bobo like pretty much all of the residents is hiding a secret, could it have something to do with the disappearance of his girlfriend Aubrey, or something from his past that he doesn't want any of his friends knowing.

The final point of view comes from resident witch Fiji, who runs a new-age type store and holds classes once a week, practicing her trade in her spare time, that's when she's not busy crushing on Bobo.

Rounding up the rest of the residents we have, Rev the local Reverend who keeps to himself as doesn't have much of anything to say, Joe and Chuy a couple who run the combined antique and nail salon, Madonna who runs the diner and her husband Teddy who is the town's handyman and finally the Lovells, Dad Shawn and his kids Creek and Connor, who run the Gas'N'Go, the kids aren't allowed out of Shawn's sight, and has the residents questioning if they a part of witness protection.

The story revolves around the discovery of Aubrey's badly decomposed body found while most residents were having a picnic, and discovering who the murderer is, of course top of the suspect list is Bobo, but with an alibi and the fact that she disappeared whilst he was away, the murderer is anybody's guess, and let me just say I could never have picked it in a million years, it was a shocking and an unexpected surprise.

I found that the first three quarters of this book were quite boring, nothing happened and I was finding it hard to stay interested in the story, however the last quarter we had some action and the inevitable reveal of Aubrey's murderer, I'm intrigued enough to continue on with the series and I just hope that it's a lot more action packed than this first book seemed to be.

I give this 3/5 stars.


Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and teenage angst, she began writing plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She switched to novels a few years later, and achieved publication in 1981 with Sweet and Deadly.

After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched the lighthearted Aurora Teagarden books with Real Murders, a Best Novel 1990 nomination for the Agatha Awards. Harris wrote eight books in her series about a Georgia librarian. In 1996, she released the first in the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard, a karate student who makes her living cleaning houses. Shakespeare’s Counselor, the fifth—and final—Lily Bard novel, was printed in fall 2001.

By then, Harris was feeling the call of new territory. Starting with the premise of a young woman with a disability who wants to try inter-species dating, she created The Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series before there was a genre called “urban fantasy.” Telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse works in a bar in the fictional northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each subsequent book follows Sookie through adventures involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series, which ended in 2013, has been released in over thirty languages.

Sookie Stackhouse has proven to be so popular that Alan Ball, creator of the HBO television series Six Feet Under, announced he would undertake the production of a new HBO series based upon the  books  He wrote and directed the pilot episode for that series, True Blood, which premiered in September of 2008.

In October 2005, the first of Harris’s new mystery series about a young woman named Harper Connelly debuted with the release of Grave Sight. Harper has the ability to determine the cause of death of any body. After four novels, this series is on hiatus.

Now Harris is working on a trilogy of graphic novels with Christopher Golden and artist Don Kramer, “Cemetery Girl.” On her own she is writing a new series set in the small town of Midnight, Texas.

Harris has also co-edited a series of very popular anthologies with her friend Toni L.P. Kelner, aka Leigh Perry. The anthologies feature stories with an element of the supernatural, and the submissions come from a rare mixture of mystery and urban fantasy writers.

Professionally, Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the American Crime Writers League, Sisters in Crime, and the International Crime Writers Association. She is a past member of the boards of Sisters in Crime and MWA, and she has served as president of the MWA. She is also a member of Science Fiction Writers of America, Horror Writers Association, and Romance Writers of America, just to make sure she’s covered.

Personally, Harris has been married for many years. She mother of three wonderful children and the grandmother of two. She lives in central Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.



Cover Reveal: Ugly Love - Colleen Hoover


Ugly Love

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.
UGLY LOVE hits bookshelves August 5th. Pre order your copy today!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, Point of Retreat, This Girl, Hopeless, Losing Hope, Maybe Someday, and Finding Cinderella. She lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. Please visit ColleenHoover.com.

Connect with Colleen on Social Media
Twitter: @ColleenHoover
Instagram: @ColleenHoover

Wednesday 30 April 2014

Book Review (327): The Bridesmaids:True Tales Of Love, Envy, Loyalty...And Terrible Dresses - Eimear Lynch


The Bridesmaids: True Tales of Love, Envy, Loyalty . . . and Terrible Dresses

Age Appropriate: 15+
The Bridesmaids was one of those books that hooked me from the synopsis, chances are that at least once in your life you will be asked to be somebody's bridesmaid/maid of honor, if not you then at least somebody that you know, if you are really lucky you won't end up bridesmaid to a bridezilla.

Being asked to be part of a bridal party, to be a part of the happy couple's special day is a privilege, and let's face it you feel special because out of the many number of friends and family, you were one of the chosen few.

I loved reading all the stories in here about people's different experience's, from the good, the bad and the ugly, every tale was interesting and relatable.
Some people found themselves at the beck and call of the bride, some got fired and the age old problem with being a bridesmaid, the dress, you know the one that you would never ever wear again and which you also seem to spend an obscene amount of money on just to wear it that once.

And while most of these stories are anonymously written with only an initial and age of the person, I would have loved some pictures of the hideous dresses, but I can understand why there weren't any, it's a pity though.

Intentional or not I loved that the cover to this book felt like the paper some people use for wedding invitations, it was a nice touch to go along with the pretty design on the front cover.

All in all I really enjoyed this book, with most stories only being a few pages long, it's a quick read, highly recommended, even for those who don't generally read non-fiction, give it a go.

I give this 4/5 stars.


Eimear Lynch is a writer and editor who has worked at Condé Nast Traveler, Town & Country, and Bloomberg Businessweek. A five-time bridesmaid, she lives in Brooklyn.



Monday 28 April 2014

(ARC) Book Review (326): Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy #3) - Wendy Higgins


Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy #3)

Sweet Reckoning is the epic conclusion to the Sweet Trilogy by the wonderfully talented Wendy Higgins.

As sad as I am to say goodbye to this world and it's amazing characters, I was so happy that this series ended on a high note, although not without the sacrifice of characters along the way, but Sweet Reckoning will surely delight all fans and keep everyone happy.

Being the last book in a series it's hard not to give anything away whilst writing this review, because believe me there are things that occur in this book that you'll want to experience yourself without spoilers, everything is wrapped up, there are no unanswered questions left at the end and we get an epilogue that's set six years later that will catch you up on the lives of all of these characters that we've grown to love and will miss, I'm especially talking about the tall, dark and sexy bad boy Kaidan.

For those of you who read the last Lux series book Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout, you will have noticed the use of Anna and Kaidan's names as alias' used by the main characters after the heroine read the book Sweet Evil, well I was overjoyed to see it paid in kind with Anna reading a book featuring a certain sexy alien, it's the things like this that make me love this series even more.

With the inevitable battle looming, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat as we keep our fingers crossed that all ends well for these Nephilim, and that they all get to live their happily ever afters.

This is one of the best final books of a series that I've read, and should be referred as a how to when ending a series, this was perfect and I couldn't have chosen any other way to end this trilogy.

Kudos to Wendy for taking into account what would make the fans happy and not just going for the shock value, all you need is a fantastic story told well and that's what we've been given.

Highly recommended.

I give this 5/5 stars.


After earning a Creative Writing degree from George Mason University and a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford, I taught high school English until becoming a mommy. I've always had a heart for teens, and writing YA stories gives me the opportunity to delve into the ambiguities of those pivotal years before adulthood.
I live in Virginia with my husband, daughter, son and doggie Rue.


(ARC) Book Review (325): The Idea Of Him - Holly Peterson


The Idea of Him: A Novel

The Idea Of Him deals with a woman's marriage and how what she believed was to be a strong and monogamous relationship, was in fact a lie that her husband had her believing.

I understand the reasoning of our heroine marrying her husband Wade a magazine editor who is ten years her senior, reminding her of her beloved deceased Father in so many ways, she was in love with the idea of who he was, not him personally, and it's throughout this book that she finally comes to this realisation, instead of marrying her best-friend James who is her soul-mate and her biggest regret, she certainly made the wrong decision in tying herself to her selfish husband and as this story goes along, we are there as Mary comes to this conclusion.

After previously cheating on her after the birth of their last child, Mary believed Wade when he told her it was out of his system, until one night at a work party at home he disappears into the laundry room with a beautiful woman named Jackie, after discovering that they had slept together previously, the mysterious Jackie talks Mary into helping her investigate a financial scam which Wade, her boss Murray and Max a criminal who has just been released from prison for fraud are taking part in.

Of course we also witness the crumble and fall of Mary and Wade's marriage, as his long list of infidelity comes to light, as well as his gambling and inability to think or anybody but himself.

While this was an interesting look inside a marriage that was pretty much doomed from the get go, it didn't hold my attention as much as I'd hoped it would, the premise was intriguing but I found myself disliking a vast amount of the characters in this book, and I just didn't care what happened to them one way or another.

I did enjoy the little revelation at the end though, I thought that was a nice touch, just not enough to raise my rating that little bit higher, recommended for fans of contemporary women's fiction, if marriage's in turmoil are your thing then check this out.

I give this 3/5 stars.


ABOUT HOLLY

Holly Peterson is the author of The Idea of Him and the New York Times bestseller The Manny. She was a Contributing Editor for Newsweek, an Editor-at-Large for Talk magazine and an Emmy Award–winning Producer for ABC News, where she spent more than a decade covering global politics. Her writing has been published in the New York Times,  Newsweek,Talk, The Daily Beast, VogueHarper’s Bazaar, and numerous other publications.
Connect with Holly
    
  

Saturday 26 April 2014

Book Review (324): Torn (Connections #2) - Kim Karr


Torn (Connections #2)

by 
 AmazonBarnes & NobleiTunesKobo.
Torn is the second book in the Connections series by Kim Karr.

Continuing on from the ending of the first book and the shocking twist we were left with, we catch up with Dahlia and River as they receive the life-changing news that will rock their new-found relationship and have them both fighting to keep alive the new life they've created together.

It's hard to write a review when any mention of the storyline may unintentionally destroy any potential you would have to be left flabbergasted, and trust me it's a shocker, something you would never in a million years guess.

The shocking return of a characters left a cliffhanger that would have left me biting my nails down to the quick, if I didn't have the second book on hand to go on with straight away.

And while I despised the character through the revelations of diary entries, there was nothing to endear me to them whatsoever, and I had no empathy for them or what happened with the character.

But as per the last book I adored River, from Dahlia's and his first interaction, to their meeting up again years later, the start of their time as a couple and the feeling and realisation that they are soul-mates, made their romance such a great story to read about.

Not without their ups and downs, but with a strong bond that will help them deal with this revelation and will only make them stronger as a couple.

Kim has written a story just as fantastic, exciting and as unputdownable as the first book, and I'm eager and anxiously awaiting to read the third book which features River's older brother Xander as the lead character.

A wonderfully written series that will please any and all fans of the new adult contemporary romance genre.

Highly recommended.

I give this 4/5 stars.


I live in Florida with my husband and four kids. I've always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, I wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. I went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise my family. I currently work part-time with my husband and full-time embracing one of my biggest passions—writing.

I wear a lot of hats! Writer, book-lover, wife, soccer-mom, taxi driver, and the all around go-to person of the family. However, I always find time to read. One of my favorite family outings use to be taking my kids to the bookstore or the library. Today, my oldest child is in college and my twins are juniors so they no longer go with me on these outings. And although I don't need to go to the actual store anymore because I have the greatest device ever invented—a Kindle, I still do. There's nothing like a paperback. So now my four year old and I make dates out of going to the bookstore--it's time I love and cherish.

I like to believe in soulmates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. I love to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart. 

Connected was my debut novel and is currently available on AmazonBarnes & Noble , iTunes and Kobo.

Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Pinterest 

Sunday 20 April 2014

(ARC) Book Review (323): Undone (Country Roads #1) - Shannon Richard


Undone (Country Roads #1)

Publication: 25th February 2014
Publisher: Forever
Pages: 416
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Appropriate: Adult
Buy It: 




Things Paige Morrison will never understand about Mirabelle, Florida:

Why wearing red shoes makes a girl a harlot
Why a shop would ever sell something called "buck urine"
Why everywhere she goes, she runs into sexy-and infuriating-Brendan King

After losing her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend, Paige has no choice but to leave Philadelphia and move in with her retired parents. For an artsy outsider like Paige, finding her place in the tightly knit town isn't easy-until she meets Brendan, the hot mechanic who's interested in much more than Paige's car. In no time at all, Brendan helps Paige find a new job, new friends, and a happiness she wasn't sure she'd ever feel again. With Brendan by her side, Paige finally feels like she can call Mirabelle home. But when a new bombshell drops, will the couple survive, or will their love come undone?
My Thoughts.
Undone is the first novel from the all new Country Roads series by debut author Shannon Richard.

From the first page I was hooked, absorbed in the story of Paige, who after a disastrous streak of bad luck which included: losing her job, her roommate, her apartment and her boyfriend (all in that order), has moved to Mirabelle Florida to live with her parents while she looks for a job, but quite a few people have been less than friendly since her arrival, the town is full of judgemental gossipmongers who don't agree with the way Paige dresses or acts, referring to her as easy because of the way she looks, her bad luck continues with each and every job interview, and after another rejection her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere without a car, person or building to be seen, enter sexy and single mechanic Brendan, who has been the subject of the rumor mill over the years, sympathetic to her troubles he finds her a job and welcomes her into his group of friends it's not long before these two start a relationship together.

But the road to happily ever after is never a smooth one, and there will be things along the way that they'll have to deal with together, but will a secret destroy their happiness altogether or will they find a way to overcome this devastating secret that was kept under the best intentions?

Once I picked this book up it was so hard to put it back down again, Shannon's writing has a way of drawing you in and making you lose track of time, I've fallen in love with this series and I can't wait for the next books in the series to be released.

For those of you who love a fun, entertaining and quick read then be sure to pick this book up.

I give this 4/5 stars.


All About Shannon

Shannon Richard grew up in the Panhandle of Florida as the baby sister of two overly protective but loving brothers. She was raised by a more than somewhat eccentric mother, a self-proclaimed vocabularist who showed her how to get lost in a book, and a father who passed on his love for coffee and really loud music. She graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s in English literature and still lives in Tallahassee, where she battles everyday life with writing, reading, and a rant every once in a while. Okay, so the rants might happen on a regular basis. She’s still waiting for her Southern, scruffy Mr. Darcy, and in the meantime writes love stories to indulge her overactive imagination. Oh, and she’s a pretty big fan of the whimsy.

Website+Facebook+Twitter+Goodreads