Review of Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader

Since the age of ten, Mia has rebelled against the iron fist of a fundamentalist preacher who lured her mother away to join a fanatical family of followers. At "Edenton," a supposed Garden of Eden deep in the South American jungle, everyone follows the reverend's strict and arbitrary rules--even about whom they can marry. Mia dreams of slipping away from the armed guards who keep the faithful in and the curious out. When the rebellious Gabe, a new boy, arrives with his family, Mia sees her chance to escape and to free her family. But the scandalous secrets the two discover beyond the compound's facade are more shocking than anything they imagined. While Gabe has his own terrible secrets, he and Mia bond together, more than friend and freedom fighters. But there's no time to think about love as they race against time to stop the reverend's paranoid plan to free his flock--but not himself--from this corrupt world. Can two kids crush a criminal mastermind? And who will die in the fight to save the ones they love from a madman whose only concern is his own secrets?



REVIEW

Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader is a very true to life book that tells the story of Mia and the harrowing ordeal she endures after escaping from the South American religious sect in which she lives. Mia is such an easy character to like because of how strong she is despite everything that happens throughout the book. I found it easy to identify with the difficult relationship Mia and her mother have. The scenes that take place at the prayer circle are truly terrifying. I could not put this book down once I began reading it. The author Elisa Nader is an amazingly talented writer who tackles this particular subject with a wonderful cast of characters and a storyline that is unlike anything else I have read recently.

Review of Lady Northam's Wicked Surrender by Vivienne Westlake

A midnight encounter between two estranged lovers rekindles a passion beyond their wildest dreams...

Rowena, Countess of Northam, is surprised to find her former suitor has returned from India and is on his way to the very house where she is staying. When he appears in her room late at night, she can only believe it is a dream. Her fantasy soon becomes reality when Simon makes every effort to seduce her.

Despite his six year absence, and the fact that Rowena married his best friend, Simon is determined to have her back now that she is a widow. It soon becomes clear that while her body craves his affections, she doesn't trust him enough to give her heart. Can Simon forget her past betrayal and convince her to surrender to the greatest love they’ve ever known?

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REVIEW

This is the first book by Vivienne Westlake that I have read. From the beginning I was rooting for Rowena and Simon. There are some scenes that should only be read by adults age 18+. The scene in the bedroom was very steamy and sexy. The chemistry between Rowena and Simon was so genuine and I was pleased with how the author ended this story. I definitely plan on reading more books by Vivienne Westlake in the future.

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Review of Black Bones by E.E. Richardson

Tony Kim works in a magic shop. Not the sort that sells card tricks. his is real magic. Something's going on. There's a demon skull. An evil cult. A blood moon rising. A werewolf with attitude. Can
Tony find out what's happening? And stop it?


REVIEW

Black Bones is a novella that I read fairly quickly. The character of Tony Kim was perfect as the reluctant hero of this story. Black Bones packs tons of thrills and moments that will please anyone who enjoys a well written paranormal novella with a fresh and exciting premise.

Review of To Have and To Hold by Mackenzie Lucas

Sometimes what you see is not what you get . . .

American-born heiress Cate Cooper would never have believed her sexy, stalwart English husband Grayson could be a monster of epic proportions until he shifts into a fire-breathing dragon right in front of her eyes. After several near-miss encounters with the dragon who almost kills her, Cate traps the beast using her own magickal skills as a spellcaster and an enchanted chatelaine left to her by her grandparents. Her husband has one year to battle the dragon within before she gives up on him for good. Too bad her besieged heart doesn’t agree this is the best plan of action. Cate embarks on a journey of discovery where she must learn that sometimes what you see is not what you get and monsters come in far worse forms than fire-breathing dragons.

During the year Grayson Cooper is held captive, he fights for his life and his marriage while his best friend and legal partner, Michael James, moves in on his wife. According to the world, Grayson disappeared without a trace a year before, along with millions of dollars. Only Grayson and Cate know the truth of where he’s really been and the battle he’s waging. Grayson must earn back the love of his wife and win her trust again before a murderer who’s stalking her steals away everything he’s ever lived for and any hope they’ve ever had for a happy future together.

This is a sexy paranormal romance where rekindling passion takes on a whole new meaning.

REVIEW

When I began reading To Have and To Hold I was pleasantly surprised with the mix of the paranormal and a healthy dose of mystery. The character of Michael James was the perfect villain to the hero Grayson. The love that Cate and Grayson poured from the pages and I was quickly hooked. Anyone who decides to read this novella will not be disappointed. Get ready for loads of surprises and plenty of intrigue. This novella was packed with thrills and intrigue that should be on the to-be read list of all PNR fans.

Review of Touch Me by Tamara Hogan

An Underbelly Chronicles Novella

Mere hours after human technology whiz Bailey Brown learns the truth about her Sebastiani Security co-workers—they're all vampires, incubi, succubi, sirens, faeries, Valkyrie, and werewolves!—she’s thrown into an undercover operation protecting a siren singer at Underbelly, one of Minneapolis’s

Because only his touch will do...
premier nightclubs. With pheromones saturating the air like sweet chloroform, starving for touch, and her inhibitions fading fast, Bailey has to avoid Rafe Sebastiani, her boss’s gorgeous sex demon of a brother, at all costs…

REVIEW

Touch Me by Tamara Hogan is an accompanying novella to the popular Underbelly Chronicles. I loved that this story featured so many different supernatural beings. This story has a clear beginning, middle, and end. The chemistry between Bailey and Rafe was positively sizzling. I found all of the characters very likable and I am looking forward to reading the next story in this wonderful series.

Review of The Master Undone by Lisa Renee Jones

From New York Times and USA Today Best Selling Author Lisa Renee Jones...

An Inside Out Novella 

In Mark's POV, this story takes place the day after BEING ME ends. 

*** 

I told him goodbye, and  I will not call him. I know if I do, it will be my undoing, and I'll once again be caught up in his spell. I will once again be . . . lost. 

 
In her private journals, Rebecca laid bare her soul, revealing her obsession for the one man whose erotic demands captivated her imagination--and enslaved her forever. Now, with Rebecca no longer in his life "he" is lost, questioning everything he thought he knew about himself and about control he holds in such high regard. One women will reach out to heal him and then turn away, leaving him haunted . She is nothing he thought he wanted and somehow everything he needs. He tells himself to forget her but he cannot escape his desire for her. He has to have more...

 

 

REVIEW

 

The Master Undone is an accompanying short story to the Inside Out series by Lisa Renee Jones. What I enjoyed about this story was the interactions between Mark and Crystal. The character of Crystal was such a strong, take charge character as was the character of Mark which made this such an interesting story. I loved the struggle between Mark and Crystal to be the dominant personality.

Review of Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor

"This book rocks! Scandalously delicious in the same vein as Pretty Little Liars and Revenge, with a wickedly clever plot that kept me guessing right up until the end." -- Gemma Halliday, New York Times bestselling author of Honeymoon in High Heels


Anne Dowling practically runs her exclusive academy on New York’s Upper East Side—that is, until she accidentally burns part of it down and gets sent to a prestigious boarding school outside of

Kara Taylor's breathtaking debut reads like Gossip Girl crossed with Twin Peaks in an enveloping start to the Prep School Confidential series.

"A whirlwind of secrets, lies, and scandals. I whipped through the pages, frantic to discover the killer." –Jill Hathaway, author of Slide
Boston. Determined to make it back to New York, Anne could care less about making friends at the preppy Wheatley School. That is, until her roommate, Isabella’s body is found in the woods behind the school. When everyone else is oddly silent, Anne becomes determined to uncover the truth no matter how many rules she has to break to do it. With the help of Isabella’s twin brother Anthony, and a cute classmate named Brent, Anne discovers that Isabella wasn’t quite the innocent nerdy girl she pretended to be. But someone will do anything to stop Anne’s snooping in this fast-paced, unputdownable read—even if it means framing her for Isabella’s murder.

"Fast-paced, suspenseful and scarily believable. It will keep you guessing as you race to the end!" -- Daisy Whitney, author of The Mockingbirds and When You Were Here


REVIEW

Prep School Confidential is a true nail-biter that has loads of suspense. The complex storyline hooked me immediately and I was not able to put this thrilling novel down. What I liked about the character of Anne was that she fully embraced all of her flaws and took responsibility for the mistakes she made throughout the book. Even though there was so much action in this book it was all very believable and Anne Dowling is a modern day Nancy Drew. This is one book that should be on everyone's to read list this summer. I am already looking forward to the next book in this series because I cannot wait to see what messes Anne will get herself into next.

Review of Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess

Fantastically funny, fresh and utterly relatable, Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess is the first novel in her brand new series about five twenty-something friends—Pia, Angie, Julia, Coco and Madeleine—sharing a brownstone in hip, downtown Brooklyn, and discovering the ups and downs and ins and outs of  their “semi-adult” lives. The first story belongs to sophisticated, spoiled, and SkinnyWheels—all while dealing with hipster bees, one-night-stands, heartbreak, parental fury, wild parties, revenge, jail, loan sharks, playboys, karaoke, true love, and one adorable pink food truck. And that's without counting her roommates' problems, too. Gemma Burgess has captured the confusion, hilarity and excitement of the post-graduate years against a backdrop of the pressures and chaos of New York City life, with heartfelt empathy, fast humor and sharp honesty.

stylish Pia, who finds herself completely unemployed, unemployable, and broke. So what is a recent grad with an art history degree and an unfortunate history of Facebook topless photos to do? Start a food truck business of course! Pia takes on the surprisingly cutthroat Brooklyn world of hybrid lettuce growers, artisanal yogurt makers and homemade butter producers to start

A charming debut series about five twenty-something girls and the humor, heartbreak, and drama that bring them together

 

REVIEW

 

Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess is a wonderfully heartwarming novel that all twenty-something women are sure to identify with. The character of Pia was funny, smart, and I loved how the character grew throughout the story. Each of the characters face a variety of issues that affect twenty-somethings every day. What I loved the most about Brooklyn Girls was despite all of the struggles the characters were forced to overcome they stuck together and supported one another through all of the ups and downs that were thrown their way. The bond between the characters reminded me a lot of the bond between the women from the Sex in the City series.

Review of The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

The third book in Rae Carson's award-winning The Girl of Fire and Thorns fantasy trilogy. Elisa, the seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen, will travel into an unknown enemy's realm to win back her true love, save her kingdom, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny. Veronica Roth called The Girl of Fire and Thorns "intense, unique . . . definitely recommended."

Perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce and George R. R. Martin's style of sweeping and deeply satisfying epic fantasy, the third and final book in the trilogy takes the young queen on a journey more dangerous than any she has faced before. Elisa will stand before the gate of the enemy. And she must USAToday.com proclaimed, "Rae Carson has proved she's a master and has shaken up the YA genre."
rise up as champion—even to those who have hated her—or her kingdom will fall. Full of sorcery, adventure, sizzling romance, and secrets that challenge everything she believes, this is a bold and powerful conclusion to an extraordinary trilogy. As


REVIEW

Although this is the first book that I've read by Rae Carson I found The Bitter Kingdom was easy to keep up with the story without being confusing to me. The main female character Elisa was such a strong and determined character who never gave up on her mission despite all of the obstacles she dealt with throughout this book. The Bitter Kingdom is sure to appeal to both genders as well as anyone who enjoys a novel that is so action packed with the perfect amount of romance mixed in. The relationships between the various characters in this novel all have a strong sense of realness to them which is just one of the many things that makes for such an amazing book.

Review of A Really Awesome Mess by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin

A hint of Recovery Road, a sample of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and a cut of Juno. A Really Awesome Mess is a laugh-out-loud, gut-wrenching/heart-warming story of two teenagers struggling to find love and themselves.

Two teenagers. Two very bumpy roads taken that lead to Heartland Academy.
Justin was just having fun, but when his dad walked in on him with a girl in a very compromising position, Justin's summer took a quick turn for the worse. His parents' divorce put Justin on rocky

Emmy never felt like part of her family. She was adopted from China. Her parents and sister tower over her and look like they came out of a Ralph Lauren catalog-- and Emmy definitely doesn't. After a scandalous photo of Emmy leads to vicious rumors around school, she threatens the boy who started it all on Facebook.

Justin and Emmy arrive at Heartland Academy, a reform school that will force them to deal with their issues, damaged souls with little patience for authority. But along the way they will find a ragtag group of teens who are just as broken, stubborn, and full of sarcasm as themselves. In the end, they might even call each other friends.
A funny, sad, and remarkable story, A Really Awesome Mess is a journey of friendship and self-discovery that teen readers will surely sign up for.
mental ground, and after a handful of Tylenol lands him in the hospital, he has really hit rock bottom.

REVIEW

One of the many things that I loved about A Really Awesome Mess was that it focused on a group of teens who were each dealing with their own personal issues, many of which I was able to relate to because I have dealt with similar issues for as long as I can remember. I saw a little of myself in most of the characters and I applaud the authors of this book for tackling such important issues that affect both teens and adults. My favorite part of A Really Awesome Mess was by far the friendships and bonds the characters developed with one another. Had this book been written during my teen years I truly think that everything I dealt with would have been a tremendous help because I would have known I wasn't the only teenager who was dealing with the issues these characters were dealing with each day.