Author Archives: Pam

You Are Mine Review

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Image from Goodreads

Title:  You Are Mine

Author:  Janeal Falor

Published:  2013 by Chardonian Press

Genre:  Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult

Purchase You Are Mine from Amazon

 

 

Wow.  I love it when I’m pleasantly surprised by a book!

You would not want to live in this society, especially as a woman.  Women are property.  They are left in the dark (legitimately), aren’t allowed to sit down in certain situations like waiting for an appointment, are physically punished for the most mundane things, and they are just treated so awful it will make you sick.  But stick around, because even though all that occurs it is really a good book!

It’s Serena’s 17th birthday and she is getting her blood examined.  This will tell her father and other warlocks (potential husbands) how much magic she has (which is useful to know for any baby warlocks she might have) and therefore how valuable it will be to marry her.  It’s not long before Serena has an intended husband lined up.  She is at a tournament where warlocks from all over duel with one another.  Serena’s future husband loses the dual, and therefore she is now property of one of the barbaric Envadi clan!  Chancellor Zade (Envadi) proves to be much different than Serena is used to, but that doesn’t keep her off her toes.  After all, he might just be testing her to punish her later.  Is Zade as nice as he appears, or does he have an ulterior motive?

You know one reason I loved this book was because it wasn’t like Zade jumped in and saved Serena.  Yes, he did make her life easier a bunch of times, but it wasn’t like halfway through the book he proclaimed his undying love for her.  He didn’t.  I actually wasn’t sure whether he had feelings for her or not until the very end.  I love that!

Serena was such a strong character.  She would often take punishments from her father to protect her 13 other sisters.  The poor women in this book.  As if they weren’t scared and tortured enough; if they make their owner angry enough, they can become tarnished; tattooed, barren, and worthless.  In fact, Serena meets and makes friends with a tarnished woman, and she learns that things aren’t always as they appear.

Maybe reading this review makes the book seem a little dark, but I didn’t feel depressed after reading it; I felt intrigued.  Perhaps it was Serena’s strong attitude; for a bunch of times I didn’t know if I could live through what she went though.  And Serena’s sister keeps her company a lot and helps keep the book uplifting because Serena has someone to confide in.  And the fact that it’s not an immediate romance, but there is substantial character development is another huge plus for me.  And lastly, the ending.  The ending was not what I expected at all, and that’s one of the reasons I liked it.  If you couldn’t tell by now, I really enjoyed this book, and I’m looking forward to reading more from Janeal Falor.

 

My Rating:  4 1 /2 out of 5 stars

~Pam

*****I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.*****       

Supernatural Six: Box Set Review

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Image from Goodreads

Title:  Supernatural Six: Box Set

Authors:  Elle Casey, Juli Alexander, Allie Burton, L.G. Castillo, Brenda Pandos, Tawny Stokes

Published:  November 2013 by Tawny Stokes

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

 

 

 

Another box set review!  I didn’t finish the whole set; I have so many books to review.  But I did read three stories which is half the set.  Here’s what I thought about them.

Duality by Elle Casey

Malcolm seems to attract severely depressed people.  He’s not sure why that is, but he knows that’s the case so he does his best to keep others away.  Rae has the opposite problem.  People are attracted to her for her happiness.  They can get obsessed with her, and do so often that her family frequently has to move to get away from Rae’s ‘followers’.  There are a few people, called neutrals that aren’t affected by people like Rae and Malcolm.  When Rae moves and ends up at Malcolm’s school, she is attracted to Malcolm and she thinks he’s a neutral but she’s not sure.  Rae and Malcolm will learn that they’re not alone in the world and at least they have each other and a few loyal friends too.

This story got the box set off to a good start.  It also made me laugh out loud at one scene, which is hard to do.  There was something that bothered me with this story; the fact that the same scene was sometimes told through multiple points of view.  That just gets boring.  Other than that though, it was a cute, fun read.

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Three Wishes by Juli Alexander

Jen’s a genie.  And a really good drummer.  She so wants to be a part of her brother’s band, but if she gets called to serve someone’s wishes, she has to go immediately so it’s kind of a no go for her brother; but it’s not her fault she could get called at any minute.  Anyways, Jen’s brother gets another drummer, Leo.  But Leo is more than just a good looking guy.  He’s also a genie.  It’s forbidden for a male and female genie to get together and date, but these two just can’t seem to help themselves.

Another good book.  Jen is a strong character, and even though it’s really risky, she does things that could cause serious trouble (for her) for Leo because his dad needs help.  The only bummer about this book was that I wanted to read more.  It wasn’t really a cliffhanger ending, but there wasn’t full closure so I’m wondering if the author is going to write a sequel.

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Atlantis by Allie Burton

What a beginning this story had!  Pearl is working as a janitor at a mini golf course when a toddler falls into a murky lagoon.  Pearl dives in and finds him at the bottom, being held to the bottom by the filter.  Minutes go by.  Pearl pulls him from the filter and breathes into his mouth giving him the ability to be like her temporarily at least; by having the ability to breathe under water.  Pearl tries to hurry away after she gives the boy back to his mother but a young man named Chase who also works there catches up with her, and she just can’t seem to get him off her tail.  And after a while, she doesn’t want to.

This was a really neat story.  As you just read, Pearl isn’t a mermaid, but she has the ability to breathe underwater.  She doesn’t know who her real parents are, and she is running away from her adoptive ones.  They made her perform in a circus, and were also emotionally abusive.

Something about Chase and their relationship bugged me in this book.  Maybe part of it was that he actually considered exposing her secret.  I’m not sure, but he just got under my skin.  And I felt like it kind of dragged after a while, which is too bad cause it started off so good!  All in all though, it was a decent story.

 

 

My Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 stars

~Pam

*****I received this book free from one of the authors in exchange for an honest review.*****       

Written in Ruberah Book Spotlight

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Title:  Written in Ruberah  Written in Ruberah Cover

Author:  P. Christina Greenaway

Published:  2014 by Girl by the Sea Publishing

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Purchase Written in Ruberah from Amazon

 

 

 

New York real estate broker Miriam Lewis takes off for a brief getaway to a remote inn on the rugged cliffs of Cornwall. Rest and romance with her boyfriend seem like the perfect cure for a life that appears to be going nowhere, and too fast.

Entering Cornwall, Miriam crosses the River Tamar and glimpses a luminous girl floating in the river. A memory from long, long ago begins to unfold in Miriam’s thoughts—something about a promise she made to perform a selfless act of courage. Could it be true? Could she ever rise to such heroism or is it just a hallucination?

While at the inn, Miriam experiences a series of flashbacks from a life she lived in an ancient land called Ruberah. These startling images convince Miriam that she did write the promise and that she must keep it. But to do so, Miriam will have to let go of everything in her life and place her trust in a guide—the river girl—the wise and eternal spirit of the River Tamar.

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EXCERPT:

The light of the ley line locks onto their feet and forms straps similar in style to the sandals they wore in Ruberah. Kate grins. “Cool, right?”

“Cool.”

“Ready?”

“No. Just kidding. Yes.”

A thundering sound like the drumming of kettledrums blasts through the mine, and the ley line shoots forward. Kate and Miriam hold hands and whiz down the tunnel on the beam of red light. Huge rocks at the end of the mine slide apart, and the girl and the woman skid into the ocean. The ley line expands and encases them in a bullet of light that looks like a futuristic, high-speed railway car. Their globes collapse into rings of ruby light and lie around their necks.

“Brilliant!” Kate runs her hands through her hair and tosses it about her shoulders. “We traveled like this in the Time of Ruberah. We could turn the ley line into airships that carried a thousand people at a time, and we controlled our speed and direction from an astral disk—a soft, razor-thin computer we stuck into the palms of our hands, which was programmed to the astral sphere of the Ruby Kingdom.”

Miriam tunes her out. Please God, she won’t have to use this astral disk thing—it’s hard enough to keep up with the computers of this world, let alone deal with some intergalactic system. She wonders what’s governing their speed now, but doesn’t ask. It might be Kate, in which case she’d rather not know. Foretune to travel well. Watching the waters of the Atlantic splash by, she tells herself that gliding along beneath the sea—breathing air without knowing where it’s coming from, losing complete control of her life—is a good thing. Panic beats beneath her every breath. 

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About the Author

Christina Greenaway grew up in Cornwall, England in a small fishing village. One of her favorite pastimes as a child was to write a story, stuff it in a bottle, toss it into the sea, andGreenaway photo imagine all her characters – pirates, kings, and others – come to life. Her life twisted and turned, however, in so many ways that she never ventured into writing until now, many years later. Her novels include themes generated from her life experiences including: trust, the fantasy parent, empowerment, work and travel and spiritual power.

Christina has worked at BBC radio in England, a NYC high-powered ad agency, as assistant to the president of a perfume company in France, as a partner for a frog farm in Costa Rica, and numerous other venues. She has traversed the globe.

She is the author of Written in Ruberah, published by Girl by the Sea Publishing, and Dream Chaser: Awakening, published by Girl by the Sea. You can visit Christina at www.christinagreenaway.com or her blog at http://christinagreenaway.wordpress.com.

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***All images and wording for blurb, excerpt, & about the author were provided by Pump Up Your Book***

 

Feature & Follow Friday #FF #26 – To change a plot or perhaps not?

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Feature & Follow

 

This is a blog hop, a way to find and follow new blogs,

hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

You can follow me by using any one of the options over on the left sidebar.

This weeks question: Change the Plot. If you could, what book would you change the ending or a plot thread? Go ahead and do it…change it.

Yeah, I would make the main characters in the Mortal Instrument series not brother and sister!!!!!  lol.  I actually stopped after the first book, but wonder if I’d feel differently if it ended different.

Have a happy Friday everyone!

~Pam

 

 

Shady Deals Review

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Title:  Shady Deals  Shady Deals

Author:  Cindy McDonald

Published:  2013 by Acorn Book Services

Genre:  Romantic Suspense

Purchase Shady Deals from Amazon

 

 

 

Kate West and Dr. Holden Reese have put their troubled past behind them and are ready to set a wedding date. There’s only one thing in Holden’s way: a powerful drug Lord at Keystone Downs Thoroughbred Race Track has Holden under his thumb, and he’s not letting go!

Kate’s family is determined to get to the bottom the of horse drugging ring, and when the West’s get too close to the truth the Drug Lord sends them a brutal message that can’t be misinterpreted.  Now Holden is on the run, and he’s dragging Kate with him.

Can he escape his indiscretions?

How long can he keep Kate in the dark?

And how damning will the truth be when it’s finally revealed?

(Blurb from Pump Up Your Book)

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Kate and Holden are not only engaged but she’s his assistant.  Kate’s noticed that Holden is acting really on edge lately; he’s either laid back or up tight, no in between.  Kate pins it on his personality.  But what’s really happening is Holden is stuck in the middle of a drug ring with no way out in sight.  While it’s not where he wants to be, when he tries to distance himself from the other criminals, they threaten Kate, and that just won’t do.

Let me be honest, I was going to quit reading this after two chapters.  I felt like there were so many characters in the beginning and I couldn’t keep them all straight so that made it boring to me.  But then something happened.  I got hooked.  And I finished the book at around 3am the next morning!  I’m so glad I didn’t give up (and it really was only the first two chapters before it picked up for me).  Since Shady Deals is part of a series maybe other readers will already know of the characters beforehand too.   So anyways…

This book is great!   I don’t want to say much more about the plot and give anything away, but there are so many twists and turns.  Not to mention the suspense that kept me up reading until dawn to see what happened!

I read a lot so I don’t always remember authors’ names.  But mentioned in Shady Deals was a familiar character’s name, Jack Haliday.  I was like, I know that name.  Turns out I’ve read, and gave 4 stars to another one of Cindy McDonald’s books, Into the Crossfire, a while back!

So if you’re looking for a book with some romance and suspense, definitely give Shady Deals a try.  Ms. McDonald will keep you on your toes.  Just don’t read it if you have plans early the next morning.

 

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

04

~Pam

*****I received this book free from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for an honest review.*****     

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About the Author:

For twenty-six years Cindy Mcdonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance: She was aCindy McDonald professional dancer/choreographer for most of her adult life and never gave much thought to a writing career until 2005.Suddenly, she felt drawn to her computer to write about things she have experienced (greatly exaggerated upon of course) with her husband’s Thoroughbreds and the happenings at the racetrack.

Why didn’t Cindy write about my experiences with dance? You might ask. “Eh, believe it or not life at the racetrack is more…racy.” Cindy says. “The drama is outrageous—not that dancers don’t know how to create drama, believe me, they do but race trackers just seem to get more down and dirty with it which makes great story telling—great fiction.”

Cindy didn’t start out writing books, The Unbridled Series started out as a TV drama, and the Hollywood readers loved the show. When the series didn’t sell, Cindy recalls, “One of the readers said to me, ‘Cindy, don’t be stupid. Turn your scripts into a book series.’” And so she did!

In May of 2011, Cindy took the big leap and exchanged her dancin’ shoes for a lap top—she retired from dance. “It was a scary proposition,” Cindy confesses. “I was terrified, but I had the full support of my husband, Saint Bill. It has been a huge change for me. I went from dancing hard five hours a night to sitting in front of a computer. I still work-out and I take my dog, Harvey, for a daily run. I have to or I’d be as big as a house.”

Does Cindy McDonald miss dancing? “Sometimes I do,” she says. “I miss my students. I miss choreographing musicals, but I love my books and I love sharing them with readers.”

Connect & Socialize with Cindy!

TWITTER * FACEBOOK  

Discuss this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads by clicking HERE.

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***Images and wording for book blurb and about the author were provided by Pump Up Your Book***