Tag Archives: 4 stars

Eire’s Captive Moon Review

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Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Title:  Eire’s Captive Moon

Author:  Sandi Layne

Published:  2013 by The Writer’s Coffee Shop

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Purchase Éire’s Captive Moon from Amazon

 

 

Chagris was found, well she was found inside her mother.  A local medicine man found her mother about to give birth in a cave and he helped her.  Chagris’s mother passed away right after, and the medicine man helped raise Chagris and taught her his ways.  Fast forward to Chagris’s adulthood.  She is married to not one, but two men; twins.  Her town is ransacked, her husbands slaughtered, and she is taken captive by a man named Agnarr.  She not only becomes his slave in the proverbial sense, but also his to use for sex.  Agnarr is kind in the way that he doesn’t beat her and treats her gently.  Will she find love with him or kill him in revenge for her husbands’ deaths?

I won this book in a giveaway and brought it with me to pass time while I waited for my son in speech class one day.  I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did.  I came home and read it that night, then finished it two days later.

This book outraged me, or rather Chagris being a slave did.  It baffles me that her owners just wanted her to serve them with no complaints but they just killed her family and took her to a foreign land.  Don’t they see that?  I know that this is probably how things were with slavery, but wow, did it make my blood boil.  And the fact that it made me mad just shows that it’s a well written book.

Although she’s being put through hell, Chagris has someone that she can talk to, another slave taken at the same time as her, Cowan.  Cowan is valued for his knowledge of many languages and translating abilities.  He wants Chagris to keep her head up and stay safe, because although he isn’t acting like it, he can’t wait to be free himself.

Will there be romance between Chagris and Cowan?  Or Chagris and Agnarr?  Neither, or perhaps both?   I guess you’ll have to read it to find out.  All I’ll say is I’m glad I picked it up because I was pleasantly surprised.

 

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

04

~Pam

*****I won this book in a giveaway from the publisher, The Writers Coffee Shop.*****

 

 

Beautiful Failure Review & Giveaway

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Title: Beautiful Failure
Author: Mariah Cole
Genre: New Adult
Publication Date: December 17, 2013

 

If you’re looking for a heartwarming story about a girl who falls deeply in love with a troubled boy who changes her life–a sob story with pretty metaphors and a million ways that’ll tell you how “broken” she is, STOP. Don’t read another word of this.

I’m not that type of girl.

My name is Emerald Anderson and I’m not going to bulls**t you: I flunked out of college after my sophomore year, I’ve been fired from every job I’ve ever taken, and I’ve never had a fully functioning relationship in my life.

I wish I could say that I had a cheerleader in my corner, someone who says, “No, Emerald–You’re great and you are good at something!” but I don’t. My grandparents are completely oblivious to my life, and my mother’s dying words to me were “You’re going to end up just like me one day. A beautiful nothing.”

She was right.

As I decide to start my life over and take two jobs that will forever change me–one from the inside, and one from the outside, I keep my mother’s words close to my heart so I can keep the sexy and mysterious Carter Black away.

He’s the first man who’s ever pursued me, the first man who seems bent on finding out why I am the way I am, but he’s wasting his time.

I’m not broken. I don’t need to be fixed. I’m perfectly fine being a beautiful failure…

Were you intrigued by the synopsis?  I sure was.  I thought, finally, a book that isn’t about a girl wanting to be rescued or even getting rescued.  And that’s part of what made this book so good.

Emerald is what she is, who she is, and she isn’t sorry for it.  Her mom did a royal job of screwing her up though.  I usually hate blaming the parents, but I feel that it really was her mom’s fault.  Not only was her mom a prostitute, but also an alcoholic.  A habit that she shared and encouraged with Emerald at way too young an age.  Anyways, her mom commits suicide (I’m not giving anything away, this happens right at the beginning), and leaves Emerald practically alone.

Emerald does go to live with her grandparents, her mother’s parents.  They’re good people, but kind of oblivious and extremely religious.  I commend Emerald for going on after her mom’s suicide, I really do.  She can’t keep a job, but hey, at least she tries.  Then one day working as a barista at Starbucks, she meets a good looking guy named Carter.  She also makes her first real friend, even if she doesn’t know it at the time, Sarah.   She notices that Sarah has a lot of really expensive things and learns that she works for an exclusive strip club.  Emerald ‘interviews’ there and the patrons love her.  And guess who she runs into.  Yep, Carter!  And on the side, Emerald has to attend court ordered AA meetings because she got in a little trouble.

So as you can see, Emerald’s been through hell.  But she is such a strong character for it.  Although she’s not always in the right, she definitely stands up for what she believes in.  And the confidence this girl has, can I have some?

She is definitely wary of Carter, and it takes her a long time to warm up to him.  And just when you think you know where the book is going, you don’t.  I’d normally be a bit peeved at a cliffhanger ending, but I really can’t wait to read the next one!

It’s because it’s not all puppies and rainbows that I really enjoyed this book, and I definitely recommend it.  And if you read it, read the author’s note at the end.  It cracked me up.

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

04

~Pam

 

*****I received this book free from Dreams Come True Promotions, in exchange for an honest review.*****

 

 

 

 

Starbucks Addict. New Adult author. Dreamer.

 

* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mariah-Cole/522717034482807

* Author Website: http://unapologeticmc.blogspot.com/

* Author GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7319309.Mariah_Cole

* GoodReads Page for Book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18625288-beautiful-failure

* Purchase Beautiful Failure from Amazon

* Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beautiful-failure-mariah-cole/1117736123?ean=2940149071050

 

***Moonlightreader is not responsible for this giveaway.***

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****All images and wording (besides my review) were provided by Dreams Come True Promotions.****

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***

A Lot of Pride and Some Prejudice Review

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Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Title:  A Lot of Pride and Some Prejudice

Author:  Petronela Ungureanu

Published:  2013 by Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC

Genre:  Historical Romance, Novella

Purchase A Lot Of Pride And Some Prejudice from Amazon

 

 

Portia Thorpe grudgingly agrees to a marriage arranged by her father to Lord Salisbury.  He is much older than her and she has no interest in him; she just decides to do it for her father’s sake.  But Portia changes her mind when she meets Lord Salisbury’s brother, Phillip.  She feels an instant attraction to him and decides to back out of the marriage.  However, things don’t always go as planned as there is a sudden death in Portia’s family that turns all her plans around.

I was not expecting this book to be so wonderful.  The flow of the sentences was just smooth and refreshing.  I felt like I was thrown back in time.  It was such a nice change from the contemporary romances and other books I’ve been reading lately.

One major issue was the grammar and editing mistakes.  In one instance there were no quotes when someone was talking.  I counted at least three times when people ‘took a sit’ instead of ‘took a seat.’  And I really don’t know if this was done on purpose or not, but the beginning was one huge paragraph.

One other thing that irked me was how quickly Portia fell for Phillip Salisbury.  Her heart hurt a lot when she found out he was engaged.  It is the fact that she only met him the day before that bothered me about that.  Maybe if she had even spent a little more time with him it would have felt more justified.  Or maybe I’m just not a love at first sight type of girl?

Besides the grammar and love at first sight issues, the only thing that I wish was different was that it was a little longer!  It was a super-fast enjoyable read.  If someone could go back and re edit, I think that would make a world of difference.

All in all, I definitely recommend.  Keep an eye out for Petronela Ungureanu for she has a talent with words.

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

04

 

~Pam

 

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

***Thanks to Rachel from Parajunkee for the blinky stars!***

The Curse Giver Review (the conclusion)

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Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Title:  The Curse Giver

Author:  Dora Machado

Published:  2013 by Twilight Times Books

Genre:  Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

Click here to purchase The Curse Giver from Amazon.com

 

 

I did a partial review of this book a while back here.  Life got busy, but I finally got around to finishing it!

I love when the main female protagonist has strong character.  She knows what she wants, she’s been through a lot, but yet she still pulls through.  Lusielle was definitely that kind of protagonist.  She put up with an abusive husband, was almost executed, and tries to help Bren stop the curse that was put on him and his family.  It’s just refreshing to see a confident woman, who while in love with someone, doesn’t lose herself, you know what I mean?  Especially seeing that she is baseborn (lower class) and a woman, she still holds her own against men.  It’s just nice to see.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was, “The difference between doom and grace is hope.” (p.296)

Anyways, the author, Dora Machado, is a great writer.  Very talented.  And since I pretty much reviewed the story in my previous post (as much info as I want to give away), I’ll just say that it was a very well written book, and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

 

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

 

~Pam

 

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