Tag Archives: young adult

Twisted Reflections Release Day Blitz

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Twisted Reflections Cover

Alexis Davenport is learning to come to grips with her ability to travel through time, but she still hasn’t been able to stop the evil Drifter and his Master from trying to alter the past.

When she travels back to ancient Egypt, Alex gets a most unexpected surprise; she meets someone who can help her figure out how to use her powers, another Traveler like herself.

But can Alex learn how to control her gift before Drifter finds a way to stop her from meddling in his Master’s plans?

Twisted Reflections is the highly anticipated Book Two, in The Adventures of Alexis Davenport Series.

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Author Bio:

Shay West was born in Longmont, CO and earned a doctorate degree in Human Medical Genetics from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical. Dr. West currently lives in Shay West PictureGrand Junction, CO with her two cats. When not writing novels, she plays with plushie microbes and teaches biology classes at Colorado Mesa University. She is the author of the Portals of Destiny series and the Adventures of Alexis Davenport series. She has also been published in several anthologies: Battlespace (military sci-fi), Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior (fundraiser), and Ancient New (steampunk/fantasy).

You can find Dr. West and more of her work at Shay-West.com.

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New Release: Dangerous Reflections

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Dangerous Reflections

 

Alexis Davenport wants to go home. She hates her new school, her mother for moving her away from her friends, and her father for walking out.

To make matters worse, Alex is haunted by images of strange girls reflected in her mirror. It’s bad enough juggling homework, a relentless bully, boys, and a deadbeat dad; now, she must save the world from an evil presence hell-bent on changing the past – and our futures. Who knew her A+ in history was going to be this important?

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Author Bio:

Shay West was born in Longmont, CO and earned a doctorate degree in Human Medical Shay West PictureGenetics from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical. Dr. West currently lives in Grand Junction, CO with her two cats. When not writing novels, she plays with plushie microbes and teaches biology classes at Colorado Mesa University. She is the author of the Portals of Destiny series and the Adventures of Alexis Davenport series. She has also been published in several anthologies: Battlespace (military scifi), Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior (fundraiser), and Ancient New (steampunk/fantasy).

You can find Dr. West and more of her work at Shay-West.com.

 

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Tales of Aradia: The Last Witch Review

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Image from Goodreads

Title:  Tales of Aradia:  The Last Witch

Author:  L.A. Jones

Published:  2012 by CreateSpace

Genre:  Young Adult, Teen Fantasy, Paranormal

Buy: Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

Unknown to the humans who hanged innocent people at the Salem Witch Trials, real witches of the hidden race were slaughtered on the belief that they had betrayed the hiddens to the humans. Not one witch survived the genocide, or so it was believed for more than three hundred years. One day a girl named Aradia moves to Salem, Massachusetts, and all that changes.  

(Blurb from Goodreads)

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Ross and Liza are coming home from a doctor’s appointment in which they just got bad news; the chances of them ever having children are slim to none.  Driving home they almost get in an accident and swerve off the road.  With the car now broken, Ross decides to look for help and hears a baby crying.  Long story short, that baby becomes their daughter, the child that they wanted but couldn’t have, Aradia.

This was a good book.  I liked how Aradia knew she was special, but didn’t know why.  She has no clue that she’s a witch, and it takes them moving to a town of other ‘hidden’ beings to figure out what she is.  The story had a nice flow and kept me interested and wanting to go back for more.

However, Aradia did get on my nerves.  Her sense of humor was pretty dry, and I kind of felt embarrassed for her on occasion when she tried to be funny.  She felt a little immature as well, but it is a young adult book and she is a young adult.  So it was just her personality, and that’s fine, she just got on my nerves a bit.

It wasn’t just Aradia who got under my skin; it was her friend Roy too.  I just wish he had more self-confidence; the lack of it was unappealing.  But again, they are young characters.  I’m hoping that he’ll gain some confidence through the series.

Another little thing that stuck out to me was the mentioning of CVS.  This was when Aradia had just moved to Salem, Massachusetts and she was talking to a student at her school.  She was telling him to pick up some medicine.

“Pick some up on the way home.  It’s easy to find.  They’ll have it at CVS.”

“What’s CVS?”

“Oh, right.  Um, Walgreens?  Any drug store (—)”  (location 31 on Kindle)

Again, this does not affect my rating; I’m just throwing it out there.  I’m from the area, and I promise, we know what CVS is (and Walgreens too).  Lol.

Besides Miss Aradia not being my favorite person, she did grow on me, and I did enjoy the story.  All in all, a good young adult book and I recommend it.

 

My Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

~Pam

 

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

The Tower (Deck of Lies #2) Review

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Image from Goodreads

Title:  The Tower (Deck of Lies #2)

Author:  Jade Varden

Published:  2012 by Jade Varden

Genre:  Young Adult

Purchase The Tower from Amazon

 

 

 

This is the second book in a series, and the story continues right away.  Who killed Laurel?  River is still the prime suspect and Rain still believes he is innocent.  She decides that since most others are out for his blood, she’ll have to be the one to prove his innocence.  On Rain’s quest for clues the police take interest in her.  They think that she might have been involved in Laurel’s death.  That she might have been an accomplice to River.  Rain’s flabbergasted and scared, but she doesn’t let it stop her from moving forward to try to find the real murderer.  But in her pursuit she finds more than she’s looking for.  Maybe she would have been better off in the dark….

As I mentioned this is the second book in a series; I definitely wouldn’t recommend reading it as a standalone.  (But the first one is really good, so go read it!)  The story picks up right where it left off.  I was hoping for more Rain and River interaction, but he was jail.  Also, Rain’s father was his lawyer, so her going to see him was out of the question.

There were a lot of names and family history going on in this book, and I had to keep backtracking and thinking about who was who.  I probably just should have written it down, but that was something that I didn’t really like in the book.  I like to read to enjoy, not think too much about what it is that I’m reading.  You know?

A lot more facts about Rain’s life were revealed, and we were left with another cliffhanger!  I did really enjoy the story though, and I’m looking forward to the next one in the series.

 

My Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 stars

~Pam

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

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.*****