Book Review: My Dead Friend Sarah by Peter Rosch

My Dead Friend Sarah by Peter Rosch

Publisher:  Self-published

Genre:  Mystery

Available in ebook and hardback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  More reviews available on Goodreads.  

Overall:  I think the title is misleading.  I actually decided to read this book because I thought it was going to be a ghost story or at least have some paranormal/scary elements to it.  The beginning was even more misleading because My Dead Friend Sarah starts with Max at the police station being drilled by a detective about his absurd defense – he knew that Sarah was going to die because he dreamed it months ago.  The book switches between first person POV between Max and Sarah, but Sarah’s POV happened prior to the start of the story so it is a little confusing.  About halfway into the book, I realize that this book is definitely not what I thought it would be.  It is a story about a recovering alcoholic.  The actual mystery/death of Sarah is a sub-plot.

I know that the book is written in first person, but I hate that the entire story is “told” and not once do I feel like I’m “in” a scene.  It feels like someone is remembering something that happened in the distant past and the writing felt lazy…thus, I was bored by scenes that should of been exciting.  On a side note, this was a quick read that I felt compelled to finish despite its short-comings.  I don’t know why.  But because I wanted to finish the story to find out what happened, I couldn’t give this book any less than two stars.

Characters:  There are surprisingly few characters in the novel for dual POVs.  Sarah doesn’t have her own cast of characters – she has her mother and Max.  No friends.  Max has his wife, his AA sponsor Sam, and his lawyer Jon.  Max is really lucky to have Rachel.  He’s been the worst possible husband.  He cheats on her.  He’s an alcoholic, who actually hit her once.  And she stays by his side.  It’s a really unhealthy relationship for her, although I imagine Max would of ended up in the gutter if not for his wife by his side, which is why she puts up with him.  I didn’t really get specific personalities for Jon or Sam – since they’re only revealed through what Max says and Max is very selfish and doesn’t give a crap about either of them.  Max is unlikeable, but he is the highlight of the novel – compelling to read about like a car crash is to watch.  Sarah is a pathetic woman that I didn’t care about or understand.  Max stalked her every move.  She knew about it and didn’t think that was creepy.  WTF?

Plot:  Max has dreams about Sarah.  Max stalks Sarah.  Max talks to Sarah.  Max breaks Sarah’s heart.  Sarah dies a month later and Max finds himself questioned by detectives.  It’s not a bad plot, but it’s sometimes hard to follow between the dual narratives – who aren’t entirely truthful even to the reader.  I really wish that there was more focus on the scenes and less on the ins and outs of AA meetings and philosophies.  I felt like both Max and Sarah were trying to convince me that what they were doing was okay.  Max because he was addicted and Sarah because she was in love.  But I wasn’t convinced and I don’t like being preached to.  Both Max and Sarah (death is no excuse) have major mental issues and need to see another therapist before narrating another book.

Ending:  The last quarter of the book felt increasingly abstract and boring.  Max battles alcohol when I wish he would battle Sarah’s killer.  Max reveals near the end that he’s known Rachel for 10 years, but they’ve been married for 10 years…so did he not know her at all before they decided to get hitched?  Doesn’t make sense.  And the very end?  Very open-ended.  I felt very disappointed.

Summary:

Mere months into recovery, Max, an alcoholic with twisted control issues, meets Sarah – the same woman that for years he’s habitually dreamt will die after a botched abduction. “Doing the next right thing,” a popular AA phrase he’s picked up in the rooms, means befriending Sarah long enough to warn her and hope she takes him seriously. But when Sarah falls in love with Max, his newly sober thinking drives him to choose his overly devoted wife, and he abandons Sarah – even when it condemns her to death. When Sarah goes missing, the NYPD suspects Max’s dream may have been a pre-crime confession. The truth, all of it, lurks inside of Max, but only by drinking again does he recapture the nerve and clarity vital to free his wife, sponsor, and himself from a life imprisoned by lies.

Grade: D

This is not about a dead girl named Sarah.  This is about an alcoholic named Max.

I received a copy of this book from the author (Netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.

About the author:

(Information and picture obtained from Goodreads.)

Peter Rosch is what happens when a Polish drag racing varsity bowler and a beautiful but über paranoid French Canadian Air Force brat get together on a disco dance floor in glorious Albuquerque, NM. He’s a recovering alcoholic who favors the run-on sentence – the one thing for which he offers no apologies. Fifteen years in NYC as an award winning writer, creative director, and commercial director in advertising has left him moderately famous in an industry filled with the very best kind of people, lunatics. His commercial work for Levi’s, AXE, Rolling Stone Magazine, and more is polarizing, and you either hate it or love it because you’ve definitely seen it. When he isn’t writing ads, penning entries for his blog LEVEL 9 PARANOIA, outlining ideas for new books, or performing as his alter ego, Joey Jo Jo, in NYC’s most prolific douche rock band The Future, you will most likely find him playing fetch with his cat Target. Yes, his cat plays fetch.

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Book Blogger Hop: Movie

What is the one book or series you are dying to see turned into a movie or tv series?

My choice is actually a little odd, as it isn’t a well-known book.  I’d love to see this self-published horror gem turned into a movie.  It’s Nocturna by Mark Diehl.  It is a story about a woman who makes horrible decision after horrible decision and enters a world of vampires and drug addiction.  I think that it’s so different from any other movie on the market.  I love the use of flashbacks of Sara as a child dealing with horrible parents.  I think that this story would translate well on the big screen without a big budget and still make a huge emotional impact on the audience.  It reminds me of the impact I felt watching the movie Precious (originally Push by Sapphire), only this story has even less of a happy ending.  Read my review of Nocturna HERE.

Booking Through Thursday: Conversions

And this week, I’m actually hitting this one on time.  Booking Through Thursday asks a random question to bloggers each week.  This week’s question:

Do you find yourself thinking that the books you read would be good on film? Do you wish the things you watched on TV or in the movies were available as book?

Some really can’t be converted, of course, but some definitely can (and it’s not always the ones you think will work). There’s something to be said for different forms of media, but a good story is universal … or is it??

I think that a good book is one I can picture as clearly as if I was watching a film.  I love watching books I adore come alive on film, provided the film follows the film exactly.  I thought the Harry Potter books and The Hunger Games were done fantastically.  The Game of Thrones HBO series is done well too.  I like how George R.R. Martin actually helps write the script.  The movie adaptions always seem to be better if the author has input.

As far as movies to book, I think that most movie genres can be converted to books without issue.  The two genres that would have problems converted are horror and humor.  Humor is so hard to get right in a book.  I think when I watch movies, it’s more of how a phrase is said that makes it funny than what is said.  Same with horror.  A lot of films rely on suspense and buildup.  These are hard to translate into a book because it’s difficult to maintain the creepy atmosphere for an entire novel.  I think this is why many horror writers stick to short stories.

Book Review: Undead by Kristy McKay

Undead by Kristy McKay

Publisher:  Chicken House

Genre: Horror (Zombies)

This book releases 9/1/12.  You can buy it as an ebook or paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  More reviews available on Goodreads.

Review:

Overall:  Undead is fast pace and filled with humor.  It feels like its a movie rather than a book – I could picture every scene in my head perfectly.  I’ve been looking for a different kind of zombie novel, and this one at least gave me a new angle.  What would the zombie apocolaypse be like viewed from the eyes of a sarcastic teenager?  

Undead stars Bobby, a girl who’s lived half her life in the UK and half in USA.  She doesn’t like or know any of the kids she’s on this trip with, so she doesn’t get upset when most of them become zombies.  What she does care about is figuring out what the hell is going on.  This was a very fast read for me and I would have given it five stars because it entertained me in the same way Goosebumps did 10 years ago.  However, I was so freaking annoyed by the injuries.  Very early in the story most of the characters receive very serious injuries.  Bobby hurts her leg so bad that she can see the bone, yet somehow she was able to walk, skip, jump, run, etc throughout the novel without difficulty.  Later on in the novel Bobby hurts her hand.  She doesn’t mention it again.  Pete gets a piece of metal or something rammed into the side of his head so hard that he’s all bloody and the skull is cracked, and yet he is still fully functional and actually the brainiac of the group.  I can’t take such a blatant disregard to logic.  Major points deducted for that amateur mistake.

Characters:  The leading four characters are all pretty stereotypical but it doesn’t feel that way while reading the book.  There’s the new girl, bad boy, popular girl, and nerdy kid.  My favorite part about Bobby was her indifference and sarcasm.  I think that’s how I was as a teenager.  It kills the horror of the book, but boy was it made up by the laughs.  I also like how she DOESN’T like any of the other characters at all – for the first part of the book.  There’s no instant love here.  The other characters are Smitty, Alice, and Pete.  I really thought there was more going on to Pete than met the eye.  I heard there’s a sequel coming out soon so maybe we’ll find out more about his background there.  There wasn’t really much depth to the minor characters and I actually didn’t even know much about Bobby until the last couple chapters – big wow at the end.

Plot:  Typical zombie book.  End of the world.  Shoot them in the head.  No real hope that everything is going to be okay in the end.  I did like the setting, which mostly takes place on a bus and in this truck-stop place.  There aren’t really any subplots.  There’s a little bit of romance but it’s very mild compared to most YA novels.

Ending:  If you’ve read Goosebumps, then you know how this ends.  With a creepy twist.  It’s open-ended and there’s a few questions left unanswered.  I’ll probably buy the sequel when it comes out, since it was still a fun read, but this book is far from perfect.

Book Description:

Out of sight, out of their minds: It’s a school-trip splatter fest and completely not cool when the other kids in her class go all braindead on new girl Bobby.
The day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is, except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue Smitty.

Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other kids stumbling back.
But they’ve changed. And not in a good way. Straight up, they’re zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round and round freakin’ fast, because that’s the only thing keeping Bobby and Smitty from becoming their classmates’ next meal. It’s kill or be killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most definitely gonna be late.

Combining the chill of THE SHINING, the thrill ride of SPEED, the humor of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and the angst of THE BREAKFAST CLUB, Kirsty McKay’s UNDEAD is a bloody mad mash-up, a school-trip splatter-fest, a funny, gory, frighteningly good debut

Rating:  C

This book is great for those who want their zombies young and sarcastic.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher (Netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author

(Picture and bio information borrowed from author’s website)

I grew up in the North East of England, but I don’t sound like it (except when shouting at the footy). Now I live in the North East of the USA, another place full of crazy sports fans with mad accents. In between the two I lived in London – mainly in the North East of London, actually – do we see a pattern here..?

I trained as an actor at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and trod the boards for a few years, then became a producer, running my own touring theatre company. It was during this time that I started writing plays for children and pantomimes, some of which are still being performed today. In fact, if you watched a panto at a school in England any time over the last twelve years, there’s a pretty good chance that I wrote it. (That’s if it was any good. If not, then it was definitely not one of mine.)

In 2008 the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators named me a winner of their search for new writers, and published my work in their inaugural anthology, Undiscovered Voices.

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Book Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Available in audio and hardback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble on September 18th, 2012.  More reviews available on Goodreads.  

Overall:  Very few 400 page books can captivate my attention enough to be read in a single day.  The Raven Boys was so mind-blowing that I refused to let the book down for a moment, because I was so impatient to figure out the end.  I will probably re-read it within the next few months and savor it the second time.  I have rated a few books 5 stars but this is THE best book that I have read this summer.  The story is beautiful and so is the writing.  The descriptions are so vivid and there’s a perfect balance between dialogue and action.  There is no downtime or idle chat.  There’s one fight scene between the boys that is so realistic that I could visualize it play-by-play.  Seriously, the writing is amazing.  One thing I must mention is that if you primarily read books for the romance, this book might not be for you.  Romance is minimum.  After all, Blue can’t even kiss someone without killing ’em.

Characters:  For some reason I pictured Blue as a chick with blue hair – although she actually has “dark” hair – I just couldn’t figure out why a person would name their child Blue.  Weird family.  A very weird family of Psychics.  I liked how each member of Blue’s all female family has a very distinct personality and a purpose in the story.  There actually aren’t any idle characters.  If someone is mentioned in the story, expect to see them again.  I spent most of the novel baffled by Noah (you’ll know what I mean when you read it), but don’t worry he makes sense in the end.  I like how the other POV character, Gansey, isn’t liked by most people because he’s insanely wealthy.  He spends most of his time trying to get people to look past his wealth, while his best friend, Adam, spends all his time trying to hide the fact that he’s pennyless.  I didn’t like Adam initially but I really like how polar opposite he was from Gansey.  The two boys really are entertaining whenever they get together.

Plot:  So, Blue has a curse: if she kisses her true love, he will die.  Because of that the romance in this book is far from instant-love.  I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but I really love how the romance develops and twists in this story – and I’m not a romance fan.  At the beginning of the book, Blue sees Gansey’s apparition.  This means that he will die within a year.  She and her family set out to find the real Gansey to warn him of his impending death.  Gansey, on the other hand, is on a mission to discover the lost tomb of Glendower that he has traced to this small town.  Each character has their own motivations and mini-plots.  I loved the depth in the story, especially considering this is a YA novel.

Ending:  Not all is answered unfortunately, but the author does promise a sequel.  I felt like most of the sub-plots were wrapped up, but one of the main plots is left as a cliffhanger.  I’m hoping to figure out what will happen in the next book, which will be pre-ordered because this one was so awesome.

Summary:

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of theShiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

Grade: A+++

This book is my favorite fantasy read this year.

I won an ARC version of this book from Goodreads.  I will be purchasing a second copy from Amazon to send to my mother’s MG school class.

About the author:

(Information and picture obtained from Goodreads.)

All of Maggie Stiefvater’s life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you’re a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she’s tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She’s made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki.

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Book Review: The Vedeine Sage: Deception by Ashley Strachan

The Vedeine Saga: Deception by Ashley Strachan

Publisher:  Self-published

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Available in ebook format from Amazon.  More reviews available on Goodreads.  

Overall:  I began reading this book in early June and it took me until late August to finish.  I was bitterly reminded of why I didn’t like Twilight – not enough action and too much fluff.  This story could of easily been 4 stars if it were 100 pages shorter.  There’s just too much that happens that doesn’t impact the story.  Actually, strike that.  There’s almost no action.  There’s one scene halfway into the book where Amelia enters the hospital that I found was amazing and intense – and then it slows back down to nothing until near the end of the book.  So what is the fluff – well, I don’t need 3-4 pages of mushy “I love you” “I miss you” back and forth between Robert and Amelia every freaking chapter.  I get it.  They like each other.

Characters:  The author does create a decent cast of characters but there’s one problem – they get along fabulously.  There’s absolutely zero drama and rivalry between the “good guys” and the “bad guy” doesn’t have nearly enough screen time to make up for this.  Amelia and Robert fall in love instantly and I secretly was hoping that Christopher would form a love triangle – but no, Amelia thinks of him as an “elderly” friend.  No possibility for romance between them.  I just don’t get how you can have so many people living in one house without anyone getting upset.  I get irritated at my husband if we spend too much time together and we’re the best of friends most days.

Plot:  Amelia nearly died and some woman saved her, so she becomes this person with super-human abilities (way too many to list).  When she turns 18 she goes to live with other people like her.  She finds out that her transformation wasn’t done properly because that woman had a grudge on Christopher, which I’m not sure how saving Amelia to let her die later is good revenge for someone who hadn’t even met Christopher yet.

Ending:  The ending was probably the best part of the book.  There was more action in the last 20% than the first 80%.  There were a few discrepancies that bothered me.  One thing is that Amelia resembles another character, but when she under disguise, she is mistaken for this other character.  Her “disguise” makes her look less like this other person so I don’t get it.  Basically this is a two star book instead of one star because there is an audience for this type of book.  You have to like purple unicorns and sparkly vampires, but there is an audience.  It is just not me.

Summary:

With such a fine line between good and evil, how can Amelia find her way in a world that she knows so little about?

After a near death experience, nineteen year old Amelia Powell was changed into a Vedeine. A demon.

Leaving the only home she has ever known in Ontario, Canada, she is sent to live with others of her kind, in Portland, Oregon.

Once there, she discovers that things are completely different – absolutely nothing like the woman explained.

And as she uncovers the lies and deception, Amelia begins to truly understand what she has become… and the amazing abilities that she now possesses.

DECEPTION takes you deep into the world of Vedeines (pronounced Ved-EEns), building up the relationships between those in the upper echelon.

Grade: D

This book is good for fans who like books full of romance and paranormal.

I purchased a copy of this book from Amazon.

About the author:

(Information and picture obtained from Goodreads.)

Ashley is an avid science fiction and fantasy fan. If the Stargate system was real, she’d be the first in line to go through-provided there were no Wraith on the other end! (Unless it’s Todd the Wraith)

Born in Canada, she’s lived all over the country, as well as a few places in Europe. Her favourite country was Norway, even with the snow!

Aside from writing, her passions include travel, reading, learning new languages and spending time with her husband and two year old son (who has Sensory Processing Disorder). When she isn’t taking him to Occupational/Feeding Therapy, doing the usual mom and wife stuff, Ashley is on her laptop, typing away.

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Giveaway: Fire on the Island by J.K. Hogan

What’s the hardest thing about character development?

(Guest Post by J.K. Hogan)

Character development is a slippery slope, and I think every author approaches it differently. Probably the hardest part for me is making sure I do my characters justice for the reader. Creating them is easy, I’ve been doing that since I was a child. They just pop into my head and live out their lives—sometimes they talk to me, sometimes I to them. I think writing is the only profession in which that last statement doesn’t make me schizophrenic. But it’s true! With my characters, I know every nuance of their personality before I ever strike a key.

Therein lies the hard part—striking the keys and making sure the reader is going to see what I see when they read about my characters. I’ve got to get Jeremiah to come across as a goofy yet sexy, somewhat nerdy hero—an adventurer with a hidden need for love and family. I need to show the reader that Isla is fiercely independent and afraid to trust anyone, yet deep down she’s so lonely.

Marduk, while a secondary character, was a particularly hard nut to crack. His personality is often a contradiction of itself—as he goes from ancient magical being to just a kid who likes movies, and back again. It’s hard to create that kind of duality and have it read as intentional.

All of the tiny nuances that give a character his essence can be difficult to communicate, especially trying to do so without your own thoughts and feelings coming through. I feel that if I can get all of my characters’ traits across in a way that makes the reader identify with and root for them, then I’ve done my job as a writer. They’re like family to me and I want my readers to love them as much as I do. You can read more about Jeremiah, Isla, Marduk, and all of their friends in Fire on the Island.

Fire of the Island by J.K. Hogan

Publisher:  Sapphire Publishing

Genre: Paranormal Romance

This book released 8/2/12.  You can buy it as an ebook or paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  More reviews available on Goodreads.

Review:

Overall:  I’m so thankful that this paranormal romance has the characters actively doing stuff.  Isla is a tour/mountain climber guide in Scotland and for the majority of the book she actually is involved in her job.  You can tell that she knows what she’s doing with the occasional climber jargon, but it isn’t so over the top than people like me (who have never climbed) can’t follow exactly what is going on.  That said, not only is Isla actively working/rescuing people, there is plenty of magic for those who love a novel jammed packed with paranormal activity.  And for those of you who love romances, there is plenty of that mushy stuff too.  This is an action-packed paranormal romance book with a very lovable cast.

Characters:  The book is based in Scotland and I’m happy to say that although accents from both Scotland and New Orleans appear from several of the characters, it is very minor.  It’s like seasoning to the rich dialogue.  Marduk, our resident wolf-man is pretty awesome.  I liked that I could tell when he was in a scene, even if he didn’t say anything the entire scene…and it still felt like he had a purpose there.  I did have a couple of complaints with the cast, however.  Isla and Jeremiah suffer from instant-love syndrome.  Besides that it felt like the emotions of the characters weren’t raw enough.  They had drama and fights between the characters but they’re quickly resolved.  I wish some of the drama was more drawn out to help me connect with the characters.  I did like Isla’s personality.  She was self-sufficient and had a great sense of humor – not one of those damsel in distressed.  She and Jeremiah (despite the instant-love) felt like they were symmetric and had a healthy, normal relationship:

“What the hell?  How is this warm?  I’ve never heard of any hot springs on Arran.”  

Again, the tinkling laughter sent shivers down his spine.  “There aren’t any,” she said with a mischievous smile.  “What’s the point of being a witch if you can’t make me a little magic every now and then.”

Plot:  Forgive me if it’s sacrilegious to say, but I love the paranormal more than the romance in this genre.  And the action filled plot in Fire on the Island didn’t disappoint.  I give the author extra points for having characters die…and staying dead.  Not only do people die but our heroine is blamed for the deaths because people think she is a witch – well, she is.  I’m not sure if the demon zerg was suppose to be scary – felt more humorous to me because of how easy those things were to kill.  Although there is quite a bit of background information, there are no large blocks of information.  It’s slipped in wonderfully.  The scene between Isla and a certain family member was very well presented.  I was ready to strangle that woman.

Ending:  Although Isla discovers her powers, I like that that isn’t the IWIN button against Alastore.  She is still vunerable and only with the help of both Jeremiah and Marduk can she win.   At the very end, there is a scene between two minor characters that feels cheesy/mushy and all that stuff that romance fans probably drool over.  The actual climax scene doesn’t disappoint – intense and creative.  This isn’t the most awesome book I’ve read this summer, but I definitely became a fan of the author after reading this gem.

Book Description:

“She who wields the mark is the barrier between man and monster.  She is the daughter of gods, the mother of man, protector of all.  Vigilati Usque Ad Mortem”

All Isla Macallen wanted was a simple existence on her little Scottish island, free from hermother’s insanity and the prying eyes of neighbors. What she got was embroiled in a war for thesouls of mankind.  A war of good versus evil, of witches versus demons, and Isla learns that she alone can end it. 

Dr. Jeremiah Rousseau was a self-proclaimed nomad, traveling the world researching paranormal phenomena. He doesn’t expect his research to lead him to Scotland, and to the woman who will turn his world upside down. 

Together with a facetious shapeshifting animal spirit guide, Jeremiah and Isla discover that she is part of an ancient bloodline bred to protect the gateways between the human world and the spiritworld, to keep evil demons from destroying them. They must find the key to defeating Alastore,the demon king, and closing the gate before Samhain, when the veil between the worlds is lifted.  Alastore does everything in his power to eliminate them but, unbeknownst to all of them, Isla isthe only one with the ability to stop him for good.

Rating:  A

This book is a must read for anyone who likes Paranormal Romances.

Click here to enter the giveaway for a free copy of Fire on the Island.

About the Author:

J.K. Hogan has been telling stories for as long as she can remember, beginning with writing cast lists and storylines for her toys growing up. When she finally decided to put pen to paper, magic happened. She is greatly inspired by all kinds of music and often creates a “soundtrack” for her stories as she writes them.

J.K. resides in North Carolina, where she was born and raised. A true southern girl at heart, she lives on a farm with her husband and their three horses, one miniature donkey, one cat, and two champion agility dogs.

In addition to writing, she enjoys training and competing in dog sports, spending time with her large southern family, camping, boating and, of course, reading! Please feel free to visit J.K.’s contact page—she’d love to hear from you!

Find the Author:

Publisher Website  |  Author Website  |  Twitter: @JK_Hogan  |  Facebook

Check out the Tour Schedule HERE.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*

Promo: Savage by Willow Rose

Savage by Willow Rose

Publisher:  Self published

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Date Published: 6/14/12

You can purchase Savage as an ebook or paperback on Amazon.  More reviews are available on Goodreads.  Watch video trailer HERE.

Blurb:

The year is 1983. Christian is 22 years old when he leaves his home in Denmark to spend a year in Florida with a very wealthy family and go to med-school. A joyful night out with friends is shattered by an encounter with a savage predator that changes his life forever. Soon he faces challenges he had never expected. A supernatural gift he has no idea how to embrace. A haunting family in the house next door. A spirit-filled girl who seems to carry all the answers. An ancient secret hidden in the swamps of Florida. One life never the same. One love that becomes an obsession. Two destinies that will be forever entangled.

Savage is a paranormal romance with some language, violence, and sexual situations recommended for ages sixteen and up.

Excerpt:

“So how much do you know about St. Augustine, Chris?”

The woman driving gently touched her elegant yellow hair, careful not to mess it up with her colored nails. She spoke with a strong southern accent and was incredibly beautiful for her age, which I guessed was more than twice my age of twenty-two. Her name was Mrs. Kirk. I had just met her at Orlando Airport for the first time a few minutes before. She was waiting for me holding a sign with my name, Christian Langaa, printed on it.

The year was 1983 and I had recently finished my third year of med school at a university in Denmark. I had just left my country of birth for St. Augustine in Florida.  Leaving Denmark was my father’s idea, really. I guess he thought it was about time I left the nest, so he called in a favor with an old friend of his, an American eye surgeon, to take me in and help me get a year at a medical school “over-there.” I can’t say I was unhappy about it. At that time all kids my age wanted to go to the States where stone-washed jeans and Michael Jackson came from. His latest album “Thriller” had just been released and was played on every radio station all over the world. Like so many else I bought the cassette and played it again and again on my Walkman. Where I came from anything that was American was considered hip and cool. That summer before I left, my friends and I had watched the movie Flashdance that made ripped sweatshirts popular and we loved the TV show Dallas and Dynasty that made everybody wear increasingly oversized shoulder pads – even us guys. We drank lots of Coke and dreamt of watching MTV, which at that time wasn’t something you could do in Europe yet and especially not in my small home-country Denmark, where we only had one national channel on our TV.

The older generation in our country thought we were indifferent to the times we lived in and didn’t understand us at all. They named us the “So what-generation” or the “No future-generation” because they felt like we didn’t care about what went on in the world around us. We weren’t even rebellious. We didn’t have ideals and dreams about changing the world like they had back in ’68. Meanwhile they were terrified of the A-bomb, the Cold War and the communists. While we listened to disco music on our ghetto blasters and danced electric boogie, they fought with a bad economy and the fear of someone deciding to push the big red button, dropping the A-bomb and ending the world as we know it. Not to mention the increasing fear of AIDS that was spreading among people, commonly referred to as the “Gay-Plague” since it was believed back then to be an “epidemic of a rare form of cancer triggered by the lifestyle of some male homosexuals,” as the headline said in one newspaper.

The older generation simply felt like our generation just didn’t care about anything. And maybe they were right. We weren’t that concerned about political affairs and foreign threats. Politics simply didn’t interest us, especially not me. I was fed up with listening to my father talk about politics and war during my upbringing. I was a dreamer not a fighter. You can’t be both. Not in my book. And AIDS? Well, I guess we thought we couldn’t get it since it was a disease for the homosexuals. Plus we were in our twenties. We didn’t think we could die at all.

We ran over a bump and I was rudely jolted out of my reverie.

“Not much,” I answered Mrs. Kirk a little timid. “I know it calls itself the nation’s oldest city. I know it was here Ponce de León came to look for the legendary Fountain of Youth. I know the city of St. Augustine is home to the Fountain of Youth National Archaeological Park, a tribute to the spot where Ponce de León is traditionally said to have landed. Though there is no evidence that the fountain located in the park today is the storied fountain or has any restorative effects, visitors drink the water. The park exhibits native and colonial artifacts to celebrate St. Augustine’s Timucuan and Spanish heritage.”

Mrs. Kirk looked at me with a small impressed smile. “Very well, you have done your homework. Dr. Kirk will be pleased to hear that you have not come unprepared.”

“My dad gave me a book on Florida to read on the plane. I have a photographic memory. I remember things easily. It helps me a lot in school.”

I stared out the window at swamps and what seemed to me like wild-growing brushes and forests. I was desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of an alligator, an animal I had never seen before and of which I had been told you could find in pretty much every waterhole in Florida. I was deeply fascinated by creatures of the wild. By predators of any kind. But as a city boy, I had only seen them behind their bars at the zoo, never in the wild. By now we had passed several waterholes and I had still not seen any to my great disappointment.

It felt like my headband was getting tighter, and I was sweating in my tight jeans and jacket with shoulder-pads and rolled up sleeves. I took the jacket off and put it in my lap. Florida was a lot warmer than I had expected it to be. And a lot more humid, too. I wasn’t used to this kind of heat, coming from a country where we would be lucky to have three weeks of summer. I still remember the feeling when I stepped out of the airplane in Orlando airport for the first time. It felt like someone had taken a winter jacket and swept me in it. Like the air itself was hugging me and welcoming me home. I remember sweating just from walking from the airport to the big black Mercedes that Mrs. Kirk picked me up in.

She cranked up the air conditioning and I soon felt a little cooler. I touched the nice leather seats and suddenly felt so insignificant. Coming from a rich family by Danish standards I was used to some luxury, yet I had never been in a car like this. 

  “Well, maybe you will have to think about losing some of those unruly curls once you become a doctor,” Mrs. Kirk said.

I touched my hair gently. I liked my blond curls and had let them grow past my ears. And I wasn’t the only one who liked them. The girls did too. Along with my deep-set blue eyes, my curls were my finest feature. Why parents and others older than thirty-five insisted they want me to cut them off was beyond me. My dad was the worst. “You look like a savage,” he would say. But I didn’t care. Deciding what I was going to do for a living was one thing, but he wasn’t going to change the way I looked, too.

He was the one who wanted me to go to med school, not me. All I wanted to do was play my acoustic guitar. “But you can’t make a living out of just playing the guitar. You need to grow up, Chris. It is about time,” my father said just before he told me about his plans for me. It wasn’t like he gave me a choice. I was going to take over the family practice. It had always been his dream for me ever since I was a child, so I never questioned it, simply because it would break his heart. I never said no to my father in these matters and I didn’t argue when he told me he was going to send me away for a year, either. Instead, I decided to make the best of it. 

About the author:

Willow Rose writes Paranormal Romance, fantasy and mystery. Originally from Denmark she now lives on Florida’s Space Coast with her husband and two daughters. She is a huge fan of Anne Rice and Isabel Allende. When she is not writing or reading she enjoys to watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

 Learn more about Willow Rose and her books:

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter @madamwillowrose   |  Blog  |  Goodreads

Tour Promo: The Last Degree by Dina Rae

The Last Degree by Dina Rae (Book #1)

Publisher:  Self Published

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Dina Rae

You can purchase this ebook on Amazon for $1.99 today.  The Last Degree will be free September 27th and 28th.   Check out The Last Degree Prequel as well—Be Paranoid Be Prepared!

Last month I did a cover reveal for The Last Degree and today here’s a promo for it.  I, unfortunately, didn’t have the time to read and review, but you can check out reviews at Goodreads or at one of the other stops on this tour.  Reviews for this book make it look amazing so I might have to check it out soon.

Book Description:

The Last Degree is a fictionalized account of how Freemasons and other secret societies set up the world for takeover. Ancient writings foretell a ‘Shining One’ who emerges as the world’s prophet. A murder of a Most Worshipful mason resembles a secret oath. A cop gets too close to solving the crime. Paranoid preppers go underground, preparing for war.

Headlines such as the Norway massacre, meltdown of the European Union, unscrupulous media, animal die-offs, Middle Eastern unrest, and U.S. shrinking power make the plot relevant to present day. This book is an ode to Christians, Birthers, 2012ers, Truthers, preppers, and/or other conspiracy junkies who enjoy Dan Brown, Jesse Ventura, Brad Meltzer, Alex Jones, Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye.

Excerpt:

Dwight took off his crown, signifying he was no longer playing King Solomon.

“Sacrifice is expected for ones that you love.  Do you love me?” Dwight shouted.  “Then bow down before me and offer praise!”

Everyone knelt and laid their head down to the floor, chanting ‘Most Worshipful,

Most Worshipful’ several times before Dwight commanded them to get up.

In a manic energetic state, Dwight vociferated, “Et vitam impendere vero!”  All repeated, with the three new pledges joining in.  Minutes later, he began to calm down.  “To sacrifice life for truth – that is what we must always do!  You must trust me as your Most Worshipful and sacrifice at my command!  Are you prepared to do this?”  All three pledges nodded.

Dwight pulled the content baby out of Arthur’s arms and threw it high into the air.  As the baby began to descend, Dwight took his sword and hacked through its neck, decapitating it before it hit the floor.  Only the three pledges shrieked in horror.  He sinisterly smiled as he picked up the head and body, revealing it was only a doll.

“Don’t believe with your eyes, but believe with your knowledge.  We are his chosen and will soon be exalted.”

The three men looked down at their hands and tried not to scream.  They were covered in blood.

“Sacrifice, my brothers, sacrifice.  I will teach you well.  You are all Chiefs of the Tabernacle!  Let us go and celebrate!” Dwight gleamed.

About the Author:

Dina Rae is a new author here to stay.  As a former teacher, she brings an academic element to her work.  Her two novels, Halo of the Damned and The Last Degree, weave research and suspense throughout the plots.  Her short story, Be Paranoid Be Prepared, is a prequel of sorts to The Last Degree, focusing on the James Martin character.  Dina also freelances for various entertainment blogs.

Dina lives with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs outside of Chicago.  She is a Christian, an avid tennis player, movie buff, and self-proclaimed expert on several conspiracy theories.  When she is not writing, she is reading novels from her favorite authors Dan Brown, Anne Rice, Stephen King, Brad Thor, George R.R. Martin, and Preston & Childs.

Find the Author:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads |  Blog |

Check out the Tour Schedule HERE.

Booking Through Thursday: Discuss

Okay, so it isn’t technically Thursday, but my little one had a fever on Thursday so blogging got put on hold.  I definitely like this meme better than Twitter Thursday, since it requires a lot less time.  Booking Through Thursday asks a random question to bloggers each week.  This week’s question:

Do you like to talk about what you read? Do you have somebody to talk WITH?

I love talking about what I’m reading but I haven’t found any one person to talk with.  I have a good friend who enjoys paranormal romances – and frankly anything romantic.  The last book we talked about was Firelight by Kristen Callihan.  She loves erotic, memoirs, romance, and literary fiction – but I can’t stand that stuff, so she has to talk to her other friends about those genres.  We actually had a book club but all these girls wanted to pick was romance novels.  UGH.

I also converse with my mom for hours on the phone about books.  She is a middle school teacher so every time I read MG (and some YA), I’ll tell her if I like it or not.  If I really like it, I’ll mail her a paperback copy to share with her students.  The last book I mailed her was The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox, but the last book I recommended was The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I haven’t posted my review of this book yet but just know that it’s totally 5 stars.

I haven’t found anyone to share my love of horror stories.  I’m definitely looking for a friend to recommend/share opinions of this genre.