Category: Reviews



Love and Cola Wars
Love and Cola Wars by Heidi Loney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: This ebook was a gift from the author for an honest review.

If I were a teen this would probably be getting a much higher rating. Even so, I would say this rates a 3.5 star rating. So I rounded it up.

What was good? The book didn’t get mired down in the angst that a lot of YA romance novels do. What worries presented were not hormonal but rather more about life lessons and growth of characters. I liked that we got to see the romance from several points of view. Parents and their own problems were included. There was even a little sister who was given worth beyond being cute. Bravo! The main characters were both strong in their own right yet flawed making them realistic. The story was good. There were a few plot threads so as to keep it all interesting. And I felt I learned something. The terms and play of fencing as a sport was explained while not getting bogged down in detail.

What was bad? Not much, actually. As I’m thinking about this I feel it is my own age that prevented me from immersing in the story as a reader should. Oh, and assumption that Coke is number one. I prefer Diet Pepsi!

Conclusion? If you like Young Adult Romance, this is a book for you.

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Rowena and the Dark Lord
Rowena and the Dark Lord by Melodie Campbell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review will be for ASIN: B00CIZZS70

Disclaimer: I was gifted this Kindle book for an honest review by the author. Thank you!!

I love the Rowena books! This is the second one. The first was Rowena Through the Wall. And the magic is that the wall at the back of the classroom that Rowena teaches in, leads to another land far less advanced in culture than 2013 Arizona. It is a land where magic can still be used. And women are nonexistent due to a curse. So when Rowena appears the men fall over themselves to own her.

But this review is for book two. Rowena is now pregnant with one of the men’s baby. She is able to use magic in this faraway land but finds she must visit Arizona once in a while. Due to things that happened in the previous book, Rowena is blessed and cursed to have even more modern people involved in this wall travel. Whew!

I love how Melodie Campbell is able to make both worlds seem very real. I love the characters and animals that are part of Rowena’s life on either side of the wall. And the plot is spot on. So exciting!

Book two doesn’t leave you with a cliffhanger, but there is a chapter for book three at the end of book two. Darn! Now I can’t wait to read that one! Great job, Ms. Campbell!

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Review: World After


World After
World After by Susan Ee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was another book to keep me up until 3 in the morning. This series is so exciting! It involves so much action that from the beginning, in book one, until now the end of book two, one is caught up in the story. Susan Ee’s writing keeps you captured in her world.

It was so long ago that I read the first book that I was a little worried that I would have to go back and read book one again to remember all that had happened but Ms. Ee does a marvelous job reacquainting the reader with ‘World Before’and ‘World During’ that it all flows quite well as we step into ‘World After’.

Book one had us meeting Penryn, her little crippled sister, and their mentally ill mother. The world was hard enough for poor Penryn to live in then the Angels and Demons decided to cause the apocalypse. Survival was the theme in both of these books. But there is a minor (?) romance between Penryn and an angel.

This book continues the survival, fighting, and romance. Penryn is quite the character and struggles to help her family and the other humans to survive. She learns to use the angel’s sword and tries to save everyone. She is quite spunky and able to hold her own no matter what.

I was about a third of the way in the Kindle version of the book when I realized that I had the Audible version of the book that I had purchased a while back. I must admit that the narrator, Caitlin Davies, was able to read the story exactly how I had been hearing it in my head. What is nice about having the audio version is you get to hear how the names should be pronounced. In this case I had been calling Raffe ‘RAF’ with a long ‘A’ sound and silent ‘e’. Apparently it is ‘Rawffa’. Sounds a lot better the right way, I must admit!

Though almost all threads have been tied up, and the ending is sweet, there is enough to let me know there will be more. Yay! I do really enjoy this series. Oh, and those who don’t believe in angels demons or the bible will still enjoy this series as a fantasy. I recommend it to all for a fun adventure.

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Review: Dire Blood


Dire Blood
Dire Blood by S.M. Reine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t know what I can say about this book that I haven’t about the series in general. Each book has been non-stop action. I can’t stop reading long enough to write another review. Except this one. I haven’t bought the next book yet. I have used up my book allowance for this paycheck. But you can bet I will in the next few days!

Ms. Reine knows how to write in a way that keeps the reader engaged and wondering what will happen next. All her characters are realistic and interesting. Her main characters are strong yet flawed enough to make us believe.

I hope this isn’t a spoiler but something happens in this book that we have been waiting for since the beginning. Are you curious? Check out Six Moon Summer (Seasons of the Moon #1) and keep reading all the wonderful stories that S.M Reine shares. Wonder if I will ever catch up reading this prolific writer’s work!

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Damnation Marked
Damnation Marked by S.M. Reine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve done it again! Grrrr! Ever get done with one book in a series and without stopping to do a review, jump right in and read the next book? Well, that’s what I did. Now I am 80% into book five and I can’t remember book four. But that should give you a bit of an idea about how well I liked the book. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen to the characters.

This book didn’t end with a cliffhanger, by the way. One could very well let it go and read the next book when they can. But Reno and Tahoe were left in a big mess. I am afraid to go downtown now as I am sure I will see it all apocalyptic and ruined! That is the fun of these books for me. The author has included landmarks around here and has hell take over. And it is during the snows so reading it in the right season helps to add to the allure.

Elise, the main character is a strong person often too strong for her own good but we do get to see her insecurities and weaknesses. She has a good support system around her but often chooses the role as protector rather than put her friends/family in the way of danger. She’s sassy and fun.

The problem I had with this book is the same I had with the last one, the jumping back and forth in time. If you read on the Kindle, especially using text-to-speech the sections go by and it is easy to get lost. I think asterisks would help to signify a new point of view or scene, especially when many of the sections contain the same people just earlier or much later.

Still, this is a fun series, and I feel I must continue reading until I catch up with Sara’s stories. What an imagination!

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Review: Downgrade


Downgrade
Downgrade by Jacqueline Patricks
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was gifted this short story for honest review.

First of all, I was rather disappointed that this was so short with no resolution. With all the CSI type shows out there this would only be the opening scene. Castle would have asked a lot more questions. But I suppose that the paramedic doesn’t get involved in the suicide/murder question. Their job is pronounce the victim or save the victim. So… in that aspect it was a realistic depiction.

Second, I don’t read bloody, smelly stories. Not if I can help it. To the author’s credit, she did an excellent job describing all the sensations one might feel, smell, taste, see, or hear in this kind of scene making it immediately accessible to the reader. That is what we are taught to do as writers. But in this case… TMI? I suppose if you are into these kinds of stories this would be perfect. For me… I think I will go get a breath of fresh air and dive into another sci-fi or fantasy.

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Shadow of the Sun
Shadow of the Sun by Laura Kreitzer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three stars means I liked this book. Was it a favorite? Sorry, no. It had a lot of interesting ideas that were unique, but the follow-through wasn’t there, unless, of course that comes in book two or three.

I liked that the main character was a well-educated lady with lots of smarts. At first, though, I didn’t much like her as she was snotty to her helper. Later that falls by the wayside as the character development reveals someone who does have a heart.

There was a lot of repetition of feelings and information. And it wasn’t long before this genius person, the strong person becomes the fainter, the whiner. And worst of all she becomes the boy-crazy teen. That was too bad as I wanted to like her.

Though fairly well-written, the Tablet/Fire version of this book was hard to read as the font was too light. Thank goodness I was able to read it on my Second Generation Kindle with text-to-speech. I did notice that my edition of the book is no longer available, but there is still a free version for Kindle at the moment. Maybe the font issue has been dealt with. Try it. Maybe you will like it better than I did.

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Basic Drawing Technique: The How-to Guide
Basic Drawing Technique: The How-to Guide by Dr. Vook
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was one of my first Kindle books. It seemed like a great idea at the time. The only thing I can think of to say is, what if you were only able to talk to your art teacher on the phone. Not Skype, just landline type phone. There would be no illustrations to show how it is done. That is how this book attempts to teach art. Just words. There wasn’t even a passion from the teacher. Just deadpan instructions. Boring.

When I was in high school, I thought all the teachers felt sorry for me. That was why I got A’s in art and music. Then they decided I was so advanced that I was placed in senior lever art while only a freshman. That might have worked for me had the teacher actually taught. Instead, he wrote on the chalkboard all the notes we were to copy down. The notebook was to be the grade in this class. ART!!! When I brought home the note that said I was failing this class my mom went through the roof. She made me stay after school every day to catch up with that notebook. I didn’t fail that class but I did learn a lot about my abilities and lack thereof. I had no problems with creativity. I was not good at taking notes, even when they were spelled out in front of me.

This book brought that nightmare to mind. I am glad I got it for free. I can’t imagine spending $2.99 for this non-art book.

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Review: Visible


Visible
Visible by Cidney Swanson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, that’s sad. I am officially out of Cidney Swanson books to read. This was such a fun romp. After finishing all the Saving Mars I could find, I decided to read this fourth book of the Rippler series. This one was from the best friend, Gwen’s point of view. That caught me off guard at first. I hadn’t read the rest of the series for a while so I felt I missed something. But after reading reviews and blurbs I finally got back on track and enjoyed the rest of the book.

This story is more fantasy, though, I suppose there is an element of science here, it felt much more the fairy-tale. In fact, you will find a few fairy-tales retold in this book that were very apropos to the plot and characters. Speaking of plot and characters, Ms. Swanson did her usual believable, lovable characters in an enchanting, exciting story.

For me, Visible wasn’t as fun as the space sci-fi of Mars, but the Rippler series does offer enough adventure to help me ease back to other books and stories. Visible is aimed at young adult. Saving Mars didn’t feel dedicated to one group or another. Oh, and though there wasn’t a cliffhanger and all plot strings were clean up, there was enough left that should she decide to, Cidney could write more to this series. I look forward to reading more!

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Striking Mars
Striking Mars by Cidney Swanson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the best sci-fi series I have ever read. Lots of space travel and well researched situations to keep the reader engaged. Check out my reviews on the previous four books to feel my glow. I am so excited that there is going to be yet one more book that I totally turned ‘Fan Girl’. As soon as I finished reading this book last night I wrote to the author to gush and beg for the next one. Gosh, I can’t wait to read six. It is supposed to be out this Spring, yet another reason I want Winter to LEAVE!

Once again, I am so impressed with the main character Jess and her autistic (?) hacker brother, Ethan. There is a lot of enjoying time on Mars through the family left there, time on Earth, and even time on the Moon. It was just so much fun!

Please do yourself a favor and grab the triology for $2.99 Then enjoy a great adventure. Then follow up with the science links that Ms. Swanson puts in the back of the book. It is worth every penny!

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