Consumed by J.R. Ward 4 ✭

Title:	Consumed
Author:	J.R. Ward
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Series:	Firefighters
Genre:	Romance, Mystery, Suspense
Publish Date:	October 2, 2018
Sold by:	Simon and Schuster
Pages:	416
Ages:	18 +

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Thank you Gallery Books for giving me this ARC copy of consumed. Reading Consumed was like coming home. When you read a book, and you easily enjoy the complexity of each individual character instantly for however brief the introduction you get to them, you know that it is going to be a good series. To me, it felt like meeting a new set of characters with that same quality of the OG Black Dagger Brotherhood characters.  I say OG BDB because I haven't read the last few books and I lost a little interest in them. I want to continue but it isn't high on the list. This makes me not a superfan but a fan. So when I say I have that original feeling of expectation to a great new series, I mean it.

There are a ton of good characters that get some screen time here. It isn't just a story about Anne and Danny, although their story is amazing, you don't have to focus on them. This is a whole crew of people who all have their own life problems. So seeing everyone in this world interact through the rest of the series as it comes out should be really good. They're all relatable in their own ways, and if you can't relate, you understand the character type in general.

One of the things that I really liked was reading J.R. Ward's acknowledgments section in her new book. She wrote about how she worked with police and fire while there were working. It sounds like they gave her some job shadowing time to help her learn more about the careers behind her characters. They answered her questions and got to see their selfless heroism, her words not mine, in action. I think that truly helped her story feel even more real. You get the feeling of pride in what they do, but also that they're regular guys/gals who are just doing their job.

I really recommend Consumed. It is a great beginning to a series. It isn't drawn out building a world or characters, they develop as you go. The cliffhanger is just enough that you want to continue the plot without having to stress out about it until whenever the next one is. I personally appreciate this. I hate when books leave you with more questions than answers. Thankfully this doesn't do that.

 Consumed is slated to release on October 2, 2018. The prices at the time of this review are $12.99 for Kindle, $17.70 for the Hardcover.

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard 4 ✭

Title: Glass Sword

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tales & Folklore

Publish Date: February 9, 2016

Pages: 464

Ages: Teen

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

I am very glad that I decided to continue the Red Queen series. The first book I felt was a little predictable, but it was also the intro to the characters and the world so I wanted to continue. 

When you start Glass Sword you have Mare and Cal being viewed by the country as an evil lying temptress and a murdering prince who killed his own father. All of this is done by the machinations of the Queen, Elara, who has used her whisper abilities to read everyone's minds and control others to her will. She had been hiding some of Mare's antics with the Red Guard to her own benefit to kill the king and exile the firstborn son. Elara is a mental master, and her son Maven is not just her puppet, but her willing accomplice. 

Mare has gone through so much change since the initial moments of Red Queen, it really is like she is stuck between who she was, is, and will be when necessary. The first book she was a thief who had no other skills, that her own family was completely disappointed with. Then they made her into the fake princess, who had to be cold-hearted around everyone. Then they go and kill anyone associated with her so that makes her lockdown. She needs to protect people but she isn't capable enough to do it alone. In Glass Sword that is one of her biggest conflicts with herself. She wants to care and worry about everyone, but she knows from the previous experiences that if she does she will be crushed and broken. So she makes herself emotionally distant from everyone around her. Her personal struggle is very important. You see her at her weakest, her strongest, and how far she is willing to go. 

Another thing is seeing the characters around her and how their opinions of her change. They praise her and raise her to a pedestal, only to then completely turn around and abhor what she has become. And for different side characters, it isn't even in the order. That makes you wonder who knows more than she does, who has also changed during this book, and who is true to Mare or not. I will be honest, I'm still not sure how the next book is going to turn out. Which is a nice change from the predictability of the first book. 

I am currently reading Cruel Crown which is two novellas that you can read additional. I've only started and I think that it is worth it. I got it for $5 and was happy about that. I'm looking to get King's Cage soon I hope. I'm sort of hooked on the cliffhanger of Glass sword at the moment. 

Read below for a free sampling of the start of Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard 
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Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard 3 ✭

Title: Her Dark Half

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen

Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural

Publish Date: February 10. 2015

Pages: 398

Ages: Teen

Rating: ✭✭✭

I think this series has potential. It is definitely part of the trend of the 2015 dystopian book fever, however, it has a little change to it with half of the people, the silver bloods, having powers.

I rated this low because I found the major twist predictable. Overly predictable that when the scene played out I was almost uninterested in that section of the book. I say almost because it does continue at a good pace and I did want to see how it would continue from there.

The characters were pretty interesting throughout and it made me think of each scene "the game is afoot". Just because of the sneaky dealings, or background characters relationships the main character, Mare, isn't aware of.

Romantic interests in this is a little interesting because there are three. Maven who she has some feeling for and it seems like he might truly feel some too. Cal, who is Maven's brother does also and it's clear as day but they can't because of the circumstances they are all in. Lastly, we have the childhood best friend type. The one who she might have ended up with if she didn't meet the prince.

I did like this book enough that I ordered the next book in the series. I want to give it a chance and the storyline itself is pretty good. I really enjoyed the writing and the world building. Especially when you are reading about the different parts of the lands. The silvers live in the wonderful cities and the reds get the dirty towns, or the towns full of radiation.

The second book in the series should be here in a couple days, so I am going to be reading the next book in the series after my current book. 

If you would like to read the beginning of Red Queen, you can check it ou below without leaving the page. 

The Girl Who Saved Ghosts by K.C. Tansley 4 ✭

Title: The Girl Who Saved Ghosts

Author: KC Tansley

Series: The Unbelieveables

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Supernatural, Time Travel

Publish Date: August 1, 2015

Pages: 280

Ages: Teen

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Kat has been in a struggle since they came home from Castle Creighton. She's been constantly hounded by ghosts who are lining up for the chance to get their "reckoning", or their final piece before they can move on. They're lining up waiting to talk to her which is sapping her of all her strength. It leaves her helpless and weakened which is not good because of what fate has in store for them.

There is a great evil in the game now that you could even call the ultimate evil. It's an ancient evil that has been around for centuries. This evil is now after Kat. She gets to adventure to the Langley home and learns more about her family lineage and the lore behind all the families. Which is tough for her since she grew up without knowing anything or anyone from this side of her family, including her father. Going to her families ancestral land is really important because it starts Kat and Evan on a clear path for their futures as the current heirs to two of the four families. I loved the family history part of this. Just the idea of it is fantastic and I can't wait to see how the future books in the series continue.

Of course, since Kat's powers deal with the past, they go into the past again. Just Kat and Evan again, and this time its to get his families relic. A dagger of badassery... I don't want to spoil too much, but I feel like each family has some amazing mystical properties to them. You start to really touch into that in this book when the two begin their training.

I'm dying to know how many books are going to be in the series. The book is written with a good clear path for character development and I am looking forward to seeing them grow. I can say I'm attached to these characters for sure. Not to mention the budding romances and where they are going to go. I was totally like a teenager girl in those two moments that I will not spoil. You'll have to read the book so you can grin like little girl like me. 

I am very thankful for my copy from NetGalley for me to review.

You can preview a sample for yourself below without having to leave the page.

The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts by KC Tansley 5 ✭

Title: The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts

Author: KC Tansley

Series: The Unbelieveables

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Supernatural

Publish Date: August 1, 2015

Pages: 258

Ages: Teen

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

I am convinced that this book could totally be a movie. It can either be really creepy or it could even be made out like one of those CW teen dramas that could easily hook the masses. I received a copy from NetGalley for my unbiased opinion from the publisher. I am seriously hoping that I get approved for the second book in the series which just came out October 2017. It is just so cool. This book did a really great job in combining an unsolved murder mystery, time travel, spells and curses.

Kat is a college student who has done her best to be an unbeliever and she has done a great job at it for eight years. However as she delves deeper in to her research for her professor she starts letting the unbelievables in unwillingly.  She is part of a team of four people who are looking into the mysterious murder and disappearances that happens 129 years ago at a castle. Kat is special because she use to see ghosts as a child and she never had a problem until one tried to possess her eight years ago. Luckily another ghost named Toria helped Kat into no longer believing in ghosts so that she could no longer see them. As the team of students get ready to continue their research by going to the castle, Kat finds out that the ghost that possessed her and the ghost who helped saved her are both people who were at the castle at the time of the murders they're looking into.

Kat and one of her research partners end up falling through a mirror into the past. Right into the bodies of their past ancestors. Their ancestors were key people during the time of the murders that they're looking into. As they live inside their ancestors for a few days shows them how confusing the events really were. You start seeing jealous lovers, people who are a forbidden love, and some loves that wish to be. The castle has its own secret passages to add to the intrigue of who killed the newly weds that lend to generations after being cursed. The curse is basically the first born male in the one of the family lines either dies on their 23rd birthday or if that same son gets married before then, he will die on his wedding night.

This book is written so well that all the events, as chaotic as they can be, flow naturally. It is easy to read and feels super full of story that you don't feel like your rushing through. I would love to continue this series or even see it produced into live action. It is 100% something that I am going to  read because it has one of those cliffhangers that doesn't frustrate you but just makes you more interested.

Final Fall by Heather W. Petty 4 ✭

Title: Final Fall

Author: Heather W. Petty

Series: Lock & Mori

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Romance

Publish Date: November 28, 2017

Pages: 208

Ages: 14 & up

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

I want to be completely honest here. I never read the first two books in the series. Oh my god. Do I wish that I did? Heck yeah. I mean at first, I was totally confused because I had no clue who the perspective was coming from and why they were imprisoned. But you know, you roll with it because it's interesting. This person who is caged in is kind of bad ass and smart. I think when I was halfway through my copy from the publisher is when I had to shop around for the first two books in the series. I am kind of disappointed that this series didn't seem to have the presence in the public that I felt it deserved. I feel like this should have already been on my radar. 

I think this is a great crime solving book for teens and up to read. There are masterminds behind masterminds it seems in this series. That really has made me feel like I have missed out on not reading the first two books. Mori is a strong, smart, and maybe a little crazy. She uses her own brilliance and fierce determination to accomplish her goals. I am not sure if I would call her a role model, but I would definitely agree with aspects of her being admirable. 

I feel like Lock is a key player in this book but in the background. Always there but not. This is mostly a result of the things that have happened in the previous books. I wish that I could have gotten to know his character some more but I was able to get a good feel for his character. I think that this series could still live on with the kind of person Lock is. That would be pretty cool to read. 

If this had been the first book in the series I would have said that it shows promise of a good series and a future with awesome characters. It's the end of the series according to Amazon's blurb, but I am bummed out because I would really be ok for it to continue. I have to read the whole series to get a full feeling for the series as a whole. If I were my pre-teen self, this is a book that I would absolutely enjoy and get hooked into.

Blocked by L.P. Dover 3 ✭

Title: Blocked

Author: L.P. Dover
Series: Breakaway 
Genre: Sports Romance, Mystery & Suspense, Contemporary
Publish Date: October 31, 2017
Pages:  --not listed--
Ages: 18 +
Rating:  ✭✭✭

The tough and gruff cocky goaltender of the Strikers gets blindsided by a hot chick. Dallas Easton is a jerk. I'm being completely honest. At the start of the book he is a total ass and not someone you would be interested in. Obviously, things change over the duration of the story, but the start of his storyline left a bad taste in my mouth. Overall the changes he goes through seem possible but not really believable. Maybe I just can't believe a dominant male who has aggression issues and only cares about banging would switch so effortlessly to a sweet romantic gentleman. I guess what I mean is, if a guy is going to come off as a pig, at least let that core character type last more than the first meet and great with the heroine. Then again, maybe that is more possible than I think it could be.

I did like Callie Davis. She was a very likeable character. She was tough but was still a women with emotions that made you feel for her. She grew up with only brothers so that toughness comes in handy when she skates and plays hockey with them their whole lives. The way the two meet is one of the great points of the story so I won't discuss that because of spoilers, but lets just say that it starts off like a smack in the face.

This book confused me. Sometimes is came across like it was just going to be a short smut book, and then other times if felt like a true contemporary romance. I liked the overall storyline of the book, but I feel like different sections of the book where written when the author was at a different emotional place. Almost like the same person didn't write all of it. It has its flaws but overall the book was likeable, just not a favorite. I will say that this book was not predictable to me. It wasn't the usual story with what events occur. It follows a similar path to most romance books but the problems that pop up for the two were not predictable and that was nice.

This is a good book to read and I think some people may enjoy it more than others. I just wasn't a super fan of Dallas and how quickly his personality changes. I received a FREE copy from the publisher so that I would be able to rad it and offer a review. It won't be published by Loveswept and sold by Random House LLC, until October 31 as a Kindle Edition.

Saving Grace by Aubrey Wynne 4 ✭

Title: Saving Grace

Author: Aubrey Wynne

Series: Enchanted Keepsakes

Genre: Paranormal & Urban Fantasy, Romantic Suspense, Mystery

Publish Date: May 1, 2017 

Pages: 120

Ages: Mature

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Saving Grace is a wonderful start to a new series. Aubrey Wynne has managed to write another book, or in this case a small novella, that will compel you to read the rest of the series. I am becoming a pretty decent fan of the author I would say at this point. She managed in such a short amount of pages to thrill me with some lore, romance, and suspense.

I grew up a military brat, and part of that time was spent in Virginia. Virginia is a wonderful state full of rich history. So having a story with a heroine, Chloe, being haunted by a ghost, Grace, and having legitimate history mixed in with Aubrey Wynne's own story telling is just a treat for me. Also the idea of Chloe seeking out information about what could be happening and a historian falling in love is just super cool to me. This story was written where is was flipping between past and present and is was done great. You are able to follow what is going on pretty easily.

If you would like to read a FREE SAMPLE of Saving Grace, you can below without even leaving the page!

Serial Hottie by Kelly Oram 4 ✭

Title: Serial Hottie

Author: Kelly Oram

Genre: Teen, Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Humor

Publish Date: June 5, 2012

Pages: 405 - Fast read, was able to tackle in seven hours.

Ages: This book is appropriate for a younger age, I would say even 13. 

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Being a fifteen-year-old girl is hard enough when you're a tomboy who plays hockey like one of the guys. Add in a really hot neighbor and first real crush with confusing teenage emotions, and a local serial killer and you have one heck of an amusing story. 

Ellie has seriously always been one of the guys. She is just a normal teen who is only interested in playing hockey. The guys have always treated her like one of them, they tackle her, get into fights with her, she smack talks with them, and dresses like them. Her sister Angela is her older sister and she is the typical girlie girl and doesn't understand Ellie because of how different they are.

Then a hot California boy moved in across the street. Ellie is intrigued by him and she wants to know more. So what does a teenage girl who has no idea how to even begin interacting with boy do? Spy on him from her bedroom window duh. Ellie starts to learn his routine, and when he does his workouts shirtless in his garage. Soon, they meet and things get weird. He's a little obsessive. He likes to tease her and aggressively flirt with her which she has NO clue what to do about. So obviously she runs from him constantly. She is so confused when he even tries to hold her hand because what he makes her feel is so out of the normal from the way other boys have ever made her feel. His aggressiveness begins to freak her out, and when she sees his skills with knives that he can throw with deadly accuracy. She begins to panic at every site of him from both fear and what she doesn't know is desire.

Meanwhile, there is a serial killer on the loose. The murders started around the time that Seth moved into town. The "Saturday Night Slasher" is what the media calls the killer who is killing girls that look identical to Ellie. One is almost a perfect doppelganger for Ellie. So murder on the loose, a knife wielding neighbor with is obsessed with Ellie, and Ellie's new emotions and feeling lead to an amusing adventure.

This book is available as a FREE read from Kindle Unlimited.

Read a free preview of the book below, without leaving the page!

Don't Worry, You'll Be Safe by Edwin Dasso 4 ✭

Title: Don't Worry, You'll Be Safe
Author: Edwin Dasso
Series: Jack Bass Black Cloud Chronicles book four
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Medical
Publish Date: June 4, 2015
Pages: 232
Ages: Mature

Jack Bass goes on another adventure hunting a murder ring in this fourth book in the series. I really liked this book and the things it brings to your attention. The characters are interesting, and Jack's background has you sucked right in even if you never read the other books.

Jack has had a really difficult past. He discovers his love child after his wife and unborn baby die. It just sounds crazy and shocking. Since he now has his daughter, he is very protective and what he can to protect her. Losing one child and not wanting to lose the other guides him.

This is by FAR one of the best medical mystery books I have read. I've read a handful and none have really caught the true feel to me of a medical thriller. This does it. This is a solid read for sure. This book also calls attention to our many Veterans and the state they are left in. It goes into PTSD which is a very personal topic for me so I would recommend this book for those aspects alone.

If you have Kindle Unlimited you can read this book for free! 

Check below for a free preview read that you don't even have to leave the page for!

Chronological list of all the books in the series:

1. In the Line of Ire
2. Past Aghast
3. Death Management
4. Don't Worry, You'll Be Safe

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine 5 ✭

Stillhouse Lake is a horrific story for any mother to read and imagine herself as the main character. Gwen, aka Gina Royal, was once married to a murderer. She was labeled as "Melvin's Little Helper" but she was acquitted at her trial. The problem with the internet is that people can read into, and believe whatever they want. So she has been trying her damnedest to protect her two children from the people who send death threats. These people are sick as hell and think that punishing Gwen and her kids would be some sort of vigilante right they get. 

As a parent, this can be horrific to think about. People sending you death threats to you and your pre-teen/teen children. Gwen has become very militant in their family procedure. They pick up and move at any sign of complications. They don't trust anyone or anything even. Even police, knocks on doors, and even the mail are not trusted things. So to grill this paranoia into the reader, the beginning of this book can feel a little repetitive and slow. 

Even though it has a slow beginning it does pick up. It seems like all at once everything is changing. The family emotions are changing, they're feeling more at peace, and maybe even normal. They are beginning to trust people and then things turn. A body is found mutilated and missing skin just like her ex-husband use to leave around. Most of the town believes its Gwen or her family and from there on out it becomes a steady pace to the end of the book.

Check out a preview sample right here without even leaving the page.

This is book one in the Stillhouse Lake series by Rachel Caine. I decided that I absolutely had to pick this book up not only because it was a Kindle Firsts read but also because I am a fan of Rachel Caine's writing. I have read a handful of her books before. So I had to get while the gettins is good. The next book in the series is Killman Creek.You can pre-order the sequel to the series which will be released December 12, 2017. How about that? A book you can read and the sequel isn't a year away!

Hidden by Kendra Elliot 3 ✭

This is the first book in the Bone Secrets Series by Kendra Elliot. It is a total of a six book series.Lacey Campbell is a former gymnast and the survivor of the Co-ed Killer. Lacey's testimony was the one that put him away in jail. Now eleven years later she is a forensic odontologist, which means she looks at teether and bones. So in the beginning of this book, it is truly devastating when she is inspecting a set of teeth at a homicide and realizes that she knows whom they belong to while they are just sitting in the palm of her hand. They belong to her best friend Suzanne who went missing when they were both attacked by the Co-ed Killer.

Jack Harper is a former cop who now runs his families business. He is seen as a rich "playboy" but thankfully the book doesn't focus on this like a lot of other books where the millionaire playboy is the main love interest. Suzanne's body was discovered on one of his properties. What makes this even more puzzling is that he was one of the cops on the case all those eleven years ago.

This book has many perspectives and sometimes it jumps a little weird. The best way that I can explain it is that they needed to cut down on the size of the book and just cut whole paragraphs of descriptive scene changes. That is the ONLY reason why it is rated so low and that may just be my personal take on the writing and my comprehension of these scene changes. I hope that I am not judging this too harshly because of my personal comprehension issues, but that's just how I felt.

This is an amazing book if it wasn't for that. The characters points of view are written great. It makes you think about who could be the killer many different times. Not only does it give you Jack and Lacey's view but it also shows you the killers perspective, one of the cops on the current case, and even Lacey's report ex-boyfriend/ best friend. I really enjoy mysteries that make you guess along while you read. It's the kind of thing that you have to take a break to really think, did they give me enough clues to figure it out for myself.

Click below to read a free preview without 
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I borrowed this book for FREE using my Prime Reading, but you can also borrow a copy for free using Kindle Unlimited. Prime Reading is free if you already pay for Amazon Prime and it is like a lite version of what you can get with a Kindle Unlimited Subscription. Now that I am done with the #sellout mode, haha. 

Manroot by Anne Steinberg 4 ✭

I bought this book on Amazon for the great price of $0.99. I just want to start off by saying that this book is very dark. There may even be things that might offend some people. It really depends on your personal preference. However, I did keep reading no matter what I came up to. Goodreads.com has it listed as 320 pages which usually seems short but this book is very descriptive and it can seem longer. I don't usually mind descriptive books because then you can visualize the world it is in better. You're able to feel the eerie mysteriousness of the whole book.

Katherine is born with mystic healing and an affinity for herbalism which she gets from her mothers' heritage. Her father is a drunk Irishman, and her mother was a Navajo Indian. Her father is sick. He actually rapes his own daughter, eww. Who knows, this takes place in the time of the great depression I guess, who knows what kind of sickos there were. Take it as you want. Anyways, they end up in this town in Missouri, which is where her father abandons her at the Inn she is working at.

This book was spooky and interesting too. I like the spiritual side or the traditions that come across when you are reading. The book follows Katherine during her lifetime and her twins, which is personally weird for me because my mother was a twin until recently. I liked Katherine as a character. Then there were other times where I was so frustrated or emotional. It probably has nothing to do with the character herself, but more so about the things that happen to her or the circumstances of the situation.

If you enjoy reading a book about a different time, and a different world, then this could be the book for you. It's listed at a good price for $0.99 so I just bought it. However it is also a Kindle Unlimited read, so you can pick it up for free here. 

Click below for a free preview

Buried Threads by Kaylin Mcfarren 5 ✭

I received a free copy of this book for an unbiased review. But honestly, if this book had been talked about more in online groups or a top Amazon rating I would have picked this up anyways. I LOVED the intensity this book brought. Action, lust, ups, and downs are all there. The cover is unique and beautiful. Not that you should pick a book by its cover. 

Rachel and Chase are treasure hunters, but that might be the only normal basic part of this story. There are monks, cursed swords, Yakuza and Geisha. You get multiple characters points of view and it isn't jumbled or crazy. You can follow it and get a clear idea and understanding of the character.

Honestly, I am probably going to read this book again soon. It is so different than most of the other types of books out there. It's a whole new culture and atmosphere to read about. I believe people should give this a shot. Let's put it this way... I am going to be picking up the first and third books in the series.

You can click below to read a free preview or you can click the link to go straight to Amazon.com. The book is currently listed as $3.99 at the time of the post.

Literary Awards as found listed on the author's website:

• 2014 Chanticleer Steamy Action - 1st Place
• 2014 Readers' Favorite - Gold Medal in the Fiction - Adventure category
• 2014 Global Ebook Awards - Gold Medal Adult Fiction Category
• 2014 Global Ebook Awards - Bronze Medal Best Book Trailer Category
• 2014 eLit Awards Gold Medal, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
• 2014 eLit Awards Silver Medal, Best Book Trailer
• 2014 CLUE Awards First Place in Steamy/Action/Thriller
• 2014 National Indie Excellence Book Awards - Finalist, Best Cover Design
• 2014 Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award - Finalist, Action & Adventure (Adult Fiction)
• 2014 Reader Views Reviewers Choice Awards -1st Place for Romance
• 2014 Pacific Book Awards - 1st Place Adventure
• 2014 Winter, Great Beginnings Contest, Paranormal (Mystery), Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media - 1st Place