In 1693 Karina Howe was burned as a witch; she and her two sisters Kara and Kenna lived as true witches in Ipswitch, Massachusetts.  Before Karina could be burned alive, however, she cast a powerful spell that launched the souls of herself and her sisters forward through time.  The demon that separated them in 1693 also managed to get caught up in Karina's spell and finds a way every generation to keep one sister separate from the others so their full potential will never be reached.  Presently, in Blackbrook, NY Karina lives as Trin with one of her sisters, Kit and they have spent all of their lives looking for the third sister.  When Caris and her cousin Jason move into town, Trin feels a bond of the sisterhood with them.  The more time Trin spends with Caris and Jason, the more she feels that they are connected, but as their connection grows, an evil shadow seems to tear them apart.

 

This was a quick, fun paranormal romance read.  I really liked the idea that the witches were not truly killed, but their souls carried on through time.  At first the plot seemed very simple to me, Trin and Kit are looking for their sister, and when Caris moves into town everything seems to be solved.  However, when Caris and Jason arrive, another mystery is introduced.  The black shadow that follows them around and seems to deter them from being with one another opens up Trin to her past lives.  I really did enjoy Trin trying to figure out the connection between herself, Kit, Jason and Caris, and when it was finally revealed, I was not expecting it at all.  A dramatic ending tied everything up nicely with a very different outcome for the witches of Salem than anyone would have expected.

 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Maura DeLuca is coming to the end of her Junior year of high school.  Most of her high school career has been uneventful, with no real friends, Maura spends most of her time with her single and very overprotective mother, Caelyn.  That is until, Caelyn informs Maura that they will be moving to Vancouver, Canada at the end of the school year.  Once news of Maura's departure spreads, many of the popular kids want to invite Maura out suddenly.  When Maura's encounter with the popular crowd turns sour, Maura discovers an anger inside her.  Along with it she notices strange changes, something is happening to her teeth, her hair won't stop growing, her aversion to the sun seems worse and she has a craving for raw, bloody, meat.  The one good thing that came out of her Junior year is a new boyfriend, Ron. Ron is perfect in every way.  He is understanding of Maura's changes, and Caelyn even approves, too bad Maura is moving away in a few weeks. Maybe she'll use the time to figure out what is wrong with her.




This was an interesting YA paranormal read.  It does fall into many of the same patterns as some other YA paranormal, but is still engaging.  The first part really grabbed me, Maura seemed like a kindred spirit that I could easily relate to.  The writing easily conveyed Maura's emotional struggle as she dealt with school bullies, her mother's rules and the changes going on within her. The romance with Ron is really sweet and easy, I hope something more develops there.  It also seems that Ron may know more about Maura then she does herself, maybe he is hiding a secret, too.  The one thing that bothered me throughout the book is that once Maura caught on that something was different about herself, her mother did not do a great job reassuring her or just plain telling her what it was.  It is painfully obvious to the reader what is different about Maura, it is also obvious that her mother knows what is happening, but she almost waits until it is too late to reveal it to Maura.  Also,the pacing in the second half of the book, after Maura moves to Vancouver, is a little slow.  The second part alternates between Maura trying to figure out what is wrong with her and missing Ron.  The ending is slightly abrupt as it is revealed to Maura what she truly is; however I still look forward to the next installment to see what Maura does with this knowledge. 




This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

In May of 2000, the planets all of the planets aligned for a spectacular astrological event.  The same day of the alignment, Joel Smith, an adventurous college senior decides to take a detour around some road construction in the Montana Hills and finds an abandoned Gold Mine.  Joel can’t help himself to explore and thinks he hits the jackpot when he finds blue glowing stone in the mine.  On his way out, Joel hits his head, and when he wakes up he finds himself in 1941.  Not knowing how he arrived, how to get back or what to do next with no relevant currency, Joel makes his way to his hometown of Seattle to see if he can survive in a time without cell phones or internet.  His first night in town, Joel helps Tom Carter out of a sticky situation and is rewarded with a place to stay and a job with Tom’s family.  Joel bumbles his way through life in 1941, right before the US enters WWII without messing up the future too much.  Joel’s tasks become much harder when he meets some of Tom’s girlfriends, including the enchanting Grace Vandenberg.    

This time-travel romance had all of the right ingredients: realistic characters, a slow-burn romance, and an intriguing historical plot.  Joel is a perfect reluctant time traveler; he is gorgeous, gracious and gentlemanly, determined not to try and change the time line in one of the most trying times in US history.  The women in the 40’s, particularly Ginny and Grace were amazing, strong, intelligent and just knew that something wasn’t right with Joel.  The time period that Joel was transported to, months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor would not be any easy time for anyone with knowledge of the future.  While this knowledge definitely shook Joel, I admired his actions and difficult decisions that showed the type of man he truly was; especially when the friends that he just made were shipped off to war.  Joel and Grace’s romance was realistic and super sweet; I definitely felt all the emotion that went into each character’s actions.  I was also very surprised at the end, it was not was I saw coming, but great for anyone that loves a happily ever after.  This book is the first of a series and I would love to know where the story goes next!

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.  

Long ago, the Brother's Grimm set about writing their tales on magic paper with a special pen.  The paper brought their stories alive- literally; the characters from each of the fairy tales began appearing in real life, destined to play out their stories over and over again. However, over time all of the characters became corrupted, evil and a menace to society.  A hero emerged, a servant of the Grimm's realized the special pen holds the power to rid the Corrupted characters from Earth.  Now, a new hero is needed.  Alice is a high school student who has the most wonderful boyfriend that she can imagine, Edward.  Edward is handsome, sophisticated, mature, rich and has parents that never seem to be around.  With the end of the school year coming, Alice only has to pass her fencing final and has a volunteer position at the library coming up. In the library basement, she finds an interesting pen in between the pages of The Grimm Fairytales and her adventure as the next hero begins.  Too bad her first mission is to kill Prince Charming.  

I love fairytale retellings and this series of twelve stories about the Grimm's characters coming to life grabbed me right in the beginning.  I loved Alice's character, she absolutely loves books, is into the sport of fencing, and is intelligent.  She also makes realistic decisions for a teenager; I was impressed with her thought process about her friendships, alcohol and sex.  When Alice learns about being a hero, she takes it slow and takes everything in.  The Briar Rabbit as the hero's guide is awesome, I have a feeling that he will be a favorite character of mine in the books to come.  I enjoyed that there were some lesser known fairy tales thrown in here, too; it definitely peaked my interest.  Though I figured out who Prince Charming was right off the bat, this is a pretty awesome young adult fairytale retelling with a great heroine.  I will definitely be working my way through the rest of the episodes.  

This book is free for Kindle on Amazon if you want to check it out. 

200 years ago the Grimm Brothers brought their characters to life, destined to repeat their stories.  The characters have integrated throughout society, but have become more corrupted throughout time.  Alice has emerged as the hero, the one that can return the characters to their pages with the help of the Briar Rabbit. Now that Alice has gotten the hang of the hero business a little better, she has her next targets in her sights, Cinderella and one of the pesky seven dwarfs.  Only, it seems that she is not the only one doing the hunting this time.  

You will definitely have to read Episode #1 in order to be drawn in to this series and understand what is going on here.  Happily Never After picks up shortly after Prince Charming Must Die.  There is a little more action in this episode since Alice returns several characters to their rightful places, some more easily than others. She is growing and becoming more confident in her role, but she still has a ways to go.  I was very pleased that there was a chapter from the Briar Rabbit's point of view, he is a wonderful character and always has something up his sleeve.  The best part of this episode for me was when Alice was attempting to dispatch some shape-shifting siblings.  Now, I really want to go back and read the original of that fairy tale.  Another quick read in the Grimm Chronicles series, up next is Revenge of the Castle Cats.  

This book is free on Kindle Unlimited if you want to check it out!

Alice is becoming more secure in her position as the hero.  This episode takes Alice, Briar Rabbit and her best friend Sam deep into the Grayle’s corporation.  The Grayle’s are several of Snow White’s dwarves that are now prominent businessmen in society.  In addition to banking and real estate, they have developed a phone app game, Castle Cats that everyone is going crazy for.  In true Corrupted style, the Grayle’s have put some subliminal code into their game to sell some more gross candy bars, they’ve also snuck in some code for everyone playing the game to track, photograph and eventually kill Alice. 

This was by far the most exciting episode by far.  Alice, Briar and Seth go on a suspenseful espionage mission deep inside Grayle headquarters.  This really showcased Alice’s intellect, strength and will.  I was glad that Alice was able to find a friend to share her secret with; Seth seems like a character that will grow on me.  Seth is smart and his interest in computer programming is definitely a skill Alice could use, I also see some relationship potential here, but nothing has happened yet.  I loved learning about the fairytale Hans the Hedgehog-another one I had no idea about.  I also though the ending was awesome, it was something different and showed a different side to the Corrupted and Alice.  I can’t wait for more!

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Sixteen year old Hustin loves living in Colorado with his grandparents.  He lives in a cabin he and his friend Russell built with their own hands, collects rainwater to drink and eats fresh fruit and vegetables out of his grandmother’s garden.  Hustin also loves hiking in the mountains.  On one particular hike, Hustin comes across a strange guy sleeping in the forest, he doesn’t speak but seems to understand Hustin, and he is wearing different clothes, and he seems to have webbed hands and black eyes.  Hustin brings the strange guy back to his cabin since he seems a little lost.  Hustin’s friend Tonya is there and can communicate with the guy, whose name is Astol.  They learn that Astol is from another planet, Earth 24 and that they inhabit Earth 5, a planet that has come off the chain of the 28 Earths.  Their time with Astol may be short, but the lessons they learn from one another are life-long.

This was a very imaginative story with great messages, and was just a fun read.  It did take me a few chapters to get into the story; the first few chapters seemed like quick, disjointed anecdotes of Hustin’s childhood.  However, once Astol arrives on the scene the plot flows very smoothly.  I was very interested in Astol’s planet, the chain of Earths and how Earth 5 became unchained.  The science behind the explanations is pretty well thought out and very creative, I’m glad there were illustrations to go along with them, too.  Most of all I liked when Hustin and Tonya had to explain all the little idiosyncrasies of life on Earth 5 to Astol, and when Astol explained how simply things were done on Earth 24.  There were a lot of good things to think about in these conversations, as well as good messages of creativity, innovation and hope.  Earth 5 is appropriate for young adults and enjoyable for adults as well.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

Mel is on the Class-M planet Bay-zar looking for some information about her parents.  As a genuine hu-man Mel is feared and alone. The hu-mans are bringers of war, killers in the eyes of the other species.  Eerl, a Tersic and a collector of all hu-man knowledge strives to help Mel.  Eerl helps her stow away on The Marzipan where none of the other passengers are thrilled about her being on board, especially Zee a Unified Military member with a grudge.  Zee wants nothing more than to send Mel back to the prisoner planet Miral where she escaped from.  Mel and Eerl eventually find what Mel is looking for, but of course, the truth is not at all what either of them expected.  

This was an intriguing and thoughtful space adventure novella.  At first I was a little thrown by the weird southern type accent of Eerl, but I got used to it after a bit.  The world building of the different planets is done very effectively and quickly and I felt like I had a good sense of place for the dusty, cramped marketplace of Bay-zar, the ship The Marzipan and the planet Ryddar.  For a novella Mel and Eerl's characters are fairly complex, I'm glad that I got to know Mel's backstory, but I am still wondering how much of it was true.  Eerl was very interesting to me and I would love to know more about the Tersic and if he ever figured out why a fish didn't need a bicycle.  Also, for a space adventure there were some important themes about prejudice, humanity and war.  With a surprising ending, Class-M Exile makes for a fun, reflective and quick read. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Dark Secrets: Stone Cold Dead
Brothers, Ryan and Beau have made it their mission to hunt down and kill vampires ever since Beau's girlfriend was murdered.  Ryan and Beau find out that they are not the only ones hunting these creatures of the night.  They have been getting help from Anara, another type of creature of the night, one that is cursed.  Anara is a fierce, female warrior.  Anara defeated a few vampires intent on killing two young girls, she promises the girls that she will help take care of them, but her curse makes this impossible.  Determined to help the girls, Anara reveals herself to Ryan.  Ryan and his brother don't quite know if Anara is on the side of good or evil and Anara doesn't quite know if she can trust the brothers with her secrets, but Ryan sure knows that he is quite madly, deeply enamored with Anara, curse or not.  

This was a fun, quick, read reminiscent of Supernatural.  Anara is a strong, kick-ass female character and I would love to know more about her curse and her history.  The brothers compliment one another, Beau serious and thoughtful, Ryan more emotional and laid-back.  Ryan and Anara had a very insta-love connection that got very serious very fast and I didn't know how this developed so quickly with Anara being in her cursed state half the time.  Anyhow, the vampire fighting is full force and done well.  There is still a lot to be explained with the vampires, their pet werewolves and the mystery of why exactly the vampires want with the two young girls.  Hopefully, this will all be part of the next book.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Dark Secrets: Edge of Evil 
Alden Caldwell may be one of the richest men in Boston, but he has a problem.   Other than living as a werewolf since 1150, he has been attached to the demon Juliana, bound to fulfill her every need.  Alden decides that it is time to break this bond.  He goes to see psychologist, Maya Kelbeck, the best of the best to break him from his obsession.  Maya believes that Alden is suffering from obsessions and delusions, she also finds Alden extremely handsome and caring.  After a few late night emergency sessions, Maya learns that Alden’s obsessions might be dangerous and that the delusions are real.  Maya must now deal with the secret underworld of werewolves, vampires, demons and ghosts to save Alden. 

This book focused on a minor character from the first novella, Alden Caldwell and his psychologist, Maya.  Once I learned of Alden’s involvement I was very interested to see where the book would be going.  The story is told from Alden and Maya’s alternating points of view.   Maya’s character was awesome and I enjoyed watching her go from very professional and clinical to open-minded, tough and romantic.  I loved reading about Alden’s history and how he has strived to break free of Juliana.  His memories and backstory help to give context to the paranormal aspects of the story with Juliana, the vampires and pet werewolves.  His past is extremely intriguing and I would love to know more.  His relationship with Maya moves a little fast, but does the trick to help him break his bond with Juliana.  Most of all, I’m glad that Maya found the di Taro brothers and their kids.  Baby is all grown up and ready to rumble, there are hints about what is special about her and what may be to come. There is a lot of action and surprises when Maya and the di Taro’s break into Juliana’s coven.  I was a little disappointed that Anara and Ryan didn’t have a bigger part in this story; hopefully we will pick up their adventures next.  Along with the heartbreaking ending, I can’t wait to see what’s next for Maya, Alden and the di Taro clan. 

This book was received for free in exchange for an honest review.

 

Jack Starling is a 25 year old ex-SEAL  who is having trouble finding a job, needs therapy and plenty of meds to deal with his headaches.  He also hasn’t had any luck with women.  At his therapist request, he hasn’t had any contact with the members of his SEAL team; but, when one of his team goes missing, Jack re-assembles everyone for a dangerous mission.  Jack’s friend, Moon, has been abducted and taken to a secret base in New Mexico.  Some strange things are going on in this base and Jack doesn’t find out exactly what until he meets an even stranger woman.  Cassandra is like no one Jack has ever met before, and for a good reason, she is not from this planet.  Cassandra has insight into the base and the aliens that run it, but what do all the aliens want with Earth?

A quick science fiction read with lots of action, government conspiracy and aliens.  Jack was an awesome character with a ton of great skills and an awesome personality, but is also very realistic to the experience an ex-SEAL might experience.  Cassandra is also engrossing; she is very close to a human and a strong, female warrior of her species.  I was really intrigued by the different alien races, what they are doing on Earth and any possible threat that they might be to humans.  There is a lot to think about with what Jack finds out about the aliens and their purpose. There is a lot of science, technology and politics involved with this, but it is well explained and there is some really cool technology in here.   I do wish the prologue tied into the book a little more, and the end did seem a little rushed with a lot going on, but overall this is a good sci-fi read and great for lovers of Star Trek.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  

Harley lives in the small town of Shadow Pines, where the town lives up to its name; Harley sees detached shadows roaming around the town from time to time.  After Harley’s mom disappears and her dad brings home Amy, her new step-mother, Harley begins slipping.  Harley is getting in trouble at school and can’t seem to shake her abusive boyfriend, Nash.  On her 16th birthday, Harley receives an invitation from the new Curiosity shop in town offering her a free gift.  Three other students that Harley goes to school with receive the same invitation, Teaghan, a loner, Gianna, an active, smart student and Brock, Mr. Perfect.  Everyone receives a strange Shadow Box, they are told that they must trade someone to the Shadows, rendering them non-existent, or a loved one will be taken in their place.  The teens must decide what to do with their new power, will they use it responsibly or will it go to their heads?

This YA urban fantasy had a really interesting concept.  What teen wouldn’t want the power to get rid of their worst enemy?  The story is told through two of the teen’s point of views, Harley and Teaghan.  Each of these girls has their issues, Harley has a step-mom who clearly doesn’t understand teenagers and has plenty of issues with her boyfriend, Teaghan has extreme social anxieties, stutters when she speaks to anyone and has no friends until she and Harley are brought together.  I could identify with some of the issues that each of the teens was going through and it was engaging to see how each of them dealt with the decision they had to make with the Shadow Box.  I was intrigued by the Shadows themselves and the concept of them needing to be kept fed to keep more and more disappearances from happening.  I do wish a little more was explained about some of the other weird things in the town, such as the forced medication, drivers permits only given to those deemed worthy and the fact that no one seems to move out of town.  Also, the prologue and epilogue seemed a little disjointed from the bulk of the story and I wonder if it will be explained in the next book.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.