 
| The Right Wrong Number by Barbara Delinsky Genre: Romance |
This was a very cute story, a little creepy in a stalker kind of way though. Two strangers that hit it off after a chance meeting and what they will go through in order to find each other again. While I was aware this was a short story, I wasn't prepared for the fact that more than half of this file was actually an excerpt for another of the author's novels.
4 stars!
| Bonded Law of the Lycans #.5 by Nicky Charles Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Fantasy |
Brandi is just days away from graduating from the Lycan equivalent of college when she finds herself volunteered for a demonstration of basic self defense ... even though she only received a mercy pass in her own self defense class because the instructor felt she had tried her best at least. The icing on the cake of this experience is that she has been crushing on Reno, the instructor, since she first noticed him on campus and is mortified of looking like a fool. Brandi's roommate had offered her up as a sacrifice for this position because she thought it was a perfect opportunity for Brandi to meet Reno. She had no idea just how right she was.
| The Seventh Seal by J. Thorn Book #1 in series Genres: Action Adventure, Dystopia, Thriller |
John is drugged at a Halloween party and awakes days later to both personal and global horrors. Only the fluke - or was it divine intervention? - of his wearing a priest's costume saved his life. Religious zealots have some how taken over the military to kill off the entire population of those it deems as sinful and unworthy as they initiate their own coming of Revelations.
 
| Promise Soul Savers #1 by Kristie Cook Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult |
This book started out really good. The main female character was strong, independent, willfull and had the ability to just keep plodding on, no matter what life threw at her. As a college freshman she was writing her first novel - an adaptation of a strange otherworldly dream or possibly real situation that she encountered.
The book was hard to put down as I craved to know what would happen next and just what type of paranormal creatures Alexis and her mom were - because they obviously are not completely human. Then, IT happens. Alexis falls in love and immediately becomes clingy, needy, whiny, and annoying. The numerous declarations of love are sickeningly sweet and made me roll my eyes. Then let's throw in a "he loves me, he loves me not" scenario just "for fun".
 
| Laughter Really is the Best Medicine by the editors of Reader's Digest Genre: Humor |
From my earliest memories the Laughter is the Best Medicine feature has always been my favorite in the Reader's Digest. Even as a little girl before I had found any interest in the rest of the magazine, I can remember grabbing my great-grandmother's latest issue and reading this feature while visiting her.
I notice that this is not titled The Best of... and rightly so. Some of the jokes contained within are a bit corny, others I had heard before, but there are a few gems included as well that made me chuckle out loud while reading.
The nice thing about having this on my kindle is that I can open it between books and read just a few stories as time allows. Or even on those days when nothing seems to go right and I could use a little humor to my day, I can easily have a humorous story right at my finger tips to brighten up my day a little bit.
I hope that you downloaded this when I first posted March's monthly picks as it is no longer free, but even at it's current price of $3.99* it is worth it.
4 stars!
*This was the current price on Amazon when I wrote this review, but as with all books on Amazon their prices fluctuate often so please double check the price before downloading the book.
 
| The Girl from Long Guyland by Lara Reznik Genres: Mystery, Drama |
This is a story about peer pressure. Laila Levin left for college at the tender age of seventeen. Her first adventure out of the nest allows her to spread her wings and enjoy her freedom. She has always felt a sense of not quite belonging and on the college campus she falls in league with some very hot, but very bad boys. Even twenty-some years later, Laila has a successful career, a loving husband, two grown sons and still finds herself in situations where she is bending to make the popular choice amongst her peers rather than what is in her own best interest.
The book almost begins in the middle. The plot unfolds through flashbacks of Laila's life during college and what is happening in her present day life. When her old college roommate commits suicide, Laila's past and present collide following the revelation of circumstances in the past that lead to the FBI reopening the missing person's case of one of their old friends. This group of five people are the only ones who know what had happened and made a pact to never discuss it again, not even among themselves. Until somebody does talk, and the entire house of cards falls as each person shifts the blame to another and it is all a matter of he said, she said to figure out who was really to blame.
 
| Shot in the Dark by Jennifer Conner Genre: Romance, Suspense, Romantic Suspense |
Devan Burke was the kind of man every woman hates. A player of the worst kind, never open to any attachments or even bothering to stay the night after romantic interludes. When the police detective is injured in the line of duty, his mood darkens even more turning to whiskey and pain killers after a cold-hearted woman shows distaste at his marred flesh from the gun shot wound in his leg. Every night on his way home from the squad room, where he is on desk duty until he can lose the cane that aids him to walk, he stops at the Naughty Latte where he orders a coffee, ogles the bikini clad barista, and over time learns that she is more than a warm body and can actually hold intelligent conversations.
When the coffee shop is broken into within minutes of Devan's leaving it, he feels guilty that he should have been there, or that he should have seen the thief watching the building. He takes Luci, the coffee server, under his wing and into protective custody. Sparks fly between the two when they are unexpectedly thrown together and months of harmless flirting begins to grow into something much more substantial.
 
| Somewhere in Time by Barbara Bretton Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Paranormal, Historical Romance |
Emilie Crosse is a historian who specializes in fashion, making her living mainly as a consultant in movie wardrobe departments. She is thrown for a loop when her ex-husband shows up at her door asking her to authenticate the civil war uniform that has been in his family for generations. After a night of passion, she tries to leave it as a one-night stand but Zane has other ideas. They manage to find their way to a time warp that is worthy of Bermuda Triangle theories and are transported back in time. Emilie feels instantly at home in the era while Zane is out of his element for once. As can be expected, the experience brings them closer as they learn to live within the technologically deprived year they are stuck in and attempt to find their way back home.
| Summer on the Mountain by Rosemarie Naramore Genre: Romance |
Summer loves the outdoors. The closest she has gotten to spending time indulging this passion is a camping trip when she was a child and the landscapes that she hangs at the art gallery that she works at. Gwendolyn, Summer's boss, is not a woodsy person. Not at all. Not one little iota. In honor of Gwendolyn's husband's 65th birthday, they had planned a trip to the family mountain retreat that her husband had grown up in. Gwendolyn botched it badly, not even lasting a week in the rough setting. As a peace offering to her husband, Gwendolyn sends Summer to stay at the cabin, asking her to paint a landscape to remind her husband of his beloved area. Summer jumps at the chance, even though she has suffered from painter's block for close to a year and doesn't actually know anything about surviving in the wild.
A good romance needs conflict. I realize that. All that I normally ask is that this required conflict is more than the often used "he is talking to another female so therefore he MUST be cheating" scenario. This book does deliver that new and fresh conflict. However, I found it really quite stupid. Summer had unknowingly made a mistake, taking the advice of someone she thought was more knowledgeable than herself in woodsy things. She uses this as her excuse for fleeing the mountain, without leaving any word or explanation to the hot mountain man that she had met during her vacation. She convinces herself that she just does not belong in his world and therefore, his life.
| Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Genres: Classic, Romance, Historical Romance |
Before I found Goodreads and their book groups, my daughter and some of our friends had formed a book group on facebook. When picking what we would read next, I was outvoted on this book. I mean, yeah, I'd heard it was good and did want to read it, but Pride and Prejudice was not high on my list of priorities. I was enthralled. Meg Ryan's character had it right in You've Got Mail. While discussing this book she claims that she gets swept away in the language. Our reading group had a very slow pace of only 5 chapters per week, as we all work and have other things going on. I could not put it down after only 5 chapters, there was no way. I snuck ahead to the 6th chapter on that first day of reading. And then just one more chapter. Maybe one more. Several hours later I had finished the book and was starting it over, fully prepared, and wanting to read it a second time - five chapters at a time, with my book group.
Mr. Darcy is a typical English chap of fortune - well bred, well mannered, and tight-lipped. He is assumed to be a pompous boor when actually, he is a bit shy around strangers and not very good at small talk. Some of this is due to his pride. He feels he would have nothing in common with those in a lower social station than himself.
 
| The Night They Nicked St. Nick by Carl Ashmore Genre: Suspense |
Throw some logs on the fire, round up the kids, and read this out loud for the entire family will enjoy it.
Santa has been kidnapped by a big wig toy manufacturer who has been on the naughty list his entire life. People will have to buy his over priced, cheaply made toys if Santa is no longer around to deliver his quality handmade elf masterpieces. That is his theory at any rate.
 
| Married by Chrismas by Scarlett Bailey Genre: Romance |
Anna Carter is a serious control freak. She has lists of lists and is only happy when she is knee deep in color-coordinated post-it notes and highlighters. But it turns out that there is a deep seated reason for this compulsion to try to have a back up plan for every possible contingency that life can throw at her, until the unthinkable happens. A scenario that Anna could never have seen coming pops up less than two weeks before her fairy tale Christmas wedding that she has been planning since she was nine years old.
Personally I found the incredibly needy, clingy and self-reproaching female character very tiring, at first. But as the story dove into her past and the motivations behind her obsessive tendencies, I really couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. With a very crappy childhood, she had hoped to ensure a bright future by carefully planning everything out, step by step.
 
| My Only Wish by Anna Robbins Genre: Romance |
Abby, deciding to be a little bit whimsical and maybe quite a bit desperate, writes a letter to Santa asking for someone to love and share her holiday with. She puts the letter into a bottle and throws into the ocean. It is later found by the multi-millionaire owner of a private investigation firm. Intrigued by her letter, Dylan tracks her down and arranges a seemingly chance meeting. He turns out to be everything that Abby had wished for.
A little sappy, but also kind of cute and funny. One thing that was very refreshing was the lack of jealousy, it can really get annoying when the female character become petty and self-doubting just because the object of her interest dares to talk to another female.
 
| Crossroads Roads by Jeff Kay Genre: Humor |
And I thought my family was crazy! This novel takes a look at the king of all dysfunctional in-laws. Jovis McIntire's wife is the only sane person in her family. When her mother, Sunshine, hits a $234 million lottery jackpot she designs her very own subdivision and offers a custom-built house to each family member along with two million dollars cash. There is a catch of course. If they take the deal, they have to live in this familial subdivision for the remainder of the mother's life. Sunshine is a control freak. Since she is footing the bill, which she makes sure to mention often, the remaining family members are walking on eggshells until the houses are constructed and they receive the deeds to their new homes and the funds promised to them.
This story was a real joy to read. The situations are hilarious and the antics of Jovis's in-laws are horrifying. It is hard to believe that he doesn't go off the deep end immediately with all the drama that is going on around him. It literally had me laughing out loud in many places.
 
| The Awakened by Jason Tesar First book in series Genres:Fantasy, adventure, paranormal, suspense |
The book starts off with a prologue that is obviously modern day as there are helicopters etc. mentioned. The first chapter introduces us to a powerful family living within the Orudan Empire. No date is given but from context it is somewhere within the olden times, they have no technology to speak of. The father, Adair, is a Colonel within the Empire's army and governor of the city of Bastul. While investigating the beating and subsequent murder of an acquaintance, Adair also mysteriously disappears. The Empire gives all of his worldly possessions to his successor, which not only includes his home but his wife and son as well. His wife, Maeryn, is obviously upset over this turns of events. Especially when her new "husband" decides to have her son executed.
The story line is very intriguing and worthwhile to read. I do however have some reservations. As a first book there are just so many unknowns and unexplained events, that I'm not sure I would regard it as a stand alone book. I find it very disappointing that so many authors today would rather split a long story up unto several incomplete books and call it a series than publish one big book. I find this practice quite disheartening. When I spend the time to read a book I want to finish the book with a sense of having enjoyed a story. With some of the series that I have read lately, I have more questions at the end of the first book than had been answered within it's pages.
  | Another Chance by Sandra Cuppett Genre: Romantic Suspense |
Jordan is a beautiful and friendly woman. Both attributes drew the unwanted attention of an unbalanced man. Lambert's delusional mind twisted her kindness into a belief that she also like him as well. When her stalker tried to kidnap/rescue Jordan from her husband, Lambert was the only one of the two men who walked away from the ensuing struggle. After stewing in prison for 5 years, Lambert escaped with only one purpose in mind - making Jordan pay for spurning his feelings.
While the story and plot has great promise, the final confrontation is disappointingly anticlimactic. There are serious and frequent editing errors including incorrect character names, inconsistencies in the plot, awkward sentence structure and odd word substitutions scattered throughout the book.
With some work, this novel could be a good book but in its current form it is my opinion that it unfortunately does not reach its true potential. There characters are well developed but the errors are numerous enough that this book falls flat of it's possible strength.
  | Three Days to Die by John Avery Genres: Mystery, Suspense |
Aaron ran off to avoid his abusive step-father. It was the proverbial jumping out of the pan and into the fire when he arrived at an abandoned building that he and his friend had used as a hide out to find it inhabited by dangerous criminals. He managed to escape but the thugs successfully tracked him down and captured him again.
The next three days of young thirteen year old Aaron's life is full of horror and dread. Prepare for a wild ride of suspense in this fast paced plot full of action.
  | Cowgirl Up! by Caroline Anderson Jones Genre: Romantic Suspense |
I was prepared to criticize that this romantic suspense was a bit top heavy on the romance and light on the suspense. It seemed so cut and dried as to who the culprit was that it didn't seem like much of a challenge but in one final plot twist, I was proved wrong.
Samantha is a gorgeous country vet who has all the cowboys falling at her feet. When she runs into her arch nemesis - the boy who pulled her pigtails in first grade and continued to torture her all through high school - after returning from college she is surprised to find that he has aged like a fine wine. I guess they don't teach cowgirls that when little boys tease and torment little girls, the boys usually have an ulterior motive behind wanting the girls' attention.
 
| Valley of Death, Zombie Trailer Park by William Bebb Genre: Horror |
You can't have halloween without a good zombie story. Whether this book qualifies depends on your definition of good. From a literary stand point, probably not. Generally when an author has a disclaimer apologizing for editing flaws instead of fixing such errors, I don't cut them much slack. However, the introduction to this book showed that the writer possessed an excellent sense of humor so I figured what the heck. The punctuation errors that he warned about were easy enough to ignore, but whole words were missing from sentences.
But if you define a good zombie story based on plot, well zombie plots aren't too complicated. Flesh eating, brain craving undead creatures, and survivors trying to stay that way. Provided the survivors don't do anything too annoying or stupid and at least one does get away, seems to makes for a successful zombie story.
 | Tales from the Woods by Lowell Ellington & Kevin Duffield Genre: Horror |
This pick of the month contains several short stories that were inspired by an actual haunted forest attraction. Both authors had worked as actors and/or creators of the different skits and situations employed by the attraction over the five years that it had been open.
The collective stories cover just about all of the necessary creatures of halloween: zombies, ghosts, unnatural creatures, and the chainsaw wielding maniac. Other than the many editing flaws, this book was very enjoyable and really sets the scene for Halloween.
