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Switched (Trylle, #1)
Amanda Hocking | 2010 | Fiction & Poetry
10
7.8 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
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#1 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2886475888">Switched</a>; - ★★★★★
#1 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3257360720">Torn</a>; - Not Read Yet

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<b>Wendy Everly knew she was different the day her mother tried to kill her…</b>

Her mother told her she has been switched at birth. Unable to fit anywhere, bored and frustrated by her small-town life, she also has to hide her secret - the fact that she can somehow influence people’s decisions, without knowing how or why she does it.

When the dark and handsome Finn shows up at her bedroom window one night, her life changes forever! The secret she has been waiting for has finally been revealed. Finn holds the key to her past and has an answer to her strange ability. He is also about to introduce her to a place she never imagined could exist: Forening, the home of Trylle.

Among the Trylle she is not different, but she is special. But being special also brings danger wherever she goes and with everything around her being new, Finn is the only person she can trust. But will trusting him be enough to stay alive?

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<b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b>

I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Switched, and I need to buy the second book in the series as soon as possible! 

Wendy is a girl that you immediately want to be friends with. Witty, honest and caring, willing to do everything for the people she loves - she is so precious and I wouldn’t let anyone touch her!

Finn - he is the fiction version of my boyfriend… Dark, handsome, brutally honest and his ego can sometimes get in the way. He is a tracker - and his job is to find other people like Wendy, who have special powers. Finn is a sort of a body-guard. And because Wendy is special and the future Queen, she cannot be with anyone that is not the same or similar rank as her. Which means that being with Finn is impossible.

<b>Not allowed.</b>

Frowned upon and could result in banishment for both. Loss of crown type of bad. 

From the first chapter I was into Wendy’s world and this book was so quick to read. I read it in less than a day and it felt too short! It’s a page-turner in every sense of the world. 

The world building as well as the Trylle people were quite interesting and unique. I also loved the fact that even though Wendy and Finn were amazing characters, we met so many other characters, who were also very well portrayed in their own way and all left a mark: Elora, Rhys, Matt, Tove, Rhiannon, Willa… All of them had their own uniqueness, and I can imagine how hard it can be to give life to so many characters in such a small book.

I rooted for Wendy and Finn’s romance, as you can imagine, and I have to say, I was a bit disappointed with the ending. However, I knew that was the right choice for Wendy at the time, and also, it left a great cliff-hanger for the second book, for me to read. I think that in the second book, a few old things will open up again and maybe, this time, the ending will go as I wanted it to go in the first book. 

<b><i>I recommend this book with all my heart to all of you that love fantasy and young-adult romance. You will read it fast and you will fall in love with it even faster. Switched is definitely a book I am adding to my favorites.</i></b>

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Cool for the Summer
Cool for the Summer
Dahlia Adler | 2021 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A simply wonderful book about finding yourself and love
Larissa "Lara" Bogdan has had a crush on one person for her entirety of high school: Chase Harding, the handsome, beloved football quarterback. But it's not until she comes back from a summer at the Outer Banks that he seems to take real notice of Lara. Like, flirting, asking her out notice. Now, she suddenly has everything she's ever wanted. But Lara can't seem to shake her memories of that Outer Banks summer and the girl she spent it with: Jasmine. Those memories come back in full force when Jasmine unexpectedly shows up at Lara's school on the first day and sees Chase flirting with Lara. Lara finally has Chase now. So why can't she stop thinking about Jasmine?

"How do you tell people who've listened to you babble about your crush on a guy for a thousand years that whoops, you spent the summer fooling around with a girl?"

Oh goodness, this was a great book. I'm so jealous there are so many wonderful YA LGTBQIA books out there now, which I would have devoured as a teen, yet incredibly happy too. I absolutely loved Lara as a character. She's sweet and bookish (addicted to romances) and in that stage where she's finding herself and coming out. It's hard not to relate to that. Adler's characters pop onto the pages--Lara, her mother, Jasmine, and Lara's cast of funny, overbearing, and loving friends. And even Chase, who is truly a good guy. (I appreciated that it wasn't "bad guy" versus "good girl" but two good kids, with their own personalities and flaws, whom Lara had to choose from.)

The book is told in a then and now format, starting out with Lara in high school and then flashing back to her summer in the Outer Banks with Jasmine. As someone who has spent some time in the Outer Banks, I loved the beachy setting, and the book just felt fun, summery, and exciting. You could feel the thrill of Lara and Jasmine falling for each other. It's so rare that we get this in our literature, and it brought back memories of my own first love and that fun, scared, happy feeling, along with all that uncertainly of realizing you were feeling these things for another girl. Adler captures it all so perfectly.

"If I somehow got Jasmine back--if I even wanted her back--what would it mean losing when everyone else found out the truth?"

The premise for this book is fascinating and lovely. Lara suddenly has everything she wants: she has pined after Chase for THREE YEARS. She comes back from vacation with a tan, a new haircut, and a newfound confidence (which no one knows the source of) and he suddenly takes notice of her. She should be in heaven--her friends certainly think so. Faced with having to make all these monumental life decisions, to realize whom she loves, and what she is--it's a lot. The book does such an excellent job of portraying bisexuality and the journey of figuring out who who you are. It's very well done, but also funny and witty. All the characters seem real and, for the most part, true to their age.

Overall, I loved this one. It portrays the queer community very well and does an excellent job capturing teens. The story is fun, sweet, and captivating. I feel like it would speak well to teens and adults who remember that spark of falling in love. I have to go read everything else by Adler now... 4.5 stars.
  
TB
The Best Possible Answer
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Viviana is under an immense amount of stress. It's the end of junior year and her future is in the balance. The goal was always to get perfect grades, rock her exams and attend Stanford. Then a distraction, and by distraction I mean boy, sets her off balance. They break up and he does something that sends her world spinning off its axis. Vivi starts having panic attacks and feels that she's not doing anything right in her life. To make it worse, her dad goes on a business trip to Singapore and doesn't come back. She puts every blame and burden on her overworked shoulders.

The characters in the book are very believable and relatable, even if you haven't experienced the same life events that they have. You can feel the friendship between Sammie and Vivi, with all of its ups and down. How much they love each other and do their best to protect one another.

The novel is about believing in yourself, learning to trust and rely on others even when you think you can do it all by yourself, and doing your best. Vivi must learn about herself and realizes that not everything in her life is as it seems.

Highly recommended to teens and young adults who enjoy contemporary ya fiction books about life, loves and high school. (With maybe a little family drama thrown into the mix.) Great, quick, enjoyable read!
  
The Vault Between Spaces
The Vault Between Spaces
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What a story!!
Christian fantasy is a new to me genre this year, and I am loving how each book is so completely different! This book The Vault Between Spaces takes me into a world fighting against evil, people losing faith until hope shows up unexpectedly and a unique way of describing our Creator. I loved getting a glimpse into Chawna Schroeder’s creative and imaginative mind. She used earth elements, music, and faith to tell the story of how much our Creator loves us. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters gradually throughout the whole book. They seemed to grow into themselves as the story progressed, which for me means it’s a story well written.
“You do not stop being what the Creator designed you to be because you no longer do what He created you to do”.
That quote right there is what this book is about. Finding your strengths, learning to listen, having faith, and of course fighting the good fight. Even when life takes unexpected turns, we need to remember that God created us as who we are supposed to be, and that fact will not change just because our circumstances do. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars for the way in which Chawna Schroeder captured my imagination, the great characters, and the overall storyline.
*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
The Wife&#039;s Shadow
The Wife's Shadow
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Every woman has a secret...
From one of Elle magazine's 'authors to watch' comes a suspenseful and emotionally fraught novel about how little we really know the person we marry. For fans of The Affair and Dr Foster.
Everyone admires Suzy and her doll's house life. She has a gorgeous family, a beautiful home and a successful business. But Suzy hasn't always been in control. In her past lies a shadowy tale of fear and instability - a life that she once ran away from, and has hidden from ever since.
When Suzy starts being followed, she fears that her past may finally be catching up with her. And when she finds herself unable to do what to her is the most important thing - keep her loved ones safe - she has to decide how far she'd be willing to go to win everything back.
Even if it means sacrificing everything she knows and loves...

This story is about Suzy a married mum of two who is the breadwinner of the family. Her husband had to leave his job as a police officer as he injured his leg. Her husband Mike has taken on the role of a stay at home dad. Suzy starts finding things subtly left around that relates to her dad. Suzy and her mum fled from due to his violence. Suzy's mum has not long died and Suzy wonders if there is somebody watching her or is it just down to her grieving for her mum.

Imagine a small dream snowballing into an even bigger nightmare! That's what Kath Weeks made happen to Suzy Taylor. Big time!

This book, although it comes under women's fiction, I would say has a thriller edge to it as well. It's a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen on the turn of the next page, it's full of suspense and drama, lies and deceit and definitely had me gripped from beginning to end.

My thanks to Little, Brown and Netgalley for an advanced copy.
  
Altered States (1980)
Altered States (1980)
1980 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Dr. Eddie Jessup is conducting some interesting research using a deprivation chamber. His goal is to better understand the human mind and maybe the psychology of schizophrenia or how the deep unconscious works. He meets a smart female mind and the two have a whirlwind romance which distracts from his research a bit.

He does manage to make a trip to Mexico where he hears about a tribe using a hallucinatory drug which causes some of the same effects he experienced while submerged in his isolation tank back home so he decides to try it. He has massive hallucinations, loses control of his actions and even gives in to his more primal instincts and devours a sheep. When he wakes he only remember bits and pieces of his actions, but is convinced this is the correct road for his research.

Back in the US, he decides to combine both elements of his research including use of the drug and the chamber at the same time to see the results. The results of the combination are not only dangerous to Eddie's psyche and soul, but to his physical human body as well. He performs an unsupervised deprivation experience on his own and experiences an evolution regression back to a primitive homo sapien state which is now loose in the basement of his lab and has to be stopped.

Eddie ultimately has to decide if his estranged family or his research is more important to him and if now it is too late to have them both.

Famed, provocative British director Ken Russell takes on the task of bringing this interesting, colorful and wild film to life. He already had a reputation of helming controversial films like The Devils and Tommy, so maybe this film was a step down from those.

The psychedelic hallucination sequences Eddie experiences while on the drug or in the chamber were so unique, shocking and visceral they were intense but hard to look away from. Images were being edited at such a pace your mind races as you watch them. Eddie's personal journey as a doctor and student of the human mind are fascinating to watch as he struggles with his relationship with his wife and kids at the same time. As he continues his research, he wants to understand what is happening to him, but doesn't want to be inhibited but others' desires.

William Hurt and Blair Brown have good chemistry when together onscreen and you feel her concern as she feels she is losing the man she loves to something she doesn't understand. They both field infidelity in their marriage as he tries to fill the empty space of commitment and she tries in vain to replace with others the man she truly loves.

  
TD
The Dan Diaries
D.D. Marx | 2018
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In the Dan Dairies we get to see Dan’s POV. It in point of view that we see how it is for him and his friend Frank. It mostly the journey of Dan and how he helps his loves one and including Hank.

It starts out with Dan and transition. What he needs to do and help the main man up head and what need to direct one person path to her destiny. Will Dan succeed or will he not? To me this is more a summary of the 3 books that are before this one. It goes over summary of some of the big events that Hank has to deal with and Dan having to convince Hank (Olivia Henry).

Frank is a part of this, with Dan is it mostly about Dan and though his point of view. If you have not read the Beyond Trilogy. This is only the summary of it. This really concludes the series and helps define some of the holes or to see Dan and his view point. If you want the story and details of Olivia and Finn story, you will need to read Beyond Trilogy - books, Beyond Believing, Beyond Love, Beyond Forever.

The author does a really good job of this. She really show the Dan’s life in the afterlife and his point of view well.
  
SF
Shadows from the Past
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Synopsis: ..."It is the price you pay for choosing to be a cop. Your brother's life..." Those words haunt her dreams and her waking moments. LAPD officer, Aurora Kavvan cannot rest until she finds her brothers killer. Digging into the past always brings back unpleasant things: memories, guilt...the hitman. Now she is in a race against time to find the murderer before he finds her. ͞Kill her. I don͛t care how, and I don͛t care where, but I want her dead now! Someone was trying to kill his dead partner͛s sister. FBI agent, Jordan Reiley will stop at nothing to protect the woman he loves. Even if it means going against her wishes; putting himself between her and the man who murdered her brother. Will God keep them alive long enough for them to find the truth?






My Thoughts: This is an action-packed thriller! This is the story of Aurora, has some issues from her past that keep coming back in her dreams, but she won't stop looking for the man who killed her brother.


This book has a clear message that God is there for you, especially in the hard times. That we can't do everything on our own, that we do need to give our troubles to God. It's a book about forgiveness, and not rushing into judgments of other people.


I enjoyed this novel, it was full of adventure, romance, and mystery. It was easy to follow along and the characters were wonderful. Some people may not notice quickly, but the main character Aurora suffers from PTSD; the nightmares, pushing people away all are part of it, and I believe that the author did a wonderful job bringing this forward. I did enjoy that she began to trust again, both in her friends and in God.


This was an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the next books in the series... so look for the upcoming reviews of the shadow series.
  
Music &amp; Dreams (The Road to Rocktoberfest 2023)
Music & Dreams (The Road to Rocktoberfest 2023)
JP Sayle | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
hits spots I didn't know needed hitting!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarain, I was gifted my copy of this book.


This book is part of the Rocktoberfest 2023 series, a multi author series. I haven't read any others, but they are all stand alone reads.


Lorcan is a rock star, high up the food chain. Rogan is his child's nanny slash teacher. Rogan has all the feels for Lorcan, but knows that's crossing boundaries. Lorcan has something for Rogan, but it isn't till there is an accident that Lorcan begins to feel for Rogan.


Sometimes, you need a super low angst book, with some smexy times and some difficult times thrown in. This book delivers on those levels, and it delivers beautifully!


Rogan has crushed on Lorcan from the start of his employment to teach Lorcan's daughter, Amy. Lorcan's feelings weren't so pronounced from the beginning, but having to look after Ro was an eye opener. And when Lor discovers Ro can sing?? The man was a goner!


I loved Lorcan, and Rogan and Amy as a unit. Amy will be a force to be reckoned with, when she gets older! She sees far too much for a little un, but she has a down to earth demeanor that everyone loves. The things she says to make Lor see Ro, REALLY see him, are far too wise!


I didn't find it especially explicit, but its not about that. This book is about seeing what's in front of you, or rather, who. And about Ro getting over his insecurities to finally be able to fulfill his dreams through HIS music, not just everyone else's.


I loved the guys in the band, Tibi and Finlee and I hope they get a story too.


Hitting spots that I really didn't know I needed hitting, and at short notice too, this was a wonderful read!


5 full and shiny stars


*same worded review will appear elsewhere