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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.
  
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Brigid Kemmerer | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
9
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you ever finished a book and just felt bereft afterwards? Unable to figure out what on earth you are supposed to do now? That is how I felt earlier today when I finished A Curse So Dark And Lonely.

Brigid Kemmerer's retelling of Beauty and the Beast is the first in the Curse breaker series but it is nothing short of brilliant. It possibly took me 5 whole minutes to buy book 2: A Heart So Fierce and Broken once I had finished.

Now you may have gathered that I have read my fair share of retellings but this one has teeth! Split between Washington DC and the kingdom of Emberfall this is simply 480 ish pages of tension, angst and gritty violence.

Elements of ACSDAL mirror the traditional fairytale : enchantress, tick; cursed Prince, tick; true love is the only way to break the curse, (sickening) tick. However, this enchantress sticks around for a bit of torture, the cursed Prince is more of a beast than you expect and if the girl does not fall in love with the Prince? Then he has to start all over again!

If that hasn't got you heading for your local bookshop then Brigid Kemmerer also throws in a female protagonist with cerebral palsy, an enemies to lovers relationship and torn loyalties wherever you turn.

Kemmerer's characters are incredibly well developed and really seem to stay with the reader. Harper manages to be simultaneously vulnerable and kick ass; Grey is stoic and loyal, barely ever showing glimpses of his true heart or personality; and Rhen is the epitomy of a cursed Prince. You don't want to like Rhen sometimes but slowly you find yourself rooting for him and, maybe even falling a little bit in love with him.

This is a non-stop story with a fast-paced plot that leaves you guessing until the very end... Only to have you reeling at the epilogue. This is no fairytale and love doesn't always save the day!

Now everyone leave me alone... I'm reading book 2!
  
They Feed
They Feed
Jason Parent | 2018 | Horror
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Jason Parent’s They Feed has been on my radar for quite some time. A few months ago I snagged a galley of it. Things got in the way, but I finally found the time to sit down and straight up devour this title.

Set in Galveston National Park in Kansas, They Feed is the terrifying story of a what goes bump in the night. When a few groups, for completely different reasons, end up stranded in the dark, they quickly find themselves pitted against an unknown enemy that seems almost invincible, and every bit vicious. Can they survive until sunrise?

Let’s face it. When it comes to horror books, characters are dispensable. It’s hard to really get attached to anyone because we expect them to die. Therefore I’m always pleasantly surprised when there’s any amount of character development–and Parent’s stuffed this book with it. We’ve got a loathsome woman that, despite not being able to stand, I found myself cheering for. An angsty, delinquent teenager with redeemable qualities. A former convict. A group of frat boys behaving stupidly. All of these are present in this book, and Parent writes them in a way that had me both loving and hating several of them. (I cheered more than once.)

Plotwise, the book is pretty straightforward. It does switch perspectives, but thankfully it doesn’t alternate between past and present. This made the story flow really well, alongside perfect pacing on Parent’s part. There were also times I found my heart racing as I hoped for certain outcomes, and having that edge-of-your-seat thrill is one of my favorite feelings.

This is the first book I’ve read by Jason Parent, but it definitely won’t be the last. Let me put it this way: I’m even less likely to go camping now than I would have been last week. I’d like to thank NetGalley and Sinister Grin Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

http://theghastlygrimoire.com/2019/02/20/book-review-they-feed-by-jason-parent/
  
This book was provided as a complimentary and signed copy from the author, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to review another piece of writing by this talented author.

The story is told by Bullheaded Black, the horse of Alexander the Great, or Alex as the horse calls him. It covers the basic history of the life and triumphs of Alexander from a young boy and even includes some overarching history to help the reader grasp the overall history of the era and the other ancient peoples involved in the tale.

I have always been taught to be honest, and that is exactly what I will do, I felt this style of writing, at times, oversimplified the history. Now, I think I find that less appealing as I am an avid reader of history books of a much more detailed level, however, for the target audience, I feel it was pitched quite well. The history covered is interestingly put to the reader and is well described in context, which I think helps you absorb more of the history.

It was quite slow to get going, and never really gained a great pace, however I would find this very useful as a classroom text to introduce this era of history to any child over about 7 years old as it is at a level that they could understand. Also, the novelty of using the horse to tell the story is something that I feel would appeal to the intended audience, perhaps a little more than it did to me!

Overall, this is a good book for younger children and teenagers to learn about history in a fun and interesting way. It is written in a very different style to the author's other works I have read, which only goes to show his versatility in writing for the adult and children's market! Despite the apparently low rating, 3 stars means I liked it, and I would recommend it to younger readers, and to my teaching friends who are looking for some interesting historical fiction to assist their own knowledge, and to engage the children in a fantastic era of history.
  
This review and more can be found at my blog https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com

A Romance Reader's Reviews

2.5 stars

This has been borrowed from the Kindle Unlimited library and has been on my "want-to-read-don't-own" shelf on Goodreads for quite a while

This starts with Tate crawling across the garden with her mother as they try to spy on their neighbour, who Tate's mum believes has taken her cat, Amy. They are interrupted by tattooed pretty boy, James, who happens to be their neighbours son. Instant attraction leads to flirting. Flirting leads to lots of hot almost-sex, almost because they keep being interrupted by the residents of the older peoples housing facility where they're visiting their respective parents. They finally do the deed before they both have to head home, only they now know they live in the same city. And of course they end up meeting again.

Before I started this I thought it was more of a new adult type thing with it's older cover but the new one (above) has made it all a bit more mysterious. I wasn't sure what the story was going to be other than a romance so its detailed sex scenes threw me off a bit and after so many, I started skipping them entirely. The romance was already starting to bloom so I wasn't really missing anything.

There's also a secondary storyline involving Tate's family restaurant and someone trying to get her to close it with daily threatening emails and stuff going wrong in the restaurant. When James gets wind of what's been happening he insists on helping her deal with it.

I have to admit that I liked James, quite a lot to be honest. He was a little take-charge and bull headed at times but you could tell he did it because he cared. Tate was far too judgmental at the start and it took me quite a while to warm up to her. She seemed really argumentative at times and somewhat whiny.

I'll admit that towards the end I started skipping bits, starting to lose interest in it. I was mainly waiting for the show down with the bad guy.

Not as good as I wanted it to be.
  
SE
Sinister Entity
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
(This review can also be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.com/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).


I had been craving a good ghost story, so when Sarah from Fae Books recommended Sinister Entity by Hunter Shea, I bought it on Amazon right afterwards. I'm glad I did because it was a fantastic read!

(Now I've read that most readers of review blogs don't like when a blog basically says again what a book is about, so I'm just going to give you a little bit more about what the book is about since it's not just about a doppelganger.) Jessica and Eddie are ghost hunters both with unique abilities. When they get a call from the Leigh family saying that they are seeing their daughter's double, Eddie and Jessica jump at the chance to help. However, the doppelganger is the least of the Leigh's problem. A more sinister force has set its sight on their 16 year old daughter. She is in more danger than anyone could have imagined.

Anything that has the word "entity" in it, I'm loving. I'm a sucker for ghost stories so the title definitely got my attention.

The cover conveys that it's going to be a scary story, but I think the cover could've been a little bit better. I would've liked to see a picture of Selena (the Leigh's daughter) and her doppelganger in a scary setting or something similar.

The world building was done rather well. I've been a part of a ghost hunting team, so I was more critical one it came to that aspect. However, Shea didn't disappoint. Not once did it feel as if the whole scary entity thing was over the top. I can't fault the world building at all. The whole normal family in suburbia thing feels natural and not pushed upon the reader.

The pacing at the beginning was a little slow. I felt that, at the beginning, it was too much info dumping. The book starts off with Jessica investigating another house. I felt like we didn't really need to read about that. The fact that she was a ghost hunter which we are told in the beginning was good enough. Also, we are also introduced to Eddie's special abilities in a university research type setting. I felt like this was a bit overkill. Just let Eddie explain his special abilities throughout the story instead of dumping them on us in the beginning. Saying that, the pacing picked up after the info dump at the beginning. I couldn't put the book down after that. The story continues to flow smoothly throughout the rest of the book.

Even though the plot in this type of story has been done before, I still enjoyed it. I love the doppelganger spin on this type of classic ghost story. I also must mention the plot reminded me of the stories of the late great Richard Laymon. (If you don't know who he is, look him up, and then read some of his novels). I also enjoyed the fact that the plot didn't really have any romance in it which was refreshing.

I enjoyed each of the characters even the sinister entity and Selena's doppelganger. I felt that each character was written exceptionally well. I especially enjoyed how strong of a character Jessica was. I never felt like she was inferior to Eddie just because she is a female. Both characters were just as strong as each other. As for Selena, I could actually feel her fear. I love how the author actually made her come across as a teenage girl. The way Selena acted and spoke were exactly what I imagined someone of her age doing/saying. I felt sorry for Selena throughout most of the book due to what was happening to her. I enjoyed the scenes with her doppelganger immensely, and I never expected the twist to happen. I even enjoyed how evilly the sinister entity was written.

The dialogue was really fun to read as it left me feeling a little bit afraid for everyone in the book. Not once did the dialogue between the characters feel forced. Like the pacing, the dialogue was smooth. As for the language, there are a few bad words when it comes to female and male anatomy, so just be warned if you're not big on that.

Overall, Sinister Entity by Hunter Shea is a very good and spooky ghost story. It has a classic ghost story feel which I enjoyed thoroughly.

I'd recommend this book to all fans of horror aged 17+ due to language used and themes throughout.
  
Rating: 4.5

As an artist, a writer, and a creator, God has left His fingerprints in His work. Look at an eyeball… now look at gold particles. Look at a cabbage leaf… now look at blood vessels. One of my favorite comparisons: The birth of a cell, a nebula in space. A cell is so small… a nebula is so big. Both are small or big to the point that we really can't wrap our minds around how small and big they are… and yet the similarities are striking.

Gordon has created a beautiful book with 40 days of photographs and daily devotions, scripture verses, and some thought provoking questions. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through his thoughts and devotional guides. This book really opened my eyes to what was meant when God said that He had clearly exposed himself in creation, so that man had no excuse.

In Plain Sight was a joy to explore, and left me with a whole new way of looking at God's creation.

Recommendation: This book would be great for a family devotion, a small group, a Bible study, or an individual of any age. I would recommend keeping a notebook to answer the questions, and instead of reading the one verse in the text, read the paragraph or chapter that it came from, for the sake of keeping the verses in context.
  
For Their Child&#039;s Sake
For Their Child's Sake
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sam and Tara have fought the good fight to keep their marriage together. Over a year ago Tara had enough and told Sam he couldn’t come home anymore. His addiction had destroyed their family and she had to protect their child. Sam walked away and into rehab and now wants his family back.

Tara never stopped loving Sam but that doesn’t mean she is ready to just give in and let him back home again. When a playground accident forces them back together again, as a family, will she be able to hold strong to her convictions?

Sam has been waiting for an opportunity to prove to Tara that he is a changed man. Moving back into the house with his 2 favorite girls is just that moment. He will do whatever it takes to prove he is now able to take care of his family the way he should have been all along.

Sam, Tara and Marley navigate their new normal, while trying to put all the pieces of their family back together again. Return to Stonerock in this powerful story that addresses current day situations like addiction and amnesia. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance reader copy, all opinions expressed are my own. Return to Stonerock with this family working on their second chance.
  
Death be Burned (Terra Vane #4)
Death be Burned (Terra Vane #4)
Katie Carys | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
76 of 250
Kindle
Death be Burned ( Terra Vane book 4)
By Katie Carys

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

My name is Terra, and I’m a Psychic. At times I wish I could control my visions; it would make tracking down the remaining nine escapees a lot simpler. That task just got a lot more urgent, as most of the psychos have blasted their way through a portal and are now wandering the streets of Seattle - one of them being a fire djinn intent on revenge following his brother’s recent recapture.

I’m heading after them with my hand-picked team of specialists; among them being my shifter partner who I’m more drawn to every day, and a lust demon who has her eyes set on him too - it’s going to be one hell of a bumpy ride. If we’re not careful, someone’s going to get burned, and with two worlds now on the line the stakes have never been higher.

I really fault these books, I love the writing, the characters and the storyline. Terra absolutely is the perfect female role. I’m still firmly in Kalebs corner of course there just so much tension! my stomach sank at the thought of losing Bernard that is just not an option!! Looking forward to book 5.
  
    World Phone

    World Phone

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    World Phone enables simply the clearest, most reliable voice calls. Make and receive great quality...