I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This is the first time I have read anything by this author.
Synopsis
Murder. Money. Revenge.
Outwardly, Ben Stephens appears to be a normal, hard-working family man. In reality, his life has been in turmoil since the murder of his wife, Alice, seven years ago. The killer was never caught.
Now re-married - to the woman he was having an affair with while still married to Alice - Ben’s life is once again spiralling out of control, and he’s become heavily indebted to an unscrupulous criminal who is baying for Ben’s blood.
When Ben’s estranged twin sister, a police detective, unexpectedly returns to his life, asking too many questions for comfort, it becomes clear that without action, Ben’s life will soon reach a crisis point from which there will be no return.
In order to avoid falling further into the mire, Ben must examine the past if he is to survive the present - but just how much pressure can one man take before he breaks?
I was unsure about the plot of the story when I started to read it. I do have to say though that this is a very fast paced story. It moves very quickly and will keep the attention of most readers. I am just not sure if it was the story for me. I love thrillers, but I did like the 'mobbish' elements to this story. The mystery in the story however, was good, I enjoyed that part of it a lot. Although it was somewhat predictable I did enjoy it for the most part. I found the imagery to be very good in this story as well. It sets the scene up nicely for readers when you can envision things that are happening in the story, like you are living it.
I have to say I did not like the main character of this story at all. I am sure though that it was the authors intention for Ben to be viewed this way. At one point you want to feel bad for him, but then he does something that made me want to kill him myself. He seemed to not be very good control of himself most of the time and seemed to think that he was right in his thinking no matter what. I did enjoyed the female characters a bit more though. They were pretty strong, well developed characters.
This could have easily been a 5 star book had I liked the character, but really he just annoyed me if anything. It also could have easily been a 3 star rating, since I did not like the mob feel to the book, but because of the other elements and the fast paced action it keep my attention well so gets the 4 star rating. I can recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers/mystery. It will keep readers engaged.
I chose this book to cover a challenge in the Read Your E-reader read-a-thon. I was not sure about this book at all since I really don't do all that well with urban fantasy, but I did really enjoy the story quite a bit. I found it interesting for sure. I received this book for free from Amazon and it was definitely worth the read.Synopsis
After her parents and twin brother died a year ago, Lucy Kincaid was determined to put together a normal life for herself. With her heart set on college life, Lucy’s dreams of medical school are dashed when a rabid bear attacks her in the middle of suburbia. When Jens, a handsome yet irritable stranger, saves her life, Lucy’s gratitude is cut short when he abducts her, taking her to a land filled with people and creatures she remembers from bedtime stories she assumed were just Scandinavian folklore.
Jens takes Lucy to a world she never expected, and cannot escape. Undraland is teeming with oversized garden gnomes, warrior elves, Nøkken, Fossegrimens, and worst of all, Sirens. Lucy goes further and further down the rabbit hole until she signs up to join a band of thieves bent on taking down Pesta, the last Siren.
Like I stated in the beginning of this review, I was not real sure about reading this book, but the plot was really intriguing and sucked me in from the start. Readers meet a lot of different magical creatures and such in Undraland. I found that the pacing was exceptional in this story which made the book go really fast for me. It was easy to follow and completely swept me away because it was so engaging. There are a lot of different element in this book for readers to enjoy. Mystery, magic, romance and much more. There is a pretty huge cliffhanger that leaves me wanting more of the story.
I really enjoyed all the characters, my favorite of course being Lucy. She is a pretty strong spirited character and she does not take much from others, she speaks her mind when necessary. Jens, the male protagonist got on my nerves from time to time because he is kind of harsh at times where Lucy is concerned. I think though as you read you understand why he says what he says or does what he does. This is not a book where you take the situation too seriously because it is simply a story IMO. There are several characters in this story and you have to decide who you trust and who you do not and hope for the best. I am on the fence about a couple of characters, so we will see once I continue on with the story.
I chose this book to read for a specific challenge in the Read Your E-reader read-a-thon, which was Trick or Treat challenge, read an e-book would not normally read and hope that it is good. Well this is not normally something I would read so I really did not know what to expect. This is also a new author for me. I was surprised that I enjoyed the book.
SynopsisThere’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.
After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.
Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.
Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.
When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.
The plot of the story was that got me to read this book since it really was something I would not normally read and fit the challenge well. I expected that it would be full of instalove, over the top sex and most certainly a love triangle of some kind, so I was not looking forward to reading it. I was pleasantly surprised that it was none of that. It was a very realistic and believable story. I found that the pacing was great and flowed really well. There were even parts that pulled on my heart strings. I found a part of the "near end" of the story a little predictable but it really did not take away from the story all that much.
I just really enjoyed the characters, they were all developed well throughout the story. I found that Rowen was a very relatable character which made her very realistic. I think that she was probably my favorite character of all of them. Only one thing kind of bugged me about her and that was her always thinking the worse. I know that is part of her character, but it could be toned down just a tad bit. Jesse was also a great character, he was a great match for Rowen, also pretty relatable. There are even characters in this story that we as readers get to hate.
I recommend this book to everyone. If I can read this and enjoy it, I feel like everyone can, so give it a shot. It tells a great story and it is pretty thought provoking.
I read this trilogy to cover a challenge for the Read Your E-reader read-a-thon. The challenge is to read a book about a house. In this case it was a haunted house. This is a first time read for me with this author and I really enjoyed his writing style. I did not read the bonus chapters that were included. They were along the lines of what a novella would be.
Synopsis
For nearly three and a half centuries, the Boylan House has stood at the end of Meeting House Road. And something in that house has been killing boys for centuries.
The town of Monson is a quaint and quiet New England town. Yet the house the Boylan House is terrifying and has been for as long as anyone can remember. Adults put the thing out of mind and ignore the fears of their children, admonishing them to stay away.
Too many boys have vanished into the swamps behind the house. Bodies never recovered. Nothing ever recovered. The families are left with their memories and the disturbing thought that the Boylan House had something to do with it.
Mason Philips knows better than that. He knows that there’s something in the house. Something evil. Something hunting children from time to time.
And Mason has decided that it’s time for the killing to stop.
The plot was great for this trilogy with a story that surrounds a house, The Boylan House. A house that has been responsible for the death of many boys in which the town did not want to believe. What is not to like about that? I love the imagery of this story which brings out the creepiness that I love in a book like this. It was well done. The pacing was also very good, allowing the story to flow really well.
The characters were ok, but I have to say that this was more plot driven than character driven. Not too many characters to have to remember, and the ones that were present were pretty likable. I think that both the protagonists and antagonists are written pretty well. I did not find them particularly relatable, but they were believable.
I am rating this book a 3.5 stars. I think had the characters been a bit more relatable I could have rated this a little higher. Definitely fun and worth the read though if you like to read books about haunted houses.
I was supposed to read this with my grandson Aeverie for Read Your E-reader, but we never got around to it while he was here, so I went ahead and got to it. This is a middle grade book, and it was very fun. It covered several of the challenges for this read-a-thon.
SynopsisOn a sunny autumn day brother and sister James and Mandy head to the pumpkin patch with their friendly dog, Rosco, to choose a pumpkin for Halloween. While riding a hay wagon, visiting a petting zoo, and joining the kids on a scavenger hunt, Rosco sometimes makes mischief. But when the kids find trouble deep inside the corn maze, will Rosco shape up and help out? Join the kids and their rascally dog for fun and adventure in Rosco The Rascal Visits The Pumpkin Patch.
This was a really cute fall/Halloween read that anyone can enjoy. Even on the kindle it did have some really cute illustrations. It had a very fun plotline and some great characters. It was a very fast paced read that was really enjoyable.
I wanted to get this book read since I have had it for a pretty long time, and I had heard pretty good things about it. So I decided to read it for this Year's Spook Season and I still needed a 'G' for the A-Z challenge. I thought it would serve a purpose for me this year so I got it read. I have to say though, this book was just ok for me.
SynopsisAfter the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family...
Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.
Don't let the synopsis fool you like it did me. The first keywords for me to pick up this book were 'grisly murder'. Well I barely even caught that his family was murdered. I even went back and reread that part so I could understand better what had happened and why Bod was in the graveyard in the first place. That part of the story almost just felt kind of nonchalant to me. Like ho hum so what. I was hoping there would much more excitement as the book went on, that there would be a lot of adventures for Bod and I really just did not get that. I do feel like the author is a decent writer, I just don't think this book was for me. It did pick up at the very end of the book, it became a little more exciting, but it was pretty much a page to late.
The characters were pretty good. I liked most of them and they all served a purpose. I remember thinking that Bid has to be a pretty tough character living in a graveyard his whole young life. I never really understood what type of being Silas was though, I did not find that to be very clear, unless of course I missed it. I did like his character though and I found that this book was more character driven than it was plot driven.
All I can say about recommending this book is just pick it up and decide for yourself what you think of it. Maybe it will be more for you than it was for me. I just did not get into it is all. It is definitely directed towards younger audiences as well.
I read this book for one of the challenges for the Read Your E-Reader read-a-thon. It is a great YA paranormal horror story. I love stories about ghosts, and this one sure did fit the bill. So glad I got the chance to read it and I am anxious to continue with the story. For a free kindle book it was definitely worth the read.
SynopsisCherry blossom lipstick: check
Smokey eyes: check
Skinny jeans: check
Dead kid in the mirror: check
For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She’s been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too.
Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. That is until she see’s the ghost of her foster sister… Sally.
Everyone thinks Sally’s just another runaway, but Mattie knows the truth—she’s dead. Murdered. Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can’t do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young policeman, Officer Dan, and together they set out to discover the real truth behind Sally’s disappearance.
Only to find out she’s dealing with a much bigger problem, a serial killer, and she may be the next victim…
Will Mattie be able to find out the truth before the killer finds her?
Wow I loved the plot to this story so much. It had just the right pacing to keep it exciting. I thought that it was so original. I felt like I was in the middle of everything while I read this. The imagery is fantastic, it makes everything feel so real and that is great storytelling. It is chock full of terror and creepiness and is sure to please fans of paranormal horror. No sugar coating anything in this book. There are some pretty disturbing parts in the story, so if you don't like descriptive horror, you may wanna stay away from this one.
The characters are pretty good. I loved all of them for whatever part they were playing. I have to say that I loved Mattie the most. She is snarky and sarcastic, but not to the point of not liking her. She is also very strong and bullheaded. There was one thing that bothered me about her though and that was the way she had to over analyze everything. I know that this is part of her character and I just had to deal with that part of it. Otherwise I think she was fantastic.
I have to recommend this book to anyone who loves paranormal horror, and to those who are looking for good ghost stories for this spook season. I would love to see this as a movie. I think they could do a lot with it and make it amazing. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and I will be looking for them in physical form soon.
