BOUND by C. K. Bryant – Dark C.A.R.M.A Blog Tour

 Posted by  Blog Tours, Book Reviews, Shanda's Reviews, Special Features
Nov 172011
 

Bound (The Crystor #1)

Author: C.K. Bryant

Publisher: Dragonfly Press

Published Date: October 2011

Paperback/Kindle/E-book; 398 pages

Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal

Reviewed by: Shanda

FTC FYI: I received a free e-book copy in exchange for an honest review

Back cover:

When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive.

BOUND is a heroic tale of true friendship, infinite sacrifice and untamed love.

Find out how you can enter to win prizes galore during the Dark C.A.R.M.A. Blog Tour below.

BOUND begins with Kira and Lydia in gym class on a seemingly ordinary day. By the weekend, though, everything has changed and the reader is swept quickly into a fast-moving tale that involves characters who aren’t what they seem and a history that belongs to another world.

I was pulled quickly into the story and it held my attention easily. I was interested in the history of Lydia and Octavion and I’m looking forward to learning more about their world. It looks like book two will take place on Ophira so readers will have the opportunity to learn more about Lydia and Octavion’s home world.

I liked seeing the growth of Kira throughout the book from an unwanted, unloved and abandoned child to a strong young woman who won’t give up without a fight. Lydia was fascinating with her own internal struggle balancing two spirits. Octavion was a little frustrating for me, at least at first. As the dangerous, even ferocious, young prince of another world at times he felt a little cliche, but by the end of the story he was really growing on me.

I know I’m invested in a story if I get to the end and keep flipping pages as if more story will magically appear. BROKEN, book two in The Crystor series, is scheduled to be released in Spring of 2012.

BOUND is an interesting story that left me wanting more. Readers who like to read YA Fantasy and YA Paranormal will enjoy BOUND.

Content: A few incidents of swearing limited to “he–” and one occurrence of “a–“; kissing but nothing too graphic; a bad guy attacks a main character and touches her breast but is stopped.

 

To purchase an autographed copy of BOUND by C.K. Bryant visit the author’s website here.

The Kindle version of BOUND can be purchased here.

To enter to win one of several prizes, including a grand prize, visit the Dark C.A.R.M.A. website.

Have you read BOUND? Tell me what you think of the hunky hero Octavion!

Marian’s Christmas Wish by Clara Kelly–Blog Tour

 Posted by  Blog Tours, Book Reviews, Mindy's Reviews
Nov 162011
 

Marian’s Christmas Wish

Author: Carla Kelly

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Published: September 2011

Paperback: 304 pages

ISBN13: 9781599559537

Genre: Regency Romance

FTC FYI: I received my copy from NetGalley with approval from publisher

Reviewed by Mindy

Goodreads summary:  “Miss Marian Wynswich is a rather unconventional young lady. She plays chess, reads Greek, and is as educated as any young man. And she’s certain falling in love is a ridiculous endeavor and vows never to do such a thing. But everything changes when she receives a Christmas visit from someone unexpected— a young and handsome English lord.”

Marian’s brother Percy is coming home for Christmas.  He surprises everyone by bringing two suitors.  The pompous Sir William who is the intended one for Ariadne, Marian’s older sister.  Although she has eyes for the town vicar, who is as poor as a church mouse.  The second is Gilbert Collinwood, Lord Ingraham.  Marian (or Mare, as her family calls her) swears that romance is not for her.  This is the first Christmas since her father’s death, which has left the family deeply in debt with his precarious ways.  There is even talk of the Wynswich family having to sell their estate to pay off the debt.

The Wynswich family has a Christmas tradition making a Christmas pudding, and while stirring it, a wish is made in your heart.  One that you can not repeat. In her mind Marian’s wish is that Gilbert Collinwood will have the best Christmas.  Gil also makes a wish of his own.

Marian’s mother, Lady Wynswich is overly dramatic and judgmental.  It is these actions, one day, that send Marian to check on her newly born kittens, Lord Ingraham goes with her.  They talk and Marian finds herself in easy conversation.  He keeps telling her to stop calling him “Lord Ingraham”, so she settles on Gil. Gilbert has a scar on his face, and Marian in her animal loving ways has made a healing salve, which she applies to his face.  Right away, I think, Gil starts to think well of Marian.

Marian is such an enjoyable character.  I really liked her.  Many times she had me smiling.  She is smart, well-read, witty, and has a lot of spunk (even for the time period that it is set).  This story takes place in the Napolean era.  Eventually goes in a direction I wasn’t expecting, but really enjoyed. There are many surprises that were exciting and kept me wondering.  It’s a well written book, with a very sweet ending.  I loved the changes in some characters too.

4 out of 5 stars.  Read more about Carla Kelly and her many books here. Follow Cedar Fort on Twitter and Facebook.


Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett–Blog Tour

 Posted by  Blog Tours, Book Reviews, Mindy's Reviews
Nov 122011
 

Geek Girl

Author: Cindy C. Bennett

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Expected Publish Date: December 2011

ISBN13: 9781453663318

FTC FYI: I got my copy from NetGalley

Reviewed by Mindy

“”Think I could turn that boy bad?”

My two best friends–my only two friends, really–Ella and Beth follow my gaze and laugh.  We’re sitting on the outskirts of the cafeteria, outcasts physcially and socially.  We’re proud of this.  We strive for this.

“Trevor Hoffman?” Beth scoffs.  “No way, Jen.”

“I bet I can,” I say, chewing a painted black nail as I gaze at my intended target.

“No way,” they both agree.

I look at Trevor Hoffman and my grin widens.  He is such a nerdy, goody two-shoes.  Kinda cute actually, but with his shirt always buttoned to the top, a straight-A student who all of the teachers adore.  He’s the junior class something or other, not the president but one of the other officers.  He’s a little different than the other geeks in that he’s sort of . . . cool geek, I guess.  No glasses, asthmatic wheezing, or too-short pants for him.  But he’s firmly entrenched with the geek squad, a nerd to the core himself.

“I bet I could,” I say shrugging.  “Might be fun.”” (page 1)

Jen takes on the challenge of turning Trevor bad, if she is successful, Ella and Beth will pay for her lip to be pierced.  Currently Jen is in a foster home that doesn’t allow piercings.  She’s not worried because she expects to be gone from there soon.  The girls go to the school stomp that night and Jen immediately finds Trevor and asks him to dance.  In his geeky ways, he thanks her for the dance and she turns away. Dork.

At school, Jen continues to flirt, always watching and smiling at him.  After a couple weeks of this,  Jen asks Trevor to a party.  He has plans already, but asks Jen if she wants to come over and watch movies with him and some friends.  She agrees.  After, they continue doing things together.  Trevor takes her with him to the senior center where he volunteers, their families meet up at the bowling alley, and even go camping together.

Jen is a great character.  She’s very snarky and snide at times, but after hanging out with Trevor a lot, they start to like each other and she start to slowly change.  I enjoyed the way the author showed their growing relationship, and the subtle changes that Jen takes in her appearance and attitude towards her foster family soften her up.  Jen had a rough start in life, and needs to come to terms with scary things.  My favorite was Trevor, he may have been a geek in her eyes, but I thought he was just a great kid.  I thought the book was well written and I really felt sorry for what awful stuff Jen had to endure growing up.  I loved the many science fiction references.  Lots of my favs were mentioned: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, X Files…

4 out of 5 stars.  Cindy Bennett wrote Heart on a Chain that was released last year.  Read more about the author here. Friend her on Facebook, and Like Geek Girl’s Facebook page.  Follow on Twitter.

Thanks to Cedar Fort for allowing me to part of this Blog Tour.


The Kissing Tree by Prudence Bice–Blog Tour

 Posted by  Blog Tours, Book Reviews, Mindy's Reviews
Nov 092011
 

The Kissing Tree

Author: Prudence Bice

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Expected Publish Date: December 8, 2011

ISBN13: 9781599559360

Genre: Romance Fiction

FTC FYI: I received a copy from NetGalley

Reviewed by Mindy

Goodreads summary: “After five long years, Georgiana McLaughlin returns to the only place she’s ever considered home—the same place she stole a kiss from Ridge Carson under the community “kissing tree.” But this time he’s a man, and reconciling their past is just the beginning.”

After stealing a kiss from Ridge under the town’s “kissing tree”, Georgie leaves town.  Her family has suffered a tragedy and her mother thinks that a month in New York will be good for everyone.   Little does Georgie know, her cruel aunt Cecelia has other plans for her and her family.  She stays away for five years, returning to Colorado only to help her dear Irish grandfather after her grandmother passes away.  Georgie’s entire stay in New York wasn’t all terrible.  She went to a finishing school that she enjoyed, and caught the eye of young man who wants to marry her.  After arriving in Colorado, she immediately sees Ridge, and while letting her Irish temper flare, he can’t get enough of her.  Georgie left behind a dear friend Samantha as well.  Has too much time passed, or will Georgie be able to make things right?

I enjoyed this book immensely.  It was so well written.  I really enjoyed the point of view changes.  I liked seeing the way different characters saw the same situation.  The author did a great job of using flashbacks to tell the story too.  Each character has a history that is vital to the plot, and I never felt the flashbacks took me away from the story.  Georgie, of course, was my favorite.  Her Irish temper had me smiling.  I loved Ridge too.  Don’t you just love that name?  The Kissing Tree is a clean, romance that will have you laughing and crying, especially when you learn the truth about Georgie’s father.

5 out of 5 stars.  Read more reviews of The Kissing Tree blog tour here.  Follow Cedar Fort on twitter and facebook. Read more about Prudence Bice here.

The Alias by Mandi Tucker Slack – Blog Tour

 Posted by  Blog Tours, Book Reviews, Shanda's Reviews, Special Features
Oct 132011
 

The Alias

Author: Mandi Tucker Slack

Publisher: Bonneville (Cedar Fort)

Published Date: May 2011

Softcover; 204 pages

Genre: Mystery-Suspense

Reviewed by: Shanda

FTC FYI: free review copy in exchange for an honest review

Summary (from Goodreads):

After a long and difficult divorce, Jacey thinks the worst is over. Little does she know she’ll soon be forced to go undercover to protect her family, and in the process, she’ll risk losing her identity, her future, and her heart. With a lightning pace, a good dose of humor, and a plot that’s full of suspense, this thrilling novel is an edge-of-your-seat read.

I really like they way the cityscape and landscape from the two main locations are blended together on the front cover. It caught my eye. The story caught my attention as well, and I had no problem turning pages because I wanted to see what would happen. I believe this is the author’s debut novel, and if so, she did a great job on her first published novel.

I liked the main characters and the relationship between Jacey and her son, Blaze. I despised John, her ex-husband, though at times his character felt a tad bit cliche. The writing is good with a nice flow and the suspense was effective. The climax near the end in the woods was very well done. I found it gripping and was swept up in the emotion between mother and son. I also enjoyed the relationship between Grant and Blaze.

Those who like a little romance with their suspense won’t be disappointed. I wasn’t sure how to take Kale at first, but soon caught on as to why he was acting the way he was toward Jacey.

At about 200 pages, The Alias is a fairly quick read and held my attention until the end.

There were only a few things that came up that I might have changed. Using the name Blaze for the boy was distracting to me. It is different enough from the other characters’ names that it stuck out to me and pulled me from the story a bit. The next thing could be considered a ***SPOILER*** so if you have read the book or don’t care about spoilers, click and drag to highlight the text below to read it. If you hate spoilers, then don’t. :)

There was good romantic tension throughout the first part of Jacey and Kale’s developing relationship, but I was disappointed in the lack of kisses. There was one small kiss at the field office, but that was all. When they said those three wonderful words and became engaged at the end, there wasn’t even a hug. I know this is a mainly a suspense novel but considering the amount of focus on Kale and Jacey’s budding romance in the last half of the novel, it would have been nice to have a bit more lip-locking (clean, of course). That’s just my preference, though.

I found The Alias to be an enjoyable read and give it 3.5 stars out of 5. I look forward to reading more of Mandi’s novels in the future.

The Alias can be purchased at Amazon. The Kindle edition is nicely priced at $3.99.

 

The Key of Kilenya by Andrea Pearson — Blog Tour

 Posted by  Blog Tours, Book Reviews, Mindy's Reviews
Oct 122011
 

The Key of Kilenya

Author: Andrea Pearson

Self Published

Released: June 2011

ISBN: 9781463671839

Softcover: 296 pages

FTC FYI: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewed by Mindy

Smashwords Summary:  “When two vicious wolves chase fourteen-year-old Jacob Clark down a path from our world into another, his life is forever changed. He has no idea they have been sent by the Lorkon—evil, immortal beings who are jealous of powers he doesn’t know he possesses—powers they desire to control.

The inhabitants of the new world desperately need Jacob’s help in recovering a magical key that was stolen by the Lorkon and is somehow linked to him. If he helps them, his life will be at risk. But if he chooses not to help them, both our world and theirs will be in danger. The Lorkon will stop at nothing to unleash the power of the key—and Jacob’s special abilities.”

Jacob Clark is very good at basketball.  He is excited and anxious for try-outs the next day.  Jacob knows he will make the team, and hopes it jump starts an NBA career.  His sister Amberly is playing in the sandbox, and his older brother Matt and him just finished a quick shoot out.  Jacob thinks he saw something in the bushes, but pays it no mind, until Amberly starts screaming.  The boys rush over and see a huge black wolf towering over their little sister.  Jacob takes off after them, while yelling at Matt to get Amberly in the house.  He runs and runs and winds up in a place he doesn’t recognize.  Being chased by weird looking creatures, and meeting strange people is just the start of his journey.  Jacob is asked to find the stolen Key of Kilenya from the evil Lorkon.  He isn’t sure he wants to.  What about his family?  What about his future?  All that won’t matter if the Lorkon use the key for evil purposes.

The Key of Kilenya struck my interest and got me excited about the story from page one.  I appreciate a great fantasy book that I can pass onto my kids without hesitation.  I love this unique world that the author creates.  I also love the inventive character names.  They are clever and imaginative.  My personal favorites were Early and September, little fairy like creatures called Minyas.  Another cool thing about the story is the magic that the Makalos have.  It’s called Rezend, and it can many cool things.  Even Jacob has special powers of his own.  He just needs to figure out what it is, and hopefully before it’s too late.

Along his journey Jacob meets Aloren.  A girl in need of help herself.  Jacob isn’t sure about her when they first meet, and has a very funny discussion with himself about her.

He glanced at Aloren again–she was still smiling.  What could be so interesting and funny it was making her smile still?  Or, maybe her face never relaxed–maybe it was frozen in a smile.  He almost stopped walking as this thought occurred to him.  Maybe she had a muscular disorder that made her face look like that.  Jacob made a mental note to check to see what her face looked like while she was sleeping.  He almost laughed out loud when this thought formed in his mind, realizing how awkward it would be if she woke up with him in her sleeping area.  He could only imagine what he’d say. “Uh, I’m checking to see if you have a muscle problem in your face that makes you smile all the time.”…

4 out of 5 stars.  This book very enjoyable and is an action packed adventure story for all readers.  The Key of Kilenya is available on Smashwords for FREE! Find it here.  The sequel The Ember Gods was released in September of this year.  Find that here.

Read more about Andrea Pearson with this link.


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