The Lonely Hearts Club (Southern Charmers, Book 2)
by Sandra Edwards
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Cypress Falls is a sleepy little town in Louisiana, that gave rise to three sisters. The twins, Georgia and Ginger and their older sister Risa. At one time, Georgia and Risa sang together in a local band, but that is all water under the bridge, and food for a long held grudge that probably is being held against the wrong person. Georgia and Ginger now live in LA, and are coming home for Risa's only daughter's wedding. With sibling rivalry, old boyfriends, and lost loves it is bound to be an eventful weekend. The Lonely Hearts Club is the story of three sisters, each lonely in their own ways and for very different reasons. Author Sandra Edwards weaves an old-fashioned tale of younger sister making it big and older sister feeling slighted together with ex's and might-have-beens to form a heart-warming tale of second chances.
The Lonely Hearts Club is the second book in the Southern Charmers series, and who doesn't love a story about some good ole southern men, with looks and charm. As the story develops we learn the long-time grudge between Georgia and Risa is really only one sided, and it is being fueled by someone who uses it to their advantage. Old feelings are rekindled and new romances bloom in the garden and backyard of the south. Author Sandra Edwards does an amazing job making you feel for each character and see their side of things. I found myself wanting to smack certain self-involved characters that were using the sisters for themselves and judy waiting, impatiently for the truth to come out and the sisters to find their place again together. This is a wonderful book, nothing you wouldn't want your teen to read. Great for all ages of readers!
View all my reviews
Baby Girl
by Bette Lee Crosby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed For +Readers' Favorite
Happily ever after is never as easy as the fairy tales make it out to be, and falling in love doesn't mean you have found your ending. Cheryl Ann wants her happily ever after, and she has a plan, to get out of where she is, go to college and be somebody. Even the best laid plans don't go the way you want, when Cheryl Ann's mama refuses to get on board with the dream, she must make some hard choices. When things are going well, and unexpected pregnancy forces her to make choices she never imagined, and those choices lead to twists in her path that she never saw coming. Baby Girl is the story of Cheryl Ann's life and triumph. She has her pitfalls and bumps in the road, but she is determined to make something of herself, better than what she had growing up. Author Bette Lee Crosby weaves this story together in a manner that feels like a huge patchwork quilt. All the pieces and tears in Cheryl Ann's life come together to make something beautiful.
Baby Girl will have you crying along with Cheryl Ann as she makes hard choices, cheering as things go right, and wanting her to find that true love, once in a lifetime kind of love. Author Bette Lee Crosby treats each part of Cheryl Ann's story with respect and dignity, never making any choice or decision feel shameful and building it into a heartfelt story. There are social issues in this book, yet the author deals with them in Cheryl's mindset and they come across as heartfelt and genuine. Even though this a story about Cheryl Ann, from her teens on up through life, I feel this story is a great read for all ages, including teenagers.
View all my reviews
The Darkest Legacy: Hints of Betrayal (Book One Omnibus)
by Jennifer Lynn Catz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed For +Readers' Favorite
Cara is your normal teenage girl, popular, on the dance team at school and an average student. Or at least that is what she has always thought. After a car accident left her in the hospital, she is finally back at school and ready for life to get back to the regular, normal routine but it seems that nothing is going to be normal. Her mom, Maria, seems to be acting weird, paranoid in some ways and then there are these bizarre headaches that knock her flat. One morning Cara wakes up to find nobody home, but that doesn't concern her, she thinks that her sister is at school and Mom at a meeting, until the noisy neighbor comes over and things take a bizarre turn. Turns out her family is kidnapped and she has to find them! The Darkest Legacy: Hints of Betrayal (Book One Omnibus) starts with us getting to know Cara, and at times she is a spoiled brat that has no concept of anyone or anything but herself. As the story progresses we see Cara grow as she learns secret after secret about the world and her own family. Author Jennifer Lynn Catz creates a story of good vs evil, white magic vs dark magic, but weaves it into a coming-of-age, young girl realizing her own worth and losing her brattiness.
The Darkest Legacy: Hints of Betrayal is set to be the first book in a series, and it really is a set up book. Most of the book is background, Cara fighting the neighbor who turns out to be so much more, and creating a context. For someone to have so much responsibility of the future on their shoulders, Cara is not what you would pick as a heroine. In fact, she is probably the opposite and so there is a lot that she must learn and go through, and this first book sets up the transformation that may or may not come in the future. Author Jennifer Lynn Catz gives you a sometimes comical story of a young girl coming to terms with truths she has never thought possible before. It is so well written and engaging that you are through with the book before you realize it. This is a great read for all ages, there is some language but it is typical teenage stuff.
View all my reviews
Dreadlands: Wolf Moon
by Jaimie Engle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
In the lands that Leif Erickson explored and the god Odin blesses there lives a blend of man and ferine, and the half-blood in outcast. Far from the city, in the Outlands, Arud has grown up all his life, wondering why they live in the Outlands instead of the city, but never questioning his parents. Things are changing and the ferine are growing bolder, and so his mother, Vinter decides that it is time that he take his little sister Lykke to the city. It's hard journey and will take them close to three weeks, but his mother is determined that they have to leave and quickly. Arud and Lykke trust in their mother, but this journey will change everything they have ever believed in before now. Dreadlands : Wolf Moon is the story of self-discovery and enlightenment in the journey of Arud. Author Jaimie Engle takes a paranormal/supernatural story and weaves coming of age and self discovery into a wonderful tale that you want to continue reading.
Dreadlands: Wolf Moon is reminiscent of a classic werewolf story in that you have the ferine, but they are much more animalistic. The ferine are an animal that comes out on the full moon, and they are hunters. Don't let that analogy fool you though, this is in no way a werewolf tell, that is just the best way to describe the ferine to someone who hasn't read them yet. Author Jaimie Engle puts her own spin on that animal-shifter idea, places the story in the cold northwest, bring in tells of Vikings and Norse and the god Odin. It is so unique and well written that you read the whole book before you realize what you have done. The battle scenes are not graphic and there is no sex or bad language so I recommend this to readers of all ages.
View all my reviews
The 13th Descent - Book One: The Rosefire Trilogy
by Ky Lehman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Life isn't perfect, in fact far from it since her mom and Nanna died, but Ren thinks it's pretty normal. For a teenager, she has her best friend Mike, school and family, if only Georige Pa would stop drinking. Even though the bizarre deaths of her mom and Nanna, don't have Ren thinking too much, until her Aunt pulls her out of school with the news that her mom is really alive. That alone is enough to turn your world upside down, but follow that with the knowledge that you have lived before, and you have a job to do coupled with the fact that there are people out there wanting you dead. Well, now that is just a little much for a teenager to take in one afternoon. Author Ky Lehman has woven a wonderful tapestry that is the story of the past and present, the battle of good over evil and light over dark. The 13th Descent is the first book in what will become The Rosefire Trilogy, and it starts off with a bang.
The 13th Descent is set to begin The Rosefire Trilogy, and as such you expect to have a lot of background in this book, but the way that author Ky Lehman has written the tale, the background you need comes from the characters themselves, as they remember their past lives, how they worked then and what they are to do now. It doesn't come across as too much, it comes across as part of the story and feels right. By the time you reach the end you are wanting that next book to continue the story, to see what is next because you have gotten to know and like the characters and their connections to each other. This is a good book for readers of all ages, no sex, violence and very little language.
View all my reviews
The Swanhawk
by Alexandra Collard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Have you ever felt the sense of being somewhere or having seen something before even though you know this is the first time you have ever been somewhere? Every wonder about parallel universes and dimensions? The Swanhawk is a unique and wonderful story that takes us into the heart of the idea, through the lives of Gillian and Zoe. Gillian is a prime and proper ballerina, see lives a modest life of dance and longing for a wonderful career but yet suspicious of men in general. If anyone is any different, it would be Zoe, a fun-loving, free spirited wild child who is a singer and writer of music. The only thing that Gillian and Zoe have in common is that they look identical, in fact so much so that the people of St Ives, where Zoe occasionally lives, think Gillian is playing a prank on them. What follows in the twisting and intermingling of their lives through the men that they each fall for Neil and Paul. Author Alexandra Collard fabricates an intricate tapestry of life and relationships, each seeming to play off the other until finally the two, Gillian and Zoe are destined to meet.
The Swanhawk takes place in the recently past times, so it is not hard to understand, but the concept of parallel universes and dimensions becomes so paradox that you aren't sure who to like more Gillian or Zoe. The first part of the book is mostly about Gillian, then Zoe and only in the last third does this paradox start becoming the focal point, and solving the mystery of who belongs and who doesn't takes over. Author Alexandra Collard write an engaging novel of these two women who look alike but take almost completely opposite paths in life. Could they be the same woman just taking a different path in a parallel dimension? Have you ever thought what your life might have been like if you had made a different decision? This is a wonderful story, mostly about two women, that plays on that idea and takes the reader for an incredible journey.
View all my reviews
