Second Sight (Haunts for Sale, Book 2)
by Kat Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
Sloane is a paranormal real estate agent, confirming that houses are haunted by gentle spirits for potential buyers, and business has been booming ever since Sloane solved the case of the missing women in a small town that turned out to be the work of a serial killer. Sloane will be the first to tell you she got in a little over her head on that one, but she is glad its over and she would prefer not to have anymore like that. When her best friend asks her to look into a house for an old friend, she agrees, but this ends up being way more than she bargained for. Second Sight is a well written, well developed story that will pull you in and have you reading until the last page. Author Kat Green, which is actually the collaboration of two authors, is twice as nice.
Second Sight is the second book in the Haunts for Sale series by the author team of Kat Green. This is part paranormal, ghost hunter book and part mystery and sleuth book. Either way you think of the series, you find yourself drawn into the book and wanting to find out what is going on. Enjoying the history you find and the past as well and the recent things going on to case the ghost activity. For the most part I would recommend it for adult readers but I would say that most older teens would be fine with the series as well, but that is up to the parents.
View all my reviews
First Contact (Haunts for Sale, Book 1)
by Kat Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite.
One day Sloane had it all, a job she loved, a great best friend and she was going to marry the man of her dreams, then, in the blink of an eye everything shattered. A car crash took her fiancé Michael from her and she didn't think she could go on. Now, as a paranormal real estate agent, she has been searching haunted houses for a year looking to make contact with Michael. She's in a small town in the middle of nowhere, the last place she would expect to find him, but find him she does, and not only him but a house full of ghosts. These ghosts are in pain, the last moments of their lives where horrific and they are forced to relive them over and over again in this house. Sloane is determined to set them free, only problem is she has no idea how to do that. First Contact is a well written and developed story of a young adult woman who has a sensitivity to the spirit world and can sense their presence. At the same time it is a mystery story of a serial killer who has escaped notice for years and Sloane's desire to bring him to justice. Author Kat Green has written a book that will keep you glued to the story until the last page.
First Contact is the first book in a new series by author Kat Green called Haunts for Sale. Sloane is a paranormal real estate agent, which means she is sensitive to the spirit world and can sense the presence of spirits in a house and whether they are kind or maleficent. Because you know there is a whole market for people wanting to buy haunted houses these days. Most of her work are with gentle spirits just hanging out where they have always been, but not this job. Sloane walks into something she has no clue about. This is a page turner, but there are some topics with the whole serial killer that might offend some readers, so I would recommend it only to adult readers, just to be on the safe side.
View all my reviews
From Beneath
by Stormy White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
Things were shaping up to be a good summer, in spite of the unexpected suicide of her good friend, for Mae. She was going to spend it with her grandson Andy while his parents were away for research, and she was looking forward to this time. When Janie called to let her know that her friend had left her a small parcel of land in her will, Mae was surprised but willing to go with it. Visiting the land ended up being much more of an adventure than anyone could have ever predicted. Janie ended up taking the other lawyer in her practice Craig's niece with her, and before it was all over the four of them; Janie, Craig's niece, Mae and Andy would travel halfway around the world without even realizing it. From Beneath is a complex tale of another species in conflict with humans but without humans even realizing they exist. Author Stormy White has developed a multilayered tale that involves a number of stories intertwined within each other and each one only revealing half the story and not until all the parts are revealed together is the whole story able to be put together.
From Beneath is part science fiction in that is involves another species besides the human race, but at the same time it seems more fantasy or paranormal than true science fiction. It is well written and complex, in that there are a number of different storylines going on at the same time, and a number of different complex relationships and dialogues going on, and each one plays a part in the story, but until the very end when they are all put together you can't see exactly what is going on in the different storylines that affects the others. There is no sex or violence in the story, although there is some drugging and dependency going on in the story, but it is overall a very clean story that I would have no problem recommended to readers of any age. It is definitely one of those books that will make you think about life and your own impact on the world after reading.
View all my reviews
Evil Stalks the Night
by Kathryn Meyer Griffith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorites
Sarah has a large family, seven kids in all, but live is only good or a short time before something evil appears in the woods near her home. Sarah has the ability to recognize but no one else does because she comes from a long line of women with a gift, or curse. She is able to receive visions which to her has been as much a curse as it has been a gift. The evil that moved into the woods seems to focus on Sarah's family, and she doesn't understand why, even the visions that she has showing her the past, she is unable to understand and connect to her family until the very end. She is sure that the evil wants her and that to get rid of it, she would have to sacrifice herself. Evil Stalks the Night is a complex tale of unleashing evil and it following a person through lives taking its revenge over and over again. Author Kathryn Meyer Griffith weaves a well developed and multilayered story that is complex and compelling.
While Evil Stalks the Night focus on the evil and Sarah, there is also her brother Jimmy, who she is very close to that plays a big part in the story. The more the story goes on, the more you realize that Jimmy has more and more to do with the evil. Even her younger brother Charlie, who had his own problems in life, turns out to be a help in death. The things you think about people aren't always what you think they are and they surprise you in the end. Author Kathryn Meyer Griffith has written a detailed, complex and well developed story. Although there is no sex in the book there are a number of deaths, and although they are not described in detail, they are inferred to be quite gory. Therefore I would probably recommend this to adult readers.
View all my reviews
Witches
by Kathryn Meyer Griffith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
Amanda is a white witch, meaning that she works night nature to help people, but there are others in the world that have trade their favors with evil and use dark magic for bad purposes. Always have been and always will be, power corrupts people. In the area there is a cult killing people and trying to gain power, and Amanda should be focusing on them, but grief over the death of her husband in a car accident has caught her unaware. Amanda is finally finding her feet and coming back to the land of the living and getting ready to move on, when the cult starts targeting her, leaving messages for her when they kill making the local people want to run her out of town. At the same time, the spirit of a witch put to death for practicing her craft is trying to get Amanda to help her find peace, and Amanda is sure there is something wrong with her request. Even though they haven't always been close, Amanda turns to her sister, who in turn ends up being her biggest help in figuring out the mysteries. Witches is a well thought out and complex story of righting past wrongs done to innocent people and making things right, while at the same time putting the evil-doers away. Author Kathryn Meyer Griffith has woven past and present together into a wonderful story that makes you believe in the good guy again, the power of love, family and good friends.
Witches tells the story of two completely different women whose lives end up being pulled together. Amanda, who is a white witch and is good, using nature to do no harm but to help everyone that she possibly can. Rachel, who is a black witch, and uses magic for her own purposes and for what it can get her no matter who it harms. Then there is the witch hunter of the seventeenth century, who took way too much pleasure in putting women to death for being witches. The differences in the two women are so completely opposite, but to many, all they see is the name witch, that is until they have need of Amanda's services. Luckily she is able to change a number of peoples minds about what a witch really is and what it means to be a witch. She is also able to change history and make sure that innocent people are not killed out of spite. Author Kathryn Meyer Griffith has written a wonderfully complex and powerful book.
View all my reviews
Woven (The Mystic Valley Series, Volume 1)
by L.C. Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
As of last week, for all she knew, Dylan was your typical teenager with loving, normal parents about to finish her senior year of high school. This week, she is now all alone in the world, her parents killed in a tragic car accident. She is floundering, not sure how she is going to get through this but she has her best friend Carly and her mom's best friend Tessa to lean on. When she goes back to school she finds that the lady that has taken over at the school to replace her dad is actually nice and seems concerned about her, maybe she will be able to handle this, expect that her son Jensen seems to be taking an interest in her, which is strange because guys are never interested in Dylan. That is not the only change that is about to rock Dylan's world on the eve of her eighteenth birthday. Woven (The Mystic Valley Series) (Volume 1) is a young adult fiction paranormal story of shape shifters and coming of age, making choices, romance and life and family. Author LC Taylor has developed a well rounded story that focuses on the teens in this book, but has the options to focus on the adults more in other volumes.
Woven (The Mystic Valley Series) (Volume 1) is a series about an area of the country that is home to a group, or pack, actually two packs of wolf shape shifters, these shifters don't experience their first shift until they turn eighteen, a slightly different concept than most shifter novels. This first volume I would label young adult as it is focused on the teens, Dylan and Jensen, Kai and Carly and as they are all just eighteen this could also kinda fall into that coming of age category. It has aspects of family and friends, building a life from a group of people that mean something to you, blood or not. Taking care of your own. It is a really good book, but there is some consensual sexual relations between mated pairs in the book, so I would advise adult or older teen readers.
View all my reviews
King of Khoth (Dark Warriors Alliance, Book 9)
by Brenda Trim and Tami Julka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Finally in the ninth book we get to learn more of Angus' story. Angus in the dragon shifter king from Khoth, were Kryan and Mack got transported to and had most of their story. Angus has been stuck on earth for a thousand years looking for his mate Kierra, after she was kidnapped by Cryil and the portal back to Khoth was sealed.
Angus finally finds Kierra, but she doesn't remember him, or anything in fact, all her memories have been taken and she has spent the last year on the run with Cryil, so she doesn't know what to think when Angus finds her, but she doesn't tell Cryil about seeing him. So Angus kidnaps her back and takes her to Khoth, which Cryil told her was still sealed, so the first of his lies becomes evident.
Back on Khoth, Angus sets about to try to return Kierra's memories and win her love again, and at the same time repair the damage that has been done to the planet in the time that Angus has been gone.
This is another in the series that is wonderful and can't be put in any other words. This series lives on its own, and once you start reading it and get into them, you just can't get out of the series. Love it!!!
View all my reviews
Quest Chasers: The Deadly Cavern
by Thomas Lockhaven
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Quest Chasers was a cute adventure story of two kids who follow and adventure and have to work through a number of puzzles or quests to get through the adventure.
This book reminded me of The Magic Treehouse book series in a number of ways and as I loved those books and read them with my kids when they were much younger, I think this would be a good, more modern book to do some of the same things as that series.
Although, the story starts with Drew - he is the one who found the mystery and told Evie and Tommy about it, yet he is left completely out of the adventure after the beginning. I am still unsure why the author chose to leave him out. I think the trio would have made a more believable group.
Overall though, I found it cute and adventuresome. Great for the young reader to keep their interest and engage the mind.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I received an ARC.
View all my reviews
Crimson Moon (The Dark Woods, Book One)
by Sherri A. Wingler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
She might be young and she might be on her own, but she wasn't unable to take care of herself; not that Grey knew that exactly but he could tell there was something different about her. She wasn't fully human that was for sure, and why he felt the need to take care of her and keep her with him, he couldn't really say, of course his wolf wanted her but she was way to young, not even eighteen yet. Harlow was used to not trusting anyone, but there was something about Grey that had her wanting to trust him and then, once she had him and his wolf in her mind, she was even more inclined to trust him, although things got even more confusing. Crimson Moon by author Sherri Wingler is not your typical shifter novel, in fact even though Grey is part wolf, there is never any shape shifting, its more like a split personality issue.
Crimson Moon is a complex and twisted story that involves Grey and his past in a way, but mostly Harlow and the secrets about her life and her birth. Even when she finds out the truth, things are not going to be happily ever after, there is always going to be trouble when a wolf is involved. Author Sherri Wingler takes a completely different approach to the wolf-man hybrid and instead of having him shift his shape into the wolf, it is just a personality takeover, nothing in the body, physically changes, but as Harlow learns more about Grey she can hear the difference in their voices, the way they walk and talk, the way they hold themselves. This is not something I have encountered in a novel before and it made for interesting reading, although there was a real love-hate relationship between Grey and his wolf that I questioned. Since this is labeled as Book One, I would hope that Grey's past and some of the demons that created that love-hate relationship might be explored at some point in the future because at this point, I am confused by it still. There is violence and some intimate moments, so I would definitely recommend this for adult readers.
View all my reviews
