Southern Sorcery (Sweet Tea Witches, Book 4)
by Amy Boyles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When the "evil" Rufus shows up in town, he isn't able to take Pepper away, thankfully, but he links his magic with hers, so that if she uses her magic, it feeds him and his power grows, but even worse it still builds in her, and she doesn't get the release from using her magic, and you know what happens to a witch that doesn't use their magic. Kaboom!
This will take not just magic, but some sorcery to figure out, only problem is that the sorcerer that they went to turns up dead, and this time Pepper isn't a suspect, but she still needs to find out what happened and find a way to unlink herself and Rufus.
View all my reviews
Callie (The Bayou Hauntings, Volume 1)
by Bill Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
All her life Callie has felt like a failure, not worthy of the affection of her grandmother or anyone else for that matter, part of that came from the fact that her father took off the minute he found out her mother was pregnant, and part was the way the extended family treated her. Her misguided attempt to "grown up" and make something of herself found her estranged from her grandmother for the last decade. Now her grandmother was dead and Callie still found herself feeling like a failure. When her Uncle Willard calls to tell her that she must be in Louisiana for the reading of her grandmothers will, she found herself at his mercy as he had to wire her the money to get there. There is no love lost between Callie and her Uncle Willard, and once the will is read and what she inherits is discovered, it becomes clear that Uncle Willard wants what she got, and will do anything to get it. Callie, The Bayou Hauntings is the story of Callie's discovery of her family history and in turn of herself. Author Bill Thompson delivers a southern story high on suspense and family.
Callie is titled as the first Volume in The Bayou Hauntings, which gives the impress of a series, but not necessary following just the one character. Author Bill Thompson gives the reader a book high in suspense and supernatural or paranormal in the form of a friendly visitor that seems real but just might be a ghost. The key to the story is the discover of the family history, how everything that happened in the past actually came to be, and that history unlocks the secrets of the plantation mansion that Callie inherited and also allows Callie to come into her own. This book is clean in that there is no sex, although there are the mention on illegitimate children and there is only a few curse words spread throughout the story, they are appropriate when they come into play. Therefore I have no problem recommending this book to readers of all ages.
View all my reviews
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
A Gift of Ghosts (Tassamara, #1)
by Sarah Wynde
My rating: 4.9 of 5 stars
**If you have been reading me long you know that I rarely give 5's. To me a 5 is perfect, and no book can really be perfect, right, but it can come darn close. This was one of those!!**
This book has been sitting on my reading iPad forever it seems. I downloaded it one time when it was offered for free on Amazon and it has just sat there waiting on me to get the time to read it.
Arika Malone is a scientist, but she also see's ghosts, which has done nothing but cause problems for her. Her father was a science man, told her they were just energy, to ignore them so she tries to and never learns anything about them. One paragraph in a research paper that she mistakenly mentioned spirit energy in and the college she was teaching at all but told her that she was done. Arika was on the hunt for a new job, and fast when an odd offer came.
Zane Latimer is in charge of interviewing the people his father, Max is having brought in for this "job". He sets up in a fake boring office and waits, but Arika is not what he expected, and Zane is not what Arika expected, he is gorgeous but he seems to have no clue and is mysterious. When he hires her immediately for a two-year contract and tells her she can research all she wants, she is even more confused.
Soon Arika realizes that everyone in Tassamara is "different", she can see and talk to ghosts, a lady on the street can read aura's and no one thinks anything about this. She is so used to having to hide her ability, to treat it like a curse that she doesn't understand these people or town that treats it as normal, or as a gift.
Arika makes friends with the teen-age ghost in her rental car, then the ghosts living in her rental house and slowly she starts to come to terms with her ability, but is it not until she accompanies Zane on an abducted child case that she learns things that complete turn her beliefs upside down! Now what is she going to do?
This is a wonderful introduction to the town of Tassamara, as this is dubbed to be the first book in the series. We meet Arika and feel her confusion as she meet the people of the town, her disbelief that a place like this can exist. We get a beginning introduction to the Latimer family and their homegrown company, General Directions. Zane in the younger son, and manages the day-to-day stuff at the office. We learn bits and pieces of the rest of the family, just enough for us to anticipate each members upcoming book.
Now that I have read this first book in Tassamara, I am dying to dive into the next book! I have found that I enjoy the family dynamics of the Latimer family, the dynamics of the town of Tassamara and I just want to know more, I want to hear the stories of the people and the ghosts.
This is a great read, would make a great television series! Anyone that loves a series based on a family, paranormal or para-senses, then you should take a read.
Other Books in the Tassamara Series
A Gift of Thought
The Spirits of Christmas
A Gift of Time
A Lonely Magic
Author's webpage: www.sarahwynde.com
View all my reviews
Chase Nightly, L'Uccisore (Team Nightly)
by Kate Porter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Team Nightly has been hunting vampires for decades. only now it is lead by Chase Nightly, who took over at age seventeen when his father, Toby was killed by the so called Vampire King. Rae Chandler hunts vampires in New York, but when she is targeted and given a message about the Vampire King in Savannah looking for her, she decides it's time to visit family. The first time Chase and Rae meet, sparks fly, and not the good kind, they are at each others throats, but a cautious peace is obtained, and Rae temporarily joins Team Nightly to find the Vampire King. +Kate Porter gives a southern flare to the story with some Italian words, and southern charm and manners. Chase Nightly, L'Uccisore (Team Nightly) deals mostly with Team Nightly although a few other Teams are mentioned.
Chase Nightly, L'Uccisore (Team Nightly) is reported to be the first book in a series about these particular brand of vampire hunters and the vampire king. This book focusing mainly on Team Nightly, but slight mention of a couple of other teams. +Kate Porter takes the popular theme of vampires and the vampire hunter or slayer and merges it with a bloodline trait that is passed down, and ends up with a story more about the hunter team, it's connections to each other and own sense of family than it is about the vampires. This is a nice change of pace from most vampire novels. There is one detailed intimate scene, so it is probably best for adults, possibly young adults, but that would be up to the parents.
View all my reviews
Guardian
by A.L. Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
As a child Alex was in the car when her parents were killed, saved only by a voice and vision that only she could see. She ran from her small town home and the memory of that vision, but fate has brought her back home now, at age twenty-five. Her original goal was to get in and out of town as fast as she could, but once there, and in her old home, the vision from the past returns. Memories of the murder also return, and to keep herself alive, Alex must learn to have faith and trust in something that she cannot see. Guardian is a warming tale of the idea that there can be someone out there watching over us, loving us and keeping us safe, even if we can't see or hear them. A.L. Crouch does a wonderful job mixing faith and paranormal together to come to this unique blend in this story of seeing a vision that is not really there yet is.
Guardian is unlike any other story about a guardian angel that I have ever read. It is not that there is a heaven that sends those to watch over you, but is something entirely different, and it takes just the faith to believe in the unseen to see them. A.L. Crouch has written a story that gives you adventure, romance, suspense, mystery and intrigue along with faith and the paranormal, all wrapped into one amazing tale. It is something to read, and one that you will be hard pressed o put down before you finish it.
View all my reviews
Sweet Talk Me
by Kieran Kramer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Life hadn't been easy for True Maybank, but at this point she was hoping that things were looking up. She was going to finally marry the boy her family always thought she should since high school, after all these years, too bad none of them were going to be around to see it. She had managed to hold her family home together and get her younger sister through high school and Weezie would be off to college this fall. She was feeling pretty good. Then she had to see HIM when she went to pick up her wedding dress.
Harrison Gamble might be a famous country singer today, and everyone might fawn all over him, but there was a time when not everyone in Biscuit Creek was pleased to see him. He and True had been friends, then there had been that thing between them at prom, but she had set him straight, he wasn't good enough for her. Why then did the sight of her all these years later make him crazy? He wasn't sure but all he knew was that he had to find out what she was up to, no matter what his people were wanting.
As Harrison and True spend some time together, old feelings are rekindled. Not only that, but True learns more about herself and her fears, and why she has always been afraid to follow after what she wanted. It is a story of love and romance, of shallow southern boys, and good old southern boys. There is self discovery and reflection and peace of mind.
This is a wonderful little novel that is enjoyable to read. It is well written and you feel part of the family.
View all my reviews
Rise of the Dunamy
by James R. Landrum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
Move over Lestat and Edward, there is a whole new breed in town!
Sofia came from Columbia with her parents and has always wanted to make a difference. She saw the corruption where she came from and wanted to be there for the people, so she became a cop, and she is a really good cop, but she is rigid in her definition of right and wrong. Now she is working what seems to be an unsolvable set of case, all linked by vigilante justice. All the victim were well known criminals that had gotten off, escaped charges or beat the system somehow. Bishop, her much older partner isn't sure they need to work too hard to solve this case, he's doing their job for them. This really ticks Sofia off. At the same time as she is messed up in this case, Sofia starts up a whirlwind relationship with the medical examiner, Lucian. Rise of the Dunamy introduces us to a new hero, not your typical strong man, or vampire or werewolf but something a little different and maybe just a little more sexy in a genuis kind of way. James R. Landrum puts together a story with multiple layers so perfectly that you are left wanting more.
Rise of the Dunamy brings a new hero, a breed called the Dunamy, and you are just going to have to read the book to find out about them, but they are genius sexy. So you take this new breed of hero, and toss him with a super straight-laced cop and what do you get? Well to begin with you get a super quick and exciting romance, then you get the ethical questions. There are a couple of layers of ethical questions that goes back and forth, and there is really sound backing for each point. James R. Landrum is a master at taking the conversations of the characters and developing them to much deeper levels, to really get the characters talking about ethics and right vs. wrong. This is an amazingly well written book that I just could not put down, and when I finished I wanted more! All readers will enjoy this book from young adult to mature adult.
View all my reviews
Millicent,
Southern Hearts Series
Book One
by Felicia Rogers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
Travel back with me to the Southern United States in 1830 to the beautiful setting of our story, Millicent. Millicent is the oldest of three daughters of a plantation owner just outside of New Orleans. For the last eight months, she has been writing back and forth to Stephenie, by request of her tutor to strengthen her english skills. Now she is having a huge party for her birthday and wants Stephenie to come and be by her side for the whole event. The only problem with this is that, unbeknownst to Millicent, Stephenie is really Stephen. Oh what a tangled web Felicia Rogers has woven. Stephen secures and invitation to the party and plans to tell Millicent, but we all know what happens to the best laid plans. Deceit, treachery, stolen kisses and a house full of men wanting to meet Millicent stand between Stephen and his plans. Can he get to Millicent before she finds out on her own?
Millicent is a warm and touch, innocent story of two very shelter and innocent and trusting young adults in the 1830's that share a special relationship through letters. Stephen knows more about Millie than anyone else would and probably more than what a normal husband even would in that time period. In their letters they were free of the constraints of society to talk freely with each other and they did. Felicia Rogers takes a classic tale of a daughter turning eighteen and well, you gotten kinda marry them off, so you have a big party and show off what you have to interest somebody in her and you hope she is happen. In this case you have a loving family that wants the best, and it turns out kinda funny. This is good reading for adults, teens, young adults, really anyone with the time to read.
View all my reviews
A Deeper Cut
by Sheri Wren Haymore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
Every summer Hunter spends it with Granny Jen in Beaufort. This year he has brought Mikki with him, thinking it might be a good thing for them. This summer though, a murderer has decided to visit Beaufort also, and frame Hunter for at least one of the killings. A Deeper Cut mixes drug dealers and sweet, southern charm into a realistic tale of a summer on the shoreline. Hunter is tasked with figuring out who he really is, and whether to continue to let his father's disappearance and failures define him or not. +Sheri Wren Haymore writes a wonderful mystery, thriller that you want to know who did it, but at the same time keeps the beauty and charm of life is a small southern town.
A Deeper Cut follows Hunter, and more than just the cuts of the killer are needing to be healed this summer. Hunter has always felt that everyone, except maybe Granny Jen expected him to fail and turn out like his father. This summer he will have to face his father, and the demons he carries and figure out who he really is. +Sheri Wren Haymore mixes this soul-searching with the mystery of who if offing drug dealers and sets it all in a sweet, charming southern town. You will feel for Hunter, want to hold the boy and help him through his struggles. At the same time you will enjoy the intrigue of discovering who the real killer is and just why the killer might have it out for the Kittrell family.
View all my reviews
Author Webpage
Publisher Page
