Death by Didgeridoo (A Jamie Quinn Mystery, Book 1)
by Barbara Venkataraman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Death by Didgeridoo is the first in a new Cozy Mystery series called the Jamie Quinn Mystery Series by author Barbara Venkataraman.
Jamie Quinn is a lawyer, family law that is, you know custody, divorces and those types of things. She knows nothing about criminal law and even less about murders. She is still trying to gather herself after her mother's death six months ago, when she gets the phone call that her cousin is at the police station on suspicion of murder. Her cousin Adam has Asperger's Syndrome and would never hurt anyone, so this has her and her aunt in a panic, now what to do.
With the help of her best friend Grace, a securities lawyer and Duke, a private investigator that she represented in a divorce, Jamie sets out to find out who the real murderer is and get her cousin off the hook, before the pretty-boy District Attorney has him tried and locked up without blinking an eye.
The story is cute and well written. There is great information on dealing with Adam and his Asperger's. There is also some great music information in this book and it deals with a death by a musical instrument. The investigative work that Jamie herself undertakes is pretty simple and most people could do, the more complicated stuff Duke handles, but over all it is a cute story that is a quick read. It will have you wanting more!
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Seduce Me (The Heart Series, Book 1)
by Angela Estienne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Imagine waking up in the hospital to find that you have been asleep for five days, and the last thing you remember is driving home from dinner with your fiance'. That confusion is exactly where we begin the story with Jasmine, or Jazz to her friends. She soon finds that her fiance' Greg died in the accident and that his parents blame her for his death. Seduce Me (The Heart Series Book 1) follows Jazz as she picks up her life, moves to a completely new place to try to start all over, to move on after Greg and put her life back together. She is haunted by puzzling nightmares of the accident, and then there are mysterious flowers from H.H., who seems to know what is happening in her life even before she does. Add in a handsome, rich playboy by the name of Luke Heart who seems to have eyes for Jazz and you have a sizzling story. Angela Estienne weaves it all together, and throws in a few twists and turns and unexpected events to keep you on your toes too.
Seduce Me may be the story of Jazz rebuilding her life after Greg's death, but there is plenty of romance and sizzle in the story. There are flashbacks to times between Jazz and Greg that introduce you to their particular relationship and it hints at themes of mild BDSM and role playing in their private lives. Angela Estienne weaves these romance, sizzle, mild BDSM themes together with overcoming grief, rebuilding and mystery to create a definite womens novel that is worth the read.
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The Key: A Taylor and Alan Adventure (Volume 2)
by Jackie Mae and Alison Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
Siblings, Taylor and Alan are your typical kids for the most part. They do the same things as most kids their age except for one thing, they have been swept away on strange adventures. Today their only focus is to attend the opening of the new movie theater and see their favorite movie sequel, but that is to be delayed when they are swept away to an adventure in the past. The Key: A Taylor and Alan Adventure (Volume 2) is that adventure in the Land of Baltimore in the time of the Women's Suffrage Movement. Taylor and Alan are tasked with finding and protecting a key for a terrible wizard. Jackie Mae and Alison Taylor combine to write a tale of adventure and history that delights the reader.
The Key in set during the time of the Women's Suffrage Movement, and so there are historical facts about that movement and people involved in it that are included in the story, as well as historical facts about the Land of Baltimore and the residents of the area and time period, such as baseball player Wee Willie, and author Edgar Allan Poe. Jackie Mae and Alison Taylor do a wonderful job of combining a compelling story with historical facts making the book something enjoyable and educational for children of all ages. The reading level may be listed as 4th thru 6th grade, but it you have an advanced reader, you will probably want to introduce the book a loot sooner.
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Things Lost In The Fire
by Katie Jennings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
Life as the daughter of two of the greatest rock singers in the world is never easy, and when your parents are divorced and feuding against each other it is even worse. Sadie McRae doesn't think it can get any worse than this, but she is about to learn that everything can be taken away in an instant. Things Lost In The Fire follows Sadie as she rebuilds her life, with the help of her grandparents, after she survives a terrible assault in her mother's house. Even if that means that she must return to Hollywood and face her demons. Katie Jennings takes the time to develop true to life characters that you can relate to and understand, that you feel for and want to see overcome their pasts and find a brighter future.
Things Lost In the Fire touches on a physical assault, stalking, drugs and rock 'n roll. The characters are all touched by a fire, or event that destroyed something in their lives, but how each one reacted if completely different. Sadie retreats far from public view and becomes a shy, scared version of herself that needs to be brought back into the world. Her mother refuses to accept anything and lives in an almost fantasy. Katie Jennings gives us a compelling story of life that does not have to be defined by one incident in life, there is more to each person that one event or one mistake. This is a wonderful book for young adults as well as adults.
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Klay Thompson: The Incredible Story of One of Basketball's Sharpest Shooters
by Clayton Geoffreys
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The story of NBA basketball player Klay Thompson is a valuable read, not because he had to over come hardship or tragedy to get where he is today, but because of the quiet and calm manner in which he has learned and processed the rules and become the success he is today.
Klay Thompson gives us the inspirational story of a player who listened to his father, learned his lessons well and has his head on straight. He is one that is learning, from his parents, how to budget and live well within his means, setting him up for a future long after basketball is gone. So many players become bankrupt when their careers are over because they never learned the basic lessons of saving money and budgeting.
Klay is also on that you will not find getting into trouble, there is one recorded incident in college and that made such an impact on Klay that he has kept his nose clean and lived an incredibly tame life for a basketball player.
For these reasons alone Klay is a wonderful inspiration and role model for younger children. This is a great book for adults and children to read to get to know more about Klay, where he came from and what he is about.
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The Queendom of Evlantis
by Juliet Y. Mark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
We've all heard the story of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace, but what if the story was changed. What would the world be like is Adam didn't give in and only Eve was tempted? If only Eve was banished from the garden? Juliet Y. Mark tackles those thoughts and ideas in the book The Queendom of Evlantis (The Unfallen Series Book 1). We find that Eve has been cast out of the garden on her own, and over the ages the story has gotten twisted just a little to where women look down on men. In fact women rule everything, men are mere slaves thought of by some women as nothing more than animals! It's not a perfect place, and there are troubles. Another young girl, a daughter of Adam, Ava is tempted a lead out of the garden. She is given the task to help the other people of the world realize the mistakes they are making, yet she is so innocent she has no idea what she is doing. Entwined in it all is love and hope, is evil and corruption and in the end, what will be the course of the world.
The Queendom of Evlantis at first reads like a great feminist novel. Women rule the world, they keep the men under their boots, but as you go along you realize that this is not the way the world was meant to be and that it is not working out well for these people. There are major problems. Although the author, Juliet Y. Mark never comes out and specifically says that this is the retelling of Adam and Eve, you get enough hints along the way to realize it and to understand the purpose and reason behind the retelling. I found the story compelling and well written. It pulled me along all throughout wanting me to know more and to find the answers, to only realize that there is still more to learn even after the book ends. It is a wonderful read for men and women alike, as well and adults and teens.
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The Quadrant War
by Ann Denton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Imagine growing up in a world that has always been at war. In fact, at war so long that no one actually remembers why they are at war in the first place. This is the world that Ann Denton has created in Kiah's Soul-Shifting Journey: The Quadrant War. Kiah is a young girl that has a unique talent called Soul-Shifting, or as her older brother used to call it Butterfly Dreaming. During these episodes she is able to travel outside her body to see things happening in other places, to other people and at other times, in the past or the future. She and a small group of friends band together against this war, the Quadrant War that has always been going on, but no one even remembers why, and the fighting is far from their daily lives but the effects are seen in the poor conditions of the towns. As they start to fight against the war, and as Kiah soul-shifts they find that nothing they knew about their world, or this war is quite what it seems, and life doesn't have to be as much of a struggle as it is.
Kiah's Soul-Shifting Journey: The Quadrant War brings us to a world that is fighting a war, each quadrant against each other, and it has been this way so long, no one remembers why. The premise of the story is so realistic, it could easily be any country today. The effects of the long-standing war on the towns and villages is seen in daily life, and translates to current life quite well. Ann Denton then brings in the fantasy world with the Soul-shifting aspect. Using this unique concept to discover the truths of the war, the history and the future is top notch. Adult and young adult readers alike will be able to find things that relate to todays life, and moral lessons as well. A merger of fantasy, history and inspiration, this is a book that anyone will enjoy.
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