Little Red Gem
by D.L. Richardson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Ruby was having a bad couple of weeks, things just didn't feel right between her and boyfriend Leo, and this is when she really needed them to be the most right. In a fit of anger Ruby drives away from Leo and is killed in a car crash, but her ghost is left behind to wander the earth, trying to get the one answer Ruby didn't get from Leo before the crash, who much he really loved her. Little Red Gem follows the ghost Ruby as she tries to follow Leo, and her old friends and find out what is going on. As young teenagers, this love is eternal and the most important question to Ruby, she has to know. D L Richardson write a tell of teenage love, mixed with rock and roll, and the everyday issues surrounding teens.
D L Richardson does an amazing job blending music into this book. Not only is Leo in and band and writing his own songs, but Ruby was in a band and writing her own songs. A number of original songs, written by the author, specifically for the book are in the book which is unique and fun, making it more relevant to teens. Little Red Gem deals with a number of issues that face teens today including drinking and pregnancy. It also presents parents that are flawed and have made mistakes, who are maybe a bit more understanding and not your typical sit-com parents. This is a great book for teens and young adults, even adults will enjoy the book. A fun read.
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Taking Elyse
by Jody Fife
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Elyse in on the way home from her best friends, when the unthinkable happens, she is kidnapped. What unfolds in Taking Elyse is two-fold, first it is Elyse's struggle to stay alive and alert with her kidnappers, and at the same time leave small clues behind for the cops to find her. One the other side it is the inter-woven tell of a Detective who cares about this case and how it effects his family. Then there is Elyse's family, her husband and children, her sister's and best friend, not to mention the whole community where it seems Elyse was just a favorite person. So many different people play roles in finding bits and pieces of the clues that have to be put together by Detective Macie, it is truly a work of art in how it all comes together. Jody Fife presents a different take on a kidnapping, and how it can effect people.
Taking Elyse also has a strong religious theme to the story in that a particular faith is very important to Elyse and plays a large part in her communications and interactions with everyone we see her encounter. The whole kidnapping and why remains a mystery until the very end and it is revealed who was behind the whole thing, but each person that is suspected has their own reasons, motives and seems like they might be the one, right up until the end. Jody Fife does a remarkable job keeping the mystery going until the end, not tipping her hand too early in the book. This is a great read for all ages young adult and up.
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Bait (Order of the Spirit Realm, Book 1)
by K.C. Blake (Kasi Blake)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
When you have grown up all your life, moving from place to place all the time because there are real monsters hunting you, you sleep with a dagger under your pillow. Bay-Lee Bishop does, but on the night that she is visited by dead rocker Tyler Beck, she doesn't have a chance to reach for it. Good thing because they become the main characters of the story, Bait (Order of the Spirit Realm Book 1). After Tyler's visit, Bay-Lee is visited by a Reaper, and finally it is time for her to follow her father to his famous school for monster hunters, Van Helsing's Academy. Being the head guys daughter is not easy, and Bay-Lee enters school with a target on her back. She must learn to find and make friends, cope with a prophecy and deal with dead rocker Tyler Beck's alter-ego, Nick who turns out to be her mentor. Kasi Blake creates the story of two realms, the world and the spirit, and between them monsters, in the forms of werewolves, vampires and more cross over to destroy humans. Hunters are here to prevent that from happening.
Bait is a terrific blend of action and adventure, mystery and intrigue, and a little teenage romance tempered with parental conflict. Paranormal or fantasy, it is a compelling story that will keep readers of all ages turning the pages wanting to see what happens next. Kasi Blake gives the young adult-teen reader set a new world order to follow and find something to look forward to in the next book. Even though there is a bit of a teenage romance, there is no sex, perfect for this age range!
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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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