Blood: The Vampire Covenant Series (Book 1) by Sydney Ledger BOOK REVIEW

Blood: The Vampire Covenant Series (Book 1)
by Sydney Ledger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite 

Aveline has grown up a loner and outcast. It has just been her mother and her, her father left when she was young, and she has a terrible disease that leaves her pale, allergic to the sun and in terrible pain at times, only to be cured by drinking animal blood. She hates it, but doctors orders are doctors orders. What Aveline is about to find out is that everything she thought she knew has been a lie, she is really a Dhampir, half Vampire, and that Vampire's really do exist. Blood: The Vampire Covenant Series (Book 1) tells the story as Angel informs Ava of her history and gets her to help him safe the Vampire world, at least that is what he tells her they are doing, and who is she to mistrust this heart-throb.  +Sydney Ledger  easily mixes that feelings of a lonely teenager, the need to be liked, and the desire to help save the world into this Vampire tale.

Blood is not your typical blood-drinking Vampire tale, in fact there is very little actual blood drinking going on in the story. There is a back history to the Vampires but no clear cut how they originated in the story, but they have been around, and they are here to protect the humans from demons. +Sydney Ledger  has made them the good guys, and yet at the same time, she has made them vulnerable to temptation. She also brings the loner and outcast feelings that Ava is dealing with to life and you really feel them and can relate to them. Although there is some mild sexual references and one sexual scene, I would still say that most young adults would be ok reading this book and they would relate to it very well, being in that age range. It is also a great book for adults as well.

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The Case of the Killer Divorce (A Jamie Quinn Mystery, #2) by Barbara Venkataraman BOOK REVIEW

The Case of the Killer Divorce (A Jamie Quinn Mystery, #2)
by Barbara Venkataraman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is about a year or more time gap between the first book in the Jamie Quinn Mystery series and this book, as she mentions her mom passed away two years ago in this book. In the original book, her mothers passing was only within the last six months.

Jamie is back at her family law practice and she is representing a woman who is trying to leave her husband. When the husband is found dead, the woman is the prime suspect that DA Nick has his sights set on, and of course Jamie is sure it is not her client and she is the first to call DA Nick to let him know what she thinks.

With the help of Duke, and Susan Doyle, who is no longer a Public Defender but in private practice, the threesome once again work their magic to find the kill and get to the truth of the matter.

In a backstory, Jamie has never known her father and she has asked Duke to look for him, he gives her a name, then she decides to stop. When she asks her Aunt Peg, she is given a letter from her mother that explains everything, things she never knew, with that information and the presentence of Grace her the search for her father continues.

This is definitely a great book! You will find yourself caring about the clients just as Jamie does, wanting to find out who did what and solve the case so that the right person goes to jail. When you see her mothers letter you will cry at the injustice of the things that happened to allow Jamie to have to grow up without a father.

The book is well written and compelling, you become a part of the story and want things to work out the best possible way. So looking forward to the book in the series!

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The Tale of Miss Susie and her Steamboat: And Other Songs from your Childhood Explained by Sonja N. Kreps BOOK REVIEW

The Tale of Miss Susie and her Steamboat: And Other Songs from your Childhood Explained 
by Sonja N. Kreps

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite 

The Tale of Miss Susie and her Steamboat: And Other Songs from your Childhood Explained is an amazing concept. Your favorites; Susie, Mary Mack and the Princess Pat are all there, but they are young twenties, just out of college and starting their lives with their first jobs. Author Sonja N. Kreps takes common modern issues, and uses these childhood song characters to deal with those issues. From drug use, to abusive boyfriends, to bisexualty and more. The thing is that the songs fit with these themes so well, and it makes an amazing story. Sometimes serious and sometimes funny, it gave each song a new meaning and made me rethink singing each and every one of them.

The Tale of Miss Susie and her Steamboat done this way is so amazing. Not only do the songs fit well with the themes that author Sonja Kreps has picked, they seem to explain the songs even. Even more there is more than one layer to the story, you have the main story that is going one, but then there is more going on in the background that makes things even more involved. The issues that it addresses in the domestic violence is something that needs to be addressed, and the back stories that are told in the way it began, the past victims and current victim and stopping it all make it clear that you can't give in to the abuser. Definitely more of an adult book because of the issues addressed, but well worth the read!

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Eye of The Storm: Eilida's Tragedy (Ruthless Storm Trilogy) (Volume 1) by Elle Klass BOOK REVIEW

Eye of The Storm: Eilida's Tragedy (Ruthless Storm Trilogy) (Volume 1) 
by Elle Klass

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite 

Eilida is planning to meet up with friends at the local bar, but instead something draws her to the neighbors house. As she slow sneaks over and looks in, what she sees is so horrific and terrifying that she takes off running, it has started storming hard, but she just keeps running until she slide down a hillside landing in a heap against a rock. Sunshine is a receptionist at the Lyden Times Newspaper and she loves her neat and orderly world, only this day nothing is neat and orderly. A young woman was found in the woods with no identification and no memory, strange thing is she looks just like Sunshine only with different color hair. Eye of The Storm: Eilida's Tragedy (Ruthless Storm Trilogy) (Volume 1) follows Sunshine as she turns reporter and tries to discover what sent this woman running and ending up in her town. Elle Klass gives us a wonderful tale of tragedy, survival, repressed memories and recovery.

Eye of The Storm centers around Eilida's fear of storms. She hates them, and as the story progresses we slowly learn the reasoning. Sunshine on the other hand can never remember a day of rain, but as she investigates this case, she is suddenly plagued by storms. Elle Klass creates a compelling story using tragedy, survival, guilt, repressed memories, visual triggers and storms to create a tale that empcompasses so much more than you expect. The tragedy of three families are told in this one story. It is a well written and compelling story that is worth the read. Great for young adults and adults as well.

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Bloodline : Forgotten Origin Trilogy, Book 1 by Tara Ellis BOOK REVIEW

Bloodline : Forgotten Origin Trilogy, Book 1 
by Tara Ellis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite 

Alex and her younger brother Jake are laying on the hillside in the park watching the stars, along with their mother and most of the rest of the town, waiting on the greatest meteor display in 5000 years. Her dad loved this stuff and had been talking about this display for years, in fact he talked of them watching it in Egypt, but that had been before he died. The shower is spectacular, although one seems to come pretty close, and then Alex's mom comes down with a terrible cold. Not only Alex's mom, but most of the town. As people come out of their colds they are not the same, and Alex starts finding clues left behind by her father. She turns to Chris, a 75% Cherokee by blood boy in her school, as he didn't get sick either. Alex is 50 % Egyptian by blood. Bloodline: Forgotten Origin Trilogy Book 1 follows Alex and Chris as they try to figure out her fathers clues and what is going on with their friends and family. Author Tara Ellis gives us a wonderful story that fits many genres.

Bloodline builds on purity of a family blood history, so Chris and Alex, having a extremely pure family history have highly concentrated bloodlines and therefore they do not get sick when the virus takes over. This is a unique concept and at the same time slightly disturbing because the odds of anyone having sure a pure bloodline nowadays is remote. Tara Ellis gives us a story that easily falls into the science fiction, or fantasy or even paranormal genres, but no matter how you classify it, it is worth a read for young adults and adults alike. This book is to be the first in a three part trilogy.

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The Stray : To Plan by K. E. Strokez BOOK REVIEW

The Stray : To Plan 
by K. E. Strokez


Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .

Matthew Bridge has been accepted into a prodigious academy called St. Kenneth's. His twin brother Ken is accepted along for the ride, despite his objections. Life in this boarding school is going to be like nothing Ken has ever experienced before. Right from the beginning Ken begins having hallucinations. They feel real to him, but he is not sure what is really going on. As the story progresses we learn that nothing in The Stray: To Plan is what it seems to be, everything is an illusion and a trick. K.E. Strokez gives us a fantasy, science fiction, paranormal novel in which someone has set up a simulation world that runs in a bubble, and there are people watching it, yet it is not real. The gravity of the situation is enormous.

The Stray: To Plan turns out to be an elaborate simulation that has been running for a very, very long time, in fact at this point in time they are at Phase 83. The people in the simulation think it is real life and are living day to day, and yet there are people out side watching them, observing what they are doing. K.E. Strokez writes a story that is part fantasy, part science fiction, part paranormal and yet at the same time there is just enough technology available today that makes you stop and think, you know this might just actually be possible to pull off. Reading it gave me goosebumps and reminding me of reading George Orwell's 1984 back in 1982. There is just enough reality to make you take notice of what he is writing about and make you think about this as a possibility, not today, but in a few years. Great read for young adults and adults alike!

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2211 Umbra: A Future History Novel by: Grigor Fedan BOOK REVIEW

2211 Umbra: A Future History Novel

by: Grigor Fedan


Reviewed For +Readers' Favorite 

The legacy of the first African American President turns out to be a wake-up call to all people that we have no come as far as we thought we had in terms of equality, and so the next years are spent actively making changes until 200 years into the future the world is something altogether different, there is no race, no money, no politics.  Welcome to 2211 Umbra A Future History Novel, where people are split into tiers: regents, that have ruling powers, first tiers, second tiers and so on.  Anyone, through education and hard work can promote themselves through the ranks up to a first tier, and with support maybe even become a regent.  Religion and faith in a God plays no part in this society, those people have all abdicated to Texas, with its own government. Soon a zealot with use religion and God as a vessel to exact revenge on a regent he feels slighted him, cutting off Texas from the rest of the world and starting a "holy war".  Grigor Fedan gives us a look at a future society that is once again making the same mistakes as the past, think Stalin and Hitler, because they have forgotten the lessons of the past.

2211 Umbra is a wonderful tale in that you have this "perfect" society that has taken away the need for money or politics, and made everyone equal so to speak, or that was the original plan and those in it still think they are doing that, but there are some outside that don't see it that way. Of course they are living in their scientific world and not thinking about God, and they don't realize what they are missing. Only when they are faced with this war, that divides them do they start to understand things.  Grigor Fedan mixes future with past history, religion and science and what comes out is a wonderful tale of life that needs it all to be well-rounded and fulfilled.  Great story for teens up through adults!