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OUR FIRST GIVEAWAY!

So this is it! Our very first giveaway! I hope everyone has a bit of fun. I'm so very happy to be able to offer this giveaway to my friends and followers.

For Kate Bennet, surviving the car wreck that killed her parents means big changes and even bigger problems. As she begins to see auras and invisible people, Kate must learn to trust Patrick O'Donnell, a handsome Guardian, or risk her life being overrun with Demons. She soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble.

Kate’s life is far from normal. She can see auras, her boyfriend is immortal, and her powers make her a target. But now that the Demon Lord is hunting her, things are about to go from dangerous to truly deadly. Packed with action, mind-blowing plot twists, and characters you can’t get enough of, this is a fast-paced, heart-pounding read from cover to cover.

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Vampires in a coven???

I received this book from the Author for my honest review.

In this book, we have a multitude of characters. Nicola is a strong and willful woman who is obviously looking for love in all the wrong places by going out to pubs and drinking herself sick. Then we have Vaughan a vampire who was made 65 years ago at the age of 22. The interaction between these characters happens fairly quickly and their “love” is almost instant, however I didn’t feel the bond as I do with other characters. The other characters in the book are interesting and the way they are written leaves a lot open for future stories regarding those particular characters. Ivan, Genni, Cassie, Bec even Justin all have a story to tell in some way. And I can honestly say I’d love to see more about them. 

But back to this story, it is your classic, I’m a vampire, a monster you can’t love me story. Vaughan believes he is a beast; Nicola doesn’t care and loves him anyway. Pretty typical for Vampire books, right? Well not really, since we now have to add into the story the part that Nicola has been a feast for some vampires and has been bitten and drank from but has no memory. Then we add in a love triangle with the crazy vampire who “thinks” she is the one for Vaughan and it makes it more intriguing. Then we add in a vampire who is old, and I do mean OLD. And we have a major drama and mystery to unravel. Why is the coven in town and drinking but not killing? I had never heard of vampires being called a coven before I had always heard them referred to as a nest of vampires but coven works I suppose. 

Oops rambling….

Back to my review… I believe that this book has all the necessary ingredients for a good story, and in this case a few books. I think that the story of a vampire wishing to be human is an old one but a good one and in this case it works. This story is NOT about a person changing for another person it’s a story about wanting to be something you’re not, in this case Vaughan does not want to be a vampire (can’t say I blame him though can you, I mean no sunrises or sunsets blah). The little twists and turns as they work out who is behind the coven who drank from Nicola is interesting. There was a bit of fluff and Bec and Nicola go out to various “uni parties or pubs” that I didn’t think was truly needed but it did give you a look at what Nicola’s life was like before meeting Vaughan and how she changes after meeting him. 

I do hope that the author continues on with their story but also Ivan and Cassie’s story because I truly believe that one should be written as well. All in all I give this book a must read status… Do go out and purchase a copy for yourself because you will enjoy it.

Check it out!

Dragons, Gods, Vampires what more can we want?

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fun, full of action and humor that truly had me laughing out loud. I woke my husband from a sound sleep because I just had to keep reading. (oops) Drako's humor suited me to a T. And I have to admit I enjoyed reading this book and plan on reading the series.

This book does fall into the Gay/Lesbian category with a pretty explicit yet tasteful male on male scene. I do not recommend this book for those who cannot handle that sort of thing.

In this book we deal with at least two of my favorite things, Dragons and Gods! The characters are well written, and memorable. The mythological aspect of the book is very similar to the stories of old regarding the ancient gods, Zeus, Hera, Loki, etc so it makes the story not only entertaining but something we can relate to with the history of our modern mythology. This book has plenty of action and the fighting scenes are fabulous because it lets us see what these "men" can do on the mortal plane. The author used a very descriptive form of writing style so his characters are well defined and complete with all the complexity of true living humans, with wonderful senses of humor and a touch of sarcasm added in for style. We live, laugh and love along with these characters.

But this book isn't simply a book about the Gods and Dragons it's also a book about the relationships of the main characters. This is a story about love and acceptance. This is a story of bending the rules of social norms. True love conquering all (at least for the moment).

I plan on completing this series with his following books. And I do so recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Dragons and Gods and yes even Vampires...

Shadow of the Past

I received this book from the Author for my honest review.

This story was a very well thought out and intricate. The story begins with a boy who goes into the house of the neighbour to retrieve a ball. He sees a shoe lying on the ground. Realizes where he is and runs out of the yard after viewing an eye through the basement window. That night something comes into his room and he hears singing of Rosemary Clooney’s song “Come on-a my house, my house-a come on . . .” as he feels his lungs crushing his heart and a flash of silver slams into his temple. Then we fast forward to Mark. Mark is a complete and utter loser (at least in his own mind) he is an orphan and lives with his uncle who blames him for the death of his aunt. He meets up with Christine a new student. We also meet the bully who has been tormenting Mark for years. And Marks best friends Steve (a theatre geek) and Clara a friend of Mark’s aunt who took Mark under her wings to try and help him after the death of his aunt.

While this book had an intricate storyline I felt that too much time was spent on telling us how much Mark hates himself, page after page of self-loathing, what a loser he is (or thinks he is) and the book could have been a little bit shorter by taking a few of those chapters spent ditching the dirt on himself out. Mark meanwhile seems to be a very nice boy. He has a good sense of humor and seems to be very like-able. As for the Character creation as a whole, definitely two-thumbs up. Thatcher did an excellent job making these characters come to life.

I won’t go into any more of the book since I do NOT wish to give the story away. Suffice it to say it’s a pretty intense read with a bit of violence and gore thrown in for good measure. If you like suspense filled horror stories then this is a good one for you to read.

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Fabulous Family Book!

I received this book for my honest review... 

This is a fantastic book for all the family, its full of fun and excitment and the kids couldnt wait to hear what would happen next. 

Atticus Grammaticus Cattypuss Claw is a "cat" burglar. He receives a message to go to Littleton-on-Sea to meet with the person wishing to hire him. So he sets off to England to meet with this mysterious boss. When he gets there he meets Jimmy the boss who is a magpie. Yes I know a magpie hiring a cat to steal for him. Strange but the adventure just gets going at this point. As we get to go with Atticus on his various exploits to steal all the shiny things from the humans. 

This story is wonderful because we get to see Atticus trying to decide if a life of crime is truly what he wants. I won't give away the story but the lesson he learns is a very good one that family is important...

I HIGHLY recommend this book to parents and children alike. Any age from the youngest toddler being read to or the oldest adult doing the reading will enjoy this story with the twists and turns and the crazy antics of Atticus, the Magpies, the children and the police its a fabulous story for all.

OMG! A MUST READ!!!

I received this book from the Author for my honest review... That being said my first response is OMFG!!! This book has it all...

This story is a coming of age sort of story. First we have Shay who is 18 years old, her father went missing 

when she was only 7 years old. Then we have the ghost who Shay first saw the night her father disappeared and who aged along with Shay and who at age 15 she banished (by accident). Then we add in the steaming hot Hugh. Add in a prophecy and we have a major story plot!

Now if that isn't enough we have to add in the fact that Shay is a Cryptid. A Cryptid..."The human cell is something to be admired. It adapts to survive in the most unusual circumstances. Splicing occurs when you mix animal cells with human cells, which results in what some scientists call a parahuman, a type of cryptid. A cryptid can be described as a paranormal being with some animal-like traits." In Shay's case she can not only see ghosts but also speak to them and touch them. We also find out that Shay's father was also a cryptid and he was also a geneticist. (How much trouble can that lead to? well I won't tell you'll have to read it to find out!)

I won't go into too much detail and give the story away. But suffice it to say that Hugh and Shay go through a LOT in a very short time period. This book kept me reading and it made me want to scream when I got to the end and went OH NO A CLIFFHANGER!!! But then I happily discovered that her second book is already out and I plan on getting my grubby hands on it ASAP!

So that in itself tells you how great this book is. Take it from me this is a definite pleaser, it has everything that makes a story great including the characters seeming so life-like. There emotions are perfectly written so you the reader can feel what they feel. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE! Young and Old Alike!

To Read or not to read!!! NO question READ!!!

All I can start with is ARGH!!!!!!!!! *reaches out to strangle the author*

Now seriously... I received this book for my honest review from the Author Kelly Carrero and I have to say she wrote a fabulous book here. I'm already drooling and 

whining to my husband that I need book 2 and it hasn't even been written yet.

This story starts out like many teenage stories with a boy (Aiden) and a girl (Jade). But the story is so much more than just a little romance between these two teenagers.

Jade wakes up from a car accident only to find that she has an amazing ability to heal. Aiden her boyfriend also has numerous abilities which I won't spoil for you since we discover them all in the book. Aiden's family also have these special talents of their own.

Jade's best friend Chelsea disappears and the story is about the search to find her kidnapper. But the mystery isn't a simple one because Jade has visions of what is happening. This leads us in interesting places and strange occurrences which open the world up to Jade and Aiden.

This Author has created a wonderful world in this book where the characters feel alive. Their responses are perfect to the situations they find themselves in. The young love aspect of this book isn't forgotten but it isn't overly dramatized either. You can actually feel the stare of the nosy neighbor, or feel the teenage anger at kids who tell tales about other kids. You can experience the fear of knowing something is happening and knowing you need to stop if from occurring but being powerless to stop it.

The mystery does NOT stop with Aiden and Jade finding out what happened to Chelsea it continues on and leaves us with a breath-taking cliffhanger (I do so HATE cliffhangers) which will hopefully begin in the next book (soon I hope)

This book is a fabulous read for young and old alike and will leave you gasping and screaming out for more. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE!

If Horror is your thing!

I received this book from the Author S.R. Everett for my honest review.

If what you are looking for is a tale with gruesome deaths, torture scenes and a bit of sex thrown in for an offset then this is the book for you. I am actually haunted by the visions of the death’s and tortures in this book. A few of them such as the death of Andy’s mother by means of a baseball bat and his brother being beaten to death by their father just make me want to throw up. However, this story sucked me in. I started reading and almost like the pull of an auto accident on the side of the road this author pulled me in with the horrific deaths of Andy’s pregnant mother and his twin brother by the abusive, jealous, possessive, crazy father. But the death toll didn’t stop then, it continued on with the flash back the Sheriff had of his own father committing suicide when he was just 7 years old. I won’t give you any more of the gory details but suffice it to say it does not end there. 

While this book was enjoyable to read and try to figure out what was going to happen next, it was far from the enjoyable experience of a nice leisurely read. This book in fact reminded me a lot of the old horror movies where they used graphic violence and torture to scare the heck out of the viewers. And that is just what this book successfully did. It scared the heck out of me. This Author has talent to create a scene that makes you want to run and hide. And in my opinion that says a lot for a first time Author. I for one could have done without a few of what I’ll call “loosely called” love scenes. I say loosely called because not one of them could truly be classified as a love scene. But they basically took up space in the book. They weren’t necessary to the plot of the story in my opinion.

Then we bring in the entire aspect of what is really going on in this town. A witch Sana Louis Bellamy the ancestor of Andy Bellamy and we see a lot more is happening than meets the eye. And poor, poor Andy who lost his mother, father, brother and unborn sister in one fell swoop finally gets his life together and then blamo his wife Sara is kidnapped and Andy basically loses it totally and unleashes this horrible creation onto the town in the hopes of finding his wife’s rotting corpse. (how gross is that?) 

The only 2 problems I had with the book was the character creation. They seemed flat as if their personalities didn’t quite mesh with their lot in life. There are a lot of times that what the character does and how he behaves clash with how a real person would behave. And while I know this is a work of fiction there has to be some basis of reality for us readers to relate. I could “SEE” Andy’s father in a jealous fit of rage kill his mother, possibly even kill his brother and then himself. But I couldn’t “see” a police officer going into a diner sitting there for hours while he was on duty waiting for a bit of loving. There are a few things like that which spoiled an otherwise good book. And the second was the way past and present were played out. The flashbacks were done in an abrupt manner. But even that wasn’t something so out of the norm for horror genre.

All in all I give this a 4 star rating, because while those problems did hurt the story they didn’t destroy it.

A great giveaway!

A Discovery of Witches Giveaway!

Just thought others would like to get a chance at this great book...

Forsaken!

I received this book for my honest review from Kristen Day.

What can I say but OMG! This book starts out with a small piece of history with the baby being left in front of the Police Station by her mother and father. This in itself creates a tug at the heart as both the mother and father cry about leaving their baby behind and it instantly creates a bond with the poor family who are forced to separate. We don't know it at the time but they did this to save their daughter's life.

Flash forward to when the baby is 17 years old. Having lived her entire life in the foster care system and being both mentally and physically abused, she suffers from nightmares. She has been adopted by a family and is now seeing a therapist for her blackouts and nightmares. Which the family think is because of her history. When she goes to a therapist who sends her to a different therapist who then sends her to a new school, at first we think oh wow what's wrong with this picture. What doctor does that after just a few questions. Then we start to see the strange things that are happening. 

First of all Hannah can hear music in the water of her bathtub, music with no origin. She see's things when she is blacked out, things that are unanswerable at this time but we do find out later what those things are.

Hannah goes to this new school where she recreates herself. Due to her visions during her blackout, she asks that they call her Anastasia or Stasia for short. This flags her because there is a legend regarding an Anastasia and everyone knows it at the school. Then we find that this school isn't just any old school, we find that EVERY student at this school has special abilities because they are children of the water. They are all children of the Gods/Goddesses. Part Human, part god which gives them these special abilities. 

I won't tell you who the mother and father of Anastasia is to not spoil the book but suffice it to say it is what creates quite a bit of the drama in the book.

This book has some heart-stopping action scenes and tear raising scenes. This book makes us catch our breath and laugh and cry and everything in between. I gladly give this book 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone wanting a fabulous read.

I absolutely love books which bring the gods and goddess's of old into them. And this book has everything that I love, a little bit of romance, a little bit of action, some laughter, some tears, and a mystery that doesn't stop with the ending of the book.

Waiting patiently for the second book in the series now.

The Timekeeper's Son

I received this book from the Author for my honest review.

When I read the blurb for the book I thought okay here we go another time travel into the past well let’s see where it goes. It instantly reminded me of the movie Big with Tom Hanks but in reverse. Here we wake up and we are 9 years old instead of 35. Talk about a shock! Then we get to feel it from Andy’s reaction, as he falls off his bed in the shock of waking up as a 9 year old.

I enjoyed how much detail he put into the characters and the time period. It actually made me think back to when I was younger and what my bedroom looked like as a 9 year old. I thought of myself now and what I would think if I suddenly woke up as a 9 year old. I am pretty sure I’d flip out a lot worse than Andy did.

All of the characters were easy to relate to, and you actually feel as if you are one of them with the way he expressed the moods and feelings they were dealing with. The part where Lanie was about to run from the dog and Andy stopped her had me gripping my chair saying “NO LANIE NO!”

Then we find out that a lot more is going on that just Andy being transported back in time. We find out about the Time Keepers. And we also find out about Andy’s father, grandfather and Uncle (grrrrrr I could smack Jacob).

This book kept me interested, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. When I thought I had it figured out the Author twisted something or added a new twist and when I thought I knew what he’d do to get out of the situation he found a different way out of the trouble the characters found themselves in. I was in shock when Andy and Jacob… Oh I can’t tell but suffice it to say it’s good.

All in all I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone young or old. In fact I think I’ll have my 9 year old son read it as well. I think he will even find it entertaining especially the part about the guns.

The only thing I did notice is sometimes the author used you’re instead of your and vice versa. But since this is an ARC I’m sure it will be polished up in no time at all.

Great Book! A definite must read!

The Kure

Okay now this one is a tough one for me to review. I received this book from the Author Jaye Frances for my honest review. So I will do my best to do just that.

This book begins with John who wakes up to find that his member is infected with blisters. He goes into town to the doctor who basically wants to do a leaching to get the poisons out of his penis. John asks for different options and the only other option that the Doctor has is one for the book labelled KURE. Now this book is old and according to the doctor it is evil. We'll leave that for the moment. This book tells John that he must find a virgin who is willing to hold his infected member in her mouth until the infection is gone. So he goes to the town registars and looks at all the births in his small town and finds two options. One is ruled out because she is no longer a virgin. So we meet Sarah, she is the only surviving daughter of a wealthy rancher. She discovers why John has come to her house and demands to see the book and he shows her where she finds a second way to cure John's illness. The story continues as they try to cure John by following this second way by running in the rain naked with someone who doesn't know about his illness. In the end Sarah winds up using her mouth on John to transfer moonlight raindrops to his member. 

My problems with this book aren't about the story itself, it was well written and easily understandable. My problems lie in the area where they consider the book and the rituals it contains as something demonic. Based upon the story and the hints of when the time is supposed to have been we can be assured that Paganism was already a hidden thing, and that the rituals that they once lived by were now considered satanic. This we can also see in the Notes from the Author at the end of the book. Where she said that the cure is based on "the virgin cure" a medieval concept of having sexually based contact with a virgin to cure all manners of diseases. She goes on to mention that it was based on demonic possession. The problem I have is that Pagans do not believe in the devil or satan, and that the fact is that the Christians introduced that term and considered any rituals they didn't approve of to be Demonic or Satanic in origin. The Virgin Cure that she refers to was in fact practiced not because of a demonic influence but because a virgin is the closest thing to the gods and leaving something of you behind is the greatest gift you could give the gods, your very life which was what men tried to do by the sexual relations of the virgin cure.

Other than this issue, I believe the book was slow moving and steady. The book kept you in suspense of would the cure work. And the way the book ends leaves you with the very real possibility of future books along the same line. The Author did a successful job of keeping the time period straight with issues of the time. And the characters in the books were strong and successfully written. John is a male who has very strong values but who is willing to go against them in the beginning and then thinks twice when he meets the beautiful Sarah. Sarah is an intelligent and strong female who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to use it. I give this book 3.5 stars because while I found discrepancies most people would not know that any existed and therefore would enjoy the basic story.

Shadow of Night

Okay what can I say about this absolutely stunning author? This book is the second in a trilogy, we began with "A Discovery of Witches" and continue on in the Shadow of Night.

This book begins one second after the last book ended. We see Diana and Matthew back in 1590. We get to live the time period through their eyes. Matthew stepped into his old life, while Diana was added into his old life. We get to meet Phillipe who is Matthew's father and who takes Diana as his daughter.  Phillipe is a strong man in Matthew's life and we finally get to understand not only what happened to Phillipe but also why it effected Matthew so strongly.

I thought that the Author's grasp of history was astounding. She made me the reader feel as if I was living that time period. She made sure to have historical facts in abundance in this book especially in regards to the Witch hunts which were going on in the time period around Scotland and Europe as a whole. Little things such as what items of clothing were called or how alchemy was in the time period were added tid-bits that kept my mind active. Diana uses he knowledge of the past as a alchemical historian to actually help some of the famous names of the time.

The time period is a dangerous time for witches and Diana must learn what she is and how to use her magic. In this book we finally get to see what it is that makes Diana different from all the other witches. She learns to use her magic in ways that were unexpected. This also leads us down the path of different witches of the time period and the different skills that each witch is born with.

We also get to meet Diana's father, and Bridget Bishop for the first time. And we discover that the myth of a vampire/witch baby is not just a myth but is in fact a reality as Matthew and Diana become pregnant.

Add to all of that Deborah Harkness added one chapter at the end of each of the sections of her book that showed the affect that Diana and Matthew were having on present day.  Which was a great idea since we were able to see not only what was happening with the characters we knew and loved from her first book but also the changes that were taking place due to Diana and Matthew being back in time for such a long period.

In this book we also get to see the allusive Ashmole 782 while it was still in mint condition. We also find out how three pages came to be missing. This book is a dream come true for a geneticist like Matthew because it holds in its pages all the DNA from the original witches, vampires and daemons. But what the book is made of is a real issue and one better not let out here in the review.


All in all this book was a great read. Entertaining and at times exciting.

A Discovery of Witches

So today I finished the book A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. 

This book was FABULOUS! It had a ton of Historical and Scientific references as well as the Philosophers stone's books and the Bible used by Diana in reference to her Alchemy research. Sounds boring right? Well ITS NOT! Diana also happens to be a witch, who because of the death of her parents has decided to NOT do magic. But she uses it a lot more than she realizes. When she meets Matthew she falls in love with him. However, Matthew is a vampire. and Vampires, Witches and Daemons are NOT to socialize what-so-ever because it would draw them out into the humans eye. The twists and turns and the excitement in this book are fabulous. The storyline is engaging and entertaining. You will laugh, cry and scream in frustration. And when the story ends you are left screaming NOOOOOOOOOO you can't end here, come on give me the next book!!!! I HIGHLY recommend this book to ANYONE who loves anything to do with the paranormal, religions, science, history, awww heck ANYONE who can read!!!!!


Now on to the story... 

The book begins with Diana doing research in the Library, she calls up a book which is enchanted and has been "lost" for a century at least. The book is in HIGH demand by the other world creatures: Vampires, Witches, Daemons. She of course doesn't know this, since she has been avoiding magic and anything to do with magic. She blindly opens the book, takes a few notes and returns the book to the library. In enters Matthew, an enigmatic Vampire who is absolutely gorgeous to anyone who sees him but emits this full of power stay away vibe to everyone.  Diana is drawn to him at first because he can protect her from the creatures who are flocking to the library since she opened the book, and in part because of this attraction she feels and the safety he offers her. 

The story takes a few twists and turns when Diana is threatened by the Witches for her association with the Vampire Matthew. It becomes even more apparent that not all is as it seems when a photo of her parents appears at her home after the subtle threats of harm should she not do as she is told.

Matthew takes matters into his own hands and takes Diana to his home in France where she meets his "mother". 
She finally admits she loves him, and he admits that he loves her and this is where the story becomes more than just the Romeo and Juliet tale we expected. In walks danger, and death, in the form of Satu who tries desperately to get the information about the book from Diana, but only succeeds in making everyone aware that Diana isn't just ignoring her magic its been spellbound by her parents to protect their young daughter.

I won't put any more spoilers in so as not to destroy your story, however, this book leaves you screaming WHERE IS THE NEXT BOOK!!!!

A Discovery of Witches