Book Review: Dangerous Depths by Karen Amanda Hooper

Title: Dangerous Depths
Series: The Sea Monster Memoirs #2
Author: Karen Amanda Hooper
Publisher: Starry Sky Publishing (November 20, 2013)
Genre: YA Fantasy

Format Read: Ebook ARC
Length: Novel
Source: Author

Hell hath no fury like a selkie separated from his true love.

The gate to the sea creature realm is finally open. Yara wants to bask in the glow of her budding relationship with Treygan and explore Medusa’s world, but as the new leader of Rathe her powers are needed to save a sea creature she’s never met.

Rownan assumes the worst is behind him when he returns home to be reunited with his wife, Vienna, only to discover she’s gone. She traveled to the evil realm of Harte to find another gateway to Earth and was never heard from again. Rownan claimed he would go through hell to be with her, and now he must prove it.

Rownan, Yara, and Treygan will put their lives and souls at risk by traveling to the most dangerous realm of all. Love is supposed to conquer all, but no one has ever conquered Harte.

Teaser: Rowan ran his hand over his goatee. “We’re going to burn to death, aren’t we? Who would have though hell would be so predictable?” [44% Ebook ARC. I have to admit I loved the hell puns and jokes while they are in Harte (i.e. hell).]

Review: Yara thought her Triple Eighteen was hell, but she’s seen nothing yet in Karen Amanda Hooper’s Dangerous Depths.

This novel is told through three points of view: Yara (mermaid/selkie/siren/gorgon/human), Rownan (selkie/human), and Nixie (siren). Yara struggles with her new powers while exploring her love for Treygan and her new home of Rathe. In Tangled Tides, I didn’t care much for Rownan, but his motivations become so clear and his love for Vienna is so pure and powerful. He would literally go through hell for her. The character who grew the most for me was Nixie. I loved her chapters and seeing her moments with the sprites.

Hooper’s world building is amazing. I loved seeing the beauty of Rathe, cringed at the horrors of Harte, and enjoyed the additions to her sea monsters’ worlds. The fast-paced plot increased the tension, which was punctuated by moments of humor and love. The end made me cry with its heart-breaking beauty.

Dangerous Depths by Karen Amanda Hooper makes me wish I could live in Rathe too or at least have the ability to draw the exquisite world. I highly recommend this novel and the Sea Monster Memoirs series.

 

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

The Other Book in this Series:

 

Click here to read my review.

Book Review: Darkest Day by Emi Gayle

Title: Darkest Day
Series: The 19th Year #3
Author: Emi Gayle
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing (January 6, 2014)
Genre: YA Paranormal

Format Read: Ebook ARC
Length: Novel
Source: Publisher

Mac Thorne’s time as a Changeling is coming to an end.

It may have taken eighteen years, but Mac did finally manage to do what the Council wanted: she chose a teacher and renounced the in-between.

There’s just one last step. She must say goodbye to her human. Forever.

After being challenged in every way possible, Mac leaves what she thought would be the easiest task for the last possible moment. As midnight on July fourth draws near, though, she hasn’t found a way to give up Winn Thomas.

Nor does she want to.

With time running out, Mac stands at a literal crossroads. Choose Winn, and she’ll be stripped of the only family she’s ever known — vampires, dragons, and her favorite demon. Even her own mother. Accept her position on the Council and rule as an equal to her twelve peers, and she’ll forget Winn ever existed.

Independence and freedom have never before been so limiting.

In this final chapter of the 19th Year Trilogy, it’s time for Mac to decide.

Responsibility? Or Love?

 
Teasers: “So what are you going to do?”

The question hung like leaden feathers, ready to drop on top of my head and crush my soul. [11% Ebook ARC. Love this description!]

“No. You can’t fall in love for real before you’re like thirty, or something.” [17% Ebook ARC. I’d say that’s about right. LOL!]

“Midnight, Cinderella, and no later,” Dad called from behind me. [78% Ebook ARC. This made me laugh.]

Review: Mac must choose between the human boy she loves and her place on a supernatural Council in Darkest Day by Emi Gayle.

The third and last installment of the 19th Year Trilogy put this reader through the emotional wringer. I didn’t know what Mac would choose to do until about 89% of the book when it dawned on me how this might work out. To keep out spoilers, certain events broke my heart. I love how strong and honest Mac is, even when people might not want to hear her honesty. Winn is smart and keeps Mac in line, which is quite the challenge. They make a perfect couple. Suze is still my favorite demon ever, and I just love him to pieces.

Gayle does an exceptional job at tying up loose ends and bringing a satisfying yet emotional end to her trilogy. The world-building keeps up pace with the previous books and brings about new twists. I love Gayle’s fast-paced writing style. I wanted to sit and read this in one sitting.

A fantastic end to a fantastic series, Emi Gayle’s Darkest Day will leave the reader satisfied and yet missing the characters because they’re awesome like that.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Other Books in the Series:

 

Click here to read my review.

 

Click here to read my review.

Book Review: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Title: Doctor Sleep
Series: The Shining #2
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner (September 24, 2013)
Genre: Horror

Format Read: Ebook
Length: Novel
Source: Purchased

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

Teasers: There came a time when you realized that moving on was pointless. That you took yourself with you wherever you went. [10% Ebook. A bit depressing, but very true.]

Then, with no reason why, he added: “We’re all dying. The world’s just a hospice with fresh air.” [12% Ebook. As the teaser above, depressing, but a bit true.]

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. [15% Ebook. Love this point originally from Poe.]

We thought we had an intruder in the house, only what kind of burglar stops to play a little Beatles before grabbing the silverware? [20% Ebook. This made me laugh.]

Review: The demons from the old Overlook Hotel are child’s play compared to the ones coming in Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep.

The characters shine in this novel. Danny Torrance has grown up, but his troubled past shoves him toward rock bottom. Whether it is luck, coincidence, or a higher power, he makes his way north and toward his salvation in the form of a little girl name Abra Stone. Abra is an intelligent, hard-headed, and loveable girl. I loved how we watched her grow into her shining abilities. Dan’s friends Billy and Doctor John give him the support he needs to do what he needs to do.

Although I typically like to keep the monsters of horror novels more in the dark until it’s time to shine the light on them, King wrote the villains perfectly. The True Knot has their areas of gray. They live. They love. They torture. They murder. They are the villains we know well without really knowing them at all.

Some of the beginning seemed a bit slow and unrelated to the ongoing plot, but like a turn of a wheel, the novel had a delightful circularity to it and by a third into the book, I found there was no turning back. King creates an amazingly complex plot to go along with the complex characters. And there are revelations that made me gasp and produced goose bumps along my arms. The ending brought tears to my eyes and was just perfect.

Whether you’ve read The Shining or not, I highly recommend Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Book Review: Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin

Title: Mind Over Magic
Series: Psych #2
Author: William Rabkin
Publisher: Signet (July 1, 2009)
Genre: Mystery, TV tie-in

Format: Ebook
Length: Novel
Source: Purchased

Based on the hit USA network series. Shawn Spencer has convinced everyone he's psychic. Now, he's either going to clean up- or be found out.

Murder and Magic are all in the mind...

When a case takes Shawn and Gus into an exclusive club for professional magicians, they're treated to a private show by the hottest act on the Vegas Strip, "Martian Magician" P'tol P'kah. But when the wizard seemingly dissolves in a tank of water, he never rematerializes. And in his place there's a corpse in a three piece suit and a bowler hat.

Eager to keep his golden boy untarnished, the magician's manager hires Shawn and Gus to uncover the identity of the dead man and find out what happened to P'tol P'kah. But to do so, the pair will have to pose as a new mentalist act, and go undercover in a world populated by magicians, mystics, Martians-and one murderer...

Teaser: “Keep up, O’Hara. We’ve got to pull a drunken magician out of a whiskey bottle,” Lassiter snapped, not pausing on his way to the top. [25% Kindle Edition. I had to laugh. That’s so Lassiter!]

Review: Fans of Psych will enjoy the magic Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin creates between the characters.

Shawn and Gus are on another case involving a supposed Martian magician P’tol P’kah and murder. Told mainly from Gus’s point of view, the novel keeps the laughs coming. Like the TV show Psych, there are so many witty and funny lines. Rabkin has a spot-on grasp of these characters.

The novel is fast-paced, funny, and at times a tad absurd. The mystery kept me guessing until the very end.

If you can’t wait for the next season of Psych, then you might want to give William Rabkin’s Mind Over Magic a try.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Other Books in the Series:

Click here to read my review.

Book Review: Memento Nora series by Angie Smibert

Title: Memento Nora
Series: Memento Nora #1
Author: Angie Smibert
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books (April 1, 2011)
Genre: YA Dystopian

Format Read: Ebook
Length: Short Novel
Source: Purchased from Amazon

On an otherwise glossy day, a blast goes off and a body thuds to the ground at Nora's feet. There are terrorist attacks in the city all the time, but Nora can't forget.

In Nora's world you don't have to put up with nightmares. Nora goes with her mother to TFC--a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. There, she can describe her horrible memory and take a pill to erase it so she can go on like nothing ever happened. But at TFC a chance encounter with a mysterious guy changes Nora's life. She doesn't take the pill. And when Nora learns the memory her mother has chosen to forget, she realizes that someone needs to remember.

With newfound friends Micah and Winter, Nora makes a comic book of their memories called Memento. Memento is an instant hit, but it sets off a dangerous chain of events. Will Nora, Micah, and Winter be forced to take the Big Pill that will erase their memories forever?

Teaser: I watched him leave. He wasn’t glossy. He wasn’t dreary, either. He was something else.

He was all there. [5% Ebook. Loved these lines and the impact they have on Nora.]

Review: Memories are worth saving in Angie Smibert’s Memento Nora.

Nora is your typical glossy popular girl until she witnesses several events that turn her world upside down. I love how Nora changes throughout the book from popular to almost outcast, and yet it’s for the best. Micah is a great match for Nora as they work together to create their comic book Memento. Winter is unusual, unique, and quite the genius. Although some characters are more forgettable than others, Nora and her friends are all very glossy.

I loved the dystopian worldbuilding within this novel. The quest for shopping is taken to a whole other level. The idea you can go to a clinic and forget your worries and bad memories is both interesting and terrifying. Although this world is dark, it’s not without hope.

I enjoyed Memento Nora by Angie Smibert. It’s definitely a glossy novel.

 Five Bookworms = I loved it!

---

Title: The Forgetting Curve
Series: Momento Nora #2
Author: Angie Smibert
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish (April 1, 2012)
Genre YA Dystopian

Format Read: Ebook
Length: Short Novel
Source: Purchased from Amazon

Aiden Nomura likes to open doors especially using his skills as a hacker to see what's hidden inside. He just keeps pulling until one cracks open, exposing the flaws. It's like a game until it isn't. When a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic opens in Bern, Switzerland, near Aiden's boarding school, he knows things are changing. Shortly after, bombs go off within quiet, safe Bern. Then Aiden learns that his cousin Winter has had a mental breakdown. He returns to the US immediately. But back home in Hamilton, Winter's mental state isn't the only thing that's different. The city is becoming even stricter, and an underground movement is growing. Aiden slowly cracks open doors in this new world. But behind those doors are things Aiden doesn't want to see, things about his society, his city, even his own family. Aiden may be the only one who can fix things before someone else gets hurt.

Teaser: Do not volunteer for something until you’re sure it doesn’t include manual labor. Book of Velvet. [84% Ebook. So, so true!]

Review: Forgetting isn’t an option in Angie Smibert’s The Forgetting Curve.

I loved the introduction of new characters, such as Aiden Nomura. Velvet’s Book of Velvet sayings were very glossy and had a way of breaking up the tension in this fast-paced novel. Winter, Nora, and Micah are back, although they’re not quite the same after Memento Nora.

The stakes keep getting higher in this novel. Their world is changing, but is it for the better—or worse? As the government tries to keep everyone in their place, a movement is rising to take back their memories—and their lives.

The Forgetting Curve by Angie Smibert won’t let this reader forget how it’s a fantastic book two in the Memento Nora series.

 Five Bookworms = I loved it!

---

Title: The Meme Plague
Series: Memento Nora #3
Author: Angie Smibert
Publisher: Amazon Children’s Publishing (August 13, 2013)

Format Read: Ebook
Length: Short Novel
Source: Purchased from Amazon

In this third and final installment in the Memento Nora series, Micah and Nora piece their memories together as Aiden, Velvet, and Winter continue the work of the MemeCast. The teens all band together to get the word out about the new ID chips - and how the government and TFC are using the chips to manipulate the public remotely.

Teaser: A real piece of the past, she’d called it. I’d always thought the past should stay dead and buried. Or, at a bare minimum, have bigger closets and a pool. [19% Ebook. Bigger closets and a pool is definitely called for.]

Review: TFC can take your cares away, but you’ll find it difficult to come back to who you are in Angie Smibert’s The Meme Plague.

Nora and Micah have a bigger role in this novel than book two. The characters face very difficult decisions as they go against TFC and the government. The upcoming elections don’t ease their problems either. As the group struggles to hold onto who they are, they are facing a world that they might not be able to change.

Although I enjoyed Memento Nora and The Forgetting Curve, I felt this novel had something missing. There was a lack of urgency and underlying pace. Yet the ending was perfect for the series.

Though not my favorite of the series, I recommend The Meme Plague by Angie Smibert as well as the entire Memento Nora series.

 Four Bookworms = I really liked it!

Book Review: Debt Collector Season One by Susan Kaye Quinn

Title: Debt Collector Season One
Series: Debt Collector #1-9
Author: Susan Kaye Quinn
Published: June 26, 2013

Format Read: Individual Ebooks
Length: 9 short novellas
Source: Purchased from Amazon

All NINE Episodes of Season One of Debt Collector in EBOOK and PRINT.

What’s your life worth on the open market?
A debt collector can tell you precisely.

EPISODE LIST - add them to your TBR!
Delirium - Debt Collector 1
Agony - Debt Collector 2
Ecstasy - Debt Collector 3
Broken - Debt Collector 4
Driven - Debt Collector 5
Fallen - Debt Collector 6
Promise - Debt Collector 7
Ruthless - Debt Collector 8
Passion - Debt Collector 9

or add the collections

Debt Collector (Vol 1-3) - Delirium, Agony, Ecstasy
Debt Collector (Vol 4-6) - Broken, Driven, Fallen
Debt Collector (Vol 7-9) - Promise, Ruthless, Passion
Debt Collector Season One - in EBOOK and Print

Teasers: I don’t pay attention to the payoffs—they’re all brilliant or famous or something. Making the world a better place with their brains and their lives. [21% from Delirium]

“You are adorable, just like Candy promised.” [49% from Agony]

Only ten percent of the population carries the genetic marker for collecting, and even with the marker, odds are still good you won’t express. [15% from Ecstasy]

Hit men. Of course, that’s what all debt collectors are. [34% from Broken]

Her hands are spread wide. They’re asking forgiveness. [12% from Driven]

His skin is unnaturally smooth, and he reminds me of the high potentials at the LifeLong medical complex: CEO-type, used to being in control, getting his life hits between high-powered meetings. [65% from Fallen]

She looks at me with a kind of disbelief, like she’s not sure if I’m lying or crazy or maybe have a concussion after all. [44% from Promise]

I give her a nod and hurry out of the room, scraping my dignity off the floor as I go. [44% from Ruthless]

The mercy hit burns brightest right before the darkness closes in. [65% from Passion]

Review: Lyrium is a debt collector a reader can root for in Susan Kaye Quinn’s Debt Collector Season One.

Quinn creates a gritty futuristic world where mobs terrorize people and debt collectors will take your life energies to pay off your monetary debt. The technological advances are spectacular and felt so realistic. I could believe we could have things like that in the future.

Although I read this as a nine-part serial, season one is complete. The use of present tense throws the reader into the urgency of the situation, and Quinn has a fantastic sense of pace. I enjoyed reading each story as a serial because it reminded me a lot of a TV drama.

Lyrium’s growth is so satisfying to read. He’s not had an easy life, but he rediscovers his soul throughout season one. Each character adds to Lyrium’s growth and the overall story. Quinn has a way of writing heart-breaking characters. You just wanted to find a way to protect so many of them against the evils in their world.

I absolutely loved Debt Collector Season One by Susan Kaye Quinn and look forward to Season Two.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Book Review: Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn

Title: Open Minds
Series: Mindjack Trilogy, #1
Author: Susan Kaye Quinn
Genre: YA Science Fiction

Format Read: Ebook
Length: Novel
Source: Purchased from Amazon

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

Teaser: “I said I’d keep the Clan’s secret,” I said. [39% Ebook. Ooo, what is the secret? You’ll have to read to find out.]

Review: So what if you can read thoughts. It’s better to be a mindjacker in Susan Kaye Quinn’s Open Minds.

Kira Moore has a problem, since she can’t read minds like everyone else. She’s such a likeable character, and I enjoyed her growth from zero to hero. Raf is the smart and adorable boy-next-door type. It’s no wonder Kira has a crush on him. Each character has a place in this novel, but Kira and Raf are my favorite.

The dangers of Kira’s newfound abilities to mindjack people amp up the tension and increase the pace. I didn’t want to put this book down and purchased books two and three as well as the collection of novelettes as soon as I finished Open Minds. Quinn’s style is easy to fall into and be transported to a world of mindreaders, mindjackers, and zeros.

If you’re looking for fast-paced and edgy YA, you can’t go wrong with Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series!

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Book Review: The Faerie War by Rachel Morgan

Title: The Faerie War
Series: Creepy Hollow #3
Author: Rachel Morgan
Published: October 21, 2013
Genre: YA Fantasy

Format Read: Ebook ARC
Length: Novel
Source: Author

The fate of the fae world is in her hands ...

Violet Fairdale is in big trouble. Her home is gone, her beloved forest lies in ruins, the guy she gave her heart to has deserted her—and she doesn’t remember any of it. The powerful Lord Draven is taking over, brainwashing guardians into fighting for him. No one is safe from the evil spreading throughout the fae world.

As alliances are forged between the remaining free fae, Vi struggles to reclaim her identity and figure out where she belongs in this new world. When someone from her past shows up, life gets even more complicated. He brings with him a long-forgotten weapon and an ancient prophecy that places Vi at the center of the fight against Draven. With the future of the fae world at stake, can Vi carry out the prophecy’s instructions before it’s too late?

Teasers: “Welcome to the reign of Lord Draven, supreme commander of uncomfortable weather conditions.” [15% Ebook ARC. I had to laugh at this.]

I burst out laughing when I see the small, purple-stitched words: Property of Violet Fairdale, Most Kick-Butt Guardian of All Time. [32% Ebook ARC. Definitely true.]

Review: Violet Fairdale must relearn what made her forget all she loves in Rachel Morgan’s The Faerie War.

As the third novel in the Creepy Hollow series, this review may have some spoilers, if you haven’t read The Faerie Guardian or The Faerie Prince yet. And if you haven’t read them yet, then why haven’t you?

Morgan’s Creepy Hollow series is one of my all-time favorites. Vi is definitely a kick-butt guardian. She’s strong—sometimes tries to be too strong—but she’s such a real heroine. Her growth through the series is fantastic and natural feeling. Ryn is another kick-butt guardian who grows from jerk to hero throughout the series. Each character is three-dimensional with their own personality and hopes, dreams, and fears. I loved learning more about some of the Underworld fae in this novel, and Morgan peels back the world she’s created throughout the series.

I read The Faerie War in one day. I didn’t want to put it down and had to find out what would happen next. The horror of what is happening with the fae realm is punctuated with great comedic timing to relieve some of the tension before ramping it back up again. Morgan has created a satisfying ending not only for this book but also the series as well that touches the reader’s heart.

I recommend not only The Faerie War but the entire Creepy Hollow series by Rachel Morgan.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Other Books in the Series

 

Click here to read my reviews of The Faerie Guardian.

 

Click here to read my review of The Faerie Prince.

Book Review: Ripper by Stefan Petrucha

Title: Ripper
Author: Stefan Petrucha
Publisher: Philomel (March 1, 2012)
Genre: YA Historical Thriller

Format: Hardcover
Length: Novel
Source: Purchased

You thought you knew him. You were dead wrong.

Carver Young dreams of becoming a detective, despite growing up in an orphanage with only crime novels to encourage him. But when he is adopted by Detective Hawking of the world famous Pinkerton Agency, Carver is given not only the chance to find his biological father, he finds himself smack in the middle of a real life investigation: tracking down a vicious serial killer who has thrown New York City into utter panic. When the case begins to unfold, however, it’s worse than he could have ever imagined, and his loyalty to Mr. Hawking and the Pinkertons comes into question. As the body count rises and the investigation becomes dire, Carver must decide where his true loyalty lies.

Full of whip-smart dialogue, kid-friendly gadgets, and featuring a then New York City Police Commisioner Teddy Roosevelt, Ripper challenges everything you thought you knew about the world’s most famous serial killer.

Teasers: “Honestly, how can you be angry with a man who leans out the window and shouts, ‘Yi-yi-yi’? Go talk to him.” [Pg. 24. So very true!]

Body wobbling slightly in the wind, Hawking stabbed his cane in the direction of the Tombs. “And the killer was kind enough to leave the body there.” [Pg. 141. Kind? Suspicious to me.]

“And my father said to me, don’t dwell on the darkness within, reach out and act. That’s how I’ve tried to lead my life ever since.” [Pg. 362. Words to live by.]

Review: Jack the Ripper heads to New York City in Stefan Petrucha’s Ripper.

Petrucha drops the reader in late 1800s New York City. A new commissioner—the one and only Teddy Roosevelt—tries to clean up corruption. The New Pinkerton Agency is starting up, and teenager Carver Young desires to become a detective. Finding a new family for the orphan wouldn’t be a bad second choice. Carver is smart, impulsive, and head-strong. He’s a likeable character, and I hoped he would discover the truth about the case and his father. Every character comes to life with Petrucha’s strong writing.

The action is fast-paced. I loved the introduction of steampunk-like gadgets. Although the plot is at times too well-foreshadowed, the ending took me by surprise. The world, action, and characters would appeal to anyone who likes young adult and is interested in Jack the Ripper.

Ripper by Stefan Petrucha creates a new twist on the legend of Jack the Ripper. I highly recommend it!

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Book Review: Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain

Title: Kill You Twice
Series: Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell #5
Author: Chelsea Cain
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Format Read: Kindle
Length: Novel
Source: Purchased

Nothing makes Portland detective Archie Sheridan happier than knowing that Gretchen Lowell—the serial killer whose stunning beauty is belied by the gruesome murders she’s committed—is locked away in a psych ward. Archie can finally heal from the near-fatal physical and emotional wounds she’s inflicted on him and start moving on with his life.

To this end, Archie throws himself into the latest case to come across his desk: A cyclist has discovered a corpse in Mount Tabor Park on the eastern side of Portland. The man was gagged, skinned, and found hanging by his wrists from a tree. It’s the work of a killer bold and clever enough to torture his victim for hours on a sunny summer morning in a big public park and yet leave no trace.

And then Archie gets a message he can’t ignore—Gretchen claims to have inside knowledge about this grisly murder. Archie finally agrees to visit Gretchen, because he can’t risk losing his only lead in the case. At least, that’s what he tells himself . . . but the ties between Archie and Gretchen have always been stronger, deeper, and more complex than he’s willing to admit, even to himself. What game is she playing this time? And even more frightening, what long-hidden secrets from Gretchen’s past have been dredged up that someone would kill to protect?

At once terrifying and magnetic, “Beauty Killer” Gretchen Lowell returns with a vengeance in Kill You Twice, Chelsea Cain’s latest razor-sharp psychological thriller.

Teaser: “You’ve digitized your files,” he said. “I’m impressed.”

“We have guns, too.” [40% Kindle version. I had to laugh at this.]

Review: A bold killer strikes Portland once again in Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain.

Gretchen Lowell won’t keep her claws out of Detective Archie Sheridan’s skin. Then again, he might not mind it too much. Cain’s brilliant characters are back. It’s always fun to see what new hair color Susan, a reporter, has as well as what evils Gretchen Lowell can think up. We see a new side to Gretchen in this novel. There is a sense of vulnerability to the infamous serial killer. Archie is still damaged, but he’s trying to move on—perhaps even with the hot blonde living in his apartment building.

The writing is fast-paced and intense. Cain has a gritty yet witty edge to her writing. It’s always a joy to read her work. I enjoyed delving into the history of Gretchen Lowell as well.

Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain kept me on the edge of my seat! I love Cain’s Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell series.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Book Review: Muted by Jessica Bell

Title: Muted: a short story in verse
Author: Jessica Bell
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press (May 25, 2013)
Genre: Dystopian/Poetry

Format Read: Ebook
Length: Short Story
Source: Purchased

Note: This cyberpunk/dystopian short story is an experimental work of fiction written in verse. Page count: 30. Word count: 2000.

It's illegal to wear clothes. In some streets, it's also illegal to sing. Concetta, a famous Italian a capella singer from before "the change," breaks these laws. As punishment, her vocal chords are brutally slashed, and her eardrums surgically perforated. Unable to cope living a life without song, she resolves to drown herself in the river, clothed in a dress stained with performance memories. But Concetta's suicide attempt is deterred, when she is distracted by a busking harpist with gold eyes and teeth. Will he show her how to sing again, or will the LEO on the prowl for another offender to detain, arrest her before she has the chance?

Teaser:
A tender piccolo
trilled
before strings built
into a
Big
Brass
Boom. [33% Ebook. Just a tease of the brilliant imagery in this story.]

Review: Jessica Bell’s Muted knocks the air out of the reader’s lungs and leaves her drowning in Concetta’s dystopian world.

I don’t read much poetry or stories in verse, but I may have to start. Bell holds back no punches in this dystopian world she’s created. Singing and wearing clothes is illegal. A queen—a man by the way—reigns while people suffer against the government’s laws. Concetta’s punishment is so cruel. My heart broke for her as she has become deaf and mute for the mere act of singing. Her interaction with the harpist is sensual and hopeful in a world gone mad.

The poetic verses increase the tension and often read like a story. I loved the alliterative phrases as well as the pacing—sometimes melodic, sometimes harsh and with a drumming rhythm forever marching onward.

A brilliant and unique dystopian story, Muted by Jessica Bell’s Muted left me in awe.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Book Review: Design and Upload Your ePub by Cheri Lasota

Title: Design and Upload Your ePub: The Steps to Your Success
Author: Cheri Lasota
Publisher: Ever-Sea Press (July 27, 2013)
Genre: Non-fiction

Format Read: Ebook
Length: Short Non-fiction Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon

This guide will cover several types of e-book design software and help you navigate the upload process for all the major vendor sites: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks.

In addition, learn basic and more advanced coding and design techniques to make your novel unique, interactive, and beautiful. We'll cover e-book format conversion, epub validation, coding for interactive elements, and much more.

Review: From beginner to pro, anyone can pick up a formatting tip from Cheri Lasota’s Design and Upload Your ePub: The Steps to Your Success.

In a clear and well-formatted design, Cheri Lasota takes the reader through the steps and tricks of creating an ebook as well as self-publishing it on the major vendor sites. Having formatted ebooks for a while, I learned some new tricks to make better quality formatted ebooks, including the use of styles in Word as well as software called Jutoh for compiling an ePub. Lasota even goes through some of the complicated steps of using Adobe’s InDesign program to create an ePub.

I highly recommend Design and Upload Your ePub by Cheri Lasota to anyone starting formatting or wishing to take their formatting to another level.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Book Review: Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

Title: Doon
Series: Doon #1
Authors: Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon
Publisher: Blink (August 20, 2013)
Genre: YA Fantasy

Format Read: Paperback ARC
Length: Novel
Source: Publisher

DOON…

Veronica doesn't think she's going crazy. But why can't anyone else see the mysterious blond boy who keeps popping up wherever she goes? When her best friend, Mackenna, invites her to spend the summer in Scotland, Veronica jumps at the opportunity to leave her complicated life behind for a few months.

But the Scottish countryside holds other plans.

Not only has the imaginary kilted boy followed her to Alloway, she and Mackenna uncover a strange set of rings and a very unnerving letter from Mackenna's great aunt—and when the girls test the instructions Aunt Gracie left behind, they find themselves transported to a land that defies explanation. Doon seems like a real-life fairy tale, complete with one prince who has eyes for Mackenna and another who looks suspiciously like the boy from Veronica's daydreams. But Doon has a dark underbelly as well. The two girls could have everything they've longed for...or they could end up breaking an enchantment and find themselves trapped in a world that has become a nightmare.

DOON is loosely based on the premise of the musical Brigadoon, with permission from the ALan Jay Lerner Estate and the Frederick Loewe Foundation. Follow the journey at http://www.DoonSeries.com

~Destiny awaits!

 

Teaser: As he passed, dark eyes bored into mine, and I tripped over a bump in the sidewalk. [From Chapter 2. Veronica's a bit clumsy when she sees the boy of her dreams. *grins*]

Review: Veronica and Mackenna smack right into their destinies in Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon.

Loosely based off the musical Brigadoon, Doon drops two American girls, Veronica and Mackenna, into Scotland where they cross the Bridge of Doon into the mystical land of Doon. I wish I could’ve gone with them. Doon is a quaint, fairy tale type kingdom with swoon-worthy young men in kilts. Although the kingdom first appears stuck in the Middle Ages, they do have creature comforts, such as toilets, running water, and even pizza!

The plot revolves around the quest of love as well as to stop the evil witch from destroying Doon. Veronica is a reluctant heroine, and although she could have become a tragic damsel in distress, she finds her courage and needs no prince to save her. Mackenna is spunky and headstrong, almost to a fault, and as a former theater geek, I loved her exclamations, such as “WWSSD: What Would Stephen Sondheim Do.” Duncan is one of my favorite characters because he can be sweet, funny, sarcastic, and a great match for Mackenna. Jamie’s wishy-washy attitude towards Veronica got on my nerves a bit, although I understand why he had to be the way he was toward her.

Like any good musical-inspired novel, Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon’s Doon is an over-the-top fun read perfect for fantasy and musical lovers.

 Five Bookworms = I loved it!