Book Review: Dark Witch by Nora Roberts

ISBN-13: 9780425259856

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Publication date: 10/29/2013

Series: Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy Series , #1

Synopsis:

With indifferent parents, Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: a land of lush forests, dazzling lakes, and centuries-old legends.

Ireland.

County Mayo, to be exact. Where her ancestors’ blood and magic have flowed through generations—and where her destiny awaits.

Iona arrives in Ireland with nothing but her Nan’s directions, an unfailingly optimistic attitude, and an innate talent with horses. Not far from the luxurious castle where she is spending a week, she finds her cousins, Branna and Connor O’Dwyer. And since family is family, they invite her into their home and their lives.

When Iona lands a job at the local stables, she meets the owner, Boyle McGrath. Cowboy, pirate, wild tribal horsemen, he’s three of her biggest fantasy weaknesses all in one big, bold package.

Iona realizes that here she can make a home for herself—and live her life as she wants, even if that means falling head over heels for Boyle. But nothing is as it seems. An ancient evil has wound its way around Iona’s family tree and must be defeated. Family and friends will fight with each other and for each other to keep the promise of hope—and love—alive…

If you've read my blog, you know that I used to love Nora Roberts. But then, as I read more and more romance and romantic suspense authors, I started to get irritated with her books.

The last few books have been difficult for me to even get through mostly because of the stilted dialogue. I know she writes characters from a different part of the country, but her overwhelming lack of pronoun usage in her characters speech throws me for a loop. Instead of getting lost in the story, I want to scream "People don't talk like that!!"

BUT, this newest release, the Dark Witch, is more like the Nora Roberts I used to love to read. She's developing a three part series, her usual, with a magical suspense plot winding us through the romance. While some of the dialogue was still lacking in pronouns, I found I could still believe it because several of the characters are from Ireland. I don't know why that helps me, but it does.

The characters are very well developed, with unique personalities like in all her books. The romance plots for future books is set up nicely in this first of the series. This is where Roberts shines. I am hooked on the future characters. I really want to know what's going to happen with them!! So I will wade through the unrealistic conversations just to see the couples all get together. I'm a sap like that.

So, while this isn't the best book I've ever read by this author, it was a throwback to the books that propelled me into the romance genre. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Book Review: The Last Kiss Goodbye by Karen Robards

 

ISBN-13: 9780345535825

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Publication date: 8/13/2013

Synopsis:

Dr. Charlotte “Charlie” Stone has dedicated her career as a psychiatrist to exploring the darkest territory of all: the hearts and minds of serial killers. It’s a job she’s uniquely suited for, thanks to the secret talent that gives her an uncanny edge—Charlie can see dead people, whose tormented spirits cry out to her for the justice only she can provide. This blessing—or curse—gives Charlie the power to hunt down and catch madmen and murderers. It’s also turned her love life upside down by drawing her into a hopelessly passionate relationship with the lingering ghost of charismatic bad boy Michael Garland.

But there’s little time for romance with her supernatural suitor when murder comes pounding at Charlie’s door in the form of a terrified young woman fleeing a homicidal maniac. Saving her life places Charlie squarely in the cross-hairs of a sadistic predator nicknamed “the Gingerbread Man,” notorious for manipulating his victims like pawns in a deadly chess game. And now the queen this psychopath’s bent on capturing is Charlie. Refusal to play will only put more innocent lives in danger. Matching wits with this cunningly twisted opponent will require all of Charlie’s training and expert skills. But even with her devilish “guardian angel”—not to mention her favorite flesh-and-blood Fed, Tony Bartoli—watching her beautiful back, the Gingerbread Man’s horrifying grin might be the last thing Charlie ever sees.

So if you've read my blog at all, you probably know that I loved the first book in this series, The Last Victim.  And I was waiting not so patiently for the next book to be released.  Finally I have read it and am able to share my thoughts.

First, I liked this book very much.  Not as much as the first book, but it was still good.  The serial killer plot was very interesting.  Robards is good at coming up with unique stuff for sure.  I think that's what I like most about these books, it's not just the same old, same old. 

I love the characters.  I think Michael's personality was a little weaker in this book than the last, but I still loved reading about him. 

Throughout the whole book, I kept thinking, this romance is impossible.  Where is she going to go with this??  Most romance novels have conflict, but you know in the end it's going to work out.  Not with this book.  I have NO IDEA what's going to happen.  Which leaves me hungry for more story. 

This book didn't leave me pulling my hair out wondering what would be next, like the last book.  But it was an enjoyable read.

There were a few things that I didn't care for though.  First, the romance scenes between Charlie and Michael felt off.  I love the sexual tension between them, but the actual physical part wasn't my favorite.  I didn't really understand how it all worked with him being solid, then not solid, etc.

Also, I felt there were parts that were redundant.  We know how Charlie feels, but it's repeated quite a bit as inner struggle. 

And since I've read the advanced readers copy, I'm not sure if this will change in editing, but I thought all the parenthesis were distracting. (If they don't change it, you'll see what I mean.)

Overall though, good book and I will definitely be waiting for the third and final book in this series to see how Robards brings this all to a conclusion.

Pre-order your copy of The Last Kiss Goodbye here.

Book Review: Elite by Rachel Van Dyken

ISBN-13: 9781455554164

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publication date: 7/9/2013

Series: Eagle Elite

Synopsis:
                                                                                                          
 When I won the annual Eagle Elite College Scholarship lottery, I was thrilled. After all, my grandma had just died and I wanted to take care of my aging grandpa -- he couldn't be a farmer in Wyoming forever. And graduating from Eagle Elite meant opportunity.
But I wasn't counting on meeting Nixon.

 Nor was I counting on the rules of the Elect.

1. Do not touch The Elect.

2. Do not look at The Elect.

3. Do not speak to The Elect.

And worst of all? Don't discover the secret they hide, because in the end, you may just realize... it's about you.

Okay, I stayed up till 2 am reading this book. And the later it got, the better it got. So I'm not sure if the late hour and a sluggish brain made this book seem better than it really was, or if I really did like it.

I am hesitant to read too many of the newly categorized "New Adult" books. They are usually teenage characters that have a lot of overly emotional sex. And I don't care for that. This book wasn't like that. The characters are in college, but it's a fairly tame book for this new category.

The best way to summarize this book is this: Twilight with the mafia instead of vampires.

Seriously, after reading it, I think the author used Twilight as a plot guide for this book.  The main difference between the two books (if you subtract the vampire vs. mob thing) is that the characters in twilight were much more developed.

Very rarely do I think an author should have written more. And I'm not referring to the ending, as it is set up to have a sequel. I'm referring to the development of the characters and the emotional state of the relationships. I wish the author would have taken a little more time to show us specifically what these characters were feeling. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book and I would have downloaded the sequel immediately if it were published. But there were several times throughout the book where I thought, give me more.  I want to know more about them. Make me care about them just a little bit more.

The whole mafia thing isn't one I've read a lot about, so it was something new and interesting. But I got the connection of the main character immediately. It was kind of annoying that the main character herself didn't see it. At one point I thought, okay this girl is kinda stupid.

But for the most part, it was an interesting read that left me wanting to know what happens next in this series. I will for sure get the next one when it comes out, especially since they are only priced at $2.99.

Overall:
* Interesting characters
* Interesting love plot
* Predictable suspense plot
* Almost exactly like Twilight except that the Twilight author took five books to tell the story and this author rushes through enough that it should NOT take five books to tell the story.
* I will read the sequel
* Somewhat violent, but not overly sexual

This book was an advanced readers copy provided by NetGalley.

C.A.R. Book Review: Spirit Fighters by Jerel Law

 

ISBN-13: 9781400318438

Publisher: Nelson, Thomas, Inc.

Publication date: 4/3/2012

Series: Son of Angels, Jonah Stone Series , #1

Synopsis:

What if Nephilim-the children of angels and men-still walked the earth? And their very presence put the entire world in danger? In Spirit Fighter, Jonah and Eliza Stone learn that their mother is a Nephilim and that they have special powers as quarter-angels. When their mom is kidnapped by fallen angels, they must use those powers to save her. Along the way, they discover that there is a very real and dangerous war going on between good and evil and that God has a big part for them to play in that war.

Spirit Fighter is a book about two kids, Jonah and Eliza who discover their new powers as quarterlings (1/4 part angel).  Elohim revealed their powers to them.  Jonah had super strength and can run really fast. Eliza could create a shield in mid-air, called the shield of Faith. It is an action book with good vs. evil kind of thing.  This author used good details that made it easy to picture the characters and what was happening.  There was a lot of adventure in the book from battling monsters to entering other dimensions. It was easy for me to read it because the author didn’t use a lot of difficult words.

People who like action books with a lot of adventure will like this book.  This is a good book for both boys and girls.  I think I would give this book to my cousin and say read it, around the end of the week he would always say “Wow”.   

One thing that made this book unique was that it had bible verses in it.  The characters used the armor of God to fight the fallen angels.  I thought the sword of Truth was the coolest weapon in this book.

I liked how he described it like “He turns around the corner in caution.” So it was exiting what to expect what is happening next. My favorite part is when Jonah goes into the hidden realm [ another dimension.] it is cool when I imagine what it looks like. It is the first book in a series I would NEVER start on number 2 or 3 and go through the series backwards. This book made me feel like I could battle monsters.

 

 

Book Review: The Next Accident by Lisa Gardner

ISBN-13: 9780553578690

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Publication date: 4/30/2002

Series: FBI Profiler Series , #3

What do you do when a killer targets the people you love the most? When he knows how to make them vulnerable? When he knows the same about you?

These are the questions that haunt FBI Special Agent Pierce Quincy. The police say his daughter’s death was an accident. Quincy will risk everything to learn the truth—and there’s only one person willing to help. Ex-cop Rainie Connor had once been paired professionally—and personally—with the brilliant FBI profiler. He helped her through the darkest days of her life.

Now it’s time for Rainie to return the favor. But this killer is like none these two hard-boiled pros have ever encountered. This twisted psychopath has an insatiable hunger for revenge...and for fear. As the clock ticks down to one unspeakably intimate act of vengeance, the only way Rainie can unmask this killer is to step directly in his murderous path. She will become a murder waiting to happen. She will be...the next accident.

This is my first book by this author and I really liked it.  She is definitely more of a crime/suspense author than a romance writer.  But her romance between these characters was very believable. 
They obviously started their relationship in a previous book, and I wish I had read that one first, but it didn't take away from the relationship between them in this book.

Her plot twists and turns were really interesting.  I was never bored, which after the last few books I've read, that's saying a lot.  I remained in the story the entire time.  I liked that her characters were flawed, but heroic at the same time.  It made them feel very real.

She had a few one liners that made me laugh to myself and she had a couple emotional scenes that made my eyes mist up.  It wasn't an overly funny or sad or emotional book, but it was interesting and a good read.  At midnight last night I realized I had several more chapters to go and I really struggled to put it down.  If I hadn't had meeting the next morning, I would have finished.  I have read books that I would stay up till two or three no matter what, but I was able to put this down.  So, take that for what it's worth.

I will be reading more by this author for sure. 

Have you read anything by Lisa Gardner, or have a favorite romantic suspense author?  I would love to hear your thoughts on who I should read next!  Leave comments here, or stop by my facebook page. www.facebook.com/authortinleyinnes

Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

 

Guest Reviewer: Kathy Westerfield

ISBN-13: 9780385737951

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Publication date: 8/24/2010

Series: Maze Runner Series , #1

Synopsis:

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every thirty days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

Just read the first book in a series by James Dashner called The Maize Runner. It has the same "feel" as the hunger games (which I loved)! I was intrigued from the very first paragraph.

Every chapter was so  full of twists, turns (literally!) and drama that I  couldn't put it down.  The author keeps, not only you guessing, but the  characters are kept guessing as well.  They have no idea what is going to happen next in the strange world they have been thrust into. 

I thought the book was well written and the dialogue between characters made me feel like I was standing or running right along with them.  At the end of the book you are given only a taste of the truth of the boys' situation.  On to book Two!!

MOVIE NEWS:

This book is being made into a movie as we speak.  It's set to release on February 14, 2014.  I couldn't find an actual movie trailer yet, but we will keep you up to date on it.  They have a cast list on IMDb.  I'm including the link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790864/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1


Have you read this series?  We'ld love to hear your thoughts on this book!  Of all dystopian novels, which is your favorite?