Review of "Playing by the Rules" by Imelda Evans

"Kate Adams expected to return home from Paris with a ring on her finger. Instead, her French boyfriend, Alain, breaks up with her right before she leaves for Australia.  Unwilling to show up at her high school reunion desperate and dateless, Kate asks her best friend's brother, handsome Josh Marchant, to pretend to be her fiancée.  Josh has always had a soft spot for his sister's friend and happily takes on the role. And as they spend time together, the lines between fact and fiction blur and they're soon struggling to remember it's all just an act."

Kate is someone who is what I would call an "extreme planner."  If she doesn't have it mapped out step by step.....well, let's just say "spontaneity" is not Kate's middle name.  Kate works for the Sorbonne, she was planning on her hot Frenchie boyfriend proposing so she could plan a wedding and a life for herself.  On the opposite side of the coin, Josh is definitely not stuck in one spot.  His job allows him to travel around the world to different hotels every couple of years or so and up until he comes home for a visit and agrees to be Kate's date to her reunion, he wasn't exactly looking to stop moving around from place to place nor was he looking to settle down.

I copied the teaser above to point out a few things about it.  First, Josh doesn't have just a "soft spot."  People who read the book are going to figure out what Josh thinks of Kate early on in the book. Kate is Josh's sister's best friend and they've known each other for many years but Josh's feeling go a little deeper than that.  If Kate were the homely best friend, I could see the "soft spot" description being a fair one but in this particular case, it's not.

The point that they're struggling to remember it's all an act refers to the reunion in the book.  That's misleading as well.  I get that it's a teaser to get people to read the book and it worked on me as well but it's also not exactly a fair description.  These two don't struggle at all.  At least not to me.

I liked this book.  I liked the story and the ending as well.  There wasn't anything I particularly disliked either.  However, I thought the book spent too much time at the reunion and too little time with Kate and Josh getting to know each other again.

I also thought everyone was so nice.  Too nice.  Kate's Frenchie ex shows up at one point int his book and it's really not much of a spoiler.  Kate gets some closure from it.  But she's way too nice to him.  Or, maybe Australian women are just more polite????

Overall, I recommend reading it if you like a good, solid straight romantic book.  If you don't want retching agony and a nicely wrapped happily ever after, then definitely read it.  It's something I'll definitely recommend.

(I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review in return)

Book Review of "Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed" by Alexander L. Chapman, Kim L. Gratz

Overall, the book isn't bad. However, because I'm already a nurse and have worked with psych patients, I already knew most of the information in the book. It was a good refresher but it was obviously written for someone who is newly diagnosed with BPD. But even for someone who is newly diagnosed, I still thought it was too basic.

The style of the book overall was good. It describes what BPD is, it describes various treatments that include talk therapy and medication therapy. I did like that it was recommended that talk therapy be included if one is also in medication therapy. In my opinion, it's crucial for every patient with a mental health disorder receiving mediation therapy to seek talk therapy.

Some of the things I would have liked to be included in the book was more description of the different medications. Almost to the degree that they different types of talk therapy were described. Not to the degree of a drug guide perhaps but just a bit more detail of each one instead. I would have like more description of the symptoms, more information about onset of symptoms and when would be a good time for someone to seek help. I would have like more case study examples where the patients are NOT self-harming or suicidal as well. As it is one symptom of nine, and one needs to have five of the nine, there must be many case studies available where patients don't have this symptom at all.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review. One other thing I will include in the notes to the publisher and author which I think people should know in advance is that this book comes in PDF form and not an ePub form. I personally read everything on my iPhone where PDF books are difficult to read even after increasing the font. One still has to increase the size of the page with every page turn which slows down the reading process. I was able to convert the PDF to an ePub file. However, the file converted to a badly formatted ePub book. It might be good if NetGalley actually increased the options for the readers or of NetGalley made it so all books are in ePub form for non-Kindle users.

I give it three of five stars. For me, three stars signifies a rating of "Good."

Book Review of "Lake Thirteen" by Greg Herren

Scotty is a teenager who has just come out to his parents. Prior to going on an annual vacation with two other families that Scotty and his parents do every year, Scotty also comes out to his lifelong friends over email. Scotty is really nervous about how those friends are going to react during this vacation because no one replied to his email. Shortly after arriving, Scotty finds out that his friends still think he's the same Scotty.

Staying at a resort in a small historical town in upstate New York, during the off-season, Scotty and his friends, one of whom is into ghost hunting and the paranormal, decide to wander down to an old nearby cemetery. What they discover is that the town has some dark secrets that have been hidden for almost one hundred years. What seemed like a boring week in the mountains gradually turns into a wild and crazy ghost story.

As this is really the first "paranormal" style novel I've ever read, I have to say that Greg Herren knows his stuff. He's obviously done research about what those who seek to learn about the paranormal do. I liked how Scotty's friends reacted to him. They see him as the same old Scotty who is still their friend so the level of awkwardness is graciously reduced in that area. However, the fact that Scotty is gay is all tied up in this story. As Scotty and his friends reluctantly set out to find out what happened to one of the decedents in the graveyard, weird things begin to happen to Scotty. And then they begin to happen to his friends too. Like getting cold when a ghost is nearby. Scotty's dreams turn out to be clues from the ghosts themselves. It also becomes obvious that one ghost is trying to find final rest and another is trying to keep Scotty and his friends from finding out what really happened.

The story aligns with Scotty's relationship with Marc, his boyfriend back home, and Scotty begins to worry that something is wrong back home and that Marc is in danger.

This book was a page turner. I could not put it down. Greg Herren takes the paranormal and makes it believable. There are weird visions, eerie sounds of a ghost crying out the name of another ghost.

If you like a good mystery and books about the paranormal, you will enjoy this book. I wondered all the way through how this was going to all come together and end up. I was pleased with it overall. What I would have liked to read was Scotty returning home to Marc to see their interaction after everything that happens in this book. Maybe in the form of a Epilogue. But, I don't think it takes away from the book as a whole which is why I kept it at the 5 stars that I gave it when I finished the book.

Definitely a good book for teens and adults alike.

This book was provided by Net Galley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Review of "Starry Night" by Debbie Macomber"

"Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.

Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a megabestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.

Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart."

I absolutely LOVED this book! It is 100% pure romance. I loved Carrie and what she willing to do for true love. I never disliked Finn even though I thought he was a teeny bit stubborn. But he's willing to do what he has to do for true love as well.

There are some minor characters in here like Carrie's co-worker, Sophie and Carries mother. Finn's mother appears in this book as well. But this story is dead centered on Carrie and Finn. Every time one of their hearts fluttered, my heart fluttered with them. I rooted for both Carrie and Finn the entire time and I could not put this book down. In fact, I read it in a couple of hours. I was entranced.

I'm currently working my way through Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series but it was nice to take one of her stand-alone books and just enjoy it knowing this was going to just be a good romance with a happy ending. It was sweet, it was lovely and it was most definitely romantic. I wish there was a sequel just so I could read more about Carrie and Finn.

It's a great Christmas book. Definitely a book to get one into the Christmas spirit!

(ARC provided through NetGalley for an honest review)

"I Will Heal...Then WE (?) Will Heal" WTF?

I've written different kinds of Notes on Facebook and I've blogged in the past. I've written about turning 40, about life without the ability to have a child and about life growing up with no father because he was murdered. The latter was more reality intertwined with my dreams of what life would have been like if he'd lived.

But now, another pending matter (and there always seems to be SOMETHING) looms.

I've recently hit a strike of another possible abandonment in life. It comes in big ways and smaller ways but this one might actually be the result of ME walking away this time.

First, my birth mother abandoned me and my brother when were about 11 and 10 years old. She was a drunk and a junkie and from all accounts, she still is.

My aunt adopted me legally when I was in my 20's. I finally had a real mother. And, I was so happy. I felt liked I belonged to someone...finally.

Then, 7.5 years ago, my aunt-mother stopped talking to me over a rift that I can barely recall the details to. But I do remember that I apologized, answered every question she had truthfully and left the door open to come to me anytime. Eventually, on the advice of a professional, it came time to stop trying and move along with my own life.  I can't make her not angry with me and I can't worry about it anymore because she's angry with me.  She's angry with me because she can't be angry at someone else because it won't affect that person.  So, I'm the target.  Fine, moving on.

Other abandonments have probably come as a result of circumstance. I'm sure I haven't heard from some of my BFF's because they've had babies in their late 30's and I have no children. It's heartbreaking. These were the children who were supposed to have me in their lives and I refuse to impose myself on them. I figure if I'm wanted, they'll tell me.

I suppose there is some overall punishment hanging over me for all time for some reason, maybe a lot of reasons...I just don't know.

But now I have a friend of 20+ years who, after being hospitalized from a psychotic break after discontinuing medication, has decided she needs to heal so WE can heal.  The only problem is: WE are not broken.  At least not in my reality where there isn't a diseased mind.  Her mind, on the other hand, has completely flipped interactions between us in the past in a 180 degree direction.  Basically, she's seeing the exact opposite of what actually took place.  And I cannot even begin to describe the horrific, nightmare experiences my friend put me and her family through before she was finally hospitalized.

So, I'm thinking it might be high time to say goodbye to that friendship.  I've given a lot over the years to those who are the closest to me.  Sometimes giving to the point where I allowed advantage to be taken willingly because I was being helpful.

I'm now at the point where even the smallest courtesy asked for has become suspicious.  I never expect reciprocation when I give to another.  But now the whole "give an inch, take a foot" thing is out of hand.  And I suppose there shouldn't be a "give an inch, take a foot" thing when it comes to those closest to you but eventually, one grows weary.  Eventually, you do start to wonder, not if they'll give back but, if they'll even acknowledge what you gave.

I can accept that relationships have their time. Some are for life, some are for only a little while maybe for some unknown purpose and most fall somewhere in the middle. But maybe it's time I did some "friend cleaning" in other places other than just on Facebook.

Review of "The Rainy Day Killer (Fourth Novel in the Donaghue-Stainer Crime Novel Series)" by Michael J. McCann

A man in a business suit offers the protection of his umbrella to an unsuspecting woman ... and several days later she turns up dead on a river bank, raped and strangled. The terrifying serial killer known in the press as the Rainy Day Killer is now hunting new victims in the city of Glendale ... whenever it rains.

Homicide Lieutenant Hank Donaghue leads the investigation as the killer begins to communicate directly to him through phone calls and grisly packages containing body parts of his victims. Assisted by FBI profiler Ed Griffin, Donaghue and Detective Karen Stainer pursue an elusive predator who leaves no physical evidence behind.

The timing couldn't be worse, however, as Karen Stainer's attention is divided between the investigation and preparations for her upcoming wedding. Distracted and uncertain about her future, Stainer is furious when she learns that the Rainy Day Killer has followed her to Virginia, where the wedding will take place, and that he intends to make her his next victim!

I love a good mystery/crime novel. I love reading the characters as they work their case. Michael McCann does a great job here with lots of knowledge of how cases are worked from start to finish, even acknowledging that some cases remain open long term and sometimes they're put on a back burner so active cases can be solved before going back to a pursuit that requires the finding of more leads, etc. The author also shows us how politics works throughout a case, he shows how organizations battle over jurisdictions and how uncooperative jurisdictions can be to each other. It is all extremely real.

I enjoyed Lt. Donaghue and Detective Stainer. Their characters work enormously well together, complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. These two have each other's backs in all things. FBI profiler Ed Griffin was also a great addition to the team. He puts away the psychobabble and profiles from the perspective of law enforcement. I loved the pacing of the story. The clues came as a result of tracking down leads and good police work. I liked that both main characters are hero and heroine. Detective Stainer is tough and she's good at her job. Lt. Donaghue respects his partner and her abilities. The fact that Detective Stainer is marrying an FBI agent and he is assigned to assist in the case bridges a lot of possible gaps in communications between the GPD and the FBI, making the processing of evidence a bit better.

The whole relationship initiated by the Rainy Day Killer with Lt. Donaghue is brilliantly done. The RDK did the same in all of the previous states he's killed in and he seems to "like" Hank the best. I think the RDK's relationship with Hank does eventually cause him to slip up. He has to show off for Hank and let him know how crafty and smart he thinks he is. He's so arrogant, he even tells Hank when he decides his next kill will be Detective Stainer. And the climax is fantastic.

I usually use this part of my review to talk about what I didn't like about the book or how the book can be improved in some way. As nobody's perfect, I think the book is so well written, I have no real criticism of anything. I will use this part to note that the ePub file was "off." The number of pages left in a chapter was never right, the Table of Contents listed pages instead of chapters and the formatting throughout showed many half-filled pages. I think it's the file itself as none of my other ePub books in the app don't have this issue. It did not make reading difficult. Just a little note.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My honest review overall is that the book is excellent. I see it's part of a series. I'd like to read the three books that come before this one.

Review of "Two Of A Kind" by Susan Mallery

Felicia Swift never dreamed she'd hear a deep, sexy voice from her past in tiny Fool's Gold, California. The last time Gideon Boylan whispered in her ear was half a world away...on the morning after the hottest night of her life. Her freaky smarts have limited her close friendships, and romance, but she came to Fool's Gold looking for ordinary. Gorgeous, brooding Gideon is anything but that. 

Black Ops taught Gideon that love could be deadly. Now he pretends to fit in while keeping everyone at arm's length. Felicia wants more than he can give-a home, family, love-but she has a lot to learn about men...and Gideon needs to be the man to teach her. 

As these two misfits discover that passion isn't the only thing they have in common, they just might figure out that two of a kind should never be split apart.

What I really liked most about this book in the 12th book of the Fool's Gold series was the heroine.  She's a total genius.  She doesn't know exactly how to fall in love and when she realizes she is in love, her thought process on how that happened is fascinating.  She almost seems so smart that she lacks common sense but that's not the case at all and we see that develop throughout the book.  I liked Gideon as well.  He's a hero in every sense of the word.  Served his country, was held captive by the enemy and rescued and accepts Felicia for who she is.  But I really enjoyed a good, strong heroine.  She's not the only one who wants a happily ever after and Felicia helps Gideon get there.

Where I think the book could have been better was for Gideon to not have a secret teenaged son just pop up out of nowhere.  I felt like it forced Felicia and Gideon together when they could have gotten there all on their own.  It did give Felicia's motherly instincts a chance to kick in and it confirmed that she could eventually make a decent mother but I just didn't like it.

I give it 4/5 stars and I dropped a star for the secret teenaged son.

Review of "Season For Scandal" by Theresa Romain

***SPOILER ALERT***


This is my first try with a Historical Romance novel.  I wasn't sure I'd like it or that maybe it wouldn't be my cup of tea.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Jane TIndall isn't rich, she's not exceptionally beautiful but she's attractive by the standards of the late 1800's in London.  She happens to be the cousin of a Baron but se kind of the "black sheep."  Edmund Ware, Baron Kirkpatrick is Jane's Baron cousin's closest friend and he's known Jane most of her life.  To him, he's just his friend's cousin.  So when Edmund blows Jane's "cover" one evening in a card game with some men of questionable morals, they have to come up with a way to get Jane out and, pay her large debt.  Quickly, they come up with a way: Kirkpatrick will marry Jane, get her dowry and pay off the debt.  Edmund promises to pay off his "fiancee's" debt, and marries Jane out of convenience.  But Edmund has some conveniences of his own he needs to fulfill.  Edmund needs to create an heir to hold on to his title and the future of those he serves.  Edmund also has some secrets of his own and Jane lets something slip on the night of their wedding that Edmund was never expecting to hear.

To see the transformation of Jane to that of a nobody who wants to be somebody, we see how she self-educates herself in becoming a proper Baroness.  From botching up a proper greeting at a ball to learning how to dress appropriately, Jane learns.  She also knows that her slip of the tongue on her wedding night has changed her physical relationship with Edmund, taking it from hot to cold on the first night.  And Jane wants more.

I enjoyed reading how their relationship transformed.  A marriage of convenience doesn't start out on the foundation of friendship and love.  And while Jane and Edmund are friends of sorts, Edmund gets to see a different side of Jane throughout the book.  I like how Theresa Romain didn't just make this a one time second look for Edmund and all of the sudden he realizes he loves Jane.  She makes Jane and Edmund work for it.

Along the way there *is* plenty of SCANDAL.  Preventing a scandal is what sets up the marriage of convenience, leaving Edmund starts a whole other scandal and figuring out how to not make Edmund's secret go public is a scandal gone undercover.

In the end, Jane helps Edmund with his huge problem, Edmund realizes his kindness to everyone makes Jane feel no different than anyone else and Edmund also realizes why he's been holding back true love for so long.

I thought Theresa Romain did an excellent job with writing the dialogue to match the times.  I also enjoyed how she showed what was considered proper and not proper for the times.  I was surprised that there were certain protocols even within the noble classes with how different titles were addressed or not addressed.

This is a great book.  Part of a series.  It left me not only satisfied but interested in checking out the rest of the books in the series.  Definitely an A+ read for me.

(I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review)

Review of "Going Long" (Waiting on the Sidelines 2) by Ginger Scott

***SPOILER ALERT***

I have been a bookworm for as long as I can remember. I can't rightly say exactly when I read my first book but I do know I went to Kindergarten knowing how to read so it was probably that long ago. Of the possibly 1000's of books I have read in my entire lifetime, THIS book, Going Long, has one huge distinction that sets it apart from all of the others: Going Long had me bawling my eyes out like a baby. And it was definitely a happy cry.

Going Long picks up where Waiting on the Sidelines ends. Nolan and Reed are both in college. After four years of falling for Reed, being in love with Reed and continuing in a relationship with Reed after high school, Nolan has certainly come a long way. Because Ginger Scott opted to write from both Nolan and Reed's point of view in this sequel, we find that Reed has come a long way as well.

While Nolan and Reed have made big strides in their relationship, the problems that develop from not communicating with each other find Nolan and Reed trying to get over an enormous life changing bump in their relationship. The pressure is on Reed to take the next step in his football career by entering the draft. Nolan's deliberate procrastination to discuss the issue adds to Reed's pressure. He knows he wants to be with Nolan forever and Nolan's insecurities keep her from maintaining the open lines in their relationship. The pressure on Nolan to discuss the issue becomes even more terrifying when she finds out that she's pregnant. The resulting early miscarriage of that pregnancy leaves Nolan feeling isolated and full of guilt. These two major life experiences collide for Nolan and her relationship with Reed begins to erupt and fall apart.

Can Nolan and Reed get it together and put the misinterpretations aside long enough to set things right? Are they mature enough to bypass the minutiae and find a resolution to their potential relationship destroying challenges?

I would LOVE to tell you how this book ends but, because I want you to experience this book for yourself, that's one spoiler you won't get here.

Ginger Scott floored me again. She did it with her debut novel Waiting on the Sidelines and she's done it again with Going Long. I was sent on an emotional rollercoaster again. There were times I wished I could grab Nolan and Reed and shake them while screaming, "TALK TO EACH OTHER!" But this is really a story about love and how love grows through commitment and trust. It made me think back to my own long term relationship in college. I rooted for Nolan and Reed, I couldn't put the book down and I knew I would read both of Ginger Scott's masterpieces again. I don't know how much of Nolan and Reed's story is similar to Ginger Scott's experiences and how much is creatively compiled from Ms. Scott's creative imagination but she nailed her second book just like she did her first.

Every high school kid and every college student should have to read these books. They have so much to offer to the reader.

If I could only assign limited words to how I feel about Going Long, I'd have to go with "entranced" and "emotionally captivated." We cry tears of joy when we connect to something that elicits an emotional response. Going Long connected for me like Robbie Gould's 49-yard game-winning field goal that sent the Bears into the NFC Championship Game in 2006 (had to get a Chicago Bears football reference in here).

As I said when I reviewed Waiting on the Sidelines, I'd have purchased this book the second it came out. I was honored when I was offered an ARC of the book from Ginger Scott herself in exchange for an honest review. I could go on forever and ever about every single detail of this book and the effect it had on me but that would be taking away from the other readers who MUST experience it for themselves.

Where does my review go from here? Other than my own blog, Goodreads, etc., I'm sending an email to TheArts@NYT.com and recommending this book be considered for review. And then I plan to nag as many people as possible to read it and do the same.

I'm giving it five stars on Goodreads because that's the highest amount I can give. But I would seriously give this books all of the stars in the sky. Ms. Scott, I don't care what your next book is about, I'm reading it!

Review of "Poor Little Dead Girls" by Lizzie Friend

***SPOILER ALERT***

Sadie Marlowe is an ace lacrosse player who is recruited to play at one of the country's finest boarding school's: Keating Hall. She's the "scholarship" from Oregon. Her schoolmates are from wealthy families who come from big business, politics and her two roommates are actual British royalty. The "brother" school to Keating Hall is DeGraffenreid Academy. Sadie's newest friend, Jessica, who she met a summer lacrosse camp, describes the brother school's guys as "terrible-they're like mini corrupt politicians in training."

Just as she's getting settled in, Sadie is "kidnapped," complete with black covering thrown over her head and being drugged. She wakes to find herself tied to a chair in the center of a mysterious group of robed strangers who chant in Latin and a male who threatens Sadie to never speak of the experience of she dies. There she finds out she's being initiated into a secret society. Think Skull and Bones meets Freemasons meets The Illumninati.

Supposedly, their goal is to perform good works for the less fortunate and it appears they do sponsor some different organizations that do just that. However, what Sadie finds out is that their real goal is to create a completely new generation of wealthy, connected people who all have the "right genes" who can oversee the government, the country, the economy and even the world.

Sadie learns that her mother attended Keating Hall and that she was indeed part of a wealthy family. Also a huge question is what really happened to Anna, the student who mysteriously disappeared and was found dead the year before Sadie got there.

This story is about Sadie, her acceptance into a secret society of teenagers with wealthy parents who are also members of the society and how she deals with the strange experience of being accepted by her wealthier classmates who wouldn't look at her twice but for the society membership.

POOR LITTLE DEAD GIRLS is full of mystery and intrigue. Sadie even finds their secret laboratory where she finds her own eggs harvested and frozen for creating embryos. I have to admit, that seemed to be more creepy than learning about the mysterious death of Anna.

Sadie meets Jeremy early in the story and they become a couple. He also happens to be the other newest member of the secret society.

What this all finally boils down to is that the secret society members are responsible for the death of Sadie's mother and Anna's death who turns out to be related to Sadie and her mother. With the help of her friends, Sadie finds a way to make sure the secret society is brought to the public eye.

Overall, I give this book 5 stars because it's not the typical YA type of story I would read it kept me completely on my toes. I couldn't put it down. Sadie goes from shy and reserved to determined to find out the answers to all of the secrets. Lizzie Friend goes out on a different limb here to paint a darker story without the use of science fiction or sparkly vampires or medieval fantasy. There are places in the story where you might expect something to be more climactic but the story has an intense flow that takes you up to a really high peak and then lets you hang there for a while. Lizzie Friend doesn't give you the regular peaking escalation followed by the resolution. She takes up to the peak and lets you sit and squirm for a while. I kind of liked that difference.

I enjoyed Sadie's friend Jessica. She's not a member of the secret society but she stuck by Sadie throughout the whole book and was understanding when she finds out not only what Sadie has gotten herself into, she's a kick ass friend knowing the danger involved just by knowing the society exists. She along with Jeremy come up with a plan to get these these people exposed.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The ARC I received was a PDF to read instead of an ePub book. It was a little bit more difficult to read because of the format. However, I can't take away stars for that. ARC's are sometimes given out in PDF form and you make adjustments. However, when this book publishes, you won't have any of these issues. So, I recommend you place it on your "to-read" list. The expected publish date is December 18th.

Review of "A Courtroom Massacre" by Mark Porto

I chose this book because the story idea fit right into one of my favorite genres to read: crime/drama/mystery.

I also abandoned this book because I couldn't go on with it.  I received this book in trade for an honest review from NetGalley and like every other book I received from NetGalley, it gets an honest review as well.

The book's premise, a man's family are victims of a robbery by gang members and what takes place in Johnny Bellows' life after he shoots the gang members, sounded like a good premise for a story.  It is still a good premise for a story.

However, this particular book, because of major issues concerning use of tense, punctuation, sentence structure, a lack of flow in dialogue and a whole host of other issues made this book impossible to complete.  As a reader, if one finds themselves having to go back and mentally correct what should be an easily read sentence, it'll eventually drive you crazy and frustrate you to the point that you can't continue to follow the story.

Anybody who writes a book gets some credit for being able to even accomplish that feat. And I do have respect for anyone who writes a book.  However, if you can't do a simple proofread or read what you write out loud to hear what it sounds like to everyone else, then don't bother to go through the effort of publishing it.

After finally abandoning the book, I took to Goodreads to see how others reviewed this book.  I also checked out Amazon to see what those reviews looked like.  What I was surprised to find was the author "correcting" one of his readers.  The author was actually explaining to the reader what he supposedly read incorrectly.  I thought books were for the reader to draw their own impressions, their own conclusions and to experience the story with the gift of their imagination.  But to correct a reader and tell them they're wrong about what they've read?  Perhaps it was that I picked up on the defensiveness of the author.

Don't spend money to attempt to read this particular book.  It's a mess!

Book Review of "Red" by Allison Cherry

Felicity St. John has everything a girl in high school could hope to have. She's popular, she has two fabulous best friends, she's got a hot boyfriend and she's got artistic talent. What she also has is a huge secret: Felicity's hair comes straight out of a bottle.

As a resident of Scarletville, redheads are the "it" kids and are not in the minority. In fact, the blondes and brunettes are the outcasts and redheads hold all of the power. Scarletville is so "red," it even has it's own Miss Scarlet Pageant. Felicity is practically a shoe in to win the pageant this year. It's the 75th anniversary of the pageant and her mother was Miss Scarlet 25 years earlier for the 50th anniversary of the pageant.

And then Felicity suddenly gets the anonymous note, "I know your secret."

While the premise may seem like the author is trying to draw a parallel to some other group, I think the author, described a "natural redhead," simply wanted to write a story where the "ginger" isn't the outcast.

I enjoyed reading this book and it was a page turner that I couldn't put down. It's not a typical mystery but there is mystery and intrigue that makes the reader need to know what happens next.
I liked Felicity a lot and how she dealt with all of the usual teenage issues in addition to dealing with being blackmailed and dealing with feeling like a "fake."

When Felicity finally gets around to disclosing the blackmail to her mother, she's absolutely shocked when her mother tells her she has to go along with the blackmail that results in lying to and hurting her two best friends.

I loved Ivy, one of Felicity's best friends. She's got gumption. Not only does she think the whole pageant thing is stupid and only enters because her friends entered her, she's defiant. Like refusing to wear high heels that hurt her feet and opting for flats, which are apparently a "no-no" for proper pageant competing.

Allison Cherry gives us a glimpse into teenage peer pressure and the pressures parents put on their teens in order to live vicariously through them. For instance, Felicity's mother, Ginger, a former Miss Scarlet herself, is probably worse at putting on the pressure than any of Felicity's friends. From what I could calculate, Ginger is probably closer to my own age and if she were my friend doing this to her daughter, I might smack her silly.

Hayley, Felicity's other best friend, is indeed, BFF material. However, I found her to be whiny, spoiled and a brat. I didn't like her but I did like how she was written as an opposite to Ivy.
And while I can't disclose how this ends up, I was mostly happy with the ending. I would have liked an epilogue that jumped ahead to some time in Felicity's first year of college where she'll find the world doesn't revolve around redheads. 

I received an ARC of this book in trade for an honest review from NetGalley. The most honest thing I can say about the book as a whole is that it's worth getting once it's published. It's a good story with a lot of learning moments for teenagers. Expected publish date: October 8th.

Book Review of "Deceived" by Julie Anne Lindsey

Elle's father is a single dad, working in corporate insurance, and is constantly traveling for work.  Elle gets moved to another boarding school for her senior year.  She expects her night terrors might stop with the change and is disgusted when the night terrors continue.  If that were not enough, Elle thinks she's going crazy. She believes she's being followed. She finds a black ribbon, a signature hair decoration of her deceased mother, in her locker.  Not only has she seen someone in the shadows who appears to smoke, she finds cigarette butts piling up on her doormat. Elle meets Bryan at a flea market prior to the start of school and then finds out he's a new student at her school.  And even though they enjoyed each other's company at the flea market, he acts like he doesn't know her at school.  So is Elle crazy?  Why is Bryan such a mystery and why does Elle's father keep relocating himself and her?

Julie Anne Lindsay has put together a true mystery.  At the beginning, I thought this whole story would lead to an ending where Elle is in some hospital somewhere restrained to a bed and hallucinating.  When the story began to get its momentum and pick up speed, there was no putting the book down.  Once you're on this ride, you must know who Bryan really is, you must know why Elle's father keeps moving and you absolutely, positively need to know if Elle is being stalked or if she's just paranoid.

I give it 5+ stars.  Deceived is chilling, suspenseful and a real nail biter.  Not everyone is a suspect but there are well placed red herrings and there are just enough.  Some mysteries go on forever chapter by chapter where everybody is a suspect and there's a red herring at every turn.  Julie Ann Lindsay was careful and deliberate with her choices in Deceived.

I like that there IS a love story intertwined with the mystery.  But it's balanced out well without the love story overpowering the mystery or vice versa.  The  mystery is fast paced and intriguing.  The love story goes the opposite and is told slowly while the foundation is built.  The blend is highly favorable for me since I love mystery books and I enjoy a good love story.  To read both and have them moving at the right pacing is a HUGE plus for the story but also for the reader.

Another character in the book, Elle's roommate Pixie, is also in this book and I would call her a major character.  However, at a certain point, I wondered why she was in the book.  Her character is concluded before the book ends.  I figured it was probably necessary for Elle to have a roommate to play opposite Elle's quieter demeanor and to relay to the reader that there was at least one other person in the book who saw the cigarette butts. She seems to be the buffer that makes you think that Elle might not be crazy.  Pixie is also the one character that is completely on Elle's side without any questions asked.

Overall, a chilling, thrilling and suspenseful read.  A must read!

(I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for a fair, honest review)