The Book:
Two years ago her world was turned upside down…
The Blurb:
Sage Miller’s life changed irrevocably with one violent act. Longing for anonymity, she relocated to the coast of North Carolina. Just when her life is settling down, a sexy man from her past shows up and wants to pick up where their explosive relationship left off. And this time, he’s the one calling the shots.
This time he’s not letting her go…
Former Navy SEAL Trent Takoda spent an intense week with the sexiest woman he’d ever met—before she disappeared in the dead of night. Now that he’s found her again, he’s not letting go. When a vicious stalker with ties to her past tracks her down, all bets are off. With a deadly enemy hunting her, Trent will do anything to protect her and prove they belong together.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 07/05/16
174 page ebook
This book follows Sage & Trent. The beginning of the book is a one night stand between the characters, then she walks out. Trent spends time looking for her without success. Then, just because why not, she just HAPPENS to be working for Trent's brother, a year and a half later, and they come in contact again.
The book is basically one big sex scene. When they meet up again, she tries to run off, he goes and finds her and they start making out. Not that a book of one long sex scene is anything bad, I prefer those books sometimes, but this book was WAY short and had very little else to do with anything else. There was a story, but not much of one.
The characters were likable, the story was good, but it was way way too short. Had it been a full book with plenty of story it could have been a 5 star book.
Setting = C
Plot = C
Conflict = C
Characters = A
Theme = B
The Rating:
The Book:
In the heart of Iraq, on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a CIA special forces unit meets with Arab rebels near long-hidden ancient ruins, a place from which the Americans are direly warned to stay away. But team member Ezekiel Cross doesn’t listen and makes an astounding discovery—one worth killing for.
The Blurb:
Now Cross is a ruthless cult leader on an ominous mission. Convinced that he’s unlocked the secrets of the Bible’s Book of Revelation, he’s determined to gather four stone angels that will trigger God’s promised End of Days. And he’s not alone. A former U.S. president, with a vision of all-out religious warfare, plays a role in the dark plot. But while Cross may have the clues to tracking down the remaining angels, he hasn’t been able to match them to real-world locations. For that he has coerced famed archaeologist Nina Wilde into assisting him, using her husband, ex–special forces soldier Eddie Chase, as collateral.
With Eddie held hostage, Nina is forced to recover relics of untold power from Rome to Israel. But she must find a way to halt Cross’s mad quest. Because the last piece of the puzzle is at hand—and with it comes the most terrifying revelation of all.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 07/15/16
512 page ebook
I've been reading, and enjoying, the Chase/Wilde series for years. I was DISMAYED when the author made Nina pregnant in the book prior to this one. There's nothing I hate more than a senseless pregnancy. It brings nothing to the characters or the book and just distracts from what WAS a great series. I don't know if authors think that all women want to read about pregnancies or what. I'm one who doesn't. I liked these action filled stories for what they were, mindless action, death and explosions. They were awesome!
But that all changes with a kid on the way, and I didn't like this book nearly as much because of it. Or perhaps he stopped having good ideas, because for the next book I noted that there's a time for series to end, and with this one, it should have come with book 10.
Beyond all that, this book had religious undertones all through it, and I didn't enjoy that at all either. It just wasn't a fun book for me, and that's what I read these type of books for, the fun. I said in my review of book 12 that I was done with the series, so I just need to be.
Setting = B
Plot = C
Conflict = C
Characters = B
Theme = D
The Rating:
The Book:
Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.
The Blurb:
While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.
Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 01/24/17
513 page ebook
I love a good time travel story. Well done time travel stories (like 11/22/63 or the Chronicles of St Mary's series) are probably some of my favorite books. But, for me, the TRAVELING part of the time travel book is what I like. Otherwise, for me, it's just historical. This one fits in that category. She travels once, back in time, and the whole book is set in that time. There's no back and forth, so except for the initial getting there, there's no time travel in this time travel story.
I think the time travel was used in this book so the author could have a smart and worldly woman put where women don't matter, and the only way she could think to do that, was with time travel. In that regard, this book disappointed me.
But looking at this book as a historical mystery instead, I did rather like it. I liked the character, though she was a bit of an idiot with some things, when she was so smart with others. I did like the story and the setting. I liked the other characters pretty well. It was an all around enjoyable book, just not what I like out of my time travel. But as a historical mystery it was quite good.
Setting = A
Plot = B
Conflict = B
Characters = B+
Theme = B+
The Rating:
The Book:
All of Nashville is on edge with a serial killer on the loose. A madman is trying to create his own end-of-days apocalypse and the cops trying to catch him are almost as damaged as the killer. Field of Graves reveals the origins of some of J.T. Ellison's most famous creations: the haunted Lieutenant Taylor Jackson; her blunt, exceptional best friend, medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens; and troubled FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin. Together, they race the clock and their own demons to find the killer before he claims yet another victim.
The Blurb:
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 8/20/16
368 page ebook
Though this book is listed as the 8th in the series, it is actually a prequel and gives a look into the characters set before the first book in the series. I've been reading the series for years and this definitely wasn't my favorite book, but it may be a good opener to people who have never read the series, to see if they'd like the characters, though still listed as book 8 on GR, no one would know to read it first.
My main issue with this book is that it focused on a religious fanatic. And just as a personal thing, I hate those types of books. It just wasn't the story for me. The characters were just as good as always and it was good to get back to them before some stuff happened through the series, but just the storyline itself was awful for me. If it had been any other story (without the religious stuff) it could have been a 4 or 5 star book. Still, I will read pretty much anything the author writes because I do enjoy the books overall.
Setting = B
Plot = D
Conflict = D
Characters = B
Theme = F
The Rating:
The Book:
Magnus "Steps" Craig is part of the elite three-man Special Tracking Unit of the FBI. Called in on special cases where his skills are particularly needed, he works as a tracker. The media dubs him "The Human Bloodhound," since Steps is renowned for his incredible ability to find and follow trails over any surface better than anyone else. But there's a secret to his success. Steps has a special ability---a kind of synesthesia---where he can see the 'essence' of a person, something he calls 'shine,' on everything they've touched. His ability is known to only a few people---his father, the director of the FBI, and his partner, Special Agent Jimmy Donovan.
The Blurb:
When the remains of a murdered woman are found, Steps recognizes the shine left by the murderer from another crime scene with a physically similar victim. And he uncovers the signature at both scenes---the mark of a sad face. At the same time, another killer, one Steps has dubbed Leonardo and has been trying to track for over ten years, appears again, taunting Steps. But while Steps tries to find a clue that will lead him to Leonardo, the case of the Sad Face Killer heats up. The team uncovers eleven possible victims: missing women who fit the same pattern. Using his skill and the resources of the Bureau, it is a race against time to find the killer before it's too late.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 9/28/16
317 page ebook
I really really enjoyed this book. I found the character to be unique and though synesthesia type books have been done before, I think it was either a first for me, or a first exactly like this one. I found the MCs abilities to be rather neat and his personality was quirky and enjoyable. He keeps his abilities a secret so no one really knows why he's so successful.
I enjoyed the whole book, and really am eager to get the next book, which doesn't come out until next year. Booo! If you are looking for a new and unique take on finding killers, I definitely recommend this one. It was rather enjoyable with the unique abilities and a flawed but likable character.
Setting = B
Plot = A
Conflict = B
Characters = A
Theme = A
The Rating:
The Book:
It’s never wise to talk to strangers…and that goes double when they’re dead. Unfortunately, seventeen-year-old Anna Morgan has no choice. Resting on a park bench, touching the turnstile at the Metro station—she never knows where she’ll encounter a ghost. These mental hitchhikers are the reason Anna has been tossed from one foster home and psychiatric institution to the next for most of her life.
The Blurb:
When a chance touch leads her to pick up the insistent spirit of a girl who was brutally murdered, Anna is pulled headlong into a deadly conspiracy that extends to the highest levels of government. Facing the forces behind her new hitcher’s death will challenge the barriers, both good and bad, that Anna has erected over the years and shed light on her power’s origins. And when the covert organization seeking to recruit her crosses the line by kidnapping her friend, it will discover just how far Anna is willing to go to bring it down.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 6/28/17
379 page ebook
I requested, and received, this book a while before it came out. Then it promptly fell further and further down my TBR pile. I don't know why, I love the author's "Timebound" series, so I figured I would like a new series by her, but I kept putting it off.
When I finally did read it, I kicked myself for putting it off for so long! The blurb doesn't do it justice, as it goes off into directions I wasn't expecting. The book starts off at a run, with the MC Anna trying to convince a man that his dead granddaughter is talking through Anna. The story grabs on to you then, and doesn't let you go, as it goes through some twists and turns with so many different things going on.
The characters were likable and the story was really enjoyable. I've been approved for the next one and I need to make sure to get to it sooner, rather than later!
Setting = B
Plot = A
Conflict = B
Characters = A
Theme = A
The Rating:
The Book:
Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…
The Blurb:
Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.
When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.
But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodes are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of—one that could change her future forever.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 9/21/16
400 page ebook
I requested this book because I'll read pretty much anything to do with a theme park or a circus. The Night Circus (my favorite book) this was not, but it wasn't an awful book.
Odd things are happening around the circus and people are disappearing, but no one is really concerned at first, I found that rather weird. The MC was more worried about the boy she liked finding out who she was, and that she was a carnie. It took a little while for the book to really get going and I enjoyed the last part more than the beginnings.
I didn't really care for the whole outcome though. I saw it coming, not for the whole book, but for quite a while, before the big reveal, so that was a bit of a letdown. Overall it was a good book with some flaws. Good for fans of the circus, but if you looking for something earth shattering, keep looking. :)
Setting = B
Plot = C
Conflict = C
Characters = B
Theme = B
The Rating:
The Book:
For a price, the world's most powerful people can have their darkest desires. On a private island hidden in the ocean, they may hunt humans for game, attend gladiator-style fights, participate in elaborate orgies, and freely indulge in all the deadly sins within the cosplay of ancient times.
The Blurb:
Abducted from their life in Miami, Valoria and her younger sister wake up in this secret society, wherein Valoria is condemned to the fights and her sister is taken away to become a sex slave.
Now "property" of a sadistic tyrant, Valoria joins other men and women captives who are forced to fight and maim for others' enjoyment, to run in their hunts, and participate in deviant fantasies. And she's under the cold, watchful eye of Alexior, a hired trainer with his own agenda for being involved in the twisted decadence.
After surviving several near-death ordeals, a defiant Valoria focuses on her training and against all odds soon becomes a favorite. But she fights for one thing and one thing only--to be reunited with her sister and to be freed.
But promises of freedom are sometimes just manipulative lies . .
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 8/11/16
259 page ebook
Disclaimer: This book is SERIOUSLY messed up. Trigger Warnings: if you have issues with rape and/or violence towards teenagers, then skip this book.
Regardless of the disclaimer & trigger warnings, this book was AWESOME!!! If you don't mind senseless violence in your books and the capture and torture of teenagers, then you may love this book. It's kind of like a Hunger Games type thing where teens are fighting for their lives. It's very different from HG, it's just got that kind of feel to it, but it's really really good.
Teens are stolen from their lives and taken to an island where they must fight with each other to survive. They are also used and abused in other ways. But the characters are likable, the storyline is great, and it really is a gripping read, it kept my attention from start to finish. I loved the book and I highly recommend it to anyone who won't be bothered by the triggers.
Setting = A
Plot = A
Conflict = A+
Characters = A
Theme = A+
The Rating:
The Book:
On-the-run ex-agent Peri Reed returns bigger and bolder than ever in this second highly-anticipated installment in #1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's new suspense trilogy, The Peri Reed Chronicles.
The Blurb:
Peri Reed’s job eats her mind, but for a special task agent in hiding, forgetting the past can be a blessing.
Betrayed by the man she thought she loved and the agency who turned her into the very thing she fought against, Peri abandoned the wealth and privilege of Opti for anonymity riddled with memory gaps and self-doubt. But when a highly addictive drug promises to end her dependency on those who’d use her as a tool for their own success, she must choose to remain broken and vulnerable, or return to the above-the-law power and prestige she once left: strong but without will—for whoever holds her next fix, will hold her loyalty.
Yet even now as then, a love based on lies of omission might still save her life.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 1/27/17
512 page ebook
This is the 2nd book in a series. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVED the first book. It was so enjoyable. Not so much with the 2nd one, and I was soooooooo disappointed! I debated the rating for this book. It's not even in the same league as the first book. The first book is all suspenseful and thrilling, this one is a dud.
Basically it's all about a drug and that put me off this book right away. If you read the first book (a must if you want to read this one) I can save you time and let you know this book is about a drug that would make anchors be worthless. That's it, start to finish. There's a FEW good moments in it but overall it's a piece of shit with Peri being whiney all through it. I thought she was strong, but she's weak and spineless in this book. I didn't really like it at ALL. I don't know if I'd try the next book or not, probably not.
Setting = B
Plot = F
Conflict = F
Characters = C
Theme = C
The Rating:
The Book:
Born blind, Kendra Michaels spent the first twenty years of her life living in the darkness. Then, thanks to a revolutionary medical procedure developed by England’s Night Watch Project, she was given the gift of sight. Her highly-developed senses (honed during her years in the dark), combined with her new found vision, have made her a remarkable investigator, sought after by law-enforcement agencies all over the country. But her newest case finds her uncovering a deadly truth about the shadowy organization that has given her so much.
The Blurb:
Kendra is surprised when she is visited by Dr. Charles Waldridge, the researcher who gave her sight. But all is not well with the brilliant surgeon; he’s troubled by something he can’t discuss with Kendra. When Waldridge disappears that very night, Kendra is on the case, recruiting government agent-for-hire Adam Lynch to join her on a trail that leads to the snow-packed California mountains. There they make a gruesome discovery: the corpse of one of Dr. Waldridge’s associates, brutally murdered in the freezing snow. But it’s only the first casualty in a white-knuckle confrontation with a deadly enemy who will push Kendra to the limits of her abilities. Soon she must fight for her very survival as she tries to stop the killing… and unearth the deadly secret of Night Watch.
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 9/13/16
352 page ebook
I am a big fan of the Kendra Michaels series, I read all the books as soon as they come out, or before, with the case of NetGalley. :)
We meet Kendra in the Eve Duncan series and I hoped right away that we'd get a series for her, and was so glad when we did. Kendra was born blind, then received sight years later. She uses her heightened senses to help out cops and the FBI solve crimes. The books usually start with someone new meeting Kendra and being skeptical about her until she "proves" her powers of observation. You'd think this would get old, and while it is repetitive, it's always entertaining how she puts people in their place. Kendra isn't a people person, and she's very much in your face. Not everyone likes that, but I love that in her character, I think it makes her even more unique.
This was not my favorite of the series, though it was still really good. I just found the storyline of this one to be a little slower and it didn't keep my attention as much as the others have. But still, a bad Kendra book is still better than many other books, so enjoyable overall. I'd highly recommend the series to any fans of murder mysteries with a strong female lead character.
Setting = A
Plot = B
Conflict = B
Characters = A+
Theme = B
The Rating:
The Book:
A serial killer is on the loose in San Diego, and he has a most unusual M.O.: With each kill, he leaves behind objects with unclear meanings. Most of the recent killings are centered near Kendra Michaels’ home and office, so it comes as no great surprise when the FBI shows up at her door. The investigators soon make a startling discovery: the left-behind objects are actually souvenirs of other unsolved serial murder cases in various U.S. cities. And the new cases feature “holdback” characteristics of the other murders unknown to the general public. Kendra realizes that the killer has come to challenge and taunt her. The investigators become his newest targets, even as Kendra slowly begins to suspect that one of them may be the killer himself. She must find the killer as the body count rises, and to do so she relies on her own ”dream team” of agent-for-hire Adam Lynch and private investigator Jessie Mercado. They must risk everything to defeat a psychopath whose terrifying plan is years in the making.
The Blurb:
The Review:
Received from NetGalley for my honest reviewCompleted 5/10/17
352 page ebook
This Kendra Michaels book was back to form. Gripping from the moment it started. A serial killer is leaving clues that no one can figure out, until Kendra gets on the case.
This book was non-stop from the start, and though I rated it high because I love these stories, I was a LITTLE disappointed with the killer. It took me a little longer than usual to figure it out, but once I did, I was a tad disappointed, as it's been done over and over. Can't say more without spoiling it. But most books have been done over and over in one way or another, so it was still enjoyable, and it's Kendra, the books are really not bad ever.
We see Jessie again in this one. I have a feeling she might get her own series, I guess we'll see. I don't like her as much as Kendra, and wouldn't mind just seeing her pop in and out of the Kendra stories, but I'd read 'em if she gets her own book. She's a good character, just not as interesting as Kendra.
Setting = A
Plot = A
Conflict = A
Characters = A+
Theme = A
The Rating:
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