jbronderbookreviews

I know I’m a day late. Argh!! Sorry about this!

I am so happy to be part of this book tour. This tour will happen from May 20 to June 20. JR Wagner is the author of The Never Chronicles. Tristis Manor is a novella for The Never Chronicles.

Tristis Manor by JR Wagner

5 stars

(Excerpt from GoodReads) Margaret lives in a constant state of fear. Fear of her mother, whose constant state of anger and unwillingness to speak of Margaret’s past have long since pushed Margaret away. Fear of disappointing her father should he ever discover the events of that day. Most of all, Margaret lives in fear of her abuser’s return. Margaret turns to self-harm to cope with her pain and fear. Only when her self-inflicted injuries bring her near death does she realize she has the power and the support from an unlikely place to stand up to her fears and believe in herself again.

The story starts with 9-year-old Margaret scraping her fingers on the floor, tearing them up so she can escape into the pain. Something is bothering her but it seems as though it is her cold mother. Recently she developed a bed wetting habit and her strict mother was punishing her for it. The head of the house steps up and protects her as best as she can from her mother by giving her chores and other things to keep Margaret from hurting herself.

Then Margaret’s father comes home for a visit. She literally blooms from with her father’s arrival. Then her mother announces that she is expecting a child. That news bothers her along with her all ready heavy secret.

When the child is born, it becomes Margaret’s responsibility to raise the child. Her mother keeps finding excuses for why she can’t be around the child. Then a lord’s visit is scheduled. Margaret’s secret is about to come out and she is about to face the same trouble again.

This is a touching story. I felt so bad for Margaret with how her mother treated her. But I knew there was more to the story. My heart broke when I learned what happened. I felt for the poor girl at the end. But now I want to read Exile.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

*****

You can find Tristis Manor at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, for $ 1.99 and at Goodreads. Until July 20, 2013, all proceeds from books sales will be donated to RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network). For more information, check out JR Wagner’s website. You can also find JR Wagner on Twitter.

Be sure to check out this story and Exiled. The purchases are going to a good cause and your helping out a great author.

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Today I have the pleasure of taking part in the book tour of Shannon Greenland’s Specialists series. I’m sad to admit that I had not heard of this series before but I am now going to get the rest of the books. I loved Model Spy! Here’s what I thought.

Model Spy (The Specialists – 1) by Shannon Greenland

5 stars

(Excerpt from Goodreads) Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agreed to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn’t have many friends and David has always been nice to her. It doesn’t hurt that he’s supercute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government’s main computer system. But a few hours later, her whole life changes. She is caught and taken in for questioning, only this isn’t your run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a juvenile detention sentence, she accepts the option to change her name and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. As if that wasn’t overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well! And before she even begins to understand what is going on, she’s sent on her first mission as an undercover model. And who better to partner with than David himself!

Kelly is sixteen year old genius orphan. While at college, a cute guy asks her to find out information about his adoption. She ends up in custody for hacking into the government’s database. Kelly is give two choices, prison or to join the government as a spy. It doesn’t help that she finds out the cute guy that set her up is going to be her trainer.

Along with being super smart, 191 IQ, she is also tall and very pretty. There is a terrorist that has the location of a top computer programmer. He has a modeling school and Kelly is selected to play the part to find out where the programmer is at. At first she panics because she is so klutzy, but she finds herself as a model, with a creepy sick old guy fawning over her, and back up helping her find the hidden location.

I really liked this book. There were believable characters and great action. I loved the story, poor Kelly lost her family and has basically been stuck on her own throughout foster homes and such. But she finds a great family at the base. I can’t wait to read the other books in this series.

This is one young adult action story that I think most teens will love.

I received this story for free in exchange for an honest review.

Here are some links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble to purchase the books in the Specialists Series. You won’t regret it.

Model Spy #1 -  Kindle   Nook

Down to the Wire #2 – Kindle  Nook

The Winning Element #3 – Kindle  Amazon Paperback  Barnes and Noble

Native Tongue #4 – Kindle  Nook

Fight to the Finish #5 – Kindle  Nook

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Yeah! I’m so proud of myself. I finished three books this week: Justice (Deck of Lies), Halifax, and Demonic and Other Tales. OK, truth be told, I couldn’t finish Demonic and Other Tales but I can take it off of the list, still counts to me. I’m so excited. If I keep up this pace I might be able to see a glimmer of light.

Now, here is my review of Justice, Deck of Lies 1.

Justice (Deck of Lies – 1) by Jade Varden

5 stars

(Excerpt from Goodreads) A House of Cards…

When you build an entire life on a foundation of lies, it only takes one truth for the whole thing to come crashing down. I never invited the truth in. I never went searching for it. I never had any reason to suspect that the two people I loved most were dishonest with me every second of every day.

I made one bad decision, and in a single day my entire world changed. If I’m ever going to discover the truth about myself and my parents, I have to trace all the lies back to their source. I have to try to find the truth that they’re hiding.

The more I discover about myself, and my past, the more I realize that lies really are better than the truth. But now that I know the lies are all around me, I can’t stop until I’ve discovered them all. I’ll pull each lie away, one by one, and examine it to see what’s underneath…until this house of cards crumbles into dust at my feet.

I just hope I can survive the crash.

Rain Ramey just won a scholarship to an elite private school, Sloane. Sadly Rain doesn’t fit in and is bullied her first day. At the end of the day, she just wants to go home and forget about school but the main bully, Carsyn, is waiting for Rain and tells her that she wants to make it up to her and take her shopping. While shopping, Rain is taken into custody for shoplifting. When her fingerprints are run, it is discovered that she was a kidnapped child of a local family.

Rain is really Chloe von Shelton, a local rich family. Rain is confused and lost. She can’t believe that her parents kidnapped her and she can’t believe the family she came from. She has a hard time accepting everything that is going on around her, from the impersonal kiss and dinners with her family to the behavior that is expected from her. Rain decides that she is going to find out what really happened.

While researching, Rain meets Fallon, a troubled teen that was in the mental ward but also attends Sloane. Fallon helps her find more about her past and Rain starts having feelings for him. But there is also Owen, Carsyn’s boyfriend, that seems to like her and Tom, one of Owen’s friends that Rain can’t get over him wanting to go out on a date with her.

I really liked this story. It has a reverse Cinderella feeling to it. The poor girl finds out she is actually a rich girl, but being a rich girls is not as easy as it first seems. I feel for poor Rain. It was painful to be ripped out of her family. I’m really interested to find out more about what happened to Rain.

This is a great start to the series and I think many people will enjoy the short read. I personally can’t wait to read the next books.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

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