jbronderbookreviews

Darwin’s Children by Natasha Larry

4 stars

(Excerpt from Good Reads) Life can get pretty complicated for any seventeen-year-old girl, but for a home-schooled telepathic black girl trying to survive in a prestigious private school in small-town Jonesborough, Tennessee, it can be maddening – especially when her telepathic father keeps eavesdropping on her thoughts!

Jaycie Lerner’s family isn’t the usual mom-dad-kid setup. Jaycie’s mom’s MIA, but Allison, her personal live-in ‘trainer,’ is more than a mom, with her own special abilities, like being able to lift cars and run incredibly fast. And Jaycie’s godfather John is more than persuasive – he can literally convince anyone to do anything.

As far as the rest of the world’s concerned, Jaycie’s on the outside looking in. The townsfolk love Jaycie’s pediatrician father, but she doesn’t fit in with ‘normal’ kids, and she doesn’t really want to. Most of her free time is spent training to keep her telekinetic and telepathic powers under control. But there’s one thing she can’t control – and that’s her feelings, especially when her best friend Matt is nearby. If only he knew what she was truly capable of…

Everything seems to be status quo for Jaycie until she receives a cryptic message from a stranger and meets a very unusual girl new to Jonesborough. Then all hell breaks loose!

I have to day that I really liked this story. Jaycie is gently guided to help Haylee, a seventeen year old girl that is basically supporting her and her alcoholic mother. Jaycie’s friendship helps Haylee to realize that the world is not that bad and to see that she has a special ability herself.

But the big picture is that special people are around with extra ordinary abilities. Then there are Guardians that resemble angels to help guide people to create balance or Guardians that resemble fairies that can directly affect the world and protect the new people with special abilities.

I do admit that Jaycie’s budding relationship with Matt was just a little annoying. But then again I’m a jaded adult too. In it’s own way it was a good beginning for Jaycie to learn was she will have to go through to be in a relationship with someone.

I really liked how the people with special abilities go through surges when the brain opens up to the different abilities. I also liked how the story ending with a clear opening for future stories. This is a must read for those that like paranormal young adult stories.

I received this book from Roxanne at Bewitching Book Tours for review.

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Beloved LifeMate by Jodie B. Cooper

4 stars

(Excerpt from Good Reads) What happens when a powerful elvish monarch opens a doorway from Sídhí to Earth? He stumbles upon a beautiful halfling who may spell doom for his entire world. When she turns out to be his predestined lifeMate, he knows without a shadow of doubt, his day has gone from bad to worse. Full-bloods, especially royals, never mate with halflings.
~ ~ ~
What’s a girl to do when her destined lifeMate tries to kill her? It all starts late one night about midnight ~ the only realistic time for a blood drinker to be out and about. Miranda is having a fun-filled trip to Tulsa, celebrating her seventeenth birthday. Well, it was fantastic until her lifeMate tries to kill her. Life as she knows it is about to come down to two critical facts: Stay away from sharp swords and do not fall off the commode.

A gateway from Sidhi caused all the races to get relocated to Earth with o way home. Miranda is part elf and part vampire, a half blood monarch. The story starts with her out for a quiet night walk when a gateway is opened up. First she is worried that the elvish monarch is planning on invading Earth.

Chi’Kehra would like nothing better than to read one of his romance books but has a meeting with one of his generals from Earth. He keeps spies on Earth to monitor the activities of the Sidhi. Basically he does what he can to keep the peace and keep them from coming back to Sidhi to cause another war. But when he looks at his gateway he sees Miranda. Of course, there are problems at first but they learn that they are LifeMates.

Once I figured out what was going on, I was a little slow to catch on to this story, I liked the world that is created, very vivid. I like the concept of the LifeMates and how the different worlds have different viewpoints. But I admit that I was rather annoyed about the condition Miranda finds herself in. Beyond that, I am interested in seeing how this series progresses.

I received this from the author for a review.

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Blood and Light by Rue Volley

(Excerpt from Goodreads) Rue Volley lives in the quiet little town of Calvary, Minnesota…nestled in the thick woods lining the great lakes. Rue, along with her brother Kai have lived an otherwise calm life up until their Mother was commited into Rolling River Asylum, after she mysteriously stopped speaking to anyone. Rue is convinced by her brother to attend a party on her birthday and after she experiences something that she cannot explain, she and everyone in her world is thrown into madness. Join Rue on this epic journey, 6 books in all, as she struggles with grief, love, humor, old crushes, new found infatuations, hot boys AND vampires, lots and lots of them.

This is the story of Rue and Kai. They are vampires, but don’t think they live in coffins or sparkle in the sunlight. They are from an old race that protects the world, protectors. They need energy to survive so they can brush up against people or drink their blood. They also can manipulate energy, which is a lot like magic, and can move super fast.

Because of the civil was between the protectors, the radical group that believes that humans are nothing more then cattle has been in power. Rue’s parents were part of the other side that felt humans need to be protected, like everything else in nature. The radicals have learned that Rue and Kai are the first born since the civil war and that Rue is even more special. They are trying to hunt her down to keep her locked in their private city.

Friends of Rue’s parents, Sam, Joshua, and Theodore, are trying to keep Rue and Kai safe. But Rue is also attracted to Jonathan, the grandson of Caine, the main bad guy that is intent on trying to find a way to have children. Rue is torn between Joshua, who irritates the heck out of her, and Jonathan, whom she will do anything for.

This story has great potential; I’m excited to start reading Smoke and Mirrors. I also admit that I hate giving this a three star rating, but I have to. The writing is a bit jumpy. I had a reread several pages to figure out what was going on. I also didn’t like that several characters had very similar names. When Rue kissed Joshua it took me a while to figure out that it was not Jonathan. Also, who was Sophia. One minute I see that name as Jonathan’s sister then I see it as the mother of Caine. I also couldn’t figure out the whole brushing up on people to feed when every where else they had to have blood to feed.

Beyond those minor annoyances, I would have given it a 4 star rating. It has a great new perspective on vampires. It is a good young adult story.

Thank you to Roxanne at Bewitching Blog Tours provided this story for review.

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Hellforged by Nancy Holzner

5 stars

Vicky Vaughn is a shape shifting demon slayer. But it seems things are going downhill fast. Her zombie apprentice has decided that she would rather be a backup singer in the only zombie rock band. The Destroyer, the demon bound to Vicky, is invading her dreams, and zombies are being turned into black goo.

Vicky breaks down and asks her Aunt Mab for help and is told to get home and not to fall asleep until she is there. Vicky learns that a demi-demon, Pryce, has found a prophecy that says the two of them are going to have children and this is supposed to bring Hell to this plane.

Now Vicky is trying to interpret The Book of Utter Darkness and train to fight Pryce and his shadow demon. But it seems like everything is against her, and the book keeps talking about the same prophecy that Pryce is insistent about without any other interpretation possible.

When Kane flies over to share the latest news with Vicky about him being framed for murder, Vicky is still trying to figure out where they are in a relationship and how to protect him from the evil trying to take over.

I really liked this book. Even though things just keep getting worse, Vicky keeps struggling through. I really liked learning more about Mab since she was introduced in Deadtown. I also like how the story finished but leaves the possibility for sequels. I do admit that Tina really annoyed me this book and I really hope she is not in the next one.

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Where the Sun Don’t Shine by Alex Mecalf

4 stars

Marley used to be big in Hollywood but now he has nothing. He has lived in the back of his Mustang and in a no rent apartment from a friend. About the only thing he has is his daughter, which he can see from a telescope on the roof of his apartment. But that is iffy depending on how is ex-wife feels about him and that moment.

Marley’s old partner Buzz offers him a job. Marley remembers the last job with Buzz where he took the money and ran. But when Buzz offers Marley a good amount of money daily to find a missing actress, Marley thinks this is not going to be that big of a deal, even though he has no idea where to start.

Madison is a midwestern girl that became an overnight hit in Hollywood. How Buzz got her to be a star in his cheap movie is still questionable. Then she disappears. Marley first talks to her sister, Justine. Then he talks to Celeste, a publicist for actors and actresses. At Celeste’s Marley learns that Madison is pregnant and had been staying in the pool house. There is no Madison but there is a large amount of blood left on a bed.

Then a call is placed to Buzz that for a million dollars he can have Madison back. Buzz talks Marley into becoming partners on the film to get a million dollars from the studio. Marley agrees thinking this should be easy, but when he is robbed and has no Madison he realizes how Buzz has shafted him again.

This book is done as classic noir. I can feel a lot of truth in the events that happen throughout the story, even if some of it is hard to swallow. Marley basically messed his life up and doesn’t seem to want to really take control until Buzz cons him into work. I did like part of the ending; it leaves an opening for future books. And I admit that I am not totally into books like this but I did want to keep reading to find out what happens next.

I received this book from Book Rooster for free to review.

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Embers by Laura Bickle

4 stars

Anya is a Lantern. Basically she can see ghosts, absorb them, and destroy them. Her general philosophy is that she ignores the ghosts unless she has to remove their presence. She is also protected by an elemental, Sparky a salamander that resides in a torc around her neck. She helps out the local ghost hunter team, DAGR, and works with the Detroit Fire Department as an investigator.

We start the story with seemingly random fires being set but a strange symbol being carved in the ground by the fire. Anya is sent in to investigate and learns that another Lantern is setting the fires to awaken a giant dragon to clean up the filth of Detroit and start over new.

But Anya has a lot of problems of her own. Because of her past, she has as hard time getting close to others. This is apparent when she is asked to help DAGR with a haunting and she keeps trying to get out of it. The same is true for her love interest, Brian, a member of DAGR. When she gets into trouble with a demon she does everything possible to ignore the situation or handle it herself instead of asking for help from DAGR.

I admit that I started this book a while ago and just came back to it. The story was pretty good. I just have a couple of things that I was not impressed with. I was not thrilled with the main bad guy. He wants to torch Detroit because he was attacked, but there is nothing there beyond that. I also admit that Anya irritated me. She just keeps locking people out, I understand with her past why she does this but it gets really annoying to the point where I was about to root for the demon to win.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good book and I will get Sparks to see what happens next. The minor character flaws could be because it is the first book in the series. I do want to see what happens next.

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