Review - Something Secret This Way Comes

Title: Something Secret This Way Comes 

(Secret McQueen #1)

Author: Sierra Dean

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Some secrets are dangerous. This Secret is deadly.

~**~**~**~**~

For Secret McQueen, her life feels like the punch line for a terrible joke. Abandoned at birth by her werewolf mother, hired as a teen by the vampire council of New York City to kill rogues, Secret is a part of both worlds, but belongs to neither. At twenty-two, she has carved out as close to a normal life as a bounty hunter can.

When an enemy from her past returns with her death on his mind, she is forced to call on every ounce of her mixed heritage to save herself-and everyone else in the city she calls home. As if the fate of the world wasn't enough to deal with, there's Lucas Rain, King of the East Coast werewolves, who seems to believe he and Secret are fated to be together. Too bad Secret also feels a connection with Desmond, Lucas's second-in-command...

Warning: This book contains a sarcastic, kick-ass bounty hunter; a metaphysical love triangle with two sexy werewolves; a demanding vampire council; and a spicy seasoning of sex and violence.

My Review:

I want to be just like Secret McQueen when I grow up!!! LOL. This book was absolutely amazing. I was captivated from word go. What first drew me to this novel was the cover. A girl with a gun and a smart ass "don't mess with me look" on her face. How could I pass it up!

The first night I started reading, I only stopped because my kindle died. Otherwise I would have read straight through. The characters are extremely likable and you so want Secret to kick ass! She is just one of those characters you can relate too. Her life hasn't been a piece of cake, but she's tried to create a bit of normalcy for herself.

As for Lucas & Desmond??? Can we say ssssseeeeexxxxy!!! Super Hot. Secret McQueen needs to pick one so I can have the other. =D

I usually don't read a lot of books with sex scenes in them, but those in this book were done very well.

And to top it all off during the last few chapters I was gasping out loud. I really never saw it coming.

Great Book. I can't wait for "A Bloody Good Secret."

My Rating:

An Amazing Wedding Cake

you can pick up this awesome book @ 

Amazon

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Review - The Book of Lost Souls

Title: The Book of Lost Souls

Author: Michelle Muto

Synopsis (Goodreads):

When teen witch Ivy MacTavish changes a lizard into her date for a Halloween dance, everything turns to chaos. And when no one is powerful enough to transform him back except Ivy, it sparks the rumor: Like father, like daughter. Ivy has heard it all before - that her father, who left when she was seven – was involved with the darkest of magic.

Making the rumors worse, someone uses an evil spell book to bring back two of history's most nefarious killers. Ivy's got a simple plan to set things right: find the real dark spell caster, steal the book, and reverse the spell. No problem! But she’ll have to deal with something more dangerous than murderous spirits that want her and her friends dead: the school’s resident bad boy and hotter-than-brimstone demon, Nick Marcelli. Nick’s offering Ivy more than his help with recovering the missing book – he’s offering her a way to ditch her scaly reputation as a lizard-lover. Demons are about as hard to handle as black magic, and as Ivy soon discovers, it’s going to take more than a lot of luck and a little charm if she wants to survive long enough to clear her status as a dark witch, get a warm-blooded boyfriend, and have her former date back to eating meal worms before the week’s end. 

My Review:

One of the most adorable books I have read in a while. I read this in one day and couldn't put it down. I loved all of the characters, especially Nick . =D  

What I loved the most in this book was the nice tight-knit group of friends that Ivy had. It was very reminiscent of The Scooby Gang (in Buffy).   I also  loved the fact that the town they lived in consisted of Regulars (humans)  & Kindreds (witches, vampires, werewolves, fairies, trolls etc.) that coexisted together. I think this adds a nice dynamic to the story, you would always be wondering who's a regular? Who's a kindred?

I felt that the story was told very well, and the essence of high school was presented wonderfully. I think this book would make a great movie. It has it all: Magic, Teen Angst, Crushes, Murder. A perfect mix.

A must read!

My Rating:

A Beautiful Wedding Cake

pick up The Book of Lost Souls @

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Amazon UK

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Interview and Giveaway...

Check out this Interview and Giveaway: Amanda Stevens Interview and Book Giveaway.


This book sounds so cool! 

The Restorer

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

Review: Night Shadows

Title: Night Shadows

Author: Stephen L. Brayton

Synopsis: 

Des Moines Homicide detective Harry Reznik and F.B.I. agent, Lori Campisi, have their hands more than a little full when they team up to investigate a series of gruesome murders. 

With life throwing them one obstacle after another, the unlikely pair has no choice but to put their personal issues aside as they battle malevolent creatures from another dimension. With everything to lose, they have no one but each other to count on in a wicked game of survival.

My Review:

Completely awesome! I was so enthralled reading this book. I don't even know where to begin....

Harry Reznik is investigating a series of very gruesome murders (trust me this is not for the faint of heart). NO leads, NO suspects, NADA. ZILCH. Not until Special Agent Lori Campisi shows up to help him investigate. She has previous knowledge and experience with the "unknown" and the "otherworldly". They are also complete polar opposites, which adds to their tension while working. While they investigate, more people keep dying, and their only developing lead points to what is lurking in the shadows.......OR.....is it the shadows themselves???? 

Excellent read. Fast paced, thrill ride. This book definitely makes you question all of those bumps in the night. I most certainly will be sleeping with the light on tonight! 

My Rating:

One Amazing Wedding Cake

you can pick this book up @

Amazon

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OmniLit

Review: Beautiful Sins-Leigha Lowery

Title: 
Beautiful Sins-Leigha Lowery

Author: 
Jennifer Hampton

Synopsis:

The skies of the Dark Coast, the Pacific Coastline of U.S. States has been infected with a strange chemical reaction from a military experiment gone awry. Constant cloud cover rules over the lands. Leigha Lowery, a sixteen year-old popular fiction writer in the local free press is pulled from the only home she knows in Detroit, MI when her mother decides on an impulse to marry a doctor she's been dating over the internet and moves to the small town of Banks, Oregon. As she adjusts to her new life of wealth and power, she begins to realize that the rumors about the Dark Coast aren't even close to what she's witnessed. Prince Alexander Sommers, the son of King Royce, and heir to the throne has taken a fascination to her. He pulls her into a world of vampires, werewolves, witches, and many other creatures of the night that have decided to make the Dark Coast their home.

My Review:

What first attracted me to this was the cover. It is absolutely beautiful (no pun intended.). I give Jennifer Hampton major props for putting together such a gorgeous design. Now for the story. Very clever. Although there are some grammatical errors, (Ms. Hampton states in the beginning, she edited this herself) in my opinion it did not distract me from reading this tale. I feel if Ms. Hampton can acquire an editor, she will be selling books like crazy! 

I was totally in love with Prince Alex (omg!!! he sounded like a total hottie! I kept thinking about Angel from Buffy lol)  and the loved the idea of a Lifemate. (you'll have to read to find out!).  What really surprised me about this story, was that I actually cared about the characters and what happened to them. To many times have I read books where I'm like "ok...so what," but this was NOT the case with Beautiful Sins. This story is full of drama, love, suspense, and not to mention all of the sexy characters. I definitely recommend this book! Great Job Jennifer!

My Rating:

One Amazing Wedding Cake!

you can pick up this book @

Amazon

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Cover Crazy #1 An Apple For Zoë - The Forsaken

Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted by: The Book Worms

Ok! This is my first Cover Crazy and my favorite right now is...........

An Apple For Zoë - 

The Forsaken

by Thomas Amo

I know that the cover is really dark, but it co-insides with the theme...

Here's a summary of the book:

The City of San Francisco is locked in a grip of fear. A series of occult murders has led, Inspector Thomas James, to a crime scene similar to a murder committed 90 years ago in the once grand Aleris Hotel. A place where power barons of the early 20th Century engaged in witchcraft. And silent film stars indulged in the most wicked of sins.

A place where no one questions the black smoke that rises from the hotel's incinerators in the middle of the night.

What I love most about this cover is the wicked detailing in the door to the left of the girl. The scroll work is awesome, and I love how it alludes to what is lurking behind the door. I will definitely say the book and the cover are both awesome. Both are very mysterious and interesting. I will be doing a review of this book soon!!! 

I promise!!!! 

pick it up @

Amazon

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TBR Thursday #1

TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Stephanie 

@ Book Love Blog

here's was sittin' on my shelf,  well my fireplace actually:

Harm None

(a rowan gant investigation)

by M.R. Sellars

When a young woman is ritualistically murdered in her Saint Louis apartment with the primary clue being a pentacle scrawled in her own blood, police are quick to dismiss it as a cult killing. Not one for taking things at face value, city homicide detective Ben Storm calls on his long time friend, Rowan Gant-- a modern day practicing Witch-- for help. 

In helping his friend, Rowan discovers that the victim is one of his former pupils. Even worse, the clues that he helps to uncover show that this murder is only a prelude to even more ritualistic bloodletting for dark purposes.

As the body count starts to rise, Rowan is suddenly thrust into an investigation where not only must he help stop a sadistic serial killer, but also must fight the prejudices and suspicions of those his is working with--including his best friend

***read this book about 8 years ago, want to read it again so I can finish the series***

______________________________________________________

Beautiful Sins-Leigha Lowery

(The Thaneaddus Chronicles)

by Jennifer Hampton

The skies of the Dark Coast, the Pacific Coastline of U.S. States has been infected with a strange chemical reaction from a military experiment gone awry. Constant cloud cover rules over the lands. Leigha Lowery, a sixteen year-old popular fiction writer in the local free press is pulled from the only home she knows in Detroit, MI when her mother decides on an impulse to marry a doctor she's been dating over the internet and moves to the small town of Banks, Oregon. As she adjusts to her new life of wealth and power, she begins to realize that the rumors about the Dark Coast aren't even close to what she's witnessed. Prince Alexander Sommers, the son of King Royce, and heir to the throne has taken a fascination to her. He pulls her into a world of vampires, werewolves, witches, and many other creatures of the night that

have decided to make the Dark Coast their home.

*** A pdf of this story was sent to me for review***

Review! The Forgotten Echo

[Check out my Author Interview With Jen Wylie, Author Of The Forgotten Echo!]

Book Info:

The Forgotten Echo

A Short Story

Published Feb 23 2011 by Echelon Press

Top seller and top rated on OmniLit eBooks site.

Author: Jen Wylie

Synopsis:

Sometimes death is only the beginning... 

Even after the bad day she's had, Cassy is still surprised to find herself shot, an innocent bystander in a drive by shooting. Bleeding to death in an empty parking lot, she knows she is going die. 

What she doesn't expect, is the arrival of a strange, and unnaturally handsome, man who tells her he can keep her from passing on in return for being his forever. In desperation, she agrees but afterwards she is beyond dismayed to discover she has died.

To make matters worse, the stranger has disappeared, leaving her spirit to wander through a series of worlds unknown to her. Her existence is one of fear and loneliness, until she meets another like her and discovers she's not a ghost at all but something much more.

Excerpt:

Maybe if I hadn't turned to look I would have been alright. Well, maybe not. Things would have been different if I hadn't stopped to get milk. If I hadn't worked late I wouldn't have stopped at this particular corner store on my way home. If I'd been quicker, or longer, inside the store, I wouldn't have walked into the middle of a gang fight. If...if...if... 

I barely made it to the parking lot before the yelling and shooting started. A car sped by, passengers shooting at their rivals two feet from me. In reflex, I turned as the car passed. A bullet ripped through me like a punch to the stomach. The force knocked me up against the side of a van. 

I looked down in, yes, surprise. I don't know what kind of guns they had, but the shot went right through me. Gasping in panic, I stared in shock at the blood blossoming through my white blouse. Pain radiated from the exit wound in my lower back. Shit. This couldn't be happening! 

The street kids shouted obscenities. Another shot echoed in the night. Ducking instinctively, I slipped around the back of the van. I had to get to my car, find safety. 

I stumbled, leaving bloody handprints on a few cars. I'd been shot. Things like this weren't supposed to happen. My brain refused to believe it. I didn't make it far. Everything spun, fading in and out. Shit. Somewhere I dropped my purse. My keys were in there. Damn dress pants with no decent pockets. 

When did I fall to my knees? I toppled to the hard asphalt and rolled to my back. I instinctively pressed my wound, trying to stop the warm, sticky blood pumping from me. 

The pain twisted around and through me, but dim and distant, like it wasn't mine at all. I certainly wasn't going to argue. I didn't have anyone to argue with anyway. 

Screams echoed from the store, but the parking lot remained quiet and empty. Except for me. 

Should I bother calling for help? I didn't waste my fading energy. First, they wouldn't hear me, not over the noise they were making. Second, I was dying. Not to be melodramatic, but seriously, I'd been shot. Blood coated my hands and poured from my wounds, running down my side, pooling beneath me. My blouse clung to my skin. 

My eyes closed and I heard the blood pumping out of me. My life's blood, as I'd heard it called once. 

Tears fell, cold on the side of my face. Damn it, I didn't want to die. I guess no one did, though. Death just happened. You could die any day, get struck by lightning, run over by a bus, or as in my case, caught in a drive-by shooting. 

Thankfully, I didn't have a family who needed me. My parents died years ago, and I hadn't spoken to my sister in Nevada in at least four years. No husband, no boyfriend...thank god, no children. No one to miss me. That hurt more than I expected. Dying alone. 

I'm afraid of dying. 

Afraid of what came next, if anything. I didn't want to simply end. I didn't want to be forgotten. 

I heard faint laughter, like bells and little children and angels. It made me smile. Which said something, since I was dying. Or was I dead already? 

The sound grew closer, but not very much louder. As I listened, I picked out tiny voices within the laughter. 

"Come, come!" 

"We found her! We did! We found her for you!" 

"Hurry, hurry!" 

Their words didn't make any sense, and the little voices tumbled over each other so I missed more than I actually heard. 

"It's time! Come, come!" 

I opened my eyes, not because I wanted to, but because dancing lights flickered though my lids and caught my attention. 

I shouldn't have been surprised, given the voices, to find a dozen tiny, glowing people surrounding me. They continued their constant babble, and one flew so close I saw its wings before it darted away again. 

They were no larger than a quarter, and were mostly wings. Their thin naked bodies glowed a pale gold, their wings beautiful rippling shades of orange and red. From even a short distance, they looked like little dancing flames. 

Other than a most interesting distraction from dying, I had no idea what they were. Would I know if I was dead?

"Quickly, quickly!"

 I wanted to close my eyes again. The cops hadn't arrived yet, but it felt like I'd been on the ground forever, losing myself. Bleeding away. I'd never been so frightened, so helpless, in my life. A strange calmness washed over me, likely since I couldn't help myself. Soon I would be dead. End of story. 

I watched the little dancing flames as I listened to my heart slow and my breathing turn shallow. Everything faded and the flames rose up, their angelic babble so loud and fast I couldn't understand them. 

I didn't need to. The person they'd been calling had arrived.

My Review:

This short story was absolutely incredible. I only wish it hadn't ended so soon. I loved Cassy (the M.C.) she actually reminded me a lot of myself. Quick witted and a bit of a smart ass, even when she knows she's gonna die. 

 Jen Wylie does a fantastic job of telling this unique tale from a first person perspective. Normally I am not a fan of the first person (I have read to many stories where there is too much description, not enough dialogue, and the story, overall, ends up being dry) but this is not the case with Jen Wylie's story.

Jen delivers a very fun and fast paced tale, which in the end left me with a want for more. Her imagery is unique and spot on. I could easily imagine it all in my head. I highly recommend this short story for anyone who is in the mood for an intriguing and fun read.

My Rating:

One Amazing Wedding Cake!

you can purchase The Forgotten Echo @

Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

OmniLit

Smashwords