Tag Archives: Fiction Books

eMag Review #2

Hi Everyone,

You might see the title of this and think, wait… Where was eMag number 1 posted? Well… I am sad to say I cannot share eMag review #1 just yet, because… it will be published in the magazine. I will be able to share a portion of that review later next month.

In the meantime, here is review #2.

Enjoy,
~Ariesgrl

The Warrior Prince
By: Nancy J. Cohen.

The Warrior Prince, the first in a series, comes across as a combination of stories. It starts out in the science-fiction realm, with a group of men from another planet trying to rid Earth of the bad guys from a very different planet. About halfway through, the story takes a leap into the ancient tales from Norse Mythology as the characters repeat ancient quests and reacquaint themselves with the Norse Gods.

This combination has potential to work well in a story. However, readers will have a hard time following along, especially when the main ‘alien’ characters’ dialects keep switching back and forth between their home country and the current Earth setting. Nira Larson and Zohar Thorald each have redeeming qualities of inner strength and humility that readers will be able to relate to and appreciate.

I was provided a copy of the book by BTS eMag for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review – all conclusions are my own responsibility.

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Heart Robber

Lifestyle by Design #2. By: Miranda P. Charles. Read: May 2013.

Jessa Allen has low self-esteem and is completely thrown for a loop when the hunk of the party, Rob Granger asks her to dinner. Jessa agrees, because she knows she will never get another chance, but Rob is not looking for any long-term commitments. After one night of fun, an arrangement is made to keep things casual. Will they both keep their hearts protected or will they give in and accept their feelings?

Heart Robber is the story of how Jessa and Rob overcome their insecurities and learn to love themselves and each other. This is the second book in the Lifestyle by Design series and picks up right where the first book left off, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. Fans of Will and Clarise will still get snippets of their inner thoughts and follow their happily-ever-after, while falling in love with Jessa and Rob. The writing is improved from the first book, while the spiciness of the romance is amped up too. This book is a must read for fans of spicy romances with sweet, relatable characters.

I found the female lead a bit more relatable in this story due to her lack of self-confidence. However, it does seem to repeat the basic storyline from the first book. I do enjoy the fact that it picks up right where the first one left off, at Megan’s party and I appreciate a book in the middle of the series that focuses on the couple in the book, like this one does. Unfortunately there some “middle” books can focus too much on the past and too much on setting up the future. Have you noticed any “middle” books that remain focused on its characters’ story, like this one?

Enjoy!
~Ariesgrl

Note:
The author provided a copy of this book for me to review. To learn more about this author and her books, please visit her website.

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Reading Update…

Hi Everyone,

How are you? I am just curious as to what everyone is reading this week. For me, I am half way through book number 44 on The List. It is a romance novel. I am also a third of the way through book number 31 on My Sister’s Books List. This book is a suspense/intrigue book. And I just finished a children’s book for the eMag and am going to start reading a sci-fi/fantasy young adult book. My plate is full of diverse books and I couldn’t be happier. (Thank you all!) I hope to be able to soon share the reviews that I wrote last month for the eMag. I will post them as soon as I am allowed to share.

Yesterday, the new Dan Brown novel, Inferno, came out and I am thrilled! I love Dan Brown’s unique and skillful writing. Are there any books that have come out or are about to come out this month, that you are excited about?

Hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Enjoy!
~Ariesgrl

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Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Good Morning Everyone,

I just wanted to take a minute and wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day!!! Whether your a Mama of a human baby or a fur baby, Happy Mother’s Day!!!

What were some of the books that you shared with your Mom while you were growing up?

For me, the Children’s Book… I’ll Love You, Forever is a book that I can still recite from memory. My Mom and I used to read that together all the time. Now my Grandmother used to bring me a set of 6 Nancy Drew books every time she would visit. So Nancy Drew will always hold a special place in heart, thanks to her.

As for being a fur-Mama, the book that made me laugh and cry because of its honesty and truth is… Marley and Me. If you have ever loved a dog with your whole heart, then that book is a must-read. (And no, I have never seen the movie.)

Hope each of you have a wonderful, beautiful day!

Enjoy!
~Ariesgrl

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Wendy Review #1

SHADE
By: Jeri Smith-Ready

Review by: Wendy

Synopsis:

Love ties them together. Death can’t tear them apart.

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan’s band playing a critical gig and Aura’s plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend’s life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan’s sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He’s gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn’t help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding–and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura’s relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura’s heart…and clues to the secret of the Shift.

Review:

Aura is a sixteen year old “post-shifter”. Post-shifters are all kids born after December twenty-first at three fifty a.m., which happens to be the exact time of Aura’s birth. Everyone born after this time, has the ability to see, hear, and speak to ghosts. Aura is after the answers to why the “Shift” happened and how she can undo it. She is tired of being harassed by ghosts everywhere she goes, in her job, at school, and at the mall. She just wants to find peace for her and all the other kids around her.

Logan is Aura’s Irish punk rock boyfriend, who is on the brink of stardom. Aura fears that she is going to lose Logan to his desire to be a star, and to the inevitable flock of groupies to follow. Logan loves Aura and will do anything for her and doesn’t think fame will change him.

After the successful concert and After Party/Logan’s Birthday party, Aura decides this is going to be the night she gives herself to Logan. Logan, however blows it by getting wasted at the party, and after being unable to “Rise” to the occasion, makes a fateful decision to try to salvage the night. After Logan’s poor choice, he accidentally kills himself, and now Aura can see his ghost. The thing she wanted to get rid of is now the one thing she doesn’t want to give up, because having him partly there is better than not having him at all.

Zachary is the Scottish exchange student that comes into Aura’s life as it is falling apart. Zachary is a “Pre-shifter”. He was born exactly one minute before the shift, and is unable to see the ghosts around him. Zackary becomes an outside support system that was not part of her life with Logan and she can escape with.

This is an emotionally charged book that is hauntingly beautiful. Do you let go or hang on with everything you have. How do you move on with your life when your soul mate is no longer with the living. This was a read that I stumbled upon and I am so glad I did. It gets a solid 4 stars from me and it doesn’t matter how many times I read it, I still cry.

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My Sister’s Books Review #13

And Then I Found You
By: Patti Callahan Henry

This fictional story is based off the real-life events that occurred within the author’s family. Jack Adams and Katie Vaughan grew up together and were childhood sweethearts. Katie even vowed on the first day of Spring, that magical day when all promises come true, to never love another as much as she loved Jack. However life happened, Katie is now Kate who is trying to be in love with her boyfriend, Rowan. Too much has occurred in the last 13 years and Kate knows she can’t fix things until she first talks to Jack. However the true healing process starts when her thirteen year old daughter, whom she gave up for adoption, finds her on Facebook. This is the story of how Katie, Jack and Emily find one another and find themselves along the way.

Patti Callahan Henry uses her real-life experiences and emotions as inspiration for this story. With each chapter rotating between the present and the past, readers will feel like they are walking down memory lane with Kate. Then, when the story switches to Emily’s point-of-view, it brings about a new round of emotions for readers. The author’s writing will rip your heart open causing it to bleed with the characters’ pain, and then stitch it whole again with the sweetest thread made from undying love and conquering the fear of the unknown. This book is packed full of emotions and lessons to be learned that I highly recommend it to fans of Women’s Literature.

Note:

This review was written for My Sister’s Books.

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Will to Love

Lifestyle by Design #1. By: Miranda P. Charles. Format: eBook. Read: May 2013.

Clarise Carson was desperate not to be set-up by her meddling family, so she takes drastic measures to avoid the awkward introduction at her sister’s party. Too bad she didn’t know who the guy was ahead of time, because the only single male at the party was making her wounded heart flutter back to life. Will Matthews hated it when his friends tried to set him up. Yet he agrees to go to the party because he intends to be introduced to a woman who could help his successful business grow larger. Will intends to keep his life strictly business, in order to care for his parents, yet Clarise opens his heart to things he never thought possible. Will these two be able to put their pain aside and help each other heal or will they both avoid love out of fear?

This is a sweet, contemporary romance book to start a promising series. Miranda P. Charles does a great job with writing relatable characters whose past hurts will affect reader’s emotions. She also establishes the secondary characters, that will take on leading roles in future books, without distracting readers from Clarise and Will. Though the excessive use of endearing terms, such as Darling and Baby, will be a bit much for some readers to handle, the overall meanings of overcoming fear and going after what your heart desires are sure to soften even the hardest of hearts. This is an easy-to-read book, with a few grammatical errors. Adult readers who enjoy reading sentimental love stories, will thoroughly enjoy this book.

This book is a great way to start a series. I am looking forward to reading how the other characters find love and hopefully getting to see how Clarise and Will continue their relationship. This book will definitely have you grinning while you read.

Enjoy!
~Ariesgrl

Note:
The author provided a copy of this book for me to review. To learn more about this author and her books, please visit her website.

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And the Winner is…

Good Morning Everyone,

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in the Kitsune Tales Blog Tour. I also want to thank Twinsie Talk Book Reviews for putting together an amazing blog tour. Without further ado, the winner of this giveaway is … Dana Zalesky! Congrats Dana!!! I will contact you later today with information about your prize.

Thanks again everyone. I wish you all a Magnificent Monday. I will be back later tonight with a new review and news about the BIG Announcement.

Enjoy!
~Ariesgrl

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Kitsune Tales Blog Tour!

kitsunetales

Book Blurb:

It’s been centuries since the last Great Other War that plunged the human race into the dark ages. Pulling away from the gods, and other creatures God had sent to watch over them, humans have made a go of it for themselves, trying to find their own path, and in the process they have changed the world from flat to round and created a universe to go with it. The gods, angels and demons are still there, but left behind, ignored, while the humans flourish. But the Others haven’t forgotten the humans….

Ki was content living her quiet, orderly little life on the outskirts of the city pack as a runt. She’d built up her own business as a freelance researcher and while she didn’t have much, she had more than enough for her. Then she wakes one morning to find that two days of her life are missing, supposedly spent with not just one man, but two, and she suddenly has breasts. Not to mention two tails when she shifts. If that isn’t bad enough, her apartment building catches fire and someone in the smoke wants her dead.

On the run, Ki finds herself in strange company, from Gods to mythical creatures, and sorting out who wants her dead from who wants her alive isn’t going to be easy. With a little divine help, and some old friends, she just might make it out of this mess alive, or lose everything before she even knew what she had.

Book Excerpt:

“They’re mad,” Hanners said.
“You would know,” Gage said with a snort.
“No, I’m a little crazy, yes, but there’s a difference,” Hanners said. “Fanatical devotion, even in the face of proof that what they believe is wrong, is madness.”
“A pretty point that doesn’t negate the fact that you’re several watts short of being able to power a light bulb,” Gage said.
Hanners gave him a hard look out of the corner of her eye. “What do you think our chances are?” she asked Oberon.
Oberon cocked his head as if he was listening to something. “Better than they think. Are you ready?”
Hanners gave a nod and Gage grunted. The night seemed awful still right then. It was so quiet that she could easily hear her own breathing and the deep even breaths that Gage was taking. Oberon stood, his body poised in front of them, the ax still on his shoulder, while the point of his sword rested on the ground. He was relaxed and at ease, as if he hadn’t spent the majority of the night fighting like the rest of them had. At least he looked like he’d been in a fight. It wouldn’t have been fair if he was as neat and clean as Gage was. Which posed a very good question.
“How do you do that?” Hanners asked Gage in a hiss.
“What?”
“Not get dirty.”
Gage smiled along the stock of the rifle. “Phase through the dirt.”
“That is so cheating,” Hanners said.
“Steady now,” Oberon interrupted. “Remember what I told you. Do not fire till I give the order.”
Hanners gave a grim nod and tightened her grip on the rifle. Scanning the tree line, she waited with her breath held. The angels came into sight, moving forward with swords at the ready. Crafty buggers, she thought as they slid through the trees. She couldn’t say they hadn’t learned something from the night, because they kept in cover so they couldn’t be picked off quite so easily. They were grouped toether and had added shields, the bastards. Depending on how those ovals were made, this could mean trouble for them. Hanners let her breath out slowly and took a bead on the closest angel.
“Hold,” Oberon said.
Licking her lips, she held, finger a hairs breadth from the trigger. Her temper flared and she reined it in harshly. She would not go over the edge, she wouldn’t. This wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened before. Her heart rate kicked up as the first of the angels cleared the trees and moved cautiously into the open, forming into phalanxes. Again with the Greek stuff, she thought with a roll of her eyes.
“Hold,” Oberon said again.
Hanners wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, but it was obvious he had a plan that everyone else knew, because no one on their side moved to engage. They were ready, of course, she was sure of that, but they didn’t move, just stared down the host of angels that ringed the house. More poured from the tree, moving quickly into their positions though they seemed wary. Still Oberon waited, relaxed, not even watching the angels come. He just stared down at the ground. The angels advanced and his head came up with a snap, as if they had crossed over some type of invisible line, and maybe they had.
Oberon moved so fast that he was a blur. His ax sliced through the air as he spun, arching high before blade struck deep into the ground. The earth bucked in response, a movement that didn’t touch the house, but spread out from it. It ran outward in an expanding wave jostling the angels. When it passed, he looked up with a grim smile.
“Do you know what they called me in olden days?” Oberon asked over his shoulder.
“No,” Hanners said.
He looked at her and smiled. “The Wrath of the Hungry Earth.”

Author Bio:

TJ Rowser grew up on a working farm that left her with plenty of time to explore her imagination while performing lots of physical labor. The older she got, the more that imagination expanded, and the less she liked the hard physical labor aspect. It took too much time away from the stories in head. Working through a string of office jobs, she found her niche in a helpdesk and settled down to raise a family while happily sitting around exploring the worlds that kept springing to life in her mind. When that wasn’t quite enough, she started writing them down and sharing them out, which leads us here, to an author’s page, and a book filled with the characters that knock around in her head on a daily basis. They (the characters) are quite pleased with the result and so is she, since happy characters make for a much quieter mind.

Where to find the author and this book:

Goodreads Shelf: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17555087-kitsune-tales?ac=1

Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/KitsuneTales?ref=ts&fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=%40tjrowser2013&src=typd @TJRowser2013

What was the inspiration behind this story?

The idea for this actually started out as a conversation with a bunch of co-workers on lunch one day. The topic was religion and how touchy it is for most people. There might have even been an argument or two in there, the your version of God versus my version of God type thing, and it got me thinking. So, as soon as I got to my desk I jotted the question “What if they were all real?” down and went back to work. It just sort of grew on its own from there, the characters, the story, all of it. There wasn’t ever really a style in mind, just a story to tell.

Where to purchase:

Barnes and Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kitsune-tales-tj-rowser/1114916019?ean=2940044386259

Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/296774

iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/kitsune-tales/id623644729?mt=11

Amazon Link.

For further blog tour information and stops, please visit Twinsie Talk Book Reviews:

TTBRTH

Now for the fun stuff:
The author is graciously giving away an ebook, a bookmark, and a pendant to one lucky commenter! To be entered to win, please leave a comment below. Contest will be open from now until Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 11:00pm EDT. Winner will be chosen using Random.org and winner’s name will be announced Monday morning. Good luck everyone!!!

I just want to take a moment to thank Twinsie Talk Book Reviews for hosting a wonderful blog tour and allowing my blog to take part in the fun. I also want to thank TJ Rowser for hanging out at Ariesgrl Book Reviews today and offering such a fantastic giveaway!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Enjoy!
~Ariesgrl

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M. R. Joseph Blog Tour Giveaway

Cover

Book Blurb:

What happens when a man falls in love with his best friend? How does he convince her to love him in return if she has no idea that his feelings run so deep?

Carter London has everything a man should want, a blooming career as a sexy rock star, a loving family, women who adore his model-perfect looks, and great friends. What he doesn’t have is the love of the girl who stole his heart nine years ago.

Casey Colbert is the converse-wearing epitome of the girl next door. She’s smart, beautiful, and best friends with Carter London. She knows all there is to know about her sex-on-a-stick best friend, except the well-guarded secret of her holding the key to his heart.

Carter returns to his hometown of Indian Shores, Florida for his ten year college reunion, to profess his love to Casey. Unfortunately, he discovers her heart is already spoken for by none other than Jordan Reid, who is gorgeous, sweet and insanely rich.

Carter vows to use his time back home to win over the one woman who can set his world on edge with just a glimpse of her smile. Will Casey see the love that’s right in front of her eyes? Or will the mistakes of his past and his obsession with loving her overwhelm the girl who already has it all?

author

Who is M. R. Joseph?

M.R. Joseph has rediscovered one of her first loves…Reading. After being a devoted wife and mother for the past 12 years she decided to take some “me time” and get lost in the world of books. After reading her 20th of the summer, she realized that she could do this. She could write a book. In between being a mom and taxi to swim and gymnastics practices, she began her writing process. Music has always been a big part of her life so it became an integral part of her writing. You can always find her dancing in the kitchen with her kids and singing in the car along to the radio. Writing has been a labor of love and she hopes and prays that it will continue. M.R. lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia with the love of her life and her two beautiful kids.

Where to find M. R. Joseph?

Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormr.joseph

Where to find the book?

AmazonGoodreads

Giveaway Time:

Click on the link below, to enter for your chance to win one of 2 signed copies of this book AND a $25.00 gift card. The winners will be selected on Manday, May 13, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone!
~Ariesgrl

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