WATCHING YOU by Shannon Greenland Release Day Blast!

If you love a great YA romantic suspense be sure to pick up Watching You by Shannon Greenland today!

About Watching You

Viola’s always been that girl from that family, so a scholarship to a prestigious private school in Florida was supposed to be her ticket out of poverty and into a brand-new life. But Viola’s secrets have followed her. Her relationship with the intelligent and gorgeous Riel should have been the salvation she needed—he understands her troubled past better than anyone. But then weird things start to happen.

Frightening messages.

Missing personal items.

The unsettling feeling that she’s being watched.

Viola’s never been one to give her trust easily, but she’ll need to trust in Riel if she’s going to survive her stalker. Because she’s not fighting for a new life anymore—she’s fighting to stay alive.

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DELIA'S SHADOW by Jaime Lee Moyer

Delia's Shadow
Jaime Lee Moyer

Rating: D
Release Date: 09/17/13
Synopsis:
A dark, romantic fantasy set against the backdrop of San Francisco devastated by the Great Quake

It is the dawn of a new century in San Francisco and Delia Martin is a wealthy young woman whose life appears ideal. But a dark secret colors her life, for Delia’s most loyal companions are ghosts, as she has been gifted (or some would say cursed) with an ability to peer across to the other side.

Since the great quake rocked her city in 1906, Delia has been haunted by an avalanche of the dead clamoring for her help. Delia flees to the other side of the continent, hoping to gain some peace. After several years in New York, Delia believes she is free…until one determined specter appears and she realizes that she must return to the City by the Bay in order to put this tortured soul to rest.

It will not be easy, as the ghost is only one of the many victims of a serial killer who was never caught. A killer who after thirty years is killing again. 

And who is now aware of Delia’s existence.

My thoughts on the book:
Delia's Shadow is supposed to be suspenseful and creepy, but it just fell flat for me. The prose is a bit clunky, and I just couldn't feel a sense of urgency regarding the fates of the characters. The characters themselves didn't stand out to me, and the pacing drags. Many parts of the book have too much detail. People who really enjoy ghost stories and dark and twisted torture scenes may love this one, but I just didn't like it at all. 

Delia is an okay character, but she doesn't stand out to me. She bores me a lot. I really liked Theodora, the psychic, much better. Unfortunately we learn a lot more about Delia than we do any of the other characters, including Dora. Also, the ghost isn't introduced as anything more than an annoyance for Delia. I never felt that I got to know the ghost, only referred to as Shadow, and I felt that Shadow should have been treated with more respect. I don't know, maybe back then people had no respect for the dead, but treating someone who got killed by a serial killer as an annoyance is a bit insensitive, if you ask me. 

Moyer describes the setting very well, and at times I felt as if I was in San Francisco in the early 1900s. She clearly did her research about the area and its history before writing this novel, and I appreciated that. The torture scenes, however, were a bit too graphic for my tastes. I really didn't need all of the detail that went into describing each one. It broke up the pacing of the story, and honestly, it grossed me out. One in depth description with brief following descriptions would have sufficed. The torture scenes really turned me off from the entire novel.

Overall, I'd recommend this to people who lean toward the more macabre type books and to those who love murder mysteries and historic paranormal novels. 

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NIGHT SCHOOL by C.J. Daugherty

Night School
C.J. Daugherty

Rating: B+
Release Date: 05/21/13
Synopsis:
Allie's world is falling apart...

She hates her school. Her brother has run away. And she's just been arrested.

Again.

Now her parents are sending her away to a boarding school where she doesn't know a soul.

But instead of hating her new school, Allie finds she's happy there. She's making friends. And then there's Sylvain, a suave French student who openly flirts with her. And Carter, the brooding loner who seems to have her back.

Soon, though, Allie discovers Cimmeria Academy is no ordinary school. Nothing there is as it seems. And her new friends are hiding dangerous secrets.

My thoughts on the book:
When I picked up Night School, I was expecting to read a paranormal YA novel, more than likely about vampires. Considering my preferences, one would think that I'd be disappointed that this novel has nothing at all to do with the paranormal, but I actually like it better because of that. Night School stands out because it lacks paranormal activity, instalove, overly dramatic love, and a cliched heroine. After reading mixed reviews on this one, I was pleasantly surprised.

All of the characters were extremely unique, and in my opinion, well developed. Allie, in my opinion, was a pretty cool heroine. She was way too gullible, but other than that, she was all right. She definitely confronted her problems head on and stood up for herself. I respected that about her. Also, she evolved over the course of the novel, and I enjoyed watching her change. I'm not Sylvain's biggest fan, but I can't bring myself to fully hate him either. It's complicated. I really think his dysfunction was that he was so used to everyone giving him everything he wanted, he didn't realize that someone may not want to cater to him. We'll see what happens in future novels. I just can't make a full decision about him right now. However, I absolutely adored Carter. He was my favorite, along with Rachel. She was pretty awesome, too. Jo was a bit complicated for me, but she was still complex. 

The plot was gripping and mysterious. I felt like the pacing was a bit off in the beginning, though. Things dragged a lot, and I think people held out on Allie a bit too long. I mean it all worked out, but surely something somewhere could have been cut. After about the first 20-30%, though, I was pretty much hooked, and by the 50% mark, I couldn't put the book down. Daugherty's writing didn't blow me away, but it wasn't terrible either. Sometimes the author told too much and didn't show enough, but for the most part, the writing was fairly solid. The ending left me wishing the next book was already out. 

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something fun and different. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the sequel. Give this book a try, you won't be sorry. 

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COLD FURY by T.M. Goeglein

Cold Fury
T.M. Goeglein

Rating: B
Release Date: 07/24/12
Synopsis from goodreads.com:
Jason Bourne meets The Sopranos in this breathtaking adventure

Sara Jane Rispoli is a normal sixteen-year-old coping with school and a budding romance--until her parents and brother are kidnapped and she discovers her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the mob).

Now on the run from a masked assassin, rogue cops and her turncoat uncle, Sara Jane is chased and attacked at every turn, fighting back with cold fury as she searches for her family. It's a quest that takes her through concealed doors and forgotten speakeasies--a city hiding in plain sight. Though armed with a .45 and 96K in cash, an old tattered notebook might be her best defense--hidden in its pages the secret to "ultimate power." It's why she's being pursued, why her family was taken, and could be the key to saving all of their lives.

Action packed, with fresh, cinematic writing, Cold Fury is a riveting and imaginative adventure readers will devour.


My thoughts on the book:
Anyone who wants to read from the perspective of a smart, tough, mature heroine needs to pick up Cold Fury as soon as possible. While Sara Jane's name may cause you to think that she came straight from Little House on the Prairie, her strength and resourcefulness will quickly end that notion. While there were some dialogue and pacing issues within this novel, Cold Fury is full of action and suspense. It will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. You don't want to miss this one!


I'm going to start with the very few things that I don't like and then tell you about the many things that I do like about this book. The dialogue was a bit ridiculous and cheesy at times. It seems like Goeglein has watched gangster movies too many times and now thinks that anyone who lives in the general proximity of the mob will talk like a 1920s thug. I lived in Chicago for many years, and hope to return there once I get my BA, and I have never heard anyone my age or younger refer to someone else as a "knucklehead." I mean some of the dialect in the midwest is a bit archaic, but not that archaic. Also, the use of "pinhead" threw me a bit. That is yet another phrase I never heard uttered in the Chicagoland area. I'm 99.9% sure that no teenagers really say those words. Having the teenagers say those words kind of makes everyone in Chicago seem like they should be wearing fedoras and running from the "coppers" or something. It's pretty comical, so I laughed at some inopportune times because of that. Anyway, other than the dialogue, the pacing was a bit slow. It seemed to take a little longer than it should to get from one important point to the next. Those two issues aside, I loved this book. 


Sara Jane is the strongest heroine I've ever read in an adult novel, AND she's a Cubs fan. She doesn't waste time taking care of what needs to be done, and she certainly doesn't spend her time pining after some boy. Sure, there are romantic interests in this book, but she barely has time to worry with them. Instead, she takes care of things that need to be done in order to find her family. She's loyal to her friends and puts her family first. The girl obviously has her priorities straight. And where a lot of YA heroines would have broken down, cried, and waited on some knight in shining armor type to save them, Sara Jane squares her shoulders and carries on. And guess what, when she meets a hot guy, she doesn't go crying to him about her problems. She keeps them to herself and does what she has to do. She even *gasp* turns down dates! It's a miracle in YA literature that a female would EVER turn down a date. Because of her independence (and the fact that she's a Cubs fan), I think she is the perfect YA heroine. There isn't a lot of secondary character involvement quite yet, but my favorite is Tyler. I hope to see more of him in the sequel. 

I did love Sara Jane, but I think my favorite thing about this novel is that it feels like Chicago. Sara Jane's attitude and the way she interacts with the people around her, combined with the landscape painting that Goeglein does, made Cold Fury feel like home to me... which inevitably made me incredibly homesick. However, that Chicagoland feeling is part of what made me love this novel so much. It really does encompass all that is beautiful and terrible about the city. I hope the sequel has more of the same feel to it. 

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspenseful novels with a touch of the supernatural. I'd also recommend it to people who love Chicago or would like to visit the city one day, as well as people who enjoy mob and prohibition-era history. Regardless of your interests, Cold Fury has something for everyone. Give this book a try, you won't be disappointed!

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THE ASYLUM INTERVIEWS: BRONX by Jocelynn Drake

The Asylum Interviews: Bronx
Jocelynn Drake

Rating: C-
Release date: 07/03/12
Synopsis from goodreads.com:
In Low Town, where humans walk and work side-by-side with elves, vampires, ogres, and all manner of creature, it's understandable that people occasionally need a little help in their lives. Whether is love, work, or ... other, tattoo artists are there to try to help turn the odds into your favor. When Gage's friend Parker needs help with his love life, tattoo artists Gage and Bronx are only too happy to help. But the incubus ends up getting more than he bargained for with his new tattoo, and his friends are forced to scramble to fix the mess they've created before someone gets hurt.


My thoughts on the book:
Let me start this review by saying that since it was a short work, the review will be shorter than usual. That being said, I did not enjoy this novella as much as I wanted to. Drake wrote from the first person perspective of Gage, a male tattoo artist. However, Gage, nor any of the other men in the novel, came across as men. They came across as a bunch of gossiping women. It was very clear that a female was writing this instead of a man, and I couldn't buy the male perspective for a minute. Men just don't sit around drinking and talking about feelings. They sit around drinking and talking about obscene things, video games, and sports. Not how much they love someone. That just really bugged me. Because of that, I couldn't get into the story. 


The world Drake created was intriguing, at least. I really love it when all of the supernatural creatures are out in the open like they are in this book. The way the world operates reminded me of Kim Harrison's The Hollows series. The writing itself was good, too, and the pacing was pretty spot on. I was never bored throughout this novel. As I said, my main (and really only) problem with this book is that I just didn't buy that the story was being told by a man about himself and his male friends. It just wasn't believable. However, the rest of the book was excellent, and I will be giving the full length novel a try as well before making a final judgment on the series. 

Overall, I'd say give this a try since it's just a novella. It gives you a chance to get to know the characters, for one thing, even if they do act like a bunch of gossipy old women. Also, it introduces you to the captivating world that Drake has created. Fans of Kim Harrison and Laurell K Hamilton will love this series. 

SLIDE sneak peek!

Here's a little something for those of you who are (like me) counting the days until the release of Slide by Jill Hathaway! It comes out this Tuesday, March 27, in case you were wondering. Be sure to pre-order your copy today! This book is amazing and you do not want to miss out on the mystery, suspense, and adventure!

Synopsis from goodreads.com:

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered. 

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body. 

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane. 

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again. 

Click here for the sneak peek! (First two chapters)

Click here to read my review and see how much I loved this book!

Check out the Super Slide Book Tour here!

Also, check out Jill's iPod Nano/$25 iTunes gift card contest here!

And don't forget to check out the trailer!

THE THIRTEENTH SACRIFICE by Debbie Viguie

The Thirteenth Sacrifice
Debbie Viguie

Grade: A-
Release Date: 04/03/12

Synopsis from goodreads.com:
When young women start dying, Boston cop Samantha Ryan is the perfect person to investigate, for only she knows what the archais symbol carved into their flesh means. The last in a long line of ruthless witches, she grew up in a coven seduced by power and greed. And now she's sure that bad witches have returned to Salem. Reluctantly, Samantha goes undercover-into a town obsessed with black magic, into her terrifying past, and into thedark, newly awakened heart of evil.

My thoughts on the book:
The Thirteenth Sacrifice is a thrill ride that you do not want to miss! This was the creepiest, most suspenseful book I've read in a long time. The mystery is there, but it's pretty straight forward. We know, that a coven of witches that is practicing human sacrifice are the bad guys from the beginning. We just don't know why they're sacrificing humans, and then once we find that out, we don't know how bad it can really get. This is a book that I couldn't put down.

Viguie kept the action and reveals to a maximum in this book. Every time I thought I had something figured out, she'd add something else and throw me for a loop. I had what, exactly, the coven was trying to do figured out pretty early on, but I had no idea who the high priestess was. That was a huge shock, and so were her sidekicks. The Thirteenth Sacrifice is also heavy on the paranormal, and I loved that. It is light on the romance, which was also refreshing. The character developments were HUGE, especially for Samantha. She really grew and changed a lot throughout the novel.

Samantha is a strong, yet flawed character. She's broken down, but I don't believe she's fully broken. She's putting herself back together the best she can, and she faces her nightmares every day. She was raised in a coven of witches, and they were really bad witches. Her childhood entailed witnessing human sacrifices, being forced to sacrifice animals, extreme abuse from her mother and the coven leader, and coming into contact with demons (the real ones, not the figurative ones). She locked all of that, along with her magical powers, neatly away after the massacre of her coven in which she was the soul survivor. She went to the police station, and her current boss/captain was only an officer at the time (she was 12). He placed her in a foster home with a psychologist and his wife, and this family helped her heal. She is an excellent cop, and she has no problem not using her powers until murders start happening that are very obviously real human sacrifices. That is when the real character development begins. She is thrown back into the world of the coven, and she has to go back to her hometown of Salem. Samantha has to face her past and all of her greatest fears. Does she make it out alive and unscathed? Well you'll just have to read the book to find out.

Anthony grew quite a bit throughout the novel as well, and it's always nice to see a secondary character well-developed and taking part in character growth. He ended up being a better person, and I really hope to see more of him as the series progresses. The other characters in the novel, aside from the coven, weren't as well-developed, though they still had their own distinct personalities. Also, when the supporting characters changed over the course of the novel, which they did, I didn't like how they ended up. Maybe that was the point, though. It certainly didn't affect how I felt about or read the story, so maybe it didn't even matter how they changed.

The plot for this novel was extremely complicated. It was action and mystery driven. There was very little romance, and that was perfectly fine in my book. Sometimes I feel that I can't get to know a character's emotions very well if there's no romance at all. The books seem to fall flat emotionally. That wasn't the case with The Thirteenth Sacrifice. This book was still an emotional roller coaster, even without much romance. The pacing was spot on, and nothing dragged or felt rushed. It was literally one tragedy after another. Furthermore, the ending wrapped up all of the major questions of this novel nicely, but left room for a sequel. I didn't feel like I was left hanging in any means, but I can't wait to see what happens in the next book. That's how authors should end their novels. Cliffhangers are obnoxious. Also, you do find out why the book is called The Thirteenth Sacrifice. I was wondering that for awhile, but I finally found out toward the end. It's not as simple a concept as you'd think, so don't judge my inability to figure it out, haha.

The one thing I didn't like in this book is that it had a lot of religion in it. Not only Christianity, but also Wicca. The message seemed to be religious tolerance, but it was a bit too obvious. I felt like I was being lectured at some points. Religious tolerance is an extremely important thing, and more people need to embrace it. However, in the middle of a story it just gets on my nerves. It's never good to feel like the author has an agenda when crafting a work of fiction. It not only sidetracks you from the story, but it makes you feel like you're being preached at throughout the novel. I read fiction to escape reality. Therefore, I really don't want the world's problems thrown in my face while I'm reading. I'd have to recommend that Viguie either make her messages more subtle or just eliminate them all together in her next novel. It didn't offend me, but it did annoy me at certain parts.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a strong stomach and doesn't scare extremely easily. It's not as scary as Steven King by any means, but it is creepy and can freak you out if, say, you're reading it when massive storms are going through your area and it's the middle of the night. Yea, I did that. I still slept like a baby afterwards, but I was a bit jumpy every time it thundered for about an hour after I finished the book, haha. Anyway, this is a book you do not want to miss (as previously stated). Viguie has a wonderful voice. It's easy to sympathize with Samantha, even though the book is written from a 3rd person limited POV (following Samantha). It's suspenseful and well-written, and you won't be able to put it down until the very end. You definitely want to pre-order The Thirteenth Sacrifice today!

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THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Michelle Hodkin

Grade: C


Synopsis from goodreads.com:
Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

My thoughts on the book:

I had heard a lot of terrific things about this novel, so I thought I'd give it a try. The book itself isn't bad. The writing is fantastic, it's a page turner, and it's super suspenseful. Mara and Noah are extremely likable and everything moves in a logical order. However, the ending really pissed me off. Let me explain. I spent around 450 pages wondering what was going on with Mara. Was she crazy, or was it a supernatural thing? Would she and Noah get together or would they go their separate ways? Why does everything die around Mara? Is she as innocent in all of this as she seems to be? Can we even trust her? Are these hallucinations or hauntings? Is Mara safe? Is there someone after her? That's a lot of questions, right? Well a good book is supposed to raise a lot of questions, but, that book is also supposed to answer at least one of those questions. Did Hodkin answer any of the above questions at the end of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer? No, she did not. I got half a question answered. HALF. Not even a full question. She dragged on the freaking suspense for 450 pages, and not one full question was answered. And that, my friends, is why this book has such a low rating from me. Yes, she set up a sequel, but it was such a cop-out ending that I'm not even sure I'll read it. I know cliffhangers are typical in YA literature, but this was just obscene. If she had answered a few questions, or hell, even ONE question, then I would definitely by the sequel. Now, I'm just not so sure. 

Onto the things I liked. Mara was funny, sarcastic, and maybe crazy/maybe supernatural. She was a great character, and you couldn't help but like her. She made some stupid decisions, but you know she was delusional... maybe... I'm not sure because the question wasn't actually answered. Anyway, I could see why she made those stupid decisions. Other than the maybe/maybe not insanity, Mara was also a mature character. I enjoyed reading about things from her POV, and let me tell you, I was terrified for her throughout most of this book. There is a definite underlying suspense/horror type theme going on here, and I liked it because it was different.

Noah was fantastic. He was a bit of a cliche in some ways, but in others, he was unique. I really enjoyed how he and Mara interacted, and I had to laugh at how bitchy she was with him. He was unable to be deterred, though. If I do read the sequel, I hope to see A LOT more of him in it. He's just a fantastic character. 

Mara's family was also terrific. No absentee family here. I loved how everyone had their own quirks. It made them seem more realistic. My favorite was Joseph, her twelve year old brother who was obsessed with the stock market. He was great and one of my favorite characters. 

The pacing of this book was slow-as-molasses. I feel like it could have been cut by about 100-150 pages and still been just as effective. The ending was rushed, though, and as I mentioned, no questions were actually answered. The entire book dragged until about the 95% mark, and then it rushed through to the worst ending of all time. So the pacing just flat out sucked. 

Pacing aside, I loved how Hodkin blended past and present together, and I really enjoyed Mara's flashbacks. Hodkin has a writing style that will draw you in, and before you know it, you'll start seeing things through Mara's eyes. It's terrifying and captivating. Because of that, I may just read the sequel. 

Overall, I'd say steer clear of this book until the sequel comes out. My consensus after writing this review is that I will check the sequel out from the library, and if I get no answers AGAIN, then I'm done with the series. Right now, I'm trying to give Hodkin the benefit of a doubt that she didn't really mean to create such a jerky ending. The author is obviously talented, and because talent is hard to come by, I'm afraid I won't be able to pass up the sequel. If you haven't read this book yet, you have been warned... Wait until the sequel is out to pick it up. Otherwise, you'll be all irritated about it like I am. 

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