Dinner Thieves by Sidney Moore!

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1995: Portsmouth, VA, is deemed The Heroin Capital of the East Coast by the Drug Enforcement Agency, at the same time the city ranks 5th in the nation for homicides. Local teenage residents Leak and his friends are doing all within their power to escape the world of poverty in which they've been born and raised. The quickest way for them to achieve financial security is by selling heroin in the housing projects; however, with the influx of drug dealers from out of town coming to share the wealth, their plan of dealing soon turns into one of stealing and killing forcing them to become Dinner Thieves, doing their best to keep other hustlers from eating, or earning a living. 

While Leak struggles with his personal demons and nurtures a budding relationship with his girlfriend, Djamilla, he and his friends are pulled into a drug conspiracy by The Diamond Mafia, a lethal drug crew from Miami. Further complicating matters is an aggressive investigation by the DEA resulting in the gruesome murder of a beloved member of Leak's crew. 

When the smoke clears, will Leak and his friends leave the street life behind and start anew, or will their pursuit of the American Dream ultimately cost them their freedom and lives...?

Synopsis from Goodreads!

In this novel the perspective is first person and jumps around from person to person. I actually enjoyed this perspective and it made the book come alive for me. It worked with the story and plot line, and it ensured the reader was kept up to date on certain things that you couldn't know if it was only one character's perspective.

The plot was certainly different and you certainly don't feel like these teenagers are all that bad even though usually in books they would be the type of people that were the antagonists. So it was a great new perspective on things and I enjoyed the different type of perspective. That was a change from other books.

The plot was certainly action packed and the writing sped up to represent this. The writing throughout had few errors and it was easy to follow the story with the writing that was going on. Occasionally the dialogue would take me a couple of minutes to get through because of the heavy Jamaican dialogue that some of the characters have but I was able to decipher it.

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A Fine Line by Jeanine Binder!

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Lori never clued into how dirty the undercover job he had taken was until he ran into Dr. Leigh Matthews in the emergency room. And luckily enough for him she didn't seem to mind his job. But Lori's getting close to shutting the largest drug operation in the country down and some people will do anything to stop it. Find the official description on Goodreads.

The writing in A Fine Line was easy enough to follow. It kept things interesting without going over the top. In other words it was realistic. I didn't really have anything that stood out about the writing that prevented me from enjoying reading this book.

And the characters were also an interesting mix. Lori certainly shows that money doesn't make happiness. He also defies expectations. You don't really expect someone who's wealthy to be working as a cop. Not that that probably doesn't happen but I mean it's a bit unusual. And Leigh was an interesting female character. She certainly was independent but still didn't fight the draw she had to Lori.

The ending was good, a mix of feelings but the lead up to it certainly had your heart in your throat and fear choking you if that wasn't enough. 

Jeanine Binder has created a great book! 

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Even Angels Fall by F.L. Darbyshire

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After suffering a very difficult loss, Abbey and her family move to Leeds. Isolated from her family, she finds herself making friends with Lucy, Nathan and Liam, who introduce her to their little family. But can everything she dreamed for not have a heavy price? Find the official description on Goodreads.

While I wasn't a huge fan of the first person perspective(I very rarely am), I did enjoy the writing of F.L. Darbyshire. With this plot and the characters she created, she created a very real world situation that could happen to anyone.

Speaking of the plot, I will warn you that you will need Kleenex handy to catch your falling tears. It was that kind of real life story. And the way F.L. Darbyshire formats that ending, wow, definitely makes it the tears even worse.

There were a few sudden shifts in perspective that made me have to go back and reread the last few sentences but I also figured it out pretty quickly.

Watching Abby going downhill was like watching one of your best friends going through the same thing, that's how close you get to her.

Even Angels Fall is a gritty story that could happen in real life. It was a beautiful if painful read!

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Team Lucas by Ally Adams!

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Lucas needs a minder, one that he can't scare away. Mia happens to be in need of a job, and was recently suspended due to her attitude. Which in Lucas' father's mind makes her a perfect fit. But will Mia be able to last or will Lucas continue his streak of scaring minders away? Find the official description on Goodreads.

Well Lucas and Mia's relationship certainly starts out pleasantly. haha, not, but it does start out pretty hilariously. It's sure to make you laugh and groan as Lucas is grouchy and Mia tries to combat that. Lucas has some great friends who keep him in line, and wow, does he need that. Sometimes he can be a right jerk. 

He's wonderful watching Lucas learn to trust her. The growing relationship is amazing to watch especially because of the fact that Lucas wasn't as open to things as Mia might have been.

It was a beautiful story with a beautiful ending. The writing was spot on and added to the enjoyment of Team Lucas.

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