Anna by Meghan Riley

(Image found on Goodreads)

"Sometimes I imagined leaving for a bigger city where there wasn’t such a strict social hierarchy or that stifling feeling of being trapped in a predetermined role, a place where I could reinvent myself and meet people with interests similar to my own." -Meghan Riley, Anna

Anna has a lot of choices to make. This is her senior year of high school and just like many of her peers she's trying to decide where to go to school, how to get there and much more. But unlike the rest of the students at her high school, Anna has much more to worry about. Spots on Anna's arms start causing problems in Anna's life and yet can she accept the explanation that comes with them? Or will she find herself lost forever. Find the official description on Goodreads.

Throughout Anna, it seems as if it's just a normal high school and Anna is a normal girl, except for a few odd incidents. I have to admit that I was looking for a bit more excitement. There was some but it seemed few and far between. I'm not saying the book wasn't good, just that at times it didn't capture my attention fully. 

The writing was really good, and strong, including descriptions. Meghan Riley has created an strong book, and if you have any interest in Astrology than it would most definitely be your type of book as Anna is very interested in Astrology.

Throughout Anna, it seemed that for every answer I got to a question, a hundred more questions popped up. Which was slightly frustrating to say the least but it also keeps readers reading, to find the answers to their questions.

Anna is the first in the Starseed Series, and was released on August 29th, 2013. 

Read more...

Laika in Lisan by Maron Anrow

(Image found on Goodreads)

Laika has always enjoyed learning about Lisan. When she is given a chance to visit the country that always keeps many out, she jumps on it. But politics have a part to play and her biggest dream may turn into a nightmare. 

Official Description from Goodreads: Laika Roen has always been strangely attracted to Lisan, a mysterious and isolated country where the citizens worship their despotic leader. When Laika suddenly receives an invitation to travel to Lisan as a visiting scholar, she abandons her career as a private tutor to pursue adventure in Lisan.

But Laika gets more than she bargained for when her trip is disrupted by violence and she's forced to set out on her own. As she journeys through forbidden sections of the foreign country, Laika discovers horrible truths about the relationship between Lisan's leader and his people.

Can a simple scholar change the course of an entire country? And even if she can, should she? The distinction between right and wrong blurs as Laika explores not only Lisan, but her own conscience.

Maron Anrow is quick to draw the reader in by giving them a glimpse at the end. But not enough to do more than make readers curious, almost forcing them to read on and find out more about Laika, Lisan and the dangerous adventures that Laika has.

Descriptions of character's emotions are able to get those feelings across to the reader without going overboard or using more words than necessary. And yet, it's undeniable that you immediately feel what Maron Anrow is trying to portray through her words.

Politics is always a difficult thing to understand(at least to me) so Laika in Lisan having political agendas in the book should have made me lose interest. But Maron Anrow explains it out, not all at once, but in enough small parcels for the reader to understand clearly and add to the drama that is taking place.

I can't forget the characters. Laika's thought processes are interesting, to say the least. And Rodya is a mystery that you just have to solve. It keeps the reader interested, drawing them into the book. And while romance plays a part, it's not a large part.

There's also several difficult questions that are brought up and they don't have easy answers, if any at all. Many of them are moral and it's difficult to watch Laika go through, trying to keep herself from being destroyed. And yet I was frustrated with Laika. She seemed to be pushing responsibility off on others for the most part and this annoyed me to no end.

Then there's the ending. It's open enough to allow readers to draw their own conclusions but it also ends the book effectively.

Laika in Lisan was a good book, and if you find yourself looking for books that aren't necessarily about romance but do include some than you should certainly check out this book.

Read more...

Interview with Carolyn Ridder Aspenson!

My interview today is with Carolyn Ridder Aspenson author of the Amazon and Barnes & Noble bestseller Unfinished Business (paranormal, contemporary women's fiction, 4.6 stars, 73 reviews) and the second book in the series, Unbreakable Bonds, (paranormal, contemporary women's fiction, 4.8 stars, 14 reviews).

Before we start the interview, let's find out a bit about Unfinished Business and Unbreakable Bonds.

One minute Angela's a typical stay at home mom, and the next, she's a psychic psychologist to the dead.

Ghosts aren't real. At least that's what Angela Panther believed right up until the moment her late mother popped in for a chat. Her mother's reappearance, just hours after the hearse drove off with her corpse, opens the door to the other side, and suddenly Angela's life is jam-packed with dead people. Between keeping tabs on her mother's ghostly mishaps, watching out for her drama-prone teenage daughter, and helping a son who shares her psychic gift, the reluctant medium isn't sure she's capable of tackling the unfinished business of the dead. Not that they care.

Although humorous and full of sarcastic wit, this story about relationships will hit home with anyone who's lost a loved one and wished to speak with them, even if only one more time.

Read more...

Birth of An Assassin by Rik Stone Blog Tour!

Hello, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Could you tell us a little about yourself as well as Birth of An Assassin?

What made you write about the Soviet, Post-War time period?

Relatives told me of their parents living in ‘The Pale’ (a barren strip of land where the Jewish population was forced to live – the reality of Fiddler on the Roof). They escaped the czarist pogroms of the late 19^th century. Some came to England, others to the US and Canada.

I looked into Jewish history in Russia and came up with an idea for a story, but it didn’t fit the time of the White Russians, so I trawled through the country's history until coming to the post-war period. Without getting too philosophical here, Jez (the hero) represents the whole of the Jewish population while Otto (the villain) is those people whose prejudice is all-consuming. Apart from it making a fit, I also took away the protagonists religion to demonstrate that it isn’t only about beliefs.

Read more...

Sacred Choices by Karen Hulene Bartell

(Image found using Google. 

Currently in use on Pen-L)

"With a gleeful squeal, she hugged herself, squeezing her knees. " -Karen Hulene Bartell, Sacred Choices

Sacred Choices brings together three women. Judith, the women who has had an abortion, and is pro-choice. Ceren, the woman who just found out she was pregnant and is sure she has what she wants. And Pastora, the voice of reason in the group. This is a story of their journey,the choices that each has made and the ones that they still have to make. It's a love story, one that will draw readers in. To find the official description, please look at the Goodreads page.

Karen Bartell has created a truly marvellous book about a difficult issue. One that many people tend to take one side or the other with little in-between.

Read more...

Birthright by Vivian Eve

(Image found on Goodreads.)

“...in order to move forward, we cannot allow ourselves to forever dwell in the past.” - Vivian Eve, Birthright

A tyrant rules Arenhed. This doesn't seem to have any effect on the life of Hedy until one day the unexpected and terrible happens. Hedy loses everything. The village she calls home, her best friend, her mother, the last of her family. And now she finds herself in a world of dangerous politics where one mistake could cost her her life and the lives of those around her. Find the description on Goodreads.

Birthright was an interesting read. Right from the very beginning, the action draws you in, and keeping things hopping. The plot is full of twists and turns, some of which you think you understand fully, but of which it is actually impossible to fully guess. The ending was certainly a shock. I had some thoughts but I certainly couldn't have guessed the true ending. Vivian Eve has created a book that is engaging, and keeps the reader guessing. She drops clues and sometimes you might be in the right direction but then you might not.

Read more...