Tag Archives: Book Reviews

Blogger Girl by Meredith Schorr @MeredithSchorr #review

Posted in Book Titles by

18222299

A favorite chick lit author has done it again! This is the most fitting cover. I love the graphics and the colors. Nicholas has his trademark stubbles in the picture too! 

Having read Meredith’s other book and being a huge chick lit fan I knew I would love this. So if it is your genre and you adore chick lit then this is a sure thing, 5 star, gushing sort of read. What I loved the most was being a blogger I totally related to Kim. She was in a lack luster job and the bright spot was her books. She read everywhere even on the toilet in a restaurant. How can you not fall for a girl like that?

He is what you need to know: no matter what just HATE Hannah Marshak!  Then, after, and only after hating Hannah, please want to smack Erin who is Kim’s sister. Every phone call asking if she heard of or read Hannahs book made me want to force 12 dunkin donut munchkins in her big mouth. 

bitch1

Being a book blogger, Kimberly Long describes all of the ups and downs of blogging. I found it a delight. I am having a fan girl moments. I also thought in my little mind that Meredith was writing about me. Kim has a great friend and boss in Rob. She dishes it to him and I loved it. She is a legal secretary in a Manhattan law firm. When she is not busy she blogs and updates twitter and facebook. I laugh because, like I mentioned she is me and I am her!

When her high school reunion is coming up she gets a friend request from the “nemesis”. So many things happen to make her question what seems like life altering moments “Do I accept her friend request on Facebook?” Poor Kim ponders it over and over. When she has the conversation with Nicholas (oh my big swoon) he advises her.

ea92d-bigswoon

Let us discuss Nicholas. He is a handsome (and shaving challenged) associate down the hall. She has crushed on him for a while. Their story is so sweet, then it hits rock bottom. A little tear!

She questions her life and being a “blogger girl”. She has aspirations but just doesn’t realize them. I say go read it NOW and enjoy it. Whether you love book review blog or are a blogger yourself you will find so much humor. Meredith is one talented girl. I will confess I got it and told her that I read it so fast and felt bad about the confession. I think it is a great compliment when it takes almost a year (oh my) to write a book and someone does nothing but devour it in a day at the beach. That is me, Renee, aka Kim…hehehehe This is Renee reporting for Pastel is the new Black!

0c272-5halfstarblogbook

Website

Twitter @meredithschorr

Goodreads

 

click the book to buy it on Amazon

First Kiss by Ann Marie Frohoff @rockinwriterchk #review

Posted in Book Titles by

 ENTER to win I am giving away five copies of both books in the series

First Kiss (A Heavy Influence Novel, #1) Well I am so sad to end this book. I will say BEST BOOK I have READ.When you write a review and think about a character for a day to decide what to write that is when it is EPIC. The blending of love, angst, hate and heart break was perfect. When you say this was a five star book it means something left a great impression on you, the characters spoke, the author had style and communicated the message perfectly. This was the case for me. Even though I gasped and cursed it is a sign that the message was there. What I loved was of course the main characters. You MUST read book 1 it is short and it pissed me off that it was short, but it was just a set-up for this book. I got done last night and I actually sat here thinking all day what to write. This was the best book. I hope you know I dont say that often but I was so touched by it. So Jake and Alyssa live next door to each other and were besties growing up and then things took off for Jake and his band. So they just passed each other and then BAM fate happens and they started to talk again. Should I tell you who else I loved? Ok I loved Rachel, yeah I know right? She was with Jake in a momentary lapse in judgement at the beginning of the book. Not giving a spoiler here. Anyways she is the girl you love to hate. I did hate her and I tried so hard to think what if I was in her shoes, desperately in love with Jake, helping him and the band for 2 years, and then sex, drama and no relationship. But I loved how the authors style made me sympathize and then totally hate her to the point I wanna stab her with a pencil repeatedly. Alyssa’s sister who is older, yes I was made me dislike her too. The Allison story was great once her reveal came. I was wondering why I just “didn’t like” as opposed to I hated her. Kyle was my dude. How he loved his sister and covered for her and let her see Jake, well it makes me wish I had a brother.    I loved the Nicole and Nadine- the dialogue the friendship. A girl needs best friends like that. I think of my girls in Brooklyn and we were/still like that. There were so many memories that came back when I was reading their little gossip fest topics. 5b804-jakeandallyimageforfkbookcover Marshall and Bobby were so good.Bobby in the band as well as Mike (grrr growling like a pitbull) and Dumpster aka Dump. All of them had the best supporting roles. Now there was Sienna too. She was Dump’s girl and Rachel’s bff. Now she was a BFF but there is a big BUT, she was so fair and called Rachel out on things. Dump did too, he was a neanderthal but to Sienna, OMG he loved her. Aly and Jake were so perfect. I could care less about the age difference. The sneaking around and the drama was great. Notting (English dude with a really strange name)and Kate were very complex too. Jakes Dad passed away a long time ago. His Mom and his manager “had a thing” but they never made anything big or official. It has to be read and discussed. The author is golden! She has so many fantastic tunes in the book and they are going to come out too. Squeals if delight! I loved the songs! I want it to be big. We have to do something to get the word out. I am doing my part for sure. So the last reason is the story of love, health, growing up and redemption. We all fall down and some of us dont get up for a while. Some of us bounce right back. The story of love is epic and one that must be read. I know people would dis agree, but sometimes you do find the one.I feel like I am babbling but I love Jake. 5 stars This is a passage and it shows the depth that I look for in a book: “The sun hung low, casting a hue of golden tones over everything it touched. It was a luminous late afternoon and the intense heat was finally subsiding. Staring at the water, I wanted to go swimming. I was overwhelmed with mixed emotions, and the water would be a soothing remedy. I felt drunk. Drunk love, was that what I was high on? Was I in love? Was this what being in love felt like? I was almost certain it was”   HOW long until the next book??? The Fall???

The Author extraordinaire:

ann marie frohoff 5211881

 

Ann Marie (“Annie”) Frohoff grew up in sunny Southern California. As a teen and young adult she spent her time frequenting and living in nearly every beachside city up and down the coast. She settled in Hollywood at 19 working in film and TV. Soon her itch to keep moving took over again, taking her to Hawaii for a time and then back to LA. She’s now settled in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Her wanderlust and propensity to live life out loud has brought her many life experiences so many of us only dream about. Always the storyteller, it would be of no surprise to those who grew up with Annie, that she made the transition into a book and screenplay author. You could say that she woke up one day and had an epiphany, deciding to go to school for screenwriting. It’s with this inner fire she set out to write her first screenplay. Soon after, such work made it into the hands of an agency creative executive who challenged her to write a novel to support the complex ensemble cast of characters she’d created. Thus, after only a couple of years and many hours on the road immersing herself in her subject matter; her edgy modern day “Walk The Line meets John Hughes Classics” debut novella, SKID OUT, has been completed, along with the first installment in her Trilogy. SKID OUT is the prequel novella to the HEAVY INFLUENCE TRILOGY. The first installment in her Heavy Influence Trilogy, FIRST KISS, is set to release June 11th 2013 — The series is a story about young, reckless love between a rising rock star and his younger muse, spanning 10 years of their tumultuous and passionate relationship. Each book in the Trilogy will come with a soundtrack of original music, of which the lyrics will appear in the pages of the books. (Alternative Rock Genre). Annie has now also delved into the supernatural fantasy world with her writing partners Shaun Barger and songwriter/musician Matthew Reich. Taking inspiration directly from song lyrics and building an entire realm of vastly complex characters and plot lines; weaving history, fantasy and heavy doses of romance together. You will be kept turning the pages of “The Zodiac Wars: My Gemini” novellas and “Precious Metal: The Prince and the Gypsy” book series. Both series of books are currently in development. Links: www.facebook.com/heavyinfluence

It’s now available at Amazon (Kindle Edition) 
Twitter @rockinwriterchk
 june2013-5
FIRST KISS will have you on the edge of your seat and feeling things you may have forgotten about! Now available on Amazon.com!

 The Video

A Song for Julia (Thompson Sisters) by Charles Sheehan-Miles @CSheehanMiles

Posted in Book Titles by

A Song for Julia

Everyone should have something to rebel against.

Crank Wilson left his South Boston home at sixteen to start a punk band and burn out his rage at the world. Six years later, he’s still at odds with his father, a Boston cop, and doesn’t ever speak to his mother. The only relationship that really matters is with his younger brother, but watching out for Sean can be a full-time job. The one thing Crank wants in life is to be left the hell alone to write his music and drive his band to success.

Julia Thompson left a secret behind in Beijing that exploded into scandal in Washington, DC, threatening her father’s career and dominating her family’s life. Now, in her senior year at Harvard, she’s haunted by a voice from her past and refuses to ever lose control of her emotions again, especially when it comes to a guy.

When Julia and Crank meet at an anti-war protest in Washington in the fall of 2002, the connection between them is so powerful it threatens to tear everything apart.

MY Review

5 big stars I really honestly and truly loved every aspect of this book. It was a a true story of love. The characters and how real they were just blows you away.

This was my first Charles Sheehan-Miles book and I bought all the others. Why have we never heard this name? If you are a fan of  On Dublin Street and the Avoiding Series, I KNOW you will love this. It is a much cleaner version. Makes you think how friendship with a teen Sean, Crank’s brother, who has  Aspberger’s syndrome. Crank is very involved and takes Sean’s care as his number one priority. There is a great cast, John the father who is a Boston cop and is a mild Archie Bunker. He makes you laugh and cry. John has a very loyal partner who is a like a fixture in the home.

They go on a journey to find their dreams and grow together. I won’t give a synopsis of the book, read the blurb and go get it. Very lovable people, life lessons, life choices, and love. This is the reason I say GO RUN and read it now.

Goodreads

Buy in AMAZON

Facebook 

Blog

Author Amazon 

Twitter 

769e61d361040ad8956e16.L._V397548551_SX200_

Sweetest Taboo by Eva Marquez @EvaAuthor

Posted in Book Titles by

 

 

EXCERPT 1 (from the Preface)

 

Dear Reader,

My story begins in the early 90s, when a young girl started her high school career.  She may have been any girl – young, impressionable, and fresh into the wide world of older boys, harder classes, and more choices. She may have been quite beautiful, well developed for her age, and smarter than most of the other students in her class. She may have been destined for the same high school career as anyone else – honors courses, braces, a few high school crushes, photography classes, a first kiss, and then a straight shot into the college of her choice, and her future as a doctor, or teacher, or architect.

Instead, she fell in love with her swim coach, one of the most popular teachers in the school, and became romantically involved with him.

I don’t believe that I have to tell you how dangerous this would have been. She was a young girl of 15, 16, 17 and he an adult man in his late 30s, old enough to be her father. Although this type of relationship would have passed as acceptable and even normal in Medieval England, the modern world frowns on such dalliances, and prosecutes the men – and women – who take advantage of adolescent students in this way. The two of them, then, would have been facing the threat of discovery, tarnishing of reputation, and even time behind bars; throwing their relationship in the face of society, if you will, but doing so quietly, in order to avoid detection.

Have you guessed, yet, that the story I’m telling you is true? Have you guessed that it’s more than just a rhetorical question, more than an idea that developed in my head one day?

The girl in the story is my mother, Isabel Cruz. She never told her story to the world, though she could have, because she didn’t want her love and relationship to be tainted by society’s judgments. This was a story of an illicit – and illegal – love. It was a story of lying, cheating, and misleading the authorities. My mother’s love for this older man was forbidden, and would have been highly scandalous to the world at large. She might have lost privileges, opportunities, and even her family, had they found out. And for him … his future and very life would have been put in jeopardy if the nature of their relationship were revealed, regardless of whether my mother sought to prosecute him or not. Even when she was older, my mother feared that the truth about their relationship might bring a backlash to the man she had loved so dearly. She fought against that with all her might, with the ongoing wish to keep him from any risk or pain. She never lost her love for him, scandalous as it may have seemed to others.

She is older, now, and the man in the story is long gone. When I happened across her diary from that time and asked her permission to write the story, she acquiesced. It was time that the world knew, she said, so it could see that this type of love – though it may be frowned upon, and even prosecuted – isn’t always what it seems. Sometimes, regardless of the ages of the participants, it is just that. Love. True and pure as it can be between two people, and strong enough to last through the years. It was time, she said, for our family to know its past, and its future.

I have just closed her diary, having squeezed every word from it, and written my own last words, which means that the book is done and her story has been told. I must pass it to you now, Reader, and trust you to hold it dear and keep it safe. I must trust you to see the love that shines through, rather than the social mores of the situation. I must trust you to care for my mother and her past, as I have during the writing of this book.

This, then, is my mother’s story. It starts when she was very young, only 15 …

~ Claire Stevens

 

Visit Eva’s Amazon Author Central Page

Buy it on Amazon 

Twitter

Goodreads Author page

G+

 

Sweetest Taboo by Eva Marquez @EvaAuthor

Posted in Book Titles by

 

 

 

Sweetest Taboo

There was not one thing I didn’t love about the book. The author had a way of writing that will get the reader upset, yelling at the book, and then crying. That is the way that you know how good the author is! Anyone can paint a picture but this was like a 3d landscape.

Isabel Cruz was fifteen years old when she met Tom Stevens. Tom was her swim coach and she had a crush on him. Coming from a very traditional family Isabel was reserved until Tom said “write me a letter”.  She was not sure what to write, but she wrote from her heart. Now at this point I am so deep into the story that I read for an all-night marathon! She was 15 when they started meeting.   Before anyone goes on about the subject matter, let us not get carried away! She is old enough in my opinion to make a choice. She does and so does he. They really do love each other and there was nothing in the past. NO molestation, no psych consult, and no father issues, it was love. This is one of the most taboo kinds of love there was, a relationship between a student and her teacher.

 

 Read it NOW and go with Isabel as she explores a dark love. She goes on in turmoil, hiding and lying to be with her “one and only”. Another reason I LOVED the author is that she didn’t let people judge Isabel. What I mean is that if everyone found out and told her to stay away from Tom, then she would just go to him even more. Isabel internalized all of her feelings and made her own choices As for Tom, things are not what they seem to be. I think it is refreshing to get worked up about a subject or book when you do, it was told correctly. I was not bothered by the age or the fact that he was older and married with two kids. Men will be men and I do think it was love and not anything more sinister.

 

I hope that you all love it as I did. Yes I think Tom really is in love with this 15 year old girl, and Isabel is equally as in love.  The sequel is Tainted Love and it was a little bit better!

 

 About the Author

 

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, daughter of European immigrants, Eva Márquez has spent most of her life outside of her home country. At the age of five, Eva accompanied her parents to the United States, where the family settled permanently. After graduating from university, she went on to complete graduate studies in International Relations in Spain. Eva received her Master of International Studies degree from the University of Sydney and went on to work in the global health field in Sub Saharan Africa and South East Asia. Eva currently resides in Southern Africa.

 

.

Visit Eva’s Amazon Author Central Page

Buy it on Amazon 

Twitter

Goodreads Author page

G+

 

 

 

*I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.*

 

 

Exit Strategy by Leanna Falconer

Posted in Book Titles by

corvidscover

Jonas Dumar has a problem. Having little faith that his lawyer can get him acquitted of the murder charge he faces in Massachusetts, Jonas takes to the sea under an assumed identity to seek asylum with a past college chum who now lives in the Shetland Islands. Hoping to ease the loneliness of the voyage, at a quick stop in Newfoundland, he takes on board, Gabe and Izzy, a young couple trying to work their way back to Spain. Only when he’s back out on the open sea does Jonas begin to suspect his passengers are not what they appear to be. But then again, neither is Jonas Dumar. So begins a nightmarish voyage across the North Atlantic. After a failed attempt to abandon Gabe and Izzy in Greenland, Jonas awakes one morning to find himself sailing alone with nothing but a haunting dream and a resurrected childhood friend. Gabe and Izzy have vanished without a trace. But then they come back. Delving into the mind of a man in possession of too many secrets, Exit Strategy is a wild excursion into a realm of the fantastic, as Jonas Dumar comes to realize that some secrets are better left unknown. A man really can learn more about himself than he ever wants to know.

About the Author

Facebook page

Raised on a ranch in rural Nevada, L.F. Falconer has lived in various places throughout the West, including Portland OR, Santa Cruz CA, and Reno and South Lake Tahoe NV. Now back in her hometown of Fallon, she enjoys getting off the beaten path and exploring the back roads whenever possible. Her first novel, Hope Flies on Broken Wings, was released in 2012.

Hope for the Wicked by Edward Lorn @edwardlorn

Posted in Book Titles by

Hope for the Wicked by Edward Lorn

Sometimes, bad people do good deeds.

Larry and Mo Laughlin are retired killers turned private investigators. Sounds strange right? Yes but even though they are bad I loved them! They had money troubles so when they were offered a job and met the Trudeau’s all would be better and the money troubles would go away. They are offered 2 million dollars to find out who kidnapped Amy, the Trudeau’s daughter. The other catch is to kill them when you find them. The search for Amy leads them to Mexico with a cast of characters that will have you talking out loud!

I love the writing and the hilarity of the situations. I was sad it was a little short, but the author was redeemed with the phrase “This is the first book in a new suspense series”. So I get more. Any mystery/thriller lovers out there grab it up! I haven’t read Edward Lorn’s work before, so I was happy to get the ARC from Red Adept for his blog tour. Bravo Ed great work!