Book Review - Weeds of Detroit

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm bringing you a BOOK REVIEW! :O I don't think I wrote a single review in 2017, and that's just criminal. This year, I'm doing at least two a month. Some will be books I read last year, and some will be books I read this year. Who knows? But you're getting those reviews! Get your clicking fingers ready, and let's get going!

On the chopping block today is:

Title: Weeds of Detroit
Author: Misty Paquette/Misty Provencher
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 392 pages
Buy Links: Amazon Kindle ~ Paperback

Blurb:
A NOVEL, BASED ON TRUE EVENTS.

I turned seventeen less than two months ago.

A week ago, I ran away from home, in the country outskirts of suburbia.
Now, I’m living at a hotel in downtown Detroit.

At home, you could walk to the corner store when it was dark outside and hear frogs croaking in the ditches on either side of the dirt road.
At the hotel, you don’t go out at night. All you hear is squealing tires and curses shouted from broken windows.
At home, we didn’t lock our front doors at night.
There are three locks on my hotel room door. One in the knob, a chain, and a dead bolt. I’m not sure it’s enough to keep everyone out.
At home, I’d be starting my Senior year in high school.
Here, I’m learning what it takes to survive.

I hope I make it to eighteen.

~~~

Now for the review!
I'm a long time Provencher fan. Since I read The Fly House, I've been watching for another I thought I might enjoy. I grabbed Weeds from Misty at an author conference (Great Lakes Book Bash) a few months ago. I was so excited to read it, I started the day after I got home. I'd heard great things about the book, and I might have wanted a peek inside her life and head. *grin* It's always interesting to find out what events shaped a person into who they've become. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I was lost in the world of vagrants and thugs as this seventeen-year-old girl tried to find her footing as a free-range chick. Anyway, enough about how I got hold of the book; let's get to the review!

From a Reader's Perspective:
Oh, man. I connected with the MC, Lael, on a whole other level. I could feel her pain, fear, and shattered heart acutely as she reacted to things that happened around/to her, and I knew her frustration as she ranted at her mother in the beginning of the book. As teens, we always think we have it figured out, right? Anyway, as Lael faced the new and frightening situations in her story, I was actually scared for her. Misty did a great job of pulling me into the story and putting me in Lael's shoes. Even the secondary characters came to life on the page.

Pacing of the story was spot on, and there was never a time I felt like it dragged at all. It was smooth from start to finish. I loved the descriptions of the places the characters were in. There was just enough so I could see it in my head, but it didn't bog me down in details. Plot was smooth, also, and the story worked from beginning to end. It was cohesive.

You know you've gotten hold of a great book when you tear up as you're reading, and this book did that to me. I felt angry, sad, and fearful. It was just perfect.

From an Editor's Perspective:
I didn't find a crapton of errors. That's rare these days, so woooooooo!!! Of course, like I said above, I'm a long time Provencher fan, and this is one of the reasons.

Rating:
1 Star for giving me characters I loved and had feelings about
1 Star for an awesome plot
1 Star for just enough description to keep me engaged
1 Star for pacing that was bang on
1 Star for editing
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended read!

What do you think? Have you read it? Plan to?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Free Books for You Today

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I have a short list of free books for you to check out. Who needs a great read? You do! Get your clicking finger ready and let's get going!

Disclaimer: These books are free at time of posting. Please check the price before you one click. Also, I haven't read these titles, so I can't recommend one way or the other. You decide.

Let's GOOOO!

Title: The Dimension Thieves Episode #1
Author: Misty Provencher
Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi
Buy Links: Amazon  ~  B&N  ~  iBooks  ~  Kobo

Blurb:
Nominated for Serial Series of the Year at UtopYA Conference, 2015.

EPISODE 1 in The Dimension Series. Clean action/adventure read, suitable for ages 13 and up.

The Dimension Series is a series of serial shorts, releasing once a month from January to December 2015. It is a clean, New Adult series also suitable for some Young Adult readers, due to mild language, mild violence. However, readers who do not enjoy exciting cliffhangers, or look forward to the mouth-watering anticipation of month-to-month episodes should be warned...if you lay eyes on this story...THERE IS NO GOING BACK.

Antythera is the new Earth.
Why?
Because that’s what President Baro, ruler of the planet, wants to call it.
And if you don’t agree, the President will have you Droned.

The world has become a much smaller place since the lower and middle classes have been converted to mindless servants.  Free will, granted only to the elite, is in jeopardy of complete extinction.  

But Force Steele, son to one of the President’s highest ranking advisors, can’t live under the thumb of his controlling father, or the President, any longer. Force has dedicated himself to eradicating Droning, but when the President orders the Antidote Gear destroyed—the part of the machine that could free the drones by reversing the program that controls them—all is lost. Lacking necessary materials, there is literally no way in Force’s world to replace the one-of-a-kind gear.

Force’s only choice is to partner with shifty mechanic, Calerbius Brown, and embark on a risky mission that will take Force and his rag-tag crew across the lateral dimensions, where they must often steal materials—even from themselves—in order to fix their own dwindling world.

Title: Haunted
Author: Willow Cross
Genre: Supernatural Ghosts & Hauntings
Buy Links: Amazon

Blurb:
Have you ever heard something go bump in the night and wondered if someone was there? Only to go looking for the cause of the noise and find nothing at all. Or how about unexplainably feeling like you’re being watched when you’re completely alone? Things disappearing for no reason or strange ghostly footsteps in the hall?

This book is a collage of short stories about a few of the otherworldly experiences I’ve had. Although they are not movie worthy, you may find them interesting. All the stories are %100 true. Nothing has been added for dramatic effect.


 
Title: Ta Ta for Now (Stories About Melissa Book 1)
Author: Bethany Lopez
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Buy Links: Amazon

Blurb:
Melissa begins her freshman year with one goal in mind, getting Brian Jackson to be her boyfriend. She will soon learn that things don't necessarily turn out the way you plan them, the value of true friendship, and the importance of family.

The Stories about Melissa series is a coming of age series that follows Melissa, her family, and her friends. Similar to Sweet Valley High, each book is novella length. There will be eight books in the series.

Stories about Melissa reading order:

Ta Ta for Now!
xoxoxo
Ciao
TTYL
With Love
Book 6 ~ Coming Soon!

Title: Patriotic Duty (Duty and Desire Book 1)
Author: C. J. Pinard
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Military Romance
Buy Links: Amazon U. S.  ~  Amazon U. K.  ~  iBooks  ~  B&N  ~  Google Play Books

Blurb:
Newly divorced party girl Cara Reid just wants to have fun. Much too young to even be a divorcee, she and her bestie, Miranda, set off to have fun and maybe a few casual hookups and live life. One night at a military bar, Cara meets Riley Forrester, a hot Army soldier who makes her melt with one look of his deep ocean blue eyes. But Riley is only staying the summer in California and then has to go back to Colorado when it's over. Cara tells herself he’s just a summer fling and is determined to enjoy herself and let him go once the summer is over. But when Riley receives orders he wasn’t expecting, she’s forced to make a decision on whether she’s going to be there for him when he gets back, or move on with her life. What she wasn't expecting was to fall so hard for the beautiful soldier boy, and now she's faced with accepting her feelings or letting him go.

Contains adult content. For readers 18 and up.

Patriotic Duty is book 1 in the Duty & Desire series, and while it's recommended to read them in order, it's not necessary. 

Title: The Conduit (The Gryphon Series Book 1)
Author: Stacey Rourke
Genre: Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Buy Links: Amazon

Blurb:
All 18-year-old Celeste Garrett wants is to head off to college and make those fun, yet ill-advised, choices college kids are known for. And maybe to spend some time with the hot cameraman she just met. Instead, because of a pact her ancestors made in the 17th century with a mythical creature, she has to save the world.

While normal kids are slamming energy drinks and cramming for exams, Celeste will get her adrenaline rush fighting a fire breathing dragon. She wants to meet friends in the quad to exchange lecture notes, but first she must exchange blows with a shapeshifting demon on the rooftop. Life isn’t always fair for a superhero, but at least she doesn’t have to do it alone. With her brother and sister as sidekicks, they alternate between saving lives and getting on each others’ nerves. Together the trio encounters unspeakable odds, mystical forces and comes face-to-face with an image that will haunt them forever—their grandmother in a leopard print bikini.

Title: Prophecy: An Isle of Myst Novella
Author: Stacie Wilson
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Buy Links: Amazon

Blurb:
Discovering their young daughter, Brianna, is now at the center of an ancient war between Light and Dark and hunted by the evil Shadow Master, the King and Queen of Myst are forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice to not only save their child but their magical realm.

Prophecy, the first novella in the Isle of Myst series, tells the story of the tragic events that set Brianna’s destiny to try and save two worlds in motion, and forge an unbreakable bond between young hearts.





Did you snag any of them? Which ones?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Book Review - The Release Club

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Per my updated blog schedule, you're getting a book review today! In case you haven't checked it out yet, pop on over and take a gander at the 2015 Review Team. There are a good number of folks signed up, and it's where all these reviews will be appearing once I get them written. Feel free to join in the fun. Grab a cup of coffee and get warm because it's hella cold outside!

First, a quick recap of my review books for 2015:
The Release Club 1 - Misty Provencher - REVIEW BELOW

Bound by Duty - Stormy Smith - Amazon Kindle $2.99
Shadows on Snow (A Flipped Fairy Tale) - Starla Hutchon - Amazon Kindle $2.99
From the Wreckage - Michelle G. Miller - Amazon Kindle FREE
8 Weeks - Bethany Lopez - Amazon Kindle $3.99
The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge - Christine Nolfi - Amazon Kindle $0.99
Moonlight - David Rose - Amazon Kindle $1.69
Facade: A Vampire Love Story - R. M. Webb - Amazon Kindle $0.99
Siren - Jennifer Melzer - Amazon Kindle $3.99
Queen of Someday - Sherry Ficklin - Amazon Kindle $5.99
Fragile Creatures - Kristina Circelli - Amazon Kindle $2.99
At One's Beast - Rachel Barnard - Amazon Kindle $2.99
Unseen - Stephanie Erickson - Amazon Kindle $2.99
The Heart Thief - S. Lee Benedict - Amazon Kindle $4.99
Refuge - Violet Haze - Amazon Kindle $0.99
Kindling Flames-Gathering Tinder - Julie Wetzel - Amazon Kindle FREE
Dry Stories - Kate Baggot - Amazon Kindle $3.56
Kinetic: Book One of the Kinetic Trilogy - C. M. Zimmer - Amazon Kindle $2.99
Destiny Finds Her - Miranda Lynn - Amazon Kindle $2.99
To Get Me to You - Kait Nolan - Amazon Kindle $2.99
The Lady of Souls - Jenn Gott - Amazon Kindle $4.99
Sticks and Stones - Shawn McGuire - Amazon Kindle $0.99
Good Luck With That Thing You're Doing: One Woman's Adventures in Dating, Plumbing and Other Full Contact Sports - Karen Yankosky - Amazon Kindle $2.99
Desprite Measures-The Caledonian Sprite - Deborah Jay - Amazon Kindle $2.99
The Last Guardian Rises - Rebecca Trogner - Amazon Kindle $0.99 

Now, a little about the book up for review today:

Title: The Release Club 1
Author: Misty Provencher
Genre: Adult Romance
Length (print): About 70 pages
Buy Links: Amazon Kindle $0.99

Synopsis:
Accused of being too vanilla by her ex, Jes throws his crap to the curb and decides to let her curiosity take her back to her wild roots. With a membership to The Release Club, an opulent Swinger's club hidden away in the dangerous heart of the city, Jes becomes Jezebel, and pledges to uncover the truths about her sexual desires the moment she meets the fantastically handsome and mysterious man named Daire.

Bring your curiosity and come join Jezebel and Daire for the hottest hook up caught between pages!


New episode every two weeks.

**MATURE READERS AGE 18+ ONLY**

Now that we have that out of the way, let's move on to what you really came for: THE REVIEW!

***WILL NOT APPEAR IN REVIEW ELSEWHERE. I love the cover of this serial. It captures the story hiding behind the image perfectly. Misty seems to have a wonderful knack for choosing her cover art. If you recall, I reviewed The Fly House a couple months ago, so I was familiar with Misty's witty writing style. Feel free to check out that review here. Even that book had an amazing cover.***

Onward!

I picked up episode one of this serial when the author pitched it to me during an event on my blog. I grabbed the sample, dove in, and laughed until I thought my sides were going to split open. Once I got to the last page of the sample, I was horrified there was nothing left and zipped out to snag the whole banana.

Before I get into why you'll love this serial starter, let me say, if you aren't familiar with a serial, you need to read this: Serials aren't series of books. They're smaller chunks of a whole novel released as they're completed. So, if you have a serial with 5 episodes and ten chapters each, that's about 50 chapters of a longer work. No, you won't get a whole story in one episode. Think of it like a mini-series on television; when you see one episode, you're left wanting to see the next one until the series comes to a conclusion, then you can watch them all and get the seamless story. That's a serial. Now, on to the why.

From a Reader's Perspective:
Provencher has such a way with words. Not only was this story something many women could relate to, she was brutally honest about the thoughts of a woman when she's with a man who leaves something to be desired. It brings forth laughter, because you can identify with the plight/thought process of the MC, and a touch of empathy, because you know exactly where this woman is in her life's journey. There wasn't a lot of super steamy stuff in this book, but I think the author is warming up to slap you with it in the upcoming episodes of the serial. She certainly laid the groundwork well. Every character had depth that allowed me to really get a feel for them. This isn't an easy feat for the first in a serial, but it was done well. Besides all that, I dearly love to laugh, and I got plenty of wit, brutal honesty, and sarcasm from Jes that had me in stitches. You'll be dying for the second episode by the end of the first. I think the author chose the perfect scene to end with. No spoilers! You'll have to read it to find out.

From an Editor's Perspective:
Commas. Homophones. Dropped spaces between words and dropped words. Sadly, I can only give half a star for editing. I'm giving that half because there were no inconsistencies in the storyline.

Rating:
1 Star for making me laugh so hard I got strange looks from people nearby
1 Star for character development = awesome
1 Star for a perfect ending
1 Star for the bond I felt with the MC, Jes
.5 Star for flow
-.5 Star for grammar
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars! I round up when clicking stars, so you'll see a 5 here. Highly recommended if you're in the mood for a serial that'll make you laugh out loud and want the next episode.

What do you think? Gonna check it out?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Book Review - The Fly House

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Squee! Boy, do I have a book review for you today. I found myself guffawing over this one, and I'm excited to introduce you to this awesome Indie author. This title will go into my Indie Fever Reading Challenge list, because I've never read a book by Misty before, and am thrilled to now say I have. Anyway, before I get to it, here's my review recap (notice changes to the list):

Misty Provencher The Fly House  REVIEW BELOW
Elle Todd The Elect REVIEW HERE
Molly Taggart Off Target REVIEW HERE
Gloria Piper Finnegan's Quest REVIEW HERE
Skylar Hamilton Burris The Strange Marriage of Anne de Bourgh REVIEW HERE
Tamar Hela Feast Island REVIEW HERE
Rebecca Trogner The Last Keeper's Daughter REVIEW HERE
Scott Marlowe The Five Elements REVIEW HERE
L.K. Evans Keepers of Arden: The Brothers Volume 1 REVIEW HERE
Sarah Mäkelä The Witch Who Cried Wolf REVIEW HERE
Felicia Tatum Masked Encounters REVIEW HERE
David T Griffith The Bestiarum Vocabulum REVIEW HERE
Thaddeus White Sir Edric's Temple REVIEW HERE
Heather Topham Wood The Memory Witch REVIEW HERE
N. L. Greene Illusions Begin REVIEW HERE
J. A. Huss Tragic REVIEW HERE
Pauline Creeden Sanctuary REVIEW HERE
Casey Bond Reap REVIEW HERE 
Casey Bond Devil Creek REVIEW HERE
S. G. Daniels The Druid's Doorway REVIEW HERE
Peprah Boasiako The Hitman WILL NOT REVIEW
C. S. Janey Surrender To You Amazon Kindle $2.99
Morgan Wylie Silent Orchids Amazon Kindle **FREE** ~
Laura Howard The Forgotten Ones Amazon Kindle $0.99 ~
Christina Marie Morales Ambience Amazon Kindle $2.99

A little about the book up for review today:

Title: The Fly House
Author: Misty Provencher
Genre: NA Science Fiction
Length (print): 472 Pages
Buy Link: Amazon Kindle $3.99

Synopsis:
The Earth’s atmosphere is swiss cheese. To avoid the oncoming oxygen crisis, black-sheep heiress, Maeve Aypotu, has been chemically suspended in one of the Archive’s plush, underground, multi-million dollar chambers. Scientists claim they can patch everything up in about 15 years, so, just to be safe, the Archive programmed the chambers to open in 17 years.

And then, everything on Earth went wrong.

Up on the surface, Pluto has taken control of the planet, scorching away all signs of human civilization and reconstructing the environment to suit the Plutian’s lucrative dragon trade. Humans are now laborers, using survival and repopulation as currency among their Houses.

The Archivers, finally emerging from their chambers, are entering into a whole new world. Learning to trust this new community of humans may need to start small—with the fusion of one powerful Rha and one bad ass black sheep—if a damaged race ever hopes to regain control of their alien Earth. 

***Contains adult material***

Now that you know what the book is about, let me get into a few things.

*Will not appear in review elsewhere. Before I read the book, I was completely enchanted with the cover. Dragons? Yes, please! But, once I'd completed the novel, the cover made a lot more sense. I won't go into that here, but you'll love the subtleties once you're done and take another look.*

Time to get into my review!

I snagged this book during a Facebook party where the author was doing some insane promotion. Sad to say, I have a huge TBR list because of my one-click finger obsession. But, I was making a review list, tossed this title into the hat, and was thrilled when it ended up clutched between my fingers. I dove in with gusto and consumed the book in a little over 24 hours. Let's move on to why.

From a Reader's Perspective:
I'm always honest in my reviews, and I have to say, the first chapter of this novel had me wondering how I was going to comprehend what I was about to read. It was difficult to understand without the new language on Earth, and there were few definitions of terms. Needless to say, I was worried the whole book would be written in the same style.

Not so.

After that first chapter, the story really took hold and the language/writing became smoother. Pacing was off the charts perfect, because I had a hard time putting the book down. There aren't long passages of world description, it comes out organically, so I didn't find myself skimming. Score one for the author. But, I got enough to really picture the future Earth I was reading about, with many things being left to my own imagination (which I love).

Character development also is done over the course of the novel, and I was delighted to find I'd want to be BFFs with the main character, Maeve. She's tough, damaged, and demands a man win the right to be with her (much like the dragons). It's probably why Diem, the love interest, was so drawn to her in the first place. He trains dragons. Enough said. One of my favorite characters was the Plutian overseer of the Fly House. His references to human body parts left me with tears leaking from my eyes. I will forever after use the term: pain berries.

Once you read it, you'll understand.

I was able to go back and read chapter one again (and understand it) after I finished the book. So, there's that!

From an Editor's Perspective:
Commas! Eep! I found a bunch of places where commas should've been and weren't, or shouldn't have been and were. It caused me to stumble more than once. Word confusions: metal vs. meddle, seating vs. sitting, woman vs. women, etc... And one big confusion in the story where Diem has been off flying for a while, then returns and wonders why his dragon didn't detect Maeve earlier.

Rating:
1 Star for characters I loved and were complex
1 Star for world building without infodumping
1 Star for pacing and plot
1 Star for making me laugh out loud more than once
-1 Star for editing
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars! Recommended for those over 18 years of age, who love a good sci-fi novel.

Have you read it? What did you think? If you haven't, do you plan to?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo