Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts

Friday, April 14, 2017

New Release - Only Skin Deep

Title: Only Skin Deep
Author: N.L. Greene
Genre: Dark Romantic Suspense
Editor: Raye Greene and Carie Whitcomb
Cover Designer: Wilde Designs
Hosted by: Lady Amber's PR
Blurb:
Mateo’s perfectly normal life was upended one fateful night when tragedy struck his family. After years of running the streets and fighting the temptations that would surely make him spiral out of control, he finds himself somewhere unexpected. At the gym, he isn’t a troubled kid on the streets. He’s a fighter.
Elizabeth has never known normal; she’s never known love. Born to parents who thought she was better off as an ashtray than a kid, she quickly learned that the only person she could ever trust was herself. When she was taken away from home and thrust into the system, she traded one form of torture for another.
When their paths converge, Mateo thinks he’s met the girl of his dreams, but Elizabeth’s past rears its ugly head.
Can two broken people find a way to overcome their challenges and find love in one another? Or will the skeletons in their closets tear them from each other's arms?
Author N.L. Greene is a writer of many genres from YA Fantasy, to NA Paranormal Romance and Contemporary, to Adult Historical Fiction, and many more to come. Her first series, The Deadly Flowers Series (written under the pen name Riana Lucas), is a 4 book series about a Faery warrior, Poppy. Writing under the name N.L. Greene, she has written NA magically romantic books in the series The Mystic Seeker Series, and about bullying in her mature YA Contemporary novel, Twisted. She has also had the opportunity to collaborate with four other amazing authors to create Fractured Glass and Seven, both of which are award winning novels.
N.L. Greene currently lives in Florida with her husband and two beautiful daughters. When she isn't writing or reading, she enjoys traveling around the world with her family, shopping and doing other girly things with her girls, or playing video games with her husband. She is a lover of dogs, chocolate, and anything pink!
Author Links:
Instagram: @greene_nichole
SnapChat: greene_nichole

Friday, August 26, 2016

Cover Reveal - JILL




Title: JILL
Author: N.L. Greene
Genre: NA Thriller/Suspense
Expected Release Date: September 30, 2016



Blurb:

Jill Abberline is an only child, raised by her single Detective dad. Although he’s done his best to raise a well rounded girl, Jill’s remained quiet, shy, and studious. Now in college, a few years ahead of other kids her age, she’s working hard to get her degree and help make the world a better place. She’s had her life planned out since day one, and hasn’t allowed anything to distract her from her goals.

Nothing could’ve prepared her for when those plans were derailed and her dreams crushed.

Now Jill’s faced with horrific changes that force her to try and put the pieces of her life back together. As she does, she discovers a case her dad has secretly been working on, opening her eyes to the real world around her. One filled with deceit, lies, murder… and revenge.

Author Bio:


Author N.L. Greene is a writer of many genres from YA Fantasy, to NA Paranormal Romance and Contemporary, to Adult Historical Fiction, and many more to come. Her first series, The Deadly Flowers Series (written under the pen name Riana Lucas), is a 4 book series about a Faery warrior, Poppy. Writing under the name N.L. Greene, she has written NA magically romantic books in the series The MysticSeeker Series, and about bullying in her mature YA Contemporary novel, Twisted. She has also had the opportunity to collaborate with four other amazing authors to create Fractured Glass and Seven, both of which are award winning novels.

N.L. Greene currently lives in Florida with her husband and two beautiful daughters. When she isn't writing or reading, she enjoys traveling around the world with her family, shopping and doing other girly things with her girls, or playing video games with her husband. She is a lover of dogs, chocolate, and anything pink!




Author Links:

Twitter - @AuthorNLGreene
Instagram - @greene_nichole

Haven't read anything by N.L. Greene? Check out Illusions Begin for FREE on Amazon now! http://amzn.to/1TiZLLx

You guys, I'm frothing at the mouth to get my hands on this book!

What do you think?

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

Jo

Friday, April 15, 2016

Book Review - Gifted

Happy Friday, everyone! Let me tell you what. Oh, yeah. This has been a very busy week for me. Four book reviews and several IBGW projects happening. Do I need to tell you I'm a wee bit tired? So, please forgive me if this post has errors. hahaha! Ready for the details on this awesome book by Liz C. Long? Grab a cup of Joe and let's get going.

Information about the book:

Title: Gifted (Donovan Circus #1)
Author: Liz C. Long
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Suspense
Length (print): 398 pages
Buy Links: Amazon Paperback $12.30

Blurb:
Even in a world of freaks, being a Firestarter is considered a dangerous Gift. Lucy was born with the ability to create and control fire. She longs to leave the human world for one filled with Earthshakers, Transporters, and Chameleons, to name a few. When she rejoins the circus, it’s everything she hoped it could be—new friends, a potential love interest or two, and a place where she can be herself. When troupe members begin turning up dead, however, Lucy is suspected of foul play. She must not only prove her innocence but also realize the full extent of her power. To find the real murderer, she must uncover the truth behind her father’s fiery legacy while figuring out whom to trust within her new circle. Little does she know the history of the Donovan Circus and its enemies might actually destroy the entire gifted world.

~~~

I grabbed a paperback copy of Gifted on Amazon after watching copies fly off a table at a book signing conference. There was this innate need inside me to find out what secrets were hidden on the pages. Full disclosure: I'm a total geek over X-Men. Total. Geek. I used to play the video game at the arcade (Storm was my favorite character to play as), I own all the movies, and I love supernatural ability stories--I'm also a huge Heroes fan. Why did I bother telling you all that? Because if you love those kinds of things, you're going to adore this book. Now, let's move on to the review so I can regale you with all the awesome.

From a Reader's Perspective:
I both loved and hated the main character, Lucy. She was spunky, smart, a bit weak at first, and someone I'd love to hang out with in real life. A couple of her tendencies irritated me at the beginning of the book, but once I realized where her actions were stemming from, they were a little more acceptable. Best of all, despite her being gifted, I could identify with her on a human level. Huge points to the author for that.

Pacing was awesome, and I was able to finish this read in two sittings. Yeah, I was left wanting more, but not because there was a cliffhanger. It all stemmed from the awesome on the pages. Totally geeked out.

Long's descriptions are rich and vivid, but they don't go on and on about each detail. She allows you to paint the scene in your mind by giving you nuggets to build on. My favorite kind of writing is when I don't have to skip pages to avoid getting bogged down. Needless to say, world-building was amazing.

But let's talk about the plot! Up until the villain revealed themselves, I had no clue who it was. What fun I had trying to figure it out, though.

My favorite character was certainly Lucy, but I also loved Brooklyn (she's so passive-aggressive awesome), Delia, and Bianca. I won't ruin the awesome by sharing what they can all do, but it's super cool. Their dialogue felt so natural, too.

Oh, and the action! Yes, there's plenty of that. You get to see all the abilities at work constantly. I loved it.

From an Editor's Perspective:
There were no plot holes, and the flow and pacing were amazing, but the commas were kind of everywhere they shouldn't be and not where they should. So, I'll give half a star for editing.

Rating:
1 Star for creating a complex main character with layers I had to peel back
1 Star for description and world-building
1 Star for keeping the answer to the mystery elusive
1 Star for all the action
.5 Star for editing
-.5 Star for fairy-like commas that flitted hither and yon

Overall, 4.5 out of 5 stars. Everyone who's ever read one of my reviews knows I round up, not down, so this book gets a five click. Recommended for those who love books about paranormal abilities.

What do you think? Will you read it?

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

Jo

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Book Review - The Underground

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! It's Wednesday and time for another book review. I can tell you're excited by the way you're reading this post. This book came to me under different circumstances than my usual review titles. If you didn't know, I have one of my novels (The Bird) on Amazon with a small press: California Times Publishing. That link will take you to their homepage. Well, back at the end of last year, Jeff, the head guy of CAP, asked a bunch of us if we'd read some CAP books and write reviews. Those of us that agreed were assigned random books from a list (no author swapped reviews with another), and we bought them to add to our TBR lists. This is the first of those titles to be reviewed by me. Yes, it'll go in the 2015 Review Team's pool!

Enough of my yammering! Let's get to information about the book up for review today:

Title: The Underground
Author: P. M. Briede
Genre: Contemporary Thriller/Mystery/Suspense
Length (print): 273 pages
Buy Links: Amazon $5.99

Synopsis:
In 1889, most of the city of Seattle burnt to the ground. The residents rebounded by using the ruin remnants to create the foundation for the new and improved city.

In 1965, Bill Spediel struck a deal with the new metropolis to turn a profit on the tragedy from almost a century earlier. Thus, The Underground was born, immediately spawning talk of ghosts.

In recent years, the myths morphed into stories of actual people living among the trash and filth that had built up beneath the city. These mythical people had become mockingly referred to as groundlings by the locals.

As the city is now held in the grips of a serial killer, Oz Seidon can't seem to focus on anything other than the groundlings. Having never put much stock into them before, a recent rash of sightings has piqued his curiosity. Oz intends to disprove the legend, using the research as an excuse to focus on something other than death, that is, until he stumbles upon one and learns how close to this story he really is.

**Due to sexual situations, this book is for readers age 18+**

***Will not appear in review elsewhere. I really like the tone of the cover on this book, but I think the tiny text in the middle is unnecessary and gets lost at small sizes. Meh, just an opinion (and you know what folks say about those).***

Let's move on to the review!

I snagged this book on Amazon back in December, when I got a request from the publisher to review it. I read the sample and was intrigued enough to go on and buy the book. It was added to the review pile, and I picked it back up last week to read on. I devoured the story of The Underground for a number of reasons. Let's get to why, shall we?

From a Reader's Perspective:
This is the first cult book I've read. It was scary, intriguing, and nauseating at the same time. My toes curled at some of the descriptions about Izzy's life underground. I loved the characters. They weren't flat, and I certainly won't be forgetting them anytime soon. Pacing was slow at first, but when it kicked in and the action started, it didn't stop until the end. I'd say it was about halfway through when it really took off. One thing I love about books like this are the surprises you don't see coming. There are zero hints in the text at what happens until you get to the end and look back. That's when the ah-ha! hits you. Pieces of the puzzle so delightfully crafted click into place with a perfect interlock. Just when I thought I knew what was gonna happen, I was thrown for a loop. Loved it.

There are a few sexually explicit scenes in the novel, but they're not there just because. Those scenes are teaching you something about the characters and their growth as the story moves along. I'm not gonna lie; it was so hard to read the descriptions. I went green a time or two. But, the cold truth is often a bitter pill to swallow.

So much is going on in this book, and the author did such a great job of staying on track, working in the surprises, and showing an excellent visual of Seattle, I was drawn right in and held fast.

From an Editor's Perspective:
Errors like this: "Izzy very rarely wore anything other than her anger opening." (not sure, but I think that's supposed to be "openly") and "...responsible for all the floaters, we're going to look like genius'!" (I believe that should be "geniuses"), along with dropped/misplaced commas, and other errant apostrophes leave me without the ability to give a star for editing.

Rating:
1 Star for world-building
1 Star for surprising me more than once
1 Star for not shying away in descriptions
1 Star for pacing and an amazing plot
-1 Star for editing
Overall: 4 out of 5 Stars. Highly recommended if you love an excellent story with great twists to keep you guessing.

Have you ever read a cult-type book? What did you take away from it?

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

Jo

Friday, February 8, 2013

Book Review - Underneath by Michael Cargill

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm giving you an Indie Fever post. My second indie review of the year. Sit back and enjoy!

Indie Fever is dedicated to readers of indie books and to indie authors. I signed up to review at least eight indie books this year. It's a great idea and a wonderful cause! Here's the link: Indie Fever

Underneath won a review on my December 12 Days of Christmas indie author contest. The author hooked me right in with his pitch and I promptly bought the book which I read in just a few days. I give you my review.

From a reader's perspective:
To be frank, Underneath's main character, Hugh, scared the bejesus out of me. But he was so compelling I just had to keep reading. His odd thought process oftentimes gave me chills and made me wonder how many people like Hugh I'd passed by in my lifetime and never noticed. One of the supporting characters, Clare, was also well done, and I found myself identifying with her quickly. She has gumption and drive; both are qualities I admire a lot. The pacing was great and I flew through the book without realizing how much I'd read. I got a few surprises when the same exact words showed up at different times, and it thrilled and delighted me. Something else I liked was the author being from the UK. I learned some new words!!

From an editor's perspective:
I'd like to see a little more refinement of sentence construction and punctuation usage. I can overlook it if there are just a few but this book had a number of them. Short, choppy sentences left me stumbling over the words on more than one occasion. Plotline was bang on. I got the feeling this book was intended to be third person omniscient but it came off as third person limited with head hopping because one chapter would be about Hugh and another about Clare with snippets of other peoples' thoughts or feelings. I really only needed to see the story from two perspectives: Hugh's and Clare's. Quips now and then about random peoples' thoughts or feelings left me dangling (not in a good way). I think more character development of Hugh and Clare could've come from making this one small change.

Now, for my rating:
1 star for a terrifying main character.
1 star for rounding out the two characters I loved as much as was done.
1 star for bringing me to the UK and teaching me; as well as the surprises.
- 1 star for writing style (this is person by person so you may like it. I didn't).
- 1 star for including too many characters' thoughts and for punctuation blips.
3 out of 5 stars. Recommended reading if you like to be just a hair horrified at what could be going on in someone's mind.

You can find the book on Amazon here: Underneath for $3.30.

As far as the cover goes, I really like this one and feel it gives a good idea of what's going on in the story. One small tweak that could make it better is centering all the type. A general rule of design is to either left flush, right flush, or center everything if you do it once. Consistency is key! It could use some kerning as well but that's just aesthetics from a typography nerd.

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

Jo