I did finish The Girl in the Spider’s Web on Saturday October 17th, but as my copy of the book is currently being read, I am going to wait until I have access to it again. Hopefully, within the next week or so, I’ll be able to get a review out to all of you!
Review of Christmas in Good Hope by Cindy Kirk
Christmas in Good Hope
A Good Hope Novel Book 1
By Cindy Kirk
Star Rating: 
Genre: Romance
Number of Pages: 302
Number of Pages: 302
Date Started: November 13, 2015
Date Finished: November 15, 2015
Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Ami and Beck would rather forget the past, but this Christmas of love is one to remember.
Amaryllis “Ami” Bloom’s cheerful smile greets everyone in Good Hope, Wisconsin. But her merry facade hides a dark secret she won’t ever forget. Still, she throws herself into celebrating Christmas—and convinces her handsome, and stubborn, new neighbor to join her.
Beckett Cross, however, is determined not to celebrate the holidays. He moved to Good Hope to leave behind reminders of how he’d had it all…and lost everything. But it’s hard to resist adorable Ami, the designated keeper of the small town’s holiday traditions, when she asks for help with the Twelve Nights celebrations. And Ami has a hard time resisting Beck’s soft Southern drawl and gentle eyes. Will a Christmas miracle give them a second chance at love and the hope to heal both of their hearts for good?
Review:
Usually I am apprehensive about reading books particularly designed for one time of year, but this book was positively delightful! I received this book a month earlier than its release from kindle first, from being an Amazon prime member (it’s so worth it, even if just for the free book once a month!) If you don’t have Amazon Prime, I would definitely ear mark this book for purchase next month.
Ami and Beck both have so much in their pasts that have hurt them, bothered them, and that they need to get over. Although they both have their own shops to run and families they find themselves getting closer and closer. They both need to heal, and need to move forward and make new memories. One of the absolute best parts of this novel is that their jobs are a primary focus, and it gives the story more realism than many romance novels exhibit. I would definitely eat at Blooms Bakery, and grab some grub at Muddy Boots.
This novel is sweet, deep, and will help get you in the Christmas spirit. Go for it! You won’t be disappointed.
Author Bio: (From Amazon)
Cindy Kirk started writing after taking a class at a local community college. But her interest in the written word began years earlier when she was in her teens. At sixteen, she wrote in her diary: “I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t be a writer.” When she returned to her first love—writing—she jumped feetfirst into book-length fiction. She loves reading and writing romance because she believes in the power of love and in happily ever after. An incurable romantic and an eternal optimist, Kirk loves seeing her characters grow and learn from their mistakes and, in the process, achieve a happy ending through the power of love. She and her high-school-sweetheart husband live in Nebraska with their two dogs.
You can find more books by Cindy at her Amazon page.
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Thank you!
Review of His Reluctant Bride by Sheena Morrish
His Reluctant Bride
By Sheena Morrish
Star Rating:
Genre: Romance
Number of Pages: 179
Number of Pages: 179
Date Started: November 12, 2015
Date Finished: November 13, 2015
Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Katy has been betrothed to Tariq since she was a young girl and has spent her whole life rebelling against it.
She moved as far away from her home country of Darlaya as she could and has dedicated her life to being independent. She thought that she had won her freedom. Until the day that Tariq showed up and showed her how wrong she was.
Now she is back in her homeland with a man she hates who insists they must marry and the worst part is that the more time she spends with him the more she finds herself falling for him.
Find out just how far Tariq will go to tame his reluctant bride.
Review:
Though this book did end up with three stars, I will say that it is a very low three. The idea that this novel seems to present from the blurb on Amazon was enough to intrigue me into purchasing it, but that is as far as it goes. There are far more questionable parts of this novel than there are pleasurable ones. Blanket statements such as making love “in a rhythm as old as time” are both unimaginative and quickly pull one from the novel. Though I can understand wanting to use fancy or uncommon words for things (I had been quite a fan of tresses instead of hair), the amount of times Katie plaited (aka braided) her hair was irritating, and was likely used to make it seem like she was doing something special. There was a plethora of run on sentences and poor grammar, denoting that the book was poorly edited. The most common and annoying lack of grammar was seen when talking of more than one mistress, in which case you would say mistresses, not mistress’s.
While I thought the overall idea of the novel was sound, the full product seems to be lacking. Katie is supposed to be seen as an independent woman, yet caves in whenever Tariq kisses her. Instead of talking to him and confronting him about her suspicions about Amber, she makes snide remarks without ever stating what she believes. In the end, I am left with two questions relating to the content of this novel. Did she ever go see her supposed friends Daniel and Gareth again, and pay them back for the money they lent her when she ran away to Paris? Did she ever bother to tell Tariq she prefers Katie, not Catherine?
There are so many amazing books out there, and this is not one of them. I suppose I was bound to buy a poor book being promoted by Amazon some day. Definitely skip this.
Author Bio:
Sheena Morrish has no author biography up on Amazon, therefore there will not be one here.
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Thank you!
Review of UnEnchanted: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale by Chanda Hahn
UnEnchanted: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale
Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 1
By Chanda Hahn
Star Rating:
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Number of Pages: 234
Number of Pages: 234
Date Started: November 10, 2015
Date Finished: November 11, 2015
Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Mina Grime is unlucky, unpopular and uncoordinated; that is until she saves her crush’s life on a field trip, changing her High School status from loser to hero overnight. But with her new found fame brings misfortune in the form of an old family curse come to light. For Mina is a descendant from the Brothers Grimm and has inherited all of their unfinished fairy tale business which includes trying to outwit a powerful Story from making her its’ next fairy-tale victim. To break the fairy tale curse on her family and make these deadly occurrences stop, Mina must finish the tales until the very Grimm end.
Mina Grime is unlucky, unpopular and uncoordinated; that is until she saves her crush’s life on a field trip, changing her High School status from loser to hero overnight. But with her new found fame brings misfortune in the form of an old family curse come to light. For Mina is a descendant from the Brothers Grimm and has inherited all of their unfinished fairy tale business which includes trying to outwit a powerful Story from making her its’ next fairy-tale victim. To break the fairy tale curse on her family and make these deadly occurrences stop, Mina must finish the tales until the very Grimm end.
Review:
The idea that this book series has is a wonderful one– a girl having to take on modern interpretations of the classic fairy tales. The main characters have good characterization and it’s easy to empathize with them. I loved the way that colours played into the novel! I also love that Mina’s only real accomplice probably shouldn’t be working with her, given their differences. I believe that there will be more to Mina’s little brother, Charlie, later on, and that he will play a pivotal role in the overall series.
The book did have some issues with blanket statements, such as stating that a girl laid claim to her boyfriend “as only a female high school student could.” Another such statement being, “Brody was every girl’s dream guy.” (Both of these examples are from Chapter 1) There is a great little Harry Potter reference when Mina states she is “on cloud nine and three-quarters” in Chapter 7. There were a few places that I thought could have used a better editing job, but overall, this was a good read.
It will be interesting to see where Hahn takes the books from here, and I look forward to learning more about Mina’s plight.
Author Bio: (From Amazon)
Chanda Hahn is a NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY Bestselling Author. She uses her experience as a children’s pastor, children’s librarian and bookseller to write compelling and popular fiction for teens. She was born in Seattle, WA, grew up in Nebraska and currently resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband and their twin children.
Learn more about this author
visit her website www.ChandaHahn.com
Follower her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/chandahahnauthor
Follow her on twitter: www.twitter.com/chandahahn
If you like this review, and the writing style of this quirky reviewer, please consider visiting and liking my Facebook author page: Lizzy March.
Thank you!
New header!
Thank you so much to my amazing graphic designer Kostís Petridis for my wonderful new owl header. I absolutely love it! I hope that everyone finds it a hoot.
Review of Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl
Owl in Love
By Patrice Kindl
Star Rating:
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Number of Pages: 224
Number of Pages: 224
Date Started AND Finished: October 26, 2015
Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Part bird of prey, part teenage girl in love, and now part stalker, Owl Tycho’s life is complicated. It becomes even more so when an inept new shape-shifter appears on the scene. Funny, smart, and supernatural, Owl is a young woman worth getting to know.
Part bird of prey, part teenage girl in love, and now part stalker, Owl Tycho’s life is complicated. It becomes even more so when an inept new shape-shifter appears on the scene. Funny, smart, and supernatural, Owl is a young woman worth getting to know.
Review:
Owl is both unique and odd, while suffering through many symptoms of a regular teenage girl, she is also has to deal with being an owl and the complications that come to her because of that. Through finding human friendship and realizing that sometimes your undying love isn’t actually love, Owl’s struggles are quite similar to the average teenager. Unfortunately, while Owl’s parents being old school witches does explain why she has been able to successfully live in the human world as a shapeshifter, the way in which they don’t seem to know or care about the way of regular people (because as witches, they are apparently a class that stands apart from a traditional human), and that detracts quite a bit from the overall story, until towards the last third of the novel. While the story did take a few chapters to draw me in, especially due to the oddness of Owl’s parents, once I was further along I couldn’t put it down.
Author Bio: (From Amazon)
Patrice Kindl’s first novel, Owl in Love, was an ALA Notable Book for Children, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and an SCBWI Golden Kite Award Honor Book. She lives in Middleburgh, New York.
Check out Patrice Kindl’s Amazon page.
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Thank you!
Review of Love on Laird Avenue by Cindy A Christiansen
Love on Laird Avenue
By Cindy A Christiansen
Star Rating:
Genre: Romance
Number of Pages: 211
Number of Pages: 211
Date Started: 10/22/2015 (rough guess)
Date Finished: 10/24/2015 (definitely when I finished it)
Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Tatum Stewart is trying to make it on her own
without her over-protective father. She starts a new computer consulting business and buys a new bungalow on Laird Avenue in Sugar House, Utah. She has no idea that the forces of evil are working against her that is, Burke Woods. His grandfather owned the home during Prohibition, and Burke wants the valuables stashed in her basement. Tatum’s dream home soon turns into her worst nightmare requiring her to hire the local renovation expert, Ryan Bulldarren. Who knew he would come with his own protection manual when he buys her a Bullmastiff dog as her new security system and sets about sabotaging her dates. Can these two quirky individuals figure out what Burke’s up to before it’s too late? Can they manage to keep their relationship strictly business?
Tatum Stewart is trying to make it on her own
without her over-protective father. She starts a new computer consulting business and buys a new bungalow on Laird Avenue in Sugar House, Utah. She has no idea that the forces of evil are working against her that is, Burke Woods. His grandfather owned the home during Prohibition, and Burke wants the valuables stashed in her basement. Tatum’s dream home soon turns into her worst nightmare requiring her to hire the local renovation expert, Ryan Bulldarren. Who knew he would come with his own protection manual when he buys her a Bullmastiff dog as her new security system and sets about sabotaging her dates. Can these two quirky individuals figure out what Burke’s up to before it’s too late? Can they manage to keep their relationship strictly business?
Review:
This book is one of the best romance novels I have ever read, and I didn’t want it to end. While Tatum was originally annoying and hard to relate to the reasons why made a lot of sense, and it was great seeing her overcome her problems and hangups while trying to become a responsible adult. While Tatum was a bit hard to like it was impossible not to love Ryan from the start. Ryan has some legitimate problems that he could have fixed, but his brother and father didn’t realize the amount of strain they put on him by demeaning his intelligence instead of looking for a reason Ryan couldn’t seem to do certain things well. Together Tatum and Ryan learn that sometimes you have to stand up for yourself, and sometimes an unlikely ally can turn out to be one of the most inspiring people you have ever met.
This book is so incredibly real. I absolutely love Christiansen’s explanation of Ryan’s life and the tribulations he has had.
MILD SPOILER AHEAD!
Christiansen makes having a disability relatable in a way that not many others could. There are many people who have likely been in situations like Ryan growing up, and there are probably still thousands of people who have never been diagnosed with learning disabilities and are instead thought of as lesser of a person. Ryan overcoming his disability and learning how to cope is inspirational to those who may be in similar situations or know people who have been. Most realistic of all is the fact that Ryan could very well be a real person, who really went through this and learned, finally, how to live life to the fullest.
I really think this novel could have an amazing novella follow up, and I’m sure anyone who reads it would know exactly what I’d like to see!
Author Bio: (From Amazon)
Cindy A. Christiansen writes sweet romance with humor, suspense…and dogs! With over thirty health issues and two autistic children, she struggles to write but finds it cathartic. She loves going where only her characters can take her. She loves dogs and always includes them in her books and features them on her covers. She donates time and money to organizations that help abused and abandoned dogs.
Although she’s an LDS Christian author, she finds writing about a character’s relationship with God as private as she does bedroom scenes. She chooses to let the morals of her characters speak for them.
She lives with her wonderful family and delightful dogs in West Jordan, UT.
Check out Cindy A. Christiansen’s Amazon page.
If you like this review, and the writing style of this quirky reviewer, please consider visiting and liking my Facebook author page: Lizzy March.
Thank you!
Debut Book Reading- Happening Today!
As I have said previously, my premier book reading is going to be a bit exclusive, but it is indeed happening today, at noon! This book reading will be a small affair and I will likely get some pictures from the event, which I may share here at a later date.
Debut book reading!
My debut book reading has officially been set, and it is going to be rather exclusive, as the book has not yet been released. I will likely post a few pictures of the event, and I thank all of you who have shown your interest in Pas de Deux thus far. Once the book is out I would be more than willing to do more book readings, so if that’s something you’re interested in, feel free to contact me.
Speaking of people who have shown interest in Pas de Deux, I met a lovely family at a restaurant on Friday and ended up mentioning my novel. If you do end up getting a copy when it is available, and you’d like to get it signed, please contact me so we can set something up.
Cover art and public book readings: Oh my!
As of Monday the 5th I officially have my cover artist locked in! I’m quite excited for what I believe will be an amazing image. Please check out the amazing Terrazzo Creative Works. While he has done some amazing things in the past, I’ve asked Leo to look into a completely new style for this cover, which I hope you’ll enjoy.
I’m also looking at doing my first public book reading, which is quite exciting in and of itself. It will most likely be set for later this month, and there may be a chance of some participation giveaways. Once there are more details to share, I will most definitely let you know.
Amy S. Brown 