AUDIO BOOK REVIEW FOR - A SHADE OF VAMPIRE BOOK 1 - BY - BELLA FORREST

pic and description taken from audible.com

DESCRIPTION:

On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.

She is kidnapped to The Shade, an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine. An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.

Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is selected out of hundreds of girls to take up residence in the tree-top harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal prince.

Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.

Will she succeed? Or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

I have been seeing this series around and had been told to read it by a few people, so I finally broke down and bought some of them.  I have to admit the books totally sucked me in.  I am a sucker for vampire books.

Sofia is kidnapped on her 17th birthday.  When she awakes and realizes she is being held prisoner by something evil, Sofia decides she must do whatever it takes to stay alive.

Sofia is meant to be part of the newly awakened Derek Novak's harem .  She has been told that the only way she will be able to remain alive is to convince Derek that he loves her.

Derek seems to have an immediate attraction to Sofia, and as time goes by Sofia seems to be developing feelings for Derek.  She just cannot decide if what she is feeling is real or just survival.

If you like vampire books then you will like this one.  It's a quick and fun read.  There is just something about vampires that automatically draws me in.  They are intriguing.  I really enjoy the narrators of these books as well.  Yes, I say narrators.  There are multiple narrators which makes it more interesting.  In my opinion.  

I was completely drawn in and finished the first 9 books in no time.  

Source: I bought this audio book for myself.  I was not compensated in any way for this book.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bella Forrest is the million-bestselling author of the "A Shade of Vampire" series.

Sign up to Bella's New Release email list and you'll automatically get notified as soon as her next book is released: www.forrestbooks.com

Visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net

REVIEW FOR - HEIR TO EDENBROOKE - BY JULIANNE DONALDSON

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

Philip Wyndham has never envied his older brother for being the heir to Edenbrooke. He would much rather carve out his own destiny than live under the constraints of that position. But when his older brother dies unexpectedly, Philip's life is turned upside down as duty requires him to give up the life he planned. Philip takes on his new role as the most sought-after bachelor in London with alternating reluctance, boredom, and resentment. But all that changes the night fate leads him to an inn, where he meets the incomparable Marianne Daventry.

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

Edenbrooke was one of my favorite books.  This novella is such a great addition.  I love hearing Philip's side of the story.  It makes me love him even more.

Philip is not happy about taking on the role of the heir to Edenbrooke.  He doesn't like the scene that comes with it either.  He is the most sought after bachelor in London.  When things get too overwhelming for him, Philip decides to run.

When Philip stops running for the night he stops at a little inn.  There his life changes forever.  He meets Marianne.  The rest is history :).

If you liked Edenbrooke then you will love Heir to Edenbrooke.  Philip's side of the story is so sweet.

Source:  I bought this book for myself.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

Content:  Clean and wonderful

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic and bio taken from Goodreads

Julianne Donaldson grew up as the daughter of a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. She learned how to ski in the Italian Alps, visited East Berlin before the wall came down, and spent three years living next to a 500-year-old castle. After earning a degree in English, she turned her attention to writing. She writes historical romance when she is not busy with her four young children and husband. Edenbrooke is her first novel.

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW FOR SHARP OBJECTS - BY GILLIAN FLYNN

pic and description taken from Amazon.com

DESCRIPTION:

WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart

Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker's troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psychiatric hospital, Camille's first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.

NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg

Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful 13-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.

HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle

As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, she will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.

With its taut, well-crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

Camille is going back to her home town to report on a murder that happened there.  Camille is very hesitant about going home.  She never had a wonderful relationship with her "crazy" mother or her step-sister.  After her own sister passed away she seemed to feel even more alone in her home.

Camille's hometown isn't too keen on Camille bringing up ghosts in their town.  Camille finds herself in the middle of something very strange, that forces her to remember her past in order to solve the murders.

Camille's step sister seems to have a weird hold on the whole town.  Everyone either likes her or fears her.  Camille cannot quite put her hand on it, but she wants to learn more about her sister.  She finds ways to connect with her.  Even though connecting with her only seems to bring trouble.

Connecting with her sister is bringing up some painful memories from her past, and part of her past was self mutilation.  She has cut words into her body, and in so doing has been unable to really connect with another human.  She finds herself drawn to the "boy" the town has decided is the killer.

Camille, along with an out of town cop investigating the murders come to realize there is far more going on in this little town than any one can see.  When Camille finally connects all the dots the whole town is turned upside down, and Camille is left with the realization that her family is not what it seemed to be.

This story is haunting.  Camille's life is complicated, crazy, and sometimes mind numbing.  She has so many issues!  When the story unravels and we see why she has so many issues it's like a bomb has been dropped.  It was fantastic.  This story kept me listening and involved the whole time.  The ending was fabulous.  Totally caught me by surprise.  

Source:  I bought this audio book for myself.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

Content:  There is a lot of language, sexual content, and some dark behaviors.

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

    

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic and bio taken from Goodreads

Gillian Flynn is an American author and television critic for Entertainment Weekly. She has so far written three novels, Sharp Objects, for which she won the 2007 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the best thriller; Dark Places; and her best-selling third novel Gone Girl.

Her book has received wide praise, including from authors such as Stephen King. The dark plot revolves around a serial killer in a Missouri town, and the reporter who has returned from Chicago to cover the event. Themes include dysfunctional families,violence and self-harm.

In 2007 the novel was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar for Best First Novel by an American Writer, Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie, CWA New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers, winning in the last two categories.

Flynn, who lives in Chicago, grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated at the University of Kansas, and qualified for a Master's degree from Northwestern University.

BOOK REVIEW FOR - PROJECT NINE - BY ERIC IAN STEELE

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

The Tower. A secret government installation hidden in the Iowa countryside. Within its walls, a clandestine experiment that will change the course of human evolution has gone terribly wrong. Luke, a small town boy searching for an escape from his own mortality, knows nothing of this. He only knows that he has fallen in love with a beautiful stranger named Lynne. She offers him eternal life, but the price is an addiction to human blood. Luke learns that Lynne is an escaped survivor of Project Nine. Now she and her fellow test subjects roam America's backwoods in their nightly quest for fresh victims. But theirs is no romantic existence. It is a world of spiraling violence, where Luke has to kill every night to survive. As the authorities close in, Luke finds his humanity slipping away, and slowly his new found world starts to collapse.

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

Secret government experiments are going on in Iowa.  Nothing can go wrong.  Right? 

Well of course they can, and they inevitably do!

Testing on humans is what goes on in The Tower.  They are infecting humans with some kind of virus, and things end up going terribly bad.

Murders are popping up every where.  They all seem to two things in common.  The victims have been drained of all their blood, and the corpses are usually burned with no trace left leaving the police with little to go on.

One detective thinks he knows what is going on but is only writing it down in a diary because he thinks if he actually tells someone they will think he is crazy.  Because of this he is forced to go off the grid a bit to find out what is really happening.

The story is very interesting.  I do have to admit I got a bit confused at the beginning but it worked it's self out, and made me want more.

The book kept me engaged,  The story was very interesting and exciting to read.

I hope you take the opportunity to pick it up and read it for yourself :).

Source:  I was given this book by the author in return for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ERIC IAN STEELE

Bio taken from:  https://ericiansteele.wordpress.com/about/

I am a produced action/sci-fi/horror screenwriter from Manchester, England. This is my blog. On the main page you can read the words I have written, either in the order I have written them or, if you prefer, in reverse order. Isn’t the Internet wonderful?