The Wedding is a trap but not in the way that you think

Blurb:

Beth Bradley has a problem.  Everyone is expecting her successful music executive boyfriend, Charlie, to be her date for her best friend's wedding.  There's one hitch: Charlie doesn't exist.  Unless she can think of something false, she's headed for the most humiliating weekend of her life.

Alex Tanner has a problem.  The former Navy SEAL's search for a double agent lands him at the Kensington Hotel, and he needs a cover to finish the job.  When the sexy maid of honor blackmails him into pretending to be her lover, he thinks he's been handed the solution.

Except Beth has a way of stumbling into trouble, and when the man Alex is hunting starts targeting Beth, Alex had to decide between solving the mystery or protecting the woman who has stolen his heart.

***

Part romantic comedy, part thriller, and filled with plenty of intrigue, The Wedding Trap is the first novel in the Second Service contemporary romance series.

Review:

The premise for this novella is fairly unique and CIA agent crashing a wedding to find a mole and a bridesmaid with a fake boyfriend who needs to make an appearance.  However, the rest of the novella is fairly straightforward and formulaic as these things usually are. 

Beth, the bride's BFF and subject of this story, is a regular curvy girl who is generous (to a fault). She is a bit of a clutz and cares deeply for others but she does not feel special and this is compounded upon by her mother and ex-boyfriend, who is the groom's best man.  So to save herself she has created a secret boyfriend, basically to stop her mother meddling in her life.

Alex (the hero) is a typical alpha male working for the CIA but he has some likeable elements to his character and falls heavily for Beth.  Alex has his own personal agenda and takes on the persona of Beth's secret boyfriend before he becomes the 'real thing'.

There are funny moments and generally the novella is fast paced and this reader was certainly interested enough to continue reading until the end.  There were some laugh out loud moments and some doh! moments but that I suppose is usual.

The erotic parts weren’t nearly as hot as they could have been and this was a serious disappointment.  As with all romantic fiction the story is a little far-fetched with the insta-love element.  The ending felt rather rushed.  An epilogue would have been nice to see how this coupled fared after more than three days.

This is the perfect read for the beach or the 'plane which requires very little input from the reader and provides a great reward if you are able to suspend belief in reality.

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this 3 stars on Netgalley and 'It was OK' on Goodreads (2 stars) and Amazon (3 stars)

Love is not just a game. It's

 

Blurb:

When Erica McCall finally gets her big break in advertising, she knows just which spokesperson to pitch: gorgeous football superstar Johnny Spurling.  She had followed his career since college and knows he's perfect for the spot, even though it's common knowledge his famous family doesn't do product endorsements, ever.  But Erica knows Johnny's weak spot, and she's confident she can use it to gain his trust and seal the deal.

Quarterback Johnny Spurling is running out of time.  His father's health is failing, and there's one last thing he's asked johnny to so - settle down and produce a so, before it's too late.  Which means Johnny needs a new kind of girlfriend.  No more casual hookups or high-maintenance divas.  When his sister-in-law claims to have the perfect candidate, he urges her to set up a post season blind date.

Then Johnny meets long-haired, long-legged Erica and can't resist her outrageous proposal - or er.  So he decides he'll do the commercial and have one final, hot-as-hell fling before settling down.  They set the ground rules, then proceed to break every one of them as fun turns to the kind of true romance that just doesn't end with the final touchdown - and with luck, never ends at all.

Review:

I have never read this author before nor have I read a sporting novel focused around the world of America football, the NFL and the Super bowl but this was such a great novel I think I may give these subjects another go.

This is the second book in a series but I don’t think that it matters if you have not read the previous book because I don’t think that the stories overlap.  I am not sure if the intention is now to look at the other characters in this book if it is I will definitely be on the lookout for them.

In this novel we have an ad executive and a star NFL quarterback that get together not only to make a commercial but for far more.  I loved Johnny he was a big star with a huge ego and expected women to fall at his feet.  But the other side of him was loving, gentle and a real team player.  He has promised his father to say away from women other than finding his life partner.

But Erica is a focused ad executive who has followed Johnny Spurling since she saw him play in college.  However, she did get on my nerves a bit constantly harping on about the ‘blind date’ and how this was affecting her decisions in this story.  Have more backbone girl and go for what you want (you’ve done it before).

There are some really passionate scenes (which to be honest fall a bit flat) and loads of romance even though both characters live on opposite sides of the country ... this is how long distance romances can be (if you have money).

As usual in these sorts of books there is an insta-attraction/insta-love.  There are also some really unrealistic elements but if you can get past this then the story is better than some others in this genre. There insta-attraction in real life and that is called infatuation which can turn in to real love with work or can fall flat on its face.  As shown in this novel relationships happen through work and determination.

I loved the chemistry of the main couple but also liked the secondary story of the Triple Threat team of Bannerman and Decker.  Their little side story was fascinating and Erica was called upon to help them sort it out … and quite a lot of humour ensues.  I would dearly love to read their separate stories.  To be honest I thought they stole the show from Johnny and Erica.  Then there was the on field tension with the Surgeon. 

There is just the right balance between the novel’s focus on American Football and the romance that it kept this reader reading although I had no previous knowledge of AF.  This is also some comic relief in all the romantic angst, drama and heartache caused by miscommunication.

So if you like romance stories and sports stories with hunky men then this book would be right up your alley.

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this 4 stars on Netgalley and 'I really liked it' on Amazon (3 stars) and Goodreads (4 stars).

All for a life with easy love ...

Blurb:

When the Princess of Nova accidentally poisons herself with a love potion meant for her crust, she falls crown-over-heels in love with her own reflection.  Oops.  A nationwide hunt is called to fine the cure, with competitors travelling the world for the rarest ingredients, deep in magical forests and frozen tundra, facing death at every turn.

Enter Samantha Kemi - an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent. Sam's family were once the most respected alchemists in the kingdom, but they've fallen on hard times, and winning the hunt would save their reputation. But can Sam really compete with the dazzling powers of the ZoroAster mega-pharma company? Just how close is Sam willing to get to Zain Aster, her dashing former classmate and enemy, in the meantime?

And just to add to the pressure, this quest is ALL OVER social media. And the world news. 

No big deal, then.

Review:

This book was interesting and definitely held my attention all the way through.  The language used was appropriate for the intended audience and the characters were well defined and developed upon throughout the novel.

I did think though that the Princess was too full of herself whom, I suppose, some princesses are.  She rightfully got her comeuppance when her plans went array.  This in itself caused the remainder of the story to happen.  And what an action filled story it was.

A fantasy romp set in the modern day when magic is still prevalent but instead of using natural ingredients they have become reliant on synthetics.  However, for this particular incident natural ingredients are needed.  So the 'hunt' is on. 

There are a number of teams, one featuring the main character Samantha Kemi who has an innate natural ability to mix potions.  Against her families wishes she joins the hunt for those elusive ingredients.  Not only do they have to face the 'Wilds' but there is someone out there with nefarious intentions and soon the teams are reduced to two.

Samantha comes from a long line of potions masters and had a unique gift.  She is talented yet modest, brave and resourceful.  She wants to win to restore her family name.  On the quest she learns more about her abilities and talents.

Then there is Zain for whom the original potion was intended.  He is handsome with typical dark hair and blue eyes.  He is also Samantha's opposition.  there is the usual teenage angst and love interest between Zain and Samantha.

This boo has it all, humour, unrequited love, a race for a cure, a teenage love story and its associated misunderstanding and angst; it even has a potential happy ever after.  This reader in particular would be extremely interested to see how this story pans out.

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this 4 stars on Netgalley and 'I really liked it' on Goodreads (4 stars).

Nothing like the ghost stories on the Hammer House of Horror train

Blurb:

An extraordinarily compelling debut - ghost stories that grapple with the legacy of the Vietnam War.

A beautiful young woman appears fully dressed in an overflowing bathtub at the Frangipani Hotel in Hanoi.  A jaded teenager girl in Houston befriends an older Vietnamese gentleman she discovers naked behind a dumpster.  A trucker in Saigon is asked to drive a dying young man home to his village.  A plump Vietnamese-American teenager is sent to her elderly grandmother in Ho Chi Minh City to lose weight, only to be lured out of the house by the wafting aroma of freshly baked bread.  In these evocative and always surprising stories, the supernatural coexists with the mundane lives of characters who struggle against the burdens of the past.

Based on traditional; Vietnamese folk tales hold to Kupersmith by her grandmother, these fantastical, chilling, and thoroughly contemporary stories are boldly original exploration of Vietnamese culture, addressing both the immigrant experience and the lives of those who remained behind.  Lurking in the background of them all is a larger ghost - that of the Vietnam war, whose legacy continued to haunt us.

Violet Krupersmith's voice is an exciting addition to the landscape of American fiction.  With tremendous depth and range, her stories transcend their genre to make a wholly original statement about the postwar experience.

Review:

I was not quite sure what to expect when I started this book but this was not it.

The second story ‘The Reception’ I think is my favourite but they all felt incomplete.  One would have thought that a novel called The Frangipani Hotel would have related all their stories back to the hotel but no not in this case.  All the stories were definitely lacking something but quite what that something was I am not sure.  Indeed this reader was left wondering that the heck happened.  It was as though each story got to the interesting part and then just ended. 

One would expect ghost stories to be scary but these were not that and so in as far as they went they were rather pointless.  Don’t get me wrong I love ghost stories but these were not those.

There was really nothing in the stories that grabbed this reader’s attention or anything that would make this reader identify with any of the people involved in these stories.  The characters lacked depth and they did not even seem to interact with their environment.  In short these stories were short vignettes of nothingness – they were uninteresting and incomplete.

In short this lover of ghost stories was very disappointed with this book that did not live up to the title which needs to be changed as it is seriously misleading.

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this 1 star on Netgalley and 'I did not like it' on Amazon (1 star) and Goodreads (1 star).

What should have been as fine and detailed as the quilting on a quilt was rather more like tacking stitches instead

Blurb:

Maybelle can't sew.  But when she finds an unfinished quilt in the attic of her mother's house, she gets the crazy idea to complete it.  At first, it's just a way to fill the lonely nights while her husband, staff sergeant Holden Kanzinzki, is away fighting in World War II.

Yet when Maybelle discovers that the quilt is made from scraps of material that can be traced through her family heritage, the project is suddenly much more important.  Then word comes that Holden is missing in action, and with little else to do, Maybelle clings to the quilt as much as to the hope that her husband is still alive.  As neighborhood friends gather round Maybelle to hep her through the unknown days and nights ahead, it is the quilt that becomes a symbol of her unflagging belief that Holden will return - to her, to their home, and to their quilt-covered bed.

Review:

I love historic fiction, and a love story and anything to do with sewing (I am a quilter myself) but this book fell very flat for me.  I can understand that people who have family serving in wartime will constantly think of them but Maybelle is such a weak soppy character even though she welds ships. It seems that she has been coddled by her mother and has no domestic capabilities. 

During a clearing out session Maybelle comes across a quilt that her mother had started.  She was persuaded by her best friend Doris to complete the quilt and got a couple of girls to help.  I personally would have just edged the already created section and make a cushion cover as how would one know what fabric her mother had planned to use next.  But then if that was the case there would be no story.

This novel lacks so much detail.  Maybelle can weld but not sew and that is all we get.  We are given no detail of her work in the ship yard.  Was it heavy work, was it hot.  How intricate did she need to be, how was she recruited to that rather than a land girl?

Then again the fabric that Maybelle found and the threads used for the quilt were equally passed over.  What were service stripes for example, what were they made of?  What colour were they.  What colour was Lois’s baby blanket?  So many rich and varied pieces of the pattern were left unanswered.  It was a means to engage the first from the ship yard and to while away the hours until the next shift.  Instead of a weekly meeting, as would appear to be the norm, these girls meet every day after their shift in the ship yard.

The quilt turned into a monster and it was a shame that the group didn’t each take part of the original quilt and add to it to make a series of quilts; in that way they would all have had a piece of each other’s memories, hopes and dreams.  It is clear that the quilt started to represent many things to the girls that worked on it (the quilt), not least it was a way for coping with the redundancy of life and a bright hope for the future; and a loved one’s return.  There was obviously more than enough fabric to make a series of Hope quilts that could have kept all of the girls warm.

We do get quite a lot about trusting God and leaving your troubles with him.  But this is more from the viewpoint of Doris that Maybelle who seems to have lost faith (as we all do from time to time).  Unlike other religious based books though the mentions of religion here did not seem in the least bit false.  Perhaps religion played a greater part in people’s lives during WWII.

Although this book is readable it is not really about the quilt or the lives of the girls it is more about faith.  This reader was ultimately disappointed in what could have been a wonderfully rich novel.  The intention was there but unfortunately, the execution was rather lacking.  This short read sell well short of this readers expectations

I think that perhaps part of my disappointment was as a result of reading this ARC what as littered with errors.  Not only did the author use the wrong names in at least two sequences but there was a whole chunk where the timeline was totally out.  It is this reader’s fervent hope that these errors were corrected before this novel went to final print.

Another factor leading to this reader's disappointment was that the synopsis and the novel are really at odds.  If these things don't bother you and you like snapshots of life during 1940's America then this is for you.  If you want a book about quilts, you are better off reading The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow.

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this book 2 stars on Netgalley and 'I did not like it' on Goodreads (1 star) and Amazon (2 stars).

It's not the usual that has been taken here

Blurb:

Ruby died nearly one hundred years ago.  She saw spirits of the dead when she was alive, and now she is dead she has become a guide who helps ghosts pass on.  When ghosts start being taken by darkness instead of the light, Ruby is forced to seek help from a handsome and unwilling medium, who awakens emotions she never knew she had.

Review:

I thought the premise of this was amazing.  It was like a ghost version of the ghost whisperer.  All is going great until darkness starts taking her charges.

I fell in love with Ruby immediately and love how the author created her world.  Even though Ruby was and old soul in a young body this reader identified with her and could understand how she had kept up with modern parlance and fashion.  Oh how I would love to be able to shimmer to any location I wanted and to wear whatever I wanted just by thinking it.

The male hero was so against his ‘gift’ that it took ages for him to believe Ruby and he was so trusting in his previous partner.  You could really understand Michael’s angst and how he perceived that he could be considered crazy for seeing ghosts.  (We all know how narrow minded people can be.)  The journey Michael went through concerning his ‘gift’ was amazing and had you rooting for his acceptance.

There are other, secondary, characters that were equally well written; they had just as much character definition and development as the main characters.  I think my favourite was Jennifer who was just amazing and feisty.  Some of the ghosts weren’t too bad either.

The paranormal love story was also amazingly well done and rang true; even though it is highly unlikely to ever happen but what are dreams for if not for this right. 

Along with all this positivity, there was also a really good mystery story with twists and turns together with some really rather creepy moments.  This book had a good balance of all three elements and made for a really interesting read that hooked me immediately and kept me up until the late morning just reading and reading because I wanted to find out what happened next.

Indeed this book caught my attention from the very first word on the very first page.  This tale is really atmospheric and made it believable that the spirit and human world could or even does co-exist.  (Have you ever seen anything out of the corner of your eye yet when you turn your head there is nothing there?)

I do not normally read paranormal romance but I am so glad that I picked up this novel.  It was a wonderful read and a great escape from the real world.  I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author.

Even if this is not your normal genre please read this book you will be so pleased you did.

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

This book definitely deserves the 5 stars that I rated it on Netgalley, Amazon and Goodreads

Gruesome visions but epically disappointing

Blurb:

Someone call  VisionCrest the pinnacle of religious enlightenment.

Others call it a powerful cult.

For seventeen years,  Harlow Wintergreen had called it her life.

As the adopted daughter of VisionCrest's patriarch, Harlow is expected to be perfect at all times.  The other Ministry teens must see her as a paragon of integrity.  The world must see her as a future leader.

Despite the constant scrutiny, Harlow has managed to keep a dark and dangerous secret, even from her best friend and boy she loved.  She hears a voice in her head that seems to have a mind of its own, plaguing her with violent and bloody visions..  It commands her to kill,  And the urge to obey is getting harder and harder to control ...

Review:

I really don’t know what I expected when I started this book but what I got was not it.  Initially this reader found the book tedious beyond belief but the all of a sudden after the trip to the punk club in Japan the action really started and I had to keep reading.  I was up until about 5am when I had to finally call it a night, or rather a morning.  I then started it again at the next available opportunity.

For a teen, young adult book this does to shy away from graphic violence (that is horrifically bloody and real), psychological tension or epic creepiness.  However, the characters portrayed in the story left a lot to be desired.  They were very one dimensional and the pain protagonist Harlow had very few redeeming qualities and this reader did not connect with her.

Harlow’s supposed best friend was awful; all false brightness and ‘swizzlesticks’.  When Harlow needed to confide in someone (and she had been warned not to) she chose to reveal her secret to Dora (having sworn her to secrecy).  Dora then blabbed that same secret to her romantic interest.  For sure Dora is not the sort of friend that Harlow thought she was (Mr Wang’s warning rings loud and clear.)

One of the characters I did really like was Mrs Wang, she had such an edge to her so you never really knew whether she was on your side or not.

I do not normally read books that are based in a religious cult but then I suppose originally Christianity was considered to be a cult, why else was Christ executed.  The world building of VisionCrest, for me, left a lot to be desired.  What were their teachings, who did they worship and what was their deeper message?

Don’t get me wrong I love a good horror book as much as the next person but this was not so much a horror book as a gorefest.  Yes the heroine (for want of a better term) has visions and they are horrific they are not really real.

For a spelling bee champion there are a load of spelling and grammar mistakes that should not have made it this far!  And then there was the predicable and rather naff ending.  And then there was the ending which was totally naff!  The ending of this book was predictable, such a let-down after that adrenaline fuelled ride.  It is also not in keeping with the remainder of the story.  So will this reader read the sequel – no she won’t.  If one dimensional, poorly described people, worlds and religions are your thing then you may well enjoy this book. 

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this as 1 star on Netgalley and It was ok' on Goodreads (2 stars) and Amazon (3 stars).