Last Chance Summer: A Short Story by Hope Ramsay.

I was provided with a free e-copy by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be a very enjoyable read, a quick glimpse into the life of a single woman with a young son and a grandma who is slowly losing her mind.

Amanda is going to the county fair, taking her young son and her grandma. She lost her husband to the war and her grandfather died six months ago, now her grandma is slowly losing her mind and she is finding it hard to take care of them both.

Whilst at the fair, her grandma wanders off and then while she is searching for her, her son goes missing too.

I know the review doesn't sound like much but the book is well-written and the author has handled a very delicate subject extremely well. I'm definitely hooked and shall be looking for more of Hope Ramsay's books.

A Bad Boy is Good to Find by Jennifer Lewis.

I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm in two minds about this book. The way that every thing is described is very detailed and brings the scenes to life. The characters, however, are another thing altogether.

The fact that Lizzie assumed everything about Conroy just shows how naive she is and how Conroy just let her believe it speaks volumes about a serious lack of trust. The fact that he thought he could marry her and not tell her about himself, just goes to show that he was only interested in one thing. He may say that he could marry her and make her happy but when the money is taken off the table, he quickly changes his mind.

When she does a runner, he tracks her down and tries to help her get back on her feet but she is only interested in making him pay for using her. She decides to get even and talks him into marrying her but only for show, or in this case, a tv show.

She decides to sell their story to a tv network that her cousin works for, getting them to foot the bill and also pay her $50,000. He agrees but doesn't realise that she's going to make him pay in the worst way. She insists that they go back to the small town on the Bayou where he grew up. Somewhere he hasn't been to since he ran away from at the age of 14.

What is supposed to be a show about their wedding soon turns into the Conroy Beale show as he finds out about his family and his past. The network decides to follow up on his story and Lizzie gets pushed to one side.

When I was reading this book my feelings towards the characters kept changing. I found them both to be both likable but also really annoying. They both needed a boot up the backside and a good shake at times. They both had their own agenda but if they had just been honest with each other, they would have been able to resolve their problems and avoid all the pain they put themselves through.

The rest of the characters are funny and the story is interesting but I don't know that I would buy this book if I was browsing in my local bookstore

Ice Games by Jessica Clare

I found this to be a well-written, funny and entertaining book. I didn't realize that it was part of a series but it made no difference. It definitely stands on its own.

Sparks fly when Ty and Zara meet on the show Ice Dancing With The Stars and not the good kind, at least not to begin with. He describes her as "a stick with a mouth". And no-one is interested in Zara as she's just a replacement skater, a has-been.

After she covers for him after he head-butted her and broke her nose, he agrees to buckle down and train hard. With the audience behind them they get through the first round but realize that the choreographer isn't going to help, they sack her and Zara does the choreography for their next dance.

As they get to know each other they see that they are alike as they both have screwed up in their careers and are using the show to get back into the public's good graces and hopefully win the show.

Zara soon starts to fall for Ty and as luck would have it, he seems to like her too. Both decide that nothing can happen while they are still in the show but when they get voted off that changes. The next morning Zara is told by the shows management that she is no longer needed and that a car will be sent to take her home. She can't bring herself to say goodbye to him, as she's falling for him so she just leaves.

Trying to get over Ty, she's back to teaching kids at the mall how to skate when she gets a call asking her to go back on the show for the finale. She agrees but says she will only go back for the last day, refusing to go back to train with Ty as she thinks it will be too painful.

When she gets there, Ty is angry with her and ends up making her cry. They eventually talk and both admit how they feel and we get a happy ending.

Both Ty and Zara are extremely likable and the story is very detailed, I could see and hear their skating routine in my head. The sex scenes were very detailed and graphic but not in a bad way. Some authors over-do the description in sex scenes but these were just graphic enough to be entertaining and not pornographic.

I will be looking for more books by Jessica in the future.

The Monsters in your Neighbourhood by Jesse Peterson.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher with the condition that I post an honest review.
I found this to be a well-written, funny story.  The characters are extremely like-able and interesting.  The idea of monsters in group therapy is a brilliant concept.  The fact that the humans are more monstrous is also a stroke of genius.
Being hunted down by the Van Helsings' and having one of their own turned against them only makes them pull together, well eventually, after they get over the shock of it.
Led by Natalie, one of Frankenstein's creations and with the help of her boyfriend, Alex the Wolf Man, the monsters unite and together they stop the Van Helsings and Hyde from outing them to the public against their will.
They also have to do something about the chip's that some of them have had put in their heads without their knowledge.  (This part of the plot reminds me of The Initiative in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.)
This is a fun read and I shall certainly be looking for more of Jesse Peterson's work.

Broken Angels by Harambee K. Grey-Sun

I received a free copy of this e-book from the publishers with the intention of giving an honest review.

What to say? I tried, several times, to read this book but I couldn't finish it. It was too convoluted and mixed up. I kept losing track of which characters were doing what and where they were. I kept having to back-track over and over again trying to understand what was going on.

I eventually gave up reading it as it kept giving me a headache. I will not be on the lookout for the next book.

Found (Penny Black) by Stacey Wallace Benefiel.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher with the intention of leaving an honest review.

Although I haven't read any other books by Stacey Wallace Benefiel, I found this book to be quite interesting. I thought the concept of being able to pause and rewind the people and surroundings very intriguing.

What I didn't like was the ending. I know that the book is the first in a trilogy but I was a bit shocked at the way the book finished.

Penny Black is able to pause and rewind her surroundings but she isn't aware of it, she thinks that she's asleep. When she is found, collapsed at the side of the freeway after she has diverted an accident, she is taken to the hospital and held there until her uncle arrives to take her home. However the man isn't her uncle but he has been searching for her for a long time. He takes her to a school with other teens her age with similar abilities.

There she learns that she's not alone and that she's got a cousin. She finds herself falling for Wyatt, he's been assigned as her Lookout. Wyatt is a normal guy unlike the other teens, he's also related to the staff that run the school.

Penny has a vision and with the help of her new friends, tries to rescue someone who is being kidnapped. They get stopped by the staff and problems arise when the staff go to do the rescue.

Someone who Penny knows is to blame and it's all about him getting even with the staff from the school. He used her abilities to get in to the school and he wants to make them all suffer.

I liked the characters and the language was very interesting.

I really hope that the next book is as good but I really hope that the ending is better.

Concealed by Sang Kromah.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher with the intention of leaving an honest review.

I'm not going to break the book down and try to explain what it's about because I really don't know how to.

First of all, I couldn't get past some of the spelling and grammar mistakes, some of the sentences were repeated. Then the idea that as a coping mechanism Bijou shuffles a deck of cards constantly and without looking is a little ridiculous.

The final reason that I couldn't finish the book is because although the synopsis reads like a great story the book doesn't deliver. It's almost as if the story got away from the author as she was writing it, she kept adding extra ideas that didn't gel well. The story didn't flow and the ideas were also a bit far-fetched.

I shall not be looking for the next book in this series.

Stonefly by Scott J. Holliday

I received a free e-copy from the publisher with the intention of writing an honest review.

This book was so good that I didn't stop reading it until I had finished it.

Jacob Duke has spent the six years in a mental institute because he had no control of his curse. He was 10 years old when he killed the local bully because a girl in his class wished that he was dead. Jacob then spent two years being dragged from one psychiatrist to another. It wasn't his fault that he killed the bully but he couldn't tell them why he did it, he couldn't explain how his blood boiled and his hands trembled and he couldn't stop thinking of ways to kill him.

When he was in the institute he worked out what the rules were regarding his curse and also what the consequences were if he didn't manage to fulfil the wish. Because of this he stole a pencil from the nursing station and poked them into his ears and deafened himself so he would never be able to hear a wish and be forced to grant it.

When he is released on his eighteenth birthday, his mother tells him about his father and gives him a totem that he had left for Jacob. When his mother tells him about his father he is understandably upset, as far as he is concerned he was abandoned. He had no clue who he was but over the years he tracked down details and finally worked out who his father was but he never went to find him.

With the help of his mother he set up a tattoo shop and met Lori who he has been in love with ever since but she doesn't return his feelings.

When he was in the institute he made a promise to himself that when he was released he would return to the area for a vacation and that is where the book starts. He is stood in the river, fly-fishing, when he sees a young boy crying. Without realising it, the boy makes a wish for his father to be dead and triggers the curse. Now Jacob has six days to save Frankie's life or get him to change his wish.

The wish sets into motion a series of events that hold the readers interest all the way through the tale and you are definitely left wanting more. Luckily, it would seem that this is the first in a series featuring Jacob Duke, Lori and his dog Russ.

Charming by Elliot James

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher with the intention of leaving an honest review.

This is a great story with an interesting twist on the Knights Templar, Valkyries, Werewolves, Vampires and Psychics. Throw in an Episcopalian priest, a bug exterminator, a cop and a Naga and you've got a great story. This isn't a fairy tale even though the main character is called John Charming, as in Prince Charming. The Charming name was given to all the brave men in fairy tales even if they weren't Princes.

John Charming is a Knight, a monster hunter and according to the Knights Templar, he's an abomination.

When his mother was in her last month of pregnancy, she was bitten by a werewolf. Although she gave birth to John, she died whilst shifting as a lot of people do. Because of this the Knights have kept a close eye on John, waiting for him to turn into a werewolf which he never has done, the only thing that is different with John is the fact that he has heightened senses and strength. If it wasn't for the fact that he almost died when he was in his early twenties, he would most likely have been killed. Instead the Knights relaxed their watch on him and he ran away. Now he's being hunted by the Knights.

Whilst staying ahead of the Knights he still feels the need to hunt the monsters himself, due to the geas that all Knights have placed on them.

Whilst working as a bartender he meets Sig, who is hunting a Vampire. He scares the vampire off but knows it will be back later that night. When he's fighting the vampire and his hive mates, Sig turns up and saves his life.

From that point on, he knows he's going to leave town but he knows he's going to help Sig take out the other vampires because the geas will not let him leave before then.

With feelings running high between John and Sig and Sig already having a partner, well things go to hell in a handbasket very quickly.

This is a very well-written story with excellent attention to detail. It has a great cast of characters and the action is practically none-stop. I really hope that this is the start of a new series.

The Big, Not-So-Small, Curvy Girls, BBW Romance, Dating Agency by Ava Catori

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher with the intention of leaving an honest review.

Becky Holgate is fed up with her job, she wants to be her own boss and decides to set up a dating site for the fuller figured ladies that are out there, she knows what it's like to be overlooked because of her size so she wants to help others who have the same problem, only it's not as easy as she thought. It doesn't help matters when she meets Reed Amwell, he's a photographer who helps her set up her website.

Besides being drop dead gorgeous, he's also engaged to be married. Every time she's around him she seems to have a habit of making a fool of herself. Reed doesn't make it easier either as he seems to be drawn to her too, despite the fact that he's engaged and she's not the type of girl he usually falls for.

The scenes were she ends up embarrassing herself are hilarious and the fact that it makes him laugh with her and ends up embarrassing himself are a total riot.

With the help of her crazy best friend, Becky tries not to get involved with Reed and get her business off the ground but she just can't seem to help it. When Reed finally breaks off his engagement she is the first person he tells, as he's as drawn to her as she is to him.

With her business starting to take off, she finds herself spending more time with Reed but she keeps letting her own insecurities about her weight get in the way and almost allows Reed 's ex-fiancee to drive a wedge between them.

I found this to be a fun read but at times it seemed as if the author was holding back especially during the sex scenes. It was as if she didn't want to write anything too graphic, it was all "naughty bits" and "intimate" but she didn't hold back on the embarrassing scenes. I nearly wet myself laughing at the coffee shop scenes.

If you're looking for a fun, light read then this is the book for you.