A Study In Silks (The Baskerville Affair #1) by Emma Jane Holloway.

I received a free copy from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book, it's well-written with a really great story-line, a brilliant cast of characters and a heroine who is the niece of Sherlock Holmes.  It is set in Victorian England but has a steam-punk flavour, the London in this story is run by the Steam Baron's.  A group of very rich people who charge everyone for their lights, heating and other amenities, depending on who you pay depends on the colour of your light's.  Think of them as a type of mafia who rule the streets with all the weight of their money behind them, they own the police and many politicians and can have you Disconnected at their whim.

Evelina Cooper lived with her grandma at the circus until her maternal grandmother comes to take her away.  Thrust into a world of fancy gowns, parties and Presentation to the Queen, she finds that whilst staying with her friend Imogen is pleasant, there is also a lot of shady goings on.  In this new world, she could be arrested and sentenced to death or detained at Her Majesties Leisure in a Medical facility if she is caught doing magic.  With her interest in machinery, clockworks and magic, she has to tread carefully and whilst working in the attic to avoid detection she is disturbed by a couple of Groomsmen who have been sent to collect a couple of trunks from the attic as well.

She is soon thrust into a world of murder, intrigue, romance and magic through which she must carefully navigate her way to discover just who killed the maid, the groomsmen and just what is Dr Magnus after.

Being the niece of the Great Sherlock Holmes, she doesn't shy away from the situation.  Instead she takes it upon herself to try and save her friends from being disgraced.  As she follows the clues and avoids Dr Magnus as much as possible, who seems intent on exploiting her magical abilities, she also finds herself falling for Imogen's brother, Tobias but also still has feelings for her childhood friend Nick.

With a little help from her uncle, she finally gets to the bottom of whole affair and without losing her life.  

I shall be reading the next book, A Study in Darkness and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with an interest of the weird, wonderful world of steam-punk.

Arcadia by Mandana Towhidy

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

I really liked the music side, all the links were great as I'm something of a metal head myself.  I didn't really enjoy the story though, I found it to be slow moving and rather too descriptive (fluffy hair, bangs, hairspray and lipgloss) it was just a bit too much for me.

Ronnie was a sweet thing but I kept losing track of which friend she was with and what party she was at.  The Fang was an interesting character too.

I'm really glad I read it, the music was a blast from the past but I wouldn't rush out to buy a copy of the book.

Unspoken (Woodlands, #2) by Jen Frederick

I received a free e-copy of this book from the author with the condition that I post an honest review.

When I finished the first book in this series, I knew it was going to become one of those series that I don't want to wait for.

I have to say it was worth the wait even though it wasn't a long one. Bo and AM make a great couple, even with their flaws. I love the way that they bring the best out of each other, the fact that they can't keep their hands of each other when they finally get together, they are extremely likable and their flaws and troubles only make them a strong pairing.

AM is very studious and only wants to get through college, get her degree and have no-one notice her. She is aware of the names that the other students call her, it's one of the reasons that she only goes on campus for classes. Due to the lacrosse team spreading nasty rumours about her, she has taken to avoiding campus life and campus parties.

Bo is a marine who doesn't know what he wants to do with his life now that he's not in the Corp. He followed his friend, Noah and enrolled in college to buy himself some time to decide what he wants to do.

When they get partnered together in class sparks fly. Bo is taken with AM as soon as he meets her and although she finds him very attractive, AM tries to fight her feelings. As she gets to know him, she stops fighting it and soon finds herself in love with him. Both have their own demons but they get through them together.

This is a well-written story with great characters and some of the subject matter is very traumatizing but handled delicately and not glossed over or trivialized.

I look forward to the long epilogue and the next book in the series.

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.