Book Review - Confessions of a Paris Party Girl

Amazon's Book Description:  

Wine, romance, and French bureaucracy - the ups and downs of an American's life in Paris. This laugh-out-loud memoir is almost too funny to be true!

Drinking too much bubbly. Meeting sappy Frenchmen who have girlfriends or are creeps or both. Encountering problème after problème with French bureaucracy. When newly-single party girl Vicki moved to Paris, she was hoping to taste wine, stuff her face with croissants, and maybe fall in love. 

In her first book, this long-time blogger and semi-professional drinker recounts the ups and downs of her life in Paris. Full of sass, shamefully honest admissions, and situations that seem too absurd to be true, Vicki makes you feel as if you're stumbling along the cobblestones with her. 

Will she find love? Will she learn to consume reasonable amounts of alcohol? Will the French administration ever cut her a break?

What I thought:

Paris.  Wine.  Croissants.  If this sounds like your dream getaway, then get comfy because Vicki Lesage is about to take you on a trip.   Confessions of a Paris Party Girl is a humorous memoir detailing the author's life in Paris.  The memoir is witty and on occasion a tad bit snarky - but that made me enjoy it all the more. The author shares her adventures - not only introducing us to a variety of people (I loved old creepy foot fetish dude) but letting us tag along to her favorite places.   We get lessons on French bureaucracy and witness the struggles of apartment hunting.

There's a lot of drinking as the title suggests and the author is honest in her recounting of events - even when she's not at her best.  (At one point - I felt sorry for her liver!)  But there's more to this story than the author's drinking. We get to watch as she grows and matures - as friendships/relationships develop and she embraces all that Paris has to offer.

I really enjoyed the author's writing style.  She describes her life and Paris without subjecting the reader to tedious details - yet, I felt as though I had ventured into the bakeries and bars along with her.



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

Review of The Runner by J.M. Johnson

I received a copy of J.M. Johnson's debut novel, The Runner in exchange for an honest review.  The Runner is a Young Adult Dystopian novel with a touch of science fiction and fantasy.  

Amazon's book description:

Ten years ago the president of the United States declared that global warming had reached a tipping point from which it would not recover. In answer to this dilemma, modern technology was shut down. The elderly and other volunteers could opt to live out the rest of their lives in a virtual world, but all others were left to fend for themselves. 

Seventeen-year-old Avi Bloom lives in a world in which each family must contribute one child as a runner. A runner risks life and limb to travel from village to village delivering news and other small items. Avi is one run shy of retiring when she discovers that whole villages are disappearing, leaving only a few dead bodies and the youngest children behind. Now, Avi must find out who or what is responsible for these missing people as she goes on a journey and discovers friendship, love, and betrayal. She also discovers that the forces behind these disappearances are much larger and more frightening than she could ever have imagined.

What I thought:

There are several characters in this story and the author knows them well. Johnson did a good job giving each character a distinct personality and voice.

The main character is Avi Bloom, a runner for her village.  Her mother is dead. Her father is missing and she knows statistically a runner's life expectancy isn't very good.  When it comes to danger, she knows how to handle herself. Avi is no fainting flower. She's tough and smart.

Johnson did a great job imagining her world.  The descriptions are vivid and compelling.  I particularly liked the inclusion of the Amish as well as what seems to be "preppers."  It was easy to believe that these folks would be prepared to survive.  

I like a story where the author swiftly introduces the action and Johnson did precisely that.  She moves the tale at a quick pace but in doing so, I felt as though some of the relationships weren't as developed as they needed to be. For me, this created a bit of a disconnect.  I wish that the author had spent just a little more time showing how certain relationships/feelings evolved. 

The Runner is the first book in the series.  The ending was a bit disappointing in that it was more of a set up for the next book in the series. That being said, the author leaves the reader curious as to where the story will lead.  

3 1/2 stars
  

Review of Late Summer Monarch by Angela Welch Prusia

As a rule, I don't often read a novel in one sitting. With     Late Summer Monarch, I broke that rule.  Author Angela Welch Prusia has penned a coming of age story that should be on required reading lists.  While the story covers subjects like bullying and abuse, the author takes great pains not to be preachy.  What she does do - is open a secret window into the lives of the characters.  We see their personal struggles and witness how a town is willing to look the other way when some of its own are suffering.

The author does a wonderful job developing and maintaining the mood of the story.  Her descriptions of the town hit just the right note - you get the feel for the place without a tedious narration that ultimately becomes a distraction.

There was a lot to love about this novel.  Main character Darby Fletcher is the typical girl next door, complete with the requisite teenage issues.  Characters Peyton and Keaton display a vulnerability to which many in society are susceptible.  While Crazy Rainey Shaw is quirky and full of insight:

Fire flashed from Rainey's eyes.  "And if I was you..." She tossed her money onto the counter and stood to leave.  "I'd guard my tongue.  It reveals much about the heart."                                                                  -Angela Welch Prusia, Late Summer Monarch

If you are looking for a quick read that offers more than passing entertainment, check out Late Summer Monarch.   While it is written for the young adult audience, adults will also enjoy the story.

Review of Provoke Not The Children

Amazon's Book Description:     

In the United States, in the not-too-distant future, Americans are focused on one thing to the exclusion of all else: self-maximization. Every aspect of life which impedes the pursuit of Maximization is pushed aside, including the raising of children. Within one week of birth, all children are permanently turned over to professional child-rearing experts - Proxies - to be raised, educated and cultivated.   

Chase Stern, a Proxy Review Officer tasked with the regulation of the Proxy Industry, is plagued by guilt - the consequence of his own dogged pursuit of Maximization. Seeking redemption, he has pledged his life to save the lost but dangerous youth of the Deep Suburbs - the poverty-stricken and crime-ridden majority of society located far from the wealthy, civilized Inner Cities. When Chase uncovers widespread child abuse, the Government is forced to admit failure and shut down the Proxy Industry. All children under the age of eighteen are sent to a remote facility to be indoctrinated and reprogrammed to populate a new, functional society. Three years later, the first group of "children" return very much changed....

What I thought:

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

Michael W. Anderson's Provoke Not the Children is nothing short of compelling.  The author uses words the way an artist applies color - painting scenes with such detail that I caught myself imagining how it would look on the big screen and what A-list actor would portray the main character. 

The story is suspenseful and moves at a quick pace.  The characters are well developed.

When it comes to the main character (Chase Stern), Anderson introduces us to an individual who is haunted by the choices he's made in life.  His flaws and regrets make it easy to relate to him.  

Provoke Not the Children requires the reader to consider the cost of a society that places self above all else.  It is perfect for a book club discussion. 

 

Review of War of the Wildlands by Lana Axe

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I was given a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Lana Axe transports the reader to an imaginative world where elves and humans are locked in a bitter war.  There were a multitude of characters in this tale and the author did a wonderful job giving each an individual voice. The characters were consistent in their actions/reactions.  There were certain characters that really stood out for me: the elf twins - Reylin and Reylana, Essa - the leader of the sword maidens and my favorite character Mi'tal - the prince's personal protector. The king and his son Prince Aelryk - the interaction between father and son was intense and in my opinion the most developed.  

I thought the descriptions of the world were spot on - I could see the forest, villages and markets.

The author has a unique writing style. There are no tedious passages that drone on about inconsequential things. Instead,  Axe sticks to the meat of the story and moves it at a rapid pace.  Because it moves so quickly, there were a couple times I was left wanting more.  I like getting into the characters' emotional muck and I felt as though a couple of the scenes were a bit rushed. 

Overall, I found the story very enjoyable.  I was struck by how much of the War of the Wildlands relates to our own world.  While we may not have a king waging war on elves and the forest in the name of kingdom building, we do have the issues of corporate greed versus environmental concerns.

Book Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Amazon's Book Description:

You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand...

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White's sleepy, seaside town...until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet's crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet's grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet's already so knee-deep in love, she can't see straight. And that's just how River likes it.

               What I Thought:

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is one of those novels that I had to mull over before writing my review.  There were things I loved about the novel. First of all, I loved the cover. It felt moody and dangerous and brought to mind old Gothic tales. I loved the first line: “You stop fearing the devil when you hold his hand.”       I loved the description of the Citizen – the neglected mansion that serves as a backdrop for much of the story. I loved that there was this creepy quality the author was able to maintain throughout most of the book. I loved the concept of the story – then again, maybe not.  Therein lies my problem.

The main character is Violet White. She and her twin brother are on their own, living in the Citizen while their artistic parents paint in Europe.  She's quirky and lonely and vulnerable.   In other words, she’s pretty much the perfect girl for the bad-boy River West.  River is a lying liar who lies.  He possesses supernatural powers which he uses to manipulate others.  It’s this manipulation that bothers me.   Perhaps it’s because the author presented him in such a way, that I found myself wanting him to be redeemed.  Surely, he couldn't be all that bad – yet, he was.  He’s the guy that parents have nightmares about and that teenage girls want to fix...

Back to Violet:   Violet’s reaction to River made me cringe. I wanted to pull her from the pages of the book and give her a good shake.  Good Golly Miss Mollie! Get that girl some common sense! 

About the climax:  It didn't hit the right notes for me.  It just felt too convenient.  Without going into detail (you may want to read the book and I don’t want to spoil it), there are worse things than River West - hard to believe but true.

Tucholke excels at creating atmosphere.   I could almost feel the “evil” peering into my window and for all the struggles I had with Violet and River, I enjoyed her writing style. 

My Rating:  3 1/2 stars

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Author:  April Genevieve Tucholke

• Print Length: 369 pages
• Publisher: Dial (August 15, 2013)
• Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC

Review of The Forever Ones by Marjorie DeLuca

Amazon Book Description:

Paige is a forever, genetically altered to stay nineteen forever and live in the secret Iduna Corp compound, a place where age reversal and immortality has been perfected. Forevers are told to live for the moment.. Be what you want to be for a while and when you get sick of it – be something else. But when her friends start disappearing Paige suspects there’s a darker side to their luxurious prison. The official word is they’ve been kidnapped by criminals on the outside who want to use them as feeders. Feeders have a short and brutal life – kept in captivity and sucked dry of all their youth cells so the Crime Lords can enjoy eternal youth. Her friend Junius involves her in planning a daring escape from the compound so they can infiltrate the IdunaCorp organization and find out what’s really happening to their missing friends. They’re joined by the charismatic and musical Chale, a Keener whose attraction to Paige causes tension between her and Junius. What will they find on the outside? How has the quest for immortality changed humanity? The journey becomes so dangerous Paige is forced to push herself to the limits of her endurance and to make tough decisions about who she can trust – Junius or Chale.

What I thought:

We can't turn on the television without seeing a product which promises to reverse the signs of aging.  Marjorie DeLuca takes this obsession and carries it to the next level.  She creates a world where old age is scorned, where youth is prized above all else, where immortality has been achieved.  DeLuca offers a cast of interesting characters.  The main character, Paige is a forever - a genetically altered being who comes to the realization that nothing is as it seems.  While I wish that some of the others had been fleshed out a bit more, the characters of Chale and Junius were quite intriguing.  The chemistry between Chale and Paige/Junius and Paige adds to the tale. The story moves at a quick pace and while I questioned the ease at which the Forevers were able to assimilate and overcome the challenges they faced, DeLuca offered something rare - a couple twists and turns that I never saw coming.  I enjoyed the novel and look forward to the sequel.

My Rating: 

The Forever Ones (The Iduna Project, Volume One)

By:   Marjorie DeLuca 

Published:  July 12, 2013

236 pages

Review of UnEnchanted: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, Volume 1

On occasion, I troll Amazon's Free Kindle e-book section.  Typically, I take the story for a quick test drive - you know - using the Look Inside function.  I check out  the reviews and let me just say up front, I don't pay a lot of attention to the bad reviews, because honestly, I think there are mean people out there that like to find fault. (I will concede that there are novels that probably deserve poor ratings.)  I also don't pay too much attention to the five star reviews - especially, when the reviewer can't seem to string more than a couple words together.   All this brings me to the purpose of this post:   

I recently downloaded UnEnchanted:  An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, Volume 1
by:  Chandra Hahn
                                                   
                                          
                                                                                 
The Synopsis:

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.

FYI:

This is a self published novel.  There are some grammatical errors that the author acknowledges per her website.  

What I thought:

I'm one of those people who can get caught up in a good story.  If that happens, chances are my mind will not pay too much attention to a misplaced comma or an occasional grammatical error.  I register it and I move on.  That being said,  I enjoyed the author's writing style.  Her characters were well developed and she did a good job weaving in the back-story.  She took the same fairy tales i heard as a child and gave them a fresh twist.  In regards to Mina, the main character - Hahn created a character with which the reader can identify.  I found her moments of fear, happiness and heartbreak believable. I was disappointed when the story was over  and can't wait to read the sequel.  In short, I was totally enchanted! 

My rating:  

 

st finish the tales until the very Grimm end.

Review of Partings (Death Walks Through,1) by Lisa Williamson

Partings is the first offering in the short story collection Death Walks Through.  The author Lisa Williamson describes the stories as shorty shorts.  

Amazon's Story Description:  A lady, a Knight and a long awaited ending to their tragic tale.

Partings is indeed a short story.  However, the author quickly sets the tone of the story with beautiful imagery:   The ink black horse raced across the moor, a darker shadow against the night sky. The sound of it's hooves breaking the eerie silence.   

Williamson was able to capture the longing and desperate hope for reunion that separated lovers feel.  I found the story compelling particularly with the somewhat sinister undertone that left me wondering - "Why the long wait?"

There were a few grammatical errors but the story far outweighed those.


Rating:  

    

BOOK REVIEW OF IDENTITY X

Release Date:  Sept. 24, 2013

IDENTITY X

By:  Michelle Muckley

Ben Stone has one aim; discover the cure for genetic disease.  He watched his father die and promised himself that it would never happen again, especially to his own son.  After his appointment as lead researcher in Bionics Laboratories he begins his desperate research.  It takes four years, but he succeeds.  He discovers NEMREC, a serum able to reconstruct DNA and cure the diseases that have driven him.  It should be the beginning of a new future, but by changing the face of the world, he has unwittingly destroyed his own.

After arriving at his laboratory to find that it has disappeared, he is sucked into a world of conspiracy and betrayal.  The Agency wants NEMREC and will do anything to get it, believing it to be the most powerful scientific discovery in decades.  But it wasn't just NEMREC that they wanted.  The Agency wanted Ben dead, but somehow he survived.  His best friend, his wife, and Ami, the beautiful scientist who he has fallen for at work all offer to help him, but each has a different version of the truth.  They all have their own agenda, only one of them wants what he wants, and in a world where you are already dead, how is it that you are supposed to survive?

What I thought:

Michelle Muckley's Identity X was delightfully suspenseful.  The twists and turns left me hanging on, anxiously turning the pages!  The plot was clever & the world Muckley created felt very real.  The cast of characters were well developed as were their backstories.  In a short space of time, I felt as though I not only knew Ben Stone but I was pulling for him.  I can only hope a sequel is in the works.

Rating: 

Review of The Bond (Sphere, Episode 2)

 by Isaiyan Morrison

Description:

As a new Carrier in training, Tayla has a lot to learn. Still unable to accept that her mother who walked out on her and her father years ago was a Carrier herself, her new friends, Darrien, Sina, and Iris, began to reveal how important her mother was in the Carrier world. However, their explanations only create more questions about her mother and why she secretly passed her gift onto Tayla at such a young age.

Still trying to get used to the fact that her gift is the strongest gift that any Carrier could possess, Tayla finds herself the center of an up and coming war between Light and Dark Carriers. She meets Cody, Darrien's older brother and enemy who tells her that not only will her gift bring destruction if she chooses a side, but by not choosing a side she can be like him - a Rogue Carrier with no allegiance.  

Learning now that her power can tip the scales in the up and coming war Tayla is forced to choose. Will she fight for the Light Carriers or will she fight for the Dark Carriers?

What did I think?

In The Bond (Sphere, Episode 2), Isaiyan Morrison continues the story of Tayla, a teenaged girl who is coming to terms with the fact that she, like her mother, is a Carrier.  The story moves quickly and is full of intense action.  The introduction of Cody, a rogue Carrier, only added to the fun.  

Ms. Morrison continues to do a good job weaving in the backstory while offering tantalizing hints of what's to come.  She has set the stage for the next installment and I look forward to reading it!

While not yet available, The Bond (Sphere, Episode 2) will soon be released.  For more information regarding the release date, be sure to check Isaiyan's website-

 http://www.isaiyanmorrison.com/   

This is a serial with each episode roughly between 14,000-18,000 words long. 

  

Review - Sphere (The Carriers, Episode One) by Isaiyan Morrison

Description:

Just finishing graduating high school, Tayla Wyatt looks forward to heading off to the same college her best friend Sara was accepted to. This is her only way to get away from her family's troubles and the fact that her mother walked out on her and her father over a decade ago.

The day of her 17th birthday they meet Darrien, a shy eighteen year old boy who reveals to Tayla that she's descended from a long line of Carriers, humans endowed with special abilities or "gifts" and that her gift she has yet to harness is the strongest gift of them all. Tayla doesn't believe him. After all, no human in the world has special powers, or do they?

Things suddenly take a downward spiral turn as Tayla finds herself immersed in their world. Still questioning why her mother left her, she must also come to grips with the fact that her gift may not be a blessing but a curse.

So what did I think?

There's no warm and fuzzy lead up here - Isaiyan Morrison drops the reader into a tense situation in very first paragraph.  It left me feeling as though I was playing catch up...and I think that worked. The main character Tayla is like many teenagers - likable, vulnerable, and confused.  I found myself relating to her and her doubts.  

I thought Ms Morrison did a great job giving voice to the cast of characters.  There was no mistaking each character's personality but it was actually the villain who caught my attention. He was arrogantly evil and I loved him.

It can be hard to weave important information into a story and not have an information dump especially when the reader steps into an already accelerating story.   I thought Ms Morrison did a good job filling in the back story.  There was a small dump in the beginning but as the story proceeded, I felt like she got better and better.

My biggest complaint is also my biggest compliment - the cliffhanger!  I scrolled down my kindle looking for the next paragraph - but it wasn't there!  Dang!  The disappointment...

My recommendation:

Don't let the fact that this is a serial keep you from reading it.   If you feel lost in the beginning, don't worry.  It won't take long for you to figure out the who's and the what's that make this story work.  Sit back, get comfortable and enjoy the read!

This is a serial with each episode roughly between 14,000-18,000 words long. 

Smashwords Link

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333908

Amazon Link

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTH21P8