Predators of Darkness: Aftermath

Title: Predators of Darkness: Aftermath
Series: The Darkness Series #1
Author: Leonard D. Hilley II
Genre: Sci-fi Thriller
Format: eBook, 233pp
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Synopsis

Fear What Lurks In The Shadows

The desolate streets of downtown Pittsburgh in 2073 are a reminder of the missile attack that forever changed the lives of the surviving scientists and students hidden in the fallout shelter of Helmsby's Genetic Research Center. Believing themselves to be the only survivors, they station themselves inside the center until food supplies near depletion. Thinking the fallout has lessened, they emerge three years later to discover strange creatures patrolling the streets in search of human flesh and blood. The creatures possess the ability to shift their genomes and alter their appearances by realigning their genetic sequences. Daniel Hutchinson, their leader, teams with Lucas Ridale and together they set out to scavenge the area for food and supplies with the hope to find other survivors. But Daniel's most recent journey uncovers mysteries more frightening than the shifters. He discovers the tip of Pittsburgh has been fenced off from the rest of the area. Low-flying helicopters observe the streets, making him ponder the question: Were the shifters released as simply part of a military experiment with humans being their prey?

Review

Wow! That's all I have to say. Wow! This book completely took me by surprise. A very pleasant surprise at that. I was captivated from the very first sentence, all the way to the very end. And of course it's left open for another book! I am so happy for that! It was really hard for me to put this book down. The book is very well thought out, so many twists and turns you don't have time to get bored. The way he goes into detail just blows my mind. Predators of Darkness played like a movie running through my head.  I have so much to say about this book but it seems like everything is connected in one way or another, and I don't want to giveaway any details. This is a must read. I don't understand why more people don't know about this series! Go check it out, you can read the first chapter for free! This book is definitely one of my top 5 favorites!

I received this book for free from Leonard D. Hilley II in exchange for my honest review.

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Eat Your Peas,Mom

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Title: Eat Your Peas, Mom
Author: Cheryl Karpen
Genre: Inspirational, Gifts
Format: Hard Cover, 80pp
Release Date: April 5, 2011
Author Website


Synopsis

A delightful book to give Mom to prove you DID listen to her advice, wit, and wisdom.
 
If you want a special way to celebrate your mother, look no more! Eat Your Peas^® Mom is a 3-minute read with a forever message. Upon opening this little package, her heart will smile through the pages filled with affirmation, appreciation, and gratitude expressed for all the ways she loves and cares for you. Each page is artfully hand-illustrated for a charming and homespun feel. It's a perfect keepsake and reminder for Mom to hold onto forever.

Review

This is a very cute book! I know it will be a great Mothers Day gift! When you are young your parents often make you mad over the smallest things. I know mine always told me I would understand when I had kids of my own. As much as you hate when your parents are right, they were. This cute little story is the perfect reminder of that, and lets mom know that you did listen to her advice and you truly love her. The illustrations give it the perfect home-made, hand crafted look that will melt Mom's heart. I would highly recommend this book for all the mothers out there!

I received this book for free from Book Sneeze in exchange for my honest review.

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The Shape of Mercy

Title: The Shape of Mercy
Author: Susan Meissner
Genre: Fiction
Format: Paperback, 320pp
Author Website


Synopsis


“We understand what we want to understand.”
Leaving a life of privilege to strike out on her own, Lauren Durough breaks with convention and her family’s expectations by choosing a state college over Stanford and earning her own income over accepting her ample monthly allowance. She takes a part-time job from 83-year-old librarian Abigail Boyles, who asks Lauren to transcribe the journal entries of her ancestor Mercy Hayworth, a victim of the Salem witch trials.
Almost immediately, Lauren finds herself drawn to this girl who lived and died four centuries ago. As the fervor around the witch accusations increases, Mercy becomes trapped in the worldview of the day, unable to fight the overwhelming influence of snap judgments and superstition, and Lauren realizes that the secrets of Mercy’s story extend beyond the pages of her diary, living on in the mysterious, embittered Abigail.
The strength of her affinity with Mercy forces Lauren to take a startling new look at her own life, including her relationships with Abigail, her college roommate, and a young man named Raul. But on the way to the truth, will Lauren find herself playing the helpless defendant or the misguided judge? Can she break free from her own perceptions and see who she really is?


Review

Wow! I could not put this book down. Susan Meissner captivates you from page one. Susan's fictional story of three generations of woman is beautiful woven.

Lauren is from a wealthy family. She chooses to break away from the life she has been given. she loves her father but wants to break out of the Durough mold.  She’s a college student trying to make a life of her own. She gets a job transcribing a 300+ year old diary that belongs to a family member that had no children to pass it along to. Lauren immediately gets lost in the world of Mercy, a young woman living during the Salem Witch Trials. She finds herself being drawn into a tale that she knows will end tragically but she finds she cannot stop herself from reading. As she continues with her work, Lauren begins to see how a girl who lived centuries ago shares the same feelings that she herself feels today. This is a book tells a story of love lost and found, self-discovery, sacrifice, and the dangers of making assumptions.

This book was absolutely amazing! Heart-wrenching, bittersweet, mysterious, and all together brilliant. Susan Meissner is an incredibly gifted storyteller.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review.

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The Promises She Keeps

Title: The Promises She Keeps
Author: Erin Healy
Genre: Christian Fiction/Suspense
Format: Paperback, 352pp
Author Website

Synopsis

It's her destiny to die young. The man who loves her can't live with that.
Promise, a talented young singer with a terminal illness, is counting on fame to keep her memory alive after she dies. Porta is an aging sorceress and art collector in search of immortality.
When Promise inexplicably survives a series of freak accidents, Porta believes that she may hold the key to eternal life.
Enter Chase, an autistic artist who falls in love with Promise and fascinates her with his mysterious visions and drawings.
Soon, all are plunged into a flesh-and-blood confrontation over the mystery and the cost of something even greater than eternal life…eternal love.


Review

Promise has horrible luck. All in 25 days she fell off a cliff, got ran over by a car, got electrocuted, and trapped in a basement that was on fire. On top of that she has Cystic Fibrosis. She doesn't expect to live long, but she doesn't have a death wish either. This was an odd book, I still don't understand the meaning behind it. I know it was supposed to have an inspiring message in it but I didn't catch it. It left me with more questions than I began with. I get angry with books when the characters don't do something I think they should do, like ask questions or listen to what people are saying. There were too many secrets, the reader kind of knew what was going on, but the characters were to stubborn to listen. Over all it was a pretty good book.

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The Insider

Title: The Insider
Author: Reece Hirsch
Genre: Legal Thriller
Format: Paperback, 330pp
Author Website


Synopsis

First corporate attorney Will Connelly's colleague hurtles to his death outside his office window. Within days, Will is a prime suspect in a murder, the target of an S.E.C. insider trading investigation, and a pawn in a complex criminal scheme involving the Russian mafia and a ruthless terrorist plot. Now, to top things off, he must ensure a deadly enemy doesn't gain access to the nation's most sensitive and confidential information-that has the power to do incalculable, irrevocable harm.

Review

The Insider is not one of my usual genres but Hirsch totally knocked my socks off. This was a fast pace read, the characters very likable. This book had so many twists and turns I couldn’t put it down. I would turn the pages faster and faster, I couldn’t get enough. Then it was over, and I regretted it. The story kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I hope Reece brings more books to the table; he could easily become one of my favorite authors!

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Early Review: Kat, Incorrigible

Title: Kat, Incorrigible
Series: Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson Series , #1
Author: Stephanie Burgis
Genre: Middle-Grade Fiction (10 up)
Format: ARC, 304pp

Release Date: 04/05/11

Author Website

Synopsis

Take one part magic, two parts adventure, and a dash of cross-dressing, add two unwed sisters, a bumbling father, and a stepmother with her petticoats in a twist, and you're in for an unlikely adventure through nineteenth-century England like Jane Austen never dreamed it. 

Katherine Ann Stephenson has just discovered that she's inherited her mother's magical talents, and despite Stepmama's stern objections, she's determined to learn how to use them. But with her eldest sister Elissa's intended fiance, the sinister Sir Neville, showing a dangerous interest in Kat's magical potential; her other sister, Angeline, wreaking romantic havoc with her own witchcraft; and a highwayman lurking in the forest, even Kat's reckless heroism will be tested to the utmost. If she can learn to control her new powers, will Kat be able to rescue her family and win her sisters their true love?


Review

Let me start out by saying that this is a very cute story. It’s about 3 sisters who have just discovered they have magical powers. It’s the typical fairy tale where the mother died when the kids were young so the father marries the wicked stepmother. They have an older brother who is in over his head with gambling debts, and Stepmama has convinced Elissa that she has to marry the wealthy Sir Neville so the family doesn’t go to debtor’s prison. Stepmama arranges for them to meet at a month long house party at the Grantham Abbey. But it seems Sir Neville is more interested in magic, than finding a wife. Kat has to learn to control her new found powers so she can rescue her family and win her sisters true loves. I found the first part of the book pretty slow. It didn’t really pick up for me until about chapter 15. I feel Kat is always defending her self. She doesn’t care if people talk about but she is scared of people thinking she’s weak or scared. Every other sentence she was second guessing herself, or asking what would mama do? What would Angeline do? She’s only 12 but I don’t every remember doing that. And it always seemed like she was running away from everything, when she first found the Golden Hall, after her fight with Lady Fotherington, she tried to get home as fast as she could, the second time in the Golden Hall when Mr. Gregson asked to be her tutor she ran away. It is a very cute story but it is definitely for a younger reader.

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Crazy Love

Title: Crazy Love
Author: Leslie Morgan Steiner
Genre: A Memoir of Domestic Violence
Format: Hardcover, 336pp
Author Website


Synopsis

She was a woman who had everything—an Ivy League grad, a " Devil Wears Prada" junior—on the brink of great promise, and then she fell...for the wrong man




Review

This was a very good book, But I didn't like it. I knew I shouldn't have bought it but I needed something to read and it was only $2. It was a good story and it was well written but it was about one of the things I hate most: Abuse. This was a story about a woman who falls in love with her "Prince Charming". But the thing that made me really mad  was that he started beating her before they got married, she still married him, and she stayed with him for 3 years. And it's a true story. I know when you love someone its hard to let go - I'm sorry but if someone hit me I would beat the $#!% out of them. I grew up in a house where my mom got beat by her boyfriends so I do not play around with that stuff. In the end she gave him a choice, stop beating her or she would leave. I don't want to spoil the book too much for you, so you will have to read the book to find out. Ok, I'm done venting.


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