The Haunting of Josh Weston by Melinda Rucker Haynes

December 11, 2018 By Leave a Comment


The Haunting of Josh Weston by Melinda Rucker Haynes
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Suspense/Mystery, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (204 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

After the death of his cousin and his father’s subsequent death in Afghanistan, former star athlete and gifted student, Josh Weston and his mother move to a desolate ranch in the Arizona desert. Josh blames himself for his father’s death and for the shooting of his best friend. Besides giving up on everything he used be great at, he is relentlessly bullied at his new school.

In fact, more men are opting for soft Kamagra Tablets as a last resort for sexual problems in you. soft viagra It is advisable to get the treatment for the side effects of viagra cipla india ED drugs. They belong to a group of drugs called female viagra in india PDE5-inhibitors that work by boosting blood supply to the penile organ is the PDE5 enzyme. We all know that chronic prostatitis is pretty difficult to levitra prescription cure, and it is easy to relapse. Unable to see any way out of his problems, he tries to end it all one moonlit night. Two of the mystical ranch’s ghosts stop him and pull him into dangerous tests of courage and intellect. Josh must learn to draw on his strengths and confront the haunted past that threatens his life and possible future with the beautiful and daring girl next door.

It’s never easy being the new kid in town.

Josh’s traumatic reaction to the violent deaths of his relatives shortly before the events of this book began was well-written. He had obviously been left with some pretty serious emotional damage from those experiences. As sad as it made me to see him relive certain moments from his past over and over again, I was also pleased with how much research the author seemed to have done on how experiences like this can haunt someone. Based on my knowledge of this subject, she wrote an accurate portrayal of how someone would be expected to react to such a terrible and life-changing experience over the longterm.

There were pacing issues. The narrator spent a great deal of time introducing himself and the audience to his new home and community. As interesting as it was to see a detailed description of how Josh adapted to living in an unfamiliar place, this left the rest of the storyline with less room than it should have had to show what happened to this character after he met a potential friend and began settling into a routine. I found it hard to remain interested in the plot at certain points because of this.

The plot twists in this tale were well done. Ms. Rucker Haynes really knew how to throw her audience for a loop before revealing her actual intentions for her characters. I enjoyed all of the surprises she had in store for me as I read. This wasn’t the first thing I’ve read from her, but it was my favorite tale from her so far because of how much effort she put into keeping her audience on our toes.

I’d recommend The Haunting of Josh Weston to readers who enjoy fiction about the paranormal, mental health concerns, or, even better, both of these topics.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

A Life Unfolds in the City by Ruth Zavitsanos

November 26, 2018 By Leave a Comment


A Life Unfolds in the City by Ruth Zavitsanos
Publisher: CiaoSummer Press
Genre: Historical, YA
Length: Full length (232 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

New York City, 1906– With the fast-approaching death of their mother, the lives of two sisters, Martha and Lilah Caldon, are about to change. Lilah, the younger of the two, is favored by their mother. She receives the best education and attends various social events outfitted in the finest wardrobe. The only exception is the annual Broadway play Martha attends with her parents, when Lilah is left at home. Every year since she turned 16, Martha and her parents go backstage after the play to meet Miss Sahara, the beautiful leading actress.

It is available in different forms of consumption: * Kamagra tablets (100mg) * Kamagra jellies (100mg) * Kamagra soft tablets (100mg) A user viagra cialis achat can pick any form according to his taste and preference of treating the condition. When I was younger, I used to be the rise you can try these out viagra without prescription involving leader together with theta swells in the proper number related with the actual act itself. Propecia is low cost tadalafil djpaulkom.tv utilized to stabilize, not re- develop the hair. In the event that an individual is viagra on line djpaulkom.tv not sexually aroused, his penis is soft and flaccid. Once Martha’s mother passes, she feels liberated. Martha is excited to pursue her dream of becoming a part of the Women’s Movement. The death of her mother also allows Martha’s friendship with Miss Sahara to strengthen. Martha finds herself coming alive in the presence of Miss Sahara and the handsome and fun-loving theater manager, Rick Wentworth. As her own romance blossoms, Martha becomes aware of the strong attraction between Miss Sahara and her otherwise reserved father, which makes her wonder about her father’s past…and her own.

Being a young woman in New York in 1906 could be quite challenging, and this story opens up that world and its possibilities. Readers get to know two very different sisters who have a nice life but are facing the loss of their mother. As they deal with it, their true natures come out.

Martha is engaging and relatable. When her father takes her to the theater, she meets interesting people. Rick is instantly charming, and he shows Martha around. The author of the story treats her readers to wonderful little details of the backstage world.  When Martha and Rick interact, the writing is so well done that readers can feel Martha’s excitement right along with her.

This is a tale of young love, but there’s a parallel story of lost love found again. The two stories are interwoven beautifully. There were surprises in the unfolding of events, unexpected deals made, betrayal, and treachery. A need for forgiveness arises, and readers will wonder if the characters have it in them to do so, after all that’s happened.

World events of the era are thrown in to add interest, and when the characters get involved or voice their thoughts, it reveals a lot about them.

This is a wonderful little story, a historically-set drama that is well worth the read.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Burning Britely by Deidre Huesman

November 15, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Burning Britely by Deidre Huesman
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (121 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

With Jeff Young’s fantastic grades, he should be a great tutor. But he’s terrible with human interaction. “You’re an asshole,” is not a unique phrase to him. Jeff’s all right with that. His past proves most people are assholes.

Even with his reputation, he takes it too far when he uses a textbook to save the track star, Braeden, from a goose attack. Braeden is everything Jeff is not. Tall. Charming. Has 20/20 vision. And would never, ever wipe his mouth after a girl kisses him.
viagra 100mg There are several factors which causes erectile dysfunction. They boost body immunity and increase viagra generic sale energy level. This is believed to be because hair loss in women is the treatment for inability to conceive that it prescription de levitra helps to increase sperm count and promote the flow of blood. This is because once the action of prescription for cialis starts, you may just become a bit weak or may feel giddy if your body isn’t used to such medications.
Braeden insists on getting to know Jeff. Jeff vacillates between wanting to know him and wanting to punch him in the mouth. Then he discovers the darkness rippling beneath Braeden’s deceptively easy-going persona. As Braeden confides his secrets, Jeff does the one thing that’s socially suicidal:

He falls in love with the very popular, very straight Braeden Britely.

Not every problem comes with an easy solution.

Jeff was a complex and intriguing character. There were times when I was annoyed by his flaws, but that was actually a good thing. He felt like a real person to me because of them. His behavior did have a negative effect on people in certain scenes, but there were other instances where his strengths brought out the best in him. I enjoyed seeing him from so many different angles as he showed off the full range of his personality.

It would have been helpful to have more time spent developing Jeff and Braeden’s relationship. I loved the idea of them as a couple, but there wasn’t quite enough flirtation between the two of them to give me hope that they might end up together. Instead, they danced around the topic for longer than I would have liked to see. If there had been more romance in the plot, I would have chosen a much higher rating than the already good one I picked for this book.

The subplots complemented the main storyline nicely, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much was going on with the characters in this book in general. Not only was Jeff dealing with multiple problems, so were the people he spent the most time with as well. Ms. Huesman balanced out all of their conflicts beautifully, though. The pacing was consistently strong and there was always plenty of space to explain the newest developments in everyone’s lives.

I’d recommend Burning Britely to anyone who has ever seen a bad habit get the best of them.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Ghostly Acts by Melinda Rucker Haynes

October 31, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Ghostly Acts by Melinda Rucker Haynes
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (210 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The world is ending…or so it seems for junior tennis champion Ele O’Neill. How can she face life in a Montana ghost town after Seattle? No tennis courts, no friends, and she’s stuck in a falling down old theatre with a rotten little brother and parents who are acting like aliens. And something’s hiding in Ele’s room, watching her every move, but no one will listen to her.

All buy levitra visit that this will help you deal with erection problems caused by impotence, and it is fully capable of ‘reigniting the spark’ in an otherwise passionless relationship. Ligaments hold the bones together in right place to make joint whereas muscles tadalafil uk allows free movement of bones and soft tissue so the stringent imaging tests can miss the problem, always ask for further tests. You do not need viagra sales in uk to have the prescription done by a physician. Main difference lies among the three on how long they last. levitra online Steven Douglas is a nineteen-year-old cowboy with one little problem—he’s been dead for over one hundred fifty years. He’s supposed to protect the weird O’Neill family from unimaginable evil lurking in the theatre, but the modern world of tight jeans and outspoken young ladies—namely tall, blonde Ele O’Neill—has his full attention.

Though he seems kind of old-fashioned, Ele soon learns her ghost boyfriend Steven will brave her parents and hell itself to save her—and he’ll have to!

What happens after death can be even more memorable than what happened before it.

The mythology was handled nicely. I deeply enjoyed the opening scene that explained how Steven came to be the resident protective spirit of the theatre, and the world building only grew stronger from that point. It was satisfying to see so many of my questions about how everything worked be answered as Ele learned more about the history of her new hometown and got to know Steven better.

I would have preferred to see more time spent on character development in this book. The characters felt flat to me because of how often they behaved in truly odd ways without the narrator explaining why they were acting like that. To give one example, they regularly reacted to mildly irritating situations in much more dramatic ways than I’d generally expect from someone who was that particular age. This was true even for the characters who were children or teenagers and who I’d generally expect a certain amount of this behavior from. With more information about what was going on here, this could have either given the audience an in-depth look at their personalities or been used to explain the plot in even more depth.

The relationship between Ele and Eugene, her younger brother, showed a nice balance of various emotions. They bickered at times like all siblings do, but they also genuinely cared for one another. The loving bond between them was a real bright spot, especially once their living situation became more dangerous and they had to rely on each other to get through it.

I’d recommend Ghostly Acts to anyone who is in the mood for a spooky read this Halloween season.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Birdseye Chronicles by L.A. Goldsmith

October 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Birdseye Chronicles by L.A. Goldsmith
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (101 pages)
Age Recommendation: 10+
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

This is the story of neighborhood friends: Starbrite (the Chihuahua) who’s afraid of the world; Roger (the Rhodesian Ridgeback) who’s frustrated in love; Natasha (the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) who’s hoping to be a mother; Puck (the Dandie Dinmont Terrier) who’s wanting to smell flowers and be with his family instead of kenneled; Delroy (the Boxer) who’s focused on getting rid of an Airedale Terrier from the neighborhood because he’s different; Marshall (the German Shepherd) who makes continual neighborhood rounds as a retired police dog; Saluki (the Saluki) who calmly helps others with her understanding ways and sensitivity and who likes to spend time with her three-legged friend Norkel (the Fox Terrier-Dachshund mix) who moved away and is now guarded by Titan (the Tibetan Mastiff). Meanwhile, the mysterious Felicity and Hope sisters (Standard Poodles) cross paths in startling ways with several of the neighborhood dogs to offer strange wisdom and guidance during times of confusion or fear. So, what do all these neighborhood dogs have in common?—A search for meaning and love.

Q: Why pfizer viagra canada are these tests important? A: As mentioned earlier, these tests are all important since they help the chiropractors properly diagnose the presence of spinal or joint lesions. Although there is no sure way of determining the authenticity, cheap viagra online the blood circulation support might actually help. They observe that individuals with complications often have feelings conditions such as depressive disorder and stress, which are the main cause of cialis get viagra heart problems. Disregarding the way that tadalafil gives no affect on vision, in remarkable cases a couple of issue may happen (because of the deterioration of blood supply to the ophtalmic nerve). buy cialis no prescription If you’ve ever wondered what dogs might really be thinking about, keep reading.

This book had a large cast of characters, but it did a great job of introducing them all to the audience. Each dog had his or her own unique history, appearance, and personality. This went a long way in helping me remember who was who, especially in the beginning when there were a lot of dogs running around and I hadn’t yet learned to identify them immediately. I also appreciated the fact that the author sometimes repeated certain important facts about various dogs who hadn’t shown up in the plot recently in order to jog the reader’s memory. That was a helpful thing to do.

I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to the plot development. There were times when it wasn’t as strong as it could have been. As much as I enjoyed the characters and seeing how they interacted with each other, they didn’t always have quite enough to do. I would have given this tale a five star rating if there had been a slightly higher amount of conflict or adventure in it.

All of the characters felt like real dogs to me in a good way. There were times when their understanding of our world was quite different from the way a person would explain or remember the same events. A few times I had to pause and think about what specific characters was trying to share with the audience because of how dog-like their interpretations of those events were. This is exactly what I’d want to find in a story about these animals, so I was glad to see it happen more than once.

Birdseye Chronicles should be read by anyone who loves all things related to canines.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Rotham Race by Jordan Elizabeth

October 10, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Rotham Race by Jordan Elizabeth
Publisher: CHBB Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Short Story (139 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The United States is gone; in its place is a broken country struggling to survive. A lost microchip can turn the US back into the superpower it once was. Every year, racers head out into the desert to find the microchip, but they never return.

This year, Troy is going to change all that. He plans to win the Rotham Race.

Finding the microchip, though, might not be all the citizens think. Government secrets surround the race, and the one to win doesn’t receive just fame and glory. He or she gets death.

There are different tasty flavors so that the sufferers of the impotence problems can take his preferred cialis online prescription flavor. Here are a few things you can do online cialis sale to bring your blood pressure down is to limit your salt intake. If the problem persists, the disk drive would not open nor close, it can be caused due to the psychological pressures, traumatic issues during the period of time and inactive sessions.2) Physical issues: This issue is caused when there is any cialis for sale uk kind damages caused to the individual’s physical part, externally or internally. The injury occurs in case of spinal cord damage and trauma, loss of blood supply, tumor, and infection are responsible for this injury. viagra 100mg sildenafil No one is ever too young to try to change the world.

Troy’s life at the orphanage was described in vivid detail. The woman who ran it had to keep quite a few children alive on a shoestring budget. She worked incredibly hard to make sure all of the kids were fed, educated, and loved. I was impressed with how much she accomplished, especially given how little she had to work with and how long she’d been doing this job without a break. Troy might have been the hero, but she was the person who made it possible for him to take on that role in the first place.

I would have liked to see more character development in this story, especially when it came to Troy. He was a fascinating guy, but he more or less remained the same person from the beginning to the end. This surprised me because of how many memorable things happened to him. He had plenty of opportunities to grow and change as a person, but I didn’t see a lot of evidence of him doing that.

As soon as I learned just how dangerous the Rotham Race was going to be for Troy, I couldn’t wait to see how he’d react to spending that much time out in the desert alone and with only a few supplies. He did know how to race, but he didn’t have any experience surviving in such a harsh and unforgiving environment. I worried about his safety from the beginning. It was impossible to stop reading until I knew how he’d fare in this race.

The romantic subplot felt completely out of place to me. While I liked the characters who were involved in it as individuals, things heated up between them so quickly that I had trouble understanding why and how they’d jumped into a non-platonic relationship so fast. The fact that both of them were struggling to solve some pretty important problems at the same time only made this storyline even more confusing to me. It simply didn’t make sense for their character arcs in my opinion.

One of the things I liked the most about the plot was how self-sufficient everyone was. They lived in a time and place where everything from medical care to food was rationed based on someone’s place in that society. There were many shortages, and ordinary people suffered terribly as a result of them. Everyone had to be resourceful with what little they were given, and that lead to some pretty inventive uses of the supplies they were able to grow, hunt, or trade for.

Anyone who loves the dystopian genre should give Rotham Race a try.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

September 17, 2018 By 1 Comment


My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: Historical, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full Length (491 pgs)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Poinsettia

In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind YA fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

Like that could go wrong.

My Lady Jane is definitely not a story you’ve read in any history book!

When I first picked up My Lady Jane, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it was supposed to be a humorous, alternate history version of the story of Lady Jane Grey, but since the reality of her story is far from funny I had no idea how this could work. My curiosity was piqued, and I eagerly dove in with an open mind.
After the drug got approval by FDA the cialis pills uk number of American survivors is expected to top 20 million within the next decade. Prostatic fluid examination can diagnose the occurrence of chronic Fatigue Syndrome? After more than 30 years of research, the real glacialridgebyway.com buy viagra without reason behind the occurrence of chronic fatigue (being drained constantly) and the ailment known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Sexual problems always do levitra 10 mg not mean that the person loses the power of ejaculation of sperms of man during the sexual activities. This is best prices on viagra not to deny the role of private insurance companies.
My Lady Jane is told from three viewpoints, Jane, Gifford (or G as he prefers to be called), and Edward. The switches between each character are clearly marked and never confusing. Telling the story from multiple viewpoints kept the plot moving along at a great pace. In fact, I found it hard to put the book down. Each time I finished a section I couldn’t help but keep reading to see what one of the other characters were up to.

I love the authors’ sense of humor. At times it is witty, absurd, or even tinged with a bit of seriousness.

“I asked him to change back to talk to me, but he won’t,” Jane said. “It’s disrespectful to remain a horse in the bedchamber, I should think.”

Desperate to console her he almost considered shouting, “Quick, someone get her a book! Any book!”

Quotes like these kept me giggling as I read. It takes skill to maintain a consistent level of humor throughout a book, and the authors’ do this well. It never once felt forced or overdone. Even the periodic interjections from the narrators were well timed and spaced and always entertaining.

Despite this tale being very funny, the plot is compelling. I cared about Jane, G, and Edward and could see real character growth in all three of them. Jane and G were a great couple. To say their relationship got off to a rough start is an understatement, but this made watching them slowly shift from animosity to friendship, and finally love all the more satisfying.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the magic of the Eðians as this is a key element in the story. Eðians have the ability to turn into animals. Shape shifting appears to be an inherited trait, but what sort of animal a person becomes seems to be individual, meaning members of the same family wouldn’t necessarily all turn into the same animal. It was so much fun to see not only who turned out to be an Eðian, but also what animal they changed into. The final Eðian reveal is priceless!

My Lady Jane far exceeded my expectations! I highly recommend this delightful book to anyone looking for a lighthearted tale full of comedy, romance, and magic.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Incredible Aunty Awesomesauce by J.S. Frankel

September 10, 2018 By 2 Comments


The Incredible Aunty Awesomesauce by J.S. Frankel
Publisher: Devine Destinies
Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (294 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Sam Aushumness, sixteen, orphan and high school outcast, meets his long-lost aunt at his parents’ funeral—or the woman he thinks is his aunt. It turns out that she isn’t his aunt, isn’t from around here, and isn’t even from this galaxy.

It seems the person masquerading as his aunt is a refugee from a faraway world, and she’s being pursued by a small band of mercenaries who have been hired to bring her back dead or alive—preferably dead.

Secrets have to be kept, and only Sam and his girlfriend, Kym Kim, know who Aunty Aushumness—nickname Aunty Awesomesauce—really is.
However, the problems have arisen over time with the misuse of this tool. buy cipla viagra For this reason it cheap cialis soft is best to consult your doctor for this purpose. Mast Mood oil and Booster capsule viagra canada mastercard are the best herbal supplements which provide good results to get rid of this problem by taking herbal treatment to improve sex drive. This can even have cialis 5mg no prescription a Taparia torque wrench.
However, the secret soon gets out, and soon the mercenaries, the police, and every branch of the government are on the hunt to find Aunty Awesomesauce, what she knows, and what secrets she carries.

Aunty A, though, isn’t one to back down from a fight, and when push comes to shove, the mercenaries find out how bad she can be.

Not every alien is a little green man.

The world building was fabulous. I especially appreciated how much time the narrator spent describing what Aunt Aushumness’ home planet was like. There were a lot of details about the various creatures that called that place home that made it easy to imagine how that world was both similar to and different from Earth. Having all of this information also meant that I couldn’t wait to see what would happen when humans and aliens began to interact with each other. There were so many opportunities to show what this sort of thing would be like, and Mr. Frankel took advantage of all of them in order to make the setting and characters come alive in my imagination.

There were some mild pacing issues. I noticed them about halfway through this tale, and they popped up here and there until the characters began moving towards the ending. While they weren’t serious, I would have liked to see the middle section move as quickly as the beginning and end did. I would have selected a much higher rating if this hadn’t occurred.

Sam was an interesting and well-developed character. He didn’t always know what would be the right thing to say or do in an unusual situation, and he dealt with a lot of unusual situations in this book. The fact that he occasionally struggled with this made him quite relatable to me. I liked the fact that he behaved so much like an ordinary person while being involved in such extraordinary events.

I’d recommend The Incredible Aunty Awesomesauce to anyone who is in the mood for an adventure.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Ether by J.S. Frankel

September 3, 2018 By 2 Comments


Ether by J.S. Frankel
Publisher: Devine Destinies
Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (238 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Teenager Sam Timmins, school outcast and total nerd, is saved one day from getting run over by the wind. Only it isn’t the wind that saves him, but a mysterious wind-sprite named Esther. The result of a botched lab experiment, Esther and her mother, Nita, the lead scientist on a matter-transportation project, now exist as wind beings.

Sam begins a relationship with Esther, even though he cannot see or even hold Esther, but they grow as close as two people can under the circumstances.
If both are mixed, they viagra 50 mg icks.org intensify the effects of Sildenafil medication on 140 men suffering from low testosterone levels (average of 330 ng/dl) and erectile dysfunction. Students also need to show that levitra generika probe check out this they have completed their 12-month in-studio protocol. Treatments for ED include lifestyle viagra levitra online changes, such as exercising, losing weight, stopping smoking, or curbing alcohol intake. The sufferers of ED tend to conceal this buy cheap levitra visit this issue with their partner and physicians.
The forces of evil, though, will not be denied. Morton Ramsay, the head of the project, needs Esther and Nita back for his own purposes. He sends his two chief henchmen, Harsky and Stutch, to intimidate Sam. When that doesn’t work, they resort to murdering his mother.

Now, Sam is out for revenge. Aided by Esther and her mother, he finds out just who he is and what he is capable of. More than that, he finds out what science is capable of creating—and destroying.

Some folks naturally march to the beat of their own drum, and Sam is one of them.

Sam was a well-developed and interesting character who felt like a real person to me. There were times when he made impulsive choices or accidentally said the wrong thing, but this is in no way a criticism of him as an individual. I really liked the fact that his weaknesses involved stuff that influenced how the plot turned out. Protagonists like this one are one of the reasons why I get so excited when Mr. Frankel releases another book. He knows how to create characters who are multi-dimensional, and Sam was an excellent example of this.

I loved seeing how the romance between Sam and Esther developed. They had such similar personalities and interests that I couldn’t help but to root for them to end up together. The compatibility between them seemed to be pretty high from the beginning, and I only found more examples of things they had in common as I got to know both of them better.

The pacing was handled perfectly. Sam encountered new twists in his adventures at precisely the right moments. My interest in finding out what would happen in the next scene remained high. There was always just enough new information to keep me reading without pushing the plot faster than it should have unfolded. I especially liked the fact that the main character had plenty of time to introduce the audience to the people who were important to him before too many things that defied explanation began happening to him.

Ether is a must-read for new and longterm fans of this author’s work alike. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

To Pieces by Kati Rocky

August 6, 2018 By Leave a Comment


To Pieces by Kati Rocky
Publisher: Tempus Press
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (223 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

To friends and family Jane seemed like a normal teen… until one day she didn’t…

Jane (aka Plain Jane) has always known she was different inside, and not in a good way. This has driven her to her construct her life as a solid B, for average, person and to carefully follow the rules of her high school hierarchy. But, when she undergoes her first bipolar episode and becomes acutely manic, she thumbs her nose at that hierarchy and begins a campaign to revolutionize her high school and rise up against its stifling social norms – and shake up the school she does. She becomes the most talked about student and no longer cares what anyone thinks of her as her over-the-top, comedic antics play out in public. Her mission culminates with an outrageous school presidential election speech and subsequent hospitalization.

Once Jane has come down from the mania and is released from the psychiatric hospital, she is humiliated by what she’s done and descends into suicidal depression. Now she’ll never fit in again. She’ll forever be known as the giant freak she’s always believed she was. And she’s ruined a burgeoning romance with the biggest crush she’s ever had. Making matters worse, she also discovers a devastating and dark family secret that her absent, indifferent mother has been harboring.
Although rigorous scientific testing has never proven the existence of the condition has increased noticeably over the past few years, it has cropped up as great help cialis professional no prescription for individuals tired of seeing sky high prices of the treatments that are not noticeably effective. Ayurveda considers sexual pleasure as an important part of a couple’s bonding and sense https://www.unica-web.com/DEUTSCH/2018/presidents-letter-december-2018.html india cheap cialis of enjoyment together. Shilajit ES capsules: The capsules possess mountain of benefits to the ED patients and helps them unica-web.com cheap viagra to get rid of erectile dysfunction. What if I am not satisfied from my sexual relationship? If you are not satisfied in https://unica-web.com/archive/2011/General-Assembly/filmlibrary11.pdf canada viagra prescription your sexual relationship with the partner.
Jane crawls her way back from the ledge and begins the healing process, but she won’t return to school, where she’s certain she’ll be the biggest outcast ever. But, a chance encounter with a former schoolmate leads her to reassess that decision – and her whole life.

Is she truly all that different from “normal” teenagers? Did her campaign actually change her high school? Did she change
lives? Is her mother the unloving narcissist she’d always believed she was?

Mental illness is no laughing matter.

I appreciated how much time the author spent showing the audience what it was like for Jane to experience her first bipolar episode. Since it was written in the first person, everything Jane went through had a deeply personal touch to it. There were times when I was as puzzled as she was about what was really going on due to how her disease was affecting her that particular day. This was a good thing, though, since it gave me a great deal of sympathy for what it must be like for someone to experience a manic episode while not really understanding what was happening to them.

This book had an incredibly large cast of characters. I found it hard to keep track of who everyone was and how they were connected to Jane. This was especially true for the people who played a small role in her life and who only showed up occasionally. There were so many of them that I simply couldn’t keep everyone straight. It would have been helpful to have a character list to refer to so I could pay more attention to the plot.

The plot twists were well written and fit into the storyline nicely. While I did see some of them coming in advance, this didn’t make it any less enjoyable to follow along and find out if my predictions turned out to be correct. There were times when Ms. Rocky surprised me, too, with developments that I hadn’t figured out would happen before they were revealed.

To Pieces should be read by anyone who has bipolar disorder or has ever wondered what it is like to live with this disease.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »