Tag Archives: Xtina

Spell of Summoning by Anna Abner-a review

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Spell of Summoning (Dark Caster)  by Anna Abner-a review

Spell of Summoning

Amazon/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release January 22, 2013

Goodreads: Holden Clark walks into Rebecca Powell’s life, a tall, blue-eyed stranger who stirs long forgotten desires. But nothing, including this man, is what it seems. A dark necromancer is targeting Becca for a full-blown demonic possession. She is thrust into a world she never knew existed—a world where dark casters create chaos and necromancers talk to the dead.

Holden has no faith in his power. A necromancer, he communicates with the dead, but he has never embraced his gifts. Now, he has no choice but to stop the dark caster attacking Rebecca, but accepting this mission means he’ll be delving into dangerous magics he’s never used before.

Under the protection of the damaged and mysterious Holden, Rebecca will question everything …

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Review:  Spell of Summoning is an interesting read of magic and necromancy. While I am a fan of paranormal genres, I have never heard of necromancy. When I first read the mention of it, I had a feeling I was reading out of my comfort zone. Despite that I found myself enjoying the book immensely and intrigued with the whole necromancy stuff. While I am used to reading about spells, spell weaving, shape shifting and magical healing; necromancy entails spell circles, cutting yourself and calling on spirits to help and draw energy from.

Spell of Summoning is about Necromancer, Holden Clark and Real Estate realtor, Rebecca Powell. The gist of the story is Rebecca has a demon trying to take over her and it is slowly but surely wearing down her defenses. The story is a race against time to rid Rebecca of the demon before the people responsible finish the spell. Of course this becomes an adventure but this adventure also helps both Holden and Rebecca face their inner demons and open their eyes to their trues wants in life. I do like how the chemistry between Holden and Rebecca builds slowly and that their lovemaking scene is very explosive. Though there are times I did feel like their chemistry fell a little flat at times.

This book kept me at the edge of my seat, guessing who the culprit who is trying to destroy Rebecca and unleash a scary demon out into the world. I liked how this story was a perfect balance between a plot that drags on and a fast- faced plot. I appreciated this very much. Out of five stars I would rate this a 4 for the reason that the plot, necromancy, and passion were spot on with me but with the background story of both Rebecca and Holden along with the twists and turns of the story; I felt sorry for them more than half the time.

Reviewed By Xtina

Copy supplied by the Author

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The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding-a review

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The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding- a review

The Reece Malcolm List

ABOUT THE BOOK: (YA) Release Date February 5, 2013

Things I know about Reece Malcolm:

1. She graduated from New York University.
2. She lives in or near Los Angeles.
3. Since her first novel was released, she’s been on the New York Times bestseller list every week.
4. She likes strong coffee and bourbon.
5. She’s my mother.

Devan knows very little about Reece Malcolm, until the day her father dies and she’s shipped off to live with the mother she’s never met. All she has is a list of notebook entries that doesn’t add up to much.

L.A. offers a whole new world to Devan—a performing arts school allows her to pursue her passion for show choir and musicals, a new circle of friends helps to draw her out of her shell, and an intriguing boy opens up possibilities for her first love.

But then the Reece Malcolm list gets a surprising new entry. Now that Devan is so close to having it all, can she handle the possibility of losing everything?

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REVIEW:

If I had to think of a word to describe this book, I would think “cute”. I thought the story was cute in the sense that it brings back a sense of nostalgia from your days in high school but packed with drama that reminds of a movie from the Disney channel.

So this book is about Devan Malcolm whose life takes a crazy turn upon her father’s death and is sent to her long lost mother’s house in California. While she is not close to her father and had a tension-filled relationship with her stepmother, Devan is filled with trepidation and anticipation on meeting her mother that has been absent her whole life. Her mother also turns out to a best-selling author, Reece Malcolm.

From beginning to end, Devan has an ongoing list of things she discovers about her mother from observations, stuff her mother’s friends and boyfriend says about her, and snooping through her room and office when she is out.

In the beginning, it is new and maybe awkward for Devan to adjust to her new life but it doesn’t take long her for to love her new school where she even finds a group of friends who are into theatre like herself, California and what it has to offer, and blends in seamlessly with her mother and her boyfriend, Brad. Things are great for Devan now compared to when she was living with her father; you would think she has a dream life.

In the midst of Devan getting along just well comes some of your petty high school drama. There is the whole couples breaking up, friends hating each other and then liking each other again, the usual in high school. Aside from the search on Reece Malcolm and her many secrets, the book likes to focus on this whole romantic tension that hangs in the air with Devan and Sai. Sai is what I would describe as Devan’s real love interest. He is described as very handsome but has his secret geeky side that really appeals to Devan. They have so much in common that it screams at you that they fit but it takes the whole book for Sai to realize that. No surprise for us girls since we all know guys are dense.

The story really gets really interesting when the Reece Malcolm search surprises Devan with a secret that shocks Devan along with the situation with Sai simultaneously blow up in Devan’s face.

I did end up liking this book while I felt like it was a tad bit slow to start but really got going once I would say when Devan meets Sai. This book is really cute but also is also jam packed with drama, mystery, and just intense. I found this book to be very funny and entertaining yet there are times you do want to cry or laugh with Devan. This book seriously feels like high school again; so if you feel like Disney channel, High School Musical and a drama rolled into one…this is your “Go-to” book right here. Two thumbs up over here.

LINKS TO PURCHASE: Amazon / Barnes and Noble/ The Book Depository /

Reviewed by Xtina

Copy supplied by publisher

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Between a Rock and a Mad Woman/The Throwbacks by Stephanie Queen-2 reviews

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Between a Rock and a Mad Woman/The Throwbacks by Stephanie Queen-2 reviews

Between a Rock and a Mad Woman by Stephanie Queen

I was actually quite surprised with this book. When I read the first couple pages and found it was about a political election, I was feeling the beginning pangs of doubt if I was going to like the book. So the story is about Madeline Grace and Peter John Douglas in which they are running against each other for governor; but what is interesting about this political rivalry is that they have a history together. The history is that they were engaged to be married 6 years ago. I mean can you imagine the tension and having to run against your ex-fiancé? Awkward…

So the election race is pretty much an adventure in itself. The stakes are even raised higher when Madeline and their party decides to run independently. Madeline and PJD provide such entertainment when they push each other’s buttons by politically means. At times Madeline would pull ahead on votes while PJD would pull ahead. They ran a close race. On top of all this political intrigue, there is some steamy action going on in the book and for some reason Stephanie somehow made politician sex well…hot.

Judging from the steamy scenes between Madeline and PJD, you can definitely tell the fire and chemistry is very much there. Once you get past the halfway mark, it is hard to put the book down. As the election approaches, things get very interesting and well there is a twist! A good read and one I would recommend.

LINKS TO ORDER: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / KOBO /

Reviewed by Xtina X.

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The Throwbacks by Stephanie Queen

This is another book I enjoyed though I felt like I enjoyed Between a Rock and a Mad Woman a little bit more than this one but I still liked this book.

The Throwbacks is about decorator Grace Rogers and David Young who is a detective from the Scotland Yard on exile. A huge turn of events where a false murder has taken place and artifact smuggling is going on throws David, Grace, Dan and other characters together in an effort to crack this case. As they work together to get leads, the stakes are raised to keep the case from reaching the public and then David’s career is put on the line.

Like any other story, when Grace and David meet each the chemistry instantaneous. As they go on the crack the case, they get more and more entangled with each other no matter how much David keeps pulling away from her and Grace continually putting herself out there. The thing is David keeps pulling away due to the fact that he thinks Grace is too young for him since he is close to 50 is and she is about 30. Grace has always dreamt of having a husband, children, and a white picket fence type of home and David is always afraid with his line of work that he can’t give her want she wants.

The whole hot and cold thing going on with Grace and David’s relationship did create a frustration for me but kept me on my toes when David would let go of his baggage and commit to Grace. At times I felt like the chase was very one sided at times where it seemed like Grace was always the one who did all the chasing only to be told by David what he thought was good for her. It was only then that he spoke with his friend’s wife that he realized he can indeed make things work with Grace after he treated her so coldly. One thing that really stuck out to me was what the wife of David’s friend said which was, “Nothing worthwhile is easy.” So true every relationship is going to have a hardship and the fight to keep it upright it is worth it. The mystery was also a lot of fun to follow as well. Not only did I fall in love with Grace and David but all the characters involved. If you love mystery laced with a little mystery then this book is worth trying.

LINKS TO ORDER: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / KOBO

Copy supplied by author

Review by Xtina X

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