Tag Archives: YA

Cover Reveal-Lost Hope (Lost #3) by Frankie Rose

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Cover Reveal-Lost Hope (Lost #3) by Frankie Rose

Lost Hope Banner

Lost Hope
Hope #3
by Frankie Rose
Genre: YA, paranormal, romance
Release Date: January 15, 2014

Lost Hope Cover FB

Add to Goodreads shelf: LOST HOPE

“How Many Miles To Babylon?”

“Threescore and Ten.”

“Can I Get There by Candlelight?”

“Yes, and back again. If your heels be nimble and light, you may get there by candlelight.”

London 1891

Two boys meet in a foggy, darkened alleyway in London. Poised to fight, they recognise a quality in each other that stays their hands: they’re different. Not human. Well, not entirely, anyway. The universe, God, Kismet…something brought them together, forged a bond between them as strong as brothers’, and even they know it has to be for a reason.

London Present Day

Daniel and Kayden are cut from the same cloth. Their lives, their histories are so intertwined and tangled together that the last fifty years they’ve been at each other’s throats have seemed like an eternity. For Kayden, it’s been a punishment. For Daniel, a painful burden.

Now that circumstances have drawn them back to London once more, repairing the bridges they’d once burned to the ground is taking time. Time they don’t have.
Farley Hope is used to things going wrong. Epically wrong. A dead mother; a half-brother who recently went on a killing spree and refuses to come out of his room; a friend whose body has been hijacked by a malevolent, powerful being…

All of that would be bad enough, but considering her brooding boyfriend hasn’t brought up the fact that she agreed to marry him in weeks…her run of bad luck is really starting to take its toll. Things had better start looking up, otherwise her new-found powers are going to be put to use, and there’s no guaranteeing what will be getting blown up.

This is where it all began.

Where chance meetings set an unstoppablechain of events in motion.

How a prophecy came to be realised.

How Lost Hope was found.

Series Spotlight Black and White

Sovereign HopeSovereign Hope
Hope #1
by Frankie Rose
Release Date: July 1, 2012

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/

Everyone has a soul

Some are just worth more than others

Farley Hope was seventeen when her mother disappeared. In the last six months not much has changed, except that her eighteenth birthday came and went and still no sign of Moira. Her life is just as complicated as it always was. Since her father died in a car crash before she was even born, she’s officially parentless, and to top it all off she’s still suffering from the hallucinations. Mind-splitting, vivid hallucinations- the kind prone to induce night terrors and leave you whimpering under your covers like a baby.

The last thing on her mind is boys. Farley is on break from St. Judes’ when she meets Daniel. It’s not some casual run in at a party, or even a blind date with friends, though. Daniel is the guy following her in his 1970′s Dodge Charger; the guy standing at her window in the LA lunch hour traffic, trying to persuade her to leave everything behind and follow him. And he’s hot as all hell.

_________________________

Eternal Hope cover releaseEternal Hope
Hope #2
by Frankie Rose
Release Date: October 12, 2012

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/

He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me

When your friends go missing and you don’t know if they’re dead or alive; when you tie your soul to the one you love; when you kill to protect and your family suffers, there’s only one thing you can do:

Move to Montana.

Farley Hope is special. She was prophesied to kill the forebears of her bloodline- a race of cold-blooded Reavers, men who steal the souls of the living to gain power. The Quorum had counted on Farley ending her own life in the process, but when Kayden came to her aid and helped save both her and Daniel, he undid their plans. Now the Quorum are displeased, not only with Kayden, but with Farley and Daniel too. Though her father is now dead, Farley’s troubles with the Reavers are far from over. An ancient Immortal, trapped for a thousand years, wants Farley for himself, and he will stop at nothing to claim her.

With secrets that lead to anger and pain, that turn friendship to dust, the group must overcome the problems within their own circle before they have a hope of fighting off the powers that threaten their lives.

About The Author Black and White

Frankie Rose

 

Frankie Rose was born in the United Kingdom, but now lives with her husband in sunny Australia.
She officially makes things up for a living, and when she’s not doing that, she is generally making paper birds out of receipts and old lists or taking photographs that make her smile.

FOLLOW: Goodreads / Website / Twitter /

 

 

Love Between the Sheets

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Ink is Thicker Than Water by Amy Spalding – a Review

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Ink is Thicker Than Water by Amy Spalding – a Review

Ink Is Thicker Than WaterLinks to order Ink is Thicker Than Water:
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository

Description:
For Kellie Brooks, family has always been a tough word to define. Combine her hippie mom and tattooist stepdad, her adopted overachieving sister, her younger half brother, and her tough-love dad, and average Kellie’s the one stuck in the middle, overlooked and impermanent. When Kellie’s sister finally meets her birth mother and her best friend starts hanging with a cooler crowd, the feeling only grows stronger.

But then she reconnects with Oliver, the sweet and sensitive college guy she had a near hookup with last year. Oliver is intense and attractive, and she’s sure he’s totally out of her league. But as she discovers that maybe intensity isn’t always a good thing, it’s yet another relationship she feels is spiraling out of her control.

It’ll take a new role on the school newspaper and a new job at her mom’s tattoo shop for Kellie to realize that defining herself both outside and within her family is what can finally allow her to feel permanent, just like a tattoo.

Review:

Ink is Thicker than Water by Amy Spalding is the heart warming story of Kellie Brooks and her unconventional life.  Kellie is a beautiful, 16 year old slight under-achiever from a divorced family.  Her life consists of a wonderful family dynamic and her family life seems ideal until her adoptive sister Sara’s birth mother returns – wreaking havoc on her family life. 

Kellie struggles with walking in her sisters shadow and finding her place in the world. With all the turmoil at home, Kellie begins to focus on her high school life and her future. Joining the school paper is exactly what she needs. Then her life is rocked a little more when her best friend walks away and she has no idea why. She meets college student, Oliver, and her life begins to change in ways she never imagined.  

I enjoyed this book and the characters – including the sub-characters.  This book takes a realistic look at family, life and relationship struggles – without the over dramatics of it all.  While the relationship with Oliver at times grated my nerves, I soon came to realize why all the insecurities.  Which in the end made for a thoroughly well rounded book. 

Reviewed by Erin

Copy provided by Publisher

 

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Daylighters (The Morganville Vampires #15) by Rachel Caine-a review

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Daylighters by Rachel Caine-The Morganville Vampires Book #15

Daylighters

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

About the book: November 5, 2013

Something drastic has happened in Morganville while Claire and her friends were away. The town looks cleaner and happier than they’ve ever seen it before, but when their incoming group is arrested and separated—vampires from humans—they realize that the changes definitely aren’t for the better.

It seems that an organization called the Daylight Foundation has offered the population of Morganville something they’ve never had: hope of a vampire-free future. And while it sounds like salvation—even for the vampires themselves—the truth is far more sinister and deadly.

Now, Claire, Shane and Eve need to find a way to break their friends out of Daylighter custody, before the vampires of Morganville meet their untimely end…

Review:

I can’t believe that this is the last book in the series and that I’ll no longer hear from this group of fabulous people, human and vampire alike. Wow……..just wow…………..

Daylighters begins at the exact point where the previous book, Fall of Night, ends. Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve, along with Oliver, Jesse and Myrnin, make their way back to Morganville, only to be intercepted by the police. What’s worse? The vampires are staked, (which doesn’t kill them, just incapacitates them, depending on the type of stake used), and taken away in ambulances. Claire, Shane and Eve are taken into custody by Hannah Moses, police chief and long time friend. Or is she still a friend?

On their way, they can’t believe their eyes. People are out walking around, visiting, all the while, NOT having to look over their shoulders. Businesses have received paint jobs. The landscaping is immaculate. New businesses are springing up. Hmmmm……. They soon discover a very charismatic Mr. Fallon, for all intents and purposes, has taken over Morganville. His mission? To rid the world of the evil vampires with a cure he’s developed. The catch? The 23% success rate.

Through a series of events, they are finally taken to see Michael. He’s being held at the “enclave”, which is the old mall, with all of the other vampires. They have been fitted with collars that will basically decapitate them if they try to leave, and on top of that, he’s keeping them hungry. Yippee…….. Will Claire, Shane and Eve, mere humans, once again be able to save life as they know it in Morganville? Let’s just say, things will never be the same………….

The first thing that I’ll say is that “sad” does not really convey how I feel about this series ending. It was actually my first foray into the Young Adult genre. And, thanks to Morganville, there are now several YA series that I love. Now, about the book. Daylighters was very well written. The action started on page one and kept my attention until the very end. There was a lot going on in this book. New characters, namely the Daylighters, added a fanaticism to the story, which is a new thing for this series and added a layer that some will like and some will not. I am in the “not” category. I can’t really go into what actually happens because there is a HUGE HUGE HUGE development with one of the main characters and I don’t want to give anything away. Other than that tidbit, Daylighters was a great story. Rachel Caine did a great job in tying up the loose ends. Claire & Shane and Michael & Eve will sorely be missed, as will Amelie, Oliver and my dear, sweet, lovable Myrnin. It seems as though they all will have what they’ve wanted all along……..their happily ever after. Oh, how I love this series and will truly miss hearing more for them.

Thank you Rachel Caine for introducing us to Morganville.

Reviewed by Vickie M

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The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) by Richelle Mead-a review

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The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) by Richelle Mead-a review

The Fiery Heart

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 19, 2013

In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . .

But the struggle isn’t over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there’s still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure—and re-education—looms larger than ever.

••••••••••••••••••

Where do I begin?? THE FIERY HEART by Richelle Mead is an awesome addition to the Bloodlines series. This novel is packed with humor, action, suspense and most of all………LOVE!! This is one of my favorite reads of the year! Adrian, our self- described, “eye candy with great hair” and Sydney, our smart and serious Alchemist are finally a couple! If you enjoy a great love story that slowly builds and shows a couple’s vulnerabilities and hurdles that must be overcome, you will love this book! Plus, we have alternating points of view from both Adrian and Sydney. I love her, but Adrian’s chapters leave you laughing out loud. He is so funny, but vulnerable and that makes him very swoon-worthy in my opinion.

Some highlights of this book are when Sydney joins a Coven and embraces that part of her life, magic! Zoe, her little sister, has moved into the dorms. She is the thorn in Sydney’s side because she becomes suspicious of Sydney’s activities. Sydney is still trying to analyze what ingredients are in their Alchemist tattoos, so that she can create an ink that allows them to break away and not be re-educated. Adrian is using his “Spirit” gift to try to discover what can make someone immune from turning Strigoli, or the undead!

Adrian gets to use some of that self- defense that he learned in a previous book and practices “treejitsu” on some men threatening Sydney. That is swinging a tree branch to protect his ladylove! There are many humorous parts, but like I said, the budding romance is the best. They are both committed to each other, even though the odds are against them. I loved all of Adrian’s escape plans: Move to Sweden and open a pancake shop, join a nudist colony in Fuji! You get the idea, they were all funny!

Adrian quotes a Yeats poem to describe their relationship: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold….”, but he then tells her, “The center will hold, because we are the center.” Sydney doesn’t quite get it, but when things do start to fall apart at the shocking climatic end of the novel, she reassures him by saying in Latin, “The Center will hold”.

WOW!! I can’t wait until the next book!

Jules

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In The Blood by Sara Hantz – a Review

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In The Blood by Sara Hantz – a Review

In The BloodLinks to order In The Blood:  Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
For seventeen years Jed Franklin’s life was normal. Then his father was charged with the abuse and murder of four young boys and normal became a nightmare.

His mom’s practically a walking zombie, he’s lost most of his friends, and the press camps out on his lawn. The only things that keep him sane are his little sis; his best friend and dream girl, Summer; and the alcohol he stashes in his room. But after Jed wakes up from a total blackout to discover a local kid has gone missing—a kid he was last seen talking to—he’s forced to face his greatest fear: that he could somehow be responsible.

In a life that’s spiraled out of control, Jed must decide if he chooses his own destiny with Summer by his side or if the violent urges that plagued his father are truly in the blood

 

Review:

In the Blood by Sara Hantz is a different kind of YA novel. When I decided to read this book, I did not anticipate that this would become a difficult and hard book to read.  The subject matter was very depressing, and I found myself at times struggling to continue.  Sara Hantz is new to me, and I found that she is a very good writer, good enough to make me feel this strong about the story.

Jed, our 17 year old hero, is in a bad place.  His father, whom he idolized, is ready to go on trial for being a pedophile, having abused and murdered young boys.  Jed’s life as he knew it is over, as everyone..friends, neighbors, school kids all look at him like the plague.  With his mother in a deep depression, Jed relied on his friend, Summer, who treated him normally, always being there for him; and his little sister, Amy, who is too young to understand what is really going on. 

It is a normal way of life to feel sympathy for all the victims and their families, which is rightfully so.  But unfortunately, the families of the accused, also suffer badly. Neither Jed or his mom had any idea that their father/husband was a sick individual with a horrible secret life.  We see through Jed’s eyes, as he comes to terms with the fact that his father is guilty, and his mother is falling apart.  But what I hated about this story was watching as he suffers through doubts about himself, and the terrible treatment he receives from others. His classmates, especially one, would taunt him and treat him like he was the offender.  Everything that happens in the neighborhood, or at school;  all eyes look to blame Jed.  Even the police would either be suspicious of Jed, or ask him to help them get more info from his father.  Some of the things that happen at school, with Jed being falsely accused, left a bad taste in my mouth.  It was a hard and at times unpleasant book to read. 

The subject is a fair subject, because in most cases those families are also the victims; mainly due to everyone turning on them, and blaming them for things they did not have control over.  It is easy to say “you should have seen this”.   Not true if the perpetrator was good or sick enough to hide from their family.  But again I found this to be a dark read, filled with despair and distaste. At the same time, I felt Sara Hantz’s writing was very well done.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

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Olivia Twisted by Vivi Barnes – a Review

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Olivia Twisted by Vivi Barnes – a Review

Olivia Twisted
LInks to order Olivia Twisted: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository

Description:
He tilts my chin up so my eyes meet his, his thumb brushing lightly across my lips. I close my eyes. I know Z is trouble. I know that being with him is going to get me into trouble. I don’t care.

At least at this moment, I don’t care.

Tossed from foster home to foster home, Olivia’s seen a lot in her sixteen years. She’s hardened, sure, though mostly just wants to fly under the radar until graduation. But her natural ability with computers catches the eye of Z, a mysterious guy at her new school. Soon, Z has brought Liv into his team of hacker elite—break into a few bank accounts, and voila, he drives a motorcycle. Follow his lead, and Olivia might even be able to escape from her oppressive foster parents. As Olivia and Z grow closer, though, so does the watchful eye of Bill Sykes, Z’s boss. And he’s got bigger plans for Liv…



Review:

I had no idea what to expect when I saw the name of this YA novel, OLIVIA TWISTED by Vivi Barnes.  After reading the first chapter, I got it and I was hooked.  Each chapter starts with a quote from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and this novel was a fresh and original take on this classic novel.

We learn in the early chapters how Olivia has been shipped from foster family to foster family.  She once yearned for love, but now she just wants to fly under the radar and finish high school.  She is in a new family and a new school when she meets the enigma named Z.  Yes, he legally changed his name to Z and he is a computer genius.  Olivia isn’t so bad herself with computers and hacking into programs.  Z soon sets his eye on her for recruitment, but what does that mean?  That’s when things turn interesting.

Z belongs to a group of orphans that are computer hackers!  Olivia wonders how he can afford to ride a Ducati motorcycle and live in a mansion with the others.  Olivia is soon tested to see if she wants to escape from the oppressive foster system and live the good life.  Of course there is an evil villain, you read Oliver Twist or watched the movie!  Bill Sykes is one tough boss.  He keeps a watchful eye on the orphans, because they do bring in millions of dollars.  Bill has plans for Olivia, but will she and Z go along with them?

Olivia Twisted is a great novel for teens of all ages.  Z and Olivia is such an engaging couple.  There are family secrets revealed along the way and choices to be made. I learned a lot about computer hacking and even changed my passwords to some accounts!  An added bonus!  Give this novel a chance!  It’s a fast paced story that has a great ending!  Enjoy!

Reviewed by Jules

Copy supplied by Publisher

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Making Faces by Amy Harmon-a review

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MAKING FACES by Amy Harmon-a review

Making Faces

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 15, 2013

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She’d been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have…until he wasn’t beautiful anymore.

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl’s love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior’s love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: Making Faces is a stand alone, contemporary young to new adult storyline that twists the tales of Beauty and the Beast with Cyrano De Bergerac. Five life long friends go off to war in the Middle East but only one returns and in that return there is not only the guilt of surviving but the loss of beauty, of friendship and direction.

The storyline premise follows five friends whose deaths and injuries impact a small town and where one brave young woman has the ability to persevere when others are lost in a world of hurt and grief. Fern Taylor has always accepted that she would never be pretty enough to ‘get the boy’ but when said boy loses his beauty to a road side bomb, Fern is the first person who is willing to see past the scars and see the beauty underneath. Fern has loved Ambrose since she was a young child and it is Fern’s belief in Ambrose that will help the wounded warrior face his oncoming battles head on.

Making Faces is also a story about physical appearances and succeeding in life. When everyone is willing to dismiss the handicapped young boy and the plain looking girl, it is the strength in these two people who will pull together a town when four of their own are lost to the war.

Amy Harmon has gathered a collection of characters from any town, anywhere and brought them together in a story that will open your mind to the reality of the physical appearance and what lies beneath. Not only do the beautiful climb higher but they also fall harder. A pretty face can only get you so far in life and at times there is evil waiting around the corner.

“If God makes all faces, did he laugh when he made me?

Does he make the legs that cannot walk and eyes that cannot see?

Does he curl the hair upon my head til it rebels in wild defiance?

Does he close the ears of a deaf man to make him more reliant?

Is the way I look coincidence or just a twist of fate?

If he made me this way, is it okay, to blame him for the things I hate?

For the flaws that seem to worsen every time I see a mirror.

For the ugliness I see in me, for the loathing and the fear.

Does he sculpt us for his own pleasure, for a reason I can’t see?

If God makes all our faces, did he laugh when he made me?”

This poem is a particular poignant passage in Making Faces written by our heroine Fern. Her best friend is the most beautiful girl in school and even Fern’s family cannot help but make comparisons between the two friends. Growing up Fern struggled with her appearance and as an adult, she had a difficult time accepting that someone like Ambrose Young could love someone like Fern Taylor. Fern is the ugly duckling who turned into the beautiful swan but it was a beautiful Ambrose that fell for the little duckling years before.

Making Faces is a heartbreaking storyline of war and tragedy; death and loss; friendship and lovers; beauty and the beast. But as we all know from the fairy tale, Beauty saw beneath the mask where Beast kept his secrets and pain carefully hidden, and in Making Faces-Beauty will see beneath Beast’s war ravaged and scarred exterior, lies a beautiful man, with a beautiful heart, whose only sin was to be someone he could respect and accept at the end of the day.

There is no sex, no graphic violence and no foul language. It is a story about loss-the loss of friends; of lovers; of beauty; and of self.

Reviewed by Sandy

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Allure by Lea Nolan – a Review

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Allure by Lea Nolan – a Review

AllureLinks to order Allure: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
Worst. Summer. Ever.

Emma Guthrie races to learn the hoodoo magic needed to break The Beaumont Curse before her marked boyfriend Cooper’s sixteenth birthday. But deep in the South Carolina Lowcountry, dark, mysterious forces encroach, conspiring to separate Emma and Cooper forever. When Cooper starts to change, turning cold and indifferent, Emma discovers that both his heart and body are marked for possession by competing but equally powerful adversaries.

Desperate to save him, Emma and her twin brother, Jack, risk their lives to uncover the source of the black magic that has allured Cooper and holds him in its grip. Face with the horror of a soul-eating boohag, Emma and Jack must fight to resist its fiendish power to free Cooper long enough to join their strengths and face it together, before it destroys them all.


Review:
“It’s hoodoo…Not voodoo.  That’s a religion.” 

In case you were unclear, 14 year old Emma, apprentice to Miss Delia, the most powerful hoodoo Gullah root worker of the Lowcountry in South Carolina, will clarify the misconception and race against a deadline to save her BF, Cooper Beaumont from a 300 year old curse.  When you meet this young lady, you’ll know that this sort of urgent matter — it’s all in a day’s work for this gal!  Allure is book 2 in the Hoodoo Apprentice series by Lea Nolan.  I loved her writing style, the flow of the story so much, not only do I clamor for book 3 (please say there’s a book 3!), but I’ll retrace my steps in the meantime and start at the beginning with the debut novel, Conjure!  By the time I’m done with that, you should be ready to go…right, Ms. Nolan?  😉

While Allure launches straight into a fast-approaching target date of 3 weeks (Cooper’s 16th birthday) to break the curse, we’re immediately given snippets of information detailing missing Gullah artifacts pivotal in Conjure.  Overlapping mysteries including a stolen pirate’s dagger and a missing family heirloom are interwoven throughout the story, but Ms. Nolan features them all diligently.  Sure, Cooper’s soul is the most important (can’t lose focus there, lol), but the suspense behind the subplots were just as intriguing.  The 80-carat family heirloom ruby stolen from Cooper’s father, Beau, whose description resembles that of Jabba the Hut (minus the rotting bologna odor), detours off the main storyline, but snatches center stage when further explored by Emma, her twin brother, Jack, and Cooper, as it connects to the Beaumont curse Cooper is so desperate to avoid.

Sabina, an African queen with a brutal sense of justice…used her mystical hoodoo powers to seek revenge.  She…cursed the Beaumont progeny forever by stealing their souls when they come into manhood, turning them unspeakably dark and corrupt. 

A murder to be solved (along with identification of a tar-like substance found on the body), an unplanned stay from Miss Delia’s haughty great-granddaughter (intent on spoiling Emma and Jack’s young love), a shady investigator with a dark agenda, and all kinds of hoodoo magic, spell conjuring, and boo hags ultimately find its way back to the heart of the matter.  This isn’t stereotypical teenage amusement at play, but supernatural threats that are based in deep-rooted vengeance.

Before you know it, latent effects of the curse are taking root within Cooper and he begins to detach from Emma and Jack (the trio have been BFFs for years). 

My jaw drops as I stare at him, transfixed by the strange hue of his irises.  His eyes have always appeared to change shades, but I’ve never seen this one, ever.  It’s cold.  Lifeless.  Perhaps even soulless.  A chill ripples through me.  Is this proof that the Beaumont Curse has begun to set in?              

Will breaking the Beaumont curse rid Cooper of his sudden obsession with Miss Delia’s great-granddaughter?  Just when you hoped things/emotions would settle down, Ms. Nolan ramps up the hoodoo action, with even more action, and the mother of showdowns leaves you with baited breath (and a wicked oath for interference).  Quick resolutions?  Where’s the fun in that?!  BRING ON BOOK #3!!!

I loved the care, the respect, afforded to the practice.  Ms. Nolan clearly dabbles in the art or has done a marvelous job of research.  The gathering of herbs and exotic ingredients to execute a spell felt as if they were being concocted in my home.  I could almost smell the lemon verbena!  I got such a kick out of her flare for the dynamic imagery:  Referring to the first deputy on site of the murder scene, she described him as “a thick-necked, muscle-bound specimen of crime-fighting prowess”, or when explaining the impossible, she refutes, “But that’s like telling an ice cube not to melt in this heat”.  When voiced by a 14 year old girl, Ms. Nolan gives you hope for the next generation!  Even when Emma’s hoping justice is served, her indignation lies on the person mistreating hoodoo; for using it with malevolence.  I loved this young lady!  I did gasp, and gulp, when reading a kiss between Emma and Cooper that was just too “advanced” for my tastes.  Tracing kisses behind her ear…yiker bikers, slow down!  It didn’t go beyond that, thankfully, and we end up in love with young love…well, sort of.  An unexpected change of plans keeps Emma and Jack in South Carolina.  How long till Cooper and Jack notice Emma keeps looking over her shoulder from the supernatural threat that has a personal bone to pick with her?

It was indeed my pleasure to meet a lovely cast of characters, each equally impressive and unique.  I did end the story on an “Awww…”, so I’ll say it again:  I’M READY FOR BOOK 3!!!

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy provided by Publisher

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