Hooked: A True Faerie Tale - By Michealbrent Collings

Having read a few books from this genre, I’m usually quite able to give an appropriate age ranking without hesitation – but this book, I’m going to have to age it at 13 with parental guidance. The reason for this is because there are a few swear words and some scenes might not be suitable for children with vivid imaginations.

As someone who loves reading about fae, I was looking forward to reading this… even though Michael (the author) had told me not to expect a winged creature in sight – of course, that just piqued my interest even more, now I had to know what he was trying to tell me.

Upon opening the book, I was almost instantly flung into the thick of the action which made a refreshing change from the typical Young Adult book where the first couple of chapters are spent endearing you to the lead character. It was nice to have a fight where it doesn’t become clear who is the good guy and who is the bad guy until much later in the book.

Generally speaking, I loved the book and the way that two books were combined into one with an interesting twist to the plot that doesn’t come to light until later on in the book. I’d always wondered what would happen if it was possible to combine 2 books into one.

In the early chapters, the only issue I had was that the story became a little confusing, almost as if Michael was trying to tell two different stories in one book – but that soon straightens itself out and the plot flows smoothly. However, I would like to suggest that he takes the time to give the book another proof read from the 50% mark because there are still a few typing errors that could do with a final polish.

Valkyrie - By Pet Torres

Valkyrie is a book that is somewhat difficult to classify. I have read that it's suitable for children between the ages of 9 - 18... but I suspect that some children on the younger end of that age spectrum may struggle to understand some of the words (I know I did and I'm considerably older than 9).

As the cover suggests, Valkyrie is a vampire princess... though she doesn't know it yet. She was raised by her overprotective mother and made it through her entire life to date never knowing who her father is, though she has always been tormented by strange dreams.

There's something off about the new boy in school, too. For some reason, Valkyrie has an instant dislike of him... Is there really something sinister about him, or can the two of them look past initial impressions to become friends?

As far as books go, I found this one to be a little on the short side for a book in the young adult genre... however, once I saw that the author was targeting the book at children as young as 9, I sort of understood why it was a shorter book.

I enjoyed the plot and found that it flowed quite smoothly and at a good pace, however, I do have to admit that it does need the love of an editor desperately! There are a few typing errors and spacing errors in the first half of the book, but, if you can push past them, it does get better once Pet has finished her first cup of coffee of the day. Considering that the author isn't from an English speaking country, the typing errors are very few and can be overlooked... however, I find the spacing errors to be much harder to disregard - especially as I read along as my Kindle reads aloud to me.

I didn't really like the length of the book considering the fact that it is marketed at young adults, and, if I could change anything about the book for myself, I would bring books 1 and 2 together and sell them that way... however, considering that the version that I read is free on Kindle Unlimited, I don't feel that I can complain as much as I would if I'd bought a paperback version of the same book. As far as recommendations go, I'd recommend giving the book a read if you are able to get a free version, but I wouldn't be falling over myself to buy a paperback version if what I have just read is anything to go by.

Prince Of Wolves - By Quinn Loftis

Prince Of Wolves is book one of The Grey Wolves Series. It was intended to be a six part series, but, after some mutiny from her fans, Quinn decided to keep churning them out until such a time that the series died on it's own. There are currently 10 books in the series, with book 11 being released on 19/12/2018. 

What first drew me to Prince of Wolves was the cover art. No, I don’t have a thing for books that happen to feature pretty girls on the cover – in truth, I found the picture of Jacqueline rather freaky simply because she looked rather unnatural, it was the pattern on the cover that attracted me to this book and the icing on the cake was the fact that it was free. Of course, Quinn has had the book re covered since the version that I read.

What I really liked about the book is the way that Quinn (the author) has chosen three girls, who (judging by the amount of sarcasm and sexual references) are endearing and popular but would always be in trouble at school.

Prince of Wolves gives you a chance to get to know Jacqueline, Jen and Sally while focusing on a whirlwind romance between Jacqueline and Fane. I initially started this story as a bedtime read – but I soon had to stop reading it in bed because I was laughing that much that I was keeping my husband awake, which was a good thing in a way because I really wanted to have my wits about me to try to remember some of the comments for future reference.

One good thing about this series is that the focus shifts to a different set of characters every other book, but the end story still keeps track of all 6 main characters and a few extra ones besides.

This is one of the few books I’ll keep to read again and again – and it’s not very often that I read books more than once. Reviewer’s rating: 5 stars

The Mind Readers - By Lori Brighton

The Mind Readers is suitable for young adults aged 13 and over.

The story follows Cameron a girl who has the undesired gift of reading the thoughts of others. One is lead to believe that this gift is something that she cannot switch off and that she doesn’t want the ability anymore. When Lewis shows up in school and offers to teach her how to control her ability, is everything as it seems or is something more sinister at work here?

This was a book that I really enjoyed. Not only were the typing errors kept down to a minimum (I counted just one) but the plot itself ran smoothly and had just the right number of twists and turns to ensure that I didn’t get too relaxed and chilled out with the book. There are lots of elements to enjoy starting with the way that the author describes the memories Cameron receives from others – although this starts out pretty mundane, it was well worth sticking with for what came later. However, as I read the story, I couldn’t help but feel that the author had somewhat given away her ending pretty early on with the book by making the lead character too suspicious for her own good. That’s a point I would like to see cut back on drastically if ever there is  a re-print of this book.

I’d also like more of an explanation into why Cameron starts off seeing Aaron as an uncle figure, then her friendship rapidly deteriorates from there – this matter seems to get swept under the rug in the scope of the bigger picture, yet I feel that it could be an important factor in my overall enjoyment of the book.

Midnight Marriage - By Lucinda Brant

Midnight Marriage is a New Adult book – which means that it’s best suited to young adults aged 18 and over due to sexual scenes. 

It is the second book in The Roxton Family Saga. Although it is book two, I found that it worked very well as a stand alone book as well because it’s the only book in the series that I've read and I was easily able to read and enjoy it.

The story in itself is set in Georgian England though it ventures into France, too. It starts out with an arranged marriage and a number of years spent living abroad for the young groom. He returns home fighting for his very life (In more than one sense of the words). Who is the woman who found him bleeding to death in the forest – and why can’t he get her out of his mind?

As far as books go, the book is well written, although I found the character’s to be rather predictable in the sense that pretty much every romance book has a dark handsome, moody guy and a stubborn, independent girl – so that was no real surprise for me,,, however, I still found myself riding on the old emotional roller coaster numerous times as I waited to see if they would or wouldn’t.

In future editions, I would like to see a glossary included though because it uses some of the old English terms – and the dictionary on my Kindle is useless, which meant that I had to run words I wanted translating through Google or not bother with a translation at all.

The Fairy Tale Bride - By Kelly McClymer

The Fairy Tale Bride is suitable for more mature young adults because it contains some sexual scenes that aren’t suitable for younger teenagers. At the time of posting this review, the Kindle version of this book was free - so it's worth a few seconds of your time to simply download your copy!

As you can probably guess from the cover, the book is a period romance and follows the story of a hard up wealthy family who are struggling to make ends meet after the deaths of their parents in a carriage accident. The Duke has 6 sisters to marry off – many of who require a Season in London. Is it possible that they can keep the wolves from the door or are they doomed to fail?

Though the story in itself is pretty well written, I did find my enjoyment dulled by poor editing (lines of text were missing in places) and a rather confusing story line. The reason Simon and Amelia were married was because he’d compromised her out of wedlock… yet later on in the story, she was once again a virgin – this needs some clarity. My final gripe would have to be the predictability of the story. I had it more or less figured out from an early point of the book.

I did like some of the descriptions though – especially where the Duchess was taken on a tour by the Dowager Duchess and the descriptions she gave of the rooms. I could almost see the portraits of the former Dukes glaring down at me with their eyes. The characters were also pretty likable with divides on who to love and who to hate being set pretty early on in the book.

Every Last Kiss - By Courtney Cole

Every Last Kiss is a book suitable for young adults aged 18 and over. There are some references to love making scattered throughout the book, so a little parental guidance might be a good idea for younger young adults.

The story starts out simple enough in the modern day where Macy is trying to come to terms with the end of her 2 year relationship after her boyfriend was found cheating on her. Before long, it emerges that that’s the least of her problems though when she finds a gift of a Bloodstone necklace.

It turns out that the necklace is the key to her true identity and she is catapulted back into a previous lifetime in Ancient Egypt. The question is can she get back to her modern life without unraveling ancient history and changing the world that we know today or is she doomed to failure?

The book, in itself, is well written in a way that is half believable – there’s just one area that causes me concern… and that would be the way that Macy responds to the Bloodstone. As a spiritualist myself, I’m well aware that many spiritual young adults go through an awakening during their teenage years – which is scary enough if they haven’t been warned or prepared for it, without the extreme reaction Macy had causing confusion or scaring them outright.

I liked the way that the plot flowed smoothly… even though there is some time travel involved in several places through the story.

With that said though, I did enjoy the book – and I’ll be reading the other 2 books in the series at some point in the future.