Thursday, June 23, 2016

{Blog Tour} A Witch's Journey - Tena Steler (Review & Giveaway)

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A Witch's Journey

Tena Stetler

30163682


June 15, 2016

Paranormal Romance

89,000 Words

Maturity Warning: Love Scenes

Pepper McKay comes from a long line of powerful witches. Unfortunately, magic brings her nothing but trouble. She learned the love of wildlife rescue and rehab from her Aunt Ashling. After graduating from college, Pepper works for Salem Wildlife Sanctuary and lives from paycheck to paycheck until she inherits the McKay property in Lobster Cove. With the family land and resources, she dares to dream of starting her own wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center.

Lathen Quartz, a former Navy SEAL turned handyman maintains the enchanted McKay property for the McKay estate. But someone is trying to steal the McKay magic. Lathen offers to help Pepper achieve her life-long dream of building a wildlife center. During the long hours spent together on the project, their mutual attraction can’t be denied. But each harbors a deep, dark secret. Will they overcome their demons and give love a chance?


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Review

I haven't read an adult fantasy book in awhile so I was really excited about A Witch's Journey.  The story follows Pepper as she is going through a rough patch in her life, when she gets a break from a rich Aunt Ashling who ends up leaving her a house and a large sum of money.  The unique aspect of Pepper is that she is a witch who doesn't really practice that much.  She had to leave Salem because during a storm she put a shield over a wildlife preservation and they found out she is a witch.

Things I loved in the book was Pepper as a character.  She felt very real with her emotions and thoughts.   Pepper isn't some naive young girl, but rather very compassionate person and thinks every situation through.  She does a great job establishing the wildlife center on her Aunt's property on Lobster Cove.  Pepper tries to thoroughly research all of her problems before making decisions.    The author did a great job creating a strong women lead character for this book.   I also really liked that Pepper was extremely responsible for her magic, she did a great job establishing when she uses magic and never for personal gain.

Lathen was an interesting character to me, I think the author could have done a little bit of a better job expanding upon his character.  I did have a few questions regarding Lathan that I felt where kind of skipped over or mentioned quickly and I didn't get the answers I was looking for.  I do understand the book is more focused on Pepper as she is the narrator, but we do get a look into Lathen's family dynamics a lot, so I would have liked a little more about what traumatic event happened to Lathen.   I felt like I didn't get a complete picture on Lathen.

The author did a great job with the background details for the book.  We got the right information at the right time to keep the story moving.   We learned about Pepper's history as well as her family history in the correct order so you were able to piece everything together as you read the book.  I love when the story flows naturally in a book it makes it easier to read.  I also loved the descriptions the author used for all the scenery around the book.  

I would suggest this as a beach read.  It is the perfect read for a sunny day and you wouldn't want to put it down to long! 

I received a copy of this book from Masquerade Book Tours for an honest review.  This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating 4/5
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About the Author



With the majestic Rocky Mountains just outside the window, I sit at my computer with vampires,demons, witches, faeries, and a variety of paranormal creatures gathered around telling me their stories! That makes me an author of paranormal romance novels and cozy mysteries with magic spark. The everyday world is mundane, but sprinkle a little magic and you have fantastic!

Colorado is home. I share my life with a wonderful husband of many moons, our brilliant Chow Chow, a terribly spoiled companion parrot, and a forty-year-old
box turtle. We enjoy hiking, biking, and camping, also love water sports including kayaking and whitewater rafting, especially on the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge.

Another passion of mine is reading a good novel. You can find me any winter evening curled up in front of a crackling fire with a good book, a mug of hot chocolate, and a big bowl of popcorn. While growing up, if I didn’t like the ending of a book, I’d rewrite it, which led to writing my own books.

Reluctantly, I discovered that in real life it’s tough to rewrite an ending.

Author Links:
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 Giveaway


  Masquerade Book Tours

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Curious Minds - Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton (Review)

28524313Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton
Series A Knight and Moon Novel
Genres: Adult Fiction, Mystery, Action
Publication date:
August 16, 2016

Publisher:  Bantam
Format: ebook, 336 pages
How I got it: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 3/5
 

Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he’s also brilliant, rich, and (some people might say) handsome, or he’d probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight.

What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country. Through the streets of Washington, D.C., and down into the underground vault of the Federal Reserve in New York City, an evil plan is exposed. A plan so sinister that only a megalomaniac could think it up, and only the unlikely duo of the irrepressibly charming Emerson Knight and the tenacious Riley Moon can stop it.

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My thoughts:

I am a huge Janet Evanovich fan and love her books.  They are easy, quick reads, that I can typically laugh the whole way through and finish in one sitting.  I love books that you don't have to focus that much on to read because they are the easiest ones for me to get lost in.

This is the first book of the A Knight and Moon Novel following Riley who is working from the Blane-Grunwald bank when Emerson wants to see his gold, she is the one they send to convenience him his gold is safe.  Riley just started working for the bank so she really doesn't know exactly what is going on or really what to say to convenience Emerson the gold is safe.   Emerson then decides to take Riley directly to the bank to see his gold.

The book flows in typical Janet Evnavoich style where it doesn't really make sense how one event leads to the next, but somehow it really does make sense in the end.  So Riley and Emerson know team up to find the missing gold and also missing Grunwald.   They work up an investigation that Emerson is pretty much leading and putting the facts together.  Riley basically becomes the sidekick and driver for the getaways. 

Things I loved was Emerson as a character.  He has a zillion quirks to him and his character took on a life of his own.   From the wild animals running around his house to his jumping from one clue to the next you could tell he was very intelligent and maybe to intelligent for his own good.  I loved the schemes he would come up with to get out of different situations throughout the book.   He has a great set of friends in high places and lives a crazy life with all of this traveling.  Emerson is extremely smart.

Although, this is another series that I felt like didn't captivate my attention enough while reading.  I didn't really find that much humor in the book, which is what I have personally come to expect from Janet Evanovich writing.   The book is an easy read, but nothing struck out as to crazy to me or very memorable.   I probably would read the next book in the series, but for me Riley and Emerson didn't really click as a pair that would bond together.   I have also come to expect instant chemistry between the main characters and I didn't get that vibe at all in this book.   Emerson's personality is so different from any other character I have read by Janet so I don't think he relates well to Riley.

I would suggest this as a nighttime read, it was easy to pickup and put down while reading.  It is easy to follow along in the story and remember what was going on or even just dive right back in and pick up on what is going on.     

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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About the Author


 

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, the Lizzy and Diesel series, twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels and Trouble Maker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author, as well as the Fox and O'Hare series with co-author Lee Goldberg.


  


Phoef Sutton
Phoef Sutton started as an actor and playwright in college; he was lucky enough to go to a small liberal arts college in Virginia, James Madison University, which encouraged student playwrights. Phoef was one of the only undergraduates to win the Norman Lear Award for Comedy Playwriting. After graduation, Phoef had plays produced at various regional theaters around the country, had his award winning play BURIAL CUSTOMS selected for publication by the Theatre Communications Group and was awarded a National Endowment for Arts Playwrights Fellowship.

After marrying and moving to Los Angeles, Phoef started his career at the NBC television show CHEERS. He stayed with the show for eight years, working his way up from staff writer to executive producer, winning two Emmys and a Writer’s Guild Award. A greater training ground for a writer could not be imagined.

After CHEERS, Phoef has produced and created a number of television shows and consulted on others, including NEWS RADIO and BOSTON LEGAL. He is honored to have won a Peabody Award, a GLAAD award and a Television Academy Honors award for this work on BOSTON LEGAL. Recently, he has worked on critically acclaimed series TERRIERS for FX and THE SOUL MAN for TV Land, DEFIANCE for SyFy Channel and ALPHA HOUSE for Amazon.

He has directed a short film – a suspense tale called ‘TIL DEATH. ‘TIL DEATH has been shown and various film festivals around the world and received prizes at the Garden State Festival and WorldFest in Houston, Texas.

Phoef has also worked for many years as a screenwriter and script doctor. MRS. WINTERBOURNE, directed by Richard Benjamin was an adaptation of a novel by one of his favorite authors, Cornell Woolrich. THE FAN, directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert DeNiro was an adaptation of the novel by Peter Abrahams.

Phoef is a published novelist – FIFTEEN MINUTES TO LIVE, a romantic-thriller; DEAD MAN: THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, a horror novel and its sequel DEAD MAN REBORN.
2015 is a promising year for Phoef, with the debut of his collaborations with Janet Evanovich, WICKED CHARMS and publication of his hard-boiled crime novel CRUSH.

Phoef lives in South Pasadena, California with his wife Dawn and his daughters Skylar and Celia.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Top Ten Favorite 2016 Releases So Far This Year


 

I am continuing with the Top Ten Lists from the The Broke and the Bookish blog!   This week the topic is Top Ten Favorite 2016 Releases So Far This Year.

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What are some of your favorite books from 2016 so far?

Enjoy your Tuesday & Happy Reading!  

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Weekly Unwind #15 6.19.16

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. 
Welcome to my weekly recap!
This week flew by again! Work was steadily busy which lead me to have only a little bit of reading time.  Next week is going to be pretty much the same thing since we are almost done gearing up for Halloween release.   Everything will then quiet way down once Halloween is out the door. 

I did get a day off on Tuesday my best friend came up from North Carolina and we got to spend the whole day at the beach and eating unhealthy food!! It was the perfect day! We got to completely catch up on everything in our lives.  It was the best therapy session ever! 

The rest of the week was kind of busy my husband had a lot going on for work so he didn't get home till late every night and we didn't get much sleep.  So Saturday we just hung around the house and didn't do much.  Today we are going down the shore to see my dad and grandfather so it will be another long day! 

 
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Last Week On the Blog: 
Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For The Second Half Of The Year 
{Blog Tour} Blood Orchid (Night Flower #2) - Claire Warner (Review & Giveaway)
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This Week On the Blog:  
Top Ten Favorite 2016 Releases So Far This Year
Summertime Blog & Reader Challenge Week 3 (I didn't get to this last week)
Summertime Blog & Reader Challenge Week 4
Curious Minds - Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton (Review)


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Currently Reading  
In the After - Elisa Dane
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Goals for the Week on the Blog:
My goal is to catch up on my email and reviews.  I am also actively working on a TBR list that I can somewhat stick too! I am trying to organize my blog as well.

{Blog Tour} Make Me Crave - Katee Robert (Review)

Have you Pre-ordered MAKE ME CRAVE Yet? In MAKE ME CRAVE by NYT Bestselling Author, Katee Robert, Roman Bassani will do anything to ...