Monthly Archives: May 2014

Just one thing (by Holly Jacobs)

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Women’s Fiction

Every monday night, Lexie walks into Sam’s bar. She sits down and orders a beer. Every monday night, Sam puts a beer in front of her and asks, “Just one thing?”

As the weeks and months progress, her story unfolds through small glimpses of happy and sad moments, building to the tragedy that led her to be sitting on her own in a bar, drinking a single beer before trudging the two miles home.

Through the telling of her story, and listening to Sam’s own story, she gradually finds healing and a redemption of a sort.

 

Just One Thing is by no means an easy book. It deals with difficult issues –– sadness, guilt and perhaps even loneliness. The book progresses at a measured pace with clues to what led Lexie to where she is given in stories from her life.

I’m honestly not even sure how to categorise it, I hesitate to call it romance even though it is being marketed as such. It’s probably a little closer to women’s fiction, but with some romantic elements. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I do think it’s very good and I loved it. It definitely has a soul and it’s heart is in the right place.

Screen Shot 2014-02-15 at 8.51.33 pmMany thanks to Netgalley and Montlake Romance for providing me with this ARC

Yellow / Orange / Red –– What it means. http://wp.me/P2B7b5-9l

Ghouls Rush In (by H.P. Mallory)

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Paranormal Romance

After escaping her domineering husband, Peyton moves into a rundown antebellum home left to her by a distant aunt. Needing to keep herself busy she decides to restore the home to its former glory and manages to get Ryan, a specialist in restoring homes to take on the job.

She soon discovers the home is haunted by Drake, a policeman who died sometime in the early 20th century, and as he visits her in her sleep a story unfolds about a series of brutal murders which terrorised the people of New Orleans in nearly 100 years earlier. And it’s possible that Peyton has inadvertently invited the spirit of the murderer into her home.

She finds herself caught between a ghost who is protecting her from the malevolence that has entered her home and the contractor who is still mourning the loss of his wife.

Ghouls Rush In is quite a surprising book. It wasn’t till page sixty that the ghosts arrived, until then it felt very much like a renovation romance. Even then it seemed liked a fairly cute and harmless ghost story. But at the half way mark it definitely got creepy. There were things going on in this book that had cold shivers running up and down my spine.

 
It’s really very good, and if books about ghosts, spirits and voodoo sound like your thing, this is definitely one of the better ones I’ve read.

 

Screen Shot 2014-03-17 at 5.42.32 pmMany thanks to Montlake Romance and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Yellow / Orange / Red –– What it means. http://wp.me/P2B7b5-9l

 

Avoiding Alpha (by Aileen Erin)

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Young Adult

Tessa who is both a witch and a werewolf is not having a very good day. Her best friend Meredith was cursed years earlier, a curse which trapped her werewolf and prevented her from shifting. Now she has suddenly fallen violently ill and as her life is slipping away, it is left to Tessa to save her. But saving her might only be possible if she makes a deal with the devil, the witch who cast the spell and is leader of a powerful coven of witches.

 

Avoiding Alpha is such a great book. It sits somewhere between a long novella and a short novel, but despite its length (or lack of it) it packs in a whole bunch of story. Aileen Erin has managed to deliver a book which sets the scene and introduces characters who will take the stage in Alpha Divided (due out in October),  but she has also given us a book which stands on its own merits. It never drags and is entertaining to the last page turn.

Screen Shot 2014-02-15 at 8.51.33 pmMany thanks to Ink Monster and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Yellow / Orange / Red –– What it means. http://wp.me/P2B7b5-9l