The Spirit by D. Nichole King

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RATING: 5 STARS

Witches, demons and ghosts grace us with their presence in this small town in Iowa. Carrie is told she has to live with her Grandparents in Villisca, Iowa for the summer after her parents divorce and her Mom has a rough time with it. Carrie dreads it, but she quickly changes her mind after settling in, starting work, and meeting a few people, including Lucas. 

Lucas and Carrie fall for each other almost instantly, but the evil powers that be just don't want that to happen. Carrie is propelled into a world of uncertainty. Feelings she's not sure of and feelings she doesn't think she deserves after experiencing the heartbreak her mother went through. Lucas is not something of this world. Megan; who works with Carrie, is and warns Lucas to stay away from her. We watch these two dance between knowing what they feel is right, and what's meant to be. This is a story of heartache, a story of love. A story of good and evil, and the battle between them. 

D. Nichole King has done a great job of syncing good and evil with love and heartbreak in this book. This was her debut novel, released in April 2014, and the 2nd part of the series was released on Nov 18th. Stay tuned for the review of "The Body." 

Keri

This book is currently free- snatch it up now while you still can!


*** You can find our review of book two "The Body" here.

Blind by Xavier Neal

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Rating: 4 STARS

That endearing book that you just know is going to give you an HEA. Except it doesn't. It's a cliffhanger, which is basically the only thing that knocks it down for me. 

This is the story of Logan and Maxx. Best friends since they were kids, both coming from troubled homes. Logan is an MMA fighter, while Maxx is the nerdy girl/best friend. There is a lot of chemistry between these two, and as it plays out in the book you learn that they've both known it was there for a long time, just nobody wanted to act on it. For fear of being rejected, for fear of changing their friendship, or just flat out fear. On the sidelines we have their two housemates/long-time best friends Luke and Erin (brother and sister) also cheering them on, trying to help them past the fears, and get together. It makes for some background information on the main characters, and a little side story, hoping Luke and Erin will meet their contenders and get what they deserve in life as well- love. 

The writing style in this book worked so well for my brain. I love the characters addressing the audience in their minds as the story goes. It's an added touch to make me feel like I'm seeing this play out, not just reading it. 

Keri

(ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.)

*** Reviews of "Deaf" and "Numb"

Soul Journey by Miranda Shanklin.

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Rating: 3 Stars

This is the story of Annisa Lawson, who generally lives a picture perfect life. She's the captain of the cheerleading squad, her long time boyfriend and best friend Landon's the quarterback, she's pretty and popular and yet she still can't fight the feeling that she's not like every one else around her. There's something different about her. Then her new neighbors move in next door, and her life gets turned upside down. It takes one look into the eyes of the cutie next door for her to begin to question everything about her life. Then on her 16th birthday, she learns that she was right all along. She's not normal she's a witch along with long time boyfriend and best friend Landon and her new neighbors Chase and Penelope. Confused by the attraction she feels for Chase, Annisa learns she has to make a decision for it was this same situation with Chase and Landon that got them into this mess in the first place. Torn between what she thought was love, and what she feels could be love Annisa makes her choice, which opens up a whole new world of problems. The four teens come together to form a very powerful bond which comes in handy as they face off against jealous girls, their worlds best assassin and the ones who govern them all in the Counsel. We join Annisa and the gang on their adventure to save the world.

There was a lot about this story that I really liked. The story line had pretty much everything I look for in stories like this. I loved the maturity in our younger characters, you don't always see that in a YA novel. I loved the bad girl that we got with Rayne. The relationship between our four main characters was great. There were a few things that bothered me though. The biggie for me honestly was the sex scenes. I thought they were a little intense for a YA novel, I had a hard time reading about freshly 16 year olds and their sex lives. I'm not naive, I know it happens, unfortunately it was just something that took away from the book for me. Parts also seemed to drag for me, and it took me a little bit longer to get through some of them. Honestly, I think if I had of read this story as an N/A novel I likely would have rated this story a 4.

Caitlin

(ARC provided in exchange for an honest review)

Reviews for book 2, book 3, and book 4 are available as well.

Londyn Falls by Jennifer Domenico

Blurb:

He makes me want to ease his sorrow. To know what broke his heart. To help him heal. When he’s near, my breath catches, my heart races, my body sings. His very presence ignites my soul with desire.

All I want is to love him.

I just wish he knew it. ~ Londyn Harper

She makes me want to open my heart. Ask her to love me. Tell her my secrets. She makes me want to try again. When she’s near, my heart begins to heal, my body yearns to touch her, the darkness disappears.

All I want is to love her.

I just need to tell her. ~ Luca Di Roma

Londyn thinks she could never get a man like him. Luca fears if she learns his secret, she will run. Does he have what it takes to love her? Could she love him back?

 

   

Excerpts:

 

The professor sighs and leans back in his chair. “I can’t have you cowering in the corner like a frightened mouse. You need to speak up and say what you mean. Do you have an assertive bone in your body?”

“Yes.”

“Well, use it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“What shall I call you then?”

Every ounce of the minimal confidence I have left in me slithers away as I watch the professor rise from his chair and walk towards me. I do my absolute best to stay put and not run from the room like I want to. Placing both hands on either side of my desk, he leans close to me, staring into my eyes, daring me to flinch.

“You may call me Professor.”

 

Teasers:

Other Books by Jennifer Domenico…

Turn Towards the Sun

Turn Towards the Sun: After the Rain

Turn Towards the Sun: Forever in Bloom

Beautifully Twisted

Have My Heart

Chasing Desire

About The Author:

One day, many months ago, Jennifer Domenico went to sleep and a beautiful love story played out in her dreams.

When she awoke, she felt compelled to write it down. So she did- for days and days she wrote. The result was her first novel, Turn Towards the Sun and a writing career was born.

Ms. Domenico lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her very Italian husband, a dog that adores her, two cats that tolerate her, and a wicked sweet tooth.

Social Media Links:

https://www.goodreads.com/JenDomenico

http://jenniferdomenico.com

@jendomenico

https://www.facebook.com/authorjendomenico

Amazon US

Rating: 5 STARS

This is the love story of Luca, the ornery professor, and Londyn, his new assistant. When I first started this book, I was upset. I thought it was a spin off of "Gabriel's Inferno." I was wrong. And then I was dreading it being one of those "insta-love" stories that drive me crazy. It wasn't. 

This story is so well written, keeping you engaged from beginning to end. The characters and story progressed so naturally, the POV changes were done to perfection. The manner it's delivered in was a great choice. The whole time you're just waiting, and hoping that life will come together for these two, that they'll overcome whatever obstacle they seem to think is standing in their way. I don't have enough good things to say about this book. I will highly recommend this novel to any romance reader in the future.

This book is set to release on November 16th. At which point I will include buy links in my review.
Also, please stay tuned because we will be a part of the Blog Tour for this release on November 24th! 

-Keri 

(ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.)