2013 challenge

Book Review: Bound to Be a Bride by Megan Mulry

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

Exciting historical erotic novella from acclaimed author Megan Mulry. In 1808 tempestuous Isabella, daughter of the Duke of Feria, unites with rebellious Javi, a highborn aristocrat practiced in the art of hojōjutsu, Japanese rope binding. They meet in the forest of western Spain, where both are on the run from an arranged marriage…to each other.

This book was just okay to me. I am not sure why but I really did not connect with anyone of the characters to well. The writing was okay but the plot was just not what I thought it would be. It was a fast read and not a total bore, I honestly think I may have liked it better if I found the characters more likeable. I won’t go into what I thought of Issabelle’s Father, of course I am sure we are not supposed to like him and for the time period he was not that much of an oddity.

Well it would seem the slump continues.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Aura by Rebecca Lynn Talley

- Ambrosia 1 Comment

“I half-turned to her and shrugged, still processing what I’d seen, or at least what I thought I’d seen, in Ms. Neal’s eyes—like they weren’t hers. Obviously, they were her eyes, but it looked like she’d plucked them from someone else’s head. A dead someone else’s head.”

In the fight between good and evil, Light is your only weapon.

Crystal Scott finally feels like a normal teenager. She has a lead in the high school play, a best friend, and a gorgeous boyfriend. With prom only a few days away, Crystal’s ordinary life seems perfect.

Endowed with great Light because of her virtuous choices and her inherent gifts, Crystal’s aura has become visible to those with the ability to see auras. Unfortunately, her power has also attracted the attention of demons intent on destroying all Light.

When Vincent Crandall, the human host for a powerful demon, discovers that Crystal’s Light is strong enough to disrupt the connection between demons and their hosts, he realizes she may be able to sever the connection altogether. Determined to stop her from interfering with his plans to rule the world, he sends operatives to neutralize her Light.

After the operatives fail to disable Crystal, Vincent decides he must harness her power for himself. He kidnaps her parents, and Crystal is thrust into battle against a demon army she didn’t even know existed. With the help of a mysterious young man and his mother, Crystal must learn to use the power within her before Vincent kills her parents and exploits her Light.

I was looking forward to reading Aura by Rebecca Talley and was very happy to take part in the book tour for this book. Overall I did enjoy the book and it was an enjoyable enough read. The structure is very good and I was happy with the writing style. Considering some of the books I have read lately it was nice to have a book that did have a solid foundation with it.

However there was some very dragging points where things just seemed to stall and very slowly roll along. The start of the book was slow and it took a while to fully engage in the story and be able to say okay, I like this. I never disliked it but I really prefer a book that is going go grab me sooner. The end of the book was a bit slow as well, I wonder if maybe there was some conflict on just how to wrap things up with the story.

Even with the slower parts of the story it is an okay book. It did not blow my mind but I liked it. If your looking for a paranormal read this is an enjoyable relatively fast read. The aspect of good vs evil is of course not a new one, but there are some interesting twists within the story as it unfolds. There are some good descriptions and parts that will make you raise an eyebrow. The scene when the main character first starts to notice something off about a teacher is interestingly done.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Aura

“I half-turned to her and shrugged, still processing what I’d seen, or at least what I thought I’d seen, in Ms. Neal’s eyes—like they weren’t hers. Obviously, they were her eyes, but it looked like she’d plucked them from someone else’s head. A dead someone else’s head.”

In the fight between good and evil, Light is your only weapon.

Crystal Scott finally feels like a normal teenager. She has a lead in the high school play, a best friend, and a gorgeous boyfriend. With prom only a few days away, Crystal’s ordinary life seems perfect.

Endowed with great Light because of her virtuous choices and her inherent gifts, Crystal’s aura has become visible to those with the ability to see auras. Unfortunately, her power has also attracted the attention of demons intent on destroying all Light.

When Vincent Crandall, the human host for a powerful demon, discovers that Crystal’s Light is strong enough to disrupt the connection between demons and their hosts, he realizes she may be able to sever the connection altogether. Determined to stop her from interfering with his plans to rule the world, he sends operatives to neutralize her Light.

After the operatives fail to disable Crystal, Vincent decides he must harness her power for himself. He kidnaps her parents, and Crystal is thrust into battle against a demon army she didn’t even know existed. With the help of a mysterious young man and his mother, Crystal must learn to use the power within her before Vincent kills her parents and exploits her Light.

Author Rebecca Lynn Talley

Rebecca Lynn Talley grew up in the gorgeous seaside city of Santa Barbara, CA. She met, and married, her husband, Del, while attending Brigham Young University. She graduated from BYU with a degree in Communications. She currently lives in rural Colorado on a small ranch with a dog, too many cats to count, and a herd of goats. She and Del are the proud parents of ten wildly-creative, multi-talented children.

Rebecca is the author of a children’s picture book, Grasshopper Pie (WindRiver 2003), a children’s chapter book, Gabby’s Secret (DuBon Publishing 2011), four novels, Heaven Scent (CFI 2008), Altared Plans (CFI 2009), The Upside of Down (CFI 2011), and Aura (DuBon Publishing 2012). She has also authored numerous children’s stories and articles for both print and online magazines.

When she isn’t writing, Rebecca loves to date her husband, play with her kids, swim in the ocean, and dance to disco music while she cleans the house. She has folded at least one million loads of laundry, baked hundreds of batches of chocolate chip cookies, and eaten 5,478 gallons of ice cream.

Reviews

This YA urban fantasy is fantastic! The story grabbed me from the start and kept me enthralled until the end! I love books that keep me thinking about the characters and events and possibilities even after putting them down…Aura is one of those books! Rebecca Lynn Talley has created characters you care about in a world begging for the special gifts they possess. I love the premise of Aura and imagine I’ll be enjoying many more Light vs. Demon novels in the future….at least I hope there are more to come!
~KindleQueen

I loved the clasic good VS evil in Aura. I loved that Crystal made the conscious choice to be good inspite of feelings and doubts. I also loved the idea of demons posessing somone who had made dark choices, or greedy bargains. The book is clean and well handled inspite of the serious subject matter.Well done.
~C. Michelle Jefferies

This is one of those books that you hope will become widespread enough to make a positive impact in this world. Personally, I think this is a book every teenager should read and I will definitely be passing it along to my own kids. Thank you, Rebecca, for writing a beautiful story with a wonderful message! I hope you keep at it because now I want a sequel!
~Rachael Anderson

Aura sucked me in from the first page. The book is intense and well-written. I loved that Crystal is innocent and makes a conscious choice to stay that way in the face of intense pressure. I would recommend Aura to young adults on up.
~Cami Checketts

Wonderful, wonderful message. Probably the most solid moral message I’ve ever read in contemporary literature, but without being too heavy or feeling like a lecture. You could almost look at it like an allegory, I think, representing real life with fictional symbols. I’m trying to explain without giving anything away, and I think I’m doing a bad job. Anyway, I have four boys, but if I had a girl, I would definitely have her read it. The story is imaginative and creative, Crystal is a strong but believable heroine, caught up in high school cares and not realizing her own potential or the battle that is waged around and for her. I thought at times it was a bit predictable, and that the first half of the book drug a little. It probably could have been told quicker or perhaps made a little more interesting. But all in all, I enjoyed it. The story kept me going and the characters were sweet and compelling.
~May Abbey

Wow! I got this book for free and LOVED it! I can’t wait to read any follow up books! (There WILL be follow up books, right?) In this story Crystal is full of light, thanks to making good choices, and she has to figure out how to keep the light in the midst of high school where temptation runs rampant and where she just wants to be an average girl! I like that things never went too far, and I felt like it was very well-written, with rounded out characters!
~Tamera Westhoff

Blog Tour Giveaway
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Ends 3.21.13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Book Review: Alice Hartley’s Happiness by Philippa Gregory

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When Professor Charles Pringle does not react to his wife`s special birthday dance of the seven veils, Alice decides to leave him and moves in with an unsuspecting student, Michael. His aunt dies and leaves him her house, so the couple move in and convert it into a “growth centre”.

Well thanks to this book I now find myself really locked in a book slump. I hope to break that slump soon.

I have loved Phillipa Gregory’s other works and I mean loved. I was very excited to delve into something that seemed a little different but since it was Gregory would be good. Sadly I was to be disappointed. While the writing is still in the usual reader friendly style that makes the book easy to read and a fast read, the story is just bad. There is not a single likeable character in the whole of the book. I wanted to like Alice at first being dumped by her Husband, a free spirit. That like did not last very long at all.

Once again that seems to be all I can say about this book. I have issues with saying negative things about books, but safe to say I did not enjoy this one much at all.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Family That Couldn’t Sleep: A Medical Mystery by D.T. Max

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For two hundred years a noble Venetian family has suffered from an inherited disease that strikes their members in middle age, stealing their sleep, eating holes in their brains, and ending their lives in a matter of months. In Papua New Guinea, a primitive tribe is nearly obliterated by a sickness whose chief symptom is uncontrollable laughter. Across Europe, millions of sheep rub their fleeces raw before collapsing. In England, cows attack their owners in the milking parlors, while in the American West, thousands of deer starve to death in fields full of grass.

What these strange conditions–including fatal familial insomnia, kuru, scrapie, and mad cow disease–share is their cause: prions. Prions are ordinary proteins that sometimes go wrong, resulting in neurological illnesses that are always fatal. Even more mysterious and frightening, prions are almost impossible to destroy because they are not alive and have no DNA–and the diseases they bring are now spreading around the world.

In The Family That Couldn’t Sleep, essayist and journalist D. T. Max tells the spellbinding story of the prion’s hidden past and deadly future. Through exclusive interviews and original archival research, Max explains this story’s connection to human greed and ambition–from the Prussian chemist Justus von Liebig, who made cattle meatier by feeding them the flesh of other cows, to New Guinean natives whose custom of eating the brains of the dead nearly wiped them out. The biologists who have investigated these afflictions are just as extraordinary–for example, Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, a self-described
“pedagogic pedophiliac pediatrician” who cracked kuru and won the Nobel Prize, and another Nobel winner, Stanley Prusiner, a driven, feared self-promoter who identified the key protein that revolutionized prion study.

With remarkable precision, grace, and sympathy, Max–who himself suffers from an inherited neurological illness–explores maladies that have tormented humanity for centuries and gives reason to hope that someday cures will be found. And he eloquently demonstrates that in our relationship to nature and these ailments, we have been our own worst enemy.

This was an interesting book and you can tell that a lot of research went into the work that was done. However overall I found myself fairly bored when reading it. I guess it was not what I expected which was not the books fault (I guess) such interesting information though could have been given in a less dry manner. This is a shorter review than usual because that is all I can really think to say about the book. Give it a shot if you don’t mind a dry presentation the information is interesting at least.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Spellbinding by Maya Gold

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Release Date: April 1st 2013

Salem is the bewitching backdrop to this lush, fast-paced tale of one girl discovering the source of her powers.

It is during a routine school project that Abby Silva–sixteen and nearly friendless–makes a startling discovery: She is descended from women who were accused of witchcraft back in 1600s Salem. And when Abby visits nearby Salem, strange, inexplicable events start to unfold. Objects move when she wills them to. Candles burst into sudden flame. And an ancient spellbook somehow winds up in her possession.

Trying to harness her newfound power, Abby concocts a love potion to win over her longtime crush–and exact revenge upon his cruel, bullying girlfriend. But old magic is not to be trifled with. Soon, Abby is thrust headlong into a world of hexes, secrets, and danger. And then there’s Rem Anders, the beautiful, mysterious Salem boy who seems to know more about Abby than he first lets on.

A reckoning is coming, and Abby will have to make sense of her history–and her heart–before she can face the powerful truth.

Having read a lot of the other reviews of this book just before I started it I was a little bit worried, but I liked the sound of the book when I asked for it on Net Gallery and so I was going to read it and form my own opinion about it. So my first thought is that it is a fast read and it is most certainly a young adult book like it states. There is plenty of teenage angst and plenty of silly teenage drama wrapped into the paranormal side of it. So keeping that in mind it was an alright book.

The characters had some depth although really over all they seem like your typical teenagers. There are your usual mean girls that you would expect and the main character Abby must overcome a lot of issues with the mean girls, and other torments in order to come out on the other side. I could guess most of the plot twists well before they happened and a lot of the witch stuff was your typical run of the mill, witches for dummies kind of stuff. However it was still a fun book with some nice descriptions and if I was younger I would probably have really loved it so it is good for the target audience. I would feel alright recommending this one to friends with a firm warning that it is a young adult book, you might not like it and a lot of the turns are very predictable but it is still a pretty decent story.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Working with Bitches by Meredith Fuller

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Release Date: March 26th 2013

What do you do when the queen bee demands to know why you haven’t written the report she never asked for? Or when the colleague who you thought was your friend takes sole credit for the project you worked on together?

It’s hard to speak out about catty behavior, especially when it’s insidious or goes on behind your back. But you can usually sense when something’s “off”—particularly if you’re completely stressed out and hate the job you used to love. Let’s face it, ladies: there are plenty of nasty, manipulative, and destructive women in the workplace who fly under the radar while ruthless alpha males get all the bad press.

In Working with Bitches, psychologist Meredith Fuller offers practical advice on how to recognize and manage difficult women at work. She combines actual cases with tips that women can use right away to diffuse even the worst situations. Readers will learn how to deal with the eight types of “mean girls” they might face in the office and find powerful reassurance that they are not alone.

I have worked with plenty of bitches in my time and it is nice to have a book that points out the different kinds. I have a better understanding of these women and why they act like they do thanks to this book. While for the most part it won’t help me much in my current working situation it does help me not feel so hurt by those I have worked with in the past. I also think in the end it will help me be able to deal with any more bitches that I run across in the future in a better manner. It really is a problem that they have, not me. That is one thing you have to be able to tell yourself when working with women like this book points out, It really is not you.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: A Secret Love by Stephanie Laurens (Bar Cynster)

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All of Regency London knows that no Cynster male would ever walk away from a lady in distress…but their protection can come at a tantalizingly high price. And now, Stephanie Laurens has created her boldest Cynster yet–Gabriel–a man who has known the pleasure of many women, but who has given his heart to no one.

She was desperate for his help…When a mysterious lady, her face hidden by a black veil, begs Gabriel Cynster for his help, he cannot refuse her plea. For despite her disguise, Gabriel finds the woman alluring and he is powerless to deny her. But he exacts payment as only a Cynster would demand: with each piece of information he uncovers, she must pay him–in the form of a kiss.

He was powerless to resist…

Lady Alathea Morwellan knows Gabriel is intrigued, but despite the sparks that fly between them, they have never passed a civil moment together. Yet as the stakes get higher, so does Gabriel’s desire for payment. And with each overpowering kiss, each passionate embrace, Alathea knows that she will not be able to resist his ultimate seduction…but what will happen when she reveals the truth

Time to dive back into the realm of the Ton and the Bar Cynster. Gabriel is next in line who is running from destiny, he is determined (like those before him) not to marry. Of course he happens to be in town for the season and even though he chooses the events he goes to carefully he can not escape what happens next. A mysterious Countess approaches him and is in deep need of help, like any good Cynster male he can not say no to a woman in distress and so he accepts her deal of helping her and not knowing who she is. Will it stay that way however?

Well it is a Cynster book so of course he ends up finding out who the Countess is and it happens to be a woman he has known for his whole life his friend Thea. I really did enjoy this book a fair amount. While there were a couple of times I wanted to smack Thea and tell her just to admit how she felt, or admit to Gabriel who she was it was just because I wanted to see him turn on his full Cynster stubbornness. If your a historical Romance reader and a Stephanie Lauren’s reader there really are no surprises in the turns that take place, however that does not take away from the story. The characters are enjoyable the plot is good and over all it is a fun historical romance read, dive on in and give it a chance.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Pleasure Project by Cassie Ryan, Jenna McCormick

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Release Date: March 26th 2013

Be transported into a future brimming with sensuality—where those who dare are free to explore every forbidden desire…

The Science Of Pleasure by JAX

Dr. Jenesis Bruehl had high hopes for her research—until a ruthless colleague stole it to experiment on innocent people, creating a new species of super human. Little did Jenesis imagine that years later she’d be working with one of them. And when Kincaid “Kin” Gregory persuades her to use him as her own personal test subject, neither can deny their insatiable attraction.

Project Seduction by Jenna McCormick

Professional pleasure companion Jace Donovan is on the brink of a major promotion. He just has to spend one week aboard the interstellar cruise ship Trist for a bachelorette party. But when he reunites with the one woman he could never forget, he risks his career for a chance to rekindle the wild passion they once shared.

A Pirate’s Pleasure by Cassie Ryan

Space pilot Captain Dare McFadyen never expected to be space jacked by the notorious pirate Red Death, aka Dani McGovern. And Dani never expected he’d knock her out of her boots. Now the sexy intergalactic bandit is pulling Dare into a battle between warring worlds as she kinks up his plans—and his bed…

This was not a bad set of stories although I have to say they were not my favorite set either. The Science of Pleasure was the best novella of the batch that were in this book. The plot flowed well and the characters were well developed. There was a good amount of erotic content without being over the top. The second of the novella’s project seduction I was just confused by and did not like it at all. Maybe someone else would like it better, but totally not me at all. A Pirate’s pleasure had a talking vibrator in it..yes a talking vibrator do I really need to say more?

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Written on Silk by Linda Lee Chaikin

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A royal wedding masks the unfolding of Catherine de Medici’s murderous plot against the Huguenots. Will any of the Huguenot princes survive? Life and death rest with two people …Rachelle Dushane-Macquinet, couturiere from a celebrated silk-making family, has come back to the Louvre Palais to create the royal wedding gown. Recruited into the evil Queen Mother’s ring of women spies, she must use her wits to preserve her honor—and the lives of her fellow Huguenots.Marquis Fabien de Vendome has also returned from a buccaneering venture against Spain. The Queen Mother plans to implicate him in an assassination. But Fabien has designs of his own.A man and a woman caught up in history’s deadly swirl and love’s uncertainties seek to escape the venom of Madame le Serpent. Faith in Christ must uphold them, and all who stand alone, in a city gone diabolically mad.

Written on Silk for me turned out to be not as good as Daughter of Silk. I will probably eventually read the third in the series to have read it, but overall the book was a bit dragging to me. There were parts of it that stood out like the poor massacre of the Huguenots but over all it just seemed to be sluggish and drag. There were a lot of mentions of scripture of course, but this was to be expected given the subject material however I felt it might have been a little bit over done and rather than add to the story it started to sound a bit like you were being preached at.

It is not a bad book just slow moving and I would have liked to see a bit more historical information put into than what was.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Blood Flows Deep in the Empire by N. Isabelle Blanco

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Dyletri, God of Fertility, has locked away his powers. No woman is allowed to touch him, not until he can return his long-dead lover back to life. All he has to do is sacrifice one human girl. A girl who unlocks his powers and rips his dormant lust right out of his body. Trapped by his promise, Dyletri has no choice but to watch her die, no matter how much he wants her. Yet the darkness of his calling is spiraling within him, demanding he claim the human as his. If he goes back on his promise, the energy of the Fates will cause untold destruction in the Universe. That doesn’t change how Dyletri’s begun exhibiting symptoms that point to more than just lust. How does he allow Ismini to die when she’s come to own him from the inside out?

Well my very first thought when I started this book was, “Well alright this is interesting” but it was not to long before I was fully engrossed and read it in one sitting. Blood Flows Deep in the Empire takes us into a story of myth and legend with Gods and Goddesses and alternate universes. It is a blend of geek science stuff, myths and of course some very hot sex.

Dyletri and Ismini are gripping characters who both struggle with the past and what is going to become of them in the future. It is not easy to accept emotions that come barreling at you when you think that your destiny is something completely different. There were a few formatting errors in the book but because it was an early copy I think that they will be fixed before the release date and overall they were not bad enough to take away from the overall story of the book. The whole cast of characters was entertaining and I found myself literally laughing out loud as some of the interactions that took place. I look forward to reading about the other stories that have been set up and will take place.

If your an erotic romance reader who loves some paranormal and adventure this is going to be a great read for you. N. Isabelle Blanco has created a very hot and very interesting universe that pulls you in. Blood Flows Deep is not your normal erotica at all, although trust me there is plenty of heat to get you through as well.

My Gemstone Rating:

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