{Feature/Highlight} The Other Side: Melinda's Story by Starr Gardinier Reina

Book Summary:

Melinda James has a problem. She's in Skyview Haven because her entire family and best friend are dead. Did she kill them? Does she belong in the asylum keeping her from harming herself and others?

Her father Paul James is killed in a car accident. She attends his funeral and she does see him lying in the casket. Or does she? It turns out her best friend Beth is the one who is dead and her father is there to console her. What is going on?

She thinks she's going crazy, especially when she discovers both are actually gone from this earth and they talk to her from ... 'the other side.' Are her father and Beth actually speaking to her from beyond? Why? What do they want?

Soon, Melinda finds the answers and they aren't what she wants to hear. Paul insists he was killed and his whole family is in danger.

This is part of Melinda's story that she shares with Dr. Alex Leever, the psychiatrist who is assigned her case. All she wants is someone to hear her story - and believe. Melinda slowly begins to trust Dr. Leever and steadily reveals her long, complicated, intricate tale.

While at Skyview, Melinda meets Trent and they become friends, until she learns something about him that rocks her world. Is he there to hurt her? Does he want what her father was killed over?

Problems mount quickly and she discovers that there are people who want something only she can give them. Is Trent one of those people?

Her family tries to help from beyond, but Melinda is running out of time. She needs to give them what they want or die. Can the dead protect the living? Will they be enough to protect her?

Excerpt (Prologue):

I tried to tell them it was going to happen, but nobody would listen. They all said I was just having bad dreams, or that I was crazy. It started at my father's funeral. It's been so long since it first began, about eight years ago. Sometimes though, it seems like yesterday. My father was there. No, I don't mean just in the casket. He was there. He talked to me, begged me to tell Mom that we all needed to run and hide. He said we were all in danger.

I asked him why he didn't tell Mom himself. He said he tried, but she wasn't listening. I heard him fine. But I didn't believe him. Why would we be in danger? We can't just up and leave. My friends are all here in Beaumont. When I told him this, he said it was important, that it was a matter of life and death. He seemed so worried, but I was so confused, I blew him off.

I guess when it first happened I didn't pay any heed to his warning. We went on with our lives. Mom was grief stricken, my brother Kyle was in his own world playing videos and I was trying to shut my father out of my mind. Was I going crazy? What was wrong with me? Dad was dead, but I could still see and hear him.

If I tell you the story, will you believe me?

Author Bio:

A paralegal by day, she's an author by night. Apart from being an award winning author for her short story "Cut," Reina has appeared in a blaze and made her mark on the literary world with her Ivanovich Series. The first is "In the Name of Revenge," the second, "Deadly Decisions" and the third, "One Major Mistake" was released July 10, 2012. Having studied and obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Literature/Creative Writing, she has found her unique style and is known for her works' distinctive voice, making every character stand out.

Reina is the artistic creator of the Ivanovich series featuring Pavel Ivanovich. Flanking Ivanovich's side in "Deadly Decisions" is Teresa Mancini, who vies with Ivanovich for readers' attention. According to J.M. LeDuc, who was "raised in an Italian family," Teresa "is perfect ... like all your characters." Reina is also the author of young adult novella "Cruel Whispers" and its sequel novel "Cruel Past."

Reina is an executive editor for Suspense Magazine. She has been interviewed in the newspaper and on the radio with relation to her fiction work. She has been a co-host on Suspense Radio.

Reina is a member of International Thriller Writers (ITW) and of Sisters in Crime, Los Angeles Chapter and nationally. She has won three Best Speaker awards as well as Best Evaluator at the Voice Ambassadors chapter of Toastmasters. She has always been active in events. As co-chair and main coordinator for the West Coast Author Premiere, she arranged the weekend-long event to help authors from all over network, learn and share their work with the public. Reina has also been instrumental in compiling authors and planning a local author event at Barnes and Noble in Ventura, California along with the store's event manager.

Please read more about Starr at www.QueenWriter.com or visit her blog at www.qw-blog.blogspot.com.

You can also visit her at one or more of her social media sites listed below:

Facebook

Facebook - Author Page

Twitter

{Review} The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna Van Praag

ISBN #: 978-0670784639

Page Count: 304

Copyright: April 4, 2013

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

Book Summary:

(Taken from back cover)

Knocked off-kilter by the Worst Event of Her Life, Alba Ashby finds herself in front of a house in Cambridge, England, that she's never seen before. There, a beautiful older woman invites her to stay on the house's usual conditions - she'll have ninety-nine nights, and no more, to turn her life around. With nothing left to lose, Alba takes a chance and moves in.

She soon discovers that 11 Hope Street is no ordinary house. Past residents have included Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Parker, who have hung around to help newcomers - literally, in talking portraits on the wall. Here Alba begins a journey that will heal her wounds - and maybe even save her life.

The House at the End of Hope Street is a charming, whimsical novel of hope and feminine wisdom that is sure to appeal to fans of bestselling authors Jasper Fforde, Lev Grossman, and especially Sarah Addison Allen.

Mandy's Review:

Alba has had her heart and trust broken all in one shot. She's devastated and has run away from home not knowing exactly where she's heading. When she comes upon the house at 11 Hope Street, she feels a pull to knock on the door. Entering into the house begins her on her journey of self-discovery. During her time at the house, Alba learns about her mother's death. While visiting her mother's lawyer, Alba learns a secret that changes her whole life while further devastating her already fragile psyche.

The house is in the process of helping other women besides Alba. There's Carmen, who's running away from the murder of her abusive husband, Greer, who is lost and unloved and needs to learn to trust her instincts concerning men, and Peg, the house's keeper who needs to learn how to let herself love.

This is definitely a novel geared towards females and I enjoyed it immensely. There were times it did get just a tad confusing when the story flipped to the past for a moment with no way to indicate we were taking a short trip down memory lane. That's really my only complaint. The house being magical and alive drew me into the story and ignited my imagination. How cool would it be to live in a house like that? The pictures were alive and could talk to the residents (which reminded me of Harry Potter, to be honest), but they were all pictures of women who were past residents of the house. They included some famous figures: Elizabeth Taylor, Agatha Christie, and Vivien Leigh, just to name a few.

To say this story is charming and whimsical is definitely true. It's a wonderful read that will be enjoyed by millions.


*A physical copy of this novel was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

{Review} The Apocalypse Gene by Suki Michelle & Carlyle Clark

ASIN #: B005WZZS82

File Size: 551 KB

Page Count: 239

Copyright: October 17, 2011

Publisher: Parker Publishing Inc.

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

Olivya Wright-Ono's once loving home has been converted to a hospice for the dying. Her ability to see auras forces her to witness, with agonizing detail, the vibrant colors of life consumed by malignancy.

The beautiful and troubled, Mikah, is an elite Empath in the ancient Kindred clan, led by the brooding, ever-morphing, monster named Prime. Mikah has learned a terrible truth. The plague is linked to Kindred origins.

When Olivya sees evidence of disease creeping into her mother's aura, she has no one to turn to but Mikah. Together, can they unearth the Kindred's secrets and find a cure? Can she trust this boy whose power allows him to manipulate her very emotions?

With her mother's life and the fate of the world in the balance, Olivya and Mikah embark on a quest to stop the Pandemic, only to discover it is far, far more than a mere disease ...

Mandy's Review:

Olivya's having a hard time with the fact that her childhood home has been basically turned into a den of death. Her breaking point comes when her mother finally gives in to the euthanization of her 5th grade teacher. Previously, her mother said that she'd never euthanize a person, but now that money is running low she has to do something different. (We've all been there, I'm sure.) Olivya's dead-set against euthanizing anybody because that's how her father left them to fend for themselves: he killed himself by euthanization, which Olivya found cowardly. There are moments where Olivya seems selfish and bratty. The good thing about her is that she realizes how she's acting shortly after and apologizes to her mother. Eventually she comes to terms with her father's choice of death, but it isn't easy.

Mikah lives with the Kindred clan, but is the only member who's not been Intiated into it. Part of him is drawn to the idea of fully belonging to the clan, but then there's the other part of him who looks down on and fears them. The clan members seem to be emotional vampires feeding off of the misery of the Indigenous humans, better known as Indigs. There comes a time where Mikah learns who he really is and how his parents played a role in his genetic makeup. He also realizes that some of the clan members aren't really who he thought they were and that he's misjudged them with his ignorance.

As I was reading this novel, I was thinking about how to describe this book to you all and here's what I came up with ... This book is a huge conglomeration of a dystopian-futuristic-mythological-paranormal mix. I know that sounds weird and you may be wondering how all of that could possibly work together to make a novel but, oddly, it does. The dystopian aspect comes from the setting of the novel. The pandemic has wiped out a lot of America's population and has caused it's own apocalypse of sorts. Because of the pandemic, futuristic elements have naturally evolved: the children go to school online using holo-sims and there are tracking devices that can be injected into the legs of children who're punished. Aspects of the familiar mythological stories (Kraken, Medusa, etc.) are introduced as part of the Klan's lineage. Finally, the paranormal element is introduced with people's magical capabilities, auras, empaths, and so on ... the Pandemic itself has paranormal aspects about it. So, these elements, while seemingly separate, mix together to make The Apocalypse Gene what it is ... An interesting story unlike any I have ever read before.


*An ecopy of the novel was provided by the authors in exchange for an honest review.

{Review} I Am Phoenix by Millie Lee

ISBN #: 978-1478112471

Page Count: 278

Copyright: September 24, 2012

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Book Summary:

(Taken from Goodreads)

ARISE FROM THE ASHES AND BE REBORN. I AM PHOENIX; MAGGIE PHOENIX; BORN OF THE GODS OF ATLANTIS. MEMORIES OF MY PAST; I HAVE NONE. SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH BEHIND MY BEST FRIEND'S MURDER, HIDDEN SECRETS WILL SOON ARISE. WITH THE HELP OF HYPNOSIS, I START TO REMEMBER; I HAVE LIVED MANY LIVES, BUT THOSE LIVES ARE BURIED DEEP AND FORGOTTEN. REMEMBERING THE PAST IS TO MAKE WAY FOR THE FUTURE AND THERE IS NO FUTURE WITHOUT THE PAST. SOME MEMORIES ARE BETTER LEFT FORGOTTEN ...

Kathy's Review:

*sigh*

I hate being the bad guy. I really do.

You know how, on shows like American Idol, the female judges always say something like "You look so beautiful tonight!" to a contestant right before they give them the bad news that their performance sucked? This is going to be kind of like that.

This book has 99 problems but the plot ain't one. I have no doubt that somewhere in this book lies a great story. A really great story. It was just buried so deeply under the poorly-edited writing that I was unable to tell for sure.

So poorly written and edited was I Am Phoenix that I had to force myself to make it through the pages. (See above: the all-cap, misused semicolon fiasco of a book summary.) One of the most frustrating things I found about her writing was the redundancy. I could flip to any page and give you an example. Right on page one - "I've forgotten what happened, blocked out that terrible day. The memory erased, the events of that day, that terrible day, changed my life forever."

The second most frustrating thing was how the characters spoke to each other. When you are speaking to someone else, do you use their name in almost everything you say? These characters are always addressing each other by name, all the time. It's not how real people talk, and I found it very distracting. There's not much description in this book. For instance, I have no idea what Maggie, the main character, is supposed to look like. The dialogue jumps around and characters go from 0-60 in terms of emotions without any description of what's going on.

I could go on, but I know the author probably spent a lot of time on this book and I commend her for actually getting it completed and written. However, I'd strongly suggest that she consults a professional editor if she wants to move forward in her writing career. Maybe even take a few writing classes.

But it does have a beautiful cover. ;-)


*A hardcopy of this book was provided by the author's editor in exchange for an honest review.

{App Review} Poems by Heart from Penguin Classics

Happy National Poetry Month everybody!!!

In celebration of this month, Penguin has released a new FREE app called Poems by Heart. It's only available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users. There are five levels of difficulty, 23 achievements, and 20 ranks of mastery. The app comes with a free William Blake poem, and 22 more classic poems are available for purchase from authors including Dickinson, Keats, Poe, Shakespeare, Shelley, Tennyson, and Whitman.

Take a moment to watch the video about this app:

Mandy's Review:

I downloaded this app yesterday and I love it. Of course, I'm a huge nerd when it comes to books and poetry. I've only tried out the free William Blake poem so far, which is only four lines of text. I'm wondering if it was only four lines because it was free. I'm hoping that the poems you purchase will have the full poem.

When you first log into the app, you're taken to your library where you'll see the free William Blake poem. When you tap it, the app will bring up the full poem for you to read. Then it begins reading it to you. Once that's finished, you can click on the "Learn This" button in the bottom right corner of the screen. It will then take you through the five levels of learning and memorizing the poem. You're able to go back and redo any level that you feel you could have done better. After you finish the five levels, you can record yourself saying the poem and play it back!!! I thought that was wicked cool. I'll admit that I tried to stay in time to the bar that was running across each line but, when I played it back, found it made me sound like an automated robot. So, if you record yourself, say it normally (or with some dramatic Shakespearean flair!) and tap the "Stop" button when you've finished with that line.

I also love that you can share your recital on Facebook, Twitter, via Email, or on SoundCloud. This is definitely an app that poetry enthusiasts will love to play around with. Download it today!!!

P.S. - I logged back into the app this morning while writing this review and found a new free poem in my library!!! It's definitely the entire "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" stanza (Shakespeare) and I cannot wait to begin memorizing this when I get home this afternoon.

P.P.S. - I forgot to mention: The poems that you purchase come 4 in a pack and are only $0.99 per pack. Very affordable!!!!