Silence

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

January 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4424-2665-8

Pages: 438

Contemporary, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Coldwater, Maine

Nora Grey wakes up in a cemetery only to realize that she can’t remember the last several months and that she has been missing for weeks.  Nora tries to resume her daily life by hanging out with her best friend, Vee, dealing with school and avoiding her mother’s new boyfriend who is very creepy.  As she struggles to put the pieces together she can’t help feeling that everyone knows more about her disappearance than she does.

Now Nora has met a stranger that is very mysterious and that she finds she is both drawn to and afraid of.  At least he is able to shed some light on her memory loss.  Unfortunately this leads Nora to find out that she is about to embark on the fight of her life and that she is in the middle of ancient enemies that is almost more than she can comprehend.  If that wasn’t enough she is also falling in love.  With all the strange occurrences happenings it bring the feeling that she has already done this before.

This is another great story in a series that is proving hard to forget.  Watching Nora go through all the trials she is going through and how she deals with all the obstacles thrown in her path makes for a story that keeps readers turning the pages just to see how it will all turn out.  It is a different take on fallen angels that makes for an intriguing read.  The story comes to life with all the details provided in the story and yet it doesn’t overwhelm the reader with too much to take in.  This one will also have readers wanting to read the last book in the series just to see how everything will eventually turn out for Nora and those she loves and cares about.  It is also a story that will have readers wanting to read more from this author. 

I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

LRH

Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Publisher: BDWY

Reprint April 2014

ISBN: 978-0-307-58837-1

Pages: 415

Contemporary, Suspense, Romance

New York City & North Carthage, Missouri

Nick and Amy Dunne are getting ready to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.  It is a warm summer morning in North Carthage.  As the presents are wrapped and the reservations made Nick’s beautiful and clever wife disappears.  Now the police are investigating. Nick might be the town golden boy but he isn’t helping with his deceit, his lies nor his inappropriate behavior.  He is definitely bitter and evasive, oddly so, but that doesn’t make him a killer or does it?

This is story that is full of suspense and so many twists and turns that soon the reader is doubting even themselves.  This a book that sucks the reader in with all that is happening and wondering just what will happen next and just what the truth is.  Just when the reader thinks they have figured out the mystery something else is thrown into the mix that makes them wonder if they are on the right track or not.  The story will also keep the reader guessing until the very end on just how this one will end.  This is one book that is worth reading and will have readers re-reading over and over even when they know the ending because with all the nuances in it readers are sure to discover something new with every read.  It does have a somewhat abrupt ending but overall it still an excellent book.

I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

LRH

Hunters

Hunters Demon Series by Aoife Marie Sheridan

Publisher: Aoife Marie Sheridan

September 2014

ISBN: 978-1495430725

Pages: 118

Contemporary, Paranormal Romance, New Adult

Abigail is a nineteen year old whose job it is to hunt demons.

Her life has been tough and she has was taken in by a priest.  Father Peter also believes her when she says she can see ghosts.  He also trains her to hunt demons with three other members.  One being Daniel that is more than what he seems.

Ghosts start attacking Abigail after a possession goes wrong. It also starts to loosen the tight hold she has had on her emotions.  Now Abigail has drawn the unwanted attention of the Reote.  She also learns that more than she was willing to. 

Knowledge might be power except for Abigail because it becomes her undoing.  The only thing that is keeping her together is Daniel.

This is start to a series that starts off interesting.  The world building it fast and a lot of the background information comes throughout the story as the reader gets more into the book.  It has it’s dark side with each character trying to deal with difficult pasts but it also shows how each one got to the point that they are at.  There are still some unanswered questions about the characters that hopefully will be answered as the reader gets more into the stories.  The first one also ends in a cliffhanger but it is actually a good stopping point.  This story also deals with some dark subjects but it is done is such a way to not pull the reader down. It is handled well.

I give this one 4 red roses

LRH

The Charmer

The Charmer Assassin Guild Book 1 by C.J. Archer

Publisher: C.J. Archer

March 2013

ISBN: 978-0987337290

Pages: 286

Historical Romance

1598 Hampshire & London, England

He is handsome, charming and devastating.  He is also the last man she needed but was the one she wanted.

Orlando Holt is an assassin that has never had to assassinate a woman before.  Lady Lynden is both lovely and feisty and will be his first.  Orlando has been told that she is a vicious murderess but he begins to have doubts.  Now he is determined to find out who hired him.  His world is turned upside down with what he learns and sends him headlong into love with the one woman that proves to be immune to his charms.

Lady Susanna Lynden has been widowed twice by the time she turned twenty-four.  She has also had her fill of charming men.  Her life was made miserable by her last husband who wasn’t the same once he got her to the marriage bed after wooing her with all the correct things necessary to win her.  Now money is scarce and her house is falling down but she knows that the exotic fruit from her orange trees will turn things around and keep poverty away.  Except that every where she turns she is being thwarted and someone seems to want her dead.

This is a start to a series that proves to have some very interesting characters and makes for a story that the reader will fall into and won’t want to leave until the very last page and will also have them eagerly looking for the second book in the series.  The world of the 16^th century comes to life for readers as they immerse themselves in the world that is built in the story.  It also gives a reader a glimpse of what life was like back then.  If the other books prove to be as full of action and suspense as this one this is going to be one series that will be a lot of fun to read and worth checking out.

I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

LRH

Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

May 2012

ISBN: 978-0-06-202404-6

Pages: 525

Dystopian, Young Adult

Tris Prior is finding that every choice can both transform you and has consequences.  Tris is trying to save those she loves and also herself as unrest surges in the factions.  She is also grappling with haunting questions dealing with grief, forgiveness, identity and loyalty not to mention politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been a day of celebration and victory with her new faction.  Instead she had a day that ended in unspeakable horrors.  Now war is looming as the conflict between the factions and their ideologies grow.  With war coming sides need to be chosen and secrets are emerging and those choices will become even more irrevocable and more powerful.  Tris has been transformed by her decisions and also the haunting grief and guilt she is dealing with.  Not to mention the radical new discoveries and shifting relationships she is dealing with.  Tris now must fully embrace her Divergence even when she doesn’t know what it will cost her by doing so.

This is proving to be an excellent trilogy that doesn’t let up on the action and suspense.  With some romance it makes for a book that is very hard to put down.  Readers get to see how the characters have changed from the first story to this one and how they are still the same in many ways. It will also have readers wanting to see just how this is going to turn out in the final book.  The story gives a fascinating look of what ifs and a look at a different world while still being in places that readers can identify with.  It is easy to see why this one was turned into a movie.  This is one trilogy worth trying by readers of all ages.

I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

LRH

The Last Orphans

The Last Orphans by N.W. Harris

Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing

October 2014

ISBN: 978-1940534893

Pages: 222

Contemporary, Young Adult

Leeville & Atlanta, Georgia

 Shane Tucker is a normal sixteen-year-old until one horrifying day changes all that for him and every other kid in the world.

In just hours the entire adult population is gone leaving just their children behind to take care of themselves in the aftermath of a freak, horrific occurrence.  Now Shane is a newly made elder of his small town.  Shane finds himself in the role of caretaker for a large group of juvenile survivors.  One of which is Kelly Douglas who before now was an out-of-his league classmate.  Who before everything happened wouldn’t give Shane a second glance. 

All together the survivors begin a quest to find out just why the adult population was slaughtered.  What they didn’t expect was to find more horrifying then the deaths is that the annihilation of the adults was just the start of what is happening.  Shane and his friends think they are just the unlucky survivors left to deal with the new messed up planet.  Now they find out they are in actuality the next victims.  There is an unknown power that won’t stop until the entire human population is dead. 

This is a start of a series that if the rest is as good as this one will prove to be a phenomenal series.  The way the kids are forced to deal with what has happened and how they overcome every obstacle that is placed in their path makes for a powerful story that is one that readers won’t soon forget.  The action is non-stop and seeing how Shane and his group of friends stick together and work together to deal with the new reality of their life is engrossing and makes for a read that is very hard to put down.  It will also have readers eagerly awaiting the next book to come out to see just where this is headed.  It ends with a cliffhanger that works very well with the story overall.  This is series that is sure to prove a favorite among readers of all ages.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

The Prince Who Loved Me

The Prince Who Loved Me by Karen Hawkins

Publisher: Pocket Books

September 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4516-8524-4

Pages: 355

Historical, Romance

A handsome prince who is also a rake and doesn’t believe in true love meets a lass that is stubborn and who won’t settle for less.

Prince Alexsey Romanovin enjoys a carefree life with flirting and more with any lady that crosses his path.  Then the interfering Grand Duchess Natasha decides it is time for Alexsey, her grandson, to wed.  Alexsey soon finds himself in Scotland determined to put an end to those plans.  Bronwyn Murdoch seems the perfect answer as she isn’t to the duchess’s taste at all as she is brainy, bookish and bespectacled.  

Bronwyn has little time for a handsome flirt when she is at the beck and call of her ambitious stepmother and her social butterfly stepsisters.  She is sure no spoiled arrogant prince would be seriously interested in a firm-minded female like herself.  Now she is determined to have some fun and turn the prince’s game around on him and show him that an ordinary woman can bring a prince to his knees.

This is a fun story that takes the fairy tale of Cinderella and turns it into a Scottish tale that has a lot of humor in it.  The characters are fun and interesting and keep the reader glued to the pages as they see just what will happen next and if Bronwyn will get a happily-ever-after.   This a great start to a new series that if the rest of the stories prove to be as original as this one it is going to be one series that will be a lot of fun and will pull at readers’ heartstrings.  Readers will also never look at Cinderella the same again after reading this one.  It will also have readers wondering just what fairy tale will be next that will get it own twist. 

I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

LRH