Category Archives: 2 Flames

NOCTURNE
Author: L.D. Harkrader

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mirrorstone (June 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786955023
• ISBN-13: 978-0786955022

SUMMARY:


Flanders Lane is tired of being protected by her Uncle Anatole. After years of studying magic in the back of his bookshop, she’s ready for an adventure of her own. Then one day, strange things start happening. A burglar breaks into the butcher’s shop, stealing nothing, but leaving the floors sparkling clean. Soon the seamstress’s apprentice vanishes on her way home, leaving behind only a shoe still laced at the top. And then worst of all, Uncle Anatole disappears. That night, a young vampire hunter named Pascoe knocks urgently on the bookshop door. Pascoe insists there is a vampire lurking in nearby Blakely Hall. Flanders looks deep into Pascoe’s gorgeous eyes and finds herself agreeing to help him. As Flanders tracks the vampire, her feelings for Pascoe grow until she stumbles upon a secret that turns everything she thought she knew about Pascoe–and herself–upside down. 

MY THOUGHTS:

Flannery Lane was left as a baby on the doorstep of Anatole. Not only does he take her in a raise her, but he is also a wizard.  Flannery grows up with the wizard even though he tells her time and again not to use the magic.  Since Anatole is reluctant to teach her, she sneaks behind his back and learns the craft herself.  When her “uncle” Anatole falls ill, she decides to use the magic to help him.  Then Flannery meets a tall, dark and handsome man named Pascoe, who also hunts vampires.

While the plot sounded intriguing and whimsical, I just couldn’t enjoy this book.  I understand it is focused for more of the younger teens, but the older teens might not enjoy it as much.  The plot is predictable, and at times it dragged.  Even though it has the mysterious plot and supernatural elements that readers are enjoying at the moment,  I fell the book could have been so much more.  The ending didn’t feel as complete as it should have either.

Overall, not a book I would read again.  I also would recommend it for the tween scene more than the younger adults for the paranormal fix.

MY RATING:

SEA CHANGE
Author: Aimee Friedman

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Point; 1 edition (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439922283
• ISBN-13: 978-0439922289

SUMMARY:

16-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science…and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she’s happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother’s estate.

There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can’t make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship…and reality. 

Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined? 

MY THOUGHTS:

Where do I begin with this review for this book?  There were some things that I enjoyed, but there were other things that were just not that great.

First the good of the book.  Leo, was by far, my favorite person in the book.  He was sweet, cute, and caring, yet he was also mysterious and intriguing.  I loved everything about him in this book.  The mysterious folk lore and beliefs of the island were also captivating.  I wanted to learn more about the legends of Selkie Island and  the people that live there.  The writing was good and seemed to flow at a good pace, even if there were some problems to it near the end.

Which, now brings me to the things I didn’t enjoy about the book.  Miranda was suppose to be smart, yet she kind of flaked near the ending of the book.  Its like she lost her brain in the water and couldn’t find it.  Her mother does a complete turn around after one day and now enjoys everything about the island.  One minute she is loathing the island and its people, the next she is buddies with everyone again.  The characters of TJ and his father were just too creepy for my liking and the rest of the girls Miranda tries to fit in with are just as annoying.  I also hated the ending to the story.  It left too many unanswered questions without the reader getting closure to Leo’s mystery and the legends of the Island.  I can understand this if the author plans on a sequel to the book, but too many things were left unfinished to even make for a satisfied cliffhanger for the reader.

MY RATING:

LOW RED MOON
Author: Ivy Devlin
Source: Publisher/Author
* I received this ARC free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books (September 14, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599905108
• ISBN-13: 978-1599905105

SYNOPSIS:

The only thing Avery Hood can remember about the night her parents died is that she saw silver—deadly silver, moving inhumanly fast. As much as she wants to remember who killed them, she can’t, and there’s nothing left to do but try to piece her life back together. Then Avery meets the new boy in school—Ben, mysterious and beautiful, with whom she feels a connection like nothing she’s ever experienced. When Ben reveals he’s a werewolf, Avery still trusts him—at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash inhuman silver. And she learns that she’s not the only one who can’t remember the night her parents died.

MY THOUGHTS:

I had such high hopes for this book. I have been reading more and more books about wolves lately and this book had captured my interest. When it arrived a few months back, I wanted to read and review it immediately, but I knew I needed to wait closer to release day.

The book starts off with Avery grieving about her parents death.  They had been brutally murdered, but Avery can’t remember who did it or why. All she remembers is being found afterwards, sitting next to her parents and trying to put them together again.  She is taken in by her Grandmother Renee who has secrets of her own.  Ben moves to town after his family is murdered as well.  They are drawn to each other from the moment they first meet and come to realize they are meant to be together.

Yes, there was romance and paranormal, but this book did not do well as a whole.  There were unanswered questions, the story flowed badly, and it had a tendency to skip around with dialogue. The plot was something that could have been great, but the execution of the book was not.  I feel that the author skipped around too much and never stayed focused on one thing at a time.  We could have had a beautiful romance between Ben and Avery, but it felt forced.

Even though I finished this book, it is not one I would read again.

MY RATING:

One Season of Sunshine
Author: Julia London
Source: Publisher
* I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (June 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416547096
• ISBN-13: 978-1416547099

SYNOPSIS:

Should some questions be left unanswered?

Adopted as an infant, Jane Aaron longs to know the identity of her birth mother and why she gave her up. Her only clue is the name of the small Texas town where she was born, so she’s come to Cedar Springs for answers. 
Handsome ad executive Asher Price lost his wife, the beautiful, mysterious Susanna, in a terrible car crash eighteen months ago. When he hires Jane as the nanny for his two children, sparks fly. Jane finds herself falling in love with both Asher and his children, but begins to suspect that Susanna was not the perfect mother and wife the family portrays her to have been.
As Jane gets closer and closer to finding out the truth about both her own and Susanna’s past, devastating secrets begin to emerge that may be more than anyone can bear. Will the truth bring Jane and Asher closer together or tear them apart forever?

MY THOUGHTS:

This was my first book by this author, and I am sad to say that I wasn’t overly impressed with it.  To me the storyline was bland and so was the main character of Jane. I liked the character of Asher and his two children though.  Riley was the typical preteen know it all and Levi was the rambunctious 5 year old that left you out of breath just reading about him.  Asher was a Father who was left raising the these two children after his wife, who suffered from being bipolar, dies in a car accident. He is struggling with raising these two handfuls and also keeping his company from failing. He hires Jane to be the nanny when she moves to Cedar Springs to look for her birth mother that had given her up for adoption. 

While I liked the plot and most of the characters, I wasn’t sold on the whole romance between the two.  To me it felt forced and there wasn’t any spark between them.  At times, the author was repetitive in the story and it made the book more drawn out than what it needed.  I feel if the author would have cut this book in half, it would have been better.  It was like the characters kept going in circles, and then at the end everything gets resolved rather quickly in the last chapter.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad book thanks to the supporting characters of the children.  I am still on the fence about reading more from this author.  It would really have to capture me from the first couple of pages with more speed and dialogue for me to really commit to another book.

MY RATING:

FARM FATALE
Author: Wendy Holden
Source: Publisher
*I received this ARC free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (July 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402237162
• ISBN-13: 978-1402237164

SYNOPSIS:

Cash-strapped Rosie and her boyfriend Mark are city folk longing for a country cottage. Rampant nouveaux riches Samantha and Guy are also searching for rustic bliss—in the biggest mansion money can buy. The village of Eight Mile Bottom seems quiet enough, despite a nosy postman, a reclusive rock star, a glamorous Bond Girl, and a ghost with a knife in its back. But there are unexpected thrills in the hills, and Rosie is rapidly discovering that country life isn’t so simple after all.

MY THOUGHTS:

After reading the last book by Wendy Holden, Beautiful People, I was hesitant on reading this one.  I didn’t like the previous book, but I thought I would give the author another try.

I wasn’t thrilled with this installment either.  It had a slow start with too many characters and didn’t seem to pick up at all throughout the whole story. It fell flat and just couldn’t pick up.  To me, the author just doesn’t put her all into the plot and story. The couples were undeveloped and left me wanting to know more about them than what was offered. The ending felt rushed, like the author was even happy to see the story finish.

It did have some good spots though. Each character brought some happiness, sadness and love to the table.  I just wish it would have been more often than what was written.

MY RATING: