Category Archives: 3 Flames

The Fireman Who Loved Me
Author: Jennifer Bernard
Source: Publisher
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Avon
 (April 24, 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0062088963

Captain Brody has been badly burned by his ex-wife. When he orders Ryan, his star fireman, to participate in a bachelor auction, little does he know he’s the one who will lose his heart. 


Melissa McGuire is a brainy local news producer trying to get her career back on track. She can’t believe she’s being set up by her grandmother, who bid on a date with a fireman at the auction. She prefers the artsy type, not the tough, commanding , though clearly attractive, fire chief. 


And yet, they can’t resist each other, especially once her ambitious news anchor assigns her the “Thanksgiving with the Firefighters” news special. Add in her grandmother’s matchmaking and the combined efforts of Captain Brody’s crew…can Brody help being the first bachelor to succumb to love, and the crazy rollercoaster ride of the Curse?

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Life Is But A Dream
Author: Brian James
Source: Amazon Vine
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
 (March 27, 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0312610043

Sabrina, an artist, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and her parents check her into the Wellness Center. There she meets Alec, who is convinced that it’s the world that’s crazy, not them. But when Alex starts to convince Sabrina that her treatment will wipe out everything that makes her creative, she worries she’ll lose hold of her dreams and herself.

I don’t know what to say about this book.  Was it intriguing? Yes.  Did it have great writing? Most of the time, yes.  Beautiful cover? Check.  Maybe I am in a reading funk lately and the young adult stories are just not as refreshing.  I really wanted to enjoy this book — which I did — but not as much as I was hoping.

Sabrina is in Wellness Center or psychiatric hospital.  She has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and her parents put her their for treatment.  The author takes us inside Sabrina’s mind and lets us get a glimpse at schizophrenia from her mind.  When she meets Alec, he tries to convince her that they aren’t crazy.  He thinks that the outside world is messed up and not them.  During the duration of the book, we get to read more about Alec and Sabrina dealing with their problems and relationship.  This book is a little darker that what I am used to reading in the young adult world.  It is a little heavy and some teens might not like the depressed feel of the story.

Not a bad book, but it wasn’t one that had me excited to read more after I finished it.  I am curious to see how the author would do with a lighthearted teen book instead of such a serious one.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Virtuosity
Author: Jessica Martinez
Source: Amazon Vine
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse
 (October 18, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-1442420526

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen’s whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn’t just hot…what if Jeremy is better?


Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can’t end well, but she just can’t stay away. Nobody else understands her–and riles her up–like he does. Still, she can’t trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what’s expected.


Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall….

I deliberately waited to read this book because everyone was reading it at the same time.  I was careful to stay away from the reviews because I wanted the full effect of this book with no spoilers.  I fell in love with the cover first thing and I wanted to fall in love with the story as well!

While I am a piano player, I am in no means a master of it.  So when I saw that this book was about a musical child prodigy,  I was curious to see how it would play out.  While I wasn’t a huge fan of the book, I will admit that the author knows how to write with ease.  It flowed nicely but I just couldn’t connect with the characters.  Carmen’s struggle with stage fright was something that I think many people would struggle with.  I liked how the author took this struggle and added to it the medication as well.  Jeremy was just an okay character for me.  Again, I had a hard time connecting with the characters, so that could be the reason I wasn’t a big fan of him.

I would say that this is a book that many teenagers will fall in love with.  I might not have been a big fan of it,  but I might try reading it again when my reading tastes have changed.  It could have been a personal reading funk I am in or not.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Tales From the Crib
Author: Jennifer Coburn
Source: Author Submission
Genre: Adult Fiction
Publisher: Kensington
 (February 1, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0758209832

Lucy and Jack are about to become parents.


Lucy is pregnant-and she can’t wait to surprise her husband with the good news. But she’s the one in for a shock when she discovers that Jack has some surprising news of his own. It seems he wants a divorce. At least he did, until he found out they were having a baby. Now he’s convinced they should stay married and raise the baby together…as friends.


But will they stay husband and wife?


Only Lucy doesn’t want to be just friends. Sure, their marriage has hit a rocky patch, but she still believes in happily ever after. Besides, she wants them to be a family. But she’s agreed to give this kooky arrangement one year which means she has exactly twelve months to win back the heart of the man she married. Unless, of course, someone else shows up to sweep her off her swollen feet first.

I really wanted to enjoy this book especially after reading the prologue and the opening chapter.  I laughed at the envisioned dinner Lucy was going to share with her husband and tell him the exciting new of her pregnancy.  Then the bubble burst and her reality dinner was much worse than she hoped.  The first chapter even had me laughing out loud at her therapist who decides to go into hiding and not return the couples calls because he just doesn’t want to deal with their problems.  Seriously? Any time a therapist fires the patient, you know there is good reason and usually a good story behind it.

After the first few chapters though, the fun kind of wore off for me.  The book started to decline and hit bottom with no ladder of hope in returning to the top.  I really wanted it to, but it just didn’t have the steam to keep going.  This book is definitely a chick lit book with witty dialogue, funny characters and no paranormal in sight, but it did lack something even if I can’t put my finger on it.  It just seemed to stall for me.  It does have a good ending and it leaves the reader with the feeling of everything being wrapped up nicely.

If you are just looking for a quick chick lit read with lots of laughter and eccentric characters, then give this book a chance.  This might just be what the therapist ordered to get your funny bone laughing again.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Empty
Author: Suzanne Weyn
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
 (February 1, 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0545172790

A dystopic look at what happens to one American town when all the fossil fuels run out…


Civilization has just run out.


It’s the future – the very near future – and the fossil fuels are running out. No gas. No oil. Which means no driving. No heat. Supermarkets are empty. Malls have shut down. Life has just become more local than we ever knew it could be.


Nobody expected the end to come this fast. And in the small town of Sage Valley, decisions that once seemed easy are quickly becoming matters of life and death. There is hope – there has to be hope – but there are also sacrifices that need to be made, and a society that needs to be rethought. Niki, Tom, and Gwen may find what they need to survive. But their lives are never going to be the same again.

For such a short read, this book pulls out all the punches!  When it first arrived in my mailbox, I wasn’t too sure I wanted to start reading another Dystopia right now.  I seemed to be leaning toward dystopia lately and I didn’t want to get burnt out on them just yet.  When I saw that it was a short read though I went ahead and gave it a go!

Imagine ten years from now the price of gasoline being $20 a gallon.  Not hard to imagine with the way gas prices have been climbing the last few years.  Now imagine the price of oil being in the $500 a barrel range.  Are you starting to form a picture in your mind yet?  Without oil, our country would be in a world of hurt and that is what this book presents to the reader.  What would our country be like with low amounts of oil available and gas prices so high that only the super rich could afford to drive anywhere.  In turn, this causes electricity to sky rocket to where heat and cooling becomes something of the past.

This book is told from three different point of views involving Gwen, Tom and Niki.  While the characters were okay, they weren’t outstanding.  They were pretty plain and basic within the realm of characterization.  They were the typical teens thrown into the element of survival.

If you are looking for a quick read in the dystopia world of young adult reads, then give this one a chance.  It may not be as amazing as some of the other books out right now, but it does give you a real look into what our world could be like in the future if things don’t change now in the real world.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!