Category Archives: 3 Flames

LOVIN’ BLUE
Author: Zuri Day
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Dafina; 1 edition (April 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780758259998
ISBN-13: 978-0758259998

SUMMARY:

Thanks to a stroke of bad luck, Eden Anderson’s childhood tormentor, Jansen McKnight, is now her temporary roommate. He’s also a badass, gun-toting cop who relishes a steak dinner. As a peace-loving vegetarian, there’s nothing Eden hates more than guns—and meat. And there’s nothing she’d love more than to deflate Jansen’s overblown ego. So when Jansen bets Eden that he can seduce her within two weeks, she can’t wait for him to lose. But as Eden learns more about the man beyond the badge, their teasing turns tantalizing. Soon, Eden starts to believe that opposites may indeed attract, and she can’t stop thinking about the man in blue…

MY THOUGHTS: 

This is my first read by this author and is a stand alone novel.  The chemistry between the two main characters made the book enjoyable and sexy.  I loved Jansen and his personality in the book.  He is strong willed and not afraid of a challenge.  Eden, at times, could be annoying and naive.  Even though she had her moments of flaws,  I did enjoy reading about the two characters. 


When I finished the book, my overall feeling for it was just okay.  It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It kind of fell in the middle for me in ratings.  I thought the love scenes were sexy, but not over the top.  The characters balanced each other out nicely and the ending was a little too neatly wrapped up.  There was parts of the book were the narrative dialogue goes a little overboard. 


Overall just an okay book for me.  If you are looking for a fun and sexy read to pass the time, then this book would do in a pinch.  I wouldn’t say it is a must have read, but one to pick up and read when you have a little extra time.


MY RATING:

THE UNDERTAKERS
The Rise of the Corpses
Author: Ty Drago
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (April 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402247850
ISBN-13: 978-1402247859

SUMMARY:

On a sunny Wednesday morning in October, a day that would mark the end of one life and the beginning of another, I found out my grouchy next door neighbor was the walking dead. When you turn around expecting to see something familiar, and instead see something else altogether, it takes a little while for your brain to catch up with your eyes. I call it the ‘Holy Crap Factor.’A” Forced to flee his home and family, twelve-year-old Will Ritter falls in with the Undertakers–a rag-tag army of teenage resistance fighters, who’ve banded together to battle the corpses.

MY THOUGHTS:

When you first get a glimpse of this book, you can tell by the cover that it is geared for the younger male teens.  When you read the summary, you still think it is for the younger male teens.  Even with that in my head, I still decided to read this book and give it a fair shot at review.  I may not be a young teen, or from the male genre, but there is something about zombie books that draw me into the plot.


Will joins a special team of people called The Undertakers after seeing his neighbor, principle and some of his teachers turned into zombies.  Not everyone can see the zombies, but Will happens to be one of the special ones that can.  The Undertakers are kids, yet they must leave everything behind to fight the zombies. 


I found this book to be adventurous and fun to read.  As an adult, there were some things that didn’t jive for me in it. If you have a younger male teen who has been reluctant to read,  I think this would be a great book to start off with though.  As an adult reader,  I had to keep trying to remember that it is a book geared for younger teens and some adults might not like the writing because of that.   While I was able to adjust to it and somewhat enjoy it,  if you have a problem with reading books like that, then you might want to consider borrowing the book instead of purchasing it.


Again, I think the author did a wonderful job though in creating a world for younger boys to dive into.  A fun read to spark the interest of reluctant readers and hopefully give them the push they need to start reading!


MY RATING:

BEHIND THE GATES
Tomorrow Girls #1
Author: Eva Gray
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (May 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0545317010
ISBN-13: 978-0545317016

SUMMARY:

In a terrifying future world, four girls must depend on each other if they want to survive.

Louisa is nervous about being sent away to a boarding school — but she’s excited, too. And she has her best friend, Maddie, to keep her company. The girls have to pretend to be twin sisters, which Louisa thinks just adds to the adventure!

Country Manor School isn’t all excitement, though. Louisa isn’t sure how she feels about her new roommates: athletic but snobby Rosie and everything’s-a-conspiracy Evelyn. Even Maddie seems different away from home, quiet and worried all the time. 

Still, Louisa loves CMS — the survival skills classes, the fresh air. She doesn’t even miss not having a TV, or the internet, or any contact with home. It’s for their own safety, after all. 

Or is it?

MY THOUGHTS:

With all of the hype surrounding dystopia themed books lately, it is no surprise that the younger teen books are jumping in on the trend.  In the tween book Behind the Gates by Eva Gray, we get to peek into the future of how schooling for our children could be if wars have destroyed our country.

At first, I couldn’t really get into this book.  While it had all of the elements that have sucked me into the dystopia world, I couldn’t seem to make a connection with the characters.  For me, there is a fine line between the way younger teens act and the way authors portray them.  Yet as the story continued on, I started getting interested in the mystery of the school.  I was intrigued about how they were treated within the walls of Country Manor and who could be on the bad side of the group.

While the story wasn’t as great as I wanted it, the ending did bring out my curiosity  for the next book in the series.  I would recommend this book for the younger crowd who have not yet ventured into the books such as Hunger Games.

MY RATING:

BLOOD MAGIC
The Blood Journals #1
Author: Tessa Gratton
Source: Amazon Vine
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (May 24, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375867333
ISBN-13: 978-0375867330

SUMMARY:

This page-turning debut novel will entice fans who like their paranormal romances dark and disturbing. It’s a natural next-read for fans of Stephenie Meyer, Carrie Jones, and Becca Fitzpatrick. But instead of mythical creatures, blood magic has everything to do with primal human desires like power, wealth, and immortality.

Everywhere Silla Kennicott turns she sees blood. She can’t stop thinking about her parents alleged murder-suicide. She is consumed by a book filled with spells that arrives mysteriously in the mail. The spells share one common ingredient: blood, and Silla is more than willing to cast a few. What’s a little spilled blood if she can uncover the truth? 

And then there’s Nick—the new guy at school who makes her pulse race. He has a few secrets of his own and is all too familiar with the lure of blood magic. Drawn together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick must find out who else in their small Missouri town knows their secret and will do anything to take the book and magic from Silla.

MY THOUGHTS:

In her debut novel, author Tess Gratton brings to the table magic, blood, suspense and romance.  This would seem like the perfect combination for an amazing book.  While I had high hopes for the story, and there were great parts through out, I still felt kind of disappointed in it.


When Silla’s parents die in a horrific way, the whole town believes that her Father went crazy and killed not only himself, but her mother as well.  Silla refuses to believe that her Father could do such a thing and has never accepted what has been said even though her brother Reese feels that maybe he did do it.  Silla receives a package that is signed by The Deacon and discovers it is a book of spells based on Blood Magic.  When she unleashes the magic within the pages, not only does she involve her brother, but newcomer Nick as well.  What Silla doesn’t know is that Nick already knows about magic and knows how evil it can be.  As the three of them try to understand the magic and spells, they realize that there is something more sinister that is going on besides the blood sacrifices they make for spells.


With drama and suspense, the author had my interest from the get go.  There were moments though that the book seemed to falter and the pace slowed to a point to where I wanted to skip pages.  Even though it did this, I kept going because I needed to know what everything meant.  I admit, at times I was a little confused with the storyline.  There were times that things didn’t go together and the characters seemed to fall out of the personality that the author had first created.  I also didn’t like how the book ended with so many unanswered questions and certain characters not being revealed.  Even with these problems in the book, I still thought it was a very decent read for a debut novel.  It had all the factors that I wanted including mystery, romance, 
heartbreak, paranormal and possessions. 


Not a book that would end up on my keeper shelf, but one that I would read the next in the series.  I am anxious to see what book two will hold and maybe clear up some questions from this book.  Not bad for a debut novel and I hope the author can bring us more in the future!


MY RATING:

SHIMMER
A Riley Bloom Novel #2
Author: Alyson Noel
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Square Fish; First Edition edition (March 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780312648251
ISBN-13: 978-0312648251

SUMMARY:

Having solved the matter of the Radiant Boy, Riley, Buttercup, and Bodhi are enjoying a well-deserved vacation. When Riley comes across a vicious black dog, against Bodhi’s advice, she decides to cross him over. While following the dog, she runs into a young ghost named Rebecca. Despite Rebecca’s sweet appearance, Riley soon learns she’s not at all what she seems. As the daughter of a former plantation owner, she is furious about being murdered during a slave revolt in 1733. Mired in her own anger, Rebecca is lashing out by keeping the ghosts who died along with her trapped in their worst memories. Can Riley help Rebecca forgive and forget without losing herself to her own nightmarish memories?

MY THOUGHTS:

After reading and enjoying the first book in this series titled Radiance,  I couldn’t wait to see what the author would come up next for Riley!  I think these books are perfect for the younger teens, but as an adult, I enjoyed the series so far as well.


This time around, Riley finds herself trying to help an angry ghost named Rebecca.  Rebecca is angry about being murdered and is taking it out on other ghosts.  Riley needs to convince her that she needs to forgive and let go.


While this was a cute and fast read, it is not my favorite of the two books.  I enjoyed the first book so much more because we got to read about Riley’s adjustment to being in the afterlife.  This book focused more on Riley helping others accept death and adjusting to it.  While I know this is the next logical step in the series,  I wanted for more exploration of Riley and Bodhi. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a book for a younger teen! I still enjoyed the book, but not as well as the first book.  If you are a fan of this series, then I recommend picking it up and following the series as it continues to grow!


MY RATING: