Book Review: Odium by Frank McManus

Odium

by Frank McManus

Publisher: Frank McManus

Published: May 25, 2014

ASIN: B00KKB4HV2

Odium has been nominated for an award in the Young Adult Fiction Category in the USA Best Book Awards. Winners will be announced in November 2015!

Amazon Synopsis:

 Age Level: 9 - 18 | Grade Level: 5 - 12

Lost in time and dimension, is an island known as ODIUM.

It is said that this land called ODIUM holds the keys to our existence, our past and our future. To find the island and rediscover its secrets will bring about a time of great prosperity, wonderment and peace upon all lands.

However, through the millennia all of the charts and records to ODIUM have been lost. All that remains are the strange stories that elders will tell to their young at bedtime. Hence, ODIUM was to remain forever a myth, a story told to children, or so we were led to believe.

This is the tale of two extraordinary best friends, who discover a great secret and become adventures. Friends who never gave up, who dared to challenge reality and their own awareness in order to rediscover and explore ODIUM. For the good of the many, on the hopes of a few, they embarked on a journey of a lifetime. 

Book Links

Amazon  *  Goodreads

Seeing Through Stones: A Contemporary Young Adult Novel by Rajdeep Paulus

Seeing Through Stones: A Contemporary Young Adult Novel (Swimming Through Clouds Book 2)

by Rajdeep Paulus

Publisher: Playlist Fiction

Published: Feb. 24.2015

ASIN: B00TZHHJJO

Amazon Synopsis:

From Award-Winning, Young Adult author Rajdeep Paulus comes the sequel to Swimming Through Clouds, a powerful reminder that life is a battle you don’t fight alone. 

"I live in the in between. Between yesterday and forever. The way forward haunts me. The gap I must cover daunts me. And hope beckons, ‘Run to me,’ but I just learned to walk." 

After a lifetime of abuse, the Vanderbilt siblings flee their home, finally free to pursue new dreams while running from yesterday’s nightmares. 

Once bed-ridden Jesse navigates the Chicago streets, concealing his identity and planning revenge. A chance encounter in the rain 
introduces a girl who offers Jesse a glimpse of a sunnier future, but how will he weather the growing storm inside himself? 

Separated from her Post-it note prince, Talia hides at a safe house for survivors of domestic violence while her father turns the city upside-down to find her. Surrounded by women fighting their own demons, Talia faces her past at every turn.

Book Links

Amazon  *  Goodreads

Book Review: Destiny Gardens by John Harrison

Destiny Gardens

By John Harrison

Publisher: House Bean Boy

Published: June 11 2013

ASIN: B00DMIX5P4

Amazon Synopsis:

A disparate group of abandoned kids in the late 1950's band together for survival in a vacant and derelict public meeting hall. In their Dickensian world, they cross paths with Mafia godfather, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, and a sinister New Orleans pimp named Rance Charles who has arrived to reclaim what's his. In the style of Stephen King's THE BODY (aka Stand by Me), and the novels of S.E. Hinton, DESTINY GARDENS opens a door into a world not long ago where the definition of “child” and “adult” was a distinction without a difference.

Book Links

Amazon  *  Goodreads

Twist Book Review Blog Tour with Roni Teson

Read the first 5 chapters of Twist on the authors website: http://roniteson.com

Title: Twist

 By Roni Teson

Genre: Fiction, Romance Suspense

Paperback: 244 pages

Publisher: Brown Girls Publishing (March 12, 2014)

ISBN-10: 0991532236

ISBN-13: 978-0991532230

ASIN: B00JBL6MBU

Amazon Synopsis:

A Romantic Suspense full of twists and turns.... When a steamy incident in the back seat of a borrowed car plunges sixteen-year-old Beatrice Malcolm smack in the middle of a global manhunt, she discovers that the search for her fugitive father has more to do with her than she could ever imagine.

With her mother gone, Bea's life is unraveling in the worst possible way as she's thrust into a world 

Fiction Author Book Blast

Genre: Fiction About The Books

Revenge, Inc.

About The Book

This gripping page-turner from author Keleigh Crigler Hadley shows that all it takes is one bad decision for everything to change. Cherise Holder’s hell on earth begins on her 26th birthday. Unable to cope with a heart shattering loss, she gives in to a familiar addiction. Forced to attend AA meetings, Cherise befriends fellow alcoholics; Stuart, a disgraced banker, Greyson, a bitter cheerleader and Araceli, a broken teenager with an infamous parent.

An opportunity arises, and the foursome decides to work together to correct past wrongs in each of their lives. Their ingenious plan to get revenge works - too well and this is only the beginning. They find the electrifying high of revenge, more addictive than anything they’ve ever experienced. Cherise assumes that revenge will put out the fire in her heart, but she finds that it just makes her

The Only Boy Blog Tour and Giveaway with Jordan Locke

Blog Tour Schedule

The Only Boy by Jordan Locke 

 Mary is stuck in Section One, living with three hundred women in a crumbling hospital. She wonders what life was like two centuries ago, before the Cleansing wiped out all the men. But the rules—the Matriarch's senseless rules—prevent her from exploring the vacant city to find out. Taylor's got a dangerous secret: he's a boy. His compound's been destroyed, and he's been relocated to Section One. Living under the Matriarch means giving up possessions, eating canned food and avoiding all physical contact. Baggy clothes hide his flat chest and skinny legs, but if

Yesterday Mourning Blog Tour and Giveaway with Renita Bryant

Yesterday Mourning

By Renita Bryant

Publisher: Mynd Matters Publishing

Published: Jan. 10, 2014

ASIN: B00CNTJIJA

Amazon Synopsis:

Yvette is a forty-one year old woman struggling to cope with losing both parents during her twenties—one to terminal disease and the other to life’s complications. Over the years, she learned to repress the pain of watching her mother die and the resentment of having her father casually walk out of her life. Now as she packs her bags to return to her Georgia hometown and the house where final goodbyes were never spoken, a growing sense of uneasiness intensifies. 

Vera is the kind-hearted stepsister Yvette never imagined nor wanted. She was an innocent teenager when Yvette’s father, the Pastor, entered her life. Although broken 

Book Review: Dog Gone, Back Soon by

Dog Gone, Back Soon

By Nick Trout

Publisher: Hyperion

Published: April 8, 2014

ASIN: B00EXTSU3S

Amazon Synopsis:

When Dr. Cyrus Mills returned home after inheriting his estranged father's veterinary practice, The Bedside Manor for Sick Animals, the last thing he wanted was to stay in Eden Falls, Vermont, a moment longer than absolutely necessary. However, the previously reclusive veterinarian pathologist quickly found that he actually enjoyed treating animals and getting to know the eccentric residents of the tiny provincial town-especially an alluring waitress named Amy.

So Cyrus is now determined to make Bedside Manor thrive. Not an easy goal, given that Healthy Paws, the national veterinary chain across town, will stop at nothing to crush its mom-and-pop competitor. And the

Book Review: Red Zone (Team Red Series) Book 2 by T. Hammond

Red Zone

By T. Hammond

Publisher: T. Hammond

Published: Dec. 26, 2013

ASIN: B00EOZFSM2

Blinded and scarred in an accident a year ago, Teresa has finally found love, and a new career with the help of her companion dog, Red. 

Red appears to be a typical German shepherd, but he shares a mental communication link with his owner that is anything but ordinary. He’s articulate, sassy and opinionated - he’s also scary-smart, and has a talent for tracking. 

Teresa and Red, have partnered with David, and Bastian, to form Team Red. This unique Team 

Book Review: The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom

First Phone Call From Heaven

By Mitch Ablom

Publisher: Harper

Publishing Date: Nov. 1, 2013

ISBN: 9780062294371

Amazon Synopsis:

The First Phone Call from Heaven tells the story of a small town on Lake Michigan that gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone calls from the afterlife. Is it the greatest miracle ever or a massive hoax? Sully Harding, a grief-stricken single father, is determined to find out. An allegory about the power of belief—and a page-turner that will touch your soul—Albom's masterful storytelling has never been so moving and unexpected.

My Thoughts:

This is the story of what happens when a few citizens of the small town of Coldwater, Michigan begin receiving phone calls from heaven. The phone calls are mostly encouraging, letting their loved ones know that there is a heaven and that the callers are well and happy.

Ablom demonstrates how media influences our lives today. When media coverage spreads 

Book Review: Red Rover (Team Red Series) Book 1 by T. Hammond

Red Rover (Team Red Series) Book 1

By Tina Hammond

Publisher: Tina Hammond

Published: Apr. 6, 2013

ASIN: B00BQEUEFA

Amazon Synopsis:

Heart pounding, she woke abruptly. It is still dark. Her mind cleared- it is always dark now. Within a heartbeat, an accident changed Teresa’s life, took her sight, and left her scarred.

Red is a typical German shepherd, well, except for the whole talking-in-Teresa’s-head thing. He’s sassy and opinionated, and pretty handsome, even if he does say so himself.

And if a smart-aleck dog isn’t enough, Sebastian and his friend David came to town and 

Book Review: A Stubborn Sweetness and Other Stories for the Christmas Season by Katherine Paterson

A Stubborn Sweetness and Other Stories for the Christmas Season

By Katherine Paterson

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: Aug 30 2013

ISBN: 9780664239152

Amazon Synopsis:

A Stubborn Sweetness and Other Stories for the Christmas Season is a collection of modern-day short stories by Katherine Paterson, award-winning author of Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins- both loved by children and adults for over twenty years. This compilation includes stories of real-life people such as a shopping mall's night watchman, a lonely widower, a pregnant teenage 

Book Review Blog Tour and Giveaway: a Bargained-For Bride by Marcia Lynn McClure

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for A Bargained-For Bride by Marcia Lynn McClure. I'm doing a review. If you'd like to see the other stops on the tour, check out the schedule below. Don't forget to enter the draw at the bottom of the post.

Tour Schedule

A Bargained-For Bride by Marcia Lynn McClure (Novella)

Excerpt “You’re the sweetest girl in Mourning Dove Creek, you know?” Jack mumbled as he paused in kissing Jilly a moment. Jilly smiled. “And you’re the handsomest man in Mourning Dove Creek, you know,” she flirted in return. Jack smiled. “I do know,” he said. Jilly giggled. Jack Taylor was so predictable—and a little conceited. He really did think he was the handsomest man in Mourning Dove—and he was, for the most part. Secretly, however, if Jilly ever allowed herself to be completely honest about it (which she tried to avoid), there was one other man in Mourning Dove who always crossed her mind when the subject of the handsomest man in town arose. Yet there was no lingering 

Book Review: The Starlight Club by Joe Corso

The Starlight Club

By Joe Corso

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: Sept. 9, 2012

ISBN: 0615690491

Amazon Synopsis:

CAUTION THE NAMES HAVE NOT BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE GUILTY

The Starlight Club was jumping . . .

“They looked like mob guys. They had that arrogance exuded by those who liked to intimidate – those who were the proud purveyors of fear.” Amidst the nightly gaiety was the back room, where business deals were made, hits were ordered, and territories were divided.

Trenchie not being a “rat” is just released from his ten year prison sentence. A new life is waiting – complete with envelopes of money and a steak house to call his own. He finds the woman of his dreams who brings along ex-husband baggage. Hit man Jimmy The Hat finds unexpected fame in the most unlikely of places, yet he always stays true to the 

Book Review: The Rocking Horse of Tuscumbia

The Rocking Horse of Tuscumbia

By Kimberley Graham

Publisher: Kimberley Graham

Publishing Date: Aug. 29, 2013

ISBN: 9780989789806

Amazon Synopsis:

A spiritually blind and deaf woman confronts her long-buried past when she returns to her hometown, the birthplace of Helen Keller. 

Because Amanda Crosby shares her birthday with the town’s matriarch, Helen Keller, she feels no identity apart from Tuscumbia. When the pain of her past collides with her uncertain future, she realizes she’s spiritually blind and deaf--and teetering back and forth between her husband and her lost love like one of her rocking horses.

My Thoughts:

This book is an exceptional work for a first novel. It was about a woman revisiting her past and learning to see that the life-choices she made long ago brought her to where she is today, and that today’s life–choices will 

Book Review: Messages From Henry by Rebecca Scarberry

Messages from Henry

By Rebecca Scarberry

Publisher: Rebecca Scarberry

Published: June 17, 2012

ISBN: 9781476300085

Amazon Synopsis:

Henry is special. When Evelyn Bury becomes the unlikely victim in a random kidnapping, Henry flies to the rescue.

In the process, Henry enlists Tammy, Evelyn’s next-door neighbor and the lackadaisical authorities to assist in Evelyn’s escape. Henry hurdles many obstacles to the point of endangering his own life in order to save his dear master. You will find yourself routing Henry on, cheering his progress and praying for Evelyn’s safe return.

Read MESSAGES FROM HENRY and lose yourself in a fun, fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat