Mel's Review #3

**Mel's Review**

Original Sin
The Alexandra Jones Series
by: Samantha Towle

Original Sin is book two in the Alexandra Jones series, the sequel to First Bitten.

Alex has run. Leaving everything she knows and loves … Nathan, behind. She’s a fugitive; hiding from the Original Vârcolacs who want to claim her for themselves.

Hiding in Italy, she has changed her identity and her appearance; working in a coffee shop in the quiet town of Sassano.

Then Zeff steps into her life. He’s solid, sturdy, but more so he’s human – he’s someone real, tangible, a friend throwing her a lifeline in a world of loneliness.

Believing she's safe from attack, nothing prepares Alex for what's lurking in the woods, on her doorstep, intoxicating her into a web of control and deceit.

Danger is closer than her shadow ... the hunt is on again, forcing Alex into the hardest dilemma yet.

Mel's Review:

All I can say is wow! I sat down and said I was going to read a few chapters and here I am finishing the book in one sitting. Samantha has done it again and I feel like she has really found these characters. They are as real and alive as someone you can walk up to on the street. I found myself once again getting so emotionally wrapped up in Alex and Nathan's story that at points I wished I could grab them both and shake some sense into them! How can you not love Nathan but Zeff....I had read in other reviews there was a story twist with him and I still didn't see that one coming! I absolutely can not wait to see how Alex will end up sussing this all out in the end and am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.  :)     Rating 5 stars

The standard stuff...

I started writing seriously in 2008 while on maternity leave with my son. I completed my first novel in five months, and I haven't stopped writing since! I have two novels released through Night Publishing, 'The Bringer' and my most recent 'First Bitten'.


I can't write a single word without listening to music. I listen to Kings of Leon, Adele, One Republic, The Doors, Muse, Oasis, Fleetwood Mac, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey to name a few.


I was born in Hull. I graduated from Salford University in 2002 with a BSc (Hons) in Business and Marketing. I now live in East Yorkshire with my husband Craig, son Riley and daughter Isabella.


The not so standard...

I burn myself cooking on average at least once a week

I have weird phobias. Clowns and Jelly

I was 27 the first time I flew on a plane

I dip my fries in my milkshake

I somehow have never broken a bone, which is amazing seen as though I can barely put one foot in front of the other

I passed my driving test first time

I crashed my car a month after having my license

I have zero sense of direction

I hate geography, because I'm no good at it

I believe in karma and reincarnation

I read weirdly fast

I have a really loud laugh

And I talk way too much

Purchase/Stalker Links

Amazon

Barnes and Nobles

Facebook Fanpage

Mel's Review #2

**Mel's Review**


Kiss the Dead
by: Laurell K. Hamilton

When a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by vampires, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Anita Blake to find her. And when she does, she’s faced with something she’s never seen before: a terrifyingly ordinary group of people—kids, grandparents, soccer moms—all recently turned and willing to die to avoid serving a master. And where there’s one martyr, there will be more…

But even vampires have monsters that they’re afraid of. And Anita is one of them…

Mel's Review:

                            

Let it be said that I adore Laurell K Hamilton and I have to date loved everything she has ever written. That being said Kiss the Dead was not my favorite Anita Blake book. The first half felt repetitive like I was reading the same descriptions over and over. I understand the need to go into some detail for new readers but it was the same descriptions of the same people continuously repeated. There was notably less sex and even the violence was a bit toned down for an Anita book. Even still I love the characters and the world she has created so I'm happy to have this story to read until the next one. Not the best book in the Anita series but still good and if you are a true fan of Laurell's work a must read just to get our "fix" of Anita's world.    Rating   3 stars

NY Times Bestselling author of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series & Merry Gentry series of paranormal thrillers.

Purchase/Stalker Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Nobles

Facebook Fanpage

Laurell's Official Website

Mel's Review #1

**Mel's Review**

First Bitten:

The Alexandra Jones Series

by Samantha Towle

A love story with bite …...

Walking home after a night out drowning her sorrows with her best friend, Carrie, Alexandra Jones stupidly takes a phone call from her cheating ex-boyfriend, Eddie, and in her anger hurls her phone into the forest before her.

But when Alex goes to retrieve her phone from the undergrowth, she and Carrie come face-to-face with a monster they never even knew existed, a Vârcolac (a nightmarish vampire-werewolf hybrid) and he's in search of fresh blood. The next thing Alex knows, she is staring at the impossibly handsome but mysterious Nathan who has helped bring her back to life, but not to the life she left.

To her horror, she discovers she has now become a blood-drinking Vârcolac herself and she is the only female of her kind, with the potential for breeding a whole new army of Vârcolacs if they can only track her down and press her into service.

And while Alex gets to know Nathan and his shape-shifting family as they offer her the protection she so desperately needs, unbeknown to all of them, the Vârcolacs are getting closer …

Mel's Review

I loved this book! It took a few chapters to really get into the story line but once I did I was completely hooked and read it strait through in one sitting.The relationship between Alex and Nathan had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. And I wanted to laugh and cry right along with Alex as she struggled to accept what had happened to her and what she had become while still trying to stay true to herself and her feelings. It ended far to quickly and I can't wait to read the next chapter in Alex's story. If you like a love story with some bite this one is definitely a must read for you!        Rating 5 stars

The standard stuff...

I started writing seriously in 2008 while on maternity leave with my son. I completed my first novel in five months, and I haven't stopped writing since! I have two novels released through Night Publishing, 'The Bringer' and my most recent 'First Bitten'.


I can't write a single word without listening to music. I listen to Kings of Leon, Adele, One Republic, The Doors, Muse, Oasis, Fleetwood Mac, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey to name a few.


I was born in Hull. I graduated from Salford University in 2002 with a BSc (Hons) in Business and Marketing. I now live in East Yorkshire with my husband Craig, son Riley and daughter Isabella.


The not so standard...

I burn myself cooking on average at least once a week

I have weird phobias. Clowns and Jelly

I was 27 the first time I flew on a plane

I dip my fries in my milkshake

I somehow have never broken a bone, which is amazing seen as though I can barely put one foot in front of the other

I passed my driving test first time

I crashed my car a month after having my license

I have zero sense of direction

I hate geography, because I'm no good at it

I believe in karma and reincarnation

I read weirdly fast

I have a really loud laugh

And I talk way too much

Purchase/Stalker Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Nobles
Facebook Fanpage
Blog

Monkey's review of Explorer X-Alpha by Lm Preston

Here on my blog, we have a special feature once a month called Monkey's Review. My 10 year old son reads and reviews! This month he read;

Explorer X-Alpha by Lm Preston

For most kids, a trip to space camp is a trip of a lifetime, for Aadi it was life altering. After receiving a camp immunization needed for travel to Mars, Aadi finds that the immunization is the catalyst of an insidious experiment. Lucky for him, he was engineered to survive, thrive, and dominate. Without realizing he is being trained to conquer worlds, and manipulated under the guise of a camp, he unfolds the plot too late for a change of fate. Aadi's world is shaken upon the revelation that life before camp was not what it appeared. This solidifies his plan to save them all from the company that seeks to control him, only for his rescue to end abruptly due to a freak accident on a field trip to Mars. The full experiment is set in motion when he and his co-pilot, Eirena, crash in a distant galaxy called Shrenas, where they change and realize the full extent of their power. Holding onto his humanity, in the midst of turning into a god is Aadi's biggest battle yet. This turn of events causes him to put his childish thoughts away, forcing him to accept his change, and to decide to save a world, or to do what he was trained to do, dominate it. In the midst his struggles with his changes, his power is coveted by the warring leaders of Shrenas, and he is forced to choose sides to save a life, or to save himself. A decision that may prove just how much humanity he has left.

Monkey's Review

5 Bananas

I really liked feeling like I was on the trip to space camp with Aadi. There is a lot of action in this book and Miss. Preston is a great writer. She is one of my favorites. If you like lots of action and characters that become your friends than you will love this book