Book Reviews

Everything We Left Behind by Kerry Lonsdale

September 9, 2017 by Leah Leave a Comment

One of my favorite things to read are series books. I get extremely invested in the characters and want to read more with them in it. The more books in the series, the better. A new to me author, Kerry Lonsdale, wrote a book that I read a few months ago called Everything We Keep. I really enjoyed the book. After I finished it, I remember wishing for more. It didn’t feel done to me. Thankfully for me, Kerry Lonsdale didn’t think it was done either and she published the sequel, Everything We Left Behind.

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About Everything We Left Behind by Kerry Lonsdale

From Amazon –

Two months before his wedding, financial executive James Donato chased his trade-laundering brother Phil to Mexico, only to be lost at sea and presumed dead. Six and a half years later, he emerges from a dissociative fugue state to find he’s been living in Oaxaca as artist Carlos Dominguez, widower and father of two sons, with his sister-in-law Natalya Hayes, a retired professional surfer, helping to keep his life afloat. But his fiancée, Aimee Tierney, the love of his life, has moved on. She’s married and has a child of her own.

Devastated, James and his sons return to California. But Phil is scheduled for release from prison, and he’s determined to find James, who witnessed something in Mexico that could land Phil back in confinement. Under mounting family pressure, James flees with his sons to Kauai, seeking refuge with Natalya. As James begins to unravel the mystery of his fractured identity, danger is never far behind, and Natalya may be the only person he can trust.

Everything We Left Behind: A Novel Everything We Keep: A Novel

My Thoughts

I absolutely loved the fact that Everything We Left Behind picks up where Everything We Keep left off. The first book was all about Aimee and her quest to find out the truth about what happened to James. Once she learns the truth, she has to make the difficult decision to return to her life and move on. She gets married and has a daughter. Six years later, Carlos wakes up…only he is no longer Carlos. James is back.

Everything We Left Behind by Kerry Lonsdale is an utterly gut wrenching story that is written with so much emotion. While reading this novel, I felt like I was right there feeling everything that James was feeling as he uncovered more and more about his life. The ability to make characters come alive like that is a sign of a great author.

Have you read any Kerry Lonsdale books?

Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale

August 31, 2017 by Leah 12 Comments

Every little girl dreams about her wedding day. She dreams about exactly what her dress will look like; what flowers she will carry; whether she will be getting married in a church or outside; and sometimes, even who they will marry. Now imagine, instead of walking down the aisle on your wedding day, what is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, you are attending your fiancés funeral. That is exactly what happens in Everything We Keep a mystery novel by Kerry Lonsdale.

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Everything We Keep is a debut novel for Kerry Lonsdale and it’s a really good one! The twists and turns throughout the novel keep you reading and wanting more. Something I really like in a good mystery novel. When I finished Everything We Keep, I was bummed, I wanted to know more. The last thing I wanted was for the book to be over. Little did I know at the time, Everything We Keep had a sequel! I won’t tell you how long after I read the book that I found out about the sequel…it’s a tad embarrassing!

Everything We Keep: A Novel

Right now, you can purchase this debut novel on sale at Amazon. If you are a Kindle Paperwhite user like I am AND you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you can pick up this novel for FREE with your subscription. Better yet, join Kindle Unlimited for free for 30 days. Read this book (like it), read the sequel (like it) and then read this series and you will be a Kindle Unlimited junkie like me! I’m not even joking! Kindle Unlimited is one of my absolute favorite things I’ve ever subscribed to.

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Have you read Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale yet?

A Shade of a Vampire Series

August 26, 2017 by Leah Leave a Comment

When it comes to vampire stories, I was all about Twilight. I read the books and saw the movies, and I actually liked them. People would suggest other vampire stories to me and they just never really caught my interest. However, a friend of mine suggested I give this vampire series she’s been reading a try, I figured, “what the heck”. I really do like series books (especially the Alex Cross series by James Patterson) and the Shade of a Vampire series did have a lot of books out, which is another thing I really like about series books, so I did what I do anytime I about to read a new book. I went to Amazon to check out the description.

About A Shade of a Vampire Series

On the evening of Sofia Claremont’s seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake. A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.

She is kidnapped to The Shade, an enchanted island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine – an island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.

Sofia’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is selected out of hundreds of girls to take up residence in the tree-top harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal prince.

Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.

Will she succeed? Or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

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My Thoughts

When I started reading A Shade of a Vampire, I was very skeptical. Like I said, I had already done the whole “sparkly vampire” thing. And, besides the Twilight series, I was not really into reading about vampires. Bella Forrest changed my mind on that very quickly! Almost instantly I was drawn into the character of Sophia and her relationship with Derek Novak. I found myself rooting for them! When the first book ended, I quickly downloaded the second one. And the rest, they say, is history…I’m currently reading book number 48!

A Shade Of Vampire A Shade of Vampire 2: A Shade of Blood A Shade of Vampire 3: A Castle of Sand

Sometimes I find myself drifting off in a book and not paying as close attention as I should be. Not because I’m not interested in the book (though, that is the reason sometimes), but mainly because I have a lot on my mind. When that happens, I often have to go back and reread a passage to see who’s point of view that particular chapter is in. That bugs me. Bella Forrest does it a little differently, and I love what she does. Each chapter starts with a characters name. That entire chapter is in that characters point of view. I really enjoy that style. Especially if a particular scene is told in multiple characters point of view. It allows for you to really delve deeper into the book.

Books in the Series

Like I said above, right now there are currently 48 books out. These 48 books are broken into their own mini series within the bigger series.

Derek and Sophia’s story (series 1, books 1-7)
Rose and Caleb’s story (series 2, books 8-16)
The Shade Continues with a New Hero (series 3, books 17-24)
A Clan of Novaks (series 4, books 25-32)
A Dawn of Guardians (series 5, books 33-41)
A Gift of Three (series 6, books 42+)

If you were to ask me which series out of the six is my favorite, I would say series six. While I like them all, series six has been my favorite. Each series gets better and better.

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Another great thing about this vampire series is that it’s not just about vampires! You have werewolf’s, witches, goblins, and other paranormal creatures! I would recommend this series for adults that love a quick easy read, but also for teens that are looking for a good young adult novel series to start reading.

Definitely check the series out. If you have Kindle Unlimited, the books are free! Join Amazon Kindle Unlimited 30-Day Free Trial. So what are you waiting for? Get the free trial of Kindle Unlimited and read a couple A Shade of a Vampire books to see if you like the series!

What is your favorite genre of books to read?

Alex Cross Series by James Patterson

August 20, 2017 by Leah 12 Comments

One of my favorite things to read are series books. I get so invested in the characters that I just want to read more and more with them in it. The Alex Cross series by James Patterson is the first series I remember reading. I read my first one about 20 years years ago and I was hooked from the start. Not only did James Patterson immediately become my favorite author, but Alex Cross became my favorite character.

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If you aren’t familiar with James Patterson, then you need to stop what you are doing and pick up one of his books right now. If you like series books like I do, then you will want to give the Alex Cross books a try. The first book in the series is Along Came A Spider. And yes…it was eventually made into a movie that, if you haven’t seen it yet, you need to (after you read the book, of course)!

Along Came A Spider Along Came a Spider

About Alex Cross and Along Came a Spider

Alex Cross is a homicide detective with the D.C. police department. Having a degree in psychology, with a special concentration in abnormal psychology and forensic psychology, Alex Cross is able to get into the minds of the criminals he’s after.

Life changes for Deputy Chief of Detectives Alex Cross when he is drawn into a high-profile case. Two nine-year-old children are kidnapped by a teacher, Gary Soneji, from the prestigious Washington Day School. Maggie Rose Dunne is the daughter of an actress, and Michael “Shrimpie” Goldberg is the son of the Secretary of Treasury. A ransom of $10 million is demanded.

Just from the blurb on the back of Along Came a Spider, I was hooked. Little did I know, I would also become hooked on the character of Alex Cross and begin 20 years of reading the Alex Cross series (newest one comes out in November). James Patterson does an excellent job with character development. You really get to know all of the characters in each of his books. I truly believe that his strong point, as an author, is his various series he has on the market. With strong character development, you become invested in the characters as if you truly knew them and you want to read more with them!

With close to 25 books in the series already out, you will have plenty of books to keep you busy! My favorite way to start a new series is when there are several books already out! For a complete list of the books in this series and the order you should read them in, visit the official James Patterson website.