Review - Ice Guardian by Erin Maxwell

Title: Ice Guardian

Author: Erin Maxwell
Series: A Sacred Journey Short Story
Pages: 17
Release Date: November 27th 2016

Genre: SciFi
Publisher: 
Source: Amazon
Format: eBook

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: Amaya is a Syhien like no other—the only warrior among her guardian protected kind. With a love for weapons and a good fight to keep her strong, the snowy plains of Palacous provides the fight she needs to prove she doesn’t need her guardian to protect her. But, she encounters more than she bargained for and soon learns there’s more to her journey when she unearths secrets lost beneath the ice. 

Authors Note: Hey everyone! Just a quick note to let you all know that Ice Guardian, Book One in the Sacred Journey Short Story Series, is a very short read. Only 4000 words long! I know that is an incredibly short read, but I'm writing these books as an introduction to the main novel, Sacred Journey. It serves to introduce some of the side characters in the novel, giving you a deeper look into Planet Khrellia and its inhabitants!

This book starts the countdown. Once the countdown ends, Amaya's story will begin!

My Review: This short story is the first of 4 about Amaya. Amaya was brought up in Palacous by an Ice Guardian after the death of her parents, while she is there on her first part of the journey she fights the giant that brought her up along with a few other creatures and along the way she stumbles upon the Ice Queen and her sword.

This book is just to introduce you to the main characters, I enjoyed it but I really wished it could have been longer there is more that we could learn about Amaya but I guess we will learn more in the next three books.

Currently Reading: Kiss and Blog by Alyson Noel
Read In 2017: 5/25

Review - Christmas In New York by Holly Greene

Title: Christmas in New York

Author: Holly Greene
Series: N/A
Pages: 70
Release Date: October 28th 2013

Genre: Womens Fiction, Chick Lit
Publisher: 
Source: Amazon
Format: eBook

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: A gorgeously escapist Christmas romance set in magical NYC from the bestselling author of the ESCAPE TO ITALY and ESCAPE TO THE ISLANDS series.

Grab a mug of hot chocolate, sit back and escape to New York this Christmas....

When Londoner Penny decides to visit her best friend Kate in New York for Christmas, the surprise appearance of a previous suiter sends her plans for a relaxing, carefree visit into complete disarray. When she and Mike last saw each other, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

But when Mike decides to show Penny the very best of what a snowy, festive, New York has to offer at Christmastime – resolving to make it a trip to remember – will she be able to resist his charms this time round?

My Review: Penny works a lot and doesn’t have time for anyone since her husband Tim died a few years ago that is until her best friend Kate makes her fly out to New York for Christmas, Penny is happy to be with her friend and to see her God Son but she just wants to hide in her apartment that is until she meets Mike.

Mike was at Kate's wedding he the best man, he tried it on with Penny but she was still upset about her husbands death that had happened a few months prior to the wedding and Penny and Mike had a disagreement, upon meeting him again they argued and Kate stopped them.

The next day after Mike had spoken to Kate's husband Ian and he explained that at the wedding Penny was grieving and Kate tells Penny that Mike didn't know about Tim as they kept it secret, Mike and Penny end up talking and then they go on a date.

After the date all that Penny can think about is Mike and they start to get on really well and they go on more dates, in the end Penny decides to stay in New York with Mike and Kate is happy to have her friend back.

Currently Reading: Kiss and Blog by Alyson Noel
Read In 2017: 5/25

Review - Hunter by Sarai Henderson

Title: Hunter

Author: Sarai Henderson
Series: N/A
Pages: 155
Release Date: July 8th 2016

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Evernight Team
Source: Netgally
Format: eBook

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Hunter belongs to the Telepathic Alliance for the Latent or Newly manifested, otherwise known as Talon, a bounty hunter community known for their ruthless tactics. Her latest mission in San Diego was supposed to be a piece of cake, but when the job takes a treacherous and deadly turn, not even her telepathic abilities could have warned her of the dangers lurking around the corner.

There's only one place for Hunter to go, and that's straight into the hands of the government and their Psychic Intelligence Team, but even the “normal” world isn’t safe. With each passing hour throwing her deeper into the game of life and death, Hunter must decide who to trust before this mission becomes her last

My Review: Hunter and her work partner Bear are bounty hunters and Hunter is the best at the job, she is the first one that Captain picks when it comes to the hard cases, the main problem is as a part of their deal she is supposed to get 3 days off between cases but he hasn’t given her time off in a while, so when Hunter and Bear get back after a case she expects to have at least three days off but Captain has other plans, he is sending Hunter and Bear to San Diego on an important job to find someone who seems to be off the grid.

Once Hunter and Bear get to San Diego things go wrong and Bear turns on Hunter and Seeker the guy that their supposed to be taking down helps Hunter and her explains that Captain has put a hit out on her and he tells her that he can help and send her into a sort of witness protection programme.

When they get to the ‘bat cave’ she gets locked in a cell where there’s a guy in another cell called Duke who tells Hunter he’s been there for years and that he knew her father. He somehow convinces Hunter to escape from the cell and take him with her because he know how to escape the ‘bat cave’.

After climbing up an elevator shaft and through an air duct to be stopped by Seeker, after refusing to let Duke and Hunter leave, Duke pulls a pun and points it at Hunter and she finds out that Duke was the one who killed her father, in the end Seeker ends up shooting Hunter in the shoulder to kill Duke.

After being shot and fixed up Hunter gets to meet the man in charge ‘Smith’ and he makes a deal with Hunter that if she joins them she will be safe, once she agrees to join him he uses her as bait to get to Captain and to take down her old family.

After being used as bait Hunter tries to run but the PIT agent catches up to her and Bear shoots him just to get shot by Hunter. After the shooting Hunter gets picked up by a PIT member who takes her to her old home to help out Seeker who is in trouble trying to take down Captain.

The ending was horrible it made me sad, I was really hoping that Seeker would be able to save the day instead it is Hunter who helps to save the day, luckily for Hunter Smith gets taken by the CIA and she gets to become in charge of the telepaths while cruising around in her old home helping to locate and help other telepaths.

Currently Reading: Spy Society by Robin Benway
Read In 2017: 2/25

Review - Smart Housekeeping by Anne L Watson

Title: Smart Housekeeping

Author: Anne L. Watson
Series: N/A
Pages: 61
Release Date: November 9th 2016

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Pronoun
Source: Netgally
Format: eBook

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: There's no shortage of experts to cheerfully advise you on how to declutter, organize, and clean your home. But do they know what YOU want and need? Or are they only pushing rigid, quirky systems that ignore people's differences and how we really live?

With insight, wit, and common sense, "Smart Housekeeping" cuts through the clutter of questionable and often silly advice to offer practical keys to reclaiming and maintaining your home.

My Review: I received a copy of this book for free to read and review through Netgalley. This is a straightforward, to the point book with a wide range of tips to help you keep your house in order. I found it helpful in helping me to de-clutter my home.

The book is to help you find a comfortable solution that you will use to help reorder your home as different things help different people. There are also tips on how to get the whole hose involved. It gives good advice about how to improve the house management, step-by-step.

This is a quick read and has some valuable tips for anyone who feels like getting their home under control is a daunting task. The book did not make me want to do some housekeeping, but it did have excellent tips.

Currently Reading: Spy Society by Robin Benway
Currently Reading: Hunter by Sarai Henderson
Read In 2017: 1/25

Interview - Jessica Brody 2017

          

1) Other than Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up what else will you have for us in 2017?

2017 is shaping up to be an exciting year! Addie Bell comes out in February, and then in August, I have a YA contemporary (with a magical twist) called IN SOME OTHER LIFE and in November, I have another YA contemporary releasing called THE CHAOS OF STANDING STILL.  You can read about both of those here: http://www.jessicabrody.com/books/teen-fiction/in-some-other-life/about/

2) Was it hard changing from female main character to all male character for Boys of Summer?

You know, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! It’s really about figuring out who this person is as a human being (gender aside). Once you do that, it doesn’t really matter if they’re a girl or a boy, you just write them.

3) Do you think you will ever revisit Sera and Zen? Maybe by doing a spin-off of them growing up happily ever after? (I know it ended up with a happy ending but I think your fans will agree that we need more)
I’m so thrilled that people want more of Sera and Zen! I actually get this question a lot! I have no plans right now to do a spin-off or revisit them. But the movie is still in the works, and I think it might be fun to do something to tie into the movie release, although I still have no idea what that would be. But stay tuned!

4) Can we expect any Boys of Summer sequels?
OOH! Um...well, all I can say right now is...maybe. J

5) Is there any news of an Unremembered movie or TV Series?
There is! Unfortunately, nothing I can divulge yet. But keep following me on all the social medias. I’m hoping to post some new updates SOOON!

6) Are you working on anything new and if so how did the idea for it come to you?
I’m currently working on TWO secret projects (that I can’t even talk about yet!) and I’m also working on revisions for THE CHAOS OF STANDING STILL which comes out in November. It’s about two teens who get stuck in the Denver airport during a massive blizzard and accidentally swap phones, sending them on a crazy, all-night, life-changing adventure. That idea came to me most likely because I pretty much LIVE in the Denver airport and I just love thinking about all the different “stories” that pass through that airport (or any airport) every day. So I decided to tell one of them.

7) Although A Week of Monday’s isn’t out in the UK have the reviews been good overall so far?
YES! I’m so excited about the response to A WEEK OF MONDAYS. I’ve been getting such positive feedback from readers which just makes my day!

8) What made you switch back to Middle Grade from Young Adult with Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up? And will you be writing more Young Adult books in the future?
I will be writing tons more YA and tons more middle grade in the future! I actually really enjoy writing both! With ADDIE BELL, I just really wanted to tell a story about a girl who grows up too fast...like REALLY fast (she magically goes from 12 to 16 overnight). It’s still set in high school but she has a twelve-year-old mind, so it was fun to kind of blur the lines between YA and MG.

9) What do you like to listen to or watch while you’re working?
I can’t listen to music while I write. I get too wrapped up in the melody and lyrics and I lose my focus! So mostly I just listen to white noise tracks!

10) Finally what was it like being chosen to write the Descendants series for Disney?
OMG! A dream come true! I’m an UBER Disney. Like crazy Disney fan. We actually have a Disney-themed guest room in our house! So it’s kind of like being paid to write fan fiction. J

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Happy New Year

I would just like to wish everyone a very happy New Year, I hope you all have a great 2017

Don’t forget to set yourself a goodreads challenge.

Have a great New Year love Annamarie