Review - Kickflip Summer by Danielle Jacks

Title: Kickflip Summer

Author:  Danielle Jacks

Pages: 263

Release Date: July 15^th 2020

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: Kara
All I want is one last summer of fun with my best friend, Toby.
Blue Oaks Theme Park seems like a perfect place to work while blowing off some steam. It’s our last summer before university and we want to make every day count. The thing I didn’t consider was being attracted to my new boss.
But it’s just one summer. One quick fling. What harm can it do?

Bear
Returning home is something I can’t avoid. My dad wants me to start getting serious about my future, while I want to spend the summer teaching kids skateboarding.
As always, he gets his own way, but when a cute brunette – literally – knocks me off my feet, I’m finding the theme park interesting in a whole new way.
A summer romance. Totally insubstantial. I can handle that. Right?

Two people brought together by chance. Both finding something they don’t know they need. A sweet romance about finding a home in the heart.

My Review: This is Danielle’s first book and I really enjoyed it, you wouldn’t know that this was her first novel.

The story follows Kara who wants a summer of fun with her best friend Toby for their final summer before university and Bear who wants to spend his whole summer skateboarding before he takes over his family business from his father.

Kara and Toby plan on going to Blue Oaks to work and have fun for the summer but Kara stays behind and helps look after her nieces and Bear plans to teach skateboarding all summer but nothing goes to plan for either of them as their plans are turned upside down.

Kara and Bear meet while she’s picking up her nieces from a summer club where Bear is teaching skateboarding and when they meet you are left wondering if something is going to happen between them but Bear gets called back to reality and Toby and Kara’s sister gang up and have Kara go on her summer adventure.

When Kara gets to Blue Oaks she ends up being put on the Swan Ride but wants to be at the Haunted House with Toby as they are supposed to be having a summer adventure together but after a while she enjoys where she is. Kara enjoys her final summer before university and she makes a lot of friends and memories.

Currently Reading: Malus by Jason Hes

Read in 2020: 21/35

Saturday Review - Mercy by Tara Ellis and Mike Kraus

Title: Mercy

Author:  Tara Ellis and Mike Kraus

Series: Flashpoint #6

Pages: 171

Release Date: February 21^st 2020

Format: Kindle

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: All roads lead to Mercy as survivors from all walks of life, with intentions ranging from good to evil, meet for the final showdown in Flashpoint Book 6.

Half of the earth's population has been wiped out. Impossible to predict or stop, the Gamma Ray Burst tore through the Earth like a bullet, its radiation wave killing hundreds of millions and the aftereffects ensuring the deaths of billions more.

Now, as the world crumbles around them, a ragtag group of survivors make for the only home they know - the small town of Mercy. Spared the worst of the GRB's effects, the town is isolated, safe and self-sufficient - for now. The flash hasn't just decimated the Earth's population, though. It's brought out the worst in many of those who are still alive.

Survival in this new world doesn't just depend on preparedness - it depends on strength.

*****

It's the one disaster no one can plan for. A rogue cosmic event called a Gamma Ray Burst, sending a spike of radiation through the earth like a .50 caliber bullet through a ripe watermelon. It's speculated that such an event hit the Earth at some point in the past, causing a mass extinction event. With two potential sources for a GRB pointed directly at our heads, the chances of another one happening in our lifetime is remote... but still possible.

In Flashpoint, we explore such an event and the havoc it would wreak across the entire planet. From destroying our atmosphere to millions dying from incredibly painful radiation exposure, a GRB would be unpredictable and unavoidable for everyone, rich and poor, prepared and unprepared alike.

Flashpoint is a six-book miniseries-like event, written by Tara Ellis and #1 best-selling post-apocalyptic author Mike Kraus. This thrilling post-apocalyptic survival series will have you second-guessing the very nature of post-apocalyptic disaster scenarios and leave you breathless with every turn of the page.

My Review: I think that Mercy was the best in the series as it brought all of the characters together.

Danny got to her dad and she decided to stay in Mercy to be with Tom and to help everyone instead of going on to Helena. 

Mayor Patty stood down and made Tom the new Mayor which at first I was wary about but he did seem to do a better job than Patty was as everyone seemed to respect him and listen to him. He was able to stop the takeover of Miller Ranch and keep his town safe.

I'm glad that Sam was able to find a place in Mercy even though he had no family there, he seems so determined to help everyone in Mercy so that they can farm indoors, and he seems to know a lot about everything. 

Ethan was a smart kid and really knew a lot about farm life and was happy to help around the farm without being told to. 

Chloe might have been a bright girl who had anger issues but she was able to keep it under control by running and once Ethan arrived at Mercy she seemed even happier at first I wasn't sure that they would get together with her thinking that every time she did something happy something went wrong but when I saw how much her and Ethan got along I was sure they'd get together. I thought that Chloe would be the one to figure out that Russell was involved in killing Father White especially since she was the one who saw him with a syringe. 

Patty seemed to be in way over her head and once she made Tom Mayor she seemed to be a lot happier but she was way to trusting, letting Russell in when she knew nothing about him. 

I knew Bishop was hiding something and figured he'd spent some time in the military especially after he tied up the people at the lake on Miller's Ranch but I didn't think he was a secret member of the government. 

I knew Russell would be trouble, I actually almost cried at one point. I'm glad that he didn't blow up the cave but I would have liked him to die after the town found out he killed Father White and Gary. 

I didn't like Montgomery from the start he was too strict with his military stuff. I know it was the end of the world but killing people for dumb reasons (wanting to be the new president for example) just makes him stupid. 

I never thought that Walsh would turn on Montgomery, I thought that they were too close. I'm also glad that he fired Dillinger.

I was glad that James turned out to see what Montgomery was really like. I wouldn't have guessed that Bishop was his dad not until he was at The Farm with Hicks. 

Overall, I enjoyed the series they were really good.

Currently Reading: Malus by Jason Hes

Read in 2020: 21/35

Review - Barren by Yolanda Olson

Title:  Barren

Author: Yolanda Olson

Series: Carnaval des Ténèbres #1

Pages: 111

Release Date: May 25^th 2020

Format: Kindle

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: I always wanted to find a place where I belonged.

A place where I wasn't looked at differently for being one in a million.

I left home when I was seventeen looking for this nirvana on Earth that I knew had to exist somewhere, and I finally found it in a small revival of traveling performers.

No one here looks at me any differently because of my illness. See, even though I look like the perfect picture of health, that couldn't be further from the truth.

I don't believe that my anomalies make me any less of a person than someone who has the ability to feel certain things.

My new family has welcomed me with open arms, and even made me a top billing because of what I can withstand—which to say is a lot.

Until him.

I never knew that I didn't care to feel anything until he joined us.

I want to feel him.

I need to feel him.

I’ve finally found the one thing I’m unable to withstand, and when I feel his eyes on me, I know that things will be alright eventually.

He wants to help me—I can see it in the way he looks at me. Whether he admits it or not, I know that he’s come here for me.

My Review: This is the first book that I have read by this author.

Barren is the first in the Carnaval des Ténèbres series and is about Yager a man who cannot feel, he cannot feel and cannot feel emotions which means he cannot tell when someone is happy, sad or angry but his little friend Maia helps him by explaining what a person’s facial expression means and how his face should look while he’s listening or communicating.

Each of the ‘freaks’ are introduced in this first instalment and you hear about all of their afflictions, they all have something unique and they protect each other like family so when a new guy Indogo arrives Yager seems to get a strange feeling nothing like he’s ever had before and fells like his family is being threatened so he arranges for everyone to ‘welcome’ him into the family to see if he’s worthy but it doesn’t go as planned and Indigo hurts the carnival members on their turn at hazing.

I am looking forward to reading the other stories in the series and getting to know each of the characters.

Currently Reading: Malus by Jason Hes

Read in 2020: 21/35

Review - Empowerment Anthology: Renascence by Alice La Roux

Title: Renascence

Author: Alice La Roux

Series: Empowerment Anthology

Pages: 256

Release Date: April 5^th 2020

Format: Kindle

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: Empowerment /ɛmˈpaʊəm(ə)nt/
noun
the process of becoming stronger

Join us in celebrating empowerment in its many forms with this collection of tales from Indie Love. There’s something for everyone, from dark and paranormal to contemporary romance.

This anthology explores what it means to overcome the feeling of powerlessness, to grow, to push personal boundaries and to fight back. If you want fierce women who refuse to be held down in the quest for mastery over their lives, then Empowerment has just what you need.

*The proceeds of this anthology will be going to charity.

My Review: My review is solely on Alice La Roux’s Renascence. Elizabeth or Betty is a strong independent woman who has not had very good luck with men. Betty’s married to a mobster Vinnie, he is her third husband and an evil man who she is desperate to escape from. Will the help from a very good friend be enough for the two of them are able to escape him for good?

Currently Reading: Malus by Jason Hes

Read in 2020: 21/35

Review - Convergence by Tara Ellis and Mike Kraus

Title: Convergence

Author: Tara Ellis and Mike Kraus

Series: Flashpoint #5

Pages: 156

Release Date: January 17^th 2020

Format: Kindle

Buy it: Amazon

Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis: As the military coup reaches its final stages, Mercy faces new threats from multiple directions in Flashpoint Book 5....

Half of the earth's population has been wiped out. Impossible to predict or stop, the Gamma Ray Burst tore through the Earth like a bullet, its radiation wave killing hundreds of millions and the aftereffects ensuring the deaths of billions more.

Now, as the world crumbles around them, a ragtag group of survivors make for the only home they know - the small town of Mercy. Spared the worst of the GRB's effects, the town is isolated, safe and self-sufficient - for now. The flash hasn't just decimated the Earth's population, though. It's brought out the worst in many of those who are still alive.

Survival in this new world doesn't just depend on preparedness - it depends on strength.

*****

It's the one disaster no one can plan for. A rogue cosmic event called a Gamma Ray Burst, sending a spike of radiation through the earth like a .50 caliber bullet through a ripe watermelon. It's speculated that such an event hit the Earth at some point in the past, causing a mass extinction event. With two potential sources for a GRB pointed directly at our heads, the chances of another one happening in our lifetime is remote... but still possible.

In Flashpoint, we explore such an event and the havoc it would wreak across the entire planet. From destroying our atmosphere to millions dying from incredibly painful radiation exposure, a GRB would be unpredictable and unavoidable for everyone, rich and poor, prepared and unprepared alike.

Flashpoint is a six-book miniseries-like event, written by Tara Ellis and #1 best-selling post-apocalyptic author Mike Kraus. This thrilling post-apocalyptic survival series will have you second-guessing the very nature of post-apocalyptic disaster scenarios and leave you breathless with every turn of the page.

My Review: Another great book in the Flashpoint series.

The citizens of Mercy seems to be working together and helping out whenever they can and doing whatever they can to keep their small town safe, even if that means that Mayor Patty is holding back on telling the town that she lead the military to believe the bug was worse than it was.

General Montgomery has got a reconnaissance team to find the people on the survivors list but are his intentions good or bad? His best friend seems to be doubting him even if he isn’t speaking it out loud.

This book deals with a lot of secrets and you have to try and figure out who you can and cannot trust. Russell is up to something but what? Bishop is up to something and  hiding a big secret which makes you question if his intentions are good or bad.

Currently Reading: Malus by Jason Hes

Read in 2020: 21/35