Friday, March 30, 2012

Review: ‘Fearless (King Series)’ by Tawdra Kandle

Reviewed by Lindsey






Tasmyn Vaughn didn't expect much when her dad’s job moved them to a small town in Florida; it was just another new school. But there is more to King than meets the eye, and soon Tasmyn’s ability to hear other’s thoughts is the least of her worries. Entangled in a web of first love, quirky and secretive townsfolk, magic and blood rituals, she discovers the town’s secrets aren’t just bizarre, they’re deadly.
                                                          (Amazon description)


Tasmyn is a teen that can read minds. Her parents are kind, however, they constantly worry about her ”special trait” being discovered. Their fears range from not fitting in at high school to the government using her for her abilities.

Similar story line as expected from a YA novel. Outcast meets THE BOY, the mean girl is the MEAN girl. Here is where this novel is different. This girl isn’t supermodel pretty…she seems average.  She is klutzy, doesn’t cause kids in the lunchroom to go silent with her athletic gifts or charisma.

The BOY likes her. He catches her reading his mind so she confesses her gift. The MEAN girl has specific reasons for her actions…and she is a fun villain to read about.

The only problem I had with the book was the language. I know I am ancient and it has been 10 years since I was in high school (ummmm 102), but boys weren’t as thoughtful nor were they as understanding as her boyfriend. The main characters spoke and behaved more like adults than teens. Again, maybe I hung out with the wrong crowd.  J

I give kudos to Ms. Kandle for writing a clean YA paranormal without boring me to tears. I didn’t even notice the lack of foul language or teenage sex. She managed this without coming across like an after school special.

The story was humorous, sweet, romantic and sometimes frightening. I would be comfortable recommending this to my 13 year old child or to my 45 year old friend.

Looking forward  to seeing what #2 in series will bring.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Hunger Games Movie Review

Review by Tawdra Kandle





I have mixed feelings about movies made from books, stretching back to the first time that I saw Gone With The Wind after I read the book several times. Friends not-so-jokingly warn me not to re-read a book before we see a movie, because they know that I will be perhaps a tad more critical than I might otherwise be.

Happily, I followed this advice when I saw The Hunger Games this weekend.  It had been three years since I read the book, and I was able to enjoy a well-executed interpretation of the original story.

It’s never easy to make a movie that conveys the sentiment and meaning of the book.  Creating the world that Suzanne Collins so artfully described in the first volume of her best-selling young adult series was doubtless a real challenge.  Director Gary Ross managed to do just that.  The movie captures the essence of The Hunger Games, including what defines the characters and plot without becoming bogged down in details.

It struck me immediately that this book is far more visual than I recalled. The juxtaposition of the gray hopelessness of District 12 with the almost frenetic color of the Capitol is particularly effective; the luxury of the train that transports tributes Katniss and Peeta is jarring after the opening scenes in their depressed coal-mining home district. The settings are a perfect backdrop to the steady character development and the forming relationships.

Just as in the book, the movie’s pacing never slowed or flagged; there were very few breaks from the intensity and action.  I was impressed by how quickly the arena scenes moved.  Exposition and story background was deftly handled in quick flashbacks or within the hallucinations of some of the characters.

The casting was perfect.  Woody Harrelson as Haymitch was amazing; all the principle characters disappeared into their roles.

My only real criticism of the film was the camera operation in the opening thirty minutes or so.  In what I believe was an attempt to capture the immediacy of Collins’ first person present tense narrative, the scenes were jerky (think Blair Witch Project).  Several members of my party became so nauseated that they couldn’t enjoy the rest of the movie. 

There was a definite lack of character development of the tributes other than Katniss, Peeta and possibly Rue.  In the book, the readers learn more about each as Katniss interacts with them, but since the games prep scenes were fairly shortened, that opportunity wasn’t there.

The Hunger Games was an overwhelmingly successful adaptation of a gripping book.  It was a breathtaking ride. . .a haunting story with such an uneasy ‘it could happen here’ feeling that it left me never wanting to see another reality show again.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Author Spotlight: Michelle Grogan

Hello all, Alicia Rasley here, and I wanted to take a moment to welcome our newest Author to the Spotlight. Michelle Grogan!

We are very excited to have Michelle spending some time with us. Please make sure to stop by the Author Spotlight page (you can find it at the top of the page, or just click Michelle's picture to the right) to find information about her and her book. In the meantime, check out her book (cover below) and leave a comment saying hi and letting us know you stopped by!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

‘Anna Dressed in Blood’ by Kendare Blake


Reviewed by Jesi



Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.
(Amazon product description)

I loved this book!  Cas has one of the best voices of a teenage boy that I’ve read in a really long time.  I’ve noticed a trend lately in authors wanting their characters to be “snarky,” but not every writer can write convincing snark...most come across like they’re trying too hard.  Cas’s voice was natural and relaxed.  He was funny, without trying to be.  Another great thing about Cas is he’s supposed to be this kick-ass ghost killer, yet the first time he meets Anna, she wipes the floor with him. I love it! 

Anna is a brilliant character.  She is terrifying and gory and homicidal...all of the things teen heroines are not.  The author took a real risk with her, but the risk paid off.  Anna transforms into a sympathetic character through the course of the novel, drawing the reader into her story and the mystery behind her death. 

Rounding out the cast are several other interesting and well-developed characters.  Cas’s mom is a Wiccan who hates what her son does and fears for his safety, yet she still leads him around the country from job to job, ghost to ghost.  Carmel starts off as a shallow popular girl, but turns into a loyal and trustworthy friend.  Thomas comes across as the stereotypical nerd, but he runs head first into Anna’s house to drag an unconscious Cas to safety. 

But for many readers, the characterization might take a backseat to the action and gore, of which there are plenty!  This novel is fun, but it is a horror novel.  It is a long way from the teen paranormal romances that are so popular these days.  I think the book will appeal to boys and girls equally.  The fight scenes are well done, and the details of blood and rotting corpses are not glossed over.  There is enough humor to keep the story from being too scary, so all but the most squeamish readers will be able to handle it. 

Overall, I give Anna Dressed In Blood...

Plot - 4 1/2 bookmarks
Character development - 12 bookmarks (Okay, I know my scale only goes up to 5, but this is my blog post, and I can rate the way I want. :)  )
Fight sceens - 4 1/2 bookmarks
Blood & guts - 5 bookmarks
Romance - 3 1/2 bookmarks
Dream cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Jamie Campbell Bower (Cas- as long as he can pull off an American accent), Lucy Hale (Anna), Sarah Gadon (Carmel), Aaron Johnson (Thomas), Diego Boneta (Will)



Tuesday, March 20, 2012

‘Looking for Alaska’ by John Green

Reviewed by Jesi




Sixteen-year-old Miles Halter's adolescence has been one long nonevent - no challenge, no girls, no mischief, and no real friends. Seeking what Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps," he leaves Florida for a boarding school in Birmingham, AL. His roommate, Chip, is a dirt-poor genius scholarship student with a Napoleon complex who lives to one-up the school's rich preppies. Chip's best friend is Alaska Young, with whom Miles and every other male in her orbit falls instantly in love. She is literate, articulate, and beautiful, and she exhibits a reckless combination of adventurous and self-destructive behavior. She and Chip teach Miles to drink, smoke, and plot elaborate pranks. Alaska's story unfolds in all-night bull sessions, and the depth of her unhappiness becomes obvious.
(Amazon product description)




And the John Green love-fest continues!  Seriously, I think I may be falling in literary love with him.  Each one of his characters is someone I genuinely want to hang out with.  Someday, I am going to become famous and powerful in the literary world, and John Green and Richelle Mead will be my BFF’s.  We will finish each other’s sentences and make people feel excluded by our plethora of inside jokes. Until then, shall we get back to the book review?

In typical John Green fashion, the teens in Looking for Alaska are quirky and intelligent, yet incredibly realistic.  Miles hasn’t made much of an impact at his high school, so he goes to boarding school looking for adventure...or at least something different from his boring life.  Through his roommate, Chip (who insists on people calling him The Colonel), Miles is drawn into an eclectic group of mischief-makers.  He learns how to smoke, drink, stage elaborate pranks and gets his first experience with girls.  Each character in the group is so unique, but Green crafts a strong chemistry between them.  The Colonel is bossy and too smart for his own good.  Tikumi is a free-style rapper.  Lara is from Romania.  She comes across as timid at first, but she has an underlying strength and courage inside.  And then there is Alaska.  Alaska is outspoken, impulsive, reckless, sexy and incredibly damaged.  Every boy except for The Colonel is half in love with her. 

As you can probably guess by the title, the plot of the novel revolves around Alaska, yet this is definitely Miles’s story.  He is the character who grows and changes throughout the story.  Alaska acts more like a catalyst for his transformation.  That’s my take anyway.  I’m sure some people could argue Alaska was the main character.  But as interesting as Alaska was, I was drawn more to Miles.  I found her too reckless and moody. 

Something I loved about this book was that the author allowed the boys to show their emotions.  More than once, they were allowed to cry.  Yes, we all know boys can cry, but they also fight to hide these emotions.  There is a scene after a particularly horrible event where Miles and The Colonel are standing in front of their car holding each other and crying, and it was so moving.  Not once do they fear of what others might think about them.  For this reason alone, I think teen boys should read this book.

My only problem with the book, and it was minor, was that when Miles finally admitted to himself that he loved Alaska, it felt like the timing was off.  I understand why he was attracted to her, but the “L” word was dropped a little too soon.  I don’t really think he loved her anyway.  He was drawn to her because she was everything he was not, but part of him wished he could be.  I think he cared for her deeply.  But theirs was not really a romantic relationship. 

Last, and I hate to do this, I have to issue a bit of a warning to some parents.  There are a few things in this book which some sensitive parents might not like their teens reading, especially younger teens.  I guess if you are someone who cares about these things, you might want to read it yourself first before you buy it for your kid.  (Although, parents, unless your kids are abnormally sheltered, they know about all of this stuff already.)

Overall, I give Looking for Alaska...

Plot - 4 1/2 bookmarks
Character Development - 5 bookmarks
Dialog - 5 bookmarks (witty, but not unrealistically so)
Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Kristin Stewart (Alaska), David Kross (Miles), Joshua Logan Moore (The Colonel)

Friday, March 16, 2012

‘The Fault in Our Stars’ by John Green

 Reviewed by : Jesi




Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

(Amazon product description)

Ever since Will Grayson Will Grayson, I have been on a huge John Green kick.  Not only is he a humorous writer with a knack for creating great characters, but he is also a brilliant vlogger.  (Check him out on YouTube.)  Anyway, The Fault in Our Stars sounded like it was going to be a real tear-jerker...and there are some sad parts, but these characters do not want your pity.  This is no after school special, and these kids are not perfect.  They don’t want to be inducted into sainthood on their death just because they had cancer.  This made them feel real and sympathetic in a way that characters in the Lifetime Movies never quite achieve.

The relationship between Hazel and Augustus is so much more than their illness.  There is a deep understanding between them that their non-cancer peers can never fully feel.  The few strained conversations Hazel has with her best-friend-who-really-isn’t-anymore illustrate this so realistically. I imagine this is exactly how it really would be. 

One of my favorite parts of the book is that Hazel and Augustus bond over a novel about a teen with cancer that cuts off without an ending.  I know this book The Imperial Affliction does not exist, but I would love to read it!  John Green, if you are reading this, think you can write it?

The only thing that bothered me (and I mean slightly) was the characters were these brilliant philosophical genius kids with vocabularies bigger than thesauruses.  I’m not saying that smart teenagers are unrealistic, but the constant intellectual banter became a bit much in a few places.  Not enough to distract me from the story, but enough that I noticed a few times. 

Overall, I give The Fault in Our Stars...

Plot - 5 bookmarks
Character Development - 5 bookmarks
Love Story - 5 bookmarks
Dialog - 4 3/4 bookmarks (I only deduct a quarter of a point for the banter.)
Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Lily Collins (Hazel), Ed Speleers (Augustus), Rory Culkin (Isaac)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Free Par-Tay!!!


Announcing


March 14th-18th!

Discover over 40 amazing ebooks: Romances, Thrillers, Mysteries, Humor, and more!

All FREE at Amazon.com
Fantastic ebooks, many by award-winning and best-selling authors.

Let’s Par-Tay!

“The wealth of knowledge, experience, and hard work that the amazing IBC staff puts behind the Free Par-Tay events is simply stunning. I am absolutely a lifelong fan. My book, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, not only hit #1 on the Kindle Free Bestseller list (plus several genre lists), it also made it into the top 10 of the Kindle Paid Bestseller list after the Par-Tay, thanks to the careful coaching of Carolyn McCray. IBC is truly the best kept secret in indie pubbing today.” Nina Bruhns

On Feb 2- 4 , Indie Book Collective conducted our first FREE Par-Tay.  Twenty–five authors linked arms in the first ever coordinated FREE event on Amazon.  The results?  PHENOMENAL!

Of the 40 titles in the promotion, all but four ranked in the top 500 FREE and ALL ranked under 1000 FREE.  Moreover we had 10 authors who scored in the top 100 FREE consistently throughout the free promotion.

Our results following the free promotion during the paid cycle were nothing short of amazing.  We had a 79 %rise in rankings overall and our top producers scored an astonishing 89 % rise in rankings. As of this writing many of the books are STILL in the Top 1,000 PAID lists.

Free Par-Tay was a career changing event for me. Enchantment had never been on a best seller list before. It’s now on three. I sold more books in two weeks than I had in the previous 7 months combined. Thank you IBC! Charlotte Abel Enchantment

We are taking everything we learned in our groundbreaking FREE Par-Tay and applying it to LUCKY DAYS.

There’s a genre for every reader’s taste.

You like Romance? We have them. From Romantic Suspense to Humorous  Romance, Paranormal Romance and Historical Romance? We have them all!

Or if Mysteries and Thrillers are your thing you can’t go wrong. Police action, Murderous Mayhem, amateur sleuths and more.

You’ll also find Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Woman’s Fiction…. A fantastic selection!
Got kids? We have books for elementary school age and teens alike.

Don’t miss out! Soon these amazing ebooks will be back to their usual prices. Grab them while they’re FREE! March 14th-18th.

Who says you can have too much of a good thing. You can never have too many great books. Load up your Kindle and tell your neighbors to do the same.

FREE Par-Tay, is a groundbreaking venture to build on the power of KDP Select’s’ Free option and the first program to capitalize on the possibilities our prescient leaders foresaw in the KDP initiative.

Will be Biggest and Best FREE Promotion Ever!!!



Monday, March 12, 2012

'Trail of the Spellmans'- LIsa Lutz


'Trail of the Spellmans' by Lisa Lutz is the 5th book in the series.  Can I profess my love for this series?




FOR THE FIRST TIME in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman, PI, might be the most normal member of her family. Mom has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities—with no apparent motive. Dad has a secret. Izzy’s brother and sister are at war—for no apparent reason. And her niece keeps saying “banana” even though she hates bananas.

That’s not to say that Izzy isn’t without her own troubles. Her boyfriend, Henry Stone, keeps wanting “to talk,” a prospect Isabel evades by going out with her new drinking buddy, none other than Gertrude Stone, Henry’s mother.

Things aren’t any simpler on the business side of Spellman Investigations. First, Rae is hired to follow a girl, only to fake the surveillance reports. Then a math professor hires Izzy to watch his immaculate apartment while he unravels like a bad formula. And as the questions pile up, Izzy won’t stop hunting for the answers—even when they threaten to shatter both the business and the family. (Amazon description)


Izzy, as stated in my previous Spellman review, is the middle kid in a family PI business.  Older brother has gone from golden child to non-existent boring dad; youngest sibling, Rae, is in college and a severe pain in the neck (and still rocking the orange jumpsuit when needed). Her parents are still off, and her grandma is moving in. Izzy is determined to avoid her home with Henry at all costs and has a eclectic client base that would drive anyone to drink.

The Henry situation made me a little sad; his mother, Gertrude,  made me remember why my grandma always advised me to marry someone whose parents have already died.

I loved this book; how many series can you say that about (except J.A. Konrath)? In some ways, Izzy has grown up; in some ways she has stayed the same.

These books are pricey, but I had no problem clicking "buy".

Start at #1- The Spellman Files.

My only concern after finishing this book is will there be another Miss Lutz???

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Why are British Accents so Dang Hot??? By Guest Blogger and Author Spotlight Jan Fischer Wade


Okay, I’ll be the first one to admit it. If I hear a guy with a British accent, something inside me just melts, Ahhhh. This was part of the reason I sent the heroine in my new book, Veiled Virtues, to England. And connecting that accent to a handsome, muscular hero – a modern day knight – well, let’s just say OMG!

Some will point out that there are numerous “British” accents, and that is fine. I love ‘em all – Scottish, Cockney, Welsh, Brummie – whatever! [Side Note: Even the IT guys my company use in Northern Ireland can turn a computer problem into a wonderful afternoon telephone chat.] But, I think what I am probably most referring to is that upper class English accent – think Colin Firth in ‘Pride and Prejudice’. He kept us all swooning, right?

This list of sexy Brits (with their yummy accents) can go on and on - Jude Law, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe (its okay people, he’s of-age now), Orlando Bloom, Hugh Grant, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany…

Even the movies have caught on to this phenomenon.  In “Love Actually” the slightly bug-eyed and awkward young Englishman Colin Frizzle strikes out with girls left and right on his home turf of London. Determined that he is a Love God simply “on the wrong continent,” he takes his self-admitted “cute English accent” and travels to the United States to find a girlfriend with the realization that “Stateside I am Prince William without the weird family.”  Next, he’s “on shag highway heading west.”  Colin lands in Wisconsin, has a taxi take him to the nearest bar, orders a Budweiser, and finds not one, but three girls who fawn over him and his accent.  Needless to say, he returns to London, with an American girlfriend in tow. If you haven’t seen “Love Actually” – do it now! I love, love, love this movie!  Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, and a whole host of others star in this movie. Rowan Atkinson’s bit is particularly funny!

Now, I have to tell you that one study found that the British accent has dramatically dropped in its ‘sexiness’ but I have to disagree. Although, I will agree with their ranking of Irish and Australian accents – very hot too!  http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/19246/british-accent-no-longer-sexy-study-finds/

So, what is it about the accent?  Does it indicate chivalry? Money? Manners? Alluring stranger from another country – a bit exotic yet safe?

Or, like so many things, did it all start with the Beatles?

We may never be able to pinpoint the ‘why’ but regardless, if you swoon at an English accent, are lured to English men for any other reason, or the thought of a strong, hot, modern day knight sets your insides aglow, check out Veiled Virtues!
Jan
 

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

"Do or Di" by Eileen Cook

Reviewed by Stephanie Cowart




I really loved his book! What a smart, funny and totally fun read!
This is my first Eileen Cook novel and I’m sure it won’t be my last.

Erin works at a radio station, dreaming of the day she’ll get her own show. She ends up substituting at the last minute on a popular men’s radio show and ends up having great chemistry with the show’s personality, Colin. They decide to make the show He Said, She Said and see where it goes. Erin is less than thrilled but sees this as a good opportunity to further her career. And also along the lines of furthering her career, she signs up for Positive Partners, a mentor program that her station manager is wild about and through which she is paired with Diana. She’s a 16 year old girl with a deadbeat mom, no father in the picture and the very strong belief that Princess Diana has come back from the dead to be her secret mentor. That said, Diana doesn’t really want anything to do with Erin. However, circumstances continue to pull them together. Diana ends up being very witty and gives quite sage advice despite her age, and Erin ends up enjoying their friendship against her better judgment. No topic is off limits for Diana, from Erin’s work life, including the made up relationship with Colin for the sake of ratings on their radio show, and Erin’s real boyfriend who happens to be a married executive with the parent company for the radio station.

Erin gets herself into some real messes! But I love how Eileen handles them. Erin has to take responsibility for her actions, and people in her life like Diana, her best friend and producer Avita and even her own mother help her do just that.

Another thing I loved was how they handled her dating a married guy. He was the quintessential cheating husband– always promising to leave his wife, just needs to find the right time. You wonder how someone as intelligent as Erin could fall for this, but Eileen does a great job of showing Erin’s insecurities and coming to the end of herself when she realizes what a huge mistake she’s made. Likewise her friends don’t pull any punches with her. Her best friend, who is married, never once lets her forget that Jonathon is married, that it’s a terrible relationship and she’ll never support it. This causes problems between them, but I was practically cheering Avita on in the background. Too often infidelity in our culture is explained away by claiming someone’s right to be happy. I was glad to see that people in this novel chose to stay true to their morals instead of equivocating. And I was glad to see Erin eventually make the right choices.

And Colin….loved him! He was a great character and ended up having much more depth than I would have ever thought.
This is a wonderfully fun and witty read. Grab it to take on your next vacation for sure!


Thursday, March 1, 2012

'The Bright Side of Disaster' by Katherine Center



Reviewed by Izzy Evans



I have very mixed feelings about this one.  For the most part, it was a goodhearted little book, and short, too—in my opinion.

Jenny and Dean are engaged, and Jenny is pregnant, due any day.  Literally, from the first few pages, I despised Dean. Jenny—the narration is in her point of view—at some point tells the readers about how she and Dean met, which normally would be a cute anecdote, yes? Not here. I don't know if it was just me, or if this is the reaction most people would have upon reading it, but they met when he was trying to get a date with a friend of hers. He couldn't and was really torn up about it. He went to Jenny for comfort, and when he was done sobbing like a miserable two-year-old, he looked at her and said, “Well, you're kind of pretty, too.” Which, of course, is an awesome proclamation. What every girl wants to hear.

So obviously, I immediately had beef with Dean. I liked Jenny well enough, though; who can dislike her? She was so obviously happy to be getting married, to be on her way to motherhood that you could almost overlook the fact that she made several sort of annoying statements about how lucky she was to have Dean, who, believe you me, was not exactly a great catch himself.

Jenny, eight and a half months pregnant, obviously needs help with some things. And Dean is not a helper, which irritates me even more. I'm lazy, but you can't look at a pregnant woman waddling around and let her try to drag stuff out to a yard sale by herself.

When Gardner shows up, let's just say I-N-F-A-T-U-A-T-I-O-N--on my part, that is. He's an adorable character, and just careful enough to let you know that he's a human with a past, too. And, of course, there's that part where he's not only great with kids, but he wants kids of his own.  It was just, sa-woon.

Back to the point: I liked this book. There were only a few things I didn't like about it, and probably most of them were just peculiarities of my own. I didn't like how very descriptive the author was about the birth of Maxie (Jenny's baby girl) because honestly, I wasn't reading it to learn about anatomy and the whole process.

I also didn't like that Jenny let Dean back into her life for awhile, and how dense she was about why he was there.

But otherwise, I liked Jenny and Gardner and Jenny's parents—who also played a part in the story, albeit a strange one. Despite my annoyances with Jenny's thought process, most would say that she is easy to relate to, very human, when she not only takes Dean back, but when she thinks of how lucky she is to have “some one like him”.  She seems like a very real person when you read this. As do Gardner and Dean, unfortunately. The mommy group is cute, too, but it didn't hold much interest for me.

This book is cute, though not without its minor annoyances. I don't feel like it had a real plot. It was just one of those books you read for the light humor, the irritation and the thought that, hey, someone's life is just as full of disasters as mine! And, of course, there's the title, which is what made me read it in the first place. Would I suggest that anyone read it? I would if they needed a book to read for school book reports, I guess. If you've been thinking about reading it, go for it. Like I said, it's cute. Not spectacular, but cute.

Author Spotlight: Jan Fischer-Wade

Author Spotlight: Jan Fischer-Wade


Jan Fischer-Wade is an attorney and artist from the Lincoln, Nebraska vicinity. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Ball State University and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska. During law school, Jan was the winner of the Nebraska Law Review Writing Competition and was the Research Editor of that publication from 1998 to 1999.

Jan has been an avid writer and English language lover since the age of fifteen when she found the wonderful creative outlet that writing provides. Although she is a full time in-house counsel for an insurance company, her passion for writing, music and art play an important role in her life. Jan is married and has two children.

Jan is currently hard at work on the sequel to Veiled Virtues and has been researching American legal cases from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries seeking inspiration for a historical romantic mystery with a strong female lead. She also has two screenplays in the works.


Veiled Virtues 

When Paige Stewart left America to house-sit in England, her only thoughts were to get away from her controlling mother and to have fun. Little did she know that her working holiday would turn into a battle between good and evil, or that she would be the epicenter of that battle. She certainly didn’t expect to be swept off her feet by a modern-day English knight. But when blood appeared on her keyboard and she discovered her childhood scars bleeding, her holiday took a turn for the eerie and dangerous, and when she ventured into the metaphysical shop run by Nathaniel Brightmore, she found much more than tarot cards and crystals.

Jan Fischer Wade


Twitter: @veiledvirtues
Website: www.veiledvirtues.com