Category Archives: book review

The Ghost and the Graveyard

Book Review of Genevieve Jack’s The Ghost and the Graveyard

The Ghost and the GraveyardI grabbed Genevieve Jack’s The Ghost and the Graveyard from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Left destitute by an unscrupulous ex-boyfriend, Grateful Knight takes her father up on his offer to live rent-free in a house he hasn’t been able to sell. Desperate to make a new start, Grateful tries to overlook the property’s less desirable features, like the graveyard that stretches to her back door. On the bright side, the unbelievably gorgeous cemetery caretaker, Rick, is dead set on helping her feel at home. She vows to take things slow, considering her recent disastrous relationship, but is baffled when she literally can’t keep her hands off of him.

When things in Grateful’s house start moving on their own another man enters her life, a sexy ghost with a dark secret. Magical forces are at work in the tiny town of Red Grove and they’re converging on Grateful. Solving this ghostly mystery won’t be easy and with the caretaker becoming increasingly jealous of her spectral relationship, Grateful may be forced to choose between the ghost and the graveyard.

Review:
I really quite enjoyed this book. That’s despite it being told in the first person present tense, which I generally hate and involving both a love triangle and insta-lust, which usually drive me crazy. The book somehow managed to overcome all of its handicaps and provide an enjoyable read. And it did it with surprising ease. The magic irritation-nullifying ingredient? Humour. The Ghost and the Graveyard is funny. Yes, yes it’s hot and steamy too, but that wouldn’t have been enough to overcome my dislike for the parts that make up its whole. I needed Grateful’s quick wit and sarcastic internal monologue for that. She’s a great heroine. She manages to stay strong and sure of her own sense of self in the face of some fairly severe identity shake-ups. She might have gone weak at the knees in the face of Rick and his awesome sex appeal, but she was never weak-willed. I respected that.

Rick was a surprisingly complex hero. He was simultaneously strong and fragile, loyal and of a little untrustworthy. I’m sure (in my own imaginings) that there will be a lot more to him and his backstory in the future books. I liked Lucas too. He was like a lost puppy, but I was a little tired of his whinging by the end of the book.

I was a disappointed that the book didn’t quite wrap up by the end. Don’t get me wrong it ended OK, but only one small part of the larger whole was solved. There were a lot of loose threads about. I’m always left wanting when that is the case. It’s a shame the next book isn’t out yet.

Review of Jolene Stockman’s Total Blueprint for World Domination

Total BlueprintSo, this morning I asked my husband to choose a number, any number between 1-43. He looked at me a little funny, but humoured me and eventually chose 37. Now, he may not have realised it, but he had just decided my next read. I honestly couldn’t be arse to choose anything myself. It’s one of those days.  Book number 37 happened to be Total Blueprint for World Domination, by Jolene Stockman. I was sent this book by the author for the purpose of an honest review.

Description from Goodreads:
Target big dreams and build a plan to achieve them! You’ve got one life, one shot, and all the power to make it happen. Get ready to dream big and live big. It’s all up to you. And it starts now. 

Total Blueprint for World Domination (17,000 words) is a powerful life-planning book for teens that will inspire. The book lets readers: 
*Explore hidden passions and find direction. 
*Create heart-pounding, toe-tingling goals. 
*Recruit an army for support. 
*Design a dream world and make it happen. 
*Achieve world domination step-by-step. 

Full of tips and tricks for tackling life’s challenges, Total Blueprint for World Domination is a book that will motivate readers to take their life to the next level. 

Anything is possible. And anything is possible for you. Believe it. Total Blueprint for World Domination takes you from this very second to your greatest dreams. So, are you ready?

This is WAY outside of my normal reading material, both because I don’t read a lot of self-help books and because I’m no longer a teenager. But I give all of the books sent to me consideration, so as the eminent book number 37 I chose to give it a go.

Review:
Total Blueprint for World Domination would make a great high school graduation present for a teenager…or maybe they need it at the beginning of their senior year to give them time to implement its advice. Either way, I can see it being very relevant in their lives. There has been some debate in psychological circles saying that modern Western society tells youths to go out and find their place in the world but doesn’t give them any instruction on how to identify it. Honestly, how helpful is telling 17-year-olds that they can be anything they want to be if they don’t know how to find what it is they want to be? It leaves them angsty and feeling anchor-less. Far smarter people than me have addressed this. They call it an identity crisis. Look up Erik Erikson if you’re interested. My point is that this book gives them a step-by-step blueprint of how to look into themselves and find what it is the world is telling them they should find. Contrary to the myth, it isn’t necessarily innate.

The book is written in an upbeat tone with a lot of modern media references. As a 35-year-old woman, I thought it sounded incredibly narcissistic and ‘kumbaya’, but I remember being a teenager and just how self-absorbed I was. It fits its audience. I can’t imagine any teenager having the forethought to pick this book up though. If they do, they probably don’t need it to start with. But all of you parents out there take heed. Many teenagers need advice like this.

Kade’s Dark Embrace

Book Review of Kade’s Dark Embrace, by Kim Grosso

Kade's Dark EmbraceI grabbed Kym Grosso‘s erotic paranormal thriller, Kade’s Dark Embrace, off of Amazon’s KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
After a series of girls are ritualistically murdered on the cold streets of Philadelphia, seasoned detective, Sydney Willows, is forced to work with sexy, alpha vampire, Kade Issacson. While working the case, Sydney finds herself inexplicably drawn to Kade, fighting the passion she feels towards him. Kade, determined to solve the case and mete out justice, is captivated by the independent, fiery detective. As he attempts to protect her from a very real murderer, Kade grows concerned that the beautiful, but very human detective, could easily end up dead should she tangle with supernatural forces that are beyond her control.

The investigation leads them into a dark and dangerous world, deep in the heart of New Orleans, where together, they search for the perpetrators of the Voodoo killings. Sydney soon becomes the target of the killer and ends up fighting for her life and love in the Big Easy. Will she eventually give into the intoxicating desire she feels for Kade if she makes it out alive?

Review:
This one really didn’t do it for me. I appreciated having a mature heroine who knew what she wanted sexually, no trembling virginal 20-somethings here. But Sydney just felt like a needy slut who disregarded even the most basic tenets of self-preservation, but still miraculously never seemed to get hurt. The dialogue was unnatural. Here is an example: “Now, now, little whore. You will not get away from me so easily. Consider yourself lucky that I cannot take your body for my own carnal pleasures before giving you to my Mistress. So greedy she is…she wants you all to herself.” Ugh, really? Sydney’s dedication to the children at the children’s centre came out of nowhere and felt very much like a forced effort to give her character some depth. It is a stunning example of insta-love. For Kade it starts before they even actually meet. Apparently a giant diamond engagement ring says I’ll love you for eternity better than a sacred blood bond. Who knew? The foray into the bondage scene just felt like pointless titillation and the sex scenes lacked sizzle.

There was a good mystery involved, but the whole thing wrapped up far too easily…and apparently no one needs a warrant to go kicking in doors in Philadelphia or New Orleans anymore…oh and why did it start in Philly again? There were also a number of editorial mistakes. So yea, not for me.

There were a few really funny lines though. Example: “Yep, no matter how supernatural you were, testicles were always vulnerable. Tried and true, Sydney loved how that worked.” Yep, funny. Setting the book in two such historic cities allowed for some good environmental atmosphere and I appreciated that. Plus, all of the alpha males seemed to be loyal, honourable, and looking for their forever mate. That’s sexy in and of itself. I think there’s probably a lot of potential here, but it didn’t feel realised…at least not in my opinion. Of course, that’s all any of this is.