Review Descendants of the Rose By Juliette Harper

~My Review~

4.0 stars

Descendants of the Rose is a paranormal mystery with many colorful characters, and a mystery that will keep you intrigued until the very end. Selby seems to have a knack for fixing problems of the super natural kind, in truth she finds herself as a real life private investigator, it's just more for the things that go bump in the night. That doesn't leave her to dislike them all, she is discriminate about her dislike for them, and in general spends more time with the dead then the living.

This is a really fun paranormal mystery with many characters to get to know, but with very little confusion along the way. Not to mention the main character Selby Jensen has a quick wit and a smart mouth that just endears you to her and slightly unique mystery gang.

I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing several books by Juliette Harper and this one did not disappoint! What a fantastic start to what will be a great series!

About the Book:

Selby Jensen’s business card reads “Private Investigator,” but to say the least, that downplays her real occupation. Let’s hear it in her own words:

“You want to know what I do for a living? I rip souls out. Cut heads off. Put silver bullets where silver bullets need putting. You think there aren't any monsters? . . . I have some disturbing news for you. You might want to sit down. Monsters walk among us. I'm looking for one in particular. In the meantime? I'm keeping the rest of them from eating people like you.” In this debut novel of her new paranormal mystery series, Juliette Harper, author of The Lockwood Legacy books and The Study Club Mysteries creates a cast of characters, most of whom have one thing in common; they don’t have a pulse. The dead are doing just fine by Selby, who is determined never to lose someone she loves again, but then a force of love more powerful than her grief changes that plan. Join Selby Jensen as she and her team track down a shadowy figure tied to a murder at a girls’ school. What none of them realize, however, is that in solving this case, they will enter a longer battle against a larger evil.

Goodreads | Amazon

About the Author:

Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. Descendants of the Rose is the first installment of Harper’s debut Selby Jensen Paranormal Mystery series. Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan, worked as a journalist and university history instructor before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 2002. Juliette Harper is also the author of The Lockwood Legacy, a nine-book chronicle of the lives of three sisters who inherit a ranch in Central Texas following their father’s suicide. Four of the novels are currently available: Langston’s Daughters, Baxter’s Draw, Alice's Portrait and Mandy’s Father. And don’t miss her hilariously funny “cozy” Study Club Mysteries, a light-hearted spinoff of The Lockwood Legacy. The books, set in the 1960s, take on the often absurd eccentricities of small town life with good-natured, droll humor. The first book, You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet is available with the second, You Can’t Put a Corpse in a Parade, coming in Summer 2015.

Website | Twitter (@jharperbooks) | Facebook 

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Giveaway:

One (1) winner gets a $25 Amazon gift card (INT) & one (1) winner gets the Lockwood Legacy books, Langston's Daughters, Baxter's Draw, Alice's Portrait and Mandy's Father (US)

Ends August 5th

giveaway provided by the author, bloggers are not responsible for prizing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

Review!! Teresa of the New World

Teresa of the New World

By Sharman Apt Russell

~My Review~

4 stars

Teresa of the New World is not your typical story, it's a story about the world and how things change, extinctions happen, people are cruel to each other, but ultimately it's about one girl who lived a terribly hard live and survived. Not only survived but survived with compassion for others. This was not your typical read and at times I struggled a little with the story. But I love unique stories, and this was truly a unique story, as I can not remember a time when I have read anything similar to this one. 

The story begins with Teresa as a young girl and tells the terrible things she sees and experiences during her young life, and ultimately how she survives abandonment, enslavement and plagues on her own. There is much more to the story, but that is the basics. There are bits about shapeshifters, and I do wish the author had expounded on that part of the story, but perhaps that is so come in the next book! 

About the Book:

In 1528, the real-life conquistador Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked in the New World where he lived as a slave, trader, and shaman. In this lyrical weaving of history and myth, the adventurer takes his young daughter Teresa from her home in Texas to travel to outposts in New Spain. Once there, Teresa is left behind as a servant in a Spanish household. But when an epidemic of measles devastates the area, the teenager must set off on a new journey, listening again to the voices of the desert, befriending a war-horse and were-jaguar, sinking into the earth to swim through fossil and stone, reclaiming her power to outwit the cunning figure of Plague. A story of apocalypse and hope, Teresa of the New World takes you into the dreamscape of the sixteenth-century American Southwest.

Sky Horse Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the Author:

Sharman Apt Russell has lived in the beauty and magic of Southwestern deserts almost all her life and continues to be amazed by that. She has published over a dozen books translated into a dozen languages, including fiction and nonfiction. Teresa of the New World is her third middle-grade and young adult novel.
Sharman teaches graduate writing classes at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico and Antioch University in Los Angeles, California and has thrice served as the PEN West judge for their annual children’s literature award. Her awards include a Rockefeller Fellowship, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Henry Joseph Jackson Award. Her work has been widely anthologized, with numerous starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist. The San Francisco Chronicle has said “Russell’s writing is luminous” and Kirkus Reviews wrote, “A deep reverence for nature shines throughout Russell’s rich, enjoyable text.” The Seattle Times described her An Obsession with Butterflies as a “masterpiece of story-telling” and the San Diego Union Tribune called it “A singular work of art, with its smooth, ethereal prose and series after cascading series of astonishing lore.” The New York Times and Discover Magazine both described her book on hunger as “elegant.” Of her Anatomy of a Rose, the Sunday Times (London) said, “Every page holds a revelation.”

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

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Giveaway:

Four (4) signed copies of Teresa of the New World 

US only

Ends 7/28

Giveaway provided by the author, bloggers are not responsible in any way for the prizing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

When the Crows Fly Low, By V.J. Patterson

When the Crows Fly Low 

By V.J. Patterson 

~My Review~

4 stars

When the Crow flies low is a bittersweet love story, where the ending is the beginning. But then that is the way of all love stories. This is a great stand alone novel and was a very different from the usual way to read a love story. It was a story about more then just surviving the bad times, and far more about living life regardless of what you leave behind in your past. 

The haunting story of how Will witnessed his father's death and then goes on for years to come to blame himself and seek revenge was hard to read. It's a terribly sad thing when you can almost see the way a child's life will be shaped by the event, and Will's was assuredly shaped by the death of his father. 

This was a great, albeit bittersweet story that you will think of long after you have put it down!

About the Book:

When the crows fly low…rain is coming.

At eleven-years-old, Will Lawson discovers that Hell isn’t just a place for demons. It exists on earth in an act so evil it rips away a part of his innocent soul. In its place; bitterness, hate and a vow for revenge.

Consumed by darkness, Will descends into a life of reckless living; booze and women the outlet for his guilt and despair. But meeting Sarah a beautiful young woman running from her own ghosts, changes everything. Finding his salvation in her, Will wades into the unfamiliar waters of love. Just when happiness is within his grasp, a familiar face returns to Will’s hometown of Doyle, Tennessee. A wicked twist of fate forces Will to decide between the girl he loves and his need for revenge. Is love enough to save Will from the darkness that endeavors to unravel his sanity?

In this debut romantic drama, When the Crows Fly Low weaves a story full of suspense, loss, and love. It is sure to stay with the reader long after the final page.

Goodreads | Amazon

 AUTHOR ONLINE:
Amazon | Facebook | Twitter @vjpatterson33 GIVEAWAY The author will be giving away $25 Gift Card (INT) and signed copy of “When the Crows Fly Low” (U.S.) to the winners of the below Rafflecopter. The giveaway ends July 28th.

About the Author:

V.J Patterson lives in Tennessee with her husband and two children. She grew up listening to her grandfather's stories, one of which inspired her first novel, When the Crows Fly Low.

Amazon | Facebook | Twitter @vjpatterson33

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Giveaway:

$25 Amazon gift card (INT) and a signed copy of When the Crows Fly Low (US)

Ends 7/28

Giveaway is provided by the author, bloggers are not responsible for prizing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.