Thursday, May 31, 2012

GIVEAWAY HOP: My Favorite Reads


This hop is hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Rachelle Writes.The goal of this hop is to giveaway a "favorite read", and I decided to pull together a selection of some of my favorite books from the last few years.

Here is what you have to choose from:

 Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale

Mark Twain meets classic Stephen King--a bold new direction for widely acclaimed Edgar Award winner Joe R. Lansdale.

May Lynn was once a pretty girl who dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star. Now she's dead, her body dredged up from the Sabine River.

Sue Ellen, May Lynn's strong-willed teenage friend, sets out to dig up May Lynn's body, burn it to ash, and take those ashes to Hollywood to spread around. If May Lynn can't become a star, then at least her ashes will end up in the land of her dreams.

Along with her friends Terry and Jinx and her alcoholic mother, Sue Ellen steals a raft and heads downriver to carry May Lynn's remains to Hollywood.

Only problem is, Sue Ellen has some stolen money that her enemies will do anything to get back. And what looks like a prime opportunity to escape from a worthless life will instead lead to disastrous consequences. In the end, Sue Ellen will learn a harsh lesson on just how hard growing up can really be.


Read my review here.


The Passage by Justin Cronin

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.


Read my review here.


Smonk by Tom Franklin

It's 1911 and the secluded southwestern Alabama town of Old Texas has been besieged by a scabrous and malevolent character called E. O. Smonk. Syphilitic, consumptive, gouty and goitered, Smonk is also an expert with explosives and knives. He abhors horses, goats and the Irish. Every Saturday night for a year he's been riding his mule into Old Texas, destroying property, killing livestock, seducing women, cheating and beating men all from behind the twin barrels of his Winchester 45-70 caliber over and under rifle. At last the desperate citizens of the town, themselves harboring a terrible secret, put Smonk on trial, with disastrous and shocking results. 


Thus begins the highly anticipated new novel from Tom Franklin, acclaimed author of Hell at the Breech and Poachers, Smonk is also the story of Evavangeline, a fifteen-year-old prostitute quick to pull a trigger or cork. A case of mistaken identity plunges her into the wild sugarcane country between the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, land suffering from the worst drought in a hundred years and plagued by rabies. Pursued by a posse of unlikely vigilantes, Evavangeline boats upriver and then wends through the dust and ruined crops, forced along the way to confront her own clouded past. She eventually stumbles upon Old Texas, where she is fated to E. O. Smonk and the townspeople in a way she could never imagine.

In turns hilarious, violent, bawdy and terrifying, Smonk creates its own category: It's a southern, not a western, peopled with corrupt judges and assassins, a cuckolded blacksmith, Christian deputies, widows, War veterans, whores, witches, madmen and zombies. By the time the smoke has cleared, the mystery of Smonk will be revealed, the survivors changed forever.

Read my review here.


The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell

Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.

For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.


Read my review here.


Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell

Evocative and compelling, rich in imagination and atmosphere, Under This Unbroken Sky is a beautifully wrought debut from a gifted new novelist.

Spring 1938. After nearly two years in prison for the crime of stealing his own grain, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko is a free man. While he was gone, his wife, Maria; their five children; and his sister, Anna, struggled to survive on the harsh northern Canadian prairie, but now Teodor--a man who has overcome drought, starvation, and Stalin's purges--is determined to make a better life for them. As he tirelessly clears the untamed land, Teodor begins to heal himself and his children. But the family's hopes and newfound happiness are short-lived. Anna's rogue husband, the arrogant and scheming Stefan, unexpectedly returns, stirring up rancor and discord that will end in violence and tragedy.

Under This Unbroken Sky is a mesmerizing tale of love and greed, pride and desperation, that will resonate long after the last page is turned. Shandi Mitchell has woven an unbearably suspenseful story, written in a language of luminous beauty and clarity. Rich with fiery conflict and culminating in a gut-wrenching climax, this is an unforgettably powerful novel from a passionate new voice in contemporary literature.

Read my review here.

To enter for your choice of one of my favorite reads seen above, just fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to everyone!I hope the winner enjoys their choice of book as much as I did! And now, hop on through to the other blogs participating in the giveaway. Use the linky below to visit the next one on the list...

Introducing...A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith

Introducing books through the first chapter or so...

The silver Rolls-Royce glided off Key Biscayne as smoothly as a dolphin cutting the green water of the bay. Solomon MacIvey sat on the back seat, staring intensely at each house they passed, at the spotlessly manicured lawns, as if seeing these things for the first and last time. As they neared the causeway he muttered, "For what this one island is worth today my pappa could have bought the whole damned state back in 1883 when I was born. Folks has gone as crazy as betsybugs."

-- A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith

Friday, May 25, 2012

ARTICLE SHARING: "20 Bookshelf Decorating Ideas"

Decoist has an inspiring article offering 20 ideas for jazzing up your bookshelves. From the simple...


...to the elaborate...


...there's an idea there for just about everyone. Check it out!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Introducing... The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry

Introducing books through the first chapter or so...

Everything in Rhonda's house was beige. Beige rooms, beige couch, beige table and chairs. Even the painters whose landscapes hung on the walls had been stingy with their palettes.

-- The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

TLC BOOK TOUR and REVIEW: Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

Synopsis

Catherine has been enjoying the single life for long enough to know a good catch when she sees one. Gorgeous, charismatic, spontaneous - Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. And her friends clearly agree, as each in turn falls under his spell. But there is a darker side to Lee. His erratic, controlling and sometimes frightening behaviour means that Catherine is increasingly isolated. Driven into the darkest corner of her world, and trusting no one, she plans a meticulous escape. Four years later, struggling to overcome her demons, Catherine dares to believe she might be safe from harm. Until one phone call changes everything. This is an edgy and powerful first novel, utterly convincing in its portrayal of obsession, and a tour de force of suspense.

Paperback, 403 pages
Published February 1st 2011 by Myriad
ISBN  0956251579 (ISBN13: 9780956251572)


About the Author

Elizabeth Haynes grew up in Seaford, Sussex and studied English, German and Art History at Leicester University.

She currently works as a police intelligence analyst and lives in Kent with her husband and son. 





Check out her website
Like her on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter

My Thoughts

Part of this story takes place in present day London, and part takes place some years before in Lancaster.

Lancaster, England
Catherine Bailey, like all of us, has a past. However her past has drastically scarred her, leaving her crippled with obsessions and compulsions and avoidance issues. The doctors call it by simple little acronyms like "OCD" and "PTSD". I think Catherine would simply call it "life shattering". Several years ago, she had a violent and obsessive boyfriend, leaving her paranoid and always looking over her shoulder, never trusting her surroundings.

Stuart is the upstairs neighbor. Being a therapist, he seems to see beyond all of the compulsions to the woman that lies beneath, and he is drawn to the woman she was and he knows she can be again.

I found this gritty and emotional story quite fascinating. When looking at Catherine "today", you see a broken woman, weak, out-of-control, totally irrational in her behavior. Yet the way that the book is written, shifting quickly from the past to the present and back again, you get to slowly walk through her past relationship, watching it build little-by-little. As you do, you find that the present-day actions and behaviors that previously seemed irrational begin to make total sense. She isn't crazy at all. Her obsessive behaviors seem almost "right" in light of the past.

A note of warning: This book can be quite graphic, violent and vulgar. But it is real, believable, and not exploitative.

My final word: Guttural, this story reaches deep within, leaving you a little uneasy as you think perhaps "There but by the grace of God go I." How a person can enter your life so innocuously and damage it so irreparably. How you could be taken from a strong and powerful woman, and left shattered and fearful. And mixed in amidst the twisted fears and terror is a touching romantic story. Frightening but intriguing and, in the end, utterly fascinating.


My rating: 8.5 out of 10

Disclosure:

I received an ARC of this book to review through TLC Book Tours, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. 

Check out the full book tour schedule:

Tuesday, May 22nd: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Wednesday, May 23rd: Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World
Thursday, May 24th: StephTheBookworm
Monday, May 28th: Jen’s Book Thoughts
Tuesday, May 29th: Kahakai Kitchen
Wednesday, May 30th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Friday, June 1st: A Worn Path
Monday, June 4th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, June 5th: Book Reviews by Molly
Wednesday, June 6th: Book Addict Katie
Thursday, June 7th: Paperback Princess
Monday, June 11th: Mary’s Cup of Tea
Thursday, June 14th: Twisting the Lens
Friday, June 15th: “That’s Swell!”
Monday, June 18th: Book Hooked Blog
Tuesday, June 19th: Kritters Ramblings
Monday, June 25th: Reviews By Lola
Tuesday, June 26th: Life In Review
Wednesday, June 27th: A Bookworm’s World
Friday, June 29th: Proud Book Nerd
Wednesday, July 4th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf
Thursday, July 5th: Veronica M.D.
Monday, July 9th: Booksie’s Blog
Thursday, July 12th: MariReads
Friday, July 13th: My Life in Not So Many Words

Monday, May 21, 2012

REVIEW: The Passage by Justin Cronin

Synopsis

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” 

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.


About the Author
from Wikipedia

Justin Cronin is an American novelist. Awards he's won for his fiction include the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Stephen Crane Prize, and the Whiting Writer's Award.

Born and raised in New England, Cronin is a graduate of Harvard University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He currently lives with his wife and children in Houston, Texas where he is Professor of English at Rice University.


My Thoughts
Before she became the Girl from Nowhere-- the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years-- she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy. Amy Harper Bellafonte.
This story takes place in various areas along the west, including places like Twenty-Nine Palms, Las Vegas, and Roswell, New Mexico.

Roswell UFO Museum
UFO Museum, Roswell, NM

One of those classic cases of scientists doing something they can do without really stopping to question whether they really should.

The government has been playing around with things better left alone. Experiments involving people and South American bats. And, as always happens in post-apocalyptic books of this nature, they have a little "oops!" that results in the downfall of humanity. Vampire-like creatures trick their captors and escape, and they are hungry!

Amy is just a little girl with an unstable life. Raised by a mother who makes bad choices in men and life in general, Amy is quiet and...strange. There is something disconcerting about her, like she knows what you're thinking, but passes no judgement on the world or those stumbling their way through it.

Brad Wolgast is a good man, but a broken man, who has done some things of which he is ashamed. Initially sent to kidnap Amy and bring her to the research lab, as she is viewed as the final key to their government research, he decides instead to be the man his dead baby girl could be proud of and to save Amy, who eventually becomes something of a surrogate daughter. Risking his life to protect her, he becomes the father she never had and earns a daughter's love.

Ninety-two years in the future, Peter is at a crossroads in his life. Living in a settlement of survivors who live under the constant threat of attack by the vampires known as "virals", and always second place to his esteemed older brother, he's feeling restless and uncertain. He eventually becomes the leader of a group of young colony members who set out on a mission to save a girl, and possibly the world.

I absolutely loved this story! I had a hard time getting into the first 100 pages, because I was concentrating on other books and only reading a few pages at a time. I finally decided to focus on this book, and then spent an inordinate amount of time kicking myself for having waited so long to read this book!

This book had everything: thrills, chills, horror, love, compassion, terror, suspense, brutality, sensitivity. It hosts a full cast of characters, many of which I fell in love with. I think my favorite character may have been Peter's love interest Alicia-- a strong woman raised by an ex-Colonel who taught her all about survival and fearlessness and selflessness.

This has the feel of a post-apocalyptic zombie story, but with vampire-like creatures instead. It is a bit of a cross between my two favorite books: The Stand by Stephen King and Swan Song by Robert McCammon.

My final word: This book is not for the faint of heart. At over 750 pages and full of brutality, do not go into it lightly, but grab onto it, wrap yourself around it, and live and breathe it. Only through total immersion can you truly appreciate the gentle moments. What a fine example of writing by Mr. Cronin, and I wait with bated breath for the second book in what is to become a trilogy. The Twelve is due for release in October 2012. Awesome!


My Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Disclosure:

I received my copy as an ARC that was passed on to me by a fellow blogger. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Book Giveaways in Blogworld (05-20-12 edition)

NOTE: A reminder that you are free to email me about any giveaways that you are having, if you want me to blog them, and I'll be happy to try to post them even if I am not entering them. Just include a link to the giveaway, what you are giving away, how many copies are being given away, and the deadline in order to assure being included. Email me at nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com.

Here is a list of some giveaways going on in Blogworld*. Please note that new giveaways that were added this week are indented in Blockquotes:

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away I am Forbidden. Deadline is June 2. US/Canada only.

Berkley-Jove gives away a selection of their previously released books every month!

After Midnight Fantasies has regular monthly romance giveaways!

Bookbitch has regular monthly thriller giveaways!

Elizabeth Lowell has a monthly giveaway!

Bookreporter has monthly giveaways!

Author Carla Neggers has a monthly giveaway!

Author James Patterson has regular giveaways!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

ARTICLE SHARING: LibraryThing "Edible Book Contest Winners"

I posted awhile back about the "Edible Book" contest that LibraryThing was hosting. Well, the votes are in and the winner is...
TheCriticalTimes version of Twenty Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
I also loved this runner up...
Unexpected created this trunk with lots of little feet for "The Luggage" by Terry Pratchett
Check out the full article, as well as the full gallery of entries on LibrayThing.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

ARTICLE SHARING: "10 Books That Should Be Challenged Instead of '50 Shades of Grey'"

Flavorwire had (what I found to be) an amusing article on "10 Books That Should Be Challenged Instead of '50 Shades of Grey'". Check it out!

ARTICLE SHARING:"Extremely Silly Photos of Extremely Serious Writers"

Flavorwire posted a charming article about "Extremely Silly Photos of Extremely Serious Writers". A couple of my favorites:

Susan Sontag in a bear suit
Hemingway kicking a beer can

Hunter S. Thompson with John Cusack and Johnny Depp and a blow-up doll.
Check it out!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Introducing...The Passage by Justin Cronin

Introducing books through their first chapter or so...

Before she became the Girl from Nowhere-- the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years-- she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy. Amy Harper Bellafonte.

-- The Passage by Justin Cronin

Monday, May 7, 2012

Mailbox Monday (05-07-12 edition)

 Image licensed from bigstockphoto.com
Copyright stands

Mailbox Monday is now hosted monthly by a different blog. Here is the official blog of Mailbox Monday.  Here's what I've received over the last few weeks:

Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet by Heather Poole 
Won from 2 Kids and Tired Books


"Cruising Attitude" is a charming, funny insider's look at the life of a flight attendant, from coping with crazy passengers to finding love at 35,000 feet.


The Names of Things by John Colman Wood
Won e-book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers


The anthropologist’s wife, an artist, didn’t want to follow her husband to the remote desert of northeast Africa to live with camel-herding nomads. But wanting to be with him, she endured the trip, only to fall desperately ill years later with a disease that leaves her husband with more questions than answers.

When the anthropologist discovers a deception that shatters his grief and guilt, he begins to reevaluate his love for his wife as well as his friendship with one of the nomads he studied. He returns to Africa to make sense of what happened, traveling into the far reaches of the Chalbi Desert, where he must sift through the layers of his memories and reconcile them with what he now knows.

Set in a windswept wilderness menaced by hyenas and lions, The Names of Things weaves together the stories of an anthropologist’s journey into the desert, his firsthand accounts of the nomads' death rituals, and his struggle to find the names of things for which no words exist.

The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay
Received through TLC Book Tours

Following in the footsteps of The Birth House, her powerful debut novel, The Virgin Cure secures Ami McKay's place as one of our most beguiling storytellers. (Not that it has to… that is pretty much taken care of!)

"I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart." So begins The Virgin Cure, a novel set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the year 1871. As a young child, Moth's father smiled, tipped his hat and walked away from his wife and daughter forever, and Moth has never stopped imagining that one day they may be reunited – despite knowing in her heart what he chose over them. Her hard mother is barely making a living with her fortune-telling, sometimes for well-heeled clients, yet Moth is all too aware of how she really pays the rent.

Life would be so much better, Moth knows, if fortune had gone the other way - if only she'd had the luxury of a good family and some station in life. The young Moth spends her days wandering the streets of her own and better neighbourhoods, imagining what days are like for the wealthy women whose grand yet forbidding gardens she slips through when no one's looking. Yet every night Moth must return to the disease- and grief-ridden tenements she calls home.

The summer Moth turns twelve, her mother puts a halt to her explorations by selling her boots to a local vendor, convinced that Moth was planning to run away. Wanting to make the most of her every asset, she also sells Moth to a wealthy woman as a servant, with no intention of ever seeing her again.

These betrayals lead Moth to the wild, murky world of the Bowery, filled with house-thieves, pickpockets, beggars, sideshow freaks and prostitutes, but also a locale frequented by New York's social elite. Their patronage supports the shadowy undersphere, where businesses can flourish if they truly understand the importance of wealth and social standing - and of keeping secrets. In that world Moth meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel simply known as an "infant school." There Moth finds the orderly solace she has always wanted, and begins to imagine herself embarking upon a new path.

Yet salvation does not come without its price: Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions who are "willing and clean," and the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth. That's not the worst of the situation, though. In a time and place where mysterious illnesses ravage those who haven't been cautious, no matter their social station, diseased men yearn for a "virgin cure" - thinking that deflowering a "fresh maid" can heal the incurable and tainted.

Through the friendship of Dr. Sadie, a female physician who works to help young women like her, Moth learns to question and observe the world around her. Moth's new friends are falling prey to fates both expected and forced upon them, yet she knows the law will not protect her, and that polite society ignores her. Still she dreams of answering to no one but herself. There's a high price for such independence, though, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

REVIEW: Edge of Light by Cynthia Justlin

Synopsis

Taken prisoner by a ruthless group of anarchists deep in the Cambodian jungle, anthropologist Jocelyn Hewitt is isolated in a dark prison cell. Without chance of rescue. Or hope. Until the man in the next cell reaches out to let her know she’s not as alone as she thinks.

CIA agent Oliver Shaw has been held prisoner for over two years. Forced to witness the brutal torture and slow murder of his entire team, his spirit is not just broken, it’s crushed. He no longer believes in hope. Until he hears Jocelyn through the wall, and suddenly feels like a glimpse of light is trying to reach in…

Jocelyn’s heart aches for the tortured man whose presence and voice give her the courage to risk their escape. But first she’ll have to remind Oliver who he once was, what he once loved, and bring him back to life. Only then will they have a chance for freedom—and the kind of love neither ever thought possible.


ebook, 348 pages
Expected publication: May 14th 2012 by Carina Press
ISBN13  9781426893766

About the Author
from GoodReads

Cynthia is a former Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Finalist in Romantic Suspense. She started out writing contemporary romance, but when all her plots began to turn dastardly, she decided to stop fighting the urge to throw explosions, dead bodies, and evil villains into her books.

With her B.S. in the chemical sciences and her love of the periodic table (yes, she’s a geek and proud of it!) she finally found the perfect potent mix of love and danger to put into her stories.



My Thoughts
You're still alive.
Town/Location:

Most of this story takes place in Cambodia.



Jocelyn is in Cambodia, trying to find out the real story behind what happened to her father, and to hopefully bring her father's remains back with her. While in Cambodia, she and her team are unexpectedly attacked, and Jocelyn is taken hostage. She finds herself in a stark prison cell, frightened and confused, but realizes that she isn't alone, as someone resides in the cell next to her.

Oliver has been held captive for two years, regularly beaten and tortured, and he is half the man he once was. But the voice of the woman in the cell next to him stirs something in him, and the man he used to be lies just beneath the surface, waiting for the opportunity to rise again.

This is one of those strange books that is hard to classify. It was an "easy" read-- after all, it is a modern-day romance novel. However it is intermingled with brutality and violence in a way that can be a little unsettling. 

Additionally while I know that there is a certain degree of "suspension of disbelief" needed for most fictional stories, I had to really extend myself with the romantic plot line in this book. I think I am too rational and realistic to be able to lose myself in romance anymore. My mind is always thinking, "Oh, come on! In real life, this could never work out! Keep your heads on straight! You can't build a relationship on such a traumatic experience! Don't make any foolish commitments without years of therapy!"

My final word: If you can handle the brutality, and the uncomfortable mixing of violence and romance, go ahead and give this one a go. It's a fast read, and an interesting take on everyday romance.

My rating: 7 out of 10

Disclosure:

I received a copy of this ebook to review through Netgalley, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel. The ebook I received was an ARC, and could differ slightly from the actual release book.