Category: great reads

Books, great reads, Reviews

Where One Goes by B.N. Toler

debra

Hi everyone,

If you have not read this book, I recommend you to.  I found this book by way of an online book club that I belong to and it was the September selection.  This is the first book by this author I have read.

This book has three main characters:  Char, Ike and George.  Char can see the spirits of the dead and helps them crossover to the other side by helping them with their “unfinished business”, whatever it is that is keeping them here on this side.  This has been very hard on Char (short for Charlotte) since her family thinks she is crazy and kicks her out and her job of helping the dead is very difficult.  After being on her own for several years, she has had all she can take and decides to end her life.  As she is preparing to jump, she meets Ike and the story starts unfolding.  Ike died in the service, yet can’t move on because he is worried about his twin brother, George.  George owns a business that Ike was co-owner of.  As twins, Ike and George had that unique relationship that twins have and not only has he lost brother, but also his best friend and business partner.  George can not relate to this new reality and becomes messed up with drug abuse.  So Char and Ike are on the case to try to help George.  Over the course of the story, an interesting “relationship” develops between Char and Ike.  Interesting because the relationship cannot happen–Ike is dead.  However, there is a very strong connection between Char and Ike.  The problem is that a relationship develops between Char and George.  The story at times is heartwarming and heart wrenching, especially when the truth of Char’s abilities are brought out to George and his family.  Throughout the story, Char also helps Ike and George’s parents as well as a deceased little girl as she needs to cross-over but can’t yet.. Some additional suspense is also introduced because of a case that Char is helping a spirit with at the beginning.  Char also helps a buddy of Ike’s from the service who is in Ike’s hometown working at George’s bar.  She helps him deal with Ike’s death.  The characters evolve throughout as we watch how the story starts with Char helping Ike and in the end Ike helping Char and both helping George.

I thought this story was very touching and I enjoyed it.  I don’t believe I can ever re-read this book (I do this with books I enjoy) because of the level of emotional angst in it.  However, I do suggest you give it a look.

Books, great reads, Out of the Box Blogs, Reviews

Wishing for You by Elizabeth Langston

Les

Hey peeps!

So this is the sequel to “I Wish”. Don’t kill me, I know I said I would be done with this one a lot sooner. I had some issues with putting it down and really struggled with myself to pick it back up. But alas I am done.

Please understand, this is a well written and a great book. Me having to put it down was in no way the books fault. There were some things going on in this book that hit close to home. To me some parts seemed repetitive to the first one and it wasn’t turning out like I hoped it would. Not that it wasn’t turning out as it should, but not what I wanted to happen. (We all know it is all about what I want, right?)

So in this book the kick ass genie Grant is now with Kimberly to help her with her issues. As usual he does a great job helping her become independent and self sufficient. She has so many different traumatic things happening in her life and she is a force that rises above each time. I like her more than I did Lacey. I am extremely happy with the ending. I wish Lacey would have had a different outcome, but I understand why it is how it is. All in all I would give this book 4 stars.

Rating explanation: the things I felt were repetative and also because sometimes it felt like it was dragging to me. But this is a pretty long book to span the 30 days they spend with the genie and an epilogue of sorts. But it was well written and the characters were well defined.

So check it out, but read the first book first.

Peace,

Leslie

Books, great reads, indie author, Reviews, scifi

Sins of the Father by Anthony Vicino

Karen

About two weeks ago I posted a review on another one of Anthony’s books Parallel. Needless to say I was not happy with the end. So Anthony messaged me and our conversation went like this:

Kar how could you write a review like that on your blog! I’m one of the few people who actually liked something you wrote, think you could throw a little of the love back, sheesh! Here! If you’re going to be so cruel why don’t you just start taking my books!

Sorry, that’s a total lie, he was a completely professional and was really nice. I imagine if I was an author that’s what I would think every time I saw a bad review, of course I’d never say it. Really, I promise. To top off the fact that he seems to be genuinely nice (see I told you most authors are) he was also kind enough to send me this novella so I could give his writing another chance. So that’s how Sins of the Father came into my possession. And let me tell you, this one is a winner.

Background first. The story is about Ricky who is a man is his forties locked in a mental institute for killing his grandmother when he was a child but he can’t remember why. Problem? He thinks he’s still 9 years old and is suppressing the truth. So can the doctors unlock his memories and make him whole again? And will he be able to survive?

This is a completely different story than the first one I read from Vicino, more of a mental mind game scifi than a multi dimensional multi world scifi, but I can appreciate both. I found myself unable to put this book down, constantly curious as too what was coming next in the story. This book really forced me to feel with the characters, which is hard for me, making the end even more impactful. If you want a taste of Vicino’s writing this was a great, quick read. I plan on picking up his full length book, Time Heist, to see if the trend can continue.

Thank you Anthony, redemption successful.