Review for Splintered Courage by J.E. Sawyer

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This is another first person book that seems to be the beginning of a series as that seems to be where the story is left off at.

The story starts out with our main character Gemma, recently graduating from high school as she meets up with her estranged dad (Garrett) that she hasn’t seen in 18 years. And suddenly, he just walks back into her life and asks/practically begs her to live with him in Texas. She agrees, wanting to closer to her father after being not having him in her life for nearly two decades. She doesn't realize just how much her life is going to change.

From the very beginning, it is obvious to the reader that there is something odd about Garrett but the reader just can't figure it out. Throughout the storyline, it becomes obvious just how different Garrett and his friends are.

What intrigues me about this book is that each chapter has been written in first person but with different characters. There are three characters that the author switches back and forth with throughout the entire book; Gemma, Garrett and Weston (a friend of Garrett's). The story isn't fast paced at all and at sometimes can feel like it is moving at a snail's pace but it is very well written. The transitions of the different character's point of view are well-written and works for the type to plot that this book has.

At this time I am unsure if I will continue on with this series. I may re-read it to see if it can grab more of my attention but until then, I am unsure.

Review for An Appointment with Fear by Chad Lee Erway

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This is the beginning book in a series by Chad Lee Erway. This series follows a teen named Jesse and his friends as they form a detective agency in a small town that is not what it seems. To be specific they form a supernatural detective agency called Masterminds Incorporated.

The story begins with Jesse, having just moved to a new town in Massachusetts and it begins with the usual teenage angst. He didn't want to move, he was fine where they used to live, etc. But that is when the storyline changes to something a bit more sinister and dark. Jesse develops pretty quickly in this first book but that was to be expected; he is barely a teenager after all.

Again I really don't want to spoil this at all but if you enjoy reading books such as the Hardy Boys or teenage/young adult supernatural/fantasy books, then I highly suggest trying out this first book to see if the series is right for you.

For me, I don't think I'll go looking for the rest of the series but not because I didn't like the series nor the author's writing. It just didn't sit well with me that the adults in the book, while they do help, are in the end pretty useless when it comes to defeating the threat in An Appointment with Fear. And honestly, it seems like utter nonsense who the kids, twelve and thirteen year olds at that, defeat the main threat by themselves. (If you have read the book, then you will understand how true that sentence is)

All-in-all however, it is a very well written book but I just don't feel like I am the right age to read this book as I find my mind wandering a bit and actually becoming angry at how the adults and other children of the town acted like nothing had happened and questioned nothing. It is similar to how I felt after watching IT and how the adults in the town refused to see what was right in front of them and a group of kids had to be the ones to get rid of the threat.

So I do recommend this book, but perhaps to a younger reader such as a middle-schooler; though I will say that the book does get dark at times, especially when Jesse is confronted with the main threat at several turns in the story. With this being the case, I do not think that all children should read this book but that is up to their parents. And it doesn't have to be just for younger readers, anyone can read it if they want to; but for me, I'll pass on the rest of the series.

Review of Ghost Walk by Melissa Bowersock

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This is definitely a series that I plan on continuing as soon as possible. I love the chemistry between Sam and Lacey and how it develops throughout this first book.

Not giving away too many spoilers but Lacey is ex-LAPD and Sam is a Medium. They end up working together on a cold case for a possible serial killer and that skyrockets Lacey into becoming a Private Investigator with Sam helping her if she needs it. 

This book is not in first-person and it works better for the way the storyline moves along but mostly the story follows Lacey and her development from wanting to get back onto the LAPD to her finally moving on with her life, both in career and in her love-life. Again, I don't want to post any spoilers so I won't go into detail about that.

I do like Sam's character development as well. Like many mediums, he is used to people doubting what he can do and at first Lacey is no different. However, throughout Ghost Walk both Sam and Lacey learn to open up with each other and I can only imagine what their relationship develops into throughout the series.

While I mentioned earlier that they started working together during a serial killer case, this really isn't their first case together and the serial killer storyline only takes up a few chapters in the book before it moves on to their first real investigation.

The plot is one of my recent favs and combines two genres that are my absolute favorite, murder-mystery and supernatural. So I highly recommend this book if either of those genres interest you at all.

Review of Truly Wicked by Anita Anderson

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Over the years, I have noticed that I am not a particular fan of books that are written in first person. The main reason for this is because I notice that it seems hard for the author, especially ones that are new, to keep in third person throughout the entirety of their book. 

But this one didn't have this problem at all. Anita Anderson knows what she is doing when she is writing in first person and she does so beautifully.

The story line moves along at a pretty good pace, though the relationship that develops between the two main characters (Blair and Lucas) seems a big too fast for me. But then again, most relationships do move fast in one way or another.

One thing that I liked is that the author put time and effort to develop both characters during the story line. By the end of Truly Wicked, both Blair and Lucas had done a complete 180 from how they had acted in the first part of the book. It was nice to see such great character development in such a short book.

I can also appreciate the fact that while the author does a good bit of explaining the detail and other characters that are found throughout Truly Wicked, she does so in a way that the reader can easily picture them in their mind as they wish to see them. She describes the scenes in such a way that the reader can easily immerse themselves into the world of Truly Wicked without feeling like they are being forced to look at this world through a certain perspective.

I don't want to give anything of the plot away as I don't wish to spoil it for others who wish to read, or those who are in process of reading it for themselves. But I do wish to include that there is mention of a character a few times within the storyline and it confused me at first why the author wasn't telling us much about this character. But at the end of Truly Wicked, it was revealed that this character's story (Sophia) would be revealed in a second book in the series.

I am very tempted to get this next book in this series to find out what exactly is up with Sophia, because honestly she leaves a lot of questions that need to be answered. Perhaps I will move onto the second book of the series when I have knocked out of several more books that I am reading at the moment.

Book List

Hello!

This isn't a book review but a list of books that I am currently reading, and a few that I will be doing an upcoming review for. Those books will be represented by a series of asterisks following their title and author name.

1. Truly Wicked by Anita Anderson****
2. The Untold Tale by J.M. Frey
3. Consequences by Sam Boyd
4. Clio at War by Peggy Gardner
5. Sohyeon After Midnight by Wendelin Gray
6. Machine Sickness by Peri Dwyer Worrell
7. Jack's Alive by Jerry Leake
8. No More Heroes by Roo I. McLeod
9. The Redemption of Erath: Consolation by Satis
10. Tardy Bells and Witche's Spells by Sarina Dorie
11. Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset by Sarah Ashwood
12. Ghost Walk by Melissa Bowersock****
13. Gunners of the White Cliffs by Todd Woofenden
14. Deadly Switch by Karen Dodd
15. Gloom Rising by Sean Davies
16. Reality Falling by Sean Davies
17. An Appointment with Fear by Chad Lee Erway
18. Get Out of My Dreams by Allan J. Lewis
19. Blood Maiden by Christine Schulze
20. Splintered Courage by J.E. Sawyer****
21. Bound Sorcery by Natalie Grey
22. Breathless: In Love with an Alpha Billionaire by Shani Greene-Dowdell
23. Wormwood by D.H. Lewis
24. Daughters of the Sun by Zoe Kalo
25. Elements of the Flames by CR Robertson
26. The House of Twelve by Sean Davies
27. Joe Coffin - Season 1 by Ken Preston
28. Temper: Deference by Lila Mina
29. Fantasy Creatures - A Fellowship of Fantasy Anthology by several authors.

This is the current list of what I am reading/what I plan to read. This list will keep updating as I make my way through it. And once again, if anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know!

Welcome!

Welcome to Akera's Book Nook!

I am a avid reader that tends to read anything that I can get my hands on. I have thought about making a book review blog for several years now but I'm finally going through it. On this blog, I will be reviewing books, both new releases and old ones so there is something for everyone. I will try my hardest to keep the reviews spoiler free, but if I do include a spoiler or two in my review; I will let my readers know at the beginning of the review.

My reviews will vary in length, depending on the length of book that I am currently reviewing. I will also be listing in each of my reviews information about the author and their other works should anyone be interested.

Well there isn't much else to say in this first post. However, keep an eye out for my second post where I will be listing the current books that I am reading as well as a few reviews that I plan on posting in the next week.

Also, I do take request for reviews of books if anyone thinks that I would like to read a certain title. But if I have already read the book, I will still post a review about the book so that others can get an idea if the book is for them or not.

So until next time my readers!