Awakened by Helen Hardt

I know I said that this was my favourite series in my last post, but this HAS to be my favpurite book in the series. Helen has hit it out of the park with this one. This part of the series is following Dale (Talon's oldest), he is probably the most introverted of the bunch. His character development so far has been perfect, not too fast, nor none at all. There are secrets that are coming to the surface about the family that I don't think anyone was prepared for. I don't really want to give away much more as you just have to experience it for yourself, you will not be disappointed!! Thank you Helen, I don't know how you do it, but this series just keeps getting better and better.

Descent by Helen Hardt (Steel Brothers Saga #15)

This is probably my favourite series I have ever read, I am debating reading them again and doing a post on each one individually. This particular book wraps up the series as far as the children and parents are concerned, however, there are more books coming out after this that jump to the children's children, and I cannot wait! Helen you have done it yet again, a ful 5/5 from me, and I can't wait for the next installments, December cannot come soon enough!!

#Kickasswomen giveaway (closed)

Welcome to an awesome giveaway provided to us by Simon and Schuster Canada

I have read Dark Territory and The Passenger and I will be reviewing both of them for you today!

DARK TERRITORY

This book takes us on a wild ride through the underground railroad for women that are in abusive relationships. Our main character is Signey Sheppard, she is one of the volunteers for the organization. In this particular volume of the series we are following her with a woman that has needed to run away from her husband with her baby in tow. The husband is not abusive to her or the child, however, there are secrets that he is keeping that the wife has found out, and has put her and the baby in danger.

The husband is an up and coming Doctor with lots of resources on his side, so finding a spot to hold the wife and baby proves to be difficult. The organization has plenty of resources to choose from, so they decide to take the wife and baby through the US instead of bringing them over the border in to Canada. 

The pace of this book was awesome, I truly felt like I was on the ride with them. It was also nice to read about some places in Ontario Canada that I knew about. There is a side story in this book as well about someone called "the tracker". We do not learn till a little while in to the book why he is keeping track of Signey, why he would have any interest in her at all. He is very good at what he does, and can even find her when she is using a fake ID. 

Overall this book was close to being perfect for me, I give it a 4/5! I highly recommend it for anyone looking for something fast paced and thrilling.

THE PASSENGER

This book takes a whole new look at the meaning of "shedding new skin" if you will. One of the opening lines of the book is In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...

This is just the beginning of what you will have to take Tanya's word for throughout this novel. She is fantastic at hiding and taking on other identities. There are some interesting characters that she meets along the way, and lots of questions that are not answered till the very end of the novel.

Tanya has secrets from her past, even prior to Frank's death, and it was exciting to try and figure out what that secret is throughout the novel, and I was nowhere close to figuring it out, I can tell you that. 

Tanya puts on many different faces through this novel, some of them good, some of them not so good. I cannot imagine what she was thinking sometimes, and I think that is part of the point of this book, she is an unreliable character. 

Overall I really enjoyed this novel, and would rate it a 4/5 as well, if you are a fan of thrillers, this book is absolutely for you!

Now on to the giveaway, this is Canada only please, All you have to do is thank Simon & Schuster in the comments, and give a suggestion of a book that you have read that has a kick ass woman in it!

The Geneva Project - Lies Volume 3 by Christina Benjamin

The Geneva Project – Lies (vol.3) by Christina Benjamin

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Geneva-Project-Christina-Benjamin-ebook/dp/B012BYZBA6

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-geneva-project-christina-benjamin/1122378695?ean=2940152051162

itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-geneva-project-lies/id1029330463?mt=11

Square: https://squareup.com/market/thegenevaprojectstore

Promo: New release. Third book in the award-wining YA fantasy fiction series, The Geneva Project

Can you live a life of LIES? That’s exactly what Geneva finds herself doing to protect everyone she loves. While Geneva and her friends embark on a dangerous mission to fulfill her destiny, the dark forces that seek her powers are closing in, putting everyone she cares about at risk. Geneva must lie about who she is, what she knows and her true feelings. Are all these lies worth it or will she go too far and lose everything she’s been fighting for?

About the Author:

Christina Benjamin is the Award-Winning Author of the Young Adult series The Geneva Project.

Her debut novel, Truth, has won multiple awards, including the 2014 FAPA Gold Medal for YA fiction.

Benjamin’s writing hooks fans of mega-hit YA fiction like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, and offers them a new series to obsess over. She paints a vivid world, where magic and imagination run wild in her epic tale of adventure, courage and friendship.

Benjamin studied English at the University of Central Florida. She’s dedicated to giving back to the community and speaking at schools to inspire creativity in young writers.

Social Media Links:

https://www.facebook.com/ChristinaBenjaminAuthor

https://www.facebook.com/TheGenevaProjectBook?ref=hl

https://twitter.com/AuthorCBenjamin

https://instagram.com/authorcbenjamin/

https://instagram.com/thegenevaprojectbook_fanpage

http://authorchristinabenjamin.tumblr.com/

https://google.com/+ChristinaBenjaminAuthor

https://youtube.com/c/ChristinaBenjaminAuthor

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ChristinaBenjaminAuthor

http://christinabenjaminauthor.com/

http://www.thegenevaprojectbook.com/

https://squareup.com/market/thegenevaprojectstore

Excerpt from book:

Chapter 1

We marched forward out of the protective tree line of the forest and into the open field; a wall of bodies, hands clasped moving with purpose toward the Troian Center. Even though we had the protection of Remi’s invisibility power, I still felt tense and exposed. My heart pounded with uncertainty as a cool wind rushed past and we picked up speed. I could barely feel the strange sensation of lightness that being invisible provided. My skin tingled, but it felt more like nerves than magic. The last time I’d been invisible the sensation had felt much more intense, which had me worried that maybe it wasn’t working right. The possibility that Remi wasn’t strong enough to stretch his power over all of us made me shutter with uneasiness. This was more people than he’d ever tried to share his power with before .

The Giveaway:

$50 Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway Read below for an interview with the author! Tell us about the Geneva Project series in 25 words or less

• Epic adventure of friendship, magic and legends that will make you search your soul to find what’s most important in life, love or destiny.

What was your favorite scene to write in Lies?

• I can’t give it away, but it’s near the end of the book in the Locker.

What was the hardest scene to edit out?

• The ending. I changed it a million times. I knew how I wanted it to end as the writer, but then when I read it as the reader, I hated it. Plus I had to take my characters into consideration. So the ending was hard and I condensed and changed it a ton. With the help of my BETA readers and editor I think it’s at a great place now.

How many books will be in the Geneva Project series?

• I plan to have 4 books in the series. I’m currently writing #4 right now. I love the characters so much that I’m going to give some of them spin offs and I have an idea for a prequel.

Are you currently working on anything else?

• I’m co-authoring a middle grade book with Jamie M. Engle. I’m also co-authoring a children’s book with N. Jane Quackenbush. And I’ve started a novella that may have turned into another fun YA series. It’s about a drama student that ends up falling into some of her favorite plays.

Which authors inspire you?

• Oh man, so many. JK Rowling because, c’mon Harry Potter. And so many that I’ve recently met, because they’re all incredibly kind people that are truly following their dreams and happy to share it with you.

What is currently in your tbr pile?

• That pile is overwhelming. I don’t really get time to read too much these days because I’m so busy writing! I have some books by Stephanie Erickson and Amy Bartol on my desk that I’m determined to get to next.

What is the best book you have read recently?

• Anything Cassandra Clare. I guess I finished the Infernal Devices series last and those books made me cry so they’re up there on the Favs list.

Run by H.G. Lynch Book Blitz

ABOUT THE BOOK

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25136601-run

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Run-Caged-Trilogy-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00UIFE422

Tilly is a witch…at least, she thinks she is. All she really knows is that she

has powers she shouldn’t, and that the cruel women she escaped

from – who definitely are witches – will stop at nothing to make her their

prisoner again because of those powers.

But Tilly has fallen in with a strange group – a pack of werewolves. The pack

wants to protect her; none of them more so than Dominic, the alpha’s

kind-hearted son. Tilly thinks she might be falling for him, but she can’t help

being fascinated by his brooding, mysterious half-brother Spencer.

Caught between the two, Tilly isn’t sure anymore what she’s most scared of:

the witches hunting her down, or her own heart betraying her.

EXCERPT

His fingers on my wrist felt too warm and too intimate, his touch making things deep inside me tingle. There was so little between us, literally, only my nightshirt and underwear separated my body and his. I could feel the growling inside him, vibrating through my blood. I’d never felt desire like that, never known it could be so addictive, like a drug I wanted more of.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

H.G. Lynch is a Scottish Paranormal Romance author, avid reader, and cat-lover. She spends most of her days writing, while wrestling her cat, Sooki, off her laptop. She believes that chocolate cake can save the world, and is highly caffeine-addicted. She can occasionally be found rolling on the floor, laughing manically, when she’s consumed too much caffeine. She loves horse-riding, Star Trek, and snow. 

Her books are dark fantasy romances, usually with a bad boy and a bad girl. Sometimes with zombies, sometimes vampires, sometimes other things. 

Author Page: www.facebook.com/authorhglynch

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/H.G.-Lynch/e/B00HZ4PIM4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hglynch

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22105022-the-girl-on-the-train

SUMMARY

Three women, three men, connected through marriage or infidelity. Each is to blame for something. But only one is a killer in this nail-biting, stealthy psychological thriller about human frailty and obsession. 
      Just what goes on in the houses you pass by every day? 
     Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and evening, rattling over the same junctions, flashing past the same townhouses.The train stops at the same signal every day, and she sees the same couple, breakfasting on their roof terrace. Jason and Jess, as she calls them, seem so happy. Then one day Rachel sees someone new in their garden. Soon after, Rachel sees the woman she calls Jess on the news. Jess has disappeared. 
     Through the ensuing police investigation, Rachel is drawn deeper into the lives of the couple she learns are really Megan and Scott Hipwell. As she befriends Scott, Rachel pieces together what really happened the day Megan disappeared. But when Megan's body is found, Rachel finds herself the chief suspect in the case. Plunged into a world of betrayals, secrets and deceptions, Rachel must confront the facts about her own past and her own failed marriage. 
     A sinister and twisting story that will keep you guessing at every turn,The Girl on the Train is a high-speed chase for the truth.

REVIEW

I loved this one! It was curious to read about a situation from an unreliable narrator, she was drunk most of the time. Rachel is a 30 something year old who has been married and divorced with no children. At the beginning of the novel things were slowly put in to place by her and a couple other characters, and as you keep reading (especially from Rachel's point of view) you begin to wonder if everything is part of their imagination, or has it actually happened.

There was things going on where I thought I figured out what the big twist was, but on more than one occasion, I was totally wrong, I actually love when this happens, you get more out of a story I think. The characters were generally likable, even Rachel sometimes, at other times you really just want to shake her with the drinking. One thing I can never figure out is why Rachel would want to put herself in the same situation time after time, but in the end it all seems to come together.

I can sortive see where people are getting the comparison to Gone Girl, however, I think that they both stand on their own tow feet very well, and if you liked one you should like the other. At first I didn't know what to think when Jess went missing, was she really missing, or did she run away with someone else? That part kept the story going at a really good pace.

I am not sure what else to say without getting in to spoilers, however, if you are looking for a great thriller that will keep you guessing right till the very end, this is a story for you! I give it a 5/5!

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18467818-an-untamed-state

SUMMARY

Roxane Gay is a powerful new literary voice whose short stories and essays have already earned her an enthusiastic audience. In An Untamed State, she delivers an assured debut about a woman kidnapped for ransom, her captivity as her father refuses to pay and her husband fights for her release over thirteen days, and her struggle to come to terms with the ordeal in its aftermath.

Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti’s richest sons, she has an adoring husband, a precocious infant son, by all appearances a perfect life. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, in front of her father’s Port au Prince estate. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents.

An Untamed State is a novel of privilege in the face of crushing poverty, and of the lawless anger that corrupt governments produce. It is the story of a willful woman attempting to find her way back to the person she once was, and of how redemption is found in the most unexpected of places. An Untamed State establishes Roxane Gay as a writer of prodigious, arresting talent.

REVIEW

Let me first start by saying that I don't feel as though I could give this book the praise that it deserves, nothing I say is going to be able to convey how I feel about this book, it may be a work of fiction, however, these things happen (more often than we probably would like to admit), and it is only an excellent writer that can bring about the feelings that I have even after sitting for a couple weeks after finishing this novel.

So in this story we follow Mireille whom goes back to Haiti to visit her parents, and winds up getting kidnapped (this is not a spoiler!). Mireille and her husband live a pampered life in the US, she is fully willing to admit to this, they have everything that they need and enjoy dinner parties with friends, and having the best of everything. They also have a small child that they adore and were thinking of having more.

What I loved about this novel was the way that Gay was not afraid to tackle the tough issues, not only the kidnapping, but everything that went along with it, and everything that happens after. Even though it was only 13 days that she was gone, you truly can see how she is really trapped for the rest of her life, and how things will never be the same for her. I have never read a book (besides a memoir) that is able to rip my heart out so much for the victim in the story, you wish and wish for her that it is all a bad dream, and that she will wake up and be back with her family again. The characters were beautifully written, even the ones that you want to detest. Every one of them brought something new and interesting to the story, whether it was to make you hate them, or love them. 

The book was told in alternating chapters of Mireille either during her kidnapping, or her remembering things from before she was kidnapped, either from childhood or when she was older dating Michael, or when they were first married, both perspectives were heart wrenching, because you knew that even when this ordeal was over, nothing would ever be the same for her again.

If you are looking for a serious read that covers many topics and do not have any trigger warnings about sexual violence towards women, then this is a novel for you! I absolutely give it a 5/5.