Month: March 2021

Unnatural by Deven Greene

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Unnatural by Deven Greene was a good book.  I did have a hard time with this book because I couldn’t see anything like this ever happening.  I did love the medical parts of this book because it has always interested me.  I know that this book is fiction, but I still love books that can happen globally, and I just can’t see this book ever happening in the real world.  Other than the fact that this book is unbelievable, I did enjoy the story.  I wonder if things like this happen in the real world, and we just don’t know about it.  Since COVID happened, maybe I am right, and this stuff is happening.    I enjoyed the authors’ writing, and I will check out the other books in this series.  If you love medical thrillers, I would for sure recommend this book to you.

About The Book

Title: UNNATURAL (Erica Rosen MD Trilogy Book 1)
Author: Deven Greene
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Pages: 292
Genre: Medical Thriller

Dr. Erica Rosen is perplexed when she sees a young Chinese girl with blue eyes in her San Francisco pediatrics clinic. The girl’s mother, Ting, is secretive, and Erica suspects she has entered the country illegally. Later, Erica encounters Ting’s son and discovers he has an unusual mutation. Erica learns that Ting’s children underwent embryonic stem cell gene editing as part of a secret Chinese government-run program.

The Chinese government wants to murder Ting’s son to prevent others from learning about his unusual mutation and the secret gene-editing program. At Ting’s urging, Erica heads to China to expose the program and rescue the infant Ting was forced to leave behind, all while attempting to evade the watchful eye of the Chinese government.

PRAISE

A compelling and richly woven story, perfect for those looking for their new favorite thriller! 

The UC San Francisco pediatric clinic is a lively and bustling facility where every sort of injury and infirmity has been seen, diagnosed and treated. That is, until the day a Chinese migrant named Ting brings her daughter in for an evaluation. The striking girl is truly an anomaly, bearing genetically impossible bright blue eyes. Dr. Erica Rosen presses Ting for information, but Ting is paranoid, evasive and overly protective of her family’s privacy. Things become more puzzling when Ting ends up in the ER with a wounded young son and insists that someone is trying to kill the boy. Shocking test results, a second attempt on the boy’s life and a missing phlebotomist are just the beginning of a riveting tale of government conspiracy, medical mystery and dangerous close-calls.

Unnatural is a flawlessly written medical thriller that focuses on a Chinese mother who will sacrifice everything to save her children. Erica is a bold protagonist who follows her instincts to some amazing discoveries. The narrative is driven by intelligent dialogue and a clever, yet heinous, plot. The cultural aspects between Ting and Erica feel authentic and the technical medical language is just complicated enough to feel genuine without becoming difficult to read. Deven Greene has created a truly gripping international thriller with just the right amount of humanity and compassion.  Unnatural, the first in the Erica Rosen MD Trilogy, is a compelling and richly woven story, perfect for those looking for a new favorite thriller!

–Indies Today

About The Author

Fiction writer Deven Greene lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Ever since childhood, Deven has been interested in science.  After working as a biochemist, she went back to school and became a pathologist.  When writing fiction, the author usually incorporates elements of medicine or science. Deven has penned several short stories. Unnatural is the first novel the author has published.

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Fractured Love by Callie Bardot

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Audiobookworm in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Fractured Love by Callie Bardot was an excellent wrap-up for this series.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this book, but in the end, I loved this book just as much as I did the second book.  If you want to read my reviews of the other four books in this series, you can clickhere, here, here, and here. This is the final book in the Adrenaline series, and I am sad to say goodbye to these characters.  The one thing that I didn’t enjoy about this book was the voice the narrator used for Jamal.  His voice just got my nerves, and it isn’t one that I got used to even after listening to the entire audiobook. By the end of the book, I only listen to it because I had to know how it all ended.  Other than Jamal’s voice, I enjoyed this narrator, and I would listen to other books by him.  I did feel bad for Heat because of his childhood and how his parents made him feel.  I felt terrible that Heat was scared to be who he was supposed to be.  I did love getting to know these characters, but I am sad to say goodbye to them.  I loved that this author included part of the LGBT community because it made the series come to life for me.  If you are looking for a great series of books, I would recommend you pick up this series and give it a listen.

About The Book

Author: Callie Bardot

Narrator: Jonathan Tratar

Length: 7 hours 57 minutes

Publisher: Callie Bardot⎮2020

Genre: Romance

Series: Adrenaline, Book 5

Release date: Dec. 16, 2020 

From the Amazon best-selling Adrenaline series, comes the final book in this rock and roll suspense adventure.

Rock star Trevor “Heat” West has a burning secret. His former best friend – the guy he’s still in love with – thinks he’s gay. Given Heat’s upbringing at a military academy with his dad as the dean, it’s a secret he simply can’t afford to accept. He’d just as soon drink battery acid for breakfast.

But then he meets Jamal, a statuesque guy who plays the piano like nobody else and sings like a hot fantasy.

Heat despises Jamal. Jamal reminds him of everything he’d like to forget and wounds too painful to face. But his attraction to the keyboardist proves too compelling to resist.

As they go on tour together, all of Heat’s inner walls begin to crumble. Then he finds Jamal carries secrets greater than his own. And, as his heart begins to give way to self-acceptance, he learns Jamal’s secrets might cost him his life. 

A M/M romance novel.

About The Author

Give me a gritty story, pushing through obstacles, followed by a chance at true love and I’m a happy woman. I fought for love, long and hard, and found it. Along the way, I had a lot of fun, figuring if something exists to be explored, I may as well explore it. How else can you figure out what you like?

My books have won awards like Romance Reviews Reader’s Choice New Adult Erotic (Blurred Lines) and have landed on the NY Times and USA Today Bestseller’s list, as well as #1 Amazon bestseller categories. If I’m not writing, you can find me under the water, scuba diving, or on land, hiking, saving lives as an EMT, or exploring my breathtaking surroundings in the Pacific Northwest, alongside my sexy, firefighting guy. 

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About The Narrator

Making funny voices has always been something I have done, to an almost compulsive level. I would emulate cartoon characters, parents, teachers, politicians, ect. Then focus shifted to martial arts, rock climbing, just other passions and whatnot. In all honesty I feel as though I was lost for a few years. No direction. I then got into the modeling and acting industry. Almost three years as a model/actor, of middling success, before I decided to have a go at being an agent. This move went very very well. Two years later, unfulfilled, I quit my job, bought a mic, and haven’t looked back since.

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The Key To Love by Callie Bardot

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Audiobookworm in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Key To Love by Callie Bardot was a great book.  This is the 4th book in the Adrenaline series, and I like this book more than the third book.  I loved that we got to get to know Keys.  I also loved Mia and felt terrible for everything that she and Keys went through. I almost wish that this book had been the third.  I think that would have made the third book make more sense when I was reading that book.  You don’t have to read them all in order, but I would recommend that because if you don’t read them in order, then you will ruin the other books.  I enjoyed the narrator of this book.  He did a great job of making the characters all sound different, so I didn’t get lost as I was listening.  There were several adult scenes in this book.  They didn’t bother me, but I know some people wouldn’t enjoy them, so I wanted to let you know they are in there.  I enjoyed the author’s writing, and I can’t wait to listen to the final book in this series.  If you love rock star romance books, you will enjoy this book as much as I did.

I have reviewed the other books in this series.  If you are interested in seeing those reviews, you can here(3rd book, here(3rd book, and here(3rd book) to check out those reviews.

About The Book

Author: Callie Bardot

Narrator: Jonathan Tratar

Length: 8 hours

Publisher: Sumner McKenzie, Inc⎮2020

Genre: Romance

Series: Adrenaline, Book 4

Release date: November 2, 2020

 His past haunts him. Her past hunts her.

When Grammy winning Marked Love keyboardist, Keys, finds himself face to face with Mia for a week, he thinks his run of bad luck has finally turned.

Mia thinks she’s in for the week of her worst nightmares.

But as the two collide in an intense affair, two things become obvious—their friends want Mia to stay as far away from Keys as she can. And, neither one of them can forget their pasts and open to love. As a result, they crash together and are wrenched apart like pounding waves. As their week comes to an end, they’re forced to deal with the potent attraction between them and the deadly consequences that follow.

With so much at stake, can they find the key to love?

The Key to Love is the fourth book in the exciting, suspenseful Adrenaline series. While each book is a standalone, the series it more enjoyable if you read them in order.

About The Author

Give me a gritty story, pushing through obstacles, followed by a chance at true love and I’m a happy woman. I fought for love, long and hard, and found it. Along the way, I had a lot of fun, figuring if something exists to be explored, I may as well explore it. How else can you figure out what you like?

My books have won awards like Romance Reviews Reader’s Choice New Adult Erotic (Blurred Lines) and have landed on the NY Times and USA Today Bestseller’s list, as well as #1 Amazon bestseller categories. If I’m not writing, you can find me under the water, scuba diving, or on land, hiking, saving lives as an EMT, or exploring my breathtaking surroundings in the Pacific Northwest, alongside my sexy, firefighting guy. 

Website⎮Facebook

About The Narrator

Making funny voices has always been something I have done, to an almost compulsive level. I would emulate cartoon characters, parents, teachers, politicians, ect. Then focus shifted to martial arts, rock climbing, just other passions and whatnot. In all honesty I feel as though I was lost for a few years. No direction. I then got into the modeling and acting industry. Almost three years as a model/actor, of middling success, before I decided to have a go at being an agent. This move went very very well. Two years later, unfulfilled, I quit my job, bought a mic, and haven’t looked back since.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2021 Margaret Margaret

Will Rise From Ashes by Jean M. Grant

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Audiobookworm in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Will Rise From Ashes by Jean M. Grant had so much potential, but it didn’t live up to that with me.  It wasn’t so bad that I didn’t want to finish the book, but it did make me roll my eyes more times than I can even count.  I know that this book is fiction, so anything can happen, but I wished it was more fact-based.   I had a hard time connecting with the characters, and I am sure that I found the plot so far-fetched.  I did enjoy both of the narrators of this book.  I love when they use male & female narrators because it keeps track of who is talking even easier.  I did enjoy the author’s writing; like I have said multiple times now, I just wish that the plot would have been more believable.  I also felt like the ending of the book was rushed as well.  I want to more time would have been spent on the conclusion of the book.  I did feel bad for AJ because of everything that she went through.  I spent most of the book rooting for her and Reid to end up together because I thought they were perfect for each other.  There was one adult scene in this book so if that is something that would bother you then this might not be the right book for you.  If you don’t mind books that couldn’t happen in the real world, you will probably enjoy this book more than I did.

About The Book

Author: Jean M. Grant

Narrators: Caroline Hewitt, Andrew Perkins

Length: 10 hours 32 minutes

Publisher: Jean M. Grant⎮2020

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Release date: Mar. 16, 2020

Living is more than mere survival…

Young widow AJ Sinclair has persevered through much heartache. Has she met her match when the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, leaving her separated from her youngest son and her brother? 

Tens of thousands are dead or missing in a swath of massive destruction. She and her nine-year-old autistic son Will embark on a risky road trip from Maine to the epicenter to find her family. She can’t lose another loved one.

Along the way, they meet Reid Gregory, who travels his own road to perdition looking for his sister. Drawn together by AJ’s fear of driving and Reid’s military and local expertise, their journey to Colorado is fraught with the chaotic aftermath of the eruption.

AJ’s anxiety and faith in humanity are put to the test as she heals her past, accepts her family’s present, and embraces uncertainty as Will and Reid show her a world she had almost forgotten.

About The Author

Jean has a penchant for the misunderstood be it sharks, microbes, or people (fictional and real). A scientist by training, she now spends her days as an author and champion for her children. She has five published novels in the genres of historical and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction. She also writes for family and travel magazines and websites. When not writing, she enjoys tending to her flower and vegetable gardens, tackling the biggest mountains in New England with her husband, and chilling with her children, while taking snapshots of the world around her and daydreaming about the next story.

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About The Narrator

Caroline Hewitt is an actress, audiobook narrator, and adaptor.

Caroline has appeared on television in When You See Us, directed by Ava Duvernay, and The I-Land, on Netflix and New Amsterdam, The Blacklist, and FBI: Most Wanted on NBC. She has appeared on Broadway in Junk and The Front Page. Off Broadway and regional credits include: Lazarus (New York Theatre Workshop, The National Theatre London and DeLaMar Theatre Amsterdam), Tamburlaine the Great (Theater for a New Audience), Against The Hillside and Good Results Are Difficult When Indifference Predominates (Ensemble Studio Theater), and plays at Arena Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Alley Theater, Baltimore Centerstage, Studio Theatre, and Portland Stage, among others.

She has narrated audiobooks for publishers including Penguin Random House, Hachette, Dreamscape, Blackstone, and Audible.

Caroline’s adaptation of Howards End will be produced by the Dorset Theater Festival, and was included on the 2020 Kilroys List.

Caroline majored in French at Vassar College, and holds an Masters in Fine Arts in Acting from American Conservatory Theater.

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About The Narrator

Andrew V. Perkins is a Los Angeles-based actor, and singer. He is a graduate of the Meisner Conservatory at Elizabeth Mestnik Acting Studio. 

Credits include (North) Hollywood, On The Side, None Like Us, the musical You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, Why Him, Denny’s, Realtor.com, the NBC Universal Actor’s Showcase, and other various short films. 

​When he is not on stage or in front of the camera, Andrew is a VIP Studio Tour Guide at Universal Studios; where he has to provide entertainment for guests as they visit the Studio. Andrew also studies improvisation at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade. 

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Sugar Love by Callie Bardot

Book Review Graphic

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Audiobookworm in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Sugar Love by Callie Bardot was a good book.  This is the third book in this series, and so far, this one is my least favorite book.  I enjoyed the narrator of this book.  I found that I had a hard time connecting with the characters in this book.  I am not sure why but I was almost glad when the book was over because I found it hard to stay interested.  I loved that I could turn up the speed so that I could get through this book quicker.  There are several adult scenes in this book that didn’t bother me, but they might bother some people, so I wanted to mention them in my review.  I did wish that there had been more of the characters from the first books in this story.   I have to wonder if that isn’t part of the reason I didn’t enjoy this book as much.  If you love romance books, you might like this one, but it isn’t one that I would listen to again.

About The Book

Author: Callie Bardot

Narrator: Jonathan Tratar

Length: 10 hours 35 minutes

Publisher: Callie Bardot⎮2020

Genre: Romance

Series: Adrenaline, Book 3

Release date: Aug. 11, 2020 

A USA Today best-selling book!

After Effie D’Archangel’s scholarship gets revoked, she’s screwed. Everything she’s ever worked for is gone. She can’t work more than she already does without falling behind in her classes. With no hope and no plan, she succumbs to a dare to attend a party for billionaires looking for young, sexy sugar babies. Despite being more geek than chic, Effie’s desperate to try anything.

Zander’s money and world-class skill and daring in outdoor adventures can’t shield him from heartbreak. Still bitter from an accident that left him deeply scarred, he accepts a dare to find a sugar baby. When he encounters Effie, she’s everything he’s not used to – and that intrigues him even more.

Agreeing to fund her tuition is a risk he knows he can handle. But as they grow closer and the truth surfaces, will the sugar baby be worth the risk, after all?

While each book is a stand-alone, the series it more enjoyable if you listen to them in order.

About The Author

Give me a gritty story, pushing through obstacles, followed by a chance at true love and I’m a happy woman. I fought for love, long and hard, and found it. Along the way, I had a lot of fun, figuring if something exists to be explored, I may as well explore it. How else can you figure out what you like?

My books have won awards like Romance Reviews Reader’s Choice New Adult Erotic (Blurred Lines) and have landed on the NY Times and USA Today Bestseller’s list, as well as #1 Amazon bestseller categories. If I’m not writing, you can find me under the water, scuba diving, or on land, hiking, saving lives as an EMT, or exploring my breathtaking surroundings in the Pacific Northwest, alongside my sexy, firefighting guy. 

Website⎮Facebook

 

About The Narrator

Making funny voices has always been something I have done, to an almost compulsive level. I would emulate cartoon characters, parents, teachers, politicians, ect. Then focus shifted to martial arts, rock climbing, just other passions and whatnot. In all honesty I feel as though I was lost for a few years. No direction. I then got into the modeling and acting industry. Almost three years as a model/actor, of middling success, before I decided to have a go at being an agent. This move went very very well. Two years later, unfulfilled, I quit my job, bought a mic, and haven’t looked back since.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2021 Margaret Margaret

A Twist Of Love by Callie Bardot

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Audiobookworm in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

A Twist Of Love by Callie Bardot was a great book.  This is the second book in the series, and you don’t have to read them in order if you don’t want to, but the entire series interests you. I would recommend listening to them in order.  I enjoyed the first book, but once I finished this book, this one became my favorite.  I loved Gia in the first book, and I fell in love with her in this book.  She seemed so relatable to me, and I felt so bad for all of the things she went through as a child.  I think that I liked the narrator of this story more than the first book, but that is just a personal preference.  This book has one adult scene in this. It didn’t bother me, but I know some people wouldn’t like being surprised with a scene like that in a book.  I enjoy these characters more than the characters from the first book, but I also loved that you get an update about the first characters in this book.  I love when I book series creates a whole world of characters because it makes the books come to life for me.  I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.

About The Book

Author: Callie Bardot

Narrator: Leanne Woodward

Length: 4 hours 36 minutes

Publisher: Sumner McKenzie, Inc⎮2020

Genre: Romance

Series: Adrenaline, Book 2

Release date: October 14, 2020

Synopsis: Forced into rehab by lead singer Dante Vegas, the Marked Love drummer Gia “Styx” Swain wants nothing to do with sobriety—or the gorgeous, kind man she’s been assigned to be with twenty-four hours a day. Her hand forced, unable to deal with her situation, she escapes his care, heedless of the consequences.

Retired Marine Marco Monroe loves helping people get free of their addictions. He’s good at it. Plus, it helps keep his mind off the tragic accident that stole his fiancée away. Being a sober companion to the drummer of one of his favorite rock bands proves challenging…as well as difficult to stay mindful of his boundaries.

With everything on the line, can they possibly yield to the potent attraction between them? Or, would giving into one another destroy everything they’ve sought to create? Find out in a Twist of Love: A Rock Star Romance

While each book is a standalone, the series it more enjoyable if you read them in order.

About The Author

Give me a gritty story, pushing through obstacles, followed by a chance at true love and I’m a happy woman. I fought for love, long and hard, and found it. Along the way, I had a lot of fun, figuring if something exists to be explored, I may as well explore it. How else can you figure out what you like?

My books have won awards like Romance Reviews Reader’s Choice New Adult Erotic (Blurred Lines) and have landed on the NY Times and USA Today Bestseller’s list, as well as #1 Amazon bestseller categories. If I’m not writing, you can find me under the water, scuba diving, or on land, hiking, saving lives as an EMT, or exploring my breathtaking surroundings in the Pacific Northwest, alongside my sexy, firefighting guy. 

Website⎮Facebook

Buy A Copy

Author’s Direct⎮Chirp⎮iTunes⎮Nook⎮Google

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2021 Margaret Margaret