BOOK REVIEW: NEVER FORGET BY EMMA HART

Title: Never Forget

Author: Emma Hart

Genre: Romance, New Adult

Published on: February 12, 2013, self-published

A city girl.

A small town boy.

A summer they'll never forget.

Spending the summer at her Grammy's in Lilac Bay, Devon, is city girl Alexis 'Lexy' Edwards' idea of hell. That is, until she reconnects with her childhood friend, Jen, and meets Alec Johnson.

Alec is the kind of guy Lexy knows she needs to stay away from. He's the village flirt, ridiculously hot and very dangerous to her self control. But there's a problem – she can't seem to keep him out, even though she knows he'll break her heart.

As Alec slowly strips away Lexy's defences and the two embark on a summer romance she never wanted, their feelings grow to more than either expected. But nothing lasts forever, and reality intrudes.

As her world is shaken to it's core, Lexy's self made prediction comes true when she discovers she's spent six weeks surrounded by secrets. Kept out by her family and the only guy she's ever trusted, she falls apart.

And when Grammy tells her that 'you might not end up where you wanted to be, but you'll always end up where you're meant to be,' she has to figure out if her meant to be is back home in London, or if it's been in Devon the whole time.

Emma Hart is among the first indie (self-published) authors that I found out about. Never Forget is one of her earlier titles, and the first of hers that I read. It is a sweet contemporary romance, slash summer romance. The book is told from the alternating first-person POVs of Alexis Edwards and Alec Johnson. Alexis ‘Lexy’ reluctantly spends one summer with her grandmother at Lilac Bay, Devon. Although this allows Lexy to reconnect with her friends, she’d rather be anywhere else.

One morning, Lexy meets Alec. She knows nothing about him, except that she’d rather stay away. Lexy is one of those girls who want to finish their studies before pursuing a relationship. It doesn’t help that Lexy finds out about Alec’s womanizer reputation via Jen, her best friend. This begs the question of will-they-won’t-they? Much to Lexy’s chagrin, she’ll have to get used to Alec’s presence, as he’s her grandmother’s sort-of personal aide.

BOOK REVIEW: BOUNDARY BORN BY MELISSA F. OLSON

Title: Boundary Born

Author: Melissa F. Olson

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Published on: June 21, 2016 by 47North

Something wicked is at work in Colorado’s supernatural community. Vampires are being paralyzed or killed with poison…a weapon favored by witches. This offense threatens to break apart the already-fractured alliance between witches and the undead.

The state’s cardinal vampire, Maven, summons boundary witch Allison “Lex” Luther to stop the killing before it ignites a war. Lex has barely started investigating when she gets another surprise: the biological father she’s never met arrives on her doorstep. He has answers to all of Lex’s questions about her bloodline, but getting those answers could mean betraying the life she’s already built.

Then the next vampire is poisoned—and this time it’s Maven herself. The new evil that hunts Lex is powerful and ruthless enough to stop the strongest supernatural creature in the state. In order to find such a killer, Lex will have to face down her own birthright and call on every ally—both living and dead.

This is the third installment of the Boundary Magic series. The protagonist, boundary witch Lex Luther, is back for another adventure. She narrowly managed to save the day in the previous book. After weeks of dealing with the aftermath, Lex gets to settle down for a bit. Also, as thanks for her service, Lex's boss Maven grants her permission to let her brother-in-law John Wheaton know she’s a witch. This happens before the book starts, so the reader doesn’t get to see it happen. It appears that John didn’t take the news well. He takes Charlie and some of their family on a trip away from Colorado. Lex isn’t happy, but she at least knows Charlie will be safe away from Boulder.

It doesn’t take long before new trouble arises. Maven discovers that some of her vampires have been poisoned with a rare strain of belladonna. If there’s anything Maven hates, it’s that plant. And it so happens that belladonna is most commonly used by witches. The only clan in Boulder is the Pellars, who are Maven's allies. If the attacks continue, it could start a war. Maven sends her right hand, Quinn, along with Lex to stop the attacks.

BEST REASONS TO START LEARNING FRENCH

Photo by Léonard Cotte on Unsplash

Good morning, everyone! Today’s post is about the French language. I’ve written a few posts on the topic already. They’ve been about language learning in general. Today, I decided to focus on French. It’s the first language I learned after English and Spanish (both of which I’ve known from childhood). Four years on, I believe I can converse in French without much difficulty. I’m not sure, as I haven’t met any French speaker yet. At least I can understand French movies without needing subtitles.

My knowledge of French isn’t limited to the language itself. I like the culture as well, and its history. I find the latter fascinating. France is also a beautiful and popular country. It’s my favorite European country, in fact. There’s a lot to like. Below, I’ll give some excellent reasons why you should pick French as your next language:

BOOK REVIEW: OPEN MINDS BY SUSAN KAYE QUINN

Title: Open Minds
Author: Susan Kaye Quinn
Genre: Science Fiction

Published on: October 24, 2011, self-published

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

It’s a thrill when I find books that exceed my expectations. I didn’t think I would be blown away after finishing this book. Open Minds was more fabulous than one could garner by the synopsis. Sure, it’s about a girl living in a society where everyone can read minds. Sounds simple, right? Well, there is far more stuff going on than that.

Open Minds is a sci-fi novel with a dystopian feel to it. It takes place sometime in the first decade of the 22nd century. The setting is Chicago, then known as Chicago New Metro. The protagonist/narrator is Kira Moore, a seventeen-year-old high school student. She appears to be a normal, average girl. However, by her society’s standards, Kira is an outcast. She is a "zero," someone who hasn’t developed the ability to read minds. This is more of a detriment than it sounds like. In their future teachers impart classes in near-complete silence. How? The teachers think instructions in their heads, which the students—those who can read minds—are able to “hear”. Kira has been struggling to avoid failing her classes.

BOOK REVIEW: OBSESSED BY T.R. RAGAN

Title: Obsessed
Author: T.R. Ragan
Genre: Mystery, thriller

Published on: August 12, 2014 by Thomas & Mercer

Desperate for better ratings, radio psychologist Madeline Blair tells her listeners she’s being stalked, unaware that her long-time listener and biggest fan, Seth Brown, will do anything to protect her. When her publicity stunt is revealed, Seth becomes enraged by her deceit and dangerously unhinged.

When her friends mysteriously begin to vanish and damning evidence points to Madeline, she turns to private investigator Lizzy Gardner for help. Lizzy knows her way around a murderer’s mind, after surviving her own horrifying ordeal at the hands of a serial killer years ago.

As Lizzy closes in, Seth Brown is undeterred. Madeline wanted a stalker and now she has one. Nothing is going to stop him. He’s obsessed.

Lizzy Gardner and co. are back for yet another suspenseful case. I thought this series would be a trilogy. I'm glad that's not the case. In Obsessed, the main villain is a man fixated on a love that cannot be. The guy, Seth, dreams about Madeline Blair (even though he has a wife). She is a celebrated radio psychologist in the Sacramento area. When Madeline tells her listeners that she has a stalker, Seth makes himself her protector. Let me note that Seth has mental issues going back for decades. While Seth is standing guard outside Madeline’s one day, something bad happens.

Meanwhile, Lizzy and her assistants are working on other cases. Hayley Hansen now lives in an, ahem, shitty apartment. I thought she had become bad after what happened at the ending of A Dark Mind, but Hayley is still on the side of good. That impressed me. This girl has so much strength. Jessica Pleiss, Lizzy’s other assistant, has been at the FBI academy for the past several months. She returns to seek Hayley’s assistance in a criminal case. Although Hayley isn’t happy that Jessica hasn’t called or even texted her for so long, she accepts.

BOOK REVIEW: DARE YOU TO BY KATIE MCGARRY

Title: Dare You To

Author: Katie McGarry

Genre: Young Adult, romance

Published on: May 28, 2013 by Harlequin Teen

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

Pushing the Limits exceeded my expectations. Even though it could have had a more cheerful tone, I wasn’t disappointed. Noah and Echo made a compelling pair of protagonists. So when I learned that there would be sequels, I bought this one right away. Only, I slightly hesitated to read it. The protagonist of Dare You To is Beth Risk, who appears in the first book. I didn’t like her much when I first met her. Beth was even worse than Noah used to be. She is a stoner, skater chick with as much bite as bark. And Beth’s mouth is about as clean as Hit-Girl’s. Why would anyone want to read a book about someone like that?

It turned out that Beth is more than she appeared to be. From the moment Ryan Stone (the second protagonist) laid eyes on Beth, it was apparent there was more to her. The book is told from Ryan’s and Beth’s first-person POVs, so the reader’s experience of the story is as personal as it gets. In one of the first Beth-centric scenes, she sacrifices herself for her mother. Beth’s mom lives alone with her abusive husband, Trent. After an incident involving all three of them, the police arrest Beth.

BOOK REVIEW: THREE BY J.A. KONRATH & ANN VOSS PETERSON

Title: Three
Author: J.A. Konrath, Ann Voss Peterson
Genre: Thriller

Published on: June 25, 2013 by Thomas & Mercer

Time is running out for Chandler, the elite assassin whose mission to rescue her sister from a notorious black ops prison landed her at the top of the nation’s Most Wanted list. Burned by her handlers and forced to work with her mortal enemy in a race to preserve the very government that wants her dead, the living weapon has become a ticking time bomb.

In saving her sister, Chandler unleashed a power-mad American president dead set on controlling the world—no matter how many millions of innocent people he must kill to do it. To stop him, Chandler will go deeper than she’s ever gone before, pushing her body and mind to their absolute limits. All the while she is hunted by the one man who knows her every secret, her every hiding place—and her every weakness. Infiltrating the White House, crashing a bullfight in Mexico City, hijacking a blimp in Toronto…these are just the beginning of the end, as the Codename: Chandler trilogy races towards its stunning conclusion.

This is a satisfying conclusion (or is it?) to the Codename: Chandler trilogy. I'm questioning the conclusion part because I wonder whether there will be a sequel. I don't know anything for sure, so I'll continue with my review of Three. The story picks up where Spree left off. Chandler is really burning the candle at both ends, and she's facing her most difficult mission yet. After her failed relationship at the end of book 2, Chandler finds herself struggling to avoid crumbling down. She's wondering whether she has any humanity left inside her, after all the people she's killed.

Meanwhile, The Instructor has done a Ra's Al Ghul and turned on his former students. He used Chandler to get rid of the former President and aid the new one in a heinous plot. To stop him, Chandler and her twin/former handler Fleming will have to ally with their old enemy, Hammett. She happens to be their identical sister. Hammett's not thrilled that The Instructor's plan to discredit her siblings also affects her. They have the exact same face.

BOOK REVIEW: FLAME MOON BY K.J. JACKSON

Title: Flame Moon

Author: K.J. Jackson

Genre: Fantasy, romance

Published on: August 3, 2012 by AWD Publishing

Skye Walters thought waking up on the side of a river with no memory was her biggest problem. She had no idea that the man who had saved her from drowning, the man she now depended on, Aiden, was more than mere mortal. A warrior of ancient.

No memory, nowhere to go, Skye stays in the mountain town, only to discover she herself, has unexplained powers. Her life, her destiny, are soon out of her control, as are her feelings for Aiden. The deeper Skye gets sucked into Aiden’s hidden world, the more the past, and who she really is, threatens her future, her love, her sanity.

I am quite fond of compelling, imaginative fantasy novels. Flame Moon is one of those. I greatly enjoyed it from the start. The book’s main protagonist is Skye Walters. Her story begins with intrigue right away, as Skye wakes up in the woods, amnesiac. The first person she meets upon coming to is Aiden. He is initially bemused when Skye appears not to remember him. Aiden explains that he took her on a kayaking trip, at her request. It was clear that Skye had never been in the water, and she had an accident. Aiden was able to rescue her.

As Skye doesn’t know who she is or where she comes from, Aiden takes her to a nearby ranch. Mary, the motherly owner, takes it upon herself to care for Skye. The latter stays there for a few days, recovering. Skye also meets Triaten and Charlotte, Aiden’s best friends. Skye doesn’t like to be a burden, and so she offers to help. Soon after, Aiden and Skye go to a nearby trail to clean it up. There are fallen trees and rockslides to clear. After a tragic incident, Skye inexplicably displays a rare gift not seen in many years. After demanding answers, Aiden reveals that they are both Panthenites. Humans call them gods, even though they are mortal. Panthenites gain special powers when they are baptized in the river where Skye fell. To prove his story, Aiden grabs a huge boulder and throws it into the river, displaying his extreme strength.

BOOK REVIEW: ON DUBLIN STREET BY SAMANTHA YOUNG

Title: On Dublin Street

Author: Samantha Young

Genre: Romance

Published on: August 31, 2012 (first edition), self-published

Jocelyn Butler has been hiding from her past for years. But all her secrets are about to be laid bare ...

Four years ago, Jocelyn left her tragic past behind in the States and started over in Scotland, burying her grief, ignoring her demons, and forging ahead without attachments. Her solitary life is working well - until she moves into a new apartment on Dublin Street, where she meets a man who shakes her carefully guarded world to its core.

Braden Carmichael is used to getting what he wants, and he's determined to get Jocelyn into his bed. Knowing how skittish she is about entering a relationship, Braden proposes an arrangement that will satisfy their intense attraction without any strings attached.

But after an intrigued Jocelyn accepts, she realizes that Braden won't be satisfied with just mind-blowing passion. The stubborn Scotsman is intent on truly knowing her . . . down to the very soul.

This book was so good! At first glance, you might think it’s about a couple with intense physical chemistry who engage in sexual encounters throughout the book (especially when looking at the first-edition cover). That's not the case here, at least not entirely. This isn't an erotic romance. It's more like a steamy New Adult romance. Samantha Young did a great job of developing the characters in On Dublin Street properly.

Jocelyn Butler is a young woman with a past that’s filled with painful losses. Because of that, she doesn’t feel ready for a serious relationship, despite being gorgeous. We meet her just as she’s about to check an apartment with a potential roommate. That day, Jocelyn encounters a man named Braden Carmichael, and everything starts to change. They soon meet again, and when they do so, it’s really amusing. Since that point, Braden becomes interested in Jocelyn.

CONSEILS A CONNAITRE AVANT DE VOUS ENSEIGNER UNE LANGUE ETRANGERE

Avez-vous déjà rêve de parler une nouvelle langue ? Peut-être vous avez entendu un personnage dans un film parler une langue différente. Ou vous avez trouvé un ami qui parle français ou polonais—par exemple—and vous étiez curieux. Est-ce difficile d’apprendre une autre langue ? Parlant trois langues, ma réponse est que l’apprentissage des langues prend de temps. Ce n’est pas exactement difficile. Rester engagé dans l’apprentissage peut faire une grande différence. Ci-dessous, je vais vous donner des astuces pour vous aider a démarrer. Ces astuces proviennent de ma propre expérience. Je ne suis pas un expert, mais je sais ce qu’il faut pour réussir. Alors, voici mes astuces :

BOOK REVIEW: BOUNDARY LINES BY MELISSA F. OLSON

Title: Boundary Lines

Author: Melissa F. Olson

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Published on: October 13, 2015 by 47North

Fitting into the Old World isn’t going very well for Boulder boundary witch Allison “Lex” Luther: she may have earned a place in a vampire’s service, but now it seems as if every supernatural creature in town has found a reason to hate her. And when Lex and her partner are assigned to investigate the suspicious disappearance of two vampires during the night of the full moon, they find themselves with more questions than answers.

Was it murder…or mutiny?

The crusade for answers will lead Lex all over the Colorado Old World, from a prison cell for a broken werewolf to a haunted Denver brothel. And when Lex determines the responsible party, the hunt is just beginning: something has been awakened in Boulder, something as old and powerful as it is terrifying. Only the woman with death in her blood can stop what’s coming.

Rookie boundary witch Lex Luther is back in this second installment of the Boundary Magic series. It starts not long after the events of the previous book. Lex is still getting used to her new life as a powerful witch. And things aren’t too easy. Most of the other Boulder witches are rather frigid toward Lex. They fear her for the death magic in her blood. Despite this, Lex notices that something else is bothering the witches. Not even Hazel Pellar—the leader witch—can explain what it might be.

Maven is also back, and with an increased role. She's Lex's boss and the cardinal vampire of Colorado. The two struck up an alliance in the previous book. Lex became Maven's fixer in exchange for the protection of her baby niece, Charlie Wheaton. And now, Maven has an assignment for Lex. There is a situation going on in the state border. Some of Maven's vampires have gone missing. Lex heads there with Quinn (her vampire love interest and Maven's right hand). Their bond has grown quite a bit since the events of the previous book. Quinn has already done things for Lex without expecting anything in return. And Lex falls for Quinn more every day despite only being able to see him when the sun is down.