4.5 Stars: First Impressions was a great book! I enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with each other. I just feel that many of the author's thoughts are incomplete. I got a little confused about why so many major events ended without much importance. The author could have played off of a few things a little more.
I recommend this book to anyone that is into ghosts or haunted houses. There isn't much swearing and nothing too bad.
Buy Link:
Amazon
Blurb:
Chira Kelly thought she didn’t need anyone…until she met Ben.
Because of one ugly rumor, Chira lives as an outcast at her school. Which is fine with her, because she works better alone. Always has, always will. And at least she has her one and only true friend, Tasha. When Tasha insists that they join a group to visit a possibly haunted abandoned old schoolhouse, she's wary, but joins her friend. Because of that decision, their lives are in jeopardy as a malevolent spirit targets the group. Tragedies and accidents pick them off one by one, and Chira finds herself drawn to the one person who can see the truth. But can he protect her?
*A Young Adult Paranormal Romance - Urban Fantasy with a blend of Mystery*
3 Stars: This book started out with an awesome storyline and the blurb made it sound amazing!
However, I felt that the story became way too complicated. I honestly think that the author could have also elaborated on the places that the characters went . I thought that they moved around too much without explaining why and how they got to the places they went to so quickly. I spent a lot of time questioning their actions, which pulled me out of the story.
I also don't understand why the author came up with new names for every mythical creature (oops... spoiler). Couldn't he stick with the original names to make it less complicated? I have to say though that the story was quite adventure filled and very unique.
If you still find the book interesting after what I have just said then by all means read it! :)
Buy Link:
Amazon
Blurb:
Drake Copeland never knew his father. His mother disappeared years ago. So the day Drake and three classmates are stuck in the classroom while the rest of the school gets a field trip, it’s just one more time he’s been left behind. But when a bullied genius leaves his experiment running in the lab and throws the whole school through time, getting left behind is the least of their problems. Drake and his friends crash into a burned-out wasteland where their town used to be, discovering cannibals, starving werewolves, vampires, wise ghosts and a dark army directly connected to their own time - and maybe their own school.
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Short bio -
Rick Polito was the fourth grader who bragged about reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe twice in one day and followed that love of words into a 20-year career as a newspaper reporter and columnist. Polito claims he is the only person in history who ever "witnessed a gas chamber execution and took his dog to pet psychic camp all in the same job." His "Wizard of Oz" synopsis - Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again - was a viral sensation. It was reading to his own son that brought him back to his love of young adult fiction and the story that became Dark Shift. A single father, Polito is raising two children in Boulder, Colorado.
The placeholder blog site -
http://darkshiftbook.blogspot.com/
The Facebook page -
https://www.facebook.com/Thedarkshiftbook
My fan page for my jokes -
https://www.facebook.com/Thedarkshiftbook
5 stars: The Hidden is my favorite book in this trilogy because I really think that the author wanted to have the reader feel throughout the book what the characters were feeling. The characters go through some major adversity throughout the series. Enough so that you are cheering for them to get their happy ending. My favorite character is Caspian. He is always looking after Abby no matter what. Although he is dead he does everything he can for Abby.
The characters are my favorite part of the story and series. They remind me of some people that I have met. Complex and multi-faceted. I loved all the characters, good and bad.
Just to put it out there, yes I did read the first 2 books and really liked them. All three are must reads.
Buy Links:
Amazon
B&N
Blurb:
Abbey knows that Caspian is her destiny. Theirs is a bond that transcends even death. But as Abbey finally learns the full truth about the dark fate that links her to Caspian and ties them both to the town of Sleepy Hollow, she suddenly has some very hard choices to make. Caspian may be the love of her life, but is that love worth dying for?
2 Stars: If I didn't start this book I wouldn't have finished it. I thought the story was a little creepy and strange. There were to many twists in the story. The only thing I liked about it was the love between Nick and Lauren.
The characters were all pretty well formed. Lauren, the girl who left because her mom died. Then there's Nora. Mysterious, dark, frightening, emotional, and down right crazy. Oh, and Holly, evil, nice, dangerous, and secretive.
Aunt Jule was loving, caring, patient, and sometimes rude.
And last, of course, Nick. Gorgeous, playful, nice, caring, dark, and adorable.
Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Nobles
Blurb:
What really happened to Mother?
Lauren has come home seven years after her famous mother's mysterious drowning.
They said it was an accident, but the tabloids screamed murder. Her father, a senator, hadn't protected her. Aunt Jule was her only refuge, the beloved godmother she's returning to see.
Lauren stops at Wisteria's annual street festival and meets Nick, a tease, a flirt, and a childhood playmate. The day is almost perfect -- until she realizes she's being watched.
Arriving at Aunt Jule's, Lauren is shocked at the decay of the riverfront home. Aunt Jule seems angry and defensive, even as she fusses over Lauren at her daughter Holly's expense. Nora, Jule's other daughter, is silent and spooky, and stares at Lauren with frightening intensity. Meanwhile, Nick has acted as if he wants to be more than Lauren's friend. So why is he suddenly glued to Holly and almost hostile to Lauren? How can she trust him -- especially now that a series of nasty "accidents" makes Lauren realize that somebody wants her dead? This time, there's no place to run.
3.5 stars: I enjoyed the mystery in this book. The ongoing questions kept me reading until the end. I usually don't like mysteries but I recommend this one to everyone.
Megan Tilby went to visit her grandmother and cousin for a few weeks. Since Megan was adopted her and Matt (her cousin) aren't blood related. She gets to the house and her grandmother hates her. Her cousin doesn't like her, either.
A few days after getting to the house Megan begins to hear rumors about Avril, a 16-year-old girl that died in Megan's grandmother's house years before. Avril had been Helen's (her grandma) sister.
Megan goes to see a psychic. She tells Megan a story about Avril's death. The woman had said that Avril was murdered and that Megan was the reincarnation of Avril. That had explained the weird dreams she was having of the past. In one of her dreams her grandma had sworn that she would seek revenge on Avril.
Megan had been convinced that Helen had killed Avril but she was wrong.Who had killed Avril and why?
Amazon
Barnes and Nobles
Blurb:
In Legacy of Lies, Megan has to stay with the uptight grandmother she wants nothing to do with. She's determined to get through the visit without any drama, but when she falls into a twisted love triangle with potentially fatal consequences, Megan may be caught up in her family's legacy in more ways than she realizes.
4.5 Stars: First Impressions was a great book! I enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with each other. I just feel that many of the author's thoughts are incomplete. I got a little confused about why so many major events ended without much importance. The author could have played off of a few things a little more. 
