Review: Left Behind by Vi Keeland and Dylan Scott

Title: Left Behind
By: Vi Keeland and Dylan Scott
My Copy: Ebook from Publisher
BookWhisperer's Rating: 

Two stories so deeply intertwined, you’ll think you know how they intersect…but you’ll be wrong….

Zack Martin

The day I met Emily Bennett my whole world changed. Sure, we were just kids, but I was old enough to know my life would never be the same. She was my best friend. My destiny. My fate. I wasn’t wrong…I just didn’t know how twisted fate could be.

Nikki Fallon

After the death of my mother, moving from my dark and dreary trailer park to sunny California, I was focused on one thing – finding a sister I’d only just learned existed. Falling in love with him wasn’t part of the plan. But he filled a void I never knew was possible to fill. He had to be my fate. My destiny. Until the day I finally found out who my sister was…and how twisted fate could be.

The beginning of this book made me feel a little disconnected from the two characters Nikki and Zack.  Nikki is in Texas dealing with her mother’s death while Zack is in California wondering if his so called girlfriend is the same girl that she used to be.  But it didn’t take long for me to start really getting into the characters and wondering how it was all going to play out.

After the death of her mother, Nikki finds out that she has a sister and makes it her sole goal to find her.  This includes moving to California and meeting the handsome Zack.  I found their playfulness in not speaking to each other adorable when they first met, even if they were running track on a Saturday morning (I mean, who runs on a Saturday morning?)  And their playfulness continues to where they both start feeling like life exists after losing someone so close to them.  They both started to grow again and Zack started to ‘walk among the living.’ Then…..

Bam!  Keeland and Scott throw another curve ball that just messes everything that I have come to love.  It was quite brilliant how it all came into play and how each story and person was connected and it is not discovered until the end.

Review: Full Throttle by Julie Ann Walker

Title: Full Throttle
By: Julie Ann Walker
Series: Black Knights, INC. #7
My Copy: Netgalley.com
BookWhisperer's Rating: 

She Needs a Hero...

Abby Thompson didn’t sign up to be the daughter of the President of the United States. The position was forced on her by the small matter of her birth. Preferring a quiet life of study, she’s content to leave the politics and the international intrigue to her father. Unfortunately, the most powerful man on the planet is sure to make enemies. When a group of armed thugs takes her hostage half a world away, demanding the U.S. government release prisoners in exchange for her safe return, she fears her father’s policy of “not negotiating with terrorists” means she’ll never see the shores of the Potomac again. Luckily, there’s one glimmer of hope. His name is Carlos Soto. And though she abruptly ended things with him years ago, she knows now he’s the only man who can save her…

Black Knights, Inc. to the Rescue...

Carlos “Steady” Soto has taken part in his fair share of dangerous missions working at the covert government defense firm of Black Knights Inc. But nothing prepared him for the emotional rollercoaster he faces when he’s tasked with rescuing the only woman he ever loved—who also broke his heart. Racing against time and outmaneuvering a group of trained terrorists will take everything he’s got. Plus there’s the heat simmering between them which is threatening to ignite into an inferno. While ruthless enemies stalk them, they must learn to trust each other again. Even if they do make it out alive, will Abby turn her back on him…for the second time?

MY SWEET BLACK KNIGHTS!!!! I love this series. Miranda started this one before me. Yeah, I don't know why we are still friends. Regardless, she gave me one line of anticipation. She said, " This book is full of possibilities." I didn't truly understand this until midway through. With all of the various characters that matched up in the previous Knight books we were running out of options. That being said and truly incredible author that Julie Ann Walker is she gave us so much more in this story. Now we are almost overwhelmed with options for the next few books of the series. This particular story was a bit of a dual story line. I mean Carlos takes center stage, but Dan really has a story of his own building in quite extensive detail on the sideline. This is yet another action packed, and thrilling adventure. Very unique to the stories I have come to expect since Carols flying solo in the Jungle for much of this story. The lack of the Custom Harley's were also a noticed absence here. Regardless, the adventure does not suffer. This will prove just as amazing as the previous six books, and a new addition to BookWhisperer Recommended reads.  ~BookWhisperer Reviewer Jax~

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Dang! How does Julie Ann Walker write these books that just suck me in and make me a nervous wreck throughout the entire plot line?

The story behind Carlos and Abby was super adorable.  Carlos, being older than Abby, kept himself at bay so that he wouldn't be tempted.  Especially since his sister, Rosa, was mentoring her through college.  And then, it happens....the event that kinda rocked my world in this book even though it was in the first chapter.  Oh, wow!  And this event is what separates them, defines them, and eventually brings them back together. 

Now, let's fast-forward--Carlos is a part of the Black Knight, Inc. group and Abby is the President of the United State's daughter and a botanist.  You really shouldn't think that their lines should cross again but they do when Abby speaks at a conference and finds herself in danger.  This danger is the world that both Carlos and Abby live in this entire book.  It is packed with action and was something that just built on top of more action - which made this book pretty amazing.  Also, adding sexy Carlos to the mix made this book practically heaven.  It didn’t hurt that we also got to see a small relationship build between a new character Penni and Dan.

But this action packed book took me on a ride of my life.  I felt like I was tromping through the jungle with Carlos and Abby.  Too bad I don’t have my own Carolos to take a stroll through the jungle with.

~BookWhisperer Reviewer Miranda~

Review: The Collectors' Society by Heather Lyons

Title: The Collectors' Society
By: Heather Lyons
My Copy: Ebook from Publisher
Book Whisperer's Rating: 

After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence, though. Soon, she’s whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors’ Society, a secret organization whose members confirm that famous stories are anything but straightforward and that what she knows about the world is only a fraction of the truth.

It’s there she discovers villains are afoot—ones who want to shelve the lives of countless beings. Assigned to work with the mysterious and alluring Finn, Alice and the rest of the Collectors’ Society race against a doomsday clock in order to prevent further destruction . . . but will they make it before all their endings are erased?

I honestly do not think that I can do this book justice even if I were to write a fantastic review based on the plot, characters, action, drama, and love present in this book.  Heather Lyons deserves so much praise for concocting such a brilliant world that revolves around our childhood stories.  I have to admit that I was in awe the entire book, and I mean the entire book.  While delving into the first chapter, I had no idea what was in store.  The synopsis sounded intriguing and I really enjoyed Lyons’ “The Deep End of the Sea” so I knew that I would like this book, but I didn’t know that I would absolutely fall in love with this book.

The Collectors’ Society is one of those rare books that pick you up and drop you down into a fantasy-woven world, mixed with some reality and that you become a part of and can feel the guttural emotions written on the pages.  Lyons did an amazing job interweaving the fictional characters of popular childhood stories and turning them into factual being that I either immediately loved or tremendously hated.  She also kept the surprises ever-present and held her cards close to her heart and played them at just the right time to keep this story uniquely entertaining.

I’m not going to say a lot about the plot or characters specifically because I want you, the reader, to be able to learn and love them like I did, which was blindly.  Again, the synopsis sounded intriguing but I had no idea what a wonderful world I was about to step into.  I will say that each character is written to be extremely different and rare than what you will expect.  I found myself gravitating towards those at the Society and those in Wonderland (the White King especially) and falling in love with them.  As for the plot, it was brilliantly mapped out and written to be seamless and thrilling. 

This book doesn’t deserve just five stars – it deserves a heck of a lot more! Also, the two books that I have read from Lyons have both been rated five stars because she is a brilliant writer with an imagination that beyond compare. What does this mean?  It means read her books because you will not be disappointed!

Let me leave you with a heartfelt quote from the book that touched my heart while I was reading.

“I think you are my north star. Wonderland doesn’t have one. The stars above move on a nightly basis.  One night’s sky is always different from the next’s. It’s hard to anchor yourself when you can’t find a north star.  Sometimes, you would feel like you’re floating, lost in space.  I was lost, without purpose when I left Wonderland.  I feared I would never find my footing again.  Never find anything that would help me move past the confusion and desolation and helplessness of my past.  But then I came to the Collectors’ Society. I met you.  My feet found solid ground. A fixed star shines in my sky.”  Truly beautiful.