Tag: 4.75 Reviews

Review: Storm Echo by Nalini Singh

Posted August 8, 2022 by Casee in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Storm Echo by Nalini SinghReviewer: Casee
Storm Echo by Nalini Singh
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Series: Psy-Changeling Trinity #6, Psy-Changeling #21
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: August 9, 2022
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 384
Length: 11 hours and 14 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars


NYT bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into the hearts of two fractured people in a world on the brink of a psychic Armageddon . . .

Silence has fallen. The Psy are free to feel emotion. Free to love. But Silence was never a prison for Ivan Mercant. The biggest threat to his future lies dormant in his brain—a psychic monster that wants only to feed. And now, the brutal leash he’s kept on that monster is slipping. He prepared for this day, for the end of Ivan Mercant . . . but that was before he met Lei.
As primal as she is human, this wild changeling brings color into his life, laughter to his soul. Then the dream shatters in a rain of blood, in silent bodies in the snow. Lei is gone. Vanished without a trace . . . until he meets strangely familiar eyes across a busy San Francisco street.
Soleil Bijoux Garcia is a healer who has lost everything. She exists in a world of desolate aloneness . . . till the day she finds herself face-to-face with a lethal stranger. The animal who is her other half knows this man, but her memories are tattered fragments. Sorrow and a need for vengeance are all that drive her. Her mission? To kill the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack.
But fate has other plans. Soon, a deadly soldier who believes himself a monster and a broken healer might be all that stand between life and death for the entire Psy race.

Ivan Merchant has always known he was different. Not in just his abilities, but different on a level that can’t be explained.

As a security specialist for the Merchant empire, Ivan often travels to changeling packs to continue his education. While training with a pack in Texas (??), Ivan finds himself injured in the forest. That’s when he meets Lei, a changeling healer that fascinates him. While Ivan has never been fully Silent, he abides by the backbone that is Silence. To do so would unleash something in Ivan that even he can’t control. Everything he believed in up to that point is changed when Lei walks into his life. Night after night, Lei & Ivan meet, bonding in a way that Ivan would never have expected.

After weeks of meeting & Ivan telling Lei all his secrets, they agree to meet the following day where Lei will tell him all her secrets. Except she doesn’t show up. Ivan is crushed, though he will never admit it. At that point he accepts who he is; someone that could never hold onto someone like Lei.

When a local changeling back is brutally attacked by the Psy, a twist of fate puts Ivan at the scene. Every changeling is dead except for one. Ivan’s Lei. Brutally injured, Lei is taken to the local hospital where she disappears. Ivan spends fifteen months looking for Lei, not willing to give up. Then he sees someone that looks and doesn’t look like Lei.

Soleil is in San Francisco for one reason. To kill the alpha of DarkRiver. It was Lucas Hunter that executed her pack, including her grandmother and the cubs. When Soleil realizes everything she thought she knew wasn’t true, she is crushed. Even though she soon realized that she could never hope to kill Lucas Hunter, she had a mission. Now she has nothing and no one. Until she catches an elusive scent that can only mean one thing. Not only that, she’s found a Psy that her cat knows belongs to her.

Watching Ivan fall for Lei strictly in his POV was magical. It was a slow burn and so emotional to read. When he believes that the one chance at happiness slipped away, he’s crushed. It was so moving and heartbreaking to read. When he finds her again, he’s convinced that his chance of happiness has passed. The feelings that the two have for each other are not to be denied. All Soleil has to do is convince Ivan to take a chance on her. Of course nothing is ever easy in this series & Soleil has her work cut out for her. Reading about the sacrifices these two made for each other was extraordinary. Nalini has grown so much as a writer. She has a talent that few authors match. It’s not just the individuals, it’s about Pack. It’s about family. It’s about togetherness. It’s quite literally spellbinding.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Psy-Changeling

Psy-Changeling Trinity

five-stars


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Review: Eli by Jessica Gadziala

Posted October 13, 2021 by Casee in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Eli by Jessica GadzialaReviewer: Casee
Eli by Jessica Gadziala
Series: Mallick Brothers #4
Also in this series: Shane, Ryan
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: August 31, 2017
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Point-of-View: Alternating First
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 232
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Six years on the inside gave a man a lot of time to think. And a lot of time to plan. When I got out, I was determined for things to go a different way. I never wanted to lose control and rage out again.
The only way to accomplish that, though, was to shut it all down. Complete disconnect.
That meant no family, no friends, no links to anything attached to the man I was before.
Of course the problem was, I never factored HER into my plans. And try as I might, I couldn’t find a way to shut it down, to disconnect from her.
I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to take all my carefully constructed plans and toss them out the window, was going to force me to face up the demons inside and confront the ghosts from my past.
Those ghosts? They wore the faces of my family.
And a confrontation with them, yeah, I had a feeling it was going to show me that I had spent six years taking action on beliefs about the demons inside. Demons that had never actually existed in the first place…

This book was my absolute favorite in the Mallick Brothers series. Which says a lot because the first four books were really well written & I was completely hooked when I was reading them. Eli continues Eli Mallick’s story. At the end of Mark, Eli was arrested for assault in front of Autumn. When he was taken away, Autumn couldn’t leave his ugly dog at the pound. She was sure that no one would want him. He was so sad when his owner was taken away that Autumn decided to take him.

Fast forward…Autumn found out who the man with the dog was. Once she tracked him down, she wrote him a letter to let him know that she had Coop & enclosed a picture. Eli didn’t respond. A few years later Autumn sent a picture of Coop in his Halloween costume. After that they communicated sporadically. Although it wasn’t very often, Autumn found herself really drawn to Eli & she wasn’t sure why. She didn’t know him. She didn’t know his family. She didn’t know his circumstances. All she knew was that he assaulted a man that almost killed his wife then got railroaded because said man had a powerful father that pulled strings to get Eli convicted.

For the six years that he was behind bars, Eli made a decision to shut out his emotions. He was determined to get his rage fits under control. Which meant cutting off his family. When he felt real emotions, he couldn’t stay away. Eli doesn’t want back into the family business. He wants to continue his art & get to know Autumn. He doesn’t know why he’s so drawn to her, but he can’t turn his emotions off when it comes to her.

Eli’s situation was just heartbreaking. He was never meant to be an enforcer for the family’s loanshark business, but that’s what happened. When all else failed, Eli was sent to collect the debt that was owed to his family. He would rage out though he always had one of his brothers there to pull him back. What was so sad was that he was such a gentle soul. The fact that he would rage out, he had no outlet to control it except for the physical.

Autumn was such a great heroine. You could tell that she loved Eli from the moment he got out of prison though she hadn’t admitted it to herself. There was something about her that draws him & makes Eli feel that he needs her in his life. With Autumn he has an outlet from the rage that comes over him, in the form of sex. The first time Eli raged out after getting out of prison was after he saw one of his brothers. Just heartbreaking.

Eventually the family reunited and holy shit, but I was an emotional mess. His poor mother. Still, I thought they brought it on themselves by forcing Eli to be something he was never meant to be. Violent. The epilogue of this book just gutted me. If I was something that cried while reading, this one would have made me cry. I am so happy with the Mallick Brothers series & I can’t wait to read Gadziala’s other books.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Mallick Brothers

five-stars


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Review: Give Me a Reason by A.L. Jackson

Posted August 30, 2021 by Casee in Reviews | 4 Comments

Review: Give Me a Reason by A.L. JacksonReviewer: Casee
Give Me a Reason by A. L. Jackson
Narrator: Connor Crais, Desiree Ketchum
Series: Redemption Hills #1
Also in this series: Say It's Forever, Promise Me Always
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: August 31, 2021
Format: eARC
Source: Author
Point-of-View: Alternating First Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 418
Length: 11 hours and 57 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars
Series Rating: five-stars


From NYT and USA Today bestselling author A.L. Jackson comes a single-dad, enemies-to-lovers stand-alone romance about a jaded club owner and his son’s teacher…

Eden Murphy came into my club looking to make some extra cash.A girl like her didn't belong in a place like this. She'd get ripped to shreds.Most likely by me.There's nothing but sweetness dripping from her sexy little body, and I'm the monster who's salivating to get a taste.
Trent Lawson is the last man I should want.Dark.Dangerous.So wickedly gorgeous he makes my knees weak. He's also an arrogant jerk who happens to be my new boss.
When I discover his adorable son is also in my kindergarten class, I know I have to keep my distance.
But neither of us can ignore the attraction that flames.One glance, and our hearts race. One touch, and we’re aching for what we can’t have. One night, and we’re falling fast.
Dragging her into my sordid world is wrong.It doesn’t matter. Eden Murphy is mine.

Opposites attract in the first installment of A.L. Jackson’s new Redemption Hills series. Trent Lawson has one reason in life. One reason that he does everything. His one reason is his son, Gage.

Eden Murphy is desperate. Desperate for money to save her father and save their school. She ends up at Absolution, a club whose owner doesn’t think she has what it takes. Never try to stop a determined woman, which is exactly what Eden is. She will do anything to save her family, small as it’s become. Her attraction to Trent is as immediate as it is unwanted.

Neither Trent nor Eden considered that they would see each other outside of the club. Eden didn’t anticipate that the highly sexy and arrogant Trent had a son that was going to be in her kindergarten class. Trent Lawson wasn’t someone that Eden expected in her life nor does she know exactly how to handle him.

This was a story about life and death; of love and loss. What I loved about Eden is that she still saw the good. Being betrayed by your own sibling would generally make someone cynical about life, but she wasn’t. She still had hope. I loved that about her. Her positivity was something that make me a little envious & this is fiction. Like, really? I also loved how she interacted with Gage.

Generally, books don’t stay with me when I finish them. There are too many books to read for me to think about what I’ve already read (which is why I don’t reread very much). This book has been with me for days. I can’t forget these characters. I can’t forget this story. I can’t forget the writing. I just can’t stop thinking about this book. How can I forget it with passages like this?

“Never thought in all my days that I’d be standing in front of a woman like you. A woman who is a treasure. So kind strangers can’t help but smile when she walks into a room, so gorgeous she still nearly drops me to my knees every time I see her. A woman who steals every single one of my breaths. The woman who stole my heart.”

If you’ve never tried A.L. Jackson, this book would be a great one to start with. If you have read her, this is a book you should read. This is the best book I’ve read all year and I can’t wait until the next installment.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Redemption Hills

five-stars


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Throwback Thursday Review: Closer Than You Think by Karen Rose

Posted September 17, 2020 by Casee in Reviews | 1 Comment

Throwback Thursday Review: Closer Than You Think by Karen RoseReviewer: Casee
Closer Than You Think (Cincinnati Series, #1) by Karen Rose
Series: Cincinnati Series #1
Also in this series: Alone in the Dark (Cincinnati Series #2)
Publisher: Signet
Publication Date: February 3, 2015
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 688
Add It: Goodreads
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four-half-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

From the New York Times bestselling author of Watch Your Back and Did You Miss Me comes the newest novel by “the queen of romantic suspense” (Crime and Punishment).

Psychologist Faith Corcoran is desperate to escape the stalker who’s made her life a nightmare for the past year—desperate enough to run to the one place that has been her nightmare far longer. Both boon and bane, her recent inheritance of her grandmother’s old house in Cincinnati offers sanctuary in which she can start her life anew, but requires that she face the dark memories that still resonate to this day.

But she has no idea how close to home her fears still are.

Two college girls have gone missing in the area, and FBI Special Agent Deacon Novak is called to work on the case. When his inquiry unexpectedly leads him to Faith, he finds a beautiful and brave woman he can’t help but fall for. Soon they’ll discover that this seemingly simple investigation is anything but. Reaching back decades into Faith’s own past, it will shatter everything she believes to be true and will give terrifying new meaning to flesh and blood.

This review was originally posted on April 14, 2015.

Closer Than You Think was the best book I’ve read in ages. It actually drove me to write a review. A lot of you don’t remember me, I’m sure, but I actually used to read and review books regularly here at Book Binge. O_o. Now, I hardly read and when I try to review, the cursor just sits there are stares at me. The it’s asks me “Well,are you just going to sit there?”. No, I’m not. I’m turning you off and going to take a nap.

As it happened, Closer Than You Think was a book that I could not put down. I finished it in two days and that’s only because of running my daughter around to soccer. Onto the review…Faith Corcoran has changed her name, took all her money out of the bank and leaves Florida for Cincinnati, where she just inherited a home from her grandmother. After being stalked by the man she put in prison for over a year.

The first night she arrives home, the key doesn’t work to the lock, so he heads back down the winding hill. Coming back the next day after getting the power turned on and the locks changed, Faith runs into what she thought was an animal, but soon realizes is a young, terrorized, horrified woman. Faith’s car goes over the embankment but she quickly climbs up the bank to make sure the woman is all right. Finally the cops get there.

When Deacon Novak arrives at the scene, he doesn’t know what to think. Faith brings out his primal instincts, but he knows she has to be on the suspect list until they can cross. Her off. After all, the victim seemed to come from her house as it was the only one between the accident site and her house. The only problem with the house is that someone has been using the basement as a torture chamber and no one has any idea.

They have multiple suspects; a stalker that may have followed her up from Florida. Two uncles that may have an ax to grind because she alone inherited the house. Or one of the uncles could be working with the stalker. Or it’s someone other than all three of them. All you do know is from the killer’s pov, he wants her dead. Badly.

Karen Rose writes some of the best sociopathic villains I’ve ever read. That’s part of the reason I can never put her books down. I’ve also been waiting to read Deacon Novak since he was first introduced in the books. Karen Rose does write some of the best suspense out there, but she also writes some of the best romantic suspense. Deacon and Faith were drawn to each other from the beginning. Deacon couldn’t help but want to protect Faith. As for Faith, as cheesy as it is, she feels an animal attraction to Deacon which is not like her at all. When you put all these elements together, there is nothing I didn’t like about the book. There is a lot of family stuff I left out, but suffice to say if you don’t read this book, you’re missing out.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Cincinnati

four-half-stars


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Throwback Thursday Review: Dangerous Tides by Christine Feehan

Posted August 27, 2020 by Casee in Reviews | 3 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Dangerous Tides by Christine FeehanReviewer: Casee
Dangerous Tides by Christine Feehan
Series: Drake Sisters #4
Also in this series: Turbulent Sea, Hidden Currents, Magic in the Wind, The Twilight Before Christmas, Oceans of Fire, Dangerous Tides, Safe Harbor, Turbulent Sea, Hidden Currents, Hidden Currents
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: July 1, 2006
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 354
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

With her sensual blend of paranormal romance and breathless suspense, New York Times bestselling author “Christine Feehan boldly goes where no writer has ever gone”*. Now she introduces Libby Drake, of the magical Drake sisters—each mysterious, gifted, and enchanted by prophecies of love…
Dr. Libby Drake is sensible and practical. To her more adventurous sisters, she’s always been the “good girl”. Certainly not the kind to attract the attention of a genius like Ty Derrick—until a tragic accident leaves the handsome biochemist at her mercy.
Acting on her uncanny ability to heal, she stirs in the reawakened Ty his own long-suppressed desires for the woman who saved his life. But he’s not the only man with designs on Libby Drake. Her miraculous and selfless power has also captured the attention of a dangerously influential admirer. He’s pursuing the elementally gifted beauty for his own wicked purpose. And he’s willing to go to deadly lengths to make it happen.

This review was originally posted June 11, 2020.

I think this book may be my overall favorite in the series. Though I like Libby as well as I like the other Drake sisters, it’s Ty that really does it for me in this book. I loved his analytical way of dissecting everything. Nothing he says or does is w/ malice, so the way he would come off sounding all pompous and arrogant was extremely amusing.

Ty and Libby have always been drawn to each other (they all are, aren’t they?). Ty, in his analytical way, decides that it’s time to settle down. The one he wants is Libby Drake. That almost doesn’t happen when Ty is helping with a rescue and his harness snaps, plunging him over a 100 feet to the rocks below.

When Libby knows that it’s Ty that everyone is whispering about, she can’t make herself leave. Of all the sisters, her gift is the most tangible. When Libby puts her hands on someone, she heals them. And though she’s risking the life of herself and her sisters, she can’t not heal Ty.

Ty doesn’t know how he survived and neither do his doctors. He looked at his scans and knew he should be dead. He knows Libby helped him somehow, but he’s not sure exactly what she did. He knows he doesn’t believe the gossip about the Drake sisters being magical.

What’s funny about that is that Ty doesn’t think Libby is crazy. He just thinks that she’s under the influence of her family and all he needs to do is get her away from them. He doesn’t think that the Drake’s are bad people. He just thinks they’re delusional.

Tyson took a deep breath and stopped her, swinging around so his body was directly in front of hers. His fingers tightened around her hand, threatening to crush her bones. “Here’s the thing, Libby. I’ve thought a great deal about this. I don’t believe in magic. It doesn’t make sense to anyone with a logical brain. Whatever you and your sisters do isn’t real. I don’t know if your family originally used sleight of hand to con people, but whatever the origins, I’ve observed you enough to know you believe you’re able to heal people.”

Libby opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head and pulled her hand to his chest. “Just hear me out. I think you’re experiencing psychosomatic symptoms, much like a false pregnancy, but we can work on that together. I know I can help you see that no one can really heal anyone with magic. You’re smart. You’ll see it in time.”

She could only stare dumbly, torn between wanting to laugh and to cry. He was so
earnest, his expression grave and his blue eyes holding her gaze captive. “I’ll see that I make myself ill pretending to heal people?” Obviously she could pick them. If only he would just keep his mouth closed she might get somewhere with him.

“Putting it that way sounds bad. It’s more like you’ve been brainwashed, programmed to believe it and your brain tricks your body into experiencing the symptoms. And that can be dangerous to your health.”

He tightened his fingers around hers when she tried to move away from him. “Don’t,
Libby, don’t pull away. I’ve thought this whole thing through. I want a relationship with you. You’re able to understand me, we’re interested in the same things and I think you’re an incredible woman. I’m willing to pay the price of accepting your family. It really is worth the sacrifice to be able to see you.”

Her eyebrow shot up. “How courageous of you to take on my crackpot, con-artist
family.” She tilted her head to one side. “So I don’t really heal people, but I’ve convinced myself so strongly that I can that I manifest psychosomatic symptoms of the people I think I’ve healed. That’s what you think really happens, huh?”

“Yes. If you just open your mind to the possibility, I’m certain it would make more sense to you. You’re a scientist, Libby, a doctor. You want to heal people because you’re so compassionate, but no one can really do that. Haven’t you ever watched the faith healers in the tents and realized they’re bilking the public?”

“How do you know they are?” She started walking back toward her house, this time
holding his hand so he wouldn’t let go.

“It’s been proven time and time again. The faith healers have been investigated and
debunked. Seriously, Libby, I could show you many of the reports. I looked them up over this past week and prepared them in a file for you. It’s all there in black and white.”

“You did that for me?” She smiled her sweetest smile, wandering slowly up the path to
her house. “Tyson Derrick, how considerate of you. I had no idea you were such a
thoughtful man.”

He let his breath out. “I was afraid you’d be upset, Libby. I was prepared for you to take this in a negative way, but I should have realized you’d reason it out.” He stopped on the path to their house. “You want to go home already? I’d like to spend more time with you.”

bwahahaha. That is just so Ty; coming up with a scientific explanation for it. Little does he know what he’s in for.

Still, even with Ty’s lack of belief in her magic aside, someone is still trying to kill him or at least sabotage his research. When Libby gets caught in the crossfire, Ty goes all caveman. Which is pretty hot.

For those of you that have read this series, what’s your favorite book?

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Drake Sisters

five-stars


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