stories

Darkness Falls (Submit to Darkness Series Book 2)- AJ Spencer

Angela5 Comments

I had the great pleasure and enjoyment to read AJ Spencer’s second book in her Submit to Darkness Series. I reviewed the first book here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/11/18/edge-of-darkness-submit-to-darkness-book-1-aj-spencer/

One of the first things I noted about her first story was that I had it read in less than 24 hours, it was that good. This second installment, Darkness Falls, I had read in less than 8 hours.

Darkness Falls Cover Image

This second book continues with Detective Natasha Stolt trying to get into the mind of the serial killer known as Grimm. Her partner, Giovanni Tagliente reveals the reason he has something to hide. Natasha finds herself being held captive by this monster of a man, only she sees something other than the horrible, un-human being the country seems to know him as.

Natasha is forced to look deep inside herself at thoughts and feelings she would rather not admit she has. Can she control the monster known as Grimm, before he truly gets 100% control of her?

This is a heart-pounding adventure, full of twists and turns, and its fair share of erotica. This is not your cookie-cutter story seeking fame on the coattails of previously released erotica stories. This series stands well on its own, and puts the others to shame!

(The first novel has a well-earned warning due to the graphic nature of the story. The same holds true here. There is descriptive violence against women and children in the most depraved sense of the word. It justly serves the story, and is necessary to the telling of it. As I said in my first review; if this is something you cannot handle, this is not the series for you.)

The Best Christmas Gift For the Man In Your Life!

Angela5 Comments

Unless if he doesn’t like books, that is. This came across my Facebook wall, and I cannot believe such a thing exists!

Due Date Neck Tie

Unfortunately, I did not see anything here for women, per-se, but these neckties are pretty amazing.

You can find their website here: http://cyberoptix.com/products/printedneckties/duedatecard.php

5.5 Hours Left To Enter to Win Two $25.00 Amazon Gift Cards!

AngelaLeave a comment

I will announce the winner tomorrow as well as contact via email! Click here and follow the instructions to get entered:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0dcc89d93/

Amazon $25.00 Gift Card

Lady Luck’s a Loser – Caryl McAdoo

Angela3 Comments

I loved this story! It was a fast, easy read that drew me in from chapter one. You are dying to know right from the beginning what is really going on with W.G. Preston, and why he is running a “bachelor” style contest on his apple orchard.

Lady Luck's a Loser Cover Image

More importantly, you are really concerned about Marge, what she is feeling, and what she is going to decide to do. She is being pulled between her good common sense and her growing love for a man who hired her in order to fire her, if luck was not on her side.

I again cannot give any spoilers here, but this is a clean romance novel that is fun, exciting, and full of suspense that will have you staying up late to read it to the end. It certainly did for me!

Caryl McAdoo PhotoIf you are unfamiliar with Caryl, please go visit her website here: http://carylmcadoo.com/

You will be glad you did!

500 Followers! One Happy Girl Here!

Angela10 Comments

Thank you so very much to each and every one of you who have chosen to follow my blog! I could not explain the excitement I feel each time I see I have a new follower; the 500th one was as exciting as the very first one.

500 Hundred Followers

I try to write a blog that is interesting, fun, and informative. I love books; they are my passion, and the stories I have read have been so much a part of my past, present, and certainly my future; I could not imagine a day without my books.

My bedroom is dominated by bookshelves full of books; yet I still have books packed away, stacked on top of others, and never-even-read yet, because I have so many. I am grateful to have 4 daughters who love books as much as me, and I know that is because I read to them from day one, took them to the library every week, and set a good example.

So once again; Thank You so very much! It truly makes me happy to be able to share my joy of books with so many others!

Lori Schafer – Author Feature

Angela3 Comments

Lori Schafer ImageExperiencing great success with her story “On Hearing of My Mother’s Death Six years After It Happened“, Lori Schafer is an author you want to get to know. She has also authored “Stories From My Memory Shelf“, which I will be picking up in short order.

On Hearing of my Mother's Death Cover Image

I wrote a review of “On Hearing of My Mother’s death Six Years After It Happened” on November 19th, and you can find it here: https://booksandopinions.com/2014/11/19/on-hearing-of-my-mothers-death-six-years-after-it-happened-lori-schafer/ 

I was fortunate enough to get to read this story before it was released to the public, and I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a wonderful read, and if you have ever had to deal with, live with, or witness the devastating effects that mental illness has not only on an individual, but on their family as well, you need to read this story!

Lori is a writer of serious prose and humorous erotica. You can visit and follow her blog here: http://lorilschafer.blogspot.com/

Did Any Of Your Favorites Win A Goodreads Award?

Angela1 Comment

I know I am a few days late, but I have been incredibly busy and just now had a chance to go see who the winners were in the Goodreads Best Books of 2014 contest.

There were a total of 3,317,504 votes placed. 6 of the books I chose won. There were a couple categories I did not vote on because I had no interest in them and had not heard of or read any of the books.

How did your favorites fare? Do you know someone who was a winner this year? I know I have read some great stories this year by new authors who I have no doubt will one day have their books being voted on as well.

I do have more book reviews coming, as well as more author features. My 13 year-old homeschooler has fallen off the wagon on staying on task, so I have been getting up at 4am, going to work for 9 hours a day, and then coming straight home and spending 5 to 6 hours every night helping her get back on track. I could of sworn I successfully made it through the 8th grade, about 30 years ago; it sure feels like I am going through it all over again!

What To Do With That Horrible Book Review You Wrote

Angela13 Comments

Oh. Hello there. I hope you were not coming here to find the answer to what you should do with a horrible book review you wrote, because I have no idea. I actually was hoping someone could tell me.

As I have stated many times, it is not my intention to destroy anyone’s writing career, or write horrible things about their writing abilities. But when you pick up a book, and it was very poorly constructed, how do you avoid that huge problem while focusing your review on the underlying story that was actually pretty good?

If I post a review that I loved it, or even liked it, I destroy my reputation immediately. Trust me, if you saw this book and I gave it a top review and rating, you would think I was off my rocker. Now, the fact that this story had a few top ratings on Amazon also tells me that someone had their family members post reviews for their story. There were no ‘bad’ reviews for this particular story, or even reviews with much needed and deserved constructive criticism.

Book reviews are a touchy subject, especially to the writers who have no control over how the reader is going to interpret what they wrote. Did they understand the point you were trying to make? Did they misunderstand the dialect? Did they not realize the story was intentionally written like that? and on and on and on again…

One of my favorite quotes is about the fact that no two people will ever read the same story. I find it amazing that no one else read Harry Potter and got the same, identical things from it that I did. That is the beauty of books!

As a footnote, I do not want any of my recent authors who have sent me books or whose books I have purchased to panic. This post is NOT about you. I have had a couple people contact me within the last couple of days and I do not want them to think I am talking about their story 🙂 This is a story that I found on my own while I was looking for someone else’s book.

So at this point I am going to hold unto this review. This book is not a new release and I do not believe that more people will purchase this story, and that I did not prevent that from happening by holding unto this review. I want to do some more digging to see if I can find more ‘true’ reviews of this story and then go from there.

As I Finish Up Your Stories…

Angela4 Comments

…I would like to ask that if I had indeed contacted you about reading, reviewing, proofreading, and/or editing your story, and you have not heard from me, to please send me a personal email.

Those whom I am about to review are Marilyn Cohen de Villiers, “A Beautiful Family”, Kate O’Hara, “Aphrodite on the Half Shell”, the 2nd book of “The Universe of God 2: the Chronicles of Jesus”, (twestephens please email me, I am lacking contact information). Also Adan Ramie’s, “Darkness Undone”.

Mary Ellen Deleon, please send me the date of your blog post on the 3 chapters you asked me to read, I can have that done as soon as I hear from you.

CB, I left a reply on my post, please contact me via my email so I know if there are certain ones of your short stories you would like me to look at, and I need your contact information as well.

I also am in the process of reviewing 2nd stories for Caryl McAdoo and Tony Smith.

If I have not mentioned you and had contacted you previously, Please send me an email. I likely just overlooked it, as I know there are books I purchased and are on my nook that I did not list here. Some books I found from reading through your blogs, and you did not necessarily ask for a review; I just found the premise of your story interesting, and wanted to read it!

I also received a couple emails from persons unknown to me, and unless if you put “Book Edit or Review” somewhere in the subject line, I would not have opened it. I do still have them in my inbox, but please send me another email so I know you are someone who has seen my blog post and not a random email virus waiting to infect my laptop!

Thanks so much, I look forward to hearing from you, and Happy Reading!

angi.gibbs@yahoo.com