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I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. So when I saw a book about Sherlock's daughter, who who wants to follow in her fathers deductive reasoning footsteps, I knew I had to read it. Plus throw in the fact that her specialty leads her to a job at a museum as a "purveyor of abnormal science" how could I pass it up?? Sherlock plus mystery plus just a touch of creepy and weird. That just sounds so good! And it was good! It was exactly as I expected it to be.

There is plenty of good ole Sherlock snark and wit in Arabella, so I loved her right off the bat. She is not like other young women her age. And given that the book takes place in 1910, that is not necessarily a good thing. One of her oldest friends is the son of Dr. Watson- Henry. Henry is so smitten with Arabella, or as he calls her Bella. It was so adorable to watch how devoted and protective he was of her. Whereas everyone else say her as different and weird, he was just so enamored by her. This book was true to the time period and it read like the original Sherlock Holmes stories, but in a way that makes it accessible for young adults. I found the book very readable.

There are multiple mysteries in Boneseeker. Not only is there the mystery of the bones, but there was also the mystery of Bella herself. Everyone around her, herself included kept referring to her as different and "not normal". Even Dr. Watson, who was like a second father to her and cared about her thought she was different than other girls and you could tell he didn't want Henry romantically entangled with her. I was so curious about all of this. What did they all mean she was not normal? Was it just because she was like her father and was logical to a fault? Was it just that she didn't interact with people properly for the time, or was it something else? Something that actually made her not normal? I found myself wondering this for over half of a book, and I was even more interested in figuring Bella out than I was figuring out what all these giant bones belonged to.

I really enjoyed Boneseeker. It had a noir mystery feel to it. I know this sounds really weird, but the writing and the scenery had me picturing most of this book in black and white. Maybe the cover had something to do with that as well. It felt exciting and different to me. Henry is great and Bella is such a fun character to read about. Henry called her condescending and charming all at once. I think he was right, but man oh man can she pull that off beautifully. Fans of historical mysteries, and fans of Sherlock Holmes should add Boneseeker to their reading lists.

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Picture Perfect is the second book in the limelight series, but it can be read as a standalone. The first book, Rumor Has It, is about Ellie and Mason and this book is about Ellie's best friend Skye. Ellie and Mason make an appearance in the book, but this is completely Skye's story. I really like the theme that Elisabeth Grace has worked into this series. Neither of the characters are celebrities in this one, but Skye is the daughter of a politician, and Landon owns a PR company, so the media plays a role in this book as well. If you remember my review of Rumor Has It, you know that I COMPLETELY FELL IN LOVE WITH IT. It was one of my favorite new adult romances ever! So Picture Perfect has some damn near impossible shoes to fill. Did I like it? Yes!! Did I love it as much as Ellie and Mason's story? No, but it was still a great read and a good edition to the Limelight series.

Skye is used to being the perfect daughter, and is calm cool and collected in almost situation. Until she meets Landon. She meets him in a nightclub after some drunk guy throws up on her. UMM, EWW!!! (Side note: Elisabeth Grace said this happened to a friend of hers. How crazy is that?!) He comes to her rescue and she acts very out of character for her and ends up in a heated lip lock with him. Fast forward to Monday, and she goes into her new job to meet her boss...Landon. Yep, right then and there I knew that I would enjoy this book as well. I did not envy Skye. I think I would have died of embarrassment, but she handled herself with class. Skye often acted with maturity beyond her age...not all the time, but most of the time, and I respected the heck out of her for that.

Landon was a treat. A yummy, yummy treat. He was a hot, young, successful professional with daddy issues. (I thought it was a happy coincidence that it was the girl with the great relationship with her father and the guy that had the strained relationship by the way.) So it should come as no surprise that he was used to girls throwing themselves at him. But what I liked about him was that he was able to recognize that Skye was different, and he didn't treat her or pursue her in the same way he would one of those one night stands. This is not a story where people start out as a one night stand and later want more. Landon and Skye were both attracted to each other, but because they worked together they didn't rush into anything. Their relationship was a gradual buildup and I loved every second of it. I also loved how protective he was of Skye. I love guys like him.

Picture Perfect was surprising, fun and oh so satisfying. It is so easy to root for Skye and Landon. So why didn't I love it as much as the first book. Well, the first book was just flippin' amazing. Ellie and Mason will continue to go down in my books as one of my favorite book couples. Their story felt longer and more detailed than Skye and Landon's. But the main reason is that Skye did something in Picture Perfect that is a book pet peeve of mine. Let me explain, Guy character tells Skye that she better do "X" or "bad thing Y" will happen. Oh, and she can't tell anyone. And what does Skye do? She doesn't go to her dad. She doesn't go to Landon. She just freaks out alone and tries to do what is she thinks is "best" for everyone and gives into guy character. And I am thinking, WHY!???! How would guy character know if she talked to her dad? He wouldn't. I just really don't like it when female characters fall so easily into this blackmail trap. This will probably not bother most readers, but it is a personal issue for me. I have seen it happen in many books and it just makes my eye go all twitchy. Thankfully, it was just a little part of the overall story, and like I said I can see many readers glossing right over it, and not giving it a second thought.

Picture Perfect is a great new adult contemporary romance. Told in dual narrative, the readers feel like they really get to know both Skye and Landon. Elisabeth Grace is a fantastic writer and she writes guys exactly how I like them. Super hot, slightly(or totally) alpha, slightly protective, and super sweet to their girl. I cannot wait to read the next book in the Limelight series. I am excited it is about another celebrity. If you have not read the Limelight series you need to. Even though these books can be read as standalones, start with Rumor Has It. You will love it.

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I was super excited to read the second book in the Curse Keepers series. I loved the first book. I thought it was so unique. How many times do you get to read a book about ancient Algonquin spirits that are tied together with the reappearance with the lost colony of Roanoke. This is the second series that I have read about the Roanoke colony and it is still a unique subject to me because both series are so different. (Roanoke Vanishing by Auburn Seal is great as well.) I absolutely loved the Curse Keepers. I thought it was fast paced and fascinating. I really enjoyed the second book as well, but it was slower paced than the first one. I thought The Curse Breakers was great in terms of the supernatural mystery as well as the ties with the actual mystery with Meriano's men. But in terms of actual plot advancement it dragged a bit.

Ellie dealt with that awful betrayal and loss of her father in the end of the first book, so she is a little less trustful in this installment, and more than a little hurt. I really felt for her. She is still in the thick of this curse, and she is in constant danger at night. It has to be a lot to deal with all alone. Colin is in this book a lot less. I have a feeling that will change more in the next book, but because of certain events in the story he didn't have nearly as much page time. Ellie doesn't know who to turn to, but she needs to figure out a way to put Ahone's symbol on her so that she will be protected by him. So she seeks out a young professor who is an expert in Native American's. He became a much bigger character in the book than I was expecting after their first, rather rude, meeting.

I was really glad that David became so important in Ellie's quest, because he turned out to be such a sweetheart. And very helpful. I can't imagine having to go through this big bad scary all alone like Ellie, so it was nice to see someone there for her- helping her out. I'm still not sure where I fall in the whole Collin v. David situation, but that is something that I will defer my opinion on until the next book.

The Curse Keepers series is a really interesting series. One that I enjoy and will continue to read. The Curse Breakers was a good installment, but it did suffer a bit from second book syndrome in terms of pacing. It just dragged and felt a little boring in places. But the overall mystery answers and advancements were great. It was a good book in a great series, but it wasn't as good as the first one, which I completely loved. Still very much worth a read if you enjoy paranormal books and are interested in the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

The Other Summer Girl is listed as a new adult contemporary romance. I would categorize it more as a Young Adult realistic fiction. There was romance, and it certainly took up a lot of the book, at least in the main characters eyes, but I think a much bigger focus of the book was watching Melanie adjust to college life during her freshman year. The Other Summer Girl is a difficult book for me to review, and I am going to attempt to explain why.

On one hand The Other Summer Girl is excellent. Sarah D. Towne's writing has this incredibly engaging and honest voice. I felt like I was sitting down talking to someone explain their freshman year of college. It felt so real. This book does an excellent job portraying the college experience for so many people. From dorm life to sororities to roommate issues, to parties. Everything was just like I remembered it. From a realistic fiction standpoint, The Other Summer Girl is fantastic. But... (yes, you knew that was coming)

The romance was just not what I was expecting. Melanie is so inexperienced when it comes to guys, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it made her become all about Lleyton. It seemed like every moment of every day was Lleyton, Lleyton, Lleyton. Which would have been fine if I thought he was this amazing guy. But he just gave me an uneasy feeling every time I saw him. I wanted so badly to believe that he is this great guy, but all of these things kept happening that would make me just not trust him. I trusted that he liked Melanie, but I just didn't trust that she was the only one he "liked". And because Mel was just so young and fresh faced with everything, I just wanted to protect her from scummy guys.

But then again, I would remind myself that even though Lleyton might be a scumbag (or maybe not, but even if I thought he was.) that he was oh so very realistic. Not every book can be all sunshine and butterflies when it comes to romance. Not every guy is going to be into grand gestures, and sappy romance. Lleyton was like countless college guys. Some could even say that he didn't do a thing wrong. He was just "hanging out" with Melanie. He didn't put labels on anything, but you could tell that Melanie thought it was more than that.

Once I finished the book, I sat back and thought about it. Even though I disliked Lleyton most of the time, my realistic side won out. Sarah D. Towne wrote a great realistic fiction book. Not every romantic comedy ends with the love of your life HEA, especially during your freshman year in college. But if you look at the book from the perspective of Melanie's coming of age college experiences, this honestly can't be beaten. It is just so earnest, that you can't help me moved by it. Am I going to continue the series? Heck yes! I want to know exactly what is going on with Lleyton, and what it means for Melanie. Plus, I want Melanie to grow a bit of a backbone and I feel like we were just starting to see that side of her at the end of this book. If you are looking for something that reads like a peak into a girl's diaries, The Other Summer Girl is the book for you.

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Shifting Fates: Uncaged is the second book in the serial urban fantasy shifter romance. I enjoyed the second installment more than I did the first because the scene had already been set and the players were already laid out. So in this book, we just got to dive right into the good stuff. I really enjoyed this installment because so much of it focused on what I wanted more of in the first book- Bindi and Cage! Lots and lots of Bindi and Cage goodness.

Cage really comes to some realizations about himself and about his feelings for Bindi. I didn't expect him to realize what he felt so fast. After the last book, I thought that he would still be denying it to himself that he had some feelings for the girl. But luckily the next time they met up, he was so understanding and he didn't shy away from their connection. Neither of them did. It was great to see.

Bindi took some real chances in this book too. She stepped way out of her comfort zone for Cage. Some of it was out of her control, but some of it she made the choice to include him on. I was silently cheering her on the whole time.

I am super interested to see where the series is going to go from here. I love the creepy setting and backdrop that the story takes place in. The world building is so impressive for such short serials. That is a testament to the great writers. Everyone knows how much I love Nadia Simonenko, but I am also impressed with Aubrey Rose. I picked up the first book in one of her other series and I can't wait to give it a try. I still think that readers will benefit from grabbing a boxed set of this serial series when it is out and reading them all one right after another. It will feel more like a real length novel that way. That being said, I am super interested in this series now and I will probably continue on reading each installment as it is released just because I want to see what is going to happen.

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Life Lived Twice is a unique read. I enjoyed it, and it was very interesting to read because it dealt with the issue of reincarnation as well as soul jumping (kind of), plus some pretty unique plot twists. The book kept my interest and it was cool that the author switched back and forth between the past and the present because it was like we were reading two stories. And there was the added kicker of solving a "mystery" in the past life.

Tess is an easily likable character. She is looking for place to live so she can start attending college, but surprisingly almost none of the book has to do with her time at school. Tess has a strange encounter with a boy at the airport. They are both reaching for the same book and when she looks up at him she calls him Addison. She has no idea why, because she doesn't know any Addison's and his name is not Addison. She only has his initials to go by, which are LB. The plot thickens when her new landlord, Dane looks so much like the airport guy, Logan. There looks like there might be something between Tess and Dane when she meets Logan again. I liked Dane and Logan. and I often felt conflicted between the two of them.

I am not going to tell you much more because this is the type of book that you need to experience for yourself. There are lots of twists and turns and those were my favorite part of the story. I really liked the mystery part of the book as well. Sherrie Wouters is not afraid to take risks with her writing and her characters and I appreciated that as a reader. She is also not afraid to have an unconventional ending. Life Lived Twice surprised me numerous time. Some surprises I loved, some not so much, but overall I appreciated and enjoyed the story.

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Love Potions is the first book in the Warlocks MacGregor series. It follows one of the MacGregor sons, Erik. I think that each of the books will follow a different member of the MacGregor clan, which will be very exciting because it is easy to see from this story how tight knit their family is. It is also so much fun to watch them joke around with each other. The MacGregors are a bunch of pranksters. And throw magic into the mix, and well let's just say that some of their pranks get a little inventive.

Erik is used to getting everything and everyone that he wants. Girls have a tendency to throw them him, so when he meets his next door neighbor and she doesn't give into him right away, he seems to be a little off kilter. I liked that Lydia was so strong willed. She seemed to be the only one able to put him in his place. Not even his brothers were able to accomplish this. Lydia is just what Erik needs. But Erik and Lydia do not have an easy road. I honestly did not know if they were going to end up together or not. Lydia has a bit of a temper on her, and rightfully so! I mean, this family shows up out of no where and bring magic and spells into her life, not to mention evil spirits. Throw in a love spell and you have a hot mess. But it was hilarious fun!

I do wish I had paid a little better attention to the glossary of terms at the start of the book because I didn't know some of the things that Erik was saying. Some were explained, but others weren't. I also wasn't super clear on what an Inthrall was. I know that they can suck a warlock's powers from him, sometimes to the point of death. Which seems pretty serious to me, but the MacGregor's never really seemed concerned. I wish that was explained a bit better, but it eventually gets explained and worked out.

Love Potions has stubborn, yet charming warlocks, lots of magic, tons of chemistry and a plot that you are sure to enjoy. This book was a lot of fun, and the MacGregors are great. I love their family and I can't wait to read all of the brothers, sister, and cousin's stories.

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Ruination is a fast paced, action packed book that is the first in a young adult dystopian series. Parts of it reminded me of Divergent and The Hunger Games, but there was enough difference in the plot that the author made this book her own. I think it will become even more unique in the next installment. I loved the characters and I liked the world building, although I felt the latter was lacking a bit. I eventually got a more complete picture of the world, but it took awhile to get there. More on that later, first let's talk characters.

I found Nessa and Ty to both be compelling and lovable. Nessa is a bit closed off and harder to read. She guards her heart and her feelings fiercely. Ty seemed like an open book. Both of them have visions of the future, although neither of them know that the other has this gift. Ty is from the "outer" sector and one day he has a vision of Nessa and he knows that they are meant to be together. He sees something awful happen to her and right then and there he decides that he will be the one to help her. I loved how loyal he was to Nessa the whole story. He is an admirable guy.

The world is set up with an outer sector, which is the poorest, an inner sector, and central, which is like the capitol. Everyone wants to get to Central so they can have the best life possible. The bet jobs, the best food and clothes. The best everything. But the only way someone can move up from outer, to inner, and from inner to central is to be the top scoring guy or girl on their "leap" test. Ty is determined to leap into inner and then leap again with Nessa. I am not going to go too much into more of the plot because it really was a fun ride discovering everything for myself. The set up of the world is really very interesting, but it was 61% into the book before I found out the actual layout of their world. The citizens themselves don't even really know.

The book is told in multiple point of views, all from first person. I do wish that the chapters were labeled because sometimes it took a page or two for me to figure out whose point of view I was reading. There is Nessa, Ty and Garrett- Nessa's childhood crush. There is a hint at a love triangle but Garrett was out of most of this book so I guess we will have to wait until the next one to see what exactly is going to happen with the three of them. I really love Ty so I am not sure that I really even want a triangle. I would prefer Garrett to just bow out, but I doubt that will happen.

So much happened in this first book. We went from meeting the characters to the start of a war all in one book. It was alot. And I certainly could not have predicted all of the twists and turns when I started the book. It was an intense and gripping ride. While the leap test reminded me of divergent and some aspects of world seemed hunger games esque it really had the feel of a classic dystopian. I like how thought out the plot seemed to be and I can't wait to see what the author is going to do next. There was quite the ending on this one, so I know I will be excited to get my hands on the next book and see what happens.

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In a sea of similar books, Dark Metropolis felt different. In a great way. Part dystopian, part thriller, part magic, part zombie/vampire(?), Dark Metropolis really had it all. The world did have a glitzy 1930's esque feel like the summary said, but it also had a dark futuristic feel to it. I am not sure that I ever caught a date while reading, so I can't be quite sure when this book actually takes place. Told in multiple point of views, the story shifts between characters frequently.

I felt like Thea, Nan and Freddie were all main characters. Even though there were multiple main characters, the plot and story were very easy to follow. I didn't get confused and it never felt jarring shifting from person to person. Jaclyn Dolamore did an excellent job with her characters. I feel like I got to know Freddy and Nan very well. I want to see more on Thea and Sigi in the next book. At first, I thought Thea was going to be the main character, but somewhere along the line, her chapters became less frequent as Nan's part of the story took center stage.

I look forward to seeing more about Thea and Freddy in the next book. There is a hint at a possible romance between them, but then the "situation: in the city took over, and there wasn't much time for anything else except action. Lots and lots of action. I was surprised how fast paced Dark Metropolis was. So much happened in the story. So much in fact that when the book ended, I wasn't sure if it was a standalone or a series. It wrapped up nicely for the first book. There are still unanswered questions about Nan, about the revolutionaries, and we have no idea what is going to happen with the fallout. I can't wait to see. Jaclyn Dolamore has a real gem with Dark Metropolis.

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Elsker is the first book in the Norse mythology centric Elsker Saga. I love all things mythology and Norse mythology is particularly fascinating to me because I don't know as much about it as I do greek and roman mythology. I knew a little bit before I read this book and I have read a Valkayrie book before, but I feel like I learned so much about Norse Mythology from Elsker. I really enjoyed how much it was woven into the story. The main character, Kristia is taking a mythology course while she is studying abroad in Wales and her class lessons were a perfect way for S.T. Bende to work in some details and background information on the Norse Gods. It all worked really well.

The book is told completely from Kristia's point of view, which was nice because it kept Ull mysterious, but I think I would have liked to have gotten some of his point of view as well. It would have been interesting to poke around in his head a bit at the beginning to see what his inner conflict was with Kristia. We eventually get to find out, but it comes much later in the story.

Ull is a big ole softie. I know he was described as being an intense warrior, and while we do get to see a hint of his fierce temper, he mostly seemed sweet, sensitive and like a super hot cuddly bear. I enjoyed watching Ull court Kristia. How could anyone say no to him? I certainly wouldn't. And I loved how Kristia continually challenged him and put him in his place. She has more than a little spunk in her.

Elsker's part in this book was a pleasant surprise in the plot line. I loved how it tied everything together. There is some solid foundation laying for what looks like it will be a very interesting and high energy series. There is a free novella available for #1.5 of the series. And after this, book #2 seems like it is going to be pretty action packed and intense. I can't wait to see what is going to happen with that. Fans of norse mythology will really enjoy this book. (and yes, Thor does make an appearance)