Author: Kimberly

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Kelly reviews The Turn Of The Key by Ruth Ware

turn of the keyTITLE: The Turn of the Key
CHARACTERS: Rowen Gaine
AUTHOR: Ruth Ware
PUBLICATION DATE: August 6, 2019
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.
It was everything.
She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts The Turn of the Key is was a very interesting book. Ms. Ware formatted this book is in a series of letters from Rowen Caine to a Mr. Wrexham. In those letters Rowen recounts the events the lead up to her being put in prison for murder. Rowen hopes that with these letters Mr. Wrexham will be able to help her.
The events that lead Rowen to become the nanny and being charged with murder are both shocking and sad. I enjoyed this book even if they ending leaving me with the What the heck feeling.
This is my first book by Ruth Ware and I am looking forward to reading more of her works. If you are a fan of Ruth Ware I think you will be pleased with this story.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley & Gallery/Scout Press, Pocket Books in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.

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Kimberly reviews Wishful Thinking by Helen Harper

wishful thinkingTITLE: Wishful Thinking
SERIES #: How To Be The Best Damn Faery Godmother…. #1
CHARACTERS: Saffron Sawyer
AUTHOR: Helen Harper
PUBLICATION DATE: 08/26/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Muddled magic. Missing faeries. She’s having one spell of a day at work…

Saffron Sawyer aspires to rise from the magical world’s bottom rung. But when her wish to join the renowned Office of Faery Godmothers is granted, bullies make her first day on the job unbearable. And to add to her misery, she discovers that someone is abducting her coworkers one-by-one.

Desperate to prevent another kidnapping, she scrambles to piece together the clues. After teaming up with the handsome and powerful Devil’s Advocate, she uncovers a strange connection between the disappearances and her lowly former gig. But when Saffron learns her promotion was only a ploy, she vows to ruin the devious plan.

Can Saffron muster enough magic to trap the villain before she’s sacked or stolen?

Wishful Thinking is the first book in the refreshingly original How To Be The Best Damn Faery Godmother in the World (or Die Trying) urban fantasy series. If you like determined heroines, enchanting spins on old tales, and clever twists and turns, then you’ll love Helen Harper’s captivating story.

Buy Wishful Thinking to watch a spunky sprite strut her stuff!

REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts Saffron is not Cinderella’s godmother. She is so far from the imagination of what a faery/fairy (forgive me if I use the American version of this word) godmother is that some might wonder if the author really meant the same as Cinderella had.

But she did. Sorta. Saffron is a drug fairy in the UK. What this means is she helps those with drug issues to get clean or at least not get heavier into the stuff. But she wants to be a godmother. And she gets her chance. And what a whirlwind it is.

I will say I expected a lot more humor based on the title/series name than was in it even though there was some humor. There is a bit of everything. Suspense, mystery, romance and a number of twists.

This is cute. I will try the next in this new series as well.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

3hearts-68-77

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Kimberly reviews Beware The Darkness by Alexandra Ivy

beware the darknessTITLE: Beware The Darkness
SERIES #: Guardians Of Eternity #14
CHARACTERS: Tarak & Waverly
AUTHOR: Alexandra Ivy
PUBLICATION DATE: 08/20/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
The enemy may have changed, but the battle between good and evil burns hotter than ever in this scintillating new installment in Alexandra Ivy’s Guardians of Eternity series.

There is only one thing more precious to vampire Tarak than his newfound freedom after five centuries of captivity, and that’s the promise of revenge. At last, he can destroy Riven, the merman who has drained his power in order to make himself king. But at the very moment when justice is a fang’s breadth away, Tarak’s quest is complicated by the beautiful mermaid princess who kept him sane and fed during his ordeal.

Waverly hoped that once Tarak escaped, he’d return to his own kind and enjoy the rest of his immortal life. She also hoped she might one day stop dreaming about the darkly handsome vampire. Instead, Tarak’s return draws Waverly into an unlikely alliance—and a passion that eclipses all her fantasies.

Hatred for Riven has sustained Tarak this long. But only Waverly’s love can give him the strength to claim eternity with her . . .

REVIEW:
4.25 Hearts Alexndra Ivy is simply one of the Queens of Paranormal Genre. I have never found a novel of hers that disappointed and this was no exception.

The vampire world that Ivy writes is exciting, sexy and fun. Waverly and Tarak are unexpected but perfect. I loved Tarak. I knew after reading his story in the last novel that it would take a while to like Tarak but as always Tarak is a diamond in the rough. Waverly is interesting but I really liked her. The Mer world is one I do not normally read about. Never been a mermaid kinda girl but this was different and I actually enjoy it. Would I grab a different series about it. Probably not but there is never a book that Ivy writes that is not worth the read.

Dive in. You won’t be sorry. But I do suggest reading at least #13 before this one so you know Tarak’s story. And Levet is always worth visiting!

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

4 Hearts
4 Hearts

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Kimberly reviews Old Bones by Preston & Child

old bonesTITLE: Old Bones
SERIES #: Nora Kelly #1
CHARACTERS: Nora Kelly
AUTHOR: Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
PUBLICATION DATE: 08/20/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
The first in the groundbreaking Nora Kelly series from #1 bestselling authors Preston & Child blends the legend of the Donner party with a riveting suspense tale, taking the dynamic duo’s work to new heights.

Nora Kelly, a young but successful curator with a series of important excavations already under her belt, is approached by the handsome Historian, Guy Porter, to lead an expedition unlike any other. Guy tells his story–one involving the ill-fated Donner Party, who became permanently lodged in the American consciousness in the winter of 1847, when the first skeletonized survivors of the party stumbled out of the California mountains, replete with tales of courage, resourcefulness, bad luck, murder, barbarism–and, finally, starvation and cannibalism.

Captivated by the Donner Party, Nora agrees and they venture into the Sierra Nevada in search of the camp. Quickly, they learn that the discovery of the missing starvation camp is just the tip of the iceberg–and that the real truth behind those long-dead pioneers is not only far more complex and surprising than they could have imagined…but it is one that puts them both in mortal danger from a very real, present-day threat in which the search for the lost party, and its fabled fortune in gold, are merely means to a horrifying end.

REVIEW:
4.25 Hearts As a fan of the Pendergast series by Preston/Child I was looking forward to starting this new series. And it doesn’t hurt that I lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains and frequently visited Donner and knew the story of the Donner Party well. But then on the other side I was worried because of being close to the story I wasn’t sure they wouldn’t get facts and lore correct. But I should not have worried.

Preston/Child are two authors that team up to write their stories and somehow it works. The flow they have together is incredible. I am not quite sure of their collaboration techniques but it is one of the best.

In this new series we meet Nora Kelly, who is a character brought over from the Pendergast series. But you do not have to have read the old series to pick up the new one. There is also FBI agent Swanson.

The two meet as Nora is looking for a possibly hidden camp and Swanson is looking for treasure hunters on government land.

I really enjoyed this story and I am thrilled that Preston/Child have started a new series but I do hope that they haven’t stopped with Pendergast because there is never enough of him.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

4 Hearts
4 Hearts

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Kimberly reviews Templar Secrets by Andreas Enonomou

templar secretsTITLE: Templar Secrets
CHARACTERS: Hiram & George
AUTHOR: Andreas Economou
PUBLICATION DATE: 03/26/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
FROM THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON TO THAT OF THE FREEMASONS
Hiram—the tragic hero of Masonic tradition—is brutally murdered in Solomon’s Temple, three thousand years ago. An event which very much influences the founding of the Knights Templar two millennia later, and the discovery they made. But that not’s all! Largely because of it, Templars escaping the 1307 arrests go on to set up the precursor of modern Freemasonry.
Flash forward to the present day: George, a young Mason is struggling to unravel the origins of the institution he just joined. Was Freemasonry created by English medieval stonemasons, like they told him? And what do all its secret handshakes and passwords still protect? Can he solve these puzzles in time?
These questions (and many more) are all answered within this powerful, era-weaving journey.
If you liked Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” you’ll love this!

REVIEW:
I found this novel interesting if not all of it was true. I wish I knew exactly what part of it is true and which is not.

As with The Da Vinci Code it is based on truth with a splash of fiction. I have already found this subject interesting. There is so much mystery wrapped around the subject that again I am not sure exactly what part of the leaked information is myth or legend.

That being said the story makes you think and puts a new spin on the subject. The story is well written and interesting.

Any person interested in the subject will enjoy this story. Well worth the read.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

4 Hearts
4 Hearts