What Lies Around The Bend...

" The sea holds many secrets. Moira Alexander has always been fascinated by the deadly sirens who lurk along the shores of her island town. Even though their haunting songs can lure anyone to a swift and watery grave, she gets as close to them as she can, playing her violin on the edge of the enchanted sea. When a young boy is found dead on the beach, the islanders assume that he’s one of the sirens’ victims. Moira isn’t so sure. Certain that someone has framed the boy’s death as a siren attack, Moira convinces her childhood friend, the lighthouse keeper Jude Osric, to help her find the real killer, rekindling their friendship in the process. With townspeople itching to hunt the sirens down, and their own secrets threatening to unravel their fragile new alliance, Moira and Jude must race against time to stop the killer before it’s too late—for humans and sirens alike." Review: I’ll give this book one thing, and that’s atmosphere. What a very middle of the road book. The prose...

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE CAMELOT RISING TRILOGY, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 3. CHECK OUT  THE GUINEVERE DECEPTION  FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1, AND THE CAMELOT BETRAYAL FOR BOOK 2! "While journeying north toward the Dark Queen, Guinevere falls into the hands of her enemies. Behind her are Lancelot, trapped on the other side of the magical barrier they created to protect Camelot, and Arthur, who has been led away from his kingdom, chasing after false promises. But the greatest danger isn’t what lies ahead of Guinevere—it’s what’s been buried inside her.  Vowing to unravel the truth of her past with or without Merlin’s help, Guinevere joins forces with the sorceress Morgana and her son, Mordred—and faces the confusing, forbidden feelings she still harbors for him. When Guinevere makes an agonizing discovery about who she is and how she came to be, she finds herself with an impossible choice: fix a terrible crime, or help prevent ...

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE CAMELOT RISING TRILOGY, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 2. CHECK OUT THE GUINEVERE DECEPTION FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1! "Everything is as it should be in Camelot: King Arthur is expanding his kingdom's influence with Queen Guinevere at his side. Yet every night, dreams of darkness and unknowable power plague her.  Guinevere might have accepted her role, but she still cannot find a place for herself in all of it. The closer she gets to the people around her - Brangien, pining for her lost love Isolde; Lancelot, fighting to prove her worth as Queen's knight; and Arthur, everything to everyone and thus never quite enough for Guinevere - the more she realizes how empty she is. She has no sense of who she truly was before she was Guinevere. The more she tries to claim herself as queen, the more she wonders if Mordred was right: she doesn't belong. She never will.  When a rescue goes awry and results in the d...

"OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE. Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient, rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield―her brother, fighting with the enemy―the brother she watched die five years ago. Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family. She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family w...

"Sixteen-year-old Ariadne’s whole life is curated and shared with the world. Her royal family’s entertainment empire is beloved by the tabloids, all over social media, and the hottest thing on television. The biggest moneymaker? The Labyrinth Contest, a TV extravaganza in which Ariadne leads fourteen teens into a maze to kill a monster. To win means endless glory; to lose means death. In ten seasons, no one has ever won. When the gorgeous, mysterious Theseus arrives at the competition and asks Ariadne to help him to victory, she doesn’t expect to fall for him. He might be acting interested in her just to boost ratings. Their chemistry is undeniable, though, and she can help him survive. If he wins, the contest would end for good. But if she helps him, she doesn’t just endanger her family’s empire―the monster would have to die. And for Ariadne, his life might be the only one worth saving. Ariadne’s every move is watched by the public and predestined by the gods, so how can she find...

  WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE GODDESS WAR TRILOGY, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 3. CHECK OUT  ANTIGODDESS  FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1, AND CHECK OUT MORTAL GODS FOR BOOK 2! “For the Goddess of Wisdom, what Athena didn't know could fill a book. That's what Ares said. So she was wrong about some things. So the assault on Olympus left them beaten and scattered and possibly dead. So they have to fight the Fates themselves, who, it turns out, are the source of the gods' illness. And sure, Athena is stuck in the underworld, holding the body of the only hero she has ever loved.  But Hermes is still topside, trying to power up Andie and Henry before he runs out of time and dies, or the Fates arrive to eat their faces. And Cassandra is up there somewhere too. On a quest for death. With the god of death. Just because things haven't gone exactly according to plan, it doesn't mean they've lost. They've only mostly lost. And there...

"There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl. Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom's borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution--send in Guinevere to be Arthur's wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king's idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere's real name--and her true identity--is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot. To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old--including Arthur's own family--demand things continue as they have been, and the new--those drawn by the dream of Camelot--fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur's knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swo...

"In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether sh...

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE GODDESS WAR TRILOGY, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 2. CHECK OUT ANTIGODDESS  FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1! "Ares, god of war, is leading the other dying gods into battle. Which is just fine with Athena. She's ready to wage a war of her own, and she's never liked him anyway. If Athena is lucky, the winning gods will have their immortality restored. If not, at least she'll have killed the bloody lot of them, and she and Hermes can die in peace. Cassandra Weaver is a weapon of fate. The girl who kills gods. But all she wants is for the god she loved and lost to return to life. If she can't have that, then the other gods will burn, starting with his murderer, Aphrodite. The alliance between Cassandra and Athena is fragile. Cassandra suspects Athena lacks the will to truly kill her own family. And Athena fears that Cassandra's hate will get them all killed. The war takes them across the globe, searchin...

"Old Gods never die.. or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health. Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra - an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god. These days, Cassandra doesn't involve herself in the business of gods - in fact, she doesn't even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning. Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with others of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these antigods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caric...

"Daughter of Immortals Princess Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law - risking exile - to save a mortal. Diana will soon learn that she has rescued no ordinary girl, and that with this single brave act, she may have doomed the world. Daughter of Death Alia Keralis just wants a chance to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn't know she is being hunted by people who think her very existence could spark world war. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer - a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.  Together Two girls will face an army of enemies - mortal and divine - determined to either destroy or possess Warbringer. Tested beyon...

"For years, Eon's life has been focused on magical study and sword-work, with one goal: that he be chosen as a Dragoneye, an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a twelve-year-old boy. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; the penalty is death.  When Eona's secret threatens to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a struggle and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic... and her life." Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was action packed and held a lot of deception and mystery and I loved Eona/Eon's journey of self discovery. It took me to new places and the story took a lot of unexpected directions I really appreciated. I definitely think everyone should take a peek at this book, and I cannot wait to read the sequel!

"Jael Thompson has never really fit in. She's changed schools too many times to count. The only family she's ever known is her father, a bitter ex-priest. And her mother - well, she was a five-thousand-year-old demon. That doesn't exactly help. When Jael turns sixteen, her life changes. On the awesome side, she gains strange and wonderful powers and the attention of a cute skater boy with a knack for science. But the homicidal demon seeking revenge on her family? Not so awesome. Steeped in ancient mythology, this is an epic tale of a heroine who balances old world with new, science with magic, and the terrifying depths of the underworld with the ordinary halls of high school." Review: Misfit wasn’t as good as it promised. I have been waiting to read this book for quite some time now and I was let down. On a scale of one to ten, it was a hard five. The characters weren’t very well written and the love interest was mediocre. The best part of the book, h...

"Strange things are happening to Daire Santos. Crows mock her, glowing people stalk her, time stops without warning, and a beautiful boy with unearthly blue eyes haunts all her dreams. Fearing for her daughter's sanity, Daire's mother sends her to live with the grandmother she's never met. A woman who recognizes the visions for what they truly are—the call to her destiny as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate the worlds between the living and dead. There on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire sets out to harness her mystical powers. But it's when she meets Dace, the boy from her dreams, that her whole world is shaken to its core. Now Daire is forced to discover if Dace is the one guy she's meant to be with...or if he's allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy." Review: This book was...well wasn't as good as I was expecting. It wasn't as spiritually inclined as I was hoping it would be, and the love aspect of it wasn...

"Every girl who has taken the test has died. Now it's Kate's turn. It's always been just Kate and her mom - and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's gonna start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall. Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld - and if she accepts his bargain, he will keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests. Kate is sure he's crazy - until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess. If she fails..." Review: This book was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I love how the author portrayed Hades (Henry) as the good guy, romantic interest. I was definitely surprised by who ended up being the villain and all the ot...