Something Blue by Kristy Nicolle

Genre: Dystopian Romance
Rating: 5/5+

Valentine is 25, living in the singles district, and getting increasingly lonely. She has taken over 60 readiness exams in preparation for meeting her match mate but she still is not being allowed to get married. She's never met her groom, but she does know that he has a tattoo that matches hers and is busy taking preparation courses and exams in order to be ready to marry her. Bliss Inc. has matched them using their 99% effective formula for love and happiness and only they can decide when Valentine and her groom are ready to be married. Will her groom be everything she expects? Will they be truly happy like the formula guarantees?

Let me start by saying that this book is one of the best I have read in a very long time. Kristy Nicolle has painted a beautiful and world with unique and sophisticated technology. The scenes are described with care and the reader is transported to a fascinating world of holograms, synths, and other advanced technology. For example, brides could virtually try on different hair and makeup options before their wedding. There were millions of options of clothing styles available to married couples at the touch of a button. There were even paving stones that lit up like fireworks when stepped on. Every single chapter just feels beautiful. Everything in the city of Monopolis is clean, pristine, and marvelous. The characters have depth with multi faceted personalities. And most of all, the character growth is phenomenal. Valentine's preconceptions and ideas of her world are constantly growing and changing. She starts out as a naïve girl and grows into a courageous and loving woman.

The author has done an amazing job of weaving together an engaging and exciting story. I rarely choose to pick up romance novels (just not my favorite genre) but this book sounded interesting and I am glad I gave it a chance because it truly blew me away.

SPOILERS AHEAD. I have thoughts on some of the plotline of the book but it might spoil some of the excitement of reading the story:

Obviously, the utopian sounding society of Monopolis, while mesmerizing, sounded too good to be true. I did wonder how society was "really" run. Bliss Inc. had set it up so that those accepted into the "Jigsaw" marriage and family project were the upper class. They had no wants, everything was taken care of and they had basically unlimited everything (except freedom to choose a mate, obviously). I really got caught up with Valentine in the illusion of it all and only about 30% through did I even really stop and think about how incredibly awful it was what Bliss Inc. was doing. If the marriages didn't work out (and the people had NO choice in who they were matched with anyway) then they were sent away, never to be seen again. This company ran everything and those deemed not worthy to be in the Jigsaw project were forced to live sexless lives as laborers.
I did wonder though why no major rebellions had ever happened. Bliss Inc. kept the upper class so spoiled that they never questioned anything? They kept the labor class so undereducated that they didn't know better? They did have a LOT of restrictions but it still seemed odd to me that no one had ever even tried to rebel. Maybe they did and it was just swiftly and mercilessly taken care of?

SPOILERS END

I would recommend this book to almost anyone from teenagers to seniors. As stated, I don't do romance but this book was amazing. The "mushy/wordy" romance scenes were few and the interactions between Valentine and Clark were more realistic than a lot that I have read. I would highly recommend this book! :-)
<3 <3 <3
Great job, Kristy Nicolle! I will definitely be reading more of your work!

Grammar/Editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent- This was an ARC so I am assuming that some of the goofs will be fixed in the next round of editing. There were numerous punctuation errors (mostly comma misuse). There were some words that were misused here and there (like peak instead of peek). The main issue that I kept seeing was a different use of the word stood/stand. For example, it would say, "I was stood at my desk" rather than "I was standing at my desk." This appeared throughout the book. Even with the errors, I still absolutely adored this book! (The errors did not detract from the reading experience at all) **NOTE: I am from the United States and the author is from the UK so I realize that some of the things that seem like errors or issues to me may in fact just be cultural grammar differences!

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme- The F-bomb was used a few times as well as "shit" and a few other words. Nothing excessive.

Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme- There was really not much violence in this book. There are no guns. Someone suffers a self inflicted Sulfuric acid burn. There are other disturbing things that happen, but none are particularly violent.

Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme- Although this book is a romance and has honeymoon scenes, there was very little sex in it. Valentine mentions other couples "basically having sex" in the spa. There is one sex scene but it could be compared to a PG 13 movie (not explicit at all). Everything was very mild - possibly could be considered sensual at most.

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Ruby in the Rough by Emily Shore

Genre: Dystopian
Rating 5/5

Ruby has been living in the ghetto for four years - she has learned to avoid the gangs and sweepers who would jump at the chance to capture her and sell her. Known to her enemies as the "Ghetto Fox," she has evaded capture for years and longs to escape the hellhole she is living in. During the events that transpire in this book, Ruby confronts gang leaders and other ghetto leaders and she is faced with tough decisions about who she can trust.

This book was exciting and interesting! Ruby is a strong character who was easy to root for. She had been through some hard times in her life and I really just wanted her to have peace. I was glad that she had a friend, Ink, who she could trust and depend on.
It was never mentioned exactly which city they were in but it was written in such a way that it could have been almost anywhere in the US if there was a catastrophe or some major social upheaval. I think that is what makes this book compelling - this type of situation and societal structure (gang rule) could happen almost anywhere (even my own town!) if the circumstances were right. The way that people were treated, especially women, was heartbreaking. And I understand that it really IS like this in some parts of the world. Although this is a work of fiction, it opens your eyes to the fact that things like this do happen in real life. Human trafficking is a real thing. I LOVE that the author donates a portion of the proceeds of this book to organizations that fight human trafficking.

I would highly recommend this book - it is quite short (something you could read in one sitting). And I hear that there is another book in the series coming out soon ;-)

Grammar/Editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent - The grammar and editing was really very good. There were not a lot of noticeable issues that were distracting. Always nice!

Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme- Since the ghetto is ruled by gangs, there is a lot of implied violence as well as some images that could be disturbing to some people. A decapitated head on a pike is mentioned. The violence is mostly implied though, rather than explicitly described. A few people get shot with guns. And then of course, there is the issue of human trafficking - women being sold for sexual and other purposes. Again, this is mostly just implied rather than described in detail.

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - The language in this book is very mild. A few curse words here and there but nothing excessive.

Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - Despite the fact that this book is largely about women being sold for sexual purposes, there are no explicit sex scenes. It is heavily implied that women ARE in fact basically prostituted at the hotel and in the gangs. There is a section of the book that talks about a man posing for pictures with a naked passed out woman and other scenes where sexual things are happening. (Hence, the medium rating).

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The Amber Project by JN Chaney

Genre: Dystopian/YA
Rating: 5/5
Terry has just turned 7 and is going to start "school." He has grown up in an underground city and does not know that when he goes to school he will never see his mother and sister again. Once there, he begins to learn more about his city and the world around them. 200 years previously, almost the entire population of the earth was wiped out by a gas called Variant. The survivors built an underground society that is now deteriorating. Going to the surface will become necessary soon. Terry is different than most children in the fact that he has been genetically engineered to be able to breathe the Variant gas. Although he does not know it, he spends his childhood being trained to one day go above ground. He and his classmates are humanity's last hope for survival.

I absolutely loved this book! I love dystopian anyway, but this one was pretty unique. The story is told over many years as Terry grows into a young adult.
I am always fascinated by how dystopian societies are structured and this society is really quite interesting (I would have enjoyed learning more about it). There are three main classes of society, the Motherhood. the Science Branch, and the Military branch. The children are taken to a boarding school at the age of seven years and given a basic education. Then they are placed into a branch based on a large variety of factors. We don't really get a good look at the "normal" process though, since Terry and his classmates are destined for a very specific and unique career.
I really enjoyed the book the most once Terry actually went to the surface. Things picked up quite a lot at that point and I was really eager to find out what happened.
It did take me a while to adjust to the writing style but once I was about halfway, I started being unable to put the book down. The character development was a little slow for me and the pace was a little odd.
The ending was really fantastic - a great resolution and I am definitely quite eager to find out what happens next :-)

Grammar/Editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent - Sadly, few books that read these days have good editing. This book was a little above average in that department. It was refreshing because bad grammar and word usage tend to really take away from the story overall.

Violence: None//Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - The kids take weapons to the surface for protection against any of the known and unknown threats they might face. There is some killing that happens when they are on the surface (both animals and people). These scenes might be disturbing to some young readers. In addition, there are some disturbing discussions in the beginning about the genetic engineering process. The mothers experience multiple miscarriages and the experiments are definitely morally and ethically questionable.

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - The language in this book is very mild. A few curse words here and there but nothing excessive.

Sexuality: None//Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - No sexuality, no kissing, almost no mention of romantic relationships. The society is fairly strictly structured.

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Rebel's Blade by Frost Kay

Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
Sage, a beautiful intelligent sword maker, is recruited into a rebellion against the Aermian king. Despite extensive training, she is caught one day by none other than the crown prince himself. She is dragged kicking and screaming to the castle dungeon where interrogations ensue. Tehl, the crown prince is trying squash the rebellion and take care of his depressed father when the beautiful rebel waltzes into his life. Sage (calling herself Ruby) and Tehl clash on more than one occasion and her stubbornness and unwillingness to reveal anything about the rebellion make Tehl and his entourage make more and more drastic decisions. As Sage spends more time at the castle, she begins to wonder if she's on the right side...
This book was gripping from the start. I appreciated getting the perspectives of both Sage and Tehl. There were many strong characters in this book and most of them kept me guessing - their actions were surprising at times. Samuel, Tehl's brother was delightful to read about; he was very fun loving but also a master of manipulation and cunning. The king was the embodiment of what depression does to people. It turns them into a shell of themselves and I thought that his character was written well.
I think this book brings up an important issue - we can't necessarily trust propaganda even from those we consider our closest family and friends. Until you are actually in a situation or you actually meet a person, you can't know for sure that what the rumors say is true. It's unwise to make huge, life changing decisions based on something you have limited knowledge about. Everyone in this story had their beliefs challenged and I thought that was so awesome.
The editing was actually pretty good for a self published author. My one and only real complaint is that Sage was too much of the ultimate badass bombshell character. She was kind, strong, compassionate, beautiful, manipulative, feisty, pretty much everything desirable. It was a bit much and a tad unrealistic. (She could take down 5 men at a time, she could manipulate/sweet talk anyone into doing anything, her sword making skills amazed people, all the men at the ball ogled her when she walked in, etc.)
Overall, a great read!
There is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the book that will leave you wanting more!

Grammar/Editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent - The editing, punctuation, and grammar was very good for the most part. There were the occasional comma errors here and there but nothing too bad. A few instances where the lack of contractions in dialogue made reading a little awkward in some places. Not too bad overall. (Better than most I have read).

Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - The main violence in this book comes from torture. There is mention of rape but it does not happen. A girl is cut and beaten and almost killed during an interrogation.

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: The language was very mild in this book. NO F-bombs, a few uses of other mild curse words but nothing too bad. Overall, a very clean book. 

Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: Almost NO sexuality in this book except for the fact that it's insinuated that some of the characters might have mistresses. At one point, a character talks about violating someone in order to scare her. A character was almost raped so that could also be a little upsetting but overall there is almost nothing sexual.

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A Way Back Into Love by Veronica Thatcher

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4/5

Emily left her home 5 years ago. She ran away from her home, her family, and especially her best friend, Derek, whom she also happened to be in love with. What she didn't know was that he was in love with her too. Now, she is returning home to begin a surgical internship. Derek has moved on and is now getting married to her sister. Emily and Derek become friends again and start to spend more time together. It becomes clear that they both still have feelings for each other but there's a gaping chasm that neither is completely willing to cross. As they spend more time together, secrets from the past come to light that change everything.

I almost never read contemporary romance novels because I tend to find them unrealistic, cheesy, and irritating. There's always lots of drama and usually the dialogue and interactions seem so pretentious.
That being said, I was quite impressed with this book. The interactions between the main characters, Derek and Emily, were really just fun and enjoyable to read. They had a truly interesting and entertaining rapport. They constantly joked with each other and just had a lot of fun with each other. That was just a pleasure! The actual plotline of the story was fairly predictable but nonetheless enjoyable. I kept thinking how incredibly blind and stupid they both were for not realizing that they were head over heels for each other. But then I realized that this is quite realistic. I think many people can understand misunderstandings and relationship drama of this type. We hesitate to open up and be 100% honest because we are scared. But if we just took a leap of faith, we could have something truly special.
I found Emma's character fascinating - she's the main antagonist but her behavior surprised me throughout the book. There were some interesting twists near the end that made my jaw literally drop. I also really liked the Grey's Anatomy-esque scenes. (Emily and Derek were both surgical interns.)
I did have a few issues with the editing. The use of contractions was puzzling - there were many instances where contractions weren't used in the dialogue and it made it a little awkward to read. In other cases. contractions were used where they were NOT needed (which I have never seen before). Sometimes, really obscure words were used that weren't really necessary (just because you can use a fancy 5 syllable word doesn't mean you should). I did learn some new words though, so that was fun.
Ultimately, a pretty good read. I was pretty engaged the whole time - I wanted to find out how it would resolve and, like I said before, Derek and Emily were really fun to read about.

Grammar/editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent
As mentioned above, I had issues with the use of contractions. There were some words that were misused or not needed. Certain grammatical issues existed like saying "I and she went to ..." instead of  "She and I went to..." or using "She had got used to the idea" instead of "She had gotten used to the idea." Etc.
 
Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: This book is violence free! (Unless you count the mention of one of the characters having an abortion). No one even got slapped or anything.

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: The language used was fairly standard dialogue. The F-bomb was dropped when people were feeling particularly emotional. One of the characters was referred to as "Asshole," one was nicknamed "Bitchy Barbie." Course language was not used excessively.  

Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: The sex scenes (there were 2) were done very tastefully and were not explicit. There was also mention of an abortion at one point.

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Frostbite by Claire Marta

Genre: Paranormal Romance/Erotica/Suspense
Rating: 4/5

This book was sexy, intriguing, and suspenseful!

I was eager to read about a supernatural Scotland Yard, vampires, and nefarious villains but I was not prepared for how much this book would keep me on the edge of my seat! In general, the characters were very genuine and relatable. The scenes were described beautifully. The internal dialogue was well done. I had no idea what was going to happen, which was exciting. As the story went on, it began to feel like an old James Bond movie. It was sophisticated and beautiful.

The story begins with Jasmine and her fellow Scotland Yard agent, Twitch, locked up in the lair of Marcel, an arms dealer. He has abducted them in order to coerce Twitch to help him with some sort of nefarious plot using complicated technology. Jasmine is used as a pawn of sorts to get Twitch to comply. They will hurt or kill her if he doesn't do what they ask. She meets a man who appears to be a henchmen of Marcel's, Eric, who she senses is a vampire. Twitch and Jasmine work to get out of Marcel's lair and Jasmine is caught by the vampire. They spend the next few days trying to figure out exactly what Marcel is up to and stop him before it is too late...

Overall, this book was beautiful and engaging. My only complaint was the editing. There were quite a few punctuation errors and word misuses. It might have gotten a higher rating from me if those things were fixed.
I probably will see about getting the next two books in the series! I loved how the story was written!


Grammar/editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent
There were many instances where commas were missing, which detracted from the flow. There were words that misused ("to" was used instead of "too," "breath" was used instead of "breathe," for example.) The editing did seem to get better as the book went on, however. And overall, it didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth and was fairly easy to overlook because the story was good.

Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: There was not much explicit killing or blood and gore in this book. It is implied that a man was frozen to death and later found dead in a river. There are a few mild fight scenes with blades, and someone get's their spine snapped at one point. There was no extreme violence or excessive or needless killing.

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: There was quite a lot of language in this book, but the main character vampire often points it out to Jasmine and chastises her a bit for it. The F-bomb is used in both it's appropriate context and as a curse word a multitude times. "Arse" and "shit" are also used extensively.

Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme This book does contain several erotica scenes so those who might be turned off or offended by that should steer clear. I will say that I feel like these scenes seemed well balanced and not over the top or unrealistic.

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Category Jeremy by Elizabetta Holcomb

Genre: Fantasy/Time Travel/Romance
Rating: 4/5

I won this book in a giveaway and I was really intrigued by the description. I'll admit that I did feel slightly lost from the beginning of the book because there is at least one book that takes place before this one. There's time traveling that goes on, though, so it makes it all a little tricky.
Jeremy becomes a host for a hurricane when he is a young boy growing up in Louisiana - that is, his body can actually turn into a hurricane at will. There are powers as well as problems that come with this ability. The story begins with him returning home after 8 years to his close friend Beau. He was whisked off to England as soon as he became a host and his family and friends didn't hear from him during that time. Jeremy and Beau realized that they loved each other in their time apart. But Beau was not very quick to forgive Jeremy for leaving her for all that time. It turns out that he became a part of an organization for other hosts (volcanoes, tornadoes, tsunamis) - Dover's Amalgam, which was based in Dover England in the 1800s. He was learning how to control his abilities while he was away. He and Beau fall more in love in the short time that he is back in Louisiana. But they can't have a happy ending just yet because there is a villain who is amassing his own group of hosts in order to overthrow Dover's Amalgam.

What I really liked about this book is that it is a truly unique concept with a lot of room for an interesting universe. There's time travel, hosts with super powers, battles, and more. The author did a really good job of creating something really different and interesting.
I do feel though, that things could have been explained better in some cases. In this book, for instance, Jareth was doing "church reform" in Louisiana. I couldn't figure out what that meant, even after reading the whole book. He was a prince from England who was very pious and formal but I really felt lost on that whole aspect of the book. The lack of contractions in the book was also really annoying. I get that the speech of people from the 1800s would be different but there was a lack of contractions throughout the book that was distracting. The editing in general could have been better as well. There were lots of missing commas, misused or misspelled words, and more. For example, there would be a switch of scenes and there was no indication of this in the formatting (no space between paragraphs or asterisks or tildes or anything - just one paragraph right after another.) It wasn't the worst editing I have seen but it definitely could have been better.
I also had a little trouble relating to the characters. The romance sections between Jeremy and Beau were sort of too sweet and cheesy for my taste. The dialogue was just a little unbelievable. Although, I will say that I liked Beau's character in general. She was sort of spicy and hot headed and I liked that!

Grammar/editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent
As stated before, the main complaint was the lack of contractions. There were some punctuation issues and word usage issues but it was not too distracting from the story. The formatting between scenes could have been better.

Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme: There was almost no violence in the book. Since the hosts are weather phenomenon, there are some things that happen to buildings and such. There is a woman executed at the end of the book but it is only mentioned. Still, it could be considered disturbing. There is also a fight scene where a man is stabbed, a man is electrocuted, and a woman is killed. There is not a lot of blood or overly explicit descriptions.

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme Almost no language. "Ass" and "bloody" are the main words used and the characters are usually chastised if they use language, anyway.

Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme There is a lot of kissing and sex is mentioned and insinuated at times but there are no explicit scenes. It is all very soft and romantic.

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