by Jasmyn | Jun 17, 2019 | Book Reviews, Readers, Romance
No Turning Back was an incredibly emotional and heart-pounding journey. I stayed up late and put everything else aside because I just had to finish it and see what happened.
To start things off, Livvy is already dealing with some serious trauma that is affecting her ability to perform. We get a feel for what happened, but don’t really find out the full details of the situation until later. To try and get her mojo back by singing in front of a smaller audience, she joins a church outreach group as part of the choir. But their outreach isn’t what she expected. It’s in San Quentin prison, and while she does decide to go (or we wouldn’t have a story), it’s reluctantly.
You can feel the tension building this whole time, and we know what’s going to happen. But when it does, and the riot breaks out, it still floored me. The reactions, the danger, the help coming from surprising places. Livvy finds herself running with the help of an inmate that is trying to protect her. But she has caught the eye of a very bad man – like one of the worst I’ve read about, and he is determined to hunt her down. Not only that, but Livvy is separated from her group and in a sea of men that are mostly out for whatever they can get their hands on.
One of the things I loved the most about this book was the characters’ faith. It wasn’t perfect, but it was incredibly real. When things hit the fan, there was doubt, there was prayer, there was bargaining with God to do something – anything – to save their friends. And faith also brought help from some pretty surprising places. It was incredibly powerful.
The prison itself was detailed beautifully and without this living, breathing backdrop, the story wouldn’t have worked. The place seemed to have a life of its own and lived by rules that seemed foreign to me. The culture is different, the politics are different, the people (guards and prisoners) are different. Katie Vorreiter brought the place and the people to life for me.
This book is one that will sit with me for a while in all the best ways. I keep revisiting passages and thinking about everything that happened. It has been the highlight of the year so far.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
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Title: No Turning Back
Author: Katie Vorreiter
Genre: Christian Fiction, Romantic Suspense
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Following a stalking incident, Livvy Fischer’s life has become derailed. Having sung for audiences since she was a child, the classically trained opera soprano is now terrified to sing publicly. Stuck in a dead-end job, she musters the courage to audition for Opera San Jose. Though she starts strong, the audition is a disaster. She decides to begin with a smaller goal—she’ll try singing at her church. Partly due to a mix-up, partly to her crush on the young pastor leading the outreach, Livvy joins a worship team bound for the chapel at San Quentin. When a riot breaks out, she is separated from her pastor and the rest of her church group, sheltered by a Christian inmate. Though the plan is to keep hidden and ride out the storm, Livvy becomes the obsession of a serial killer. Livvy must rely upon God, find her own courage, and trust a small cadre of protectors as she flees the hunter, escapes burning buildings, and hatches schemes to get herself and the others rescued. Yet, through all of the uncertainty and danger, the biggest surprise Livvy encounters is her feelings for her inmate rescuer.
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by Jasmyn | Jun 6, 2019 | Book Reviews, Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy
The Land was my first foray into LitRPG, and I have discovered something that I absolutely love! I think listening to the story in audio format made the experience even better. As we walk through the adventure with Richter – we experience his “dings” as he levels, as well as a few other sound effects that are NOT part of the general narration – just a few select areas that PC or console games will recognize and smile. However, if you are not a gamer of some sort, then many of the fun aspects of this book may not be as enjoyable to you.
I couldn’t pinpoint any one specific game all the elements pulled from, but there were bits and pieces from several I have played over the years – from console, to PC, to tabletop. The story follows Richter – a human Chaos Seed – into a realm where the game has become real. From here we dive into an amazing fantasy story that could stand on its own (although quite a bit shorter) without the gaming references. We meet a fun variety of creatures, both friendly and otherwise, all with some very unique personalities and goals. The world itself is built slowly as Richter discovers it, but there are a few hints that it is incredibly vast and many adventures could be found.
Founding tells the story of the beginning of Richter’s journey as he discovers The Land and its people. I feel like this would have been the equivalent of the first book in a campaign box set, and it wraps up rather nicely at the end with many strings closed, but leaves a few hanging out there to be pulled apart in the next book – which I am definitely getting as soon as my Audible credits are here.
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Title: The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds #1)
Author: Aleron Kong
Genre: LitRPG, High Fantasy
Format: Audiobook
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Welcome my friends!
Welcome… to “The Land!”
Tricked into a world of banished gods, demons, goblins, sprites and magic, Richter must learn to meet the perils of The Land and begin to forge his own kingdom. Actions have consequences across The Land, with powerful creatures and factions now hell-bent on Richter’s destruction.
Can Richter forge allegiances to survive this harsh and unforgiving world or will he fall to the dark denizens of this ancient and unforgiving realm?
A tale to shake “The Land” itself, measuring 10/10 on the Richter scale, how will Richter’s choices shape the future of The Land and all who reside in it? Can he grow his power to meet the deadliest of beings of the land? When choices are often a shade of grey, how will Richter ensure he does not become what he seeks to destroy?
ps – Gnomes Rule
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by Jasmyn | Jun 5, 2019 | Book Reviews, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Readers
The end of the third book in the Charlie Davidson series was emotionally draining and somewhat traumatic. Betrayal all around, and I wondered how Charlie was going to come out of this one.
Well, she doesn’t exactly. Which was a stroke of brilliance by author Darynda Jones to make her seem more human and real. She is no longer the Grim Reaper and PI Extrodiarre, she is also Charlie – the woman who was hurt, betrayed, and tortured – trying to come to terms with what she’s going to do next and looking for comfort in her credit card and home shopping channels.
It takes a new case to start to bring her back to herself. And this case was pretty interesting. I loved the look at the psychology behind our memories and what trauma can do to them. There were some pretty nice twists in it as well, and while I sort of had things figured out, there was one really big surprise that I didn’t see coming at all. I understand that Charlie’s cases need to be action-packed and exciting, but I’d like to see her come of out one without a near-death experience.
Reyes is back and not in Charlie’s good graces. But he has a few things up his sleeve still to try and make things right with her. I’m incredibly curious to see where their storyline goes as we find out more and more about Charlie’s unknown abilities and Reyes’ background and motives.
I think the narrator for this audiobook is one of my favorites. She tells the story so well and is very easy to listen to.
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Title: Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charlie Davidson #4)
Author: Darynda Jones
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Suspense
Format: Audiobook
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Welcome to the world of grim reaper extraordinaire Charley Davidson. Try as she might, there’s no avoiding her destiny.Sometimes being the grim reaper really is, well, grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple of months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above…or at least get dressed. It becomes clear something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. But the more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it.
In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved.
Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans in this hilarious fourth installment in the New York Timesbestselling series.
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