Book Review ~ "Dark Hope" by Monica McGurk

Dark Hope by Monica McGurk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Source: Netgalley
Genre: YA Fiction ~Angels/Romance

Book Description:  A new young adult saga in the Twilight tradition about the love between a human and an archangel.

For years, Hope Carmichael, survivor of a shocking child abduction, has lived a sheltered existence under the protection of her fanatically religious father. Now, liberated by her mother, Hope prepares to start life over as a normal kid in an Atlanta, Georgia, high school.

Normal, that is, until Hope meets Michael, a gorgeous emancipated teen with a mysterious past and a strong interest in Hope. And soon, Hope’s life is filled with questions. What’s behind the angry looks Hope gets from Lucas, leader of a gang of students? Who’s responsible for sending Hope a strange valentine inscribed with Bible quotations? How does this relate to the sinister business of human trafficking that operates on the periphery of Hope’s suburban world? And is Michael really a protector, or something more sinister—and just why does he seem so familiar?

In an epic narrative that takes readers from the back streets of Atlanta to the height of Vegas penthouses and beyond, Dark Hope introduces readers to The Archangel Prophecies, a new young adult saga that blends the feeling of Twilight with a vast mythological scope and moral urgency, as well as to Hope Carmichael—a young woman instantly memorable for her endurance, heart, and determination—and Michael, Hope’s dangerous companion who’s fated either to save Hope—or to kill her.


My thoughts: This was a very interesting book. The book is based off of biblical references and contains ancient prophets and archangels.

Hope was abducted as a small child and miraculously saved. Now as a teen, she bears a mark on the back of her neck and becomes caught up in a battle between good and evil. The Fallen Angels want back into heaven and see her as a key to fulfilling their purposes.

The book explores many thought provoking ideas: love, family ties, loyalty, good vs. evil, biblical prophecy, friendship, slavery,, the worth of a soul, etc. Hope has many choices to make and has the training she received from her father to help guide her. She also has a guardian angel, I'm not too sure where his loyalties lie, an Archangel and the love her her friends and family to help her through the difficult decisions ahead of her. She is also hunted and running while trying to do some good.

I think it will be interesting to see where the story goes from here. To see where true loyalties lie and how good will overcome evil. The book contains kissing and violence.

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Book Spotlight ~ "Picture Mr Perfect" by Laura Briggs and Sarah Burgess (Excerpt)

Jason Barry’s no hero, although he does hope to change the world one day by helping people once he finally earns his master’s degree in psychology. When his scholarship is unexpectedly revoked, however, Jason takes on a temporary modeling gig for money to help pay the bills, never dreaming it’ll land him on the cover of a best-selling romance novel – and transform him from the boy-next-door to a hot literary hunk almost overnight. 

Suddenly, women recognize Jason as the face of sexy ‘Lord Damon’ everywhere he goes, making him the envy and admiration of his male friends. But as covers featuring him as everything from a swashbuckling hero to Mr. Darcy himself causes his celebrity status to explode, Jason struggles to balance his academic pursuits, as well as his deepening attraction for Emily, a waitress and part-time student at his university. 

Emily is definitely unimpressed by Jason’s literary alter-ego. But can the real Jason convince her there’s more to him than meets the eye? Or will bigger issues prevent their happy-ever-after, when certain truths between them challenge the definition of a real hero? 

Read An Excerpt

********************

            "Lord who?" Greg repeated.

"Lord Damon," said Jason. "That's what she said to me. I swear. And then I saw it in the window. Me, all over these book covers, as some sort of swashbuckler or gentleman hero or something."

"Get out of here."

"I'm serious! I'm not lying to you — why would I lie about this?"

"This is a joke, right? Stop it already," Greg answered. "I'm not buying it."

"You want me to prove it? Fine." He grabbed his roommate's car keys off his desk. "I'll prove it. Come on."

Greg didn't believe him until they were standing outside the book store's window. He watched his roommate's jaw drop slightly.

"What the ..." he trailed off. "Holy ice cubes, Jason. How did you do this?"

"Come on. Let's get away from here." Jason tugged him in the opposite direction. Greg followed, but slowly, his glance still drifting towards the hero version of his roommate plastered all over the book covers.

"So what happened?" Greg asked. "How the heck did someone think of you for that book?" His tone was somewhere between total skepticism and disgust, not that Jason blamed him. Something about the cover seemed too cheesy, as if he was being hit in the face with a cream pie every time he saw this alternate version of himself. It was too much to handle.

"All right. I went to this agency who put an ad in the paper" said Jason. "They take photos of you —"

"Whoa. Stop right there."

"Not nude ones," Jason answered. "Just ordinary photos. They pay you — you sign a release, and they can sell the picture to someone else, who can use it for anything they want. I did it for forty bucks. I didn't think they'd actually use it for anything, I thought they'd probably toss it in the trash."

"You're dressed like a pirate captain, bro."

"It's not a pirate costume," Jason retorted. "Trust me. They were very specific about that."

********************

Amazon

About Laura Briggs: (taken from Goodreads)  Laura Briggs is a professional writer whose debut short work from Pelican Book Group "Only in Novels" garnered attention in the book review world and with fans of both Christian and contemporary romance. Since then, she has continued publishing novels both traditionally and independently and both Christian and mainstream Sweet Romance, as well as co-authoring a series of Grimm-esque fantasy-themed fairytale retellings known as The Dark Woods Trilogy.

Best known for secular contemporary romances "The Wedding Caper" and "Late to the Wedding", Briggs's latest releases include the Regency-inspired lighthearted romance "Dear Miss Darcy" as well as a return to her Inspirational Romance roots with the playful but poignant "Ghosts of Romances Past" from Pelican Book Group. When not writing, she reads, relaxes, and spends time with her cats and dogs. 

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Book Review ~ "The Midwife's Tale" by Delia Parr

The Midwife's Tale by Delia Parr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: Received from Publisher to Review
Genre: Christian Historical Fiction

Book Description:  Martha Cade comes from a long line of midwives who have served the families of Trinity, Pennsylvania, for generations. A widow with two grown children, she's hopeful that her daughter will follow in her footsteps. But when Victoria runs off, Martha's world is shattered. 

Worse, a new doctor has arrived in town, threatening her job, and she can't remember a time when her faith was more tested. Still determined to do the work she knows God intended for her, Martha is unprepared for all that waits ahead. Whether it's trying to stop a town scandal, mending broken relationships, or feeling the first whispers of an unexpected romance, she faces every trial and every opportunity with hope and faith.

My thoughts: This book is set in 1830. Martha Cade is a midwife who is experiencing a life crisis. While she was attending a birth miles away from home, her daughter Victoria ran away with a travelling band of actors.

She comes home discouraged and finds a new Doctor in town who is trained on new methods of medicine. He thinks that the town does not need a midwife, leaving Martha to prove her worth and methods in healing and birthing.

I enjoyed Martha's story. She fights a mental, spiritual, and emotional battle as she struggles to find her place again in her small community. Change is hard for her to live with. She is a very strong character with a strong sense of self and courage.

There is a some mystery in the book. Someone has been burglarizing the town and the blame has been placed on a boys academy of orphans. Martha is determined to find the culprits and clear the name of the innocent.

This book has some twists and turns and made for a great read. Delia Parr does a wonderful job at laying down the setting and characters. I liked the community and the many different personalities. Many of the people are struggling with their own issues. Martha as a healer knows of their problems and tries to help them when she is able.

The romance in the book is very light, almost not present. The book says that it is the first in a series of Trinity. I hope that as new books are written that I will find out what happens with Martha and her love interest. There are other characters that I would love to get to know better.

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12 Days of Back to School Books ~ Day 12 ~ The Avery Shaw Experiment by Kelly Oram

"When Avery Shaw’s heart is shattered by her life-long best friend, she chooses to deal with it the only way she knows how—scientifically.   The state science fair is coming up and Avery decides to use her broken heart as the topic of her experiment. She’s going to find the cure. By forcing herself to experience the seven stages of grief through a series of social tests, she believes she will be able to get over Aiden Kennedy and make herself ready to love again. But she can’t do this experiment alone, and her partner (ex partner!) is the one who broke her heart.  Avery finds the solution to her troubles in the form of Aiden’s older brother Grayson. The gorgeous womanizer is about to be kicked off the school basketball team for failing physics. He’s in need of a good tutor and some serious extra credit. But when Avery recruits the lovable Grayson to be her “objective outside observer,” she gets a whole lot more than she bargained for, because Grayson has a theory of his own: Avery doesn’t need to grieve. She needs to live. And if there’s one thing Grayson Kennedy is good at, it’s living life to the fullest."

Buy your copy here:
http://www.amazon.com/Avery-Shaw-Experiment-Kelly-Oram-ebook/dp/B00CMLBK9U/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=00RG854QJFQRKJVCMXAN

 Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen--a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which her family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and likes to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four children, and a cat named Mr. Darcy.

Newsletter signup: http://www.kellyoram.com/p/email.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kelly-Oram/e/B003UPV4RA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_12?qid=1430338217&sr=8-12

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorkellyoram

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Question and Answer with the Author



 How did you come to write this particular book or series? 
I remember the day I came up with the idea, but not exactly how the concept popped into my head. I went for a run. (Okay, it was more of a walk-run during one of my on-again times where I was dedicated to working out. The off-again times are way more frequent.)

Anyway, I'd gone for a run and it was one of those precious moments where I was by myself, no distractions, no kids--just me and my thoughts. The concept for a girl getting over a broken heart using the seven stages of grief popped into my head, and before that half an hour (yes, that's all I can run before I want to die) was over, I had most of the book plotted.

I was in the middle of another manuscript at the time, but I went home and wrote Avery's prologue right away. Five weeks later I had a finished book. The Avery Shaw Experiment had been my easiest book to write so far. It just flowed so naturally, and honestly, I blame that on Avery and Grayson's natural chemistry. (Hehe science pun totally intended!)

  Snippet Time

Grayson:

Where does one even begin when talking about Avery Shaw? I’ve known her, her whole life, and yet I’ve never really gotten to know her.

She and her mom have been unofficial members of my family since our moms threw up on each other in a prenatal yoga class when I was fourteen months old. They only got closer after Avery’s dad skipped town when Avery was four. My family sort of adopted them, and my father took his place as the only male role model in Avery’s life.

I always looked at her as sort of a pesky little sister, but that all changed the day my brother dumped her. Why, you ask? Let me put it this way: When a girl lets you be the one to hold her as her entire world falls apart, even though you’re ass naked, it changes the way you see her.

The soaking-wet, see-through t-shirt didn’t hurt, either.

It took me a while to get out of the shower after Avery finally left. I had to let the water run cold first because, well, because I had to. Plus, I needed some time to process. Avery Shaw had suddenly barged into so much more than just my shower. She’d also crashed into my head in a way I never thought possible and maybe even wormed her way into my heart a little bit. I had no freaking clue how to handle that, much less what to do about it. But I had to do something. Avery was destroyed and completely incapable of fixing herself.

That was the moment the Avery Shaw Experiment started for me. It wasn’t defined yet, and I had no idea I’d be earning extra credit for it—that was an added bonus—but that was the first time I realized Avery Shaw had the potential to be so much more than what she was. All she needed was a little help from someone normal and cool who could introduce her to life the way it’s supposed to be lived.

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