Agent X by Noah Boyd

Article first published as Book Review: Agent X by Noah Boyd on Blogcritics.

Kate Bannon, FBI agent is having one of her worst nightmares ever. She feels like she is dying. As she pries open her eyelids, she realizes there is no dream, only real life. Someone has left her car running and she is breathing in fumes, unable to open her garage, which is jammed, in the back of her mind she realizes that this will look like suicide instead of what it really is. Who is it that is responsible for her murder?

In the hospital, Bob Lasker, Director of the FBI is cautiously waiting for her to wake. He has questions only she can answer. Unlike the others, he does not believe the evidence. Kate needs to find out who is after her and why. It is time for her to call Steve Vail for help. Steve has always been at his best in these situations and she has always been able to rely on him. Will he help her this time? Never one to follow the rules he has left the business and is now pursuing his own way as Bricklayer. Growing up in his father’s footsteps, it was what he was groomed for. A rule breaker, not a rule taker, he chose to leave the business.

Kate is not sure he will help, and if he does, can she keep him within the guidelines required by her Director? With only one man believing her story, will Vail also understand that she is in danger, not from herself but from others? When Steve agrees to help, digging into the deceit behind her most recent problems, the evidence takes them into the dark and dangerous underground of the spy network. Whom do they trust, in this political game of tag?

In Agent X, Noah Boyd has built a layer of deceit that only the best minds could follow. Nevertheless, as each clue is unraveled the bad guys are murdered before they can be debriefed. Steve and his trusty companion Kate follow the trail, to find the deep undercover spy and unmask him, but at each turn, the adversary is ahead of them. While close and having a great respect for the other they both work off differing agendas, neither trusting the other with all their information.

Kate believes in Steve, but not all the information adds up when the ousted spy’s die, many at the hands of Steve himself. Is he only in the wrong place at the wrong time as he claims or is he responsible for the deaths? She is vulnerable without the entire backing of her crew. Whom does she believe when the evidence points in varying directions? She is strong and smart, but what is really happening? Can she take a leap of faith and follow her heart, or will she follow the advice and evidence as presented.

Steve is secretive and has his own agenda. He is extraordinarily bright when it comes to seeing the big picture, but he struggles with putting his faith in others. He is adept and cocky, going his own way, using the information he garners to flesh out further spies, and information. But who is guiding him with bits and pieces of clues, leading him into fray after fray, only to murder the suspects before they have a chance of digging out the truth. Steve is the quintessential MacGyver with just a bit of Mack Bolen thrown in. Boyd has written a fine, fast paced and intriguing suspense, keeping you guessing. Just who are the bad guys, and will Kate make the right choices?

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy fast-paced adventure, set in a spy thriller. Vail is a wonderful character and sure to be one to bring back time after time. The moniker of Bricklayer helps to flesh out his persona, both solid and well-constructed with strength of character. This is an exciting novel with strength of purpose and hard to put down. This is action and adventure at its finest, a thrilling ride.

Rating 4/5
Agent X
 
This book was received as a free copy by GoodReads First Reads. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.

Turned: Book # 1 in the Vampire Journals by Morgan Rice

Caitlin Paine was not sure why she always seemed to stand out, there was nothing about her size or her looks that made her different and yet there was something that made people look twice. Starting in a new school and starting at midterm made this even more noticeable. Usually she could skate by and be inconspicuous as possible, but now there was no way. Making her way to class and going through the scanner, she is again noticed and pulled aside. Her necklace set off the scanner, a cross that she had always worn.

The one person in school that did not treat her differently was Jonah, a nice young man often made fun of by the other students. Fighting to find a space in the cafeteria for lunch was nauseating, and after trying for some time without success to find a seat she finally found one in the very back so she could be by herself. Things were so much different for her little brother Sam; he made friends and fit in no matter where they were. At school, she remains a bit of a loner, except for Jonah. She finds that his love and his pride and joy are his violin. Music is his life.

After her initial first day and her nausea, she just does not feel right, everything is wrong, and she feels odd. After heading for home, feeling hot and uncomfortable, she sees a few of the bullies from school picking on some one. She is not able to see the victim and stays in the shadows to avoid problems. When the bullies clear, she sees a violin busted into pieces and Jonah beaten and bruised, unable to move. Something comes over her, a rage with no control. Her body begins to react on its own, the rage becomes all-powerful, she becomes stronger, and more than whom she is. Letting out a primal roar as she attacks, she breaks the first attacker’s wrist. The second attacker comes at her but her body moves at speeds and angles she cannot comprehend and both feet hit his chest knocking him into the trashcans where he does not move again. Who is she and what has just happened?

In Turned, by Morgan Rice, she has built a story of differences. Caitlin has just found she is far different than she ever imagined. How has this happened and what does it all mean? As she continues through school and finds strange and painful changes happening to her, she does not know where to turn. The pain begins to cause further sensations, sensations of hunger. Her vision changes and she can see the pulse in her friend Jonah’s throat.

As Caitlin fights to find the answers, she only finds more questions. Soon a body is found drained of blood, and Caitlin knows she is responsible. Now there are others looking for her as well. Her family is falling apart and she no longer understands her life.

This is a fast-paced story about youth and changes. While I found that as the story progressed and built on its theme, the beginning began entirely without enough depth or explanation. The story is good, a solid foundation, but I would have found it more believable and interesting with a more substantial build up, the powers came on too quickly and too unbelievably. Even with that, the story is good, with strong potential. The book gains speed and agility as the characters begin to build and Caitlin will make a great protagonist. This is a good twist on the usual vampire story, with a unique ending.

Rating 3/5
Turned

This book was recieved as a free e-book from the author. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.

Blog Hop and Follow Friday

This week's question comes from Ellie who blogs at Musings of a Bookshop Girl:

"If I gave you £50 (or $80) and sent you into a bookshop right now, what would be in your basket when you finally staggered to the till?

My answer is Hidden Will of The Dragon by Charlie Courtland, Redemption by Laurel Dewey and as many books by Kelly Armstrong that I could with the leftover. :)

"
Feature & Follow Friday #36

Home > Feature & Follow Friday > Totally Obsessed





Happy Follow Friday everyone! Let me tell you a little bit about this HOP. Every friday or really Thursday evening we all get together and say HI! But, we need to know how to find you, so please your link in the Mr. Linky below. Also on Follow Friday we have a Feature...because alliteration is the way we roll. Each week is a different feature from the book blogging community. They are picked randomly or I give in after multiple harassing emails. Just depends on the week. If you want to be next weeks feature...leave your link. Also, I've had a recent rash of people signing up on the linky weeks later, which sort of defeats the purpose. If you want to participate check back here on the next Friday!


Our feature this week is...

Ashley of Bookaholic Does Blogging


I'm Ashley and I run Bookaholic Does Blogging! I started Bookaholic Does Blogging in October 2010 when I discovered my personal blog was becoming a sea of book posts. I'm pretty open in my taste for books and there isn't much I won't read. I most enjoy paranormal books, though I'll pick up a chick lit just as easily. Some other genres I love include historical fiction, mystery, romance, and pretty much anything that is fiction. It's a rare occasion when I read a non-fiction novel.

As far as Ashley the girl, I am currently a junior in college studying Accounting, Finance, and Economics (it's a lot -- I know)! I am currently engaged and planning a Fall 2012 wedding. I also have two awesome cats that I love. =) In addition to reading, I enjoy shopping and crafty things as well. =)

Q. Just like Ashley said (love it) "Ashley the girl..." who are You the Boy/Girl, instead of You the Blogger?

I'm Rachel the Girl. The thirty-two year old mommy (3 year old girlie) and wife (hottie Marine vet) and corporate slave (indentured servant). I'm a Graphic Design manager/minion for a business management company in New Orleans. I have 1 dog and 2 cats + 4 or 5 fish. I don't drink enough and my family is so unbelievable huge that they usually plan my other waking moments when I'm not blogging or being that mom or wife. I'm also very into art so if I'm not bloggin, I'm designing on the puter. XOXO Happy Friday ya'll

Ten Good Reasons to Lie About Your Age by Stephanie Zia

Article first published as Book Review:Ten Good Reasons to Lie About Your Age by Stephanie Zia on Blogcritics.

Living the dream and having a life that others only wish for is an amazing existence. Spending your life with the man you love, watching your children grow together is only what happens to other people. But what if that other person happens to be you? And what if instead of growing old together, he dies in a tragic accident?

Sally Lightfoot is now living this life. Growing up in the time of free love and music, she found the man of her dreams, a music producer who loved life and fun, as well as Sally. Bereft at his death she does the best she can, coming to terms with the changes. Age is a factor, she is no long young and her children have grown, money too is a new issue she is has to deal with. Her only option is to sell the home that they so lovingly put together. Dissociative behavior seems to rule her life, she struggles just doing the simple things, and yet she must. The house is barely on the market when she finds a buyer, yet she is still not sure where she will go or where she will live. As she decides to take a vacation to a remote Greek island, a chance to regroup her life and to reconnect with her children, she realizes that her life no longer has meaning. She is no longer sure who she is.

In Ten Good Reasons to Lie About your age, Stephanie Zia has developed a story of life and hope. Sally is a woman who buried herself in her marriage and her children. She lost her footing when her husband died, and struggles through her new life. Interrupted in the most devastating of ways, life has changed and she is unsure of herself. Their friends slowly slip away into their own lives, but she makes friends with a neighbor that she barely tolerated before Dominic’s death. This neighbor gives her a stability she needs.

Being on her own on the island brings a new set of problems, but as each day moves into the next and as she makes her rental habitable she finds a beauty she did not expect. Even those she was most awkward with have become her friends. When she meets Loro, all bets are off. Handsome, close to her own age he has the voice and the charisma to carry it off. Life takes on more meaning as Sally’s life takes another turn.

Stephanie Zia makes you feel the pressure and hopelessness that is Sally’s life, from the funeral right through her grieving process. As life begins to bloom again, you feel the veil lifted along with her, and when she finally makes decisions based off her own feelings, you cheer her on. Through it all, she feels as though Dom (her dead husband) continues to try to take care of her from the other side. As love and longing bloom, she finds she no longer needs that crutch and is able to get back to real living.

I would recommend this book for reading and book clubs. It is insightful and delightful, full of thoughtful dialogue and exceptional clarity. Sally feels real, like a neighbor or a friend and that makes the story take on a presence of its own. It is a story of hope and learning to love yourself, to find that inner you that sometimes is lost when we make other’s lives more important than our own. This is a book about life and it is a romance as well, you will get lost in the story and not want to put it down until it is finished.

Rating 4/5
Ten Good Reasons to Lie About Your Age

This book was received as a free e-book from the author. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.

Sink or Swim by Stacy Juba

Taking a page out of the popular reality series, Sink or Swim is a fun and sometime unnerving novel about the stalking of celebrities, and even pseudo celebrities including reality stars. Often, just being in the public eye for a moment can cause a tailspin. That is the case of Cassidy Novak, the contestant and second place winner of the game show Sink or Swim.


Mortified and unaware of the amount of people she has affected, she leaves the show in the most undignified of ways, by walking the plank. Knowing she will have to go back to a job she does not care for, she is surprised when a publicity agent wants to sign her up. As she drifts back into her usual routine, she finds that her life is anything but usual. Creepy and unusual people begin to follow her. One young girl wants to be her, to remake herself in Cassidy’s image. However, even worse is the stalker that leaves her gifts and steals personal items from her parent’s home.

More than unnerved she brings in the police and shares her horror. As the notes and gifts continue to show up, the stalker is getting closer and closer. The real terror begins when the winner of Sink or Swim is found murdered. Cassidy fears that her stalker could have the same designs on her. When another member of the popular cast of contestants to Sink or Swim is murdered, Cassidy no longer knows what to do. Initially she hides out with her parent’s friends, but decides she will not be driven away. Will she come home only to be the next body on the list?

Stacy Juba has put together a story about the reality game shows that are popular currently. She takes the celebrity status of the cast and creates a real life murder and mystery. The characters are well written and priceless. You either love them or hate them, as is the way of reality TV. Trying to figure out in this cast of characters who is the most sinister is thrown off balance, when the one most odd is the first one murdered. Throw in a red herring or two with the wacky personalities now following her after the show, and twist in another few people that are new to her and yet she feels compelled to trust.

You get a mix for a possible disaster where not everything is what it seems. The surface of those you think you know is often a façade. This is a great whodunit mystery with a thread of romance throughout. Be careful what you wish for, it may not be what you expect when you are gifted just that.

This is a wonderful and fast-paced, with a cast of characters that could rival Survivor or the Amazing Race. The contestants could not be more real. The romance is just right and tagged as an aside to the actual story with is about the dangers of celebrity. A satisfying read.

Rating 4/5
Sink or Swim

This book was recieved as a free download from the author. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.

Elijah's Coin by Steve O'Brien

Article first published as Book Review: Elijah's Coin by Steve O'Brien on Blogcritics.

Every day we make choices. Sometimes they are good choices and take us forward, but often they are not. There are times that if we only knew what would happen in regards to a particular decision, we might have made a different choice.

Thomas Wagner made a conscious choice to steal. He decided to break into an old time retail house, just to see if he could. He had grown up without his mother, murdered when he was a child; a day never went by that he did not miss her. One day he would find out the story on her murder and he would find the man responsible, but that would be some time in the future, and could not stand in his way now. This was his choice and he would see it through.

Once in the building he hears something, someone else is there. Who could it be, was it possible there was a security guard. Thomas continues to try to stay hidden, hoping only to reach the door without incident, but he is found. The odd thing was that the man who found him was dressed as a rent-a-cop but did not appear to want to take him in. After talking with Thomas for a time, he told him that he was there to help him learn a lesson. He introduced himself as Elijah King.

Before he knew it, Elijah had him agreeing to the lesson. Thomas was spellbound by the message he was hearing and by the people that Elijah had helped. Elijah handed him a special coin after his second lesson, letting him know that he would meet the following night. Showing for the lesson, Elijah was not there and when Thomas panicked thinking something may have happened to him, he found himself on the wrong side of the law. This time the officers called the owner of the building and found out there had never been a night watchman, and no one knew a man named Elijah King. Thomas was extremely worried.

This is a wonderful story, a form of pay it forward.In Elijah's Coin, Steve O'Brien has sent a message of hope and love. It is fun and well told, an extremely fast-paced story, filled with possibilities. Engaged by the story from the beginning I found the characters, especially Elijah King to be very charismatic. Each of the personalities that Thomas met as he searched for Elijah became a part of his learning process, but a part of his inner circle as well. Each member of this group received a coin, a special coin, making them all a part of Elijah's inner circle as well.

I would recommend this book for any one that is looking to learn about hope. Written with thoughtful prose and wit, it would make a wonderful book for a reading group or book club.

Rating 5/5
Elizah's Coin

This book was recieved from the Cadence Group. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.

Twenty-Five Years Ago Today by Stacy Juba

Taking a job she has no experience with, Kris Langley is glad to be home. Editorial assistant at a newspaper was not her original plan. However, due to an opening and her preference for the four-midnight shifts, she was hired on the spot. Her mother is embarrassed at her chosen career, being a Doctor she finds Kris’s new job writing obituaries and finding fluff articles for the paper a step down. Never close, Kris is further ostracized away by her cold behavior. Her father though is as proud as punch, he has always been behind her choices, and lending her an ear whenever possible.


On a twenty-five years ago feature Kris comes across an unsolved murder case. Asking questions and finding no real answers, Kris researches further. As she learns more about the murder, she oversteps the scope of her job by contacting the murdered woman’s family. Finding a family still reeling from the pain of the loss even after twenty-five years, she agrees to look further.

Kris’s cousin Nicole had been murdered when she was twelve years old, and Kris blamed herself, having been the last person to see her. She understands the pain involved with this unsolved case.

As Kris starts to ask questions and unravel some of the clues it is not long before she is on the trail of a killer. As the clues begin to build Eric Soares, the nephew of the murdered woman feels as though Kris is taking advantage of the family. As they meet and discuss the issue, he finds himself more drawn in, helping in whatever way he can to help. Kris also has the help of Dex Wagner, Editor in Chief and when she runs into problems, she asks for his help. When the paper discovers what they are up to, Dex is asked to resign and Kris loses her job. Who will follow up and find the killer? How will Kris resolve both her feeling on the murder and her issues at home?

In Twenty –Five Years Ago Today, Stacy Juba has put together a story rich with life and pain. Kris is a damaged young woman still on the verge of self-discovery. She has carried a secret since the murder of her cousin when they were young girls and has been unable to forgive herself. Her family situation has been tenuous at best, and she has never been able to live up to her mother’s expectations. Her sister is everything her mother envisioned, so Kris relies on her father. The family is fractured and with the lack of communication, it appears it will remain that way. Kris feels that if she can find the murderer then she can relieve some of her perceived guilt from her cousin’s death.

Kris’s Mother is a strong woman and is not sure how to react to Kris. They are nothing alike and she is aware that something is eating at her, but can find no way to alleviate that pain. This pain has become a type of contention between them only further escalated by the comfort her mother feels around her sister. Kris feels left out.

This is a story of murder, but also the story of hope. Well written, the drama and the story flow is excellent. I love a good whodunit, and this story does not disappoint. The characters are wonderful, people you would meet anywhere. Kris is bold and intuitive, and yet she still has a vulnerability that draws you in. And what good is a great mystery without a love story. This book has it all.

Rating 4/5

This book was received as a free e-book from the author. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.