Denna Holm

Five out of five stars

INTENSE!  I could probably leave my review at this one word and that would say it all.  What a nerve wracking read.  At first I thought there were going to be too
many point of view characters for me to get involved emotionally, but they all
tied back to each other perfectly.  I had no problem keeping track of who was who and how they related back to each of the other characters.  By the last
three-quarters of the book I had the phones turned off and the Do Not Disturb
sign hung on the door.  I had to know what was going to happen and I didn’t want any interruptions.  Marita Hansen did not disappoint.  I can’t wait to read the sequel.

Tama is a tough guy gang leader who causes problems wherever he goes.  He starts things off by stabbing Maia, a 14-year-old girl, while trying to rape her and then has the nerve to try to push the blame for it off on her.  Tama has a habit of pushing the blame for all his problems onto anyone but himself.  Maia’s
older brother Nike and Tama are long time enemies and Nike is determined to
make Tama pay for what he did to his little sister.  But Tama has eyes for Nike’s wife next and no one is safe who tries to get in his path.

This novel is brutal in its honesty, giving a true-to-life picture of gang life and the destruction that goes along with it.  If you’re at all squeamish, this is probably
not the book for you.  Lives are destroyed, whole families destroyed, in a matter of seconds because of selfish desires.  I’ll read just about anything I can get my hands on and it had me cringing in a few places—-praying in others.  I got attached to these characters in the short time it took me to read it and it hurt me when they got hurt.  At the same time I’m being repulsed by what’s taking place, I’m also getting pulled in.  It takes real talent to pull off a story like this.  I can’t wait to read the next one by Marita Hansen.  This story may take place in New Zealand, but the same story could be told in any gang territory in the States.  Definitely earned the five stars I’m going to give Behind the Hood.

Three out of five stars.

I liked a lot of what I read here, especially in the first half, but it didn’t come across as complete.  The beginning is rushed.  I felt like much more could have been done to give a clearer picture for the setting.  Joe and Lydia are being held captive by sadistic vampires who use them for entertainment purposes for their friends.  I never got a clear picture in my mind of the room they were being held in, nor for that matter a detailed view of the arena they were forced to perform in.  Part of me pictured a regular jail cell for their holding area, but then it had a bed, bathroom, supplies, alcohol, etc. that just didn’t seem to fit.  The sex scenes were good, but I felt like all the real writing was put only into them and nothing much left over for the rest of the story.  As another writer, I understand it can feel a little more like work trying to present the less exciting scenes in full 3D color, but it’s necessary if you want the novel to read balanced.

Joe and Lydia know nothing about each other when they are thrown into a cell together, and though it was understandable Lydia didn’t have any answers because she suffered from amnesia, why didn’t she have more questions of Joe?  If I were to put myself into her situation, I would have demanded more answers from him.  Maybe he wouldn’t answer, but I’d at least try.  Why did she have amnesia in the first place?  Did he know who she was before they were first brought together in the ring? They exercised together, performed sex games in front of the vampires together, made friends with the young girl Mary, who ends up killed, but day to day stuff, like baths, visitors, clean clothes, details I’d be at least a little worried about were more or less passed over.  Some good scenes when they took Lydia away from Joe, combination of torture and rewards that had me cringing.    I would have liked more on how Joe was made into a vampire, and why.  This was passed over.

Once they made their escape the novel really started to drag.  At this point the sex felt like it was forced, just more or less thrown in to keep sex in the novel.  There was little to no excitement, no sexual tension.  I liked finding out Lydia’s dad made a living by executing vampires.  This came across as a surprise and I felt like more time could have been spent here.  The whole part where Joe sends Lydia away felt rushed, confusing.  Then it’s rushed again when they get back together and are handed an assignment that puts them right where they need to be to get even with the vampires who tortured them.  I was somewhat disappointed Joe was so easy to fool when on an assignment.  Sex shouldn’t be that much of distraction for a professional killer, at least I wouldn’t think so.  So at the end, Cyrus, the vampire who made their life a living hell, manages to stay free and I believe it’s so a sequel can be written at some point.

Even with the missing detail in the first half of the novel, I still found myself glued to the page, wanting to find out what would happen next.  The second half was more or less a complete struggle for me to read.  Sex was uninteresting, and the story flat.  I feel that if a little more work had gone into the smaller details, this would have been a real page-turner from the first to last page.  Since the second half didn’t have the excitement of sex to keep it going, more needed to be built up in tracking the vampires who made their lives so miserable.  Their planned revenge could have been written better, more imagination brought into play.  If there is a sequel, I’ll have to give some thought on whether or not I’ll read it.

Four out of five stars.

Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll.  As a former pot-smoking wild child here, I can totally relate to almost everything that happened in Three Steps to Heaven by Pam Howes.  I well remember the days of screaming, dancing, and, well, other things 🙂 while on the road chasing my favorite bands.  Part of me really misses
the old times.  Strangely enough, this is the second novel I’ve read in the past few months that brought back memories, good and bad alike.  I didn’t mind at all
the journey back in time and wish to thank the author for arranging this
amazing trip.

I think Pam Howes caught the essence of this time period, the flavor of the era, so to speak.  It begins in the early sixties and 18-year-old Eddie Mellor is the drummer for a band called The Raiders.  They are just on the verge of breaking into the big time and Eddie is in love with Jane Wilson.  They are making plans to get married when he finds out Angie Turner, an ex girlfriend, is pregnant.  In those days getting pregnant was a big deal and Eddie tries to do the right thing by giving up Jane and marrying Angie.  But in order to become a responsible adult with a wife and child to support, he also has to give up on all his dreams to become a famous rock star.  Heartbroken, Jane ends up engaged to someone she doesn’t love, a man who wants to control her every move and doesn’t care how devious he has to be to do it.

When Eddie learns Jane has broken off her engagement, the pair meet secretly behind Angie’s back.  They find their love has not diminished in the years they have been separated.  On top of this, Roy, the lead singer for The Raiders wants Eddie to re-join the group.   Eddie and Jane end up getting married, but
their happy life is threatened when their new daughter is kidnapped.

Though anyone who heralds from the sixties and seventies is bound to connect with this story, I believe even those who are younger will also find themselves getting lost in the pages.  Bands may change over the years, but the magic riding behind them never will.  The author paints a realistic picture of love and betrayal that holds as true today as it did in times gone by.   I loved the journey and invite you to step onto that well known highway called Rock ‘N Roll and enjoy the ride.   You won’t regret it.  The bargain price of only .99 cents for your Kindle copy makes this an impossible read to turn down.

Five out of five stars

The novel “Exiled” caught and held my attention right from the very first page.  I had only meant to open it up and take a quick peek because I’m behind on my list of reads, but found I couldn’t put it back down.  All the creatures I love to
read about were here, vampires, shifters, witches etc. and a new one, hunters.  Chase is a young hunter whose father works for the Circle, a group of upernatural types keeping the demon population under control on our world.
Most hunters are gifted with a power, one of the elements, and young
Chase is anxious to learn what his will be.  His father carries the element of fire and is greatly feared by the demon population.  His mother carries
water.  But when Chase goes through the ceremony meant to bring his element to the forefront, nothing happens.  His father is furious and sends him and his
mother away, accusing her of adultery.

After three years on their own Chase meets up with a young half demon girl who is being taught by an ex-hunter named Marcus.  They become friends and Chase learns his father is not who he always thought the powerful man to be.  He wants
to open up a doorway that would allow pureblood demons into the human
realm.  At the time only half breeds, weaker creatures, existed.  Now he and
Rayna must find a way to stop him and not get themselves killed in the process.  Rayna and Marcus can feel there is power inside Chase, but will it reveal itself in time to save them?

This novel is nonstop action all the way, almost too much.
I felt like I needed a place to catch my breath.  Most of the characters are all well rounded and three dimensional, the plot exciting, leaving the reader on the edge of their seat right up to the end.  Vincent, the vampire, was perhaps the only one I questioned.  His character changed, scary and intimidating at the start and then turning into a bit of a wimp by the end.  I’m not sure I cared for this, but perhaps in the next novel it will be explained.  I ran into several typos along the way, but they weren’t enough to take away from my pleasure while reading.  Just a momentary blip and off we go. Personally, I can’t wait to read the next in line by M.R. Merrick.  A real pleasure to read and review and deserving of its five star rating.

Five out of five stars

Rarely do I read a romance novel, or any novel for that matter, and find myself with a big smile on my face the entire time I’m reading it.  What can I say?  I have a soft spot in my heart for hunky guys who adore everything about their better half, even when she does silly things, gets herself into trouble, and irritates the hell out of him.

Jem and Sean have lived their lives together before, and are destined to do so again and again and again.  Only this time around Jem finds herself already married to another man when Sean steps back into her life.  Not only married, but tied down to an abusive controlling monster who is willing to beat her, or worse, to keep Jem under his thumb.  Visions about werewolves and running free as a wolf invade her dreams at night, a prequel to the real thing about to crash down upon her and turn everything she has ever known (in this life) upside down.

I’ll not give much away about the story except to say I enjoyed my time reading about Jem and the journey she took, not only to learn about her past lives, but to
learn about who she really was inside, the strength she had been forced to lock
away because of her present living conditions with an abusive husband.  Without great courage some women can never escape it.  A few times I found myself
getting irritated with her apparent willingness to let men control her every move.  In fact, several times I found myself actually talking to the book, telling her to take charge and do what she wanted.  No one reacts like that unless you’re caught up in the story, and I was definitely caught up. 🙂 But I’m happy to say by the end she became the person I wanted her to be right from the start.  She took a bad situation and turned it around, growing from the experience instead of allowing herself to be destroyed by it.

The only down side I found is probably only one of my own pet peeves when it comes to writing and not an issue that will bother anyone else.  I found the over use of names in dialogue slightly irritating.  I felt it made the text read repetitious and probably wasn’t necessary in a good many places.  But if this is the worst I could come up with, then I think it has to say a lot for both the writer J.A. Belfield, and her story.  Well worth the price I paid for my Kindle copy.  It’s a story I’ll likely read again several years down the road and enjoy it as much, or more, than I did the first time around.

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