Mini Review: Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham

Jennifer Latham. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2015. Ebook.

Rating: Worthy

Goodreads Summary: Meet Scarlett, a smart, sarcastic, kick-butt, Muslim American heroine, ready to take on crime in her hometown of Las Almas. When a new case finds the private eye caught up in a centuries-old battle of evil genies and ancient curses, Scarlett discovers that her own family secrets may have more to do with the situation than she thinks -- and that cracking the case could lead to solving her father's murder.

Scarlett Undercover was my first read featuring a Muslim American protagonist. Not knowing much, rather anything, about Islam, I thought the author did a good job writing about it. Latham neither slams nor pushes it. It is merely a part of who Scarlett is and her world. The book started off slow, but picked up around thirty-five percent. Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of the Solomon Knot or the myth surrounding King Solomon. I enjoyed the myth and must do more research on it. I didn't like Scarlett, but neither did I dislike her. She was a tolerable protagonist. I liked her spunk, but she crossed the line toward disrespectful often; plus the "gum shoe detective" lingo got old fast. Scarlett's and Decker's romance was sweet and cute. Closing with them was a nice way to end the novel.

**Complimentary e-galley provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.        

Review: Compulsion (Heirs of Watson Island #1) by Martina Boone

Martina Boone. New York: Simon Pulse, 2014. Ebook.
Rating: Decent

Goodreads Summary: Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson had been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead--a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family's twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

Review: Running Barefoot by Amy Harmon

Amy Harmon. CreateSpace, 2012. Ebook.
Rating: OMG

Good writing is said to be fluid, melodious, and uses figurative language and other literary devices correctly without beating the life out of a work. Then there's good writing that moves you and swallows you up. Running Barefoot is not a book that you devour in one sitting, but one that you savor and slowly digest its beauty, page by page. It's a story that softly caresses you, gently rocks you, tickles you from head to toe, while plying butterfly kisses along the column of your neck; pulling out of you everything you have to give and more.

Review: '89 Walls by Kate Pierson

Kate Pierson. Minneapolis: Wise Ink, 2015. pp. 264.
Rating: Decent + 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Goodreads Summary: College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity. 

Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite.

Review: Rush (The Game #1) by Eve Silver

Eve Silver. New York: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins, 2013. Ebook.
Rating: Worthy + 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Gaming: Is it innocent fun or possible death?

Miki is one of many teenagers snatched unwillingly and drafted unknowingly into a war against the Drau. In a burst of light, these monstrous metallic-eyed beasts attack. With one look into their eyes, the extraterritorial beings kill...draining all life out of the body. Lacking a reset, revive, or multi-lives button, the outcome is detrimental to survival. For the actions in the game aren't sequestered in that realm alone,but transcends to the parallel dimension as well. Receiving a skimpy instruction crash course, Miki must play, ready or not.   

Review: Crush. Candy. Corpse. by Sylvia Mcnicoll

Sylvia Mcnicoll. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 2012. Ebook.
Rating: Decent + 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Six years ago, I encountered a frail-looking woman that resembled my grandmother. That cannot be her. That cannot be my fussy, sassy, grandma Jurnise Truitt. I just saw her a few months ago and she was exactly the way I've always known her to be--nosy, cooking, and strong. That day marked the beginning of my denial. My disbelief that my able-bodied grandmother's brain was becoming fogged, scrambled...hers but no longer her own to control. Progressively losing her short-term memory, she forgot to eat triggering faint spells and rapid weight loss. As the Dementia onslaught continued, my grandmother's disposition changed. She became hard to manage and wandered about her apartment at night, not much unlike the residents Sunny encounters at Paradise Manor. My family is blessed that my grandmother still recognizes her children, can feed herself, possesses her lively personality, and walk with supervision. Yet, waving goodbye to my grandma at the nursing home instead of her 2- bedroom domain, my home away from home, breaks my heart a little more each time.