June #BookReviews! @IlsaReyAuthor #JordanGrey @DarrelSparkman @BeemWeeks

Hi, everyone. I’m here today to share some great books I read in June. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have nothing to do but read for days on end? I would love it!!

MY REVIEW:

I read this book at the same time as my granddaughter so we could talk about it. That was fun! It was like having our own private book club.

In this debut novel, we meet two teens, best friends who could not be more opposite. Isaac is a scientist and a genius. Ana is a creative and loves writing. They are both shunned in school, labeled as nerds, and it’s their senior year. At the beginning of the book, we see Ana’s angst about leaving Isaac to go to college after graduation. Not only is he her best friend, but is her only friend, as she is his.
They understand each other on a level that is mature for their age. I loved getting to know more about them.
Isaac has created a pill that can cause someone to become invisible, and he wants to demonstrate for Ana, by giving the pill to his pet rabbit. In the midst of that, masked men break into Isaac’s lab and kidnap him. He tosses Ana a pill and tells her to swallow it and to keep all of this a secret.
Now Ana is invisible. Only her mother can see her. What happens next is a long string of events as Ana struggles to help find Isaac, while dealing with her own emotions about being invisible and either the possibility of going insane or dying or both.
The characters in this story are fleshed out well, with the story told solely in Ana’s POV. Her reaction to things that happen are appropriate for a teenager. While there is mystery around Isaac’s kidnapping, the bigger theme is the dysfunctional families for both teenagers as well as the community, and the unexpected complexity of a policeman, who Ana has had a crush on for years. Join in for a heck of a ride with this story. How will Ana ever find Isaac again, and what will she do about Isaac’s revealing note? I found the story to be entertaining, but the twist at the end shocked me. You won’t be able to guess it.

MY REVIEW:

Elena has known nothing but instability all her life. Passed around through the foster care system, she learned not to count on staying anywhere. Now, she’s an adult and has a highly respected job of restoring ancient art pieces. And, she’s good at it. She’s never had a boyfriend, never really had any friends until now. Her neighbor is the friend that talks her into getting out and socializing. So, since one of her restored pieces is on display at an art gallery, she reluctantly goes.

That changes the course of the rest of her life. When handsome and charming Theodore notices her and says all the right things to earn her trust, she’s convinced she’s finally going to fit in somewhere. Theodore Ashford comes from a long line of wealthy and highly respected people. Elena is taken in by the promise of a better life, a place to finally put down roots and stay. But things are not as they seem.

Part of the marriage contract is that she must agree to live at the Ashford estate with Theodore and his mother for three months before they can marry. It doesn’t take her long to notice things out of place, out of context and certainly out of the normal realm. How it all unfolds is both horrifying and uplifting, if that’s even possible. Thirty-six women have entered the Ashford estate over a century, but none left. Now, Elena is number thirty-seven. Her fate is sealed.
Or is it? This is both a psychological thriller, mystery and gothic romance all rolled into one. If you love imagining the impossible and digging deep into the human psyche, you will enjoy this story. The romance was a big surprise, as were other reveals along the way. This is my first time reading anything by this author and I enjoyed the book!

MY REVIEW:

While this book is part of a series, I had no trouble diving into the story. Marshal Coble Bray has reluctantly taken the job of defending the town of Lamar, Missouri in 1882. He’s also a US Marshal and would much rather be out chasing bad guys than stuck in town.

The story opens with a boy calling him out in a gun fight. Coble wounds him – hitting him in the shoulder. The boy will recover, but the townspeople are now up in arms, saying he took down a boy. Someone paid the boy handsomely to kill Coble, but who and why? Before he can find answers, the boy is found murdered in the clinic.

As the plot unfolds, Coble finds he has more enemies than friends, and now the woman he loves has turned her back on him, too. Things don’t look good for Coble.
I won’t leave a spoiler here, but there are more unexplained murders, another woman with her sights set on Coble and lots of bad guys with enough money to get away with whatever they want. That is until Coble figures it out. There is a bit of romance that trickles into the story along with the quest to right the wrongs.
If you are a fan of westerns, you will no doubt enjoy this story. As I said, it is part of a series, but this is the first book I read and wasn’t lost.

MY REVIEW:

I’ve waited a long time for a new book from this author and grabbed it as soon as it came out. This is a coming-of-age story, but so much more.
Violet Marie Glass is a precocious and curious fifteen-year-old girl living on an ancestral cotton farm in Alabama in 1910. She’s been a collector of other people’s secrets since she can remember. And now, there are some she wishes she didn’t know. Sometimes the weight of knowing is heavier than her young shoulders can carry, especially when it involves her family.

The southern dialect and historical accuracy of the time period are absolutely spot on, and to me, as a reader, that is super important.

In 1910, most young women were already married and raising families by the age of fifteen. But not Violet. She wants more. So when a woman comes to their small community to speak about the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Violet is intrigued. Why should men make all the decisions for the country? She asks herself that question as she joins the movement. But there is resistance at every turn. She even has to spend a night in jail. But she doesn’t give up.

As she explores the world around her, she also explores her own changing body that includes escapades with other girls as well as boys. Some of the scenes were a bit difficult to read considering her age, but again, the time period comes into play. If you enjoy a gripping novel set in a time period when many things were changing in America, you will enjoy this story. Mr. Weeks is a great storyteller and this book is another fine example of his work. I highly recommend it, but be warned there can be some triggers with the sexual aspect of it. This book easily compares with Erskine Caldwell’s work.

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Thank you for visiting. I hope you found something that grabs you!