Nobody's Goddess by Amy McNulty

Nobody's Goddess (The Never Veil) is the first book in a series about a small town in which women hold all the power over the fate of men. Boys and men cannot show their faces and must wear wooden masks around women. If a woman sees his face before he has found his Goddess, he will disappear as if he never existed. While young and masked, these boys will discover their one Goddess and must prove themselves worthy of love by the time she is a true woman.

Young men lose their free will when they find their goddess.

The interesting piece of this story is how the magic works. There is a castle in the town which no  woman can look at without causing an earthquake. There is so much mystery surrounding The Lord in the castle. A few rumors about him being immortal, and yet many don't truly believe that. Immortality is too hard for them to grasp but they believe in a magic they can't truly prove. If they look at an unmasked male he disappears, no one but his intended woman will remember him. It has happened of course, but to the townsfolk, that woman is considered a crazy old crone who never found a man. No one believes her story. And yet, they are careful to follow the ways of masks and the "Returnings".

Noll will be Nobody's Goddess.

The quite beautiful Noll is unique in her town. She doesn't like the loss of free will her friends face when they grow up to be men. When they find their Goddess, they don't remember her friendship at all. When their woman/Goddess asks or tells them to do something, they are compelled to do so. Noll can't accept this existence. She doesn't want to be part of the cycle and yet she finds herself forced into it when someone finds The Goddess within her to love. She doesn't want to love her man, yet feels guilt because only she will ever be able to love him. She'd feel terribly for cursing him to a masked life or to a lonely misery in the commune.

Surprising to the reader, her man isn't keen on losing his free will either. He finds that he is the only male to feel this defiance whereas all other men are delighted to help and serve their Goddess. All other men feel no urge to resist or fight against their Goddess like her man does. What does this mean for them? I assumed that one of them would tire and "give-in" so to speak, but it is not so simple. Amy McNulty provides several surprises to the story. Some of them were such a shock I was almost as offended as Noll herself.

I couldn't resist giving Nobody's Goddess five stars because it held my interest, it provided unexpected challenges with surprising results, and I find myself very eager to see what is yet to come in the next book. I bought volume 2 just before writing this review, and I'm sure I'll be done before this review goes live. ;)

The Girl Who Came Back by Kerry Wilkinson

A six-year-old girl is taken from her family's garden in a very small town. She comes back as an adult years later in an attempt to reunite with her family. Naturally this is the dream of any parent who's child has gone missing. After so many years the hope for their return still exists, but as the author points out in her book, the hope becomes unrealistic. The Girl Who Came Back is a telling of a child who survives a rough childhood without her biological parents until she is an adult and can find them on her own.

In chapter one, Kerry Wilkson throws you into the monumental moment of mom and daughter being reunited. We don't know any of the circumstances of Olivia Adams' disappearance. I admit that I would have liked more from this moment. Placing myself in Sarah's position, I imagine I would react much more intensley to the return of my missing child. Mom to mom, I related to Sarah. It took her just a moment to realize she was looking at her own daughter. In an instant, she knew her daughter had returned. Things only get more interesting as the story progresses from here.

Everyone knows everything in a small town.

Olivia's disappearance made her an unfortunate icon of her tiny town. A memorial was placed in a tree at the school, kids were warned that if they weren't careful that they could end up like Olivia. Even children born after her kidnapping "knew" who she was. So of course the question now is, what happened?

I was suspicious of Olivia because after telling her story to her mother, she doesn't tell it again. When questioned by the police Olivia prefers to keep silent about her story. She isn't a criminal and can't be forced to tell, yet that begs the question, why keep it a secret? She develops a relationship with her mother despite not wanting to pursue criminal charges against those who kidnapped her; however, it is much more troubling with her step-dad.

Step-dad and his brother are suspicious of who she is and why she has returned. They don't have a motherly connection to Olivia so they are not so keen to welcome her into the family. This causes reader suspicion around Olivia and definitely around the brother who is overly aggressive towards her.

I admit, I thought I had it all figured out by Chapter Two.

Call me a know-it-all, but I've read so many books that I tend to find themes and hints that point to the end before it happens. I was wrong this time. CLOSE, but still wrong. This is a book that kept me up till 1:00 am "turning" the pages (kindle). That is quite a feat because I value my sleep. If you are looking for a gripping story with more than one jaw-dropping surprise, read The Girl Who Came Back.

Twisted Truths by Rebecca Zanetti

Look at this surprise I got in the mail! 

I am so excited to continue the Blood Brothers series by Rebecca Zanetti! 

Thank you Rebecca and team for selecting me as an early recipient!

BTW, I suggest you join her Facebook Group for updates. ;)

Storm Gathering by Rebecca Zanetti

Well hello there Mr. Storm …

Let me start by saying that I love the name Greyson Storm. I also enjoyed his lover’s name, Maureen Shadow. Rebecca Zanetti names her characters well. I’m not joking when I say that a “bad” name can be distracting to a story. I’ve read a book where a woman was named Sissy and it drove me nuts every time I read the name. Maybe I’m an odd one.

Storm Gathering continues the storyline of The Scorpius Syndrome. If you’ve read the prior stories, you’re familiar with the post-apocalypse world. To sum up, one person went psycho after contracting Scorpius and purposefully spread it to others as quickly as he could. Thus, wiping out 90% (or so) of the population. There is not many people left, food is running out, there is no longer running electricity, and the president is a psychopath.

Friendly reminder, I’m never disappointed by Rebecca Zanetti’s books.

Greyson Storm leads “The Mercenaries” in Santa Barbara. His territory was once a wealthy neighborhood with ocean views. He kidnaps Maureen Shadow as his hostage to extort her brother Raze, a member of “The Vanguard” in LA. This is all laid out in book 2 (Mercury Striking). In Storm Gathering, we rewind in time to learn just how the kidnapping occurred and what kind of relationship was built while Maureen was kept in Merc territory. It’s not Stockholm Syndrome I promise. Zanetti was smart to zip back for a little while in the beginning of this book because it is imperative to their storytelling. Without learning the details of their interactions it would be hard to accept a relationship that originated from a kidnapping and extortion plot.

In Storm Gathering, Greyson has to choose a side with whom to align his people. Clearly if he becomes an ally of the crazy President he will lose Maureen. He could align with Vanguard (if Raze could bury his grudge with Greyson) but it isn’t the best option from a war-zone/tactical standpoint. Naturally, Greyson would normally make the logical choice without emotions; however, he’s in love now. Emotions have muddied his thinking and he finds himself forced to make some quick decisions in the heat of the moment that can either save or damn them all.

The Accident by S.D. Monaghan

The Accident by S.D. Monaghan had the perfect setup to be a fast-paced thriller. Unfortunately, it was not thrilling until about 75% into the story line. We meet the main characters moments before “The Accident” occurs. After catching his wife Tara having an affair with their contractor in their newly built home, David engages Ryan in a fight. It is a brief fight before Ryan falls out of the window. Dave doesn’t exactly regret hitting Ryan, but he didn’t want to kill him. What follows is Dave’s struggle between doing what is morally right versus what instincts tell him to do, protect his family from the damage of murder.

The book shifts between the perspectives of Dave and Tara and I found that helpful. I needed to understand the motivations inside of Tara’s head. Considering that in the first chapter we learn she’s ten years younger than Dave and is cheating on him in their brand new custom home, I can’t say I thought much of her. Ya, I judged her. Sorry, not sorry. Getting inside her head allowed me to understand her reasoning even if it was thin and flimsy. Dave is not such a bad character, but Tara had no redeeming qualities for me. She cheated on her husband, and later under serious stress makes some poor choices, while pregnant. I realize it’s a fictional story but that really ground my gears.

Don’t underestimate the power of dialogue.

The story didn’t have enough dialogue between characters to keep me entertained. The story didn’t get exciting until about the 45% mark, and part of what helped at that point was a slight increase in the amount of character interaction. The beginning of the story shifts between what happened, and the history of how Dave and Tara got together. This method usually works well in books but in this case it irritated me. I felt that it fell flat because the characters were musing on inside their own heads for much too long. It carried on and on and it made me put the book down for a few days.

This story missed the mark just a little bit. A little more interaction between characters would have helped keep things interesting. The intense character interactions didn’t really occur until about 70% and it was just a little too late by then.