Thursday, June 11, 2015

Review copy provided via Reading Ally in exchange for an honest review

Unconquerable Callie

Summary:

Sometimes a lie can lead to love. Callie Collins, a proud woman in the late 1800's, is a liar and a darn good one, a master of the dubious art. She is also a dreamer. Her greatest hope is to reach a new life in South Pass City Wyoming, where she can open a bakery and live an independent life. To be successful, she will need her greatest gifts of deception to date. As a woman alone, she has to prove to Seth McCallister, the wagon master, that she has the wherewithal (a wagon and a set of oxen), the stamina to survive months of drought, dust, hardships,even risk of death, and a mythical fiance who waits at the end of the line. McCallister is uneasy, but also mystified by teh audacity and determination of the young woman. He allows her to join the train west. What he doesn't realize is there is no fiance. To make maters worse, Callie is in love with Seth McCallister, too.  For the first time, the lies that have brought her so far in life threaten to keep her from her one, true love.  McCallister is a man of strong character and Callie feels certain that once he realizes her deception, he'll turn away, ashamed of his love and trust in her.

Review: 

First off, I've got to say I hate liars and don't normally read books if the summer has anything in it about liars, but something drew me to go ahead and read this story and wow....  I became Callie Collins, it's been a long time since I became the main character in a story, most times it's like I watching a live show. her motives for lying are self-serving, but also understandable for the time frame in which this story takes place.  Women just weren't taken seriously and very few made a name for themselves on the frontier.

I just loved this book, you come to love each character and root for them as the journey west continued. If you know anything about history of this time period, you know each wagon train had many obstacles, which they had to concur to survive the journey west. It gave a real clear picture and a pretty accurate on this journey west.

I don't recall any grammatical or punctuation errors and those are pet peeves of mine and an automatic three star rating; this is one of the very few five stars I've read in a while.

The development of the story plot, and characters was beautifully done as well as complex and complete. The flow was perfection.

Conclusion:

I would recommend this story all all my friends.  This book could and should be read by anyone age sixteen and older, as for the price it's conservatively priced, in fact, I think the author, and publisher could have gone p in price to $4.99, and it still would be a great buy for this full-length navel.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

      Summary:  Taken Away

Jessee Bradford, a respected young veterinarian in Santa Barbara, California, comes home to find his wife Serena and baby daughter Sofia missing. Jessee fears they have been kidnapped or worse. The FBI investigators believe his wife, the only daughter of a wealthy philanthropist who never approved of their marriage, simply abandoned Jessee and took their child with no intention of returning. After months of fruitless searching, Jessee relocates to his grandparents’ home in Iowa, where he takes over his grandpa’s veterinary practice. There he finds the family closeness he’s been missing and falls in love with a female equestrian Laura. When Jessee and Laura attend a gallery opening of an artist named She, the paintings remind Jessee of his wife Serena’s art work. Thus begins Jessee’s search to find She while his future with Laura teeters precariously on the edge until the truth about, She is discovered.

Review:

We first meet Jessee wanting to skip an English class, but in the end goes to class and meets Serena and from the beginning, you can feel the sparks flying between these two. You also sense that Serena isn’t one to settle down. It was very interesting to read a story about a guy instead of how most are written about the woman.

I just loved reading this story and couldn’t put the book down.  The pace, flow, plot, as well as the development of each character was flawless. Each motion is believable, and moving.  If you have a soft heart you’ll want to keep some Kleenex close by. 

This is a great book and I will be recommending it to friends, This book can be read by anyone age sixteen and up.