{No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells by Rose Pressey and a Giveaway! }

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells by Rose Pressey

June 4, 2011 by Amazon Digital Services

Source: Publisher provided for review

Format: ebook

From Goodreads:

Elly Blair welcomes the chance to escape her ex-fiance and job from hell when Grandma Imelda, ready to retire to sunny Florida, calls for her to take over her little southern cafe.

Elly has no idea her grandmother has baked up magic for the unsuspecting townsfolk for thirty years - and now Grandma Imelda insists that Elly use her own hitherto unsuspected magical powers to carry on the family tradition.

But Elly's new at this stuff. Her dishes don't turn out as full of smidgens of enchantment and dashes of wishes come true as she'd hoped. When handsome customer Rory Covington takes a bite of the wrong burger, he ends up capturing the attention of every woman in town. Elly doesn't know if her feelings for Rory are true or based on her magic gone awry.

Tom Owenton is an investigator for the National Organization for Magic sent to look into the magical mishap. Unless Elly can reverse the spell, the cafe will be closed permanently. Tom is more than willing to help Elly out of this magical pickle, but she's not sure she should accept his offer.

Elly only has forty-eight hours to find a way to reverse the spell, or she'll lose the cafe and never discover if her feelings for Rory are real.

My Review:

What a fun, fun, fun read this was. I was pleasantly surprised by this one!

Elly Blair is this sweet girl who I immediately fell in love with. She is funny and snarky all while trying to keep her southern charm in check. The town of Mystic Hollow is filled with quirky characters - this is my kind of town! Elly's best friend, Mary Jane, had me laughing throughout. The two of them together are very funny and perfect best friends. They differ in many ways yet blend together so well.

Not only is there one, but two hotties in this one. I honestly don't know who's team I am on more. Rory Covington is the hunky southern farm owner who gets caught up in Elly's magical mess. He is super sweet and full of southern charm. Tom Owenton is the hunky National Organization for Magic Investigator sent to help Elly fix her magic mess up. I think I am leaning towards Tom. I have a soft spot for funny, snarky, slightly cocky and oh so sexy.

Elly's grandmother is awesome. I love her. I just wish she made more of an appearance. Let's just say that grandma Imelda stole the show, when she was around. I want her to adopt me! I really hope that she makes an appearance in the next books.

In the end, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. While this may contain some silliness? We all need something light, refreshing and fun once in awhile and this most certainly delivers. This is a great summer read! I can not wait to see where the next book takes Elly. I really hope we see more of Rory, Tom and Mary Jane as well.

Rating: 4 stars!

And now, onto the giveaway...my very first one! Author Rose Pressey and her PR team have offered up an ecopy of her book, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells. This giveaway will end Sunday August 7 @ 11:59pm MST. All you need to do is leave me a comment on this post with your email and tell me what is your ecopy of choice( Kindle, Epub or pdf). That's it! Simple enough? I would love it if you could spread the word, but it's not necessary. And no, you do not have to be a follower, but I would love it if you were.

Good luck to all!

{ IMM - July 31, 2011 }

I am super excited as this is my first IMM post! I have been watching the weekly posts and decided to finally jump in. I am not too sure if I will do it weekly or not, but I will try.

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. You can find out all the details about this meme HERE. Be sure to stop by and check out who else is participating this week!

First off from the library this week is:

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

I have heard such good things about this book, I thought it was time to give it a read.

Also this week I am happy to share with you two new ebooks I have received from the authors for review. The first is:

Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure by Ciye Cho

This one is not something I would normally read. However, after reading the book blurb and seeing the authors website, I am a little intrigued.

Next up is:

Darwin's Children by Natasha Larry

This is one of those books that I would ordinarily overlook because of the cover. However, the synopsis is definitely something that I think I will enjoy!

What's in your mailbox this week?

{ The Eye of the Crystal Ball by T P Boje }

The Eye of the Crystal Ball by T P Boje

June 23, 2011 by T P Boje

Source: from author for review

Format: Ebook

From Goodreads:

When Sara was newborn her parents left her at the doorstep at Mr. and Mrs. Schneider's house.

When Sara was ten she discovered she was telekinetic. She began to move stuff around when she got angry just by her will alone.

When Sara was twelve her real parents came for her and took her with them to live like the Gypsy that she was - or Romani as they like to call themselves. They told her she was goin to fulfill a prophesy. That is was once said that out of the Romani people the greatest sorceress who had ever lived would be born.

When Sara was thirteen she had a baby brother and when she was fourteen he got very sick with a strange illness.

To save her baby brother Sara sets off on a quest to find his cure - well knowing that it will cost her dearly.

Soon Sara finds herself going through the Singing Cave, crossing Wild Witches Valley, talking to a ten foot giant snail, rescuing the Beads of Souls from the Hell-hounds, escaping a spell in Vamilla, the Forest of Vanity, visiting the King at the City of Lights before she finally reaches the Black Castle where she is told the Eye of the Crystal Ball can tell her how to cure her brother's strange illness.

But nothing is free in this world - and as Sara soon will know - everything has a price.

My Review:

The Eye of the Crystal Ball is an epic fantasy filled with adventure, wonderful creatures and some great life lessons. Aside from a one sentence reference to a rape, at the hands of a snake-wizard, this is a story suited to all fantasy readers ages 10 and up. If you are a lover of fantastical creatures, this book is sure to satisfy. Within the 22 chapters you will meet a werewolf boy, sorceress, witches, a speed talking giant snail, a griffin, a black dragon, a bogwoman, elves, Will-o'-the-wisps, a handfull of creatures turned into various weird creatures at the hands of the evil Sensisaron, pegasis and of course a unicorn.

However, aside from the adventure and characters, The Eye of the Crystal Ball left me feeling very conflicted. To be perfectly honest, this book on a whole is in need of an editing overhaul. I am not a writer or an editor, but when a book is filled with this many spelling/grammatical errors and a few inconsistances within the story? It is just too distracting. I know that the author has had her books translated into various languages for publication, and it is quite possible that that is where the issue stems from. But from a personal stand point, this was too much of a distraction for me.

In the end, editing issues aside, the story at it's core and the characters are definitely a wonderful fantasy for young readers. I just hope that the next book in this series is given the editing overhaul that it deserves.

Rating: 2.5 stars

{ Teaser Tuesday - July 26, 2011 }

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Mizb over at Shouldbereading. Anyone can play along, just do the following:

* Grab your current read

* Open to a random page

* Share two(2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page

* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!! (make sure that what you share does not give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)

* Share the author and title, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teaser!

Here's mine - running a bit late today as I was busy clean the basement, but here I am:

'Sara felt better after talking to her mother, but something inside of her wasn't quite convinced that everything was going to be fine. A feeling, a nagging unrest in her, told her that she was the one with the experience in this field, and it was not a good one.'

pg 90 - The Eye of the Crystal Ball by T P Boje - author provided for review

What's your teaser this week?

{ It's Monday! What are you reading? - July 25, 2011 }

It's Monday! What are you reading is a weekly book meme hosted by Sheila over at BookJourney. This is where participants share what they read last week, what they are currently reading and what's up next. Here's mine for this week:

Read Last week:

The Sleepwalkers by J Gabriel Gates (from Net Galley)

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells by Rose Pressey ( from Publisher)

Currently Reading:

The Eye of the Crystal Ball by T P Boje (from Author)

Up Next: not sure which one will be first but these are the next ones on the list!

Ashes by Ilsa J Bick (from Net Galley)

Misfit by Jon Skovron (from Net Galley)

Eve by Anna Carey (from Net Galley)

Forbidden by Ted Dekker & Tosca Lee (from Net Galley)

What are you reading this week?

{ The Sleepwalkers by J Gabriel Gates }

The Sleepwalkers by J Gabriel Gates

Oct 3, 2011 by HCI Books

Source: Net Galley

Genre: YA Horror/Supernatural

From Goodreads:

Privileged and popular Caleb Mason is celebrating his High School graduation when he receives a mysterious, disturbing letter from his long-lost childhood playmate, Christine. Caleb and his jokester friend Bean decide to travel to his tiny hometown of Hudsonville, Florida, to find her. Upon arrival, they discover the town has taken a horrifying turn for the worse. Caleb's childhood home is abandoned and his father has disappeared. Children are going missing. The old insane asylum has reopened, and Christine is locked inside. Her mother, a witch, is consumed with madness, and Christine's long-dead twin sister whispers clues to Caleb through the static of an A.M radio.

The terrifying prophesies of the spirits are coming to pass. Sixteen clocks are ticking; sixty-six murdered souls will bring about the end of the world. As Caleb peels back layer after layer of mystery, he uncovers a truth more horrible than anything he had imagined, a truth that could only be uttered by the lips of the dead.

My review:

The sleepwalkers is an eerie, creepy tale filled with mystery and some very horrific characters and images. While it was definitely a page turner, I did have some issues with this book. The most predominant being that the beginning read more like a movie script than an actual novel. And, because of this, I really had a hard-time fully connecting with these characters in the beginning. I did feel a change a quarter of the way in though, and really started to get into the story.

Although Caleb was the main character, his best friend Bean really stole the scenes. Bean is this funny, snarky, often crude but deep down great guy. He is full of personality and just fun to read. They really are a great team, but on his own Caleb could have used a little more personality.

The relationship between Caleb and Christine was perfect, however. All to often in YA fiction you have these characters that fall madly in love within the first few pages and it is so unbelievable and quite frankly insulting. This relationship however, is very real and very natural. There could be some argument that the relationship is not believable due to the length of time these two were apart, but I disagree. I for one have had childhood friends who I have been estranged from over the years, who I have reconnected with and it felt as though we had never been apart. These are true connections - the ones that really matter. This is what Caleb and Christine have and I loved that.

I really feel that this book could easily be adapted to film and do very well. It is a very visual book. In the end, although the ending was somewhat predictable and slightly anti-climatic, I would recommend it. If you are looking for a creepy, bone chilling, page turner? You will find it within the pages of The Sleepwalkers. I am interested to see where the author, J Gabriel Gates, goes from here.

Rating: 3 stars

{ I am soooooo excited!! }