Erin Richards

I had requested a download from the author through the OTOH Books website, and the following is my honest opinion.

Each one of us are supposed to have a singe mother and father. But what would you do if your father dies in a boat fire? Wouldn’t and your mother have to continue living without him? Since you probably have no idea, why not step into the shoes of the protagonist in this book, Ivy Lynwood.

This might sound horrific for Ivy, but in reality, it had been a blessing in disguise for he had been an oppressive and abusive father. But then, a revelation was made. The woman who had died with him in the boat fire had also been his wife and that they had children of their own.

Hearing this news had been bad enough for Ivy as it began a downward spiral for her. Add in Child Services asking her mother to foster her husband’s other children, and her mother retreating into a drug induced fanciful dreamland, leaves a lot for his teenager to handle on her own. She now has two new siblings for whom she’s now responsible for; a new sister who’s a goth and who unfortunately is maliciously intimidating towards her, and a new half-brother with whom she’s finding her first love in and kisses him.

Being young, Ivy is still quite naïve regarding all of this to be able to adequately manage something this challenging. Will the fortitude Ivy possesses at her young age to sufficient enough for her to have a whole family again? And what about her relationship with her half-brother Jesse, where is it going to go?

The diametrically opposed situations in the storyline, the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, gives credence for the reason the author has chosen Bittersweet Wreckage for this book.

For having given her readers a well-written story which begs to have more, I’ve given Ms. Richards 5 STARS for her endeavor here.… (mehr)

**This book was reviewed for Xpresso Book Tours**

Richards’ Dragonfly Nightmare is a thrilling young adult coming of age story. Four years ago Allie Bailey was kidnapped by a former employee of her father's and held hostage. For the last four years, Allie’s parents have been overly protective of her, refusing to allow her away from home overnight. Finally, this summer, Allie is being allowed to attend summer camp with her best friend Laurel, with the stipulation that both Laurel and her brother Logan keep a close eye on her.

However, things at the camp appear sketchy from the start. The usual camp leader, Mrs A, isn't there this year. Instead, her nephew and niece are running the whole show. Supposedly Mrs A broke her leg and is in her cabin, but not up to running things. As the first day progresses, things seem more and more out of place. The food is not the gourmet fare Logan and Laurel bragged about summer after summer, paid for excursions are cut, and then Allie gets a gift from her past, a gift reminding her forcibly of her kidnapping.

Attempts to see Mrs A or to call home are brushed off. Dante, the new camp leader, loses his temper several times, even going so far as to verbally and physically abuse campers. After a series of terrifying incidents and discoveries, Allie, Laurel, and Logan, along with new friends Nick and Marco, decide to take matters into their own hands in order to keep the younger campers safe. What they learn in the end is far grimmer than they first believed.

I loved this book. I admit, I didn't when I first started, and it was because of the voice. It's written from the perspective of a teen and the voice and phrasing reflects that. It grew on me though. Clearly Allie has gone through a great deal in her life, events that make or break a person. The intervening four years have served as a chrysalis period, and her 'dragonfly nightmare' breaks that shell. The person who emerges is a strong young woman who is fiercely protective and unwilling to give up. Realising her own deficiencies and limitations, Allie seeks to improve herself, such as learning martial arts.

The author chose well in using dragonflies. As a spirit or totem animal, Dragonfly represents transformation, and the ability to flow with life. Dragonfly shows one how to see through deceit. All of these things certainly apply to Allie and the camp! She's still learning that flow part though, as shown with Logan. Both are too stubborn to speak to one another about those events of four years ago, despite burgeoning romantic feelings between the two.

This book is the first in a series, and I'm looking forward to the next one. I would also love to read the story of Allie’s kidnapping.

🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻 Highly recommended… (mehr)

3.5 Stars..

Character wise I really liked the story. The who and why of the kidnapping was weak and to easy to figure out though. This is not to say it wasn’t a good story because the descriptions of the psychic episodes Juliana Westwood would have when she connected with the kidnapper were very well written. I also liked the love story between her and Alex MacKenzie who is both the uncle of the kidnapped little girl along with being a detective and who also happens to be the man that Juliana ran out on 12 years before with no explanation breaking his heart.

Alex never had any problems with Juliana’s gift but to protect himself from heartache again he never put himself out there with another woman after words. So when she suddenly shows up at the police station claiming that a kidnapping of a small child is soon going to occur his biggest issue is his unresolved anger and underlying feelings for Juliana still. When it turns out the little girl that’s kidnapped is his niece he has no problem working with Juliana to try and find her.

Juliana comes from a family of psychics. Her gift didn’t activate (for a better word) until a tragic accident in her youth. She had a premonition about it but got it wrong and her best friend’s boyfriend died. We don’t find out the real reason that Juliana left after the tragic accident until she finally discloses it to Alex and its heartbreaking enough that Alex can no longer harbor any ill feelings about how she left with no word. Due to her family’s history of going insane with this gift Juliana doesn’t think a relationship would ever work.

The author tries to throw some red herrings in to throw us off on the identity of the kidnapper but about 50 percent in she gives what I would call a blatant clue that gives it away too easily. This kind of turned me off of that part of the story at that point but I did enjoy psychic aspects and Alex and Juliana rekindling their romance.
… (mehr)

**Reading Chasing Shadows and Twilight Rising are a must before reading this book** My reason for saying that is those two books give you the tip of the ice berg of the story/plot of which explodes in Stealing Twilight.

Psychic Juliana Westwood had a vision of man dying in a car accident and it turns out to be a prominent lawyer that she had just met with to provide financial management for. Turns out he was part of the Guild who protects those that are in the Psychics Guild a group. The investigation of his death brought her to the lawyers partner, Jake McAllister who is a PI and also works for the Guild. Jake true role is pretty much a mystery in the previous books. At the end of Twilight Rising Lily Falbrooke returns for her father's funeral and we find out she has a connection to Juliana from their pasts. As this book starts off we find out many family secrets have been kept from her that frustrates her along with her missing memory and psychic abilities that she lost the day her mother and brother.

Lily thought she would just be returning to town to deal with her father's affairs along with taking over his law firm not realizing that his death was part of a huge conspiracy to get her back to town for someone wants Twilight and has shown they will go to any lengths to get it.

Lily had quite the mouth on her and so disliked Jake who had been assigned as her body guard by the Guild. After a few scare attempts on her life she decides to really start digging into what's really going on not realizing it opens a huge Pandora box from her past.

Not going to say a lot more as it would give big spoilers but this has been a good paranormal series with this last book having a big finale.… (mehr)