mignon mykel { reviews }: review || SEEKER SERIES { seeker + dreamer } by Amy Reece

Friday, July 10, 2015

review || SEEKER SERIES { seeker + dreamer } by Amy Reece

Limitless Publishing | April 20, 2015 | New Adult Paranormal

Seeker, book 1

★★★★1/2

SOURCE: INDIESAGE

Ally Moran has always just known about things—things she shouldn’t really be able to know…

Suddenly when she starts having vivid visions about a former friend who is in desperate trouble, the adults in her life think she might hold the key to an ancient mystery.

Jack Ruiz has a troubled past, but is trying to make a fresh start at a new high school… He just wants to keep his head down and graduate, hopefully before he turns 20. The last thing he needs is to get involved with a feisty redhead and her psychic visions. While Jack valiantly attempts to keep Ally at arm’s length, she is equally determined to be a part of his life. Who will win this battle of wills? More importantly… Can this unlikely couple work together to find answers to Ally’s visions before someone gets killed?

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Limitless Publishing | May 30, 2015 | New Adult Paranormal

Seeker, book 2

★★★★1/2

SOURCE: INDIESAGE

Meet Ally Moran, a 17 year-old who also happens to be psychic. Oh, and she’s getting more psychic with every passing day, so much so that she’s been sent to Ireland to check in with the Seer Council to see what’s up with her freaky new powers. Jack Ruiz is her 19 year-old boyfriend, a former troublemaker who’s back on track and trying desperately to graduate. His plans did not include falling in love with a psychic trouble-magnet. Last month they worked together to save a friend in deep trouble and ended up solving a school-wide mystery. But now there’s a new guy at school, Remy Giles, and he seems just a little bit too interested in Ally for Jack’s liking. And why does Ally keep dreaming about a kidnapping? Last month seems like a cakewalk compared to this semester… Ally's trying to solve a mystery, but Jack is just trying to keep her alive.

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{ about amy reece } .

Amy Reece lives in Albuquerque, NM, with her husband and family. She loves to read and travel and has an unhealthy addiction to dogs. She loves wine and friends, in that order. Stay tuned for the rest of The Seeker Series, coming Summer and Fall 2015.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

{ reviews } .

Seeker

In SEEKER, we are introduced to Ally – a psychic in an ever growing line of them. Typically, around the ages of 16-18, their abilities grow, showing the owner what they will possess. Her mother can find things; her grandmother can sense things.

Ally’s always had feelings about people and things, but one day in English 11, she gets slammed into her first true vision, and it deals with the girl speaking to the front of the class, the girl she was once childhood friends with, the girl who is now holding a deep secret.

It was because of this vision that Ally starts talking to Jack, the mysterious new kid who sits behind her in English. Rumors say he killed someone, that he spent time in jail. Ally never would have spoken to him (he was much too pretty and besides, it wasn’t like he tried talking to her, either) if not for her psychic event.

Jack and Ally start an easy friendship. They go from never saying a word to one another to chattering on and on. It was a rather refreshing friendship – but when Ally started to want more, Jack held back. Eventually, he shares his secrets with her, giving her the option to walk away; but she shares her secrets, too, giving him the option, and they both stand their ground.

I enjoyed these two. Sometimes I have a hard time with the fact that I’m a late-twenty something reading a book about high school-ers that is pretty much intended for that group of readers, too, but all in all, I enjoyed it. I found Ally to be a crier. My goodness gracious, that girl cried a lot. But Jack was a reassuring presence and a good guy who was trying to move away from bad decisions in his past. He was a superb older brother and a really great friend. When Ally and Jack do decide to move on from friends, he doesn’t rush her – he feels that what they have could be great; there was no sense in taking it too far too fast.

My biggest problem though, would be Ally’s “Miley” moment. Do you recall when Miley and Liam were engaged and she was telling everyone that they weren’t like normal teenagers, that they were mature and it was absolutely ok for them to be living together and getting married at such a young age? Yep, Ally pulls a line similar to that. Literally, my note on the line states, “OK, Miley…”

However…

The read was refreshing. It was fast paced – I would look down and see my progress jumped by 10% and I hadn’t even realized it. It was cute and fun and had some twists in there. Parts, like walking into the weight room, had a Lifetime Movie feel to them; others, like her wanting to figure everything else, screamed VERONICA MARS. But altogether, it was super cute and made me want to pick up DREAMER right away.

Dreamer

And then there was book 2.

This book picks up right where we left off. Ally was headed to Ireland on her winter break from school to try and get guidance from the Seers council. While there, she learns that her type of psychic ability hasn't been seen in years -- 75 or so, to be exact.

Ally heads back home to continue school -- even though the council wants her to stay so they can figure her out. Back home, Jack and Ally's relationship continues to bloom. When Ally shares what the council told her, Jack has questions --

One of the things that drives me bonkers about Ally is she's all "we're mature and will last forever" but the moment Jack has questions, she's afraid he's going to walk, that she's too much. I don't know how much more Jack can convince her he's in it for the long haul.

Once again, Ally gets visions that lead her to a new mission, a new case. Again, it had it's VERONICA MARS feel, but the book was still fun and enjoyable to read. I'm curious, then, how the next book will play out. It comes out soon!

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No comments:

a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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