ARC Review | The Weaver

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Weaver

Author: Heather Kindt

Format: eBook (The Parliament House)

Pages: 246

Publication Date: August 20, 2019

Categories: Paranormal, Young Adult, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from The Parliament House in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Most writers choose the endings to their stories . . . most writers are not Weavers.

Laney Holden is a freshman at Madison College whose life goes from normal to paranormal in a matter of seconds. When the antagonist in the book she’s writing shoves her down the stairs at the subway station, she learns she is a Weaver. Weavers bridge the narrow gap between fantasy and reality, bringing their words to life.

Laney soon meets William whom she also suspects is a character from her book—one she’s had a mad crush on since her pen hit the paper. But he’s in danger as her antagonist reveals a whole different ending planned for Laney’s book that involves killing William. Laney must use her writing to save the people closest to her by weaving the most difficult words she will ever write.
THE WEAVER is the first installment of The Weaver trilogy. It is an NA paranormal romance set in a small town on the north shore of Boston. It will leave you wanting more.

Thank you to The Parliament House for giving me an opportunity to read and review The Weaver.

First off, the cover is so gorgeous. I wanted to read this book because of the cover alone. But once I started The Weaver, I could not stop. Its premise is very creative.

It starts off with what seems like a romance story between Laney and her childhood best friend, Jason. He’s a good-looking jock that all the girls want to date but he already has a girlfriend. Laney is more of an introvert and loves to write. They couldn’t be more different but they’ve known each other for so long, naturally there are some feelings between them. Laney has been working on one story in particular and the story is set in the 1700’s, in colonial America.

But one day the villain from her book appears in the her world and Laney doesn’t know what to think. Then another character shows up and Laney thinks she’s losing it. How can her characters come to life? She finds out she is a Weaver, someone who has the power to create stories and make characters come to life. When the villain starts making threats towards her and the people she cares about, she starts to take things much more seriously.

I love the creativity of this story. The author did a really good job at explaining how the powers of a weaver work and the magic that is involved with it. There were many times I wanted to yell at Laney to just do the obvious and write something to destroy the villain but I can see how doing it was a dilemma for her. She is the creator of her precious story and the consequences of what could happen if she did change the story was new territory for her. Oh the irony of me wanting to change elements in the story to help the characters out! Don’t we all do that while reading books though?

The book blurb says this is NA (New Adult) but I think it read more like a young adult novel. I expect New Adult stories to have more physical and steamy sexual situations but this book was pretty clean. The romance that blossoms between Laney and her hero is very sweet. They are all in college but to me it felt like they were still in high school. Also, the new friends she makes who are Weavers are high school students, so it just felt like a book for a younger audience.

Overall, The Weaver is a story that weaves elements of romance, history and fantasy to give us a book that is creative and engaging. I look forward to reading the next book in the series!

Get it here: Amazon

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Book Review: Broken Trust (Dark Legacy Book 2)

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Authors: Tate James & Jaymin Eve

Format: eBook

Pages: 278

Categories: Bully Romance, New Adult

Book Blurb:

They think they own me now. They think they’ve won, and that I’ll be their good little soldier.

Four dangerous, damaged, messed up boys. There used to be five, but one of them died, and I’m starting to suspect he was murdered.

I didn’t ask for this. No one would ask to be played, manipulated, seduced and betrayed. But that’s what happened, anyway.

It wasn’t enough for them to break me. Sebastian Beckett has decided that he can’t let me go, but I refuse to forgive and forget his betrayal so easily. His fixation is bordering on obsession, but when we begin to suspect a spy within Delta, there’s no time to deal with his feelings.

Someone is selling us out, and it’s having a dire impact.

It’s life and death hiding behind corporate greed.

Let the battle begin.

MY REVIEW

The first book of the Dark Legacy series started off good and was exciting. This is a bully romance series and it is dark with lots of sexual themes. Book one had a cliffhanger ending that made me want to read this next installment.

This book was okay until a certain scene and then I decided it was not for me but I did finish it. I have a big problem with Beck, Riley’s lover/boyfriend. And yes, I’m in the minority here 🤷🏻‍♀️, Riley can so do better 😅. I understand he’s under the control of Delta, but he messed up, again. The characters are ALL broken people, I get that too, but after they betray her in book one, he wants her on their side so they publicly reject her. Just, no.

Riley is in a state of shock and feels betrayed after what takes place in the first book. The Delta guys are slightly remorseful but still arrogant. Beck is super possessive as usual but Riley had a right to be mad after what they forced her to do. I felt like some revenge on her part would have been perfect but nope. Nada. I wanted her to teach them a lesson. And these Delta guys that had her back supposedly, still threaten her (even after their betrayal), and publicly reject her. They leave her isolated at school and she is attacked, horribly. Honestly, it pissed me off so much and I blame Beck, since he’s their leader and he’s the guy she’s in love with it. Riley is right: they are not okay and they all need therapy.

I was also tired of Riley’s conflicting feelings about Beck (because I’ve cut him off in my mind 😂). She wants him, she hates him, he betrays her, he breaks her and then he’s sorry about that. Eventually the desire wins out and they continue to hook up. Apparently it’s easy to forgive guys who force you to murder someone. These Delta guys struggled too, I admit, they messed up and they know it. I just wanted a little more severe punishment for them, not just broken trust issues to deal with.

And this story is just unbelievable. I don’t believe these guys who are in high school (well Beck isn’t but he’s always hanging around there) have power to rule the world. They are rich and drive expensive cars. They talk the talk but nothing about them convinces me they are the most powerful high school boys in the world. Beck keeps mentioning that this is all a game for power, but I didn’t see much of the plot moving towards any power play until the ending which was a bunch of twists. The one new aspect in the story was the introduction of a Huntley (their nemesis) at the school, but it was predictable that she was there to cause trouble.

The ending is another twist, another cliffhanger, but one that made me cringe so bad and I don’t want to dive into that mess. 😂

So, if you like dark romance with lots of twists and turns that shock you, definitely read this series. It’s a quick read, it has the hot possessive rich guys, steamy (and even rough) sex, lots of bullying and angst. It’s not for someone who is easily triggered by traumatic events though, so fair warning there. I wish Riley was given a chance to kick someone’s butt in this book (Beck’s 😂) but that’s not going to happen.

Get it here: Amazon

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Click here for the review I wrote on the first book in this series: Broken Wings

Book Review: In Bloom (The Brightside Book 1)

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Author: Katie Delahanty

Format: E-book

Pages: 428

Categories: Romance, Celebrity, New Adult

Book Blurb:

My name is Olivia Bloom and I. Am. Free.I left for LA with everything I owned piled into my old Volkswagen and dreams of becoming a costume designer. Little did I know I’d wind up designing for a lingerie company—yeah, not sure how I landed this gig—and taken under the wing of two young Hollywood insiders. The fashion shows and parties were great, but life really got exciting when the seriously hottest lead singer of my favorite band started to fall for me.　How does someone like me, an ordinary girl from Pittsburgh, wind up in the arms of the world’s sexiest rock star—surrounded by celebrities, fashion, and music—and not be eaten alive? Berkeley is everything I’ve ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, but the paparazzi, the tabloids, the rumors, it’s all getting a bit too crazy. My life has become every girl’s dream come true, if only I don’t blink and lose it all…　

MY REVIEW

This was a fun romance story and a very quick read. I’m a sucker for the celebrity romance trope and this had everything I was looking for: romance and humor.

Olivia Bloom is a young woman from Pittsburgh who tries to make a living in L.A. and finds it challenging. Luck would have it she runs into the lead singer of her favorite band, Berkeley and the Brightside. It’s a fluke first meeting but then her new friends who are Hollywood insiders, turn her into project “It girl”. They teach her the rules of surviving life in L.A and see if they can turn a nobody into a somebody. This leads her to another chance meeting with Berkeley and soon things take off, in her career and love life.

I adored Olivia’s friends, especially Parker, who reminded me of some of my own friends. He kept making me laugh throughout the book. The author captured the feeding frenzy of the celebrity lifestyle really well from dealing with tabloids and faking it until you make it in Hollywood.

The romance is sweet and tender as Olivia and Berkeley get to know each other and try to make it work in the crazy world of fame. With rumors flying everywhere, Olivia has to figure out if Berkeley’s attentions are real or fake, like everyone else in Hollywood. I enjoyed Olivia’s adventures in Hollywood. I wanted a light-hearted story with a happily ever after and I was not disappointed.