Speed Date: the Magic Touch by Dara England

The Deal: Ambrielle was expecting a warmer welcome when she showed up at Danny's doorstep in the middle of the night. But bleary-eyed, depressed Dany wasn't very welcoming, and the fact she just barged in and revealed herself to be his fairy godmother - with inside knowledge to every major and minor event of his life - didn't help things at all. 

But Ambrielle is determined to help Danny whether he wants it or not. After a couple of blunders in the last few months, Ambrielle has been put on probation by the fairy council and she has only 24 hours to help Danny put his life back on track. 

My Thoughts: The Magic Touch is an extremely short novella that can be read in about an hour tops - it only has about 33 pages - and I got it for free sometime a while back for my kindle but it kind of got lost in the shuffle, until I picked it up again.

It's a very cute story, I liked Ambrielle and her sassy attitude and the fact that she does care about her charges and isn't going down without a fight. Also liked there weren't romantic vibes with her and Danny, they were more like bickering siblings.

Because of the length of the story, the characters weren't that fleshed out but for what it was it was okay, and it was a freebie so YAY! - Though I think it's currently being sold at .99 cents in Amazon - I actually quite liked the style and if the author made a series about Fairy Godmothers, I would probably read it. 

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Book Review: The Academy by Emmaline Andrews

At First Sight: For many years, Kristina Jameson has enjoyed her life in the company of her sickly twin brother Kristopher, helping him with his studies and encouraging him to practice his violin, happy to remain off their father's radar.

But now that Kristopher is healthy again, their father Admiral Jameson wants him to go to the Royal Academy, excel in all his classes and promptly join the Space Corps upon graduation. To Kristopher this is like a death sentence, but for Kristina there is nothing she would like more.

Oh, she knows that as a female she has no chance of getting into the Corps, but she would love to learn to fly and navigate, and get out of from under her father's thumb once and for all. In a split second, Kristina convinces Kristopher to let her take his place at the Academy (while he goes off and tries to get into a prestigious orchestra).

It reeks of a bad plan, and no one is more surprised than Kris when she fools the headmaster and gets admitted but, as she realizes, that's only the beginning of her troubles. On the first day she caught the school's bully in a compromising situation, she's too small and not very strong and her roommate, North, keeps having to come to her rescue. 

Second Glance: *deep sigh* I so wanted to like the Academy!! It was as if someone had wanted to make a book and make sure I would be all over it as it combined three of my ALL TIME FAVORITE tropes: a) Girl has to disguise as a boy, b) Space Academy, c) Boarding school. Yet, The Academy never quite works.

At the beginning we are quickly explained some of the rules of the world where the story takes place, but the explanation was a bit flimsy, and only trotted out when it served to remind us really-big-trouble Kris would get into if she got caught, but it was never really explored.

Kris is an awkward narrator and we are constantly told she's very 'modest', that in her hometown people just Don't Do That (like kissing before your married, piercing your ears, and a whole host of other things), and it quite frankly just sounds like whining after a while. She'seems like a very naive person - to the point that almost every other character she interacts with comments on it - and even her speech patterns are awkward because they are so formal and her sensibilities so victorian and then she just lets out a word of expression that is jarringly modern.

North was nice but he's also kind of too perfect, he fits his role of savior/love interest to a T and that makes him seem bland and cartoonish more often than not. That is, in fact the big problem with the book: everyone is both bland and cartoonish at the same time, particularly the villains of the story.

Bottom Line: The Academy was like a big, epic fanfic, I'm sad to say. It just lacked certain amount of polish to seem like truly profesional work. The idea of it is terrific - like I said, it appeals to some of my favorite plots and devices - but I didn't care for the execution. Did my soul die a little each time I read the book? Not at all, it was engaging, even if it irritated me from time to time, but I've seen these tropes been done successfully quite often, and this wasn't it.

Book Review: Second Hand by Heidi Cullian and Marie Sexton

At First Sight: Paul Hannon isn't quite sure what to do now that his girlfriend of 7 years dumped him: he moved to Tucker Springs, Colorado because she wanted, signed a 3 year lease on a house he can't barely afford because she liked it and he's knee deep in debt because of all the crap Stacey asked him to buy her (including an engament ring that was above his pay grade).

Still, since her birthday is coming up, Paul figures he should get her a present in a last ditch effort to win her back. But due to his financial situation, he ends up going to a pawn shop to look around.

There he meets El Rozal, the owner of Tucker Pawn, who takes a liking to him and gives  him a good deal just because he thinks Paul is darn cute - even if he's straight.

Paul's plan doesn't work though and, in an effort to rid himself of all reminders of Stacey, Paul goes back to Tucker Pawn to sell a bunch of kitchen appliances and slowly starts hanging out with El.

El isn't looking for a relationship, let alone with a confused 'straight' guy but the more time he spends with Paul, the more it feels like a relationship - he even adopts a dog because Paul, who is a receptionist at a vet's office, asks him to - but it is very complicated as sometimes it seems like Paul is still very hung up on Stacey. Plus, he has his own family dramas to deal with.

Second Glance: Lately, I've been trying to push myself a little out of my comfort zone, so when I came across Second Hand and I liked the premise, I decided to request it from NetGalley.

I had never before read a novel where the main romantic couple was a same-sex couple, but I liked it. I really liked El, he was such a sweet guy who cared for others in his own way. Paul came off as a little whinny sometimes but I get where he was coming from since a big part of him wasn't quite ready to accept himself as gay - even though he had had latent feelings on and off over the years - and El was very respectful of that, which made me like him more.

Actually, I really liked the whole approach the book had to sex, El was obviously the more experienced one but he didn't push Paul to do anything he wasn't comfortable with and often waited for him to take the initiative and respected his boundaries. The few sex-scenes that were in there weren't gratuitous.

I liked seeing El's whole family and understanding why he is the way he is and why he got into owning a pawn shop. I liked getting to understand Paul and why he felt like such a failure in life, even though there were plenty of people who loved him and believed in him - like his parents, El and his boss - when it made sense to me why he was so hung up on Stacey that made me like him a little bit more.

Second Hand is the second book the Tucker Springs series (that is being written by different authors) and I'm actually very curious about it because I enjoyed this one and the set up of the first story sounds kind of similar, and the third features a character that was introduced here.  I'm not a huge fan of the covers though, this is the more decent one.

Bottom Line: Second Hand was a very enjoyable story, it's not particularly long, I liked the treatment of the characters and where they ended. I wasn't sure what to expect from it at first, but it was a sweet,  romantic and funny story. 

Speed Date: My Sparkling Misfortune by Laura Lond (and Alla Alekseyeva)

Cover is Pretty bad, though

The Deal: It's hard out there for a villain, as Lord Arkus of Blackriver Castle will tell you, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get to be the star of his own story, after all, didn't Prince Kellemar  - a would-be hero - use questionable methods to defeat him?

So now he's on the run and the only chance to get revenge and reclaim his castle is trapping a very powerful evil spirt. But a confusion leaves him tied to a "sparkling", a good spirit that is supposed to help heroes and that now is intent on acting on Arkus best interest.

Never mind that it goes completely against Arkus' plans.

My Thoughts: Toward the end of last year I was looking for something relaxing to read and My Sparkling Misfortune was just the thing.

It's a relatively short story told by Arkus that constantly breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader and share his opinions on what's going on, and he is hilarious.

He LOOOVES being mean and being the villain, and loves to explain his plans and everything, and it was fun. It has a vaguely fairy-tale quality to it but you're actually rooting for the bad guy. Sadly, I do think it's a bit pricey at is current price -I got it for free a few months ago - but it is a good book. 

1/2

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Cover Love: Pheme the Gossip & Persephone the Daring

Hey Guys! 

I want to start the year on a happy note so I want to share the couple for the 2 upcoming Goddess Girls Series. 

Yeah, I know I'm super obsessed with this series but its really cute, y'all! 

Pheme the Gossip (April 2)

As the goddess girl of rumor and gossip, Pheme prides herself on being “in the know” and having the most up-to-date info on anyone and everyone at Mount Olympus Academy. To make sure that people really get her VIP messages, her words tend to linger in cloud letters above her head—just in case people don’t catch what she says!

But not everyone is thrilled with Pheme’s insider knowledge on everything MOA—including the Goddess Girls. Can Pheme ever be trusted? Or will this “gossip girl” find herself on the other end of the rumors?

Persephone the Daring (August 6)

Mortal rock star Orpheus steals the spotlight in this Goddess Girls tale of love and lyres!

Orpheus is a mortal rock god, and the girls at Mount Olympus Academy are wild about him! With his lyre and singing voice, Orpheus can charm pretty much anything—even things like stones and trees. But Hades and the other MOA boys aren’t charmed. In fact, they are less than thrilled that the girls are so gaga over this guy.

His fans are especially excited about his latest song about the girl he loved and lost, Eurydice. Orpheus was devastated when he lost Eurydice to the Underworld, so he asks Persephone to help get her back. Though it means breaking some very serious Underworld rules, Persephone pushes Hades to return Eurydice to the living world. But restoring Orpheus’s one true love might jeopardize Persephone’s own chances with her biggest crush...

I'm really excited for these two books, I've loved the way Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams have handled integrating other girls into the series, aside from the original four, so I hope Pheme's book is just as good as Medusa's and Pandora's. And I LOVE Persephone, she's my favorite Goddess Girls and I love how cute she and Hades are. 

Anyway, happy first day of the rest of the year!!