[ARC Review] - Plain Fear: Forsaken

Title: Plain Fear: Forsaken
Author: Leanna Ellis
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal
Release Date: August 1, 2011

I received this book for review from Sourcebooks.

Summary:  Hannah Schmidt pines for Jacob, the boy who saved her life. But Jacob is gone, buried. Levi Fisher loves Hannah. But he knows how much Hannah loved his brother Jacob. He also knows the troubling event that took Jacob out of their lives.

So when a stranger named Akiva comes into their community, he carries with him two secrets: he is, in fact, Jacob. And he is now a vampire.
When secrets are revealed, Hannah must choose between light and dark, between the one she has always loved and the new possibility of love-a decision that will decide the fate of her soul.

Thoughts: Even though Jacob is long gone, Hannah still loves him. Yearns for him everyday.  When a stranger, Akiva arrives he carries secrets with him that will change everything. As Hannah learns who Akiva is, she must make a choice - one that will decided her fate.

Not a book I would normally read. This is the first book I've read where the lead characters were Amish. Being a vampire fan, reading the description peaked my interested. I had to see how this was gonna work out for Hannah. I found the whole story to be an enjoyable one, quite different then other vampire novels.  I loved the good vs. evil pull to the story.  Forsaken has a wonderfully gothic feel to it. Filled with everyday life of the Amish, but suspenseful as well. Hannah's story definitely takes a different turn, that is fresh and new. If you are looking for a different type of vampire story, you might want to give this book a go.

Score: 3 Stars

Author Website: http://www.leannaellis.com/

Other Titles by Leanna Ellis:
Elvis Takes a Back Seat
Lookin' Back, Texas
Ruby's Slippers
Once in a Blue Moon
Facelift

[ARC Review] - Girl In Translation

Title: Girl In Translation
Author: Jean Kwok
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: April 29, 2010

I received this book for review from Riverhead Books/Penguin.

Summary: When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings.

Disguising the more difficult truths of her life—the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family’s future resting on her shoulders, her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition—Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself, back and forth, between the worlds she straddles.

Thoughts: Speaking no English, Eleven year old Kimberly and her mom travel from Hong Kong to Brooklyn, in hopes for a better life. They soon realize New York is not all what they dreamed or hoped for. Surrounded by poverty and having to work in a sweatshop her hope seems so far away. To try and keep a little of that hope she turns to the one thing that she feels she has a talent for and that is school work. She feels this is a way to better herself and the situation.

I enjoyed Kimberly story. This is a book that will definitely take you through a range of different emotions. I was in awe of the journey. I have read many stories about immigrants, but none that took place in the present day. Girl in Translation was a beautiful, inspiring and an intimate look at immigrant life. A captivating story that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

Score: 3 Stars

Author Website: http://jeankwok.com/

[ARC Review] - The Lace Reader

Title: The Lace Reader
Author: Brunonia Barry
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Year: 2009

I received this book for review from Edelman PR & Harper Collins.

Summary: Look into the lace . . . When the eyes begin to fill with tears and the patience is long exhausted, there will appear a glimpse of something not quite seen... In this moment, an image will begin to form . . . in the space between what is real and what is only imagined.

Can you read your future in a piece of lace? All of the Whitney women can. But the last time Towner read, it killed her sister and nearly robbed Towner of her own sanity. Vowing never to read lace again, her resolve is tested when faced with the mysterious, unsolvable disappearance of her beloved Great Aunt Eva, Salem's original Lace Reader. Told from opposing and often unreliable perspectives, the story engages the reader's own beliefs. Should we listen to Towner, who may be losing her mind for the second time? Or should we believe John Rafferty, a no nonsense New York detective, who ran away from the city to a simpler place only to find himself inextricably involved in a psychic tug of war with all three generations of Whitney women? Does either have the whole story? Or does the truth lie somewhere in the swirling pattern of the lace?

Thoughts: Towner Whitney, the main character is wonderfully spunky. She draws the reader in from first page to last. Brunonia Barry has a great writing voice which makes the book a delight to read. I love stories that take place in Salem this one was no different. The author's description of Salem is descriptive and full of Historical tidbits.

Towner's story is so many things, but I don't want to give too much away. But I will say her story is sad, mysterious, touching and captivating.

Score: 4 Stars

Author Website: http://www.lacereader.com/