Book Review: The One Man by Andrew Gross! (@the_andrewgross)

The One Man
Author: Andrew Gross
Publication Date: August 23, 2016
Published: Minotaur Books

My Rating: 

1944. Physics professor Alfred Mendl is separated from his family and sent to the men’s camp, where all of his belongings are tossed on a roaring fire. His books, his papers, his life’s work. The Nazis have no idea what they have just destroyed. And without that physical record, Alfred is one of only two people in the world with his particular knowledge. Knowledge that could start a war, or end it.
Nathan Blum works behind a desk at an intelligence office in Washington, DC, but he longs to contribute to the war effort in a more meaningful way, and he has a particular skill set the U.S. suddenly needs. Nathan is fluent in German and Polish, he is Semitic looking, and he proved his scrappiness at a young age when he escaped from the Polish ghetto. Now, the government wants him to take on the most dangerous assignment of his life: Nathan must sneak into Auschwitz, on a mission to find and escape with one man.

The One Man, a historical thriller from New York Times bestseller Andrew Gross, is a deeply affecting, unputdownable series of twists and turns through a landscape at times horrifyingly familiar but still completely compelling.

This novel is near to perfection. The characters were well developed and their emotions are expressed in an intense and compelling way. I certainly felt their grief, fear, guilt, and hope too. By the end I was a crying, and on public transportation.

Blog Tour: Smash & Grab by Amy Christine Parker - Review & Favorite Quotes! (@amychristinepar @The_FFBC)

Smash & Grab
by Amy Christine Parker
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 19th 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction

My Rating:

Ocean’s Eleven meets the star-crossed lovers of West Side Story.Grab some popcorn and get ready for an adrenaline-filled heist!
LEXI is a rich girl who loves a good rush. Whether it’s motorcycle racing or BASE jumping off a building in downtown Los Angeles, the only times she feels alive are when she and her friends are executing one of their dares. After her father’s arrest, Lexi doesn’t think twice about going undercover at his bank to steal the evidence that might clear his name. She enlists her hacker brother and her daredevil friends to plan a clever heist.
CHRISTIAN is a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. The local gang has blackmailed him and his friends into robbing banks, and he is desperate for a way out. When the boss promises that one really big job will be the last he ever has to do, Christian jumps at the chance for freedom. In fact, he’s just met a girl at the bank who might even prove useful. . . .
Two heists. One score. The only thing standing in their way is each other.
Told in alternating points of view, this caper is full of romance and fast-paced fun. Hand to fans of Perfect Chemistry, The Conspiracy of Us, and Heist Society.

This was my first heist book. Where I was promised Ocean’s Eleven meets West Side Story, I ended up with something of a shadow of those two concepts. I didn’t hate what was given to me, but I was just left with wanting more.  

Lexi along with her brother Quinn and group of friends are adrenaline junkies. When Lexi and Quinn’s dad gets locked up for fraud, what’s the best way to relieve that stress? Base jumping off a building of course. That is until Lexi ends up running into Christian. Teenage bank robber going on his last heist before getting out of the business. So what is the logical choice? Team up together and do the ultimate rush, rob a bank.

I will say it now, I didn’t like Lexi. She felt too much to deal with as a character for me. She felt ignorant at times and there was nothing I could grab hold on to even care about her. I felt sympathy for her

I did appreciate Christian. I liked how his character felt a little more developed than Lexi. Maybe that was the influence of the Mexican mafia or his want to get out of the bank robbing business. Something about him felt more genuine. I could see the West Side Story comparisons when it came to him and Lexi.

Where the story lacked in believability, it made up in writing. The writing wasn’t bad at all. I quite liked the pace it all went through. If it wasn’t for Lexi, I would have liked this 10 times more but I didn’t hate it. The dual perspective helped a lot. Maybe I’m being greedy and just wanted more. 

"I did my best to flirt, but truth is, I always feel like a giant tool putting on the charm." - Christian

"You want me to enroll in UCLA so I can apply for this?" I ask. "That seems sort of over complicated, don't you think?" - Lexi

Follow the Smash & Grab by Amy Christine Parker Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

AMY CHRISTINE PARKER writes full-time from her home near Tampa, Florida, where she lives with her husband, their two daughters, and one ridiculously fat cat. Visit her at amychristineparker.com and follow her on Twitter @amychristinepar.

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Guest Book Review: The Prophet by Michael Koryta

The Prophet
Author: Michael Koryta
Publication Date: August 7, 2012
Published: Little, Brown and Company
Reviewer: Stephanie

My Rating: 

Adam Austin hasn't spoken to his brother in years. When they were teenagers, their sister was abducted and murdered, and their devastated family never recovered. Now Adam keeps to himself, scraping by as a bail bondsman, working so close to the town's criminal fringes that he sometimes seems a part of them. Kent Austin is the beloved coach of the local high school football team, a religious man and hero in the community. After years of near misses, Kent's team has a shot at the state championship, a welcome point of pride in a town that has had its share of hardships. Just before playoffs begin, the town and the team are thrown into shock when horrifically, impossibly, another teenage girl is found murdered. As details emerge that connect the crime to the Austin brothers, the two must confront their buried rage and grief-and unite to stop a killer. Michael Koryta, widely hailed as one of the most exciting young thriller authors at work today, has written his greatest novel ever-an emotionally harrowing, unstoppably suspenseful novel that Donald Ray Pollock has called "one of the sharpest and superbly plotted crime novels I've read in my life."

Book Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (@barrylyga)

I Hunt Killers (Jasper Dent #1) by Barry Lyga
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
Published: Little, Brown and Company
Source: Netgalley

My Rating:

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?
Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.
But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.
And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.
In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

Book Review: Love Is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Love Is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Publication Date: September 30, 2014
Published: Arthur A. Levine Books
Source: Netgalley

My Rating:

From the author of THE SUMMER PRINCE, a novel that's John Grisham's THE PELICAN BRIEF meets Michael Crichton's THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN set at an elite Washington D.C. prep school.
Emily Bird was raised not to ask questions. She has perfect hair, the perfect boyfriend, and a perfect Ivy-League future. But a chance meeting with Roosevelt David, a homeland security agent, at a party for Washington DC's elite leads to Bird waking up in a hospital, days later, with no memory of the end of the night.
Meanwhile, the world has fallen apart: A deadly flu virus is sweeping the nation, forcing quarantines, curfews, even martial law. And Roosevelt is certain that Bird knows something. Something about the virus--something about her parents' top secret scientific work--something she shouldn't know.
The only one Bird can trust is Coffee, a quiet, outsider genius who deals drugs to their classmates and is a firm believer in conspiracy theories. And he believes in Bird. But as Bird and Coffee dig deeper into what really happened that night, Bird finds that she might know more than she remembers. And what she knows could unleash the biggest government scandal in US history.

Book Review: The 100 Society by Carla Spradbery

The 100 Society by Carla Spradbery
Publication Date: September 4, 2014
Published: Hodder Children's Books
Source: Netgalley

My Rating:

For sixth-form student Grace Becker, The 100 Society is more than just a game; it's an obsession. Having convinced her five friends at Clifton Academy to see it through to the end, Grace will stop at nothing to carry out the rules of the game: tagging 100 locations around the city. With each step closer to the 100-mark they get, the higher the stakes become. But when the group catches the attention of a menacing stalker - the Reaper - he seems intent on exposing their illegal game, tormenting Grace with anonymous threats and branding their dormitory doors with his ominous tag.
As the once tight-knit group slowly unravels, torn apart by doubt and the death of a student, they no longer know who to trust.
With time running out, Grace must unmask the Reaper before he destroys everything she cares about for ever...

Book Review: Because She Loves Me by Mark Edwards (@mredwards)

Because She Loves Me by Mark Edwards
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
Published: Thomas and Mercer
Source: Netgalley

My Rating:

A gripping tale of jealousy and obsession, from the #1 bestselling author of "The Magpies."
When Andrew Sumner meets beautiful, edgy Charlie, he is certain his run of bad luck has finally come to an end.
But as the two of them embark on an intense affair, Andrew wonders if his grasp on reality is slipping. Items go missing in his apartment. Somebody appears to be following him. And as misfortune and tragedy strike his friends and loved ones, Andrew is forced to confront the frightening truth...
Is Charlie really the girl of his dreams ? or the woman of his nightmares?