Adventures In Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris

Blurb: Sixteen year old Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school and maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her, Ethan asks for her help, and Kait finds herself in full on crush, as well as entangled in a murder mystery. 


Reviewed by Dale


I seem to be on a run of chic lit at present. This little gem I picked up yesterday. Its one of those frustrating books that you should never take to bed with you. For two good reasons. One being that Harris has a habit of leaving chapters as cliff hangers, forcing you to stay up till way past the candles best hours. And two, even though you begrudgingly put the ebook reader down and turn out the light your brain still can't resist thinking about 'who dunnit'.


I had my suspicions early on and I was kind of right, but none the less the plot does a great job of rolling you around from suspect to suspect. I think this is a difficult genre to write in and its very evident that Harris has planned this story out well. It has a crisp, fresh momentum that reads well and entertains easily. 


One of my favorite parts of well written stories are what I call the eddies. If a story is a large river, with the main plot the major flow, then its the tiny eddies and back flows that fascinate and add so much depth to a great story. The drama between Kait and Ariel, not overly relevant to the main plot but such a treat to read. I found myself greatly enjoying the asides as the flowed through the book. Kyle and Suzie another great little sub story that has me thinking about my own school days. Sigh.


The characters were full bodied, aged well and believable. There were even a few 'ah ha' moments for me that might have made my school dating shambles a bit more tenable had i only known. (Or read this!)  


It is funny that the last two books I've read have both had men that go beyond perfect as the leading men in the stories. This one has silky hair, the last story had chocolate hair. I guess I'll never be a chic lit writer, I never think of hair. 


So conclusions, this is an easy one. Its good, in fact its very good. Its easy to read, hard to put down and has very likable characters. The story is compelling and although nothing new, it has so much happening around it you certainly won't get bored!. 5 stars, click on the link below and go get it!






Format: eBook
Available from Smashwords
Link to Download: Here
Price: $0.99c (at time of review)
Wordcount: 67,000 (appx)
Author:Milda Harris

Atlantis by Lisa Graves

Blurb: Elliott is a mystery. For Lilly, he is an obsession. Lilly's life starts to change dramatically when Elliott moves in next door. Weird things start to happen, and Lilly finds herself questioning her reality. But things aren't what they seem. Packed with hidden codes, Atlantis is a paranormal romance worth getting lost in. Do you believe in Atlantis?  

Review by Dale:


It was a well written post on Facebook that got me interested in reading this one. I think its a bit challenging for me to properly review chic lit. Since its not a genre I spend a lot of time reading. But this story has merits that stretch across several themes. Early on in the piece when Lilly sees a face in the mirror of her bathroom the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up. There are definitely elements of suspense and certainly a compelling mystery that drives this romantic drama along.  Early on in the piece I was likening this book to Audrey Niffenegger's 'The Time Travelers Wife', the multiple scenes that the story kept crossing reminded me of Henry's troubled life.


I have read a Mills and Boone and must confess I spent the entire 200 odd pages waiting for something to happen. Of course it never did. Thats why stores like this are so much better than those dreary tomes my mother collects. This is a story with substance. Characters are far from wooden. They pout and fret, they coddle and betray. In fact by the end of this story I had actually come to dislike Lilly. I felt the way she manipulated young Nicholas's feelings to get what she wanted was cold.


It isn't often a book can carry you along for some 200 hundred pages and yet still give you no idea how the story will end. Some of the darkness that seemed to creep through the imagery that Graves was using had me convinced it would not be a happy ending. At times I was expecting a romantic tragedy, especially with the pervading water themes used throughout the story.


The writing is good, the juicy sizzle-bits will satisfy the romantically minded. Graves shows great skill in writing romance that makes you wish you were a teenager again. Sigh. 


I'm sure young girls who enjoy ready romance that offers more depth than the formulaic Harlequin or M&B will enjoy this. It's currently only 99 cents which is good value for a book this long and this well written.


Format: eBook
Available from Smashwords
Link to Download: Here
Price: $0.99c (at time of review)
Wordcount: 67,000 (appx)
Author:Lisa Graves

Reasons on her Wrist by Racaneya

Editorial Blurb:

Cassie, a suicidal teen, learns many reasons about her purpose in life after dealing with death, a love triangle, saving another life, and going through a life changing event.


Reviewed by Dale

This story follows a 17 year old high school student who struggles to find a sense of purpose in her young life. People have disappointed her and left her and now she finds the only source of any real feeling in her life is in self mutilation.

As she trudged wearily through her days at school people try to push their way through her dark walls and get to know her. Resistant at first she pushes them away but gradually Cassie lowers her guard and let's them close. But are they the right people to be part of her life?  Will there screwed up lives be more weight than Cassie can bear?

This is a very well crafted novel. The dialogue driven story is well constructed with likeable and believable characters.
The topical nature of the story was also handled well. Sending a message about self mutilation and suicidal thoughts but in a constructive and non preaching way. I was in awe of some of the monologues and wonder how the author has come to have such a deep connection with her characters.

Part two didn't feel as strong as part one, but it completed the story. The ending has been the subject of debate in other reviews but I haven't seen the alternative ending. This ending worked fine for me, although a little sad perhaps.


As for the young author herself I'm glad to hear she is working on another novel, she has a great voice and a mastery of dialogue.


Author: Racaneya
Author blog: Blog
Format: eBook
Word count: 30,000
Price: free
Link: Download