Review and Giveaway : The Violet Hour by Andrea L. Wells

Series: The Violet Hour #1

Publication date: May 11, 2015

Publisher: Infinity Publishing

Genres: YA, Paranormal

Format: Paperback, review copy

Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review

Pages: 308

Goodreads ⎜Amazon ⎜Book Depository

Still shocked over her mother’s mysterious death, California socialite Logan Keller is handed a one-way ticket to her long lost roots in Wyoming where love, deceit and danger await. Though she could forget everything staring into Luke Callahan’s eyes, Logan is quickly thrust into a fight for survival. Taking fate into her own hands, she begins unraveling the dangerous deceptions that abound at every turn. Her father is keeping secrets and Luke is keeping more. But Logan is keeping the biggest secret of them all.

The Violet Hour is a page-turning captivating twist of young romance and the paranormal.

I think this book has one of the most memorable beginnings! I seriously shed a tear after having read the first chapter and I had to put the book down afterwards. It so incredibly emotional and I absolutely love the way it begins!

I shared the first chapter in the beginning of the month, you can read it here.

I have to admit that I see a bunch of similarities between The Violet Hour and Twilight but I don’t mind since I actually like  Twilight. Andrea has basically taken all my favourite things about Twilight and has made them even better. I loved reading The Violet Hour

Characters

Logan Keller, our main character, tells the story in The Violet Hour. Logan is almost 17 and she’s probably one of my favourite characters ever! Logan isn’t snarky, she’s not rude, she’s not arrogant and she forgives. My favourite part about her is the fact that she’s a reader, I love it when characters are into books! I also loved Logan’s stubbornness, she doesn’t accept when someone’s lying to her and she’s definitely a very strong female character!

Logan is very close with her mom and her death is devastating! The fact that they were so close makes me smile, I wish I was closer with my mom and it’s not often that I see such a great mother-daughter relationship in books and I really like that.

After her mother’s death Logan moves in with her father, his new wife Kate and 3 boys; Luke, Jack and Jesse. The children of two of their deceased friends. I really liked Kate, I loved how she tried to help Logan without trying to take the role of her mom! The fact that Logan hasn’t seen her father in seven years and choose to forget everything and just forgive him makes me so happy. I’ve read too many books where the characters hold grudges even against the one person they have left and I love that Logan is better than that!

I can’t not talk about Logan and Luke! Swoon!  I absolutely love Luke, he’s so sweet, thoughtful and kind and my cheek definitely hurt from smiling because of him! He’s just what Logan needed and seeing the two of them together made my heart flutter!

The story

Aside from loving the characters I also loved the storyline! I was a bit worried about the werewolf part but it wasn’t as prominent as I’d feared and I really enjoyed the werewolf part when it came down to it. It was so imaginative and I’ve not read that many werewolf stories I’ve actually enjoyed  - this is definitely the first one I’ve actually loved!

I loved every little bit of this story, the conversations, the events, the setting, the storyline, the characters and so on. Everything was just to my liking and I really think she took all my favourite things from Twilight and improved them!

I had to put the book down halfway down since it was way past my bedtime but I stayed up quite a while just thinking about it and I picked it up the moment I woke up!

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while and I’m grateful for receiving this book for review! Thank you so much Andrea!

So, in case you hadn’t noticed I absolutely loved The Violet Hour so I had to give it the highest rating. It has everything I love and more!

This giveaway is of course INTERNATIONAL! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Taking Leaps and Finding Ghosts by Janet DeLee

Series: N/A, Standalone

Publication date: May 1, 2015
Publisher: CreateSpace, Self-published
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Women's Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review
Pages: 253

Goodreads ⎜Amazon ⎜Book Depository

Baby boomer Ginny Lawther firmly believes it's never too late to leap into the unknown realm of possibilities - but she also knows it's tough to keep hope alive by yourself.

So she posts an open invitation to her Ideal Life Club in the local newspaper and is thrilled when she hears from four intriguing strangers who are also interested in pursuing their own dreams. But what begins as a seemingly straightforward self-actualization journey quickly turns into a puzzling, somewhat harrowing, adventure when the Ideal Lifers keep encountering ghosts along the way.

Hair-rising, hilarious, inspiring, and always surprising, Taking Leaps and Finding Ghosts follows the visionary quintet as they struggle to maintain their resolve, support one another, and solve the mystery behind these strange specters before they detail the group's efforts.

But can their hopes and dreams possibly survive all the unexpected challenges they will face?

Even though this book is about older people it reminds me of The Jane Austen Book Club, each of the characters have a life outside of the club which we'll learn about and they form a bond you can only wish for. I really enjoyed the relationships in this book and I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of the characters!

Our main, main character, Ginny starts an Ideal Life Club to help herself and others pursue their dreams. Taking Leaps and Finding Ghosts is about the 5 people in this Ideal Life Club and how they pursue their dreams with the help of each other. As the summary say; it's hair-rising, hilarious, inspiring and always surprising. It holds every emotion and it was a delight to read.

Characters

Taking Leaps and Finding Ghosts centers around 5 characters; Ginny, Lydia, Hilda, Jerry and Lee.

• Ginny is an author, she's 58 and she's the initiator of the Ideal Life Club, as she calls it. Her dream is to buy the perfect cottage
• Lydia is in her thirties, she's married, has a kid and she wants to publish her very own cookbook!
• Hilda loves crafts and her dream is to use all her time crafting and selling these crafts
• Jerry is a younger man, I belive, and his dream is to become a professional musician
• Lastly we have Lee, he's in his fifties, divorced and he owns a construction company. He's had to deal with weird occurrences and his dream, or rather goal, is to get rid of these occurrences.

I think the characters are quite well developed, I would have liked to see some more of Lydia outside of the club since I love that she loves food and cooking! 

I had not expected them all to be so old, but as it turns out, I have no problem with it. I couldn't really relate to any of the characters, but in this case it doesn't matter as much since I liked them all! 

The Story

Even if the Ideal Life Club is what draws our 5 main characters together they each have a life of their own and it's an aspect I really enjoyed! 

Seeing how they actually tried to reach their goal or dream was so inspiring! Even though the Ideal Life Club chapters is my favorite I definitely loved seeing how their life was outside of group! 

This book holds so many different stories and different characters and oddly enough it's so easy to follow!
This story is definitely a character-driven story, so you'll find yourself at quite a loss if you don't like any of the characters. Though, I can't image anyone not liking any of the characters, even the least!

Even though the ghost part of the story is part of the title, Lee's life and maybe more of our character's lives it's actually not that big a part of the bigger picture. I can promise you that it's not creepy at all!

My thanks

I want to thank Janet DeLee for giving me the opportunity to read this book! It came at a time in my life where I didn't know I needed it and I'm grateful. Taking Leaps and Finding Ghosts helped me realize that even if my life doesn't turn out according to plan, it's never to late to pursue my dreams and it's definitely cured me of some of my fear for my future.