REVIEW: Deep in the Heart by Staci Stallings

Genre: Christian Romance
Pub Date: September 2011, Spirit Light
Format: eBook (Nook)
Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

Just out of college and completely alone in the world, Maggie Montgomery has one shot left to save her life from an abyss of poverty and hopelessness. Clinging to the last shred of fuel and hope, she arrives at the mansion of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers. Although Maggie is clearly not what Mr. Ayers and his wife have in mind for a nanny, they agree to hire her temporarily until they can find someone more appropriate to fill the position. However, Maggie’s whole world is about to be up-ended by two way-over-scheduled children and one incredibly handsome hired hand. As she struggles to fit into a world she was never made to fit in, Maggie wonders if she can ever learn to become a perfect version of herself so she can keep the job, or is she doomed to always be searching for a life she can never quite grasp?

MY THOUGHTS
Though I generally prefer Christian historical fiction, every once in awhile I will go for a contemporary romance. This one caught my eye, not only because I really liked the cover, but I also have a penchant for stories set in the West. While Stallings is less subtle in her use of Christian themes, prayer, and Biblical passages than a lot of the Christian fiction I read, those elements were not too over the top for my tastes. Overall, I thought Deep In The Heart had an interesting plot and Stallings was very adept at developing the storyline and keeping the pace moving right along.

Maggie's life story and her position in the Ayer household made for an intriguing story -- thanks in large part to the strangeness of the Ayer household! In addition to an adeptly written plot, Stallings provided a lot of strong character development, both with the focal characters (Maggie and Keith), and with some of the more minor characters (Conrad and his wife, among others). There's also the obligatory shrew, but I really can't say more than that without giving away a major part of the plot that isn't included in the synopsis, and you know how I hate to give spoilers! Just know there is a lot more to this story than you're led to believe when you read the blurb, and because of that, anticipation will keep you turning the pages until you reach the end.

In the end, the biggest flaw with this book is the writing. It wasn't so much a case of typos, but more along the lines of occasional awkward phrasing. Additionally, the dialogues needed to be improved with more descriptors used so that the reader would be clear as to who was speaking. I had to re-read a couple of different passages to make sure I knew who was saying what to make sense of what was going on. One more round of editing would have helped to eliminate these issues and really tighten up the writing. Even so, Deep In The Heart was a relatively quick read that was generally engaging and had a satisfying conclusion.

Read this book...

• If you enjoy contemporary Christian Fiction/Romance
• If you liked My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade (This one isn't quite as good, but I don't have a lot of contemporary Christian fiction to compare it to -- I usually go for historical fiction.)

Links:

• Website
• Twitter: @StaciStallings
• Goodreads Author Page

REVIEW: Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase

Series: The Suddenly Series #1
Genre: New Adult / Contemporary Fiction
Pub Date: April 2013 (self-published)
Format: Paperback, 464 pages
Source: Pre-ordered directly from the author at an event.

Samantha Rousseau is used to getting her hands dirty. Working toward a master’s degree in wildlife biology while helping take care of her sick father, she has no time for celebrity gossip, designer clothes, or lazy vacations. So when a duchess from the small country of Lilaria invites her to dinner, Samantha assumes it’s to discuss a donation for the program. The truth will change the course of her life in ways she never dreamed.

Alex D’Lynsal is trying to keep his name clean. As crown prince of Lilaria, he’s had his share of scandalous headlines, but the latest pictures have sent him packing to America and forced him to swear off women—especially women in the public eye. That is, until he meets Samantha Rousseau. She’s stubborn, feisty, and incredibly sexy. Not to mention heiress to an estate in his country, which makes her everyone’s front-page news.

While Sam tries to navigate the new world of politics and wealth, she will also have to dodge her growing feelings for Alex. Giving in to them means more than just falling in love; it would mean accepting the weight of an entire country on her shoulders.

MY THOUGHTS
Soooo... Can I tell you how much I LOVED this book? I read over half of it one evening and then put off work the next morning (good thing I work from home!) to finish it. Okay, now let's just go ahead and get this out in the open: no, the premise of Suddenly Royal is not exactly original (think The Princess Diaries, but steamier). However, in my opinion that absolutely does not take away from what an incredibly fun and engaging book this is! For me, I think that's in part because I'm one of those girls who always had that secret little dream inside of discovering that she is actually a princess. I'm not ashamed to admit that in the least! Come on, I know there are more of you out there...

I read most of this book with what was probably a very goofy grin on my face. I was hooked from page one. How could I not love Samantha?! She is smart, sassy and unafraid to speak her mind, yet at the same time vulnerable and just so real. And while far from perfect, Alex certainly made for a pretty dreamy prince. It probably didn't hurt that Chase had mentioned she envisioned Chris Hemsworth as Alex. I'll take that visual any day! Prince Yummy, indeed... ;-) But in addition to these engaging lead characters, Chase does what she is so very good at, providing a well-rounded and well-written supporting cast. Between Sam's personal assistant, Chadwick, her best friend Jess, and various members Alex's family and other Lilarian royalty, there is a great variety of people who each add something special to the story and the events that unfold. Without a doubt, the lovable (and even the less-than-lovable) characters are the other big reason why this story just worked so well for me.

What may be most telling: I loved this story so much, I would rather not even call attention to the handful of typos I came across, but fairness dictates that I have to at least mention them. I believe they were all cases where apostrophes had jumped into words where they didn't belong -- probably from some of the words that were missing them... Those pesky apostrophes! Even they could not mar my enjoyment of Suddenly Royal. I laughed, I even got a bit teary, and by the time I turned the last page I sighed in complete contentment.

Looking back, it's funny to think that had I not worked with a young lady who knew Nichole Chase and just happened to mention her Dark Betrayal trilogy to me in conversation one day, I might not have discovered her books -- at least, not as soon as I did. Suddenly Royal is easily now my favorite of Chase's books and if you have read the rest of her works, I think you will see how much her writing and storytelling have grown. The earlier mention of The Princess Diaries aside, this book really did play out like a movie in my head as I read, thanks to Chase's descriptive and easy-to-read writing, which enables you to just immerse yourself in the story as if you were a part of it. I think anyone who had dreams of becoming a princess or their own happily-ever-afters would enjoy this book. And, well, if you don't happen to be one of those girls, then you might just enjoy it for the smart characters and the steamy romance that develops between Sam and Alex.
*It should be noted that due to adult content, Suddenly Royal falls into the New Adult category, not YA like Chase's Dark Betryal trilogy.
Read this book...

• If you ever had dreams of being a princess
• If you have read any of Nichole Chase's books
• If you enjoyed the Princess Diaries

Links...

• Website
• Twitter: @NicholeChase
• Facebook Fan Page
• Goodreads Author Page

Teaser Tuesdays: Suddenly Royal

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! (If you're on Goodreads, I've included a button to add the book to your list just below the teaser!)

This week, I wanted to share a teaser with you from the newest release from one of my favorite indie authors, Nichole Chase. In fact, today is release day for Suddenly Royal, so what better way to celebrate?! I loved this book and can't wait to share my review with you tomorrow, so if you're curious after reading the teaser (I'm cheating today and sharing quite a few sentences), please be sure to stop by again tomorrow!

Sounds of the TV drifted to me from the living room, so I padded out to see who was awake. Jess was sitting on the couch, curled up under a blanket and staring at the TV with large eyes.

"What got you out of bed so early?" I sat down next to her and tugged some of the blanket over to cover my legs.

Jess just pointed at the TV. I looked at the bright screen through slitted eyes and gasped. "Why is there a picture of our house on the news?" A sinking feeling filled my gut. 

~ page 56 of Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase

REVIEW: A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forest

Series: A Shade of Vampire #1
Genre: YA Paranormal
Pub Date: December 2012 (self-published)
Format: eBook
Source: Received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Download the first few chapters and try it out! (Many thanks to Ms. Forest for providing the excerpt!)

On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.

A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.

She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.

An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.

Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.

Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.

Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

MY THOUGHTS
Firstly, I would like to thank Bella Forest for contacting me to offer a copy of A Shade of Vampire in exchange for an honest review here at Melissa's Bookshelf. I thought the premise and the setting for the story sounded incredibly intriguing and would offer a breath of fresh air to the already heavily saturated YA paranormal/vampire market, and in that respect I was absolutely right. Unfortunately, the execution just wasn't quite there. Believe me, there is so much potential for this story, but I think it would require some extensive editing and rewriting to bring it to the level it needs to be in order to be a 4- or 5-star read for me.

I think the over-arching issue is that Forest does far more telling than showing, as the expression goes. It seemed like the vast majority of the story was given through dialogue, and on top of that, often there were not enough descriptors used to enable the reader to know who was speaking. Though there was a little bit of world-building, there simply was not enough to truly do the Shade justice -- I wanted so much more. In addition, the story is told with the chapters alternating between the points of view of Sofia and Derek, and while that can work in some cases, I found it to be choppy, confusing and difficult to follow in this book. I think the difficulty I had lies in the fact that Sofia and Derek sound very similar -- Derek certainly didn't come across as a 500-year-old vampire that had been in a magically-induced sleep for 400 of those years. There were attempts to reinforce Derek's actual age and the time he had missed by having him not know what current technologies were, but the way he spoke and acted just was not what I would have expected of a vampire who was alive and turned during the 1500's, then asleep the last 400 years. He lacked a certain formality, mystery, and maturity that I think would have really added to his character. In truth, most of the characters in the story were pretty bland -- we are only really given surface qualities and characteristics and little is done to develop either Sofia or Derek, not to mention any of the supporting cast.

And honestly, I couldn't understand why Derek was so wrapped up in Sofia almost immediately, except for the fact that we know she is apparently very beautiful. But the one small thing she does early in the story that touches and impresses Derek just didn't seem like enough to spark the obsession that follows and sticks around through the rest of the book. If anything, it seemed like it really came down to Sofia's looks, despite the attempted indications otherwise. Regardless, as I read, I just felt completely detached from the story and the characters -- I simply didn't care how events played themselves out. More detailed character development would have gone a long way to making me feel more invested in Sofia and Derek.

Given the uniqueness of the premise, I really wanted to like this book, which is probably why I pushed myself to finish it. Clocking in at 149 pages for the paperback edition, A Shade of Vampire is a relatively short read, but I actually think that it would benefit from being longer, filled with more imagery, world-building and significantly more in-depth character development. At times, I also found myself having to re-read some parts to understand what was going on, due to some awkward phrasing, as well as the lack of sufficient descriptors during the dialogues; hence, my earlier remark about editing and rewriting. But in fairness, I have also seen a lot of very positive, even glowing reviews out there, so take mine as only part of the overall picture. I will say this, though -- I do love that cover!


Links:

Download the first few chapters and see what you think!
Like on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AShadeOfVampire
Follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AShadeOfVampire

TSS/Suddenly Sunday: Week-In-Review

Suddenly Sunday is a weekly event hosted by Svea @ The Muse in the Fog Book Review. The purpose of Suddenly Sunday is to share all the exciting events that have occurred on your blog throughout the week. If you would like to participate, just grab the button and link back to Svea's blog.

After a rather slow and quiet week last week, I got back into regular blogging with a few reviews and other posts this week, managing to post something every day. I've been doing LOTS of reading lately, much more than I had thought I would be and I still haven't gotten burned out on it! I think it helps that I try to mix up the kinds of books I read so I don't get into a rut with a particular genre. But as of Friday, I am actually halfway through with my 2013 Reading Challenge!

I'm still a little surprised, myself, when I see those numbers! :-)

But in case you missed anything at Melissa's Bookshelf this week, here's a round-up of what went down...

I reviewed four books books:

• Dark Triumph by R.L. Lafevers (3 stars, YA paranormal historical fiction)
• Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer (4 stars, Mystery)
• Don't Fear The Reaper by Michelle Muto (4 stars, YA paranormal)
• To Win Her Heart by Karen Whitemeyer (5 stars, Christian historical fiction)

For Teaser Tuesdays, I shared a passage from The Inconvenient Duchess by Christine Merrill, a Harlequin romance that I don't plan to review here at the blog, but as I noted on Goodreads, it was better than I expected! I may add more to that review down the road.

This week I wrote a Thursday Thoughts post, since the prompt for Booking Through Thursday wasn't really up my alley this time. I may do that from time to time instead of always participating in BTT... (Random aside, does anyone else remember the Thursday Thunks meme? I really miss that!) Anyway, for Thursday Thoughts, I mused a bit about no longer accepting books for review. And the reason why that has come up again for me is because of a certain negative review that I am putting off writing even at this very moment by scheduling this post instead, haha.

And last but not least, yesterday I shared some pictures from this year's Spring planting efforts around our patio for Saturday Snapshot.

I'm expecting the coming week to be another good one. As I write this (Friday afternoon), I've got three reviews to write and schedule, my Teaser Tuesdays post is already waiting to go live, and I'm sure I'll have some pictures lined up for Saturday Snapshot again. So, I guess I'd better get cracking on these reviews now... Hope everyone has a great day and enjoys what is left of the weekend!