Tag: stay inside

In Between (Katie Parker Productions, 1) by Jenny B. Jones KU

https://books.apple.com/us/book/in-between/id1509805466

Blurb

Unlike most kids, teenage Katie Parker never got a fair shot at a normal life. With a mother in jail and a missing-in-action dad, she’s never known what it’s like to truly be loved. Low on options and family members, she’s soon shipped off to a foster home. Now in an unfamiliar town, Katie’s rebellious attitude is at odds with her new family, school, and classmates. And after falling in with all the wrong people at school, things go from bad to really bad after she takes the blame for vandalizing the local performing arts theater.

But in the midst of a dark situation, Katie finds light in the most unexpected places: through her new friendship with an eccentric senior, the commitment of her foster family, and a tragic secret that changed them forever. And as she inches closer to acceptance and forgiveness, she finds that God has been there all along.

Review

Dear Lifetime,

Can you please make this into a movie? It has all of the things that all of us sappy television viewers love, a lost foster kid, kind foster parents, an eccentric senior citizen, bullies, the nerdy best friend, and the sort of love interest. In all seriousness, this book is amazing! It isn’t overly preachy. In fact, Katie struggles with the idea of God through the entire novel. Katie is winy, but humorous. She makes a lot of bad decisions, and that’s okay.

I think that the drawback is that there isn’t more romance. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the series for you. But I will say that Katie does eventually fall in love. I just wished that it happened in this book because I’m a hopeless romantic. I loved seeing Katie find her way and enjoyed all of the comedy that was provided.

Blood Debt by Nancy Straight PF

Blurb

Her whole life, it had just been the two of them. Before her mother’s last breath, she gave Camille the information she had craved her entire life: the identity of her father. Daring to contact him, Camille was welcomed by an entire family she never knew existed. But nothing comes without a price, as she discovers when her family claims a legendary heritage tracing back to a Centaur touched by Zeus.

As she learns the secrets of her Centaur bloodline, she is drawn into a forbidden love with Drake. Her family acknowledges her life may be the blood debt required to pay for her mother’s transgressions. The same person who once held her mother captive, and forced her into decades of hiding, now controls Camille. Her only chance is to seek a piece of her mother’s past that will win her freedom and the life she desperately desires.

Review

     Let me start off by saying, wow! I will happily give this book five stars. It was so intriguing that I was compelled to read the next book. So, the main character Camille, isn’t a docile wimpy person, which I’m grateful for. I’m glad that there is no shrinking violet in a mythological romance novel. She’s relatable and refreshing. Drake comes off as stiff and odd in the beginning, but he grows on the reader. Some of the side characters are likable, and after a while, I began hoping for the best. But Camile’s best friend Daniel was irritating at first. But he does get better.

     I’ll try not to spoil too much. But let me just tell you that Camille’s grandmother is nuts. Her meddling was reminiscent of how parents

back in the Victorian days would impose their will on their disobedient daughters. Camille’s newly discovered family aren’t as over baring, and her step mother actually doesn’t hate her. But the world of the centaurs desperately needs reform. Women are scarce in their world, and Camille has to pay a debt to a man that her mother jilted. Camille will either have to marry the man’s son, or pay with her life. And because it is a romance, Camille falls in love with a man that she isn’t supposed to want.

All of the characters are over eighteen, but the vibe hovers between new and young adult. There are no graphic love scenes, and no strong profanity. The chemistry between Camille and Drake jump s off the page.

https://books.apple.com/us/book/blood-debt-touched-series-book-1/id572317877