This was my first novella, as I’ve always been a lover of thick books, and thanks to Elisabeth Wheatley, I will be reading more novellas in the future.  Although I finished it in one night, the story wasn’t lacking. It’s fast-paced and filled with action. As a writer and reader of books, it amazes me how someone can fit so much into so few words, and I am impressed with the teenage girl that wrote this.

Fanged Princess is the first novella in the Fanged Princess Series. It’s about a nineteen-year-old vampire girl that is out to save her younger brother and his girlfriend from her own father. She has a scarred past and enters the story in an emotionally dark place. She is strong-willed and somewhat bitter–that kind of heroine. As for romance, there is potential in the future, but it’s not really there in this one.

I give this a four star, and I will definitely continue to read the rest of the series. I’m not too fond of first person point of view, but the last few books I’ve read have been like this. I’ll get used to it. I am into the story and want to see what happens next.

Since this is a young adult book, I will give the conservative mom opinion. There were quite a few mild curse words, and although there were no descriptive kissing scenes, we know that the brother and his girlfriend had sex one night. However, we only got that from seeing a bra on the floor.

Oh, and did I mention it’s free at Amazon right now?

Although it has been a couple of years since I read the Dragon Keeper’s Chronicles by Donita K. Paul, I still highly recommend it for both adults and children. I easily compare this series to the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. Each of them are considered Christian young adult fantasies. However, each of them can easily be read by nonbelievers and adults. They are all epic fantasies, battling good against evil.

However, this series is filled with dragons–big dragons, little dragons, dragon eggs, a dragon keeper, etc. It’s truly a great series filled with magic and adventure–even a little romance. If you love dragons, then this series will give you your fix. Read it for yourself as an adult or read it to your children each night before bed. The series is that versatile–I promise. I highly recommend the entire series. I also noticed she has another series on dragons, and I’m adding it to my large reading pile.

Today’s book review is for Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore. I got this book on sale for a $1.00 at my church book store, along with many others. I went in there to get a birthday card for my husband and came out with a stack of books. At least they were all on sale!

Although I rarely read anything to do with angels and demons, this one surprised me. Before I go on, I would like to add the disclaimer that since I got this from my church, I knew it was going to be a Christian read. I say that because most of the one star reviews for this book come from people getting upset that it has a strong Christian message to it, and that’s not what they wanted–although the book was published by a Christian publishing company, it’s listed in the Christian fiction section, and the author’s bio includes that she attended Bible college. I’m just saying. The author is not trying to fool an atheist into reading this novel.

My positive thoughts on this book is it’s an adventure, mystery, and a little romance, and the story is very creative. I didn’t know what would happen next. The author was great about not giving away too much detail throughout the story. She also left it at a point where I definitely want to read the next book–and soon. Luckily, it’s already written.

As for the negative, it took me a bit to get used to the first person writing style, and some of the wording in the first chapter was a bit flowery, which messed me up in visualizing the story. However, that didn’t go on, and I soon got used to the writing style.

Even with there being some cons, I give this novel a five star, and I do that based on its creativity. The author wrote a brilliant Christian fiction read, and she brought awareness to child trafficking–which is a major problem many people ignore. I loved the message of this book. I will say that Christianity is a strong part of the novel. It’s not subtle, but it was done is such a fantastic way. I highly recommend it for adults and teens if you enjoy Christian reads with a fantasy/paranormal twist to them.

I will admit to reading this trilogy in less than a week, and I highly recommend it to both adults and teens. My daughter read the first book in the series, and then she continuously told me I should read it. I was curious to see what kind of story had captivated her attention so I took her recommendation and dived in.

This series is based in London and is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Gwen. Although I usually don’t like to read or watch anything having to do with time travel because I almost always find a mistake in the plot, this one was different. After getting to the end, I thought over the entire story and did not really find any time traveling mistakes. It’s a hard subject to write about, and I applaud Kerstin Gier for how well it was done.

The author is from Germany, and this series has been translated into many languages. I’m a bit jealous because it’s been turned into a television show in Germany, and I would definitely watch it if it were in English.

Ruby Red is the first book in the series, and I give it a full five star review. Although this series is a fantasy romance, the romance was not strong in the first book. I would also say it’s a mystery read, with the main character chasing down answers to one big question. We follow her along her journey into the past and present in search of clues.

Sapphire Blue is the second book in the series, and although I still loved it, I have to give it a four star review. Everyone treated Gwen horrible in this novel, and I just could not relate to how she dealt with it, kind of like a doormat. I understand it goes with her personality, but everything within me would have lost it and put everyone in their places, while she said nothing and cried. However, a new mystical creature was added, and I loved him. The mystery plot thickened, and the adventure continued. The romantic relationship was complicated, and overall, I loved this novel and immediately went into the third one.

Emerald Green is the third book in the series, and I give it a four star review also. This series had an advanced plot and lovable characters. The adventure, romance, and mystery–it was all there! The only thing I found fault with was how the climax to the story happened. It had built up for three novels so I was surprised and somewhat let down at how fast the author dealt with it. I compare it to having a firework that doesn’t turn out as big as you had been expecting. The ending was perfect and fit the story. However, the author could have added more detail to make it go slower and give it more suspense. Instead, there were three books building that suspense, and it was taken care of within a page or two. I was like, “Oh, it’s over. Alrighty then.”

The entire story was outstanding with a completely surprising ending that I really don’t think anyone could have guessed, and I highly recommend this series to adults and teens who love mystery, sweet romance, and thick plots with time travel.

As for the clean rating, there were quite a few minor curse words throughout. It did have some drunk scenes. Although there were no sex scenes, the main characters were not against it. In the end, I’m not uncomfortable with my daughter reading it, and I’m more conservative than most. The story was not dark, taking the reader’s mind to negative places. It truly was a clean mystery read with some fantasy and romance.

Since I may try my hand at writing young adult fantasy in the future, two of my recent reads were in that genre. I chose Alora by Tamie Dearen because she is a fellow Clean Indie Reads author. I had also read some of her work on her blog. She is currently writing a romantic comedy serial story called Elyssa Rose as weekly blog posts, which means she’s posting the story each week as she writes it. I find that brave! She can’t exactly go back and add or make changes like I so often do with my writing.

Alora is a fun read, with the main characters being fifteen to seventeen years old. Tamie kept the kissing scenes passion free, and I found that the characters acted true to their young ages. What I liked most about this YA novel, is that the author did not give many clues out as to what would happen next, and that added to the intrigue and mystery. The last few YA novels I’ve read were fun; however, I knew exactly what would happen next and how it would end–not so with Alora. Fun, adventure, an alternate reality, and some sweet teen romance filled the pages of this book.

I would definitely recommend this to teenagers that enjoy fun fantasy romances, as this one fits into that category, and it is very well written. As for adults, I would recommend you try this author’s Best Girls Series. Although I have not yet read them, I understand the series to be a romantic comedy, with the romance being between a variety of adult ages. You can also get a taste of her writing style by reading Elyssa Rose on Tamie’s website.

Although I usually read fantasy, I decided to buy this novel one evening and am glad I did. Color of Danger is a Christian, romantic suspense with a strong female main character, and I was surprised by how much she has in common with the lead in my Alissia Roswell Series. Both women come from child abuse and have a love interest named Luke.

With a bad past, the main character has trust issues, and the author explores this deeply within the story. I’m not one for love at first sight and was pleased to find this was not one of those romances.

Unlike the fantasy reads I’m used to, this story follows the mystery surrounding a serial killer on the loose. The story is tight and put together well, with the romance being sweet and not overpowering to the mystery-themed plot.

The characters are adults, but with this being a clean, Christian novel, I believe teenagers who love mysteries would also enjoy this read.

The author also listed discussion questions at the back of the book, and I highly recommend this to Christian book clubs. The questions are already there, and the discussion would be about trust.

I’ve had Christians tell me they don’t like to read Christian novels as much because they find them predictable or the main characters keep getting saved from bad circumstances, not putting enough danger in the story. (I’ve seen this myself with some of my past reads.) However, that’s not the case with Color of Danger. It’s true to life–bad things happen, and the characters have to learn to deal. That’s where forgiveness, faith, and trust come in, no matter how hard to do at times.