~*~Savory Selections~*~

Genre: Young Adult

Heat Level: Mild

I first saw this book when I was browsing my library's online e-book catalog. It came up repeatedly as a suggested read, though at first, I was hesitant. However, after a few months of needing something new to read, I finally grabbed the first book in the trilogy, titled (as you see above) Eve - which is also the name of the series - by Anna Carey.

And oh my gosh!

I cannot believe I waited to long to read this series! As much as I want to review the entire trilogy, there are complications. Talking about the second and third book gives away...well, *spoilers* and I would really hate to ruin it. All I can say is: Read these amazing books!!!

One last note, while the Eve series is technically Young Adult, they are focused on a romance between the main characters. The series is based on adult/sexual situations and there is a fade out scene in the second book. Be warned.

Here goes...

After a deadly plague swept the globe, the world is struggling to survive, let alone rebuild. However, the King of the New America is doing his best, building a capital in the City of Sand (formerly Las Vegas), reaching out to form alliances (conquer) colonies in the East, and forming schools (sheltered by 12 foot high walls) for young ladies to attend and get the best education available. Upon graduation from these schools, the women file across a bridge to a trade school on the other side of a lake. Here they learn to serve their New America in the ways that the country needs - architecture, artists, doctors, etc.

Eve spent more than half of her life in one of these schools. After many hard years of devoted studying, she reached the top level. Not only was Eve going to graduate as Valedictorian of her class but her grades topped every graduating student in the country. At least, she would have until one of the outcast girls at the school told her the truth of the trade school across the lake...instead of a trade school, it was a breeding farm. After graduation, the girls are locked in a make-shift hospital, destined to provide the next generation of New Americans until they either died from birthing complications (happened often, since most of the births were more like litters than a single child at a time) or they reached a point where they could not longer conceive.

And that was not the worst part of it, in Eve's eyes. As the best of the best, she was chosen to bear the children of the king of New America. After all, every king needs an heir. Who else would he chose, other than the best and the brightest? Doesn't matter if he is old enough to be her father...almost her grandfather.

Frightened, Eve flees the school with help from one of the teachers, determined to survive in the wilds where outcasts live. Better than being brood mare to a geriatric dictator. Her only chance is to reach an all-woman settlement out west called Califia. With the help of a few friends along the way, as well as the gorgeous Caleb that she meets along the way, Eve is prepared to sacrifice almost anything to reach a safe port.

However, as she grows closer to Caleb and begins to learn more about what the world is truly like outside the protective walls of the school, Eve begins to wonder if anywhere is truly safe for her hide.

There are few books in my collection that I find where I am texting every reader in my phone telling them you need to read THIS. Doesn't matter the genre you prefer, doesn't matter if you are man or woman, I was texting. I only hope that they listen.

I opened All Beautiful Things by Nicki Salcedo knowing it was inspired by Beauty and the Beast with a twist. The heroine, Ava, is the beast. As you read on the back cover, she was attacked and left scared.

The Prologue starts out with a few letters from the hero to the heroine. She never writes back but he never stops writing. I think that in itself tells you the kind of man he is. From chapter one, you can see that Ava is detached. A ghost moving through life but unsure how to live it anymore. She goes through the motions, she knows what she wants - to be a normal person for her nieces, to take care of the men at her homeless shelter - but she's never been the same since her attack and now her presumed attacker is back on the streets and the man who has been writing her letters for the last seven years is suddenly standing in front of her, flesh and blood.

There are a lot of fairy tale references, some obvious, some a little hidden, that, of course, had me fan-girling a bit because I love fairy tales.

Every writer out there has a message to send. We all have those authors who designate with us. By the time I closed this book, my heart was warm and my eyes were watery.

I find myself having a difficult time doing this review without spoilers which is unusual for me but I'm just so eager to discuss it. I need those people I text to get reading.

For me, the overlaying message is that all of us have scars and sometimes we get so lost in our own pain we forget that bad things happen to other people too. Its not about saying my pain is worst than yours, its about just trying to find those people who can help us heal.

This is a book I think everyone needs to read. - And then write me so we can discuss it!

Remember, All Beautiful Things is our book of the month for Book Brunch. On February 28, we'll discuss this great story. So make sure you go and get it, read it and come back!

This savory delight was served up to you by Bryonna Nobles.

Book two of the Magical Bakery series, I have to say that I enjoyed Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti by Bailey Cates even more than Brownies and Broomsticks, the first book of the series.

Now I know they tell us not to judge a book by its cover but let's be honest here, we all do it. That cover can be the deciding factor on if we look at the back of that book or not. Will we give that book and that author a chance?

When I saw the cover to Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates, I couldn't pass it up.

For one, its pink — and you all know that caught my attention — and its adorable. Right there on the cover you know you're getting baking and magic. Those things just scream me!

A Magical Bakery Mystery. Now I don't do a lot of mysteries. A lot of the time — and this is probably just the ones I read I admit — but I find the characters flat and some of the events unbelievable. I know that sounds weird because I write paranormal, but some things just seemed like plot devices.

Needless to say that this book was out of my comfort zone but the blot really caught my attention.

We have a 28 year old woman moving to Savannah, Georgia - one of my favorite towns! — to help run a bakery opened up in the historic district with her aunt and uncle. Once there, she discovers that she is a witch. On top of that, this bitchy customer ends up getting killed right outside her bakery and her uncle is accused of doing it!

This is not as action packed as most of the books I read but I really enjoyed it. I honeymooned in Savannah, so this book brought up all those happy memories. I really feel Bailey Cates captured the feel of Southern life without going overboard with it. I could feel myself back in Savannah again.

She really followed the Wiccan path more than anything in this book and I do look forward to the next. She did her research very well. The only thing she did that bothered me was that every practitioner I've ever met has told me that when you light candles for your alter to call upon the four points (north, south, east and west) that, at the end, you never blow them out. This is because wind would be overcoming fire and thus upsetting the balance in your circle. You always snuff them out.

Maybe there are practitioners that don't mind blowing out the candles, I've just always been told that you should never do that.

This review was served up to you by Bryonna Nobles.

The Paranormal Romance market is definitely saturated with vampires to the point that a lot of people are just not buying new books on the subject. We're also seeing a lot of stories about vampires coming out and integrating into human society. I bet you can name three series off the top of your head that do just that.

That being said, Molly Harper's Nice Girls series is a breathe of fresh air.



In Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs, book one in Jane Jameson's vampire adventures, Jane is just let go from her job as a librarian in her small Southern town.  They don't even have the decency to give her a severance check, just a gift certificate to a local bar.  Oh and a coupon for free potato wedges.

Drunk, she meets a charming stranger, Gabriel, who keeps her company on the worst day of her life.  Little did she know that being fired would be a highlight.

Sober enough to drive home, Jane's car breaks down on a long stretch of country road.  Getting out to walk, she didn't want to call anyone and talk about her humiliating day, she stumbles... just as the town's local drunk drives by and, mistaking her for a deer, decides to do a little hunting from his truck.

This is how Jane Jameson dies.  Shot and lying in a ditch on the side of the road.

Lucky for her, Gabriel was a concerned vampire who wanted to make sure she got home alright.  Three days later, she wakes up in his guest room, a newly risen vampire.

So begins Jane's adventures.

Molly has a hilarious voice.  Her characters are real and easy to relate to.  They are likable and have flaws. While, yes, you've seen similar stories before, she has a refreshing view on life as a vampire.

One thing I love about these books is that each chapter starts out with a passage from some 'self-help' book for vampires.  Such as The Guide from the Newly Undead.  I enjoy starting each new chapter just to see what new passage we're introduced to next.

Fabulous series and well worth the read.

This review was served up to you by Bryonna Nobles.

Last Chance to Run by Dianna Love was a fun read.  It reminded me of Cinderella.  Well, if Cinderella was on the run from a maniac killer and Prince Charming wielded a gun and flew a plane.


Our heroine, Angel, has gotten screwed every which way by life.  Even her dad betrayed her, framing her as a drug mule and sending her to prison for a year.  Finally, after years of scrubbing toilets and shoveling crap at the dump, she gets her dream job!  A worker at a warehouse.  She even gets promoted to inventory clerk.

When she finds a stolen painting, she decides to show her boss, prove to him he put his trust in the right girl despite her arrest record.  Oops.  Turns out the big boss is the one who stole those paintings.

On the run for her life, she runs into Prince Charming himself, Zane Black.  But even Zane isn't all he appears to be.  Having left the Air Force to take care of his little sister, Zane started his own courier service for big businesses.  Oh, and he works for the DEA.

A girl on the run, a man who wants to protect her but could end up landing her in jail, and everyone and their brother after them.

Great read.  Check it out!

This review was served up by Bryonna Nobles.