Month: July 2016

The Beauty of the End by Debbie Howells

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The Beauty of the End by [Howells, Debbie]

Publisher: Kensington

Date of Publication: July 26, 2016

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Crime, Adult, Contemporary, European Literature, British Literature

Purchase Links: Amazon | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | Indigo

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the acclaimed author of The Bones of You comes a haunting and heartbreaking new psychological thriller about a man thrust into the middle of a murder investigation, forced to confront the secrets of his ex-lover’s past.

“I was fourteen when I fell in love with a goddess. . .”

So begins the testimony of Noah Calaway, an ex-lawyer with a sideline in armchair criminal psychology. Now living an aimless life in an inherited cottage in the English countryside, Noah is haunted by the memory of the beguiling young woman who left him at the altar sixteen years earlier. Then one day he receives a troubling phone call. April, the woman he once loved, lies in a coma, the victim of an apparent overdose–and the lead suspect in a brutal murder. Deep in his bones, Noah believes that April is innocent. Then again, he also believed they would spend the rest of their lives together.

While Noah searches for evidence that will clear April’s name, a teenager named Ella begins to sift through the secrets of her own painful family history. The same age as April was when Noah first met her, Ella harbors a revelation that could be the key to solving the murder. As the two stories converge, there are shocking consequences when at last, the truth emerges.

Or so everyone believes. . .

Set in a borderland where the past casts its shadow on the present, with a time-shifting narrative that will mesmerize and surprise, The Beauty of the End is both a masterpiece of suspense and a powerful rumination on lost love

I tried to get into this book and like it. I couldn’t get past Noah’s obsession with April. It was creepy and, at some points, smothering. Everyone around him could see that but him. It breaks him when she ends their relationship, and he is never the same.

The book starts when Noah gets a call from his childhood friend about April. She overdosed but not before killing her stepfather. He rushes to her bedside and begins investigating the mystery of what happened.

This is when I met Ella, a troubled 15-year-old in therapy. She has a terrible secret that she found while snooping through her father’s desk.

This is also where the book started jumping around. It would go from the present to when Noah first met April to the present to when they were living together. Then add Ella’s story (which was in italics), which got very confusing.

The suspense part of the book was well written. The author threw red herrings, but I was shocked when it came down to reveal the truth. It wasn’t even close to what I thought or what the author led me to believe.

The ending seemed a little rushed, leaving me feeling that there should have been something more. I didn’t like how April was portrayed at the end. It went against everything that we were told during the story. But, in a way, it made sense.

I would recommend The Beauty of the End to anyone over 16. There are nongraphic sex scenes, mild violence, and mild language.

If you enjoyed reading The Beauty of the End, you will enjoy reading these books:

Almost Forever (Austin Hero’s: Book 2) by Kathy Clark

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Almost Forever: An Austin Heroes Novel by [Clark, Kathy]

Publisher: Loveswept

Date of Publication: July 26, 2016

Genre: Romance, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary

Series: Austin Hero’s

After Love—Book 1

Almost Forever—Book 2

Another Chance—Book 3 (review here)

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Indigo | Kobo | Apple Books

Goodreads Synopsis:

A cold case leads to blazing-hot temptation in this novel of romantic suspense from bestselling author Kathy Clark. For readers of Nora Roberts and Karen Robards, Almost Forever pairs a rugged lawman with a woman who may just be a murderer.

Justin Archer is a Texas Ranger through and through, a loyal man devoted to the dangerous job he loves. But when the grisly discovery of a skeleton in a local vineyard turns an old missing-persons case into a vicious homicide, Justin finds that the toughest challenge of his professional career will be keeping his hands off his chief suspect: the dead man’s beautiful, young trophy wife. Did Lori Roberts kill for vast material gain? The only thing Justin knows for sure is that their chemistry is instantaneous—and overpowering.

Lori worked hard to build a new life for herself and her daughter. She turned her husband’s struggling vineyard into a thriving enterprise, and now she stands to lose it all over something that happened eight years ago. Justin could lock her up and throw away the key, but Lori desperately wants to trust him. More than that, she wants to let him into her wounded heart. Because Lori’s been running from the past for a long time . . . and she’s ready to start living for the future.

I almost didn’t finish this book. Why? Because I couldn’t get over the characters. This book had a ton of promise. The storyline was great!!! A man thought to have been a missing person ends up being found dead in the vineyard he owned 8 years later. The widow is under suspicion, but the Ranger assigned to her case knows there is more to meet the eye. The author could have gone in so many directions with this awesome plot. Instead, she tried to turn it into a love story and did succeed for the most part.

I loved Justin and Lori’s characters but didn’t love them together. There was too much baggage on Lori’s end. She tried to deny her attraction to Justin but couldn’t. And ended up having sex in her dead husband’s study while her daughter was in the next room. Nope. Nope. Nope. Too much Ewwww factor in that. They got more believable once Lori’s life was endangered, and Justin was forced into a vacation.

I did guess who Mark’s killer was by the middle of the book. But it didn’t remove the emotional scene when the killer was revealed. I guessed who was after Lori shortly after her incidents started happening. So the mystery wasn’t there for me.

I almost didn’t finish the book and was going to put it away when the scenes with Grammy started. Grammy was pure gold, and the scenes with her and her grandsons were 100% awesome. The skunk scene with Harley, Mackenzie, and the twins was awesome and turned me back into the book.

The ending was a little too pat for me. Everything was wrapped up with a bow and delivered to the reader.

Also, this is the 2nd book in a series, and we all know how much I love those. But this was a standalone book with references to Nick and Jamie from the first book.

I would recommend Almost Forever to anyone over 21. There is sex, violence, and language.

If you enjoyed reading Almost Forever, you will enjoy reading these books:

A Dream of Ashes (Chronicles of the Modern Mystic: Book 1) by Orlando Sanchez

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A Dream of Ashes: An Ava James Mystery (Chronicles of the Modern Mystics Book 1) by [Sanchez, Orlando A.]

Publisher: OM Publishing

Date of Publication: April 27th, 2016

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Series: Chronicles of the Modern Mystics

The Dark Flame—Book 0.5

A Dream of Ashes—Book 1

Purchase Links: Amazon | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

Mystics.Magic.Murder.
A Rogue Mystic.A Ruthless Killer. A Dark Secret.
Ava James is a fire mystic with the Mystic Investigative Division. As a branch of the Enclave, a worldwide mystic organization, the MID is feared, respected and reviled.
When the half-charred body of a Mystic is found, the Enclave sends her to investigate the strange death. Ava finds that all the clues point to the killer being a fire mystic, one of her own. Accused by the Enclave of working with the killer she must solve the case before a secret buried in her past is revealed and destroys her world.
Can she save herself? Will she find the murderer?
If you like hardcore, fast-moving action, complex mystical powers and an unstoppable heroine, then you’ll love Orlando A. Sanchez’ thrilling new series: Chronicles of the Modern Mystics.
Buy A Dream of Ashes and join Ava on her adventure today!

This is the first book I have ever read by Orlando Sanchez, and I have got to say it was GOOD.

From the beginning, when I first met Ava kicking some bad guy’s ass, the action was nonstop. I told BK that this would not only make a great fantasy movie, BUT it would also make a great action film. Of course, he didn’t understand but still.

The story was good too. Ava is a fire mystic working for the MID (Mystic Investigative Division). She is sent to a crime scene where a fire mystic is burned up, and fingers start pointing toward her. When the head of the MID is injured in a blast at a bar, she is considered the main suspect, and the chase is on. What a chase it is. Ava is chased all over NYC until she finds temporary asylum with her Sensei. Then she learns some startling facts about her uncle and herself.

The book picks up when she heads to Japan to help her uncle Seb, a Void mystic. The action gets better.

The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger (thanks to Seb’s revelation). I’m not too fond of cliffhangers, but this worked for this book. I can’t wait to read book 2 and see if it is as action-packed as book 1.

I would recommend A Dream of Ashes to anyone over 21. There is no sex, but there are language and violence.

If you enjoyed reading A Dream of Ashes, you will enjoy reading these books:

The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

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Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date of publication: July 26th, 2016

Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Fantasy, Adult, Historical, Historical Fiction, Horror, Adult Fiction

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | IndieBound | Indigo

Goodreads Synopsis:

Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984:
the year a heatwave scorched the small town of Breathed, Ohio.
The year he became friends with the devil.

When local prosecutor Autopsy Bliss publishes an invitation to the devil to come to the country town of Breathed, Ohio, nobody quite expected that he would turn up. They especially didn’t expect him to turn up a tattered and bruised thirteen-year-old boy.

Fielding, the son of Autopsy, finds the boy outside the courthouse and brings him home, and he is welcomed into the Bliss family. The Blisses believe the boy, who calls himself Sal, is a runaway from a nearby farm town. Then, as a series of strange incidents implicate Sal — and riled by the feverish heatwave baking the town from the inside out — there are some around town who start to believe that maybe Sal is exactly who he claims to be.

But whether he’s a traumatised child or the devil incarnate, Sal is certainly one strange fruit: he talks in riddles, his uncanny knowledge and understanding reaches far outside the realm of a normal child — and ultimately his eerily affecting stories of Heaven, Hell, and earth will mesmerise and enflame the entire town.

Devastatingly beautiful, The Summer That Melted Everything is a captivating story about community, redemption, and the dark places where evil really lies.

I don’t even know what to write here (which is a first) because the book was THAT good. It was written so that you couldn’t help but get sucked into it, and then you can’t put it down. As I said, it is THAT good.

I was introduced to the Bliss family in the book’s first chapter. Autopsy, Stella, Grand, Fielding, and Aunt Fedelia. Autopsy is the local prosecutor for the town of Breathed. Autopsy decided, one day, to write a letter to the devil inviting him to Breathed and posted it in the newspaper. Guess what? A young boy claiming to be the devil showed up right before a major heat wave.

This is where the story became interesting. The author kept you guessing if Sal (Satan and Lucifer’s name combined) was the devil. He had insight into the different relationships that were going on in the town that no 13-year-old should know. I never figured out if he was the devil or not.

Strange events started happening every time Sal went into town. The heat kept rising; a woman had a tragic accident, a mob was incited, and stuff along those lines. He isn’t allowed out of the yard/house to keep him safe.

The story is told in flashbacks from a 70-something-year-old Fielding. Who suffers survivor’s guilt. I don’t like it when books are told in flashbacks. You lose something from it. In this case, it worked. I got to see the long-term damage caused by the events of that awful summer/fall, which is heartbreaking. The author did a perfect job of taking older Fielding’s memories and turning them into a story about younger Fielding.

There was a huge twist in the story that I saw coming. It involved Elohim, Fielding’s former mentor and Sal’s biggest enemy in town. I did a WTF when it was revealed.

I would recommend The Summer that Melted Everything to anyone over 21. There is strong language and violence.

If you enjoyed reading The Summer that Melted Everything, you will enjoy reading these books:

Her Survivor (Black Eagle Ops: Book 1) by Vonnie Davis

~ Jolie ~ 1 Comment
Her Survivor: A Black Eagle Ops Novel by [Davis, Vonnie]

Publisher: Loveswept

Date of publication: July 19th, 2016

Genre: Romance, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, War, Military Fiction, Military Romance, Contemporary, Disability, Fiction, Suspense

Series: Black Eagle Ops

Her Survivor—Book 1

Hers to Heal—Book 2 (review here)

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Indigo | Kobo | Apple Books

Goodreads synopsis:

Vonnie Davis welcomes readers to Wounded Warrior Falls! In this sizzling contemporary series, broken heroes meet women worth fighting for—and discover the healing power of love.

Navy SEAL Dustin Frank can handle physical pain; it’s his soul that needs mending. After losing part of his leg in an explosion, the panic triggered by his PTSD nearly drives him over the edge. So Dustin retreats to the Eagle Ridge Ranch, a charming hideaway tucked into the Hill Country of Texas. There he finds solace in the arms of a shy beauty who reawakens desires he thought he’d lost forever—and who makes him want to lose control, just when he needs it most.

Kelcee Todd sees beyond Dustin’s scars to the real man beneath: fiercely protective, strong yet tender. She wants nothing more than to feel his battle-hardened hands on her body. However, Kelcee is not the ordinary small-town girl she appears to be. Her brother is a killer with ties to the Russian mob, and after her testimony put him in prison, he’s out and eager for revenge. Now Dustin is her best defense, even if it could cost him everything. Kelcee could never ask him to make that sacrifice . . . but she can’t stop him, either.

I am guilty of stereotyping a book, and I am sorry. When I first started reading this book, I thought, “Wounded Army vet meets spunky girl, and sparks fly. Yawn.” And I am here to say, “I am wrong” and “Not even close.”

Dustin’s character was well written, and his PTSD symptoms were point on. There were points in the book where I wanted to cry for him. I understand how his mental fog, anxiety, and depression affected his everyday life. So when ZQ offered him a place at the ranch, I wanted to cheer.

When I couldn’t get any more vested in the book, we met Kelcee and the rest of the town. Talk about a town that I would love to live in!!! What eccentric people. I loved it. From ZQ’s mom to Sugar Loaf/Silver Stud, they stick in your mind. I also could see Kelcee being one of my good friends. She was so real, and I giggled at some of her zingers and one-liners.

The sexual tension and sexual chemistry between Kelcee and Dustin were off the wall. The tension was there from the minute they met, even though they did not want it. And when they finally ended up in bed, it was so bittersweet that I wanted to cry.

The subplot about Kelcee being in the Witness Protection Program was kept under wrap. Translated: I didn’t pay attention to the blurb (was too busy staring at the cover and drooling). When it was revealed, it was surprising to me. The only thing I didn’t like about this was that Kelcee took forever to tell Dustin. Which, in my mind, was stupid because he could have ended that whole thing for her when she got hurt.

The ending was hilarious, in a way. Not giving anything away, but when Junebug freaks out, I laughed until I had tears running down my cheeks. It was that funny.

3 Things I liked about Her Survivor:

  1. Dustin and Kelcee’s romance
  2. Junebug (OMG, loved her)
  3. Nance

3 Things I disliked about Her Survivor:

  1. Kelcee’s brother
  2. Dustin’s PTSD
  3. Instalove

I would recommend Her Survivor to anyone over 21. There are graphic sex scenes, language, and violence.

If you enjoyed reading Her Survivor, you will enjoy reading these books:

All is Bright (Hope Beach) by Colleen Coble

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All Is Bright: A Hope Beach Christmas Novella by [Coble, Colleen]

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Date of publication: October 6th, 2015

Genre: Holiday, Christmas, Christian Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Christian, Novella, Mystery, Suspense

Series: Hope Beach

Tidewater Inn—Book 1

Rosemary Cottage—Book 2

Seagrass Pier—Book 3

All is Bright

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | Kobo

Goodreads Synopsis:

A romantic, Christmas wedding at her seaside hotel gives Delilah a chance to shine with her unique gifts. But will her light be snuffed out before the bride and groom say “I do”? 

As manager of the Tidewater Inn, Delilah Carter has been planning a spectacular Christmas wedding for her friends at the grand hotel overlooking the ocean. While picking up still more twinkly lights and some last-minute groceries for the reception dinner, a huge truck runs her off the freezing, wet roads into the dark night. Her car stops just short of an enormous tree and the truck speeds off into the night. Delilah escapes with her life and has almost convinced herself the whole thing was an accident, but then she begins to receive threatening phone calls. With the wedding just hours away, she’s distracted and anxious. Then Sheriff Tom Bourne stops by the inn and volunteers to help.

Tom has always had a soft spot for Delilah, and he’s determined to protect her. But he is pulled away by a bizarre Christmas stunt that has the neighborhood reeling, and Delilah is attacked again.

Will Delilah have to cancel the Christmas wedding at Tidewater Inn? And will Tom’s protection be enough to save Delilah from the shadowy figure looming in the background?

If you have been following this blog for a while, then you know my intense dislike of picking up a book that is part of a series. This also extends to novellas/short stories in the series.

I am happy that this novella/short story is none of the above. It had developed characters and a suspenseful plot line that kept you guessing until the end.

The only thing I had an issue with was the romance between Delilah and Tom. It seemed to come out of nowhere, which was weird to me. I mean, they have known for years and then realized that they had chemistry? Not believable.

I would recommend All is Bright to anyone over 16. There is mild violence, language, and no sex.

If you enjoyed reading All is Bright, you will enjoy reading these books:

Resthaven by Erik Therme

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Resthaven by [Therme, Erik]

Publisher: Thecker Books

Date of publication: April 12th, 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Mystery, Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | AbeBooks | Alibris | IndieBound | Indigo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

The last thing fifteen-year-old Kaylee wants to do is participate in a childish scavenger hunt–especially inside the abandoned retirement home on the edge of town. When she finds a bruised, deaf boy hiding inside one of the rooms, she vows to lead him to safety . . . only to discover the front doors are now padlocked, and her friends are nowhere to be found. Kaylee is about to learn that not everything that goes “bump in the night” is imaginary, and sometimes there are worse things to fear than ghosts.

Have you ever read a book that is so creepy and unsettling that it stays with you afterward? A book that invades your dreams and gives you nightmares?

Well, this is that book.

It starts innocently. A sleepover at a new friend’s house. It turns sinister when the new friend throws a scavenger hunt in the nursing home.

The doors to the nursing home are mysteriously padlocked. Locking Kaylee, Sid, Anna, and Wren inside with an elderly man who is insane. When Kaylee found a 5-year-old abused deaf boy in a closet, my pulse level went through the roof!!!

I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. Like I said above, it gets under your skin, and you wonder what will happen to the girls and the boy at the end.

Speaking of the end, I enjoyed it. Kaylee did the right thing. I

I would recommend Resthaven to anyone over 16. There is mild violence, mild language, and no sexual situations.

If you enjoyed reading Resthaven, you will enjoy reading these books

The Last Time She Saw Him (Julia Gooden Mystery: Book 1) by Jane Haseldine

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The Last Time She Saw Him (A Julia Gooden Mystery Book 1) by [Haseldine, Jane]

Publisher: Kensington

Date of Publication: June 28, 2016

Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Psychological Thriller, Adult Fiction, Contemporary,

Series: Julia Gooden Mystery

The Last Time She Saw Him—Book 1

Duplicity—Book 2 (review here)

Worth Killing For—Book 3

You Fit the Pattern—Book 4

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | Indigo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

In Jane Haseldine’s gripping and brilliantly crafted debut, a reporter searching for her kidnapped son must untangle the connection to her brother’s long-ago disappearance.

Julia Gooden remembers nothing about the worst night of her life. Thirty years ago, her nine-year-old brother Ben—the person who promised he would always protect her—was abducted from the room they shared. Try as she might to recall any clue or detail, there is a black hole where Julia’s memories of that terrible event should be.

Now a crime reporter at a Detroit newspaper, Julia tries to give others the closure she’s never found. But guilt and grief over Ben’s disappearance have left her fearful that whoever took her brother is going to come back. Nowhere seems safe—not the city, not the suburbs, not even the secluded lake town where she plans to raise her children. And then, on the anniversary of Ben’s disappearance, Julia’s worst fears are realized when her two-year-old son, Will, is snatched from his bed.

Convinced that the crimes are related, Julia tries to piece together memories from her final day with Ben. Are the sudden reminders of her brother clues that will lead her to her son’s abductor, or merely coincidence? Julia knows she has hours at best to find Will alive, but the deeper she digs, the more personal and terrifying the battle becomes, and an undying promise may be her only hope of saving herself and her son.

My review:

If you are looking for a book that showcases the best and worst of people and has a dash of the supernatural in it, read this book.

Julia was not a character that was likable, and I love that the author wrote her that way. She suffers survivor’s guilt after her older brother was kidnapped out of their room when she was 7. That one event shaped her entire life. Julia tortures herself over his disappearance. This has affected all areas of her life, from her job and marriage to how she parents her children.

The story got going when her 2-year-old was kidnapped out of his room. The author did a great job writing that part of the book too. She captured Julia’s terror and her fight to get her child away from the kidnappers.

The book then became a mishmash of the present and past.  It was discovered that the same Indian head arrow was left under Will’s crib. Which was a connection to her brother’s disappearance.

But all is not what it seems. Clues were given by a pedophile pastor. A police detective was halfway in love with her. I didn’t know what direction the book was going in. And that was the best thing about it!!!

I didn’t know who the kidnappers were until the very end of the book. The author did a fantastic job of keeping that hidden. She threw out red herrings and created a couple of false leads that, when it was revealed, I  went, “Whaaaat??“

I would recommend The Last Time She Saw Him to anyone over 21. There is violence, language, and no sex. There are also graphic descriptions of sexually abused children.

If you enjoyed reading The Last Time She Saw Him; you will enjoy reading these books:

The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman by Brady Stefani

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The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman: A Novel by [Stefani, Brady]

Publisher: SparkPress

Date of publication: June 7th, 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Aliens, Fiction, Teen, Fantasy, Coming of Age

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | AbeBooks | Alibris | IndieBound | Indigo | Kobo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

Fifteen year old Courtney wants to be normal like her friends. But there’s something frighteningly different about her—

My grandpa Dahlen was crazy. According to my mom, anyway. I was seven when he had me tattooed, and then tried to drown me in his bathtub to escape the bad men. Whether his obsession with alien visitors drove him over the edge or he just knew things we didn’t, I can’t say.

He used to tell me things, though. Things that normal people would never believe. Secrets about an ancient alien-human bloodline, covert societies, and wormholes to the alien universe.

My grandpa’s dead. But people still say that I have his same silvery-blue eyes. What they don’t know is, I inherited far more from him than just his eyes.

This book was fantastic. The book starts with Courtney as she runs through her backyard. She is trying to escape alien visitors and her memories of her beloved grandfather.

I felt bad for Courtney. Her mother was a grade-A bitch. At some points in the book, I wanted to reach through the pages and take Courtney away. She was in competition for Mommy Dearest. The best thing that happened to Courtney was when she was sent to live with her father. He was more accepting of her.

The story got going once Courtney met Agatha. Once Agatha came into the picture, the ball got rolling. Everything Courtney remembers wasn’t the truth. The truth was so much more than what I expected.

The ending was great. There were a couple of twists that I saw coming from a mile away and that I went eh at. The biggest one was saved for the end. I was disappointed that events were forgotten by everyone except Agatha and Courtney. It made me want to scream. I did like that the author left it open for a possible sequel (Jorge and his blue eyes….swoon)

I would recommend The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman to anyone over 16. There is mild violence, mild language, and no sex.

If you enjoyed reading The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman, you will enjoy reading these books:

The Last Humans: The Complete Trilogy (The Last Humans: Books 1-3) by Dima Zales and Anna Zaires

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The Last Humans: The Complete Trilogy by [Zales, Dima]

Publisher: Mozaika Publications

Date of publication: June 10, 2016

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fantasy

Series: The Last Humans

Oasis—Book 1

Limbo—Book 2

Haven—Book 3

The Last Humans: The Complete Trilogy

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | Alibris | Indigo | Kobo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

When invisible technology runs everything and memories can’t be trusted, how does one sort the truth from the lies?

Oasis, the last habitable area on post-apocalyptic Earth, is meant to be a paradise, a place where everyone is content. Vulgarity, violence, insanity, and other ills are but a distant memory, and even death no longer plagues the last surviving humans.

Theo, a twenty-three-year-old Youth, has never fit in with the serene, age-divided Oasis society. But it’s only when he starts hearing a girl’s voice in his head that he realizes that nothing is what it seems. Phoe is his imaginary friend—or is she?

As secrets are unveiled, Theo is dragged into a dangerous game where the virtual and the real worlds collide.

What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be real?

Theo is about to find out.

Warning: This book contains some strong language. We felt it was important for the censorship theme of the novel. If such words offend you, you might not enjoy this book. If in doubt, please read the sample before buying.

NOTE: This is a complete trilogy containing three full-length novels— Oasis, Limbo, and Haven.

This isn’t the first set of books I have read by Dima Zales and Anna Zaires. I reviewed The Mind Dimensions Omnibus by Dima Zales a few months back and liked it. I loved Close Liaisons (The Krinar Chronicles: Book 1) by Anna Zaires. I was excited to read this trilogy.

I was disappointed. Very disappointed and a little letdown. The first book, Oasis, was alright and kept my attention for the entire book. The story was good (was Theo going insane? Who was Phoe?), but it started to get a little strange towards the end. I had a couple of questions that weren’t answered. The ending of Oasis was interesting and set up for the 2nd book, Limbo.

Limbo wasn’t my favorite book of the series. It started where Oasis ended, and for a little while, the story was interesting. I liked the connection between Phoe and Theo. I wished the author never crossed the line into a romance with them. It was done, and I felt it colored the story. I got confused about Theo going in and out of virtual reality. To the point where I couldn’t figure out if he were in virtual reality or not. There was no line drawn. I thought the subplot with the Elders was great, but I wished the author had twisted it differently. The ending was alright but in no way led up to Haven.

Haven was the best book in the series. It started with a bang and ended on a sweet note. Everything else between was a great read. What was revealed about Oasis was nothing short of unbelievable. A big twist revealed towards the end of Haven made me go “da faq.” It made me question everything that had been written in the book.

I would recommend The Last Humans to anyone over 21. There is graphic violence, sex, and language.

If you enjoyed reading The Last Humans, you will enjoy reading these books: