{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Girl of Rage - Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: Girl of Rage (Rachel's Peril #2)

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles

Release Date: May 25th 2014

Publisher: Cincinnatus Press

Age Group: New Adult

Source: eARC for blog tour

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Four days ago, Andrea Thompson agreed to fly to the United States to help her sister Carrie. Four days ago, everything changed.

Now Andrea is lost and on the run. Dylan Paris is missing. Julia and Crank Wilson are under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. The Thompson family is scattered and in danger, and Andrea’s very identity may hold the key to unlock decades of buried secrets.

Andrea, the youngest member of the Thompson clan, sets out on a search to find answers. Who is attacking her family? Who is trying to kill her and why?

As Andrea seeks her answers, everything she thought she knew about her family will be turned upside down.

Girl of Rage picks up right where Girl of Lies left off, with the Thompson family under attack on all fronts by adversaries unknown to them. The sisters struggle to keep themselves safe while trying to discover the truth about the ugly past that their parents hid from them, one that carries with it a gruesome event that a handful of people in positions of power means to hide forever, no matter the cost.

I held out hope that this book would be less like its predecessor and more like the Thompson Sisters books and I ended up being disappointed because of that, but that's not to say Girl of Rage isn't a good book. Reading this felt like watching a telenovela that took its time telling the story of every single character, like throwing in a bunch of random ingredients into a pot and having nothing to do but wait and see what dish comes out of it. It requires a big amount of emotional investment in the characters to fully enjoy this series, which, fortunately, I have a ton of.

What surprised me the most about this sequel is how it made me feel for characters that I used to hate. *cough* Adelina *cough* In here we learn that there is more than a lot of history to everyone, and that has made them who they are now. The multiple POVs certainly made it easier to sympathize with everyone. 

Overall, Girl of Rage is better than Girl of Lies. More gripping, fast-paced, and unpredictable, I found it easier to plow through, and I am looking forward to reading the third book. Now, just what is up with that series title?

MY FAVORITE PART is the ending.

RATING:

 

About the author:
Charles Sheehan-Miles has been a soldier, computer programmer, short-order cook and non-profit executive, and is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including the indie bestsellers Just Remember to Breathe and Republic: A Novel of America's Future. Charles and his partner Andrea Randall live and write together in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Remember to Breathe

Giveaway!

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Girl of Lies - Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: Girl of Lies (Rachel's Peril #1)

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles

Release Date: December 17th 2013

Publisher: Cincinnatus Press

Age Group: New Adult
Source: eARC for blog tour

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Andrea Thompson is smart, assertive and beautiful. She’s also desperately lonely. Raised in Europe by her grandmother, she struggles knowing neither of her parents wanted her, and she has no idea why.

When Andrea receives an urgent call from her older sister Carrie, she agrees to fly to the United States to help. Carrie’s newborn daughter Rachel needs a bone marrow transplant.

What Andrea doesn’t know is that her return to the United States will launch a chain of events that will uncover secrets hidden for decades. Secrets which will rock the Thompson family and ignite a political firestorm.

Secrets that some will kill to protect.

Girl of Lies is not the book I thought it would be. I've read A Song for Julia and The Last Hour from the first trilogy, Thompson Sisters, and although those two are by no means fun, sunny reads, this one is on a whole other level of distressed. I was introduced to it in The Last Hour, but in this book, the threat that the girls are in because of their family's connections to positions of power in the government is solidified and made very apparent.

The Thompson girls may have grown up with financial security, but that is all their dysfunctional parents have ever provided them with. They all feel neglected in many ways, but no one more so than Andrea, the youngest child in the family. I found it very strange how Andrea was shipped off to Spain to live with her grandmother when her mother would have kept her other daughters in a vise-like grip if she could. Andrea has long ago accepted it as a fact that her parents simply don't love her, but when her sisters start questioning it themselves, they all start digging around, finding answers to questions they'd - I'd - never thought to ask.

There was no moment of rest for any of the characters in this book, may they be the Thompson sisters or even the villains themselves. Everyone basically went around either looking for answers or covering up their asses, and although that made the story move painfully slow, I still couldn't stop reading. But soon enough, I got impatient and just wanted to get to the juicy parts; I think the author could have done without a few of the perspectives here and sped up the pace. Yet, as always, I was awed by how good he is at creating such diverse, fleshed-out characters and never confusing me even when they're all in one room.

Girl of Lies ended somewhat abruptly, making it feel like little to nothing was actually resolved, and that's something I didn't encounter in the first trilogy. I also think people who haven't read the previous books would be at least mildly confused when they read this because a truck-full of emotions carry over from those to this one. This book provided shocking answers to questions I'd asked in the previous books - "just what the hell is wrong with the Thompson parents" being the most major one - while raising a ton of new ones. So one thing's for sure: I'll be devouring the next book as soon as I can.

MY FAVORITE PARTS were learning the truth about Adelina, the girls' mother.

RATING:

About the author: 
Charles Sheehan-Miles has been a soldier, computer programmer, short-order cook and non-profit executive, and is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including the indie bestsellers Just Remember to Breathe and Republic: A Novel of America's Future. 

Find out more at http://www.sheehanmiles.com

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Giveaway!

{Blog Tour} Excerpt + Giveaway: Nocturne - Andrea Randall & Charles Sheehan-Miles

Welcome to my stop for the Nocturne blog tour! You can view the full tour schedule here.

Title: Nocturne

Authors: Andrea Randall & Charles Sheehan-Miles

Release Date: August 24th 2013

Publisher: Self-published

Age Group: New Adult

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Savannah Marshall is a gifted flutist and daughter of musical royalty when she enrolls in the elite New England Conservatory of Music. Brilliant, eclectic and passionate, she lives music, but struggles with her plans for the future.

Gregory Fitzgerald is one of the most renowned cellists of his generation. A member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and professor at the Conservatory, he is laser focused on his career to the exclusion of friends, family and especially romance.

When Gregory and Savannah’s paths cross in the classroom, it threatens to challenge more than their wildly differing beliefs on music. Friendships, ethics, and careers are put on the line as Gregory and Savannah play a symphony of passion and heartbreak.

In the final movement, Gregory and Savannah are handed their greatest challenge, as the loss of absolutely everything they’ve held as truths hangs in the balance.

About the authors:

I started writing poetry long before writing fiction. I firmly believe Poetry is a solid foundation for all other forms of writing. It taught me that a single word can make or break the world.

I write fiction because my characters have a story and they want me to tell it.

I hope you enjoy the pieces of my soul that I share with you.

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Sheehan-Miles has been a soldier, computer programmer, short-order cook and non-profit executive, and is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including the indie bestsellers Just Remember to Breathe and Republic: A Novel of America's Future.

Website | Facebook

Now for the excerpt!

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: The Last Hour - Charles Sheehan-Miles

Welcome to my stop for The Last Hour blog tour! You can follow the tour here.

Title: The Last Hour (Thompson Sisters)

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles

Release Date: April 19th 2013

Publisher: Cincinnatus Press

Age Group: Adult

Genre: Contemporary

Source: eARC for blog tour

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Twenty-seven year old Carrie Thompson-Sherman has the life she always wanted: her PhD, a prestigious fellowship, and an amazing husband.

Her life begins to unravel as a jealous colleague puts her fellowship in jeopardy and a haunting secret Ray Sherman carried home from Afghanistan comes to light.

Hounded by a federal investigation and the ensuing media feeding frenzy, Carrie and Ray desperately lean on each other, until a disastrous accident puts both Ray and her sister's lives at risk.

In the last hour, Carrie and Ray will each find themselves faced with a choice.

A choice that will change everything.

Attention, reader. If you want a light romance read for a plane ride or a day-off, The Last Hour isn't the book for you. Why? Because it's the most tear-jerking book I have ever read. The opening scene immediately took hold of my attention. How could it not when it felt like the climax already? And then in less than four chapters, the waterworks started. 

As was the case in A Song for Julia, the first Thompson Sisters book I read, I really admire how well the author sculpted his characters. He wrote the book from both Carrie and Ray's perspectives, and he was able to mold two fleshed-out characters with their own distinct voices. Also, his ability to portray every little emotion that goes on between his numerous characters is nothing short of amazing. 

I really admired Carrie. She was obviously a strong and smart woman, hardened by having to look out for her sisters because of their emotionally-absent parents. Even in the hardest times, she still looked out for them. She never bothered with wasting time on unimportant crap like a jealous co-worker or a spiteful future mother-in-law. Ray, on the other hand, was deeply traumatized because of his time in Afghanistan. I pitied the poor guy but at the same time admired him, too, because he still chose to do the right thing - kinda spoiler-y if I say more on this - and tried his best to live. 

While dealing with serious issues in the family, work, and even the military, the story still centered on Carrie and Ray's sweet and heart-wrenching romance as they struggled to go through everything together. This was mostly shown in the flashback chapters which were, basically, the only reprieves in this intense story. I don't know when I'll get to read Just Remember to Breathe but I'm sure looking forward to it because only God knows how much I enjoy revisiting these characters and how I wish the author won't leave the three younger Thompson sisters with their stories untold. 

MY FAVORITE PARTS were every happy moment which I'm glad I savored.

RATING:

 

About the author:
Charles Sheehan-Miles has been a soldier, computer programmer, short-order cook and non-profit executive. He is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including the indie bestsellers Just Remember to Breathe and Republic: A Novel of America's Future.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway!

Cover Reveal: The Last Hour - Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: The Last Hour (Thompson Sisters #3)

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles

Expected release date: May 15th 2013
Publisher: Cincinnatus Press

Cover Designer: Okay Creations

  

Twenty-seven year old Carrie Thompson-Sherman has the life she always wanted: her PhD, a prestigious fellowship, and an amazing husband.

Her life begins to unravel as a jealous colleague puts her fellowship in jeopardy and a haunting secret Ray Sherman carried home from Afghanistan comes to light.

Hounded by a federal investigation and the ensuing media feeding frenzy, Carrie and Ray desperately lean on each other, until a disastrous accident puts both Ray and her sister's lives at risk.

In the last hour, Carrie and Ray will each find themselves faced with a choice. A choice that will change everything.

About the author: 

Charles Sheehan-Miles has been a soldier, computer programmer, short-order cook and non-profit executive. He is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including the indie bestsellers Just Remember to Breathe and Republic: A Novel of America's Future.

Charles Sheehan-Miles | Facebook | Twitter

Book Review: A Song for Julia - Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: A Song for Julia (Thompson Sisters #1)

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles
Release Date: December 4th 2012

Publisher: Cincinnatus Press

Source: AToMR Tours

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Everyone should have something to rebel against. 

Crank Wilson left his South Boston home at sixteen to start a punk band and burn out his rage at the world. Six years later, he’s still at odds with his father, a Boston cop, and doesn’t ever speak to his mother. The only relationship that really matters is with his younger brother, but watching out for Sean can be a full-time job. The one thing Crank wants in life is to be left the hell alone to write his music and drive his band to success. 

Julia Thompson left a secret behind in Beijing that exploded into scandal in Washington, DC, threatening her father's career and dominating her family's life. Now, in her senior year at Harvard, she's haunted by a voice from her past and refuses to ever lose control of her emotions again, especially when it comes to a guy. 

When Julia and Crank meet at an anti-war protest in Washington in the fall of 2002, the connection between them is so powerful it threatens to tear everything apart.

I admit, I got into this book thinking it was going to be an easy read, light and cute and fluffy. Yep, I ignored the blurb. Again. And I was pleasantly surprised. Again.

Julia Thompson and Crank Wilson both had tough teenage lives. Now in their twenties, they were still at odds with their parents and keep everyone at a safe distance to protect themselves from the hurt they'd tried so hard to run away from, so just what would happen when the lives of these two very similar yet very different people converge?

Julia was a woman to look up to; smart, beautiful, and confident. Unfortunately, that strong-willed persona was a mask to hide her tragic past, not overcome it. But still, she was slowly trying to build a life of her own and stop following her parents' plan for her. It was really fun to see her little bouts of rebellion against them.

Crank's facade couldn't be farther away from Julia's. He was the sexy, womanizing lead singer of Morbid Obesity who was realizing that he wanted something more than the one-night stands. It was fun to see him show his funny, sweet, thoughtful, and basically just freaking lovable side. This dude plastered a lot of stupid grins on my face.

The chemistry between these two was immediate and palpable, so it made me really sad to know that there were a lot more hindrances than I thought to their being together, especially for Julia because she certainly had worse experiences than Crank. And although he jumpstarted her healing process, he still got hurt along the way. I didn't like how, up until before the end of the book, Julia still hadn't gotten over her trust issues even when Crank did nothing but show his love for her. At one point, she said this:

Never again would I watch my own lifeblood pouring out of me into a bathtub because I needed people in my life. I was going to live life on my own terms or not at all.

I pitied her by then because she thought she was living on her own terms by pushing away everyone who cared about her, when really she was living it on her past's terms.

A Song for Julia wasn't a simple romance novel. It was heavy on family drama and touched on some sensitive topics that I won't name to avoid being spoiler-y. It was the story of two broken people coming together hesitantly and finding love. The romance fell to the side towards the end because of Julia's self-realization, but the story's closure was very satisfying... and it might have pulled out some tears from me.

MY FAVORITE PART was Crank sleeping at Julia's dorm XD

RATING:

(cover and summary from Goodreads.com)