Septembers Pre-loved giveaway is...

Actually there are two this month. Both fairly thin books

*IMPORTANT PLEASE READ* Please remember when emailing to put which giveaway you would like, if you wish to enter for both of them you don't need to fill out the form twice, just put in the comments you would like to be entered for both and as always please give me a way to contact you.

Contact me/enter the giveaway via my new form Fill out my form!

The first one is The Love Killers by Jackie Collins, I gave it four stars and have actually read it twice. The spine has no creases and in near perfect condition (there is a tiny crease to the top corner on the cover).

Goodreads synopsis

POWERFUL MEN, BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AND EXQUISITE REVENGE...

Beth, Lara and Rio -- three exotic women with a common cause and vengeance in their hearts.

They're out to avenge a murder and they'll go to any lengths. Their targets: the heirs of the Bassalino crime family. Their weapon: sex. The result: a bloodbath of sexual mayhem through the lethal corridors of organized crime.

Three beautiful women set out to prove that when it comes to revenge, the female is far deadlier than the male -- especially when they're THE LOVE KILLERS. . .


And book 2 is

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley - I gave this a 3/5 rating whilst others absolutely loved it (I have reviewed it on here also). The spine is uncreased and it is in perfect condition so could be given as a gift.

Goodreads synopsis

She doesn't really know who she is or what she wants...

Corinna is a Folk Keeper. Her job is to keep the mysterious Folk who live beneath the ground at bay. But Corinna has a secret that even she doesn't fully comprehend, until she agrees to serve as Folk Keeper at Marblehaugh Park, a wealthy family's seaside manor. There her hidden powers burst into full force, and Corinna's life changes forever..


Good luck.

Review - Origins by Steve Alten

Meg: Origins by Steve Alten

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was looking forward to the next installment when I got the email about this one :D

I think if you haven't read any of the series this is a great place to start as for me because I have read the other books and they are quite action packed with lots of appearances from the Meg. This one was still good but because it is the start of the story there is more time dedicated to the characters and the build up for the following books. A short quick read as I finished it in one day.

The other thing I loved is when I get books to review from authors it is almost always .pdf files so you don't get any pictures. This was my first book with pictures and there was one at the start of each chapter, a small thing but I really appreciated it :D


I liked it anyway and think for you shark lovers you will love it, I am just greedy and wanted more (to hear about the other sharks down there and more of Meg). 4/5 for me and waiting patiently for number 5

Available on Amazon for £0.86, cracking deal


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Winner of the 100 Follower giveaway is........

Lisa see her fabulous blog here http://bookalicious-traveladdict.blogspot.com/

Winner was picked by putting names into a bowl and hubby picking one of the pieces of paper out.

Well done Lisa and sorry the September giveaway isn't up yet and the results of the competition were late going up.

Review - Legacy by Danielle Steel

Legacy: A Novel by Danielle Steel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


From the cover

A tale of love, courage and family, interweaving the lives of two extraordinary women - a writer working in the heart of modern academia, and a daring young Sioux of an unforgettable journey in the eighteenth century.

Someday is Brigitte Nicholson's watchword. Someday she and the man she loves, Ted, will clarify their relationship. Someday she'll have children. Someday she'll finish writing her book. Someday she'll stop playig it so safe...Then something happens that changes Brigette's life completely.

Struggling to plot a new course, Brigitte agrees to help her mother on a genealogy project - and makes a discovery that reaches back to the French aristrocracy. How did Brigitte's ancestor, Wachiwi, a Dakota Sioux, travel from the Great Plains to the French court of Marie Antoinette? How did she come to marry into Brigitte's family? Brigitte decides to travel to South Dakota and Paris to follow the path of this exceptional young woman who lived so long ago. And as she begins to solve the puzzle of Wachiwi's journey, her quiet life becomes an adventure of its own.

A chance meeting and a new opportunity put Brigitte back at the heart of her own story. And with family legacy coming to life around her, someday is no longer in the future. Instead, someday is now.

My Review

This is my 3rd book as part of the Transworld Book Group

For me Brigitte is quite an unlikeable character, to start with she just seems efficient and organised if maybe a tad boring. However as the story progresses she has two life changing events in as many days and her character becomes needy and pathetic. It was quite annoying to read and even offputting but I stuck with it and I am glad I did. We are introduced to her ancestor Wachiwi, who is everything Brigitte is not. Strong, courageous, brave, a fighter, she continues to fight for what she wants and loves and considering we are going back to the 1700s when woman had no place doing anything bar raising children and cooking it is a refreshing and amazing change of pace.

The story then goes practically chapter for chapter between the present with Brigitte and the past of Wachiwi's time. The difference between the two women and their lives is amazing and as Brigitte follows the traces to find out more about her ancestor as do we. I had hoped Brigitte would be more like her ancestor the more she discovered and if I am honest I only liked her character in the last chapter.

If the story had purely been about Brigitte it would have been a bore to read but with Wachiwi's tale it brought the rating from a 1 to a 3/5. If nothing else this book should be read for Wachiwi's story which I loved and would have liked to have seen as a stand alone book.



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Review - If I should die Before I wake by Michelle Morris

If I Should Die Before I Wake by Michelle Morris

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


A truely horrific story!

Carla is the main character and we are told the story through her, through her puppets, through her as a child and various stages of her young life to present day. The story starts with Carla having a gun on her father as he sleeps and recounts the horrors she has endured at his hands.

I have read a few of these kind of books and this one has unsettled me more than any of the true life ones. The abuse endured is often told in one or two sentences but this is more than enough to visualize what she has went through.

The story jumps an awful lot from present day to her young past with only her phrases as indication it is back to when she was a child which is quite off putting and confusing. She also talks through her various puppets and as letters or just thoughts directed to Jessie who was someone at the school encouraging the kids to talk out against abuse.

It is quite a strange story, more in the way the character narrates than the story which is easy enough to follow. For some reason this book disturbed me more than any other of its type, combined with the way it was written this is why it gets a 2/5 rating.

If you are considering reading this I advise you to prepare yourself as it is quite disturbing.



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August Pre-loved Giveaway and the winner is.......................

Sarah (no website provided). Well done Sarah, I will email the winner and if I haven't heard back in 24 hours I will pick another.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered. This was the most popular giveaway so far with 74 entries.

I put all of the entries into my cowgirl hat and hubby picked the winner.

There is still 2 days left for the other competiton (to celebrate 100 followers) and the poll to pick which prize you would prefer. Looks like a new book is the favourite by far so if you haven't already entered that it isn't too late.

Review - Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson and Richard Dilallo

Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Blurb from Goodreads

The year is 1906, and America is segregated. Hatred and discrimination plague the streets, the classroom, and the courts. But in Washington, D.C., Ben Corbett, a smart and courageous lawyer, makes it his mission to confront injustice at every turn. He represents those who nobody else dares defend, merely because of the color of their skin. When President Roosevelt, under whom Ben served in the Spanish-American war, asks Ben to investigate rumors of the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in his home town in Mississippi, he cannot refuse.

The details of Ben's harrowing story--and his experiences with a remarkable man named Abraham Cross--were passed from generation to generation, until they were finally recounted to Alex Cross by his grandmother, Nana Mama. From the first time hear heard the story, Alex was unable to forget the unimaginable events Ben witnessed in Eudora and pledged to tell it to the world. Alex Cross's Trial is unlike any story Patterson has ever told, but offers the astounding action and breakneck speed of any Alex Cross novel

My review

Ben goes back to his hometown with a frosty reception from his father but generally welcomed back by the locals until they get an idea of what he is up to. From then on in Bens eyes are openend to the lynching and murder that is going on in his old tonn and where colour really does matter.

Where murder by colour is looked upon as sport and just and the towns folks given right. Where the KKK is very much alive and in practice. Ben starts to realise that people he thought of as good and even friends are racist murderers or at least willing participants.

The story started really good, I was horrified but hooked and couldn't believe the things that was happening. The story reminded me a lot of John Grishams A Time To Kill and Mississippi Burning (the movie with Gene Hackman).

However after a huge buildup at the end the story went a bit flat, it was almost like right I have written the huge awaited outcome so the last few chapters don't matter. I felt Bens character went from being brave, honest and fighting for the people to someone who didn't care, and what happened after the trial? And for the part of the President that really annoyed me too as after setting everything in motion he was largely missing until briefly stepping in at the end. 3/5 for me



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