Review and Giveaway: The Forbidden Trilogy by Kimberly Kinrade

BLURB:

Paranormal teens with unimaginable powers. A secret organization with deadly intentions. When Sam, a girl who reads minds, meets Drake, a boy who controls minds, they discover their lives aren't what they thought.

Together, they must escape their fate and free their friends, before they lose everyone they love.

This special edition omnibus includes the entire Forbidden Trilogy--Forbidden Mind, Forbidden Fire and Forbidden Life, as well as extensive bonus content. Meet the author in an in-depth Q&A, get to know your favorite characters better, enjoy never-before-revealed interlude scenes and so much more.

My review:

I loved the story in the three books and you can find my reviews by following the links above. The Forbidden Trilogy combines all three books into one, along with discussion questions, character profiles, a note from Sam and Drake, Q&A with the author, and a playlist.

I liked that all of the books are together so you can just read straight through. Trust me, you won't want to wait to see what happens in the second and third books. Instant gratification is fun and is harmless when it involves books. ;-)

I enjoyed the character profiles from the IPI files, but the notes that accompanied them were a little weird. There were not notes for every character, so there was no consistency and Sam's note was odd because her profile is written as if current as of the end of the third book, yet her note sounds as if it were written during the first book. It wasn't really consistent. I didn't like Lucy's, either. It just seemed thrown in, as did Brad's interview with Mary. I think the profiles could have stood alone and the extra stuff didn't really add anything for anyone who has read the books. Brad's interview with Hunter, on the other hand, was hilarious. And there are pictures of hot guys. (There are pictures of the girls, too, if you care. I didn't find that important. ;-) )

I also didn't see the point of the extra note (I know I keep using that word, but I don't know what else to call them) from Sam and Drake. All of these things are placed at the end of the trilogy, so the assumption is that the reader has already read all three books. These little notes don't do anything except summarize the story over and over. And if they're meant to be read first, they don't need to be with the discussion questions, which are full of spoilers.

I did love the Q&A with Kimberly Kinrade. There are some great questions about the series and about Kimberly's writing and family. The playlist is interesting, too.

I would definitely grab this book! Having all three of the Forbidden books together is great, and the extras at the end are just a bonus.

Giveaway:
Join the Facebook Event and win free books!
Join Kimberly Kinrade in celebrating the launch of the Forbidden Trilogy! Throughout the day on Monday Nov 26th the author will be doing random giveaways at this event, so keep an eye out for prizes and help spread the word!!
From November 26th to November 30th Forbidden Mind, the first book in the trilogy, will be 99 cents to celebrate the launch. Share the news and encourage your friends to delve into this award-winning trilogy. Get The Forbidden Trilogy for only $9.99, all three books for $5 off retail!

Everyone who buys The Forbidden Trilogy for $9.99 on the day of the launch, November 26th, and sends Kimberly Kinrade proof of purchase (kimberly.kinrade@gmail.com) will get a free short story from Kimberly Kinrade.

As certain rankings on Amazon are met throughout the day and week, the prizes will increase. Those with proof of purchase could win signed postcards from Sam and Hunter, more short stories, a free e-copy of Kimberly Kinrade's first book, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, and more!

Disclosure: I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Here's to Not Catching Our Hair on Fire by Stacey Turis

Blurb:

Did you know that if you forget to pay a speeding ticket you WILL get arrested—in front of your kids, the neighbors—the dog—and anyone else who happens to be there? True story. And the thing is, Stacey Turis has a million of them, and she imparts these and other nuggets of wisdom to offer others suffering from ADHD some hope in knowing that they are not alone.

A belly-laugh inducing romp through a life so convoluted and chaotic you know it has to be true, Stacey Turis’s debut gives a voice to the genius yet tormented souls suffering from giftedness, ADHD, or a combination of both (a condition known as twice-exceptional) who are too afraid to speak.

Book Review: Destiny Unchained by Leia Shaw

Blurb:

They call her The Huntress. A vampire with lethal focus, Natalia hunts rogue werewolves and kills them without mercy. She buried her heart centuries ago. Now she lives only for revenge. But when she’s forced to team up with the alpha of the northwest werewolf pack to catch a werewolf serial killer, her carefully controlled world is shattered by the passionate Cristian. Will Natalia accept Cristian’s claim on her heart even if it means sacrificing a part of who she is?

*Warning: this book contains sexual content not intended for readers under the age of 18*

Book Review: Thoughts Without Cigarettes by Oscar Hijuelos

Blurb:

A beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist turns his pen to the real people and places that have influenced his life and literature. A comprehensive look into the mind of a writer.

Born in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights to Cuban immigrants in 1951, Oscar Hijuelos introduces readers to the colorful circumstances of his upbringing. The son of a Cuban hotel worker and exuberant poetry-writing mother, his story, played out against the backdrop of a working-class neighborhood, takes on an even richer dimension when his relationship with his family and culture changes forever. During a sojourn with his mother in pre-Castro Cuba, he catches a disease that sends him into a Dickensian home for terminally ill children. The yearlong stay estranges him from the very language and people he had so loved.

Book Review: The Holedigger by Arthur Nelson Thornhill

Blurb:
The Holedigger cries out to be read by anyone who has ever had a taste of the hell that being poor, sick, lonely, depressed, tormented, abandoned and abused brings to human existence. Witness growing up with ''the boys'' hanging out at a country store, as they learn to get mad, get even, and get over it to survive and move on about the business of living, loving and dying. They let you see what life is like for those who have far greater enemies to fight than those we met in all of our wars.

The holedigger, Rayford Franklin, personifies evil all his life as he digs wells and graves while victimizing generations of women around Woosterville, Georgia. His story digs up some human treasures buried deep in the rural south. Out of the incest and inbreeding comes a mix of characters who clearly reflect the complex sea of humanity in our real world. The chiseled-from-stone permanence of these characters gives us a bold new look at ourselves by uncovering bits and pieces of our own humanity in each of them. ''The boys'' and their heroes meet evil head on. They fight and cut their way through every danger to carve from a legacy of injustice and depravity a future with great promise and a ray of hope for all. They become as real as the story they tell.

Hurricane Relief Review-a-thon

In response to my ever-growing backlog of reviews to be written and the need for donations for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, I'm hosting a Hurricane Relief Review-a-thon on my main blog, Living, Learning, and Loving Life. It's like the old-school walkathons or bike-a-thons. You can pledge a certain amount per review or just donate a fixed amount any time throughout the weekend. I'll be posting about half the reviews here, but for simplification purposes, I'm only going to be posting the donation information on the other blog. I have 10-15 reviews to write this weekend and duplicating information just doesn't make sense.

You can read my post from last weekend about the background for the Review-a-thon. Then the full Pre-review-a-thon post with the details for this weekend. This is also where you will find donation links and information, as well as the Rafflecopter form. You can win a $20 Amazon gift card (donated by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave) by tweeting, sharing, and blogging about the review-a-thon.