"Falling for Them" Book Review

Title: Falling for Them
Series: Standalone Anthology
Authors: See Below
Stars: 4 out of 5 (overall)
Book Blurb:
Indulge in 10 all-new reverse harem stories from New York Times, USA Today, and bestselling authors, as well as up-and-coming indie authors. This collection of modern, paranormal, and sci-fi romances is sure to satisfy every palate. Whether you love to turn up the heat with a spicy romance, or savor a sweet love story, Falling for Them has it all. On sale for a limited time, all proceeds will go to charity. Help us make a difference for the new year by doing what you love…meeting our guys.

***

Special Note: On February 16th, Falling for Them will no longer be available for purchase. The royalties will be tallied, and the authors will send their donation to St Jude Children's Hospital. Many of the authors will be releasing their stories as standalone books, so the stories will still be available, just not as a collection. So, if you want to get all of these stories in one book, hurry and order your copy of Falling for Them now!

***

Falling for Them is an anthology featuring 10 reverse harem original stories and 2 reverse harem novel samples. The stories are NA so the romance and sex scenes can get pretty explicit. I found some of the works included in the anthology more enjoyable than others, but overall this was a very entertaining anthology and it's great that the proceeds go to charity. It's difficult to review this book as a whole, so I've written mini reviews for each story instead below in the order that they appear in the book.

4.5 stars: Raising the Stakes - Autumn Reed & Julia Clarke
I really liked Emma, the main character, whose journalism background came in handy as she investigated the three swoon-worthy love interests who suspiciously all start pursuing her the same night when she meets them at a trendy club in Vegas. The story is well-written and well-paced. It was instant attraction between Emma and the guys, but the relationships took more work, which I appreciated. I also appreciated that, while this story was short, it was complete; no cliff hanger ending here! But I wouldn't mind seeing more of Emma, Cole, Nicholas, and Shane should the authors choose to write another story! ;) 

3.5 stars: Meeting Them - Rebecca Royce
This story is set in the Wings of Artemis world but you don't need to have read any of the other books to understand this story (I should know...I haven't read any of the other Wings of Artemis books but I'm thinking I will now!). Paloma has had a pretty rough life - she was sent to a convent as a teen where she faced endless abuse - but it hasn't broken her. One day, Clay McQueen comes to warn the Sisters that they are in danger, but they send him away and as he's leaving he is almost killed by a falling rock, but Paloma saves him. Soon after, the worst happens and the convent is blown up but Paloma escapes and finds refuge with Clay and his brothers, Thomas, Quinn, and Keith. But the McQueen brothers are hiding a dangerous secret. This was another complete story, but set up for a sequel. One thing I found disappointing was that while Paloma was strong in that she never let circumstances keep her down, she was too passive and the guys were always riding in to save the day. 

2.5 stars: Finding Nora - Ripley Proserpina 
Nora is another unlucky character with a difficult life. This story has a very interesting premise. Nora was substitute teaching when one of her past foster brothers comes to the school and starts shooting, then kills himself. Nora saves her students but is injured and then becomes a major suspect. Though she was eventually cleared, she was vilified and now can't find anyone willing to hire her and many people are scared or suspicious of her though she was a victim. Luckily, she's got a great group of supportive guys in her life and it was great seeing the group's dynamics. I was frustrated though, because I felt like I was starting the story halfway in. Turns out, there is a first book where we see the shooting happen and how the guys come into her life, so maybe it's better to read that first. Nora was also in a really sketchy study and everything about it gave me bad vibes but Nora didn't seem as cautious or skeeved out as she should be. This story also didn't feel complete; I felt left hanging at the end which was disappointing. 

4.5 Stars: The Four Clever Brothers - Amy Sumida
This was a fun story written in the style of a fairy tale. Adelysia is a princess of a small kingdom kidnapped by a dragon prince. I was frustrated at first because she doesn't put up a fight at all in the beginning, instead she figures she would have been married off to someone eventually with no choice so why put up a fight against this guy even though he repulses her? She does redeem herself and grow more of a backbone thank goodness, but after the four clever brothers use their magical mermaid gifts to save her from the dragons. The relationships between Adelysia and the brothers is great, but I also really liked the relationship between her and her parents. This was also a cliff-hanger free, complete story.

4 Stars: House of Glass - Lyn Forester
This was an interesting, futuristic story featuring Caitlyn Lonette, aka Sparks, who races disc-bikes against the wishes of her Councilman father. He sends her to the Academia for Planetary Alliance to follow in his footsteps, and the day she arrives at the school, she meets Blaze, Vice, and Rush, who turn out to be her biggest competitors from the disc-bike races. The guys' dynamics is great and Sparks fits in well, and quickly. The world is intriguing and though their is enough world-building for readers to understand the story and what's going on, I am curious to know more. While this is a complete story, the ending wasn't entirely satisfying for me and even though Sparks knew the guys before they interact at school, they were competitors that she didn't interact with outside of the races so I'm not entirely sold by how quickly the romance develops between them all at the school. Still, I was very entertained by the story and I look forward to reading the next Poisoned Houses story. 

3.5 Stars: Another Move - RM Walker
This book started out great, but ended on a cliff-hanger, which is a big pet peeve of mine. Lily's mom is an artist so they are constantly moving so her mom can find new inspiration and complete commissions. Also complicating matters is that Lily has seizures. This time, Lily's mom has a long-term painting project so Lily has a chance to put down some roots and make friends. Lily quickly captures the attention of Joshua, Jacob, Matt, and Nate and they pull her into their tight-knit group. There is plenty of intrigue as the guys have a secret, Lily's seizures may be more than they seem, and a mysterious man has sinister intentions towards Lily. All of this exciting stuff is revealed, however, near the very end and the resolution doesn't come until the next story. I've got a lot of questions about some of the information revealed that I feel could have been explained better or more in depth, but hopefully I will get some answers when the next installment is released.

2.5 stars: Precursor - AJ Anders
This story had a lot of promise but failed in the execution. There were many editing errors and I found the world-building lacking. The story is set in the United States and Evie lives in an anti-Surmata (the Surmata are some kind of paranormal beings) resistance camp, which her cruel father leads. Evie hates the camp and doesn't believe in the resistance and is biding her time until she turns 18 and can escape. Her best friend, Max, is a half-Surmata spying on the camp. Through Max, she meets other Surmata but an encounter with a demon planned by her father and Dominic, a leader in the camp who wants her, causes her to lose all memory of her Surmata friends. The story ends with a disappointing cliff-hanger. I was really interested in the story, but was distracted by errors in the writing and found myself with too many questions. 

2.5 Stars: Ellie's Bears - G.E. Kelly
This story features Ellie and the three shape-shifting bears she befriended as a toddler and comes to love as men. While the premise was very interesting, this was another story that didn't meet the mark for me. The writing and dialogue didn't always flow well and I found Ellie annoying at times. One good note is that the story is complete and doesn't have a cliff-hanger!

3 Stars: One Greedy Fool - AS Oren
This story also features the paranormal, which I enjoyed. Sincerity, or Hope as she prefers, is another strong character making the best of some tough circumstances. At the beginning of the story we learn that she is homeless and interning for a P.I. because she'd like to become a P.I. herself and find her parents. Soon she gets a night shift working at a prison guarding none other than the seven deadly sins. Talk about interesting! I appreciate how strong Hope is and how she doesn't mope around and feel sorry for herself and act passively, instead she works to change things. The story is also really original. Still, I had a lot of questions revolving around this world that the author created and was confused about many things. There were also some editing/formatting issues that I found distracting. 

4 Stars: Favored - C.L. Stone
This story seems to be set in an Asian alternate world with magical elements. The old emperor died and there is a big selection process being held in the Immortal City to pick who will be advisers to the new emperor. Mizuki, the main character, is eligible to go and try for the position. With the help of Ryuu, an old classmate and another candidate, Mrs. Satsu, her sponsor, and Sota, her escort, Mizuki travels to the Immortal City and prepares for the selection process. I liked the characters, the world, and the elements of intrigue. This story, of all of the stories in the anthology, is the lightest on romance. This story is complete and ends with the conclusion of the selection process, but is set up for another story. I personally would like to know what happens next!

Love is Not Lost by ikki Bolvair and Charcoal Tears by Jane Washington are sample chapters from already published books. Because they are only samples and not full stories, I am not reviewing them in this post.

Full disclosure: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Book Giveaway of "Midnight Poison"

Have you read any books by A & E Kirk? I am a fan of the Divinicus Nex Chronicles (see my review of the first book in the series HERE) and I am looking forward to reading their next series, The Paranormal Poisons Saga. Lucky for fans, there is a giveaway for an early access e-book of the first book, Midnight Poison! 

Isn't that cover pretty?! But if the cover isn't enough to entice you, here's the blurb for the book:

No Memory. No Mind. No Mercy.

Kiara Blackwood has a few problems.

She's older than she looks - by several centuries. She can't remember who she is. She doesn't know why she’s the target of Oleander, an immortal serial killer, or why she’s held prisoner by the undead, or where to find the Midnight Poison, the one thing that could grant her freedom. And best of all, her psych meds have stopped working, because, oh yeah, she’s borderline insane. Well, maybe not so borderline.

When Oleander’s killing spree threatens to rip the supernatural world apart, Kiara has no choice but to hunt him down. Forced to rely on a dashing vampire with questionable motives, she plunges into a world of lies, betrayal, deadly deceptions, and secrets that could tear what’s left of her mind to shreds. And because that's such a piece of cake, while she's at it, she might as well search for the Midnight Poison, that legendary potion she can’t remember creating, let alone hiding. Well...

Crazy or not, here she comes.

A&E Kirk, bestselling authors of the #1 Divinicus Nex Chronicles, have created a new series with all the usual action, adventure, and laugh-out-loud humor fans love, plus they’ve added a bit of dark, twisted, and dangerous. 

Be brave. Try some Midnight Poison. Lethal to the last drop.

Click HERE to access the google doc where you can enter to win. Midnight Poison is due to release February 24th so even if you don't win the giveaway, you don't have to wait too long to snag a copy.

"Six of Hearts" Book Review

Title: Six of Hearts
Series: Book 1 of Hearts
Author: L.H. Cosway
Stars: 5 out of 5
Book Blurb:
Step right up and meet Jay Fields: Illusionist. Mentalist. Trickster.

I think in triangles. You think in straight lines.
I show you a table and make you believe it’s a chair.
Smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, misdirection. I trick and deceive.
But most of all, I put on a good show.
The world thinks I killed a man, but I didn't. Bear with me. It’s all a part of the plan.
Revenge is what I want. I want it for me and I want it for her.
I want it for all six of us.

She doesn't remember me, but she’s the reason for everything. She’ll be my prize at the end of all this–if I can hold onto my willpower, that is. Maybe I’ll slip up a little, have a taste, just a small one.

So go ahead and pick a card. Come inside and see the show. Look at my hands, look so closely that you can’t see what’s happening while you’re so focused on looking. I’ll be destroying your world from right here in the spotlight.

You’ll never see me coming until it’s too late.

I've only got one heart, and after I've pulled off my grand deception I’ll hand it right to her.

So, sit back, relax, and let my girl tell you our story. You’re in for one hell of a ride.

***

Who doesn't love a good magic show? L.H. Cosway's book Six of Hearts was a performance in and of itself. The blurb is from the perspective of Jay Fields, illusionist extraordinaire, but the book is written from the perspective of Matilda, the heroine of the story.

Matilda is a great character who hasn't had the easiest life. As a child, masked men broke into her home, killing her mother, injuring her father, and leaving her with a scar that she's self-conscious of. Now, she's a secretary for her father's legal practice and in her free time she sews dresses that she sells online. Matilda is caring, kind, and I think it's awesome that she sews (I wish I could), but she's also lacking in self-confidence and we get to see her grow a bit during the book. Though I would  have loved to be in Jay's head during the novel, it was fun to be an audience member and see the magic and big finale as a spectator alongside Matilda.

Jay is a multi-faceted and magnetic love interest. He's charming, tenacious, very intelligent, kind, and a talented performer. He inserts himself into Matilda and her father's lives with some mysterious agenda. While he's a stranger to Matilda, a very attractive one at that, she grows to trust and care for him, despite his secrets. And Jay helps Matilda to come out of her shell. There are some great scenes between Jay and Matilda that are fun, sweet, and sometimes hilarious, like when he accompanies her to a conference for women to help them with dating. Jay is a good guy who sometimes does some sketchy, not-so-good things to accomplish an impressive goal (which I won't say anything about in the interest of not giving away spoilers). While Matilda is trying to unravel his mystery and is falling further for Jay, so are readers.

The plot centers around Jay's grand deception and we see how Matilda and her father are pulled into his plan. As the story progresses, Matilda starts to piece together clues and while she is concerned, she trusts Jay when he asks her to wait to find out what's going on. I like that Matilda isn't totally oblivious but figures out that there's more going on than what Jay is saying on the surface. I myself, was much further ahead of Matilda in figuring out the big surprise, but I wasn't disappointed because how everything came together in the conclusion was still surprising.

Not only were the characters and plot of this story interesting, the book was also well-written. The pacing was quick, but not so fast as to leave readers behind and the writing flowed nicely. I found the dialogue to be realistic and there were some good, quotable lines.

Overall I really enjoyed this story (enough to read it two times!) and I will probably be re-reading it again in the future. If you love illusions, mystery, and romance, then this story is definitely for you.

Writing Practice Prompt #3

Describing the setting in your story can do more than help your readers picture the scene. The setting can also help set the tone or mood of a scene too.

For example, if you're writing horror, you can add a sense of foreboding or create a creepy atmosphere in the way you describe the setting. Is your character in a dark, dank place? Or maybe a dentist's office has a lot of eerie patient portraits whose grins seem sinister? Or maybe it's a lovely, nice old lady's house that's a bit too perfect?

The colors, time of day, lighting, decorations, smells, sounds, etc. in a setting can all be used to help set the tone.

Below is a picture of a guy standing at the edge of an empty subway platform. First, describe the setting as you see it. Second, try describing the setting to seem 1) scary  2) hopeful 3) sad.

Proud of your setting descriptions? Comment to share them!

"Karmic Justice" Book Review

Title: Karmic Justice
Series: Child of Fate #2
Author: Katherine Davis
Stars: 3.5 out of 5
Book Blurb:
Kismet and her Guardians have settled into the Academy for a comfortable few weeks and all the First Years are looking forward to their First Patrol. The Summer Solstice is only a few days away and the Academy is buzzing with the arrival of foreign dignitaries and representatives from across the globe as they prepare for the annual High Council. But Kismet’s Guardians aren’t as excited as she is, and their meddling will trigger a series of events that send their Child of Fate on a whirlwind adventure…alone. 

Kismet is forced to find a way to survive away from Reif, Liam, Mason, and Jax while they juggle the political nightmare of vampires, fae, shifters, mers, and humans gathered in one place to decide how to handle the catastrophic Collapse looming over them all. 

Find out Kismet’s destiny in this second installment of the Child of Fate series as she discovers new people, places, and magic. Enjoy the mad scrambling of her four handsome Guardians as they fight to find some way to save their Scholar and their world.

***

Karmic Justice is the second book in the Child of Fate series and it picks up where the first book left off.

I have to say, I enjoyed this book a lot more than the first. In the first book I was frustrated by how passive Kismet was and how she let everyone push her around. I understand that in her life she had little to no agency so she was accustomed to it, but I wanted to see her start standing up for herself. I got to see that in this book. 

Kismet and the guys have their first assignment, and it's not what Kismet wanted because the guys decided on a new plan without her. Fed up with being kept out of the loop and feeling like an outsider in a group that she should be the center of, she tells off the guys. On the first day, Kismet also ends up separated from the guys as she deals with the growing threat of shifter madness and trouble with the rifts and the guys figure out evolving politics at the Academy. 

I'm glad that Kismet finally grows a pair of ovaries and stands up for herself. She also comes to realize that she is in a position of authority and has the capacity to do things on her own. The guys also come to their senses and realize that putting Kismet at a distance won't help and that they need to recognize her strength just as much as she did.

In book 2 I got a lot of my questions answered that were left unresolved in book 1. More information is given about Fate and the Collapse and Kismet's role in it all, which helped resolve a lot of confusion I had felt when reading the first book. 

Unfortunately, while I enjoyed this book more than the first, I still had some issues with it. This book jumps in right where the last one left off, which in itself isn't bad but it had been a while since the first book and I felt myself struggling to remember the keys players and their roles. There is a lot of complex political maneuvering going on and it would have been helpful to have some reminders here and there about the characters and their motivations and connections to help make sense of what was going on. Even after the big showdown, I was still a bit confused about who was on what side. 

I was also disappointed when one of the characters I had liked died. I understand it was necessary for someone to die in order to bring in the new character, but why this character? Why not someone else? I think I will have a hard time getting over it unless a really good reason for this specific chartacter's death is given in book 3. I'm also wondering how this new character will fit in with the group when the group was finally starting to figure out their dynamics. 

Lastly, I caught a few typos and there were some spots where it felt like there was too much description given of a scene and other times where not enough was given to help me clearly picture what was happening. 

Overall, it was a good book and I will probably read the next one to see what happens next. The book doesn't end on a cliff hanger but it definitely ends with a lot to be resolved.

"Trying To Live With The Dead" Book Review

Title: Trying To Live With The Dead
Series: The Veil Diaries #1
Author: B.L. Brunnemer
Stars: 3 out of 5
Book Blurb:
Hi, I’m Alexis Delaney. I’m your average 17 year old girl. Except I can see the dead. And talk to the dead. And push them away and, well, help them move on. So..okay, I’m not your average 17 year old girl. For years I’ve been struggling to survive the souls still roaming around. The shitheads always seem to find me. Moving from town to town every few months never helped either. More dead just always find me. But things are changing for me now. I’m moving in with my uncle Rory and cousin Tara. I’m finally going to be able to do normal teenage stuff I’ve been missing out on. Right? 

Well, if this one bitch of a ghost could leave me alone on campus that would be great. Especially since I haven’t told my new friends about my abilities. Can you believe this? Five good looking guys practically adopt me on my first day of school, and I still think they’re a bit nuts for it. Now if I can only just keep my life with the dead from mixing with my normal life everything would be great. Yeah...I don’t see that happening either. But I’m going to give it a shot. Who knows? It might work. 

***

I'm a big fan of ghost stories so I was excited to start reading "Trying To Live With The Dead." To be honest, I I read the book a second time before writing this review because I was feeling conflicted and not sure how to rate it. There's a lot of great things about this book but several drawbacks too, which kept me from giving more than 3 stars.

As I mentioned before, this book features ghosts - and not all of them are friendly like Casper. I think Brunnemer does an excellent job describing the ghosts and how Alexis' abilities to see and communicate with the dead work. She actually feels the pain the ghosts feel and see their memories, which is pretty painful and gruesome considering how bad a lot of the ghosts' deaths are. If you're squeamish, then be forewarned that there are a several not-so-pretty descriptions in the story, though none are too horrifying or gross. 

Alexis, who is called Lexie by a lot of the characters (though the guys all have a nickname for her), is a kick-butt girl. She doesn't take crap from anybody and knows how to put bullies in their place. She's a strong character and is also loyal with a big heart, but she's not perfect, which would be unrealistic. She's got her flaws, including a quick temper and major stubbornness. She's had a tough life with her dad dying when she was young and an abusive mom with an alcohol and drug problem, leading her to stay with her Uncle Rory (who is awesome btw). Lexie also curses A LOT; it's not a flaw so much as another warning to readers who might be off-put by strong language. 

The guys are another big part of this story. There's Isaac, the goofball who does MMA fighting, and his twin brother Ethan, who is in a band and has all the ladies texting him constantly. Next, there's Asher with his boy-next-door good looks who plays football but whose real passion is cooking. Zeke is the intimidating guy of the bunch who works at an auto-shop and has his own anger-management issues. Lastly, there's sweet Miles who is super smart but has issues talking with people, especially girls. He's a bit confusing though because despite his social awkwardness he also points out when others are being rude and talks about social cues and dynamics like a psychologist. Each guy is distinct and the relationships among them and between them and Lexie are well-developed. Lexie has a lot of issues with all the ghost stuff going on and the trouble from her past, but the story doesn't just revolve around the guys taking care of her. She helps them just as much and it's nice to see how they all support each other. 

This story is categorized in the Reverse Harem genre (meaning one girl in a relationship with multiple guys), but there's pretty much zero romance in this first book. In fact, the guys are interested in other girls and Lexie finds her own guy who she flirts with. Any affection shown is on the friend level. There's no insta-love here! It's nice to see that the author isn't rushing the romance and is instead building a foundation of friendship and trust first. I'm assuming feelings might start developing in the next book, but we'll see. 

Now that I've gotten through all things to love about this book, I've come to the harder part of talking about the flaws. The story and the characters are amazing, but I wasn't able to enjoy the book fully due to formatting, punctuation, and grammar errors, along with a few other issues. The book (in both Nook and Kindle formats as far as I can tell) isn't formatted very well, mainly in regards to paragraphs. There are some paragraphs, like the very first one that are HUGE chunks of texts while others are chopped up into smaller paragraphs in ways that don't make sense. Dialogue also tends to get lost in bigger paragraphs and I found myself re-reading some lines to figure out who was speaking. There are also a lot of sentences with missing or incorrect punctuation and grammar mistakes like your vs. you're. 

Additionally, I found myself unconvinced by the descriptions of Lexie's injuries and the treatment for her injuries. Lexie arrives at her uncle's house with severe bruising on her back due to dear old mom and the pain is mentioned frequently and icing her back each night for physical therapy comes up as an issue with the guys one night. I bruise easily and have some experience with serious bruises - I was in a dirtbike crash and actually bruised the muscle in my thigh when I flipped over the bike and the handle bar nailed me. I had a limp for several days but by the end of the week I was walking almost normally and the pain was pretty much gone and the color very faded. Bruises normally don't take much time to heal and the pain should fade pretty quickly unless there's a worse issue like a sprain or damage to a muscle or something like that. I don't know who long the delay is between when Lexie got the bruises and she goes to live with her uncle, though it didn't seem like that long, but when I started counting days in the book she was in significant pain for at least three days and after seven days was still icing. Her injuries and the treatment as described weren't realistic and seemed exaggerated solely to create additional tension. 

I found myself concerned too about how much coffee Lexie drinks. A high schooler drinking coffee is not unusual considering a lot of teens and adults drink coffee, and the fact that she doesn't get much sleep because of ghosts. As a person who doesn't drink coffee, I didn't think too much of it at first but I know that too much caffeine can be dangerous so I Googled how much coffee is too much. Turns out there's such a think as overdosing on caffeine and that for most people, you can overdose drinking five cups of coffee in a day, depending on the tolerance to caffeine a person has built up and their BMI. Lexie is described as being small and she frequently has two-three cups a day with extra espresso shots, so even without her other health problems related to ghosts, drinking that much coffee puts her at risk for other serious health issues. Even if she did drink that much, there should be more concern from at least her uncle or her friends about it.

Overall, I really did like reading the story, but I would have enjoyed it more if the aforementioned issues weren't present. The frustrating thing is that they wouldn't have been issues if more editing and research had been done before publishing. I'm definitely going to read the next book and I hope that readers who are interested in the story will still give it a chance despite the flaws.

"Water Lily" Book Review

Title: Water Lily
Series: Standalone
Author: Crystal Packard
Stars: 4 out of 5
Book Blurb:
A fantasy adventure filled with magic, true love, and fate…

Seventeen-year-old Lily Harris is pretty sure she's going crazy. Weird things are happening.Scary things. A demented owl taunts her daylight hours, and her nights are filled with frightening dreams. On top of that, the two people Lily can count on in this world are gone. 

Her best friend is dead, and now Lily's grandmother, Meme is missing.

Lily retreats to her grandmother's home, hoping to find clues to her disappearance. Lily discovers more than she bargained for. Meme has been keeping secrets, lots of secrets–the biggest one being the painted mural on her bedroom wall. It's of a beautiful lake, nestled deep in a night forest. When Lily touches the painting, she is transported into another world. She's in Westmoorland. And she's not alone. The man that haunts Lily's dreams is there, warm and real . . . and familiar.

Lily's journey through Westmoorland brings her closer to finding Meme, but also to lasting friendships, to true love, and to powers within herself she never knew existed.

The truth of Meme's past and the secrets she's been hiding could destroy everything in Lily's future, including the greatest love she has ever known…

***

I tend to be one of those people who looks at the cover, blurb, and other reviews before I decide to read a book. The cover doesn't matter so much but if the blurb doesn't sound interesting or if there are too few good reviews, I won't read the book. I found Water Lily when browsing through Amazon and was drawn in by the cover. The blurb is interesting too, but there weren't many reviews to read. I decided to take a chance since it was on Kindle Unlimited and I'm glad I did! 

Lily is going to visit her grandmother Meme during the summer for two months before the start of her senior year of high school. She loves her grandmother, but has a challenging relationship with her mom who is very controlling and verbally abusive. Lily is sweet, caring, and has a strong artistic talent, like her artistic grandmother, but she's not perfect. She's struggling due to the death of her best friend and the pressure from her mom to be who her mom thinks she should be. At the beginning of the book, we see Lily wilt in the face of her mother's harsh criticism and she doesn't stand up for herself. 

When Lily arrives at her grandmother's house she soon discovers that her grandmother is not on a hippy retreat for three days like she thought, but is actually missing. At night when the mural her grandmother painted in the bedroom comes to life, Lily discovers a new world and sets out, determined to find and bring back Meme. In this alternate earth, Lily discovers new friends, love, and her own extraordinary abilities. Lily learns that she's braver than she knew as well. Whether Lily and Meme are reunited is up to you to find out! 

This book was entertaining, well-paced, featured a twist that I was not expecting! I didn't give five stars because there some things I wanted to see further developed or better resolved - like Lily's decision at the end of the book and the fact that Lily doesn't really think about her mom at the end; this woman who had such a huge impact on her life (though not positive) is just forgotten rather than addressed in some way to bring closure. While Westmoorland is pretty well described, there didn't seem to be that many differences in language. I would have thought that they'd have different phrases and slang just as the clothing and other aspects were different, but there was no noticeable difference beyond them having a different language that Lily magically understands. 

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book to fans of fantasy YA.