Whoever You Are review & Giveaway

Book Description:

What defines you…

Are you defined by your family, your career, your accomplishments? What happens when something you think defines you changes?

Emily McGinn, a recurring character from Where Secrets Lie, believes she knows exactly who she is and where she belongs in the world, until she receives an inheritance from an unknown benefactor. Uncovering the source of the inheritance leads Emily to discover buried truths undermining what she thought was a straightforward life. As the truths alter Emily’s perception of the people closest to her, her perception of herself shifts as well.

Set in the unique foothills community of Boulder, Colorado and its environs, Whoever You Are questions not only how we define ourselves, but also how we define family and whether we bear any responsibility for the actions of those who came before us

Review:

I received a copy of this ebook as a gift from Donna Marie Lanheady in exchange for my honest review.

Gosh I can't imagine having to go through what Emily did. I would be totally heartbroken. I would just be lost. It would be hard to forgive the person who failed and hurt someone you loved and even if I did, things would change in my opinion. Emily is so brave and strong. So even though it was hard for her she always knew exactly what to do.

Sometimes we think we know everyone we are close to like the palms of our hands. Until an unexpected discovery that makes you open your eyes and notice that even the people you trust the most are capable of hiding life changing truths. When this secrets are revealed it not only makes you doubt everything about your life it even makes you uncertain of who you are. But it also helps you get to know those around you better and discover who will be there by your side to support your decisions, understand and respect them. It is also hard because sometimes you would lose someone you love in the process of finding yourself.

My favorite character was Katie. She was so supporting, never questioned, disagreed or made Emily feel any different after Emily's parents told her the truth. I felt Eric really needed someone to slap him and bring him down to earth. I understood what his worries were but mostly he sounded selfish. If it wasn't for him acting the way he did all throughout the story I would've liked him. Whoever You Are really got to me. The saddest part was when I read the last page. I couldnt stop myself from reading the last 2 pages over and over again before finally closing the book. Whoever You Are is an amazing, captivating, refreshing and realistic story. Donna Marie Lanheady did an extremely amazing job with this novel, it was easy to read and flow through the story. A strong plot, characters you can relate to and feel so real. It is definitely a must read.

Thank you Donna Marie Lanheady for letting me read this fabulous novel it was better then what I had expected and thank you for offering to giveaway a paperback copy of Whoever You Are!




Excerpt:

Chapter 1 – A Few Regrets

“Forgive me for saying this, Grace, but I’m concerned about Sterling’s reaction.” James removed his reading glasses and laid them atop the papers on his desk.

Grace shifted her gaze away from him.

“Yes, I understand, Jimmy. I just can’t deny this child any longer.”

Grace was the only person who called him that anymore. Coming from anyone else, it would make him cringe. However, the reality embodied in Grace’s appearance dimmed his smile.

Despite the weariness Grace’s illness etched upon her face, her sitting posture remained erect. Her silver hair was styled in a classic bob, her makeup sparse and tasteful. The tailored suit she wore held its lines even on her thinning frame.

Word was, Grace had a heart condition that could not be cured in spite of having the financial means to pursue any treatment. Given her labored breathing and her skin’s bluish hue, the doctors must be running out of options. Given these changes to her will, Grace must be running out of time.

“Would you like to include a personal letter to explain?” James asked.

“No, I’ll tell Sterling about the changes myself.”

“Actually, I was thinking about the girl. This will likely be quite a shock for her.”

To say the least. James had been their lawyer and friend back then too, back when Hunter insisted they renounce the child for the sake of decorum. It was clear to James then, doing so broke Grace’s heart. It was clear to him now, her heart never mended.

“I considered it,” Grace said, “but how can I possibly condense a lifetime into a letter?” And the choices. How in the world would she ever justify the choices?

James fiddled with his fountain pen, which Grace had given him last year for his birthday. Every year it was the same gift just a different model, a different color or design, and each year he looked forward to seeing what she chose. Odds were, the pen in his hand would be the last.

“No,” Grace said, “it’s better not to try. A letter like that would just muddy the waters. I don’t want to burden her with empty explanations or pleas for forgiveness. What’s done is done.”

It was too late to give this child anything but a token and an opportunity to discover who she was. It’d be up to the child to seize the opportunity or not.

“If she asks you any questions, Jimmy, just point her in the right direction and let her find her own way. If she’s anything like her mother, she’ll do just fine.”

“All right, Grace, whatever you say.”

A longer sample is available at Amazon!

Thanks!

The giveaway is for one signed copy of the paperback.
US residents only.
Blogger will determine winner and forward winner’s mailing information to Donna Marie Lanheady.

About the Author

Although Donna lives on the east coast now, she was born in a suburb of Denver, moved near Boulder as a teenager, and lived in the Boulder area for much of her adult life, which is why she chose Colorado as the setting for her first two novels, Where Secrets Lie and Whoever You Are.

Books captivated Donna at a very young age. All those years and all those books inspired her to become a writer. The journeys the books took her on enthralled her. Their ability to make something imaginary seem real is what spoke to her, got into her blood, and would not let her rest. She had to write!

Donna loves to hear from readers and listen to their perspectives on her novels. It fascinates her how people can look at the same thing and see it in so many different ways, so if a reader ever wants to tell her what they think or just wants learn more about her, find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.

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Resident Evil: Retribution Review

The story picks up right where it left off in the last film Resident Evil: Afterlife. Alice (Milla Jovovich) and the few survivors were on a ship thinking they had survived and won the war. All of a sudden they see the helicopters coming, shooting and one of them crashes on the boat making Alice jump off of the boat falling unconscious in the water. As always expected Alice wakes up but wait..... not in another umbrella facility. This time she wakes up in a nice cozy bed with a different hair look her husband getting ready for work. Everything seems normal she's in the kitchen with her daughter and husband then suddenly they get attacked by zombies. Alice runs with her daughter while my poor Carlitos is getting infectected by those ugly zombies. Alice and her daughter manage to escape. Then Alice wakes up again and this time she's in an umbrella facility on the floor.

One of the few things I love the most is watching movies. I love all kinds of movies though not so much funny movies but there are a few I do enjoyed watching and would watch again. Resident Evil: Retribution is one of those movies I had been waiting for so long to watch and it was worth the wait. Yes there were a few things that left me wondering what had just happened. There was also a few things that really didn't make sense to me but even with those tiny little problems I still enjoyed and loved Resident Evil: Retribution. 

I had been waiting for Resident Evil: Retribution for quite a long time now mostly because of Carlos (Oded Fehr) and Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) they are two of my favorite characters. What can I say I am fair lol. I like to have a balance between good and evil so I like one of the good guys and one of the bad guys. But I had not expected the good guy to be totally bad and really didn't like that Wesker had only a few scenes. I was pretty happy too to see Luther(Boris Kodjoe) he was one of my few favorites in Resident Evil Afterlife. Though I wasn't happy at all with what had happened to him either. Seriously what was the director thinking when killing or turning some of my favorite characters bad. I do got to say it was nice seeing them again. 

I had gone to watch a couple of movies in 3D but I really didn't think they were worth my money. One of those movies was Ghost Rider although it wasn't a bad movie I didn't feel there was enough 3D experience to get from it. But in Resident Evil: Retribution there was a lot of flying objects and three dimensional fire besides a few gigantic axes, knifes and even empty bullet cartridges popping out of the screen. One of the most fascinating things to see again was the ugly big creatures that always manage to scare the hell out of me. I had never liked playing the Resident Evil games. My brother has a few of them but the few times I tried playing I would get so scared I would just go ahead and run. So I don't know many of the characters in the video games. I only know Chris Redfield (which does not exist in the movies), Sheva Alomar (which does not exist in the movie) and Jill Valentine. There were a few new characters I didn't know but heard about them before watching the movie. Leon (Johann Urb) and Ada Wong (Bingbing Li) were part of the rescue team send by Wesker to get Alice out of the Umbrella facility. Although I did like the movie I thought the plot wasn't convincing. There were a lot of loopholes that left me thinking. Specially Wesker's reason to be on Alice's side does not make sense at all to me. At first he wanted to turn all humans into ugly creatures and flesh eating zombies and now he is all wanting to stop the evil red queen from doing pretty much the same thing. It all sounded fishy to me but no one will know what the real deal with that is until the next movie comes out. Overall I still enjoyed all the action. Alice kicking ass breaking zombie's necks, bullets being shot everywhere and amazingly the good guys surviving that, while the undead and bad guys are dropping to the floor dead. To me all of that made it worth watching. Now to see what the next resident evil will bring. 

Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Dexter #1) By Jeff Lindsay

 

 

I had been watching the show before reading this book. I haven't yet finished watching season 3. I love the show so far.

What I thought was kind of terrible was how Dexter hesitated way too much when his brother asked him to kill Deborah. He hesitated more than in the show to say no and was a little less careless about Deborah's life. Well that's how I felt it. Of course that's how Dexter is supposed to be but for a moment I thought he might actually kill her.

If you haven't read the book or watched the show you might not want to continue reading..................

A few different things from the book and the show are that LaGuerta dies in the book. In the show she is still alive and doubt she'll ever be killed. She also suspected that Dex was hiding something when in the show she doesn't see anything wrong with Dex. Amazingly Doakes is still breathing in the book. Deborah wasn't in a relationship with the ice truck killer either. Even with those changes I extremely enjoyed reading the book and love the show too. It still kept me reading to see what happened in the end even though the basic things were pretty much the same

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter By Seth Grahame-Smith

 

After Abraham Lincoln's father told him the truth about his mother's death Abraham sought to kill every vampire in the world, starting with the one who killed his mother. He was trained by Henry Sturges (a vampire) who saved him from dying in the hands of an old vampire women. Henry made a deal with Abraham that he would help him find vampires who deserve to be killed.
 
I totally fell in love with Henry he was so awesome I just completely loved his character. He was so mysterious and was a loyal friend to Abraham. The way of how Henry became a vampire was really interesting and helped me understand why he was helping Abe.
Also Abe's friends Lamon, Jack and Speed were my favorite human characters. What I hated is all the terrible times Abe lost a family member or a loved one. It was so sad I wouldn't had been strong enough to still be standing after losing so many loved ones.

Sadly I had a like and dislike relationship with this book. If I say love and hate it would make me feel more terrible than I already feel. Truth is I feel a little disappointed in myself. I had been waiting to read the book for so long and I have to give my not too good review.

Though I enjoy reading about Abraham Lincoln. For as long as I remember I was more interested in his history and enjoyed learning about him in my history classes. But I had a little of a hard time with this book. Seth Grahame-Smith did a great job with this book, it was written really well, the plot was great too. But sometimes I just had a difficult time getting into the story. I felt like in a lot of the parts it was a little slow. Sometimes when I would read it I was feeling like it was taking forever. Then I would get to a really good part and I'd be anticipating to read more and see what would happen next. I loved it when there was action. I really enjoyed the end it was very exciting and at the same time sad because of Abe's demise but what happened after that made it a great ending.

My rating is just about what I thought and felt about the book. Only my opinion. You might love this book or not like it. We all have different opinions. I was in between.

Claus Legend of The Fat Man By Tony Bertauski

 

400,00 years ago the elven colony lived in peace in a huge palace made of ice But it all changed when Jack decided to take over. When Jack was born he was different from his brother Claus. For a while he tried to be just like his brother to fit in but he was still not normal. He would often seclude himself from all the other children and liked the darkest places. He liked to be in the cold and soon he would change into "the cold one." his plan once he took over was to end the humans. To kill all the humans(warmbloods) in the world. His plan only needed one thing to take fly. He needed to capture a warmblood. 150 years after the colony ran away from their homes the Santa family decided to have an adventure. They decided to go where no other human would ever go, the north pole. Their adventure soon turns in to the most dangerous one they ever had. When they feared of dying frozen or of starvation was nothing compared to the danger they would be in.

This was a very unique, compelling, original story that I enjoyed reading till the end. Who would've imagined that we didn't discover some of the technology we have, right? As I was reading the book I had to stop and say where did the author get this???? Seriously, there were a lot of things that I had not heard at all, ANYWHERE. I haven't even seen it in movies and believe me I have seen a mega load of Christmas movies. When the Christmas movie season comes, my sisters detest me because I am stuck to the hallmark channel, the lifetime channel and abc family. Just about any channel that has any christmas related shows and I have not seen a movie that has the things that Tony Bertauski put in this book. I Freaking loved....... Everything.  

Cane was my favorite elven. He was just so sweet I just wanted to hug him. I was waiting for this part after the terrible tragedy and I was so happy Tony Bertauski did write this moment in detail  on page 532. It was beautiful and made me cry all the way to page 536. I love it when an author includes the seeing each other again, a momment of expectation and excitement in detail. 

I liked Rudy's story and how different he was from the rest of the reindeer. He was stronger, faster and braver. The way Tinsil said that Rudy was loyal to Claus and how sad he was because Claus wasn't with them was enough to let you know how  important he would be later in the story. But of course Rudy is always important. He is my favorite in every movie. 

Also how frosty and the other abominables were created. What they were needed for was awesome and sounded very logical to me. 

I will be re-reading this book during the Chrsitmas season. I'll probably have sort of like a day for everyone to sit around and listen to the story. Or maybe so no one will kill me. I'll read it to my girls before bedtime around December. You don't have to be a Christmas crazy like me to love this book. Anyone will love this book even if they/she/ he don't like Christmas, I can assure you that.