On May 15, 1975, fifteen-year-old Ginny Lemon is abducted from a convenience store in Fort Lauderdale by a member of one of the most notorious and brutal motorcycle gangs in South Florida.
From that moment on, her life is forever changed. She gets a new name, a new identity and a new life in the midst of the gang’s base on the edge of the Florida Everglades—a frightening, rough and violent world much like the swamps themselves, where everyone has an alias and loyalty is tantamount to survival.
And at the center of it all is the gang’s leader, Grizz: massive, ruggedly handsome, terrifying and somehow, when it comes to Ginny, tender. She becomes his obsession and the one true love of his life.
So begins a tale of emotional obsession and manipulation, of a young woman ripped from everything she knows and forced to lean on the one person who provides attention, affection and care: her captor. Precocious and intelligent, but still very much a teenager, Ginny struggles to adapt to her existence, initially fighting and then coming to terms with her captivity.
Will she be rescued? Will she escape? Will she get out alive—or get out at all? Part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel, filled with mystery, romance and unexpected turns, Nine Minutes takes readers into the world of one motorcycle gang and inside the heart of a young girl, whose abduction brought about its fall.
Category: Books
BOOK REVIEW ~ AFTER THE RAIN BY RENEE CARLINO
Under the bright arena lights of a rodeo show, young Avelina Belo falls for a handsome cowboy with a larger-than-life personality. After a whirlwind courtship, she happily moves away from her family in northern California and settles into married life with her cowboy on a seven-thousand-acre cattle ranch in Montana. One freak accident later, Avelina’s hopes for the future come to an end.
Nate Myers graduated from UCLA medical school at the top of his class, ready to follow in the footsteps of his father, a superstar cardiothoracic surgeon. Six years later, Nate’s career is being ruined by a malpractice suit. Questioning himself for the first time, he retreats to a Montana cattle ranch to visit his uncle and gain perspective. There, he meets a beautiful young woman named Avelina who teaches him more than he ever knew about matters of the heart.
BOOK REVIEW ~ PROTOTYPE BY GRETCHEN DE LA O
Lauren Matthews believes she will be dead in seven days. She’s done witnessing others around her meeting that exact fate. With the device Marshall Grayson installed in her head as the only golden thread linking them, Lauren is left with no choice but to believe it is her destiny to die.
Unable to see her professional world in Washington DC is about to be ruled by her personal life in San Francisco, Lauren’s two realities collide when Grayson Industries’ influential financier, Alejandro Fernandez, infuses himself in her life. Enchanted by Alejandro’s old world charm and modern sensitivity, Lauren becomes tangled in a web of sex, love, deceit, and murder. She struggles to find a balance between self-preservation and ethical responsibility.
With the full scope of the prototype slowly possessing her every thought, she truly understands―her life is not her own. Will Alejandro’s love be enough to reawaken her soul and change her destiny?
BOOK REVIEW ~ BAD ROMEO BY LEISA RAYVEN
While performing the greatest love story of all time, they discovered one of their own…
Cassie Taylor was just another acting student with big dreams at her prestigious performing arts college, then she met Ethan Holt. She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy on campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing on stage, Cassie and Ethan’s epic romance seemed destined. Until it ended in tragedy when he shattered her heart.
Now they’ve made it to Broadway where they’re reunited as romantic leads once again, and their passionate scenes force them to confront the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their intense college affair. For Ethan, losing Cassie was his biggest regret, and he’s determined to redeem himself. But for Cassie, even though Ethan was her first and only great love, he hurt her too much to ever be trusted again. The trouble is, working with him reminds her that people who rub each other the wrong way often make the best sparks. And when it comes to love, sometimes it’s the things that aren’t good for us that are the most irresistible.
BOOK REVIEW ~ REIGNITE BY J.M. DARHOWER
The moment the short-lived apocalypse came to an end, life returned to normal. Mortals continued on with their oblivious existences while the earth healed and flowers again bloomed, the devastation instantly wiped away. It was as if it had never happened.
But it did.
Luce knows. He’s cursed to remember every moment, forced to live with everything he has done. Suddenly finding himself out of confinement, he’s faced with a decision: where to call “home”. Free will turns out not to be the freedom he expects when the only thing he wants doesn’t know he exists.
Serah woke up with no memory of where she came from or who she was before that moment. Struggling to adapt to the world as a mortal, she’s haunted by a set of bright blue eyes that always seem to be watching her. She can’t shake the feeling that he could be her salvation… if only she can remember him before it’s too late.
Lucifer didn’t fall from Grace alone. He’s not the only angel with a grudge, nor is he the only one fascinated by his beautiful mortal.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions…
BOOK REVIEW ~ WITHIN THESE WALLS BY J.L. BERG
Within these walls, he became my solace, my sanctuary and my strength.
I am not strong. I am just a survivor of circumstance.Isn’t that what we all do? Survive?
Each of us has our own set of circumstances to muddle through. Mine are just more…complicated. Born with a severe heart defect, I’ve seen the inside of a hospital room more than my own bedroom.
I was drowning, a prisoner to the illness that owned me, until he appeared. He thinks he’s blocked out the world with his tattoos and hard exterior, but I see the real Jude, the one he so desperately wants to forget.
But is he the answer to my prayers or will he break my already damaged heart forever?
My name is Lailah Buchanan, and this is our story of hope, redemption and sacrificing it all for the one you love.
BOOK REVIEW ~ DEAR EMILY BY TRUDY STILES
Adoption. Is it a choice you could make? For yourself? For your unborn child?
Live this heart wrenching story with both Carly and Tabitha. Carly and her husband desperately want a child of their own, but are unable to make that dream their reality. Tabitha has been through unspeakable things and must make one of the most difficult decisions a scared and pregnant girl can make.
Dear Emily is told in dual point of view, allowing the reader to experience the highs and lows of both Carly and Tabitha and the decision that ultimately brings them together.
Take a chance on these two very different, but incredible women.
*******Two women. Carly and Tabitha. They each have suffered life-altering events that have left them both traumatically damaged.
Carly Sloan’s life was perfect until her security and innocence was torn from her. The vast repercussions from these events threaten to destroy her stability and her chances for a happily ever after. Kyle Finnegan comes into Carly’s life at the height of her turmoil. Can he help her find what she desires most?
Tabitha Fletcher has constantly suffered from a very young age. She has been hiding from her past, which was full of sadness, loss and abuse. She has been so brutally damaged that she has very little hope for redemption. The revolving door of men only leads her deeper into misery.
What circumstance brings these two women together and can they help each other heal? And will they each find what they need?
Redemption.Love.Family.
This is one of the most unputdownable and unforgettable books I’ve read this year! I’m ashamed to say it’s not a story I would’ve read at first glance and I’d never have picked it up if it weren’t for a few friends who absolutely adored it and now…I can definitely see why. The story follows two women who are the main characters – Tabitha and Carly – and their individual lives and romances, and how one child brings them together. It’s a story not just about love, but family, friendships, and fate. The way the book is written is especially unique; with alternating POVs between Carly and Tabitha that sometimes jump back and forth in time, I really expected to be frustrated and turned off by the execution but quite the opposite happened. I adored the way the story unfolded and it felt like I was reading two books in one. Even more so, I’m amazed by how invested I was (still am) in both Carly and Tabitha’s lives, even when they hadn’t met each other yet. The author’s writing style is simplistic in an alluring and captivating way, gripping me from the VERY first page and ended the book with such a bang that I need to dive into the next one asap.
BOOK REVIEW ~ DEAR TABITHA BY TRUDY STILES
You know me. You know who I am. What I am.
Damaged. Confused. Alone.
You feel sorry for me. You pity me.
You know what I’ve done. What I’ve given up. Who I’ve given up.
You try to understand what I’ve been through and how I can go on with my life. But you can’t possibly understand.
I’ve lost too much. Sacrificed too much. Given up everything so that I can find myself.
Well, I’m done.
I’m done walking away from everything that matters.
It’s time for me to heal.
It’s MY TURN to earn…
Redemption.Love.Family.
“Dear Tabitha” is the second book in the “Forever Family” series. This is book 2 of 2 and concludes the story that began in “Dear Emily”. It is NOT a standalone story and is meant to be read after Dear Emily.
BOOK REVIEW ~ SWEET FALL BY TILLIE COLE
We all have secrets.
Secrets well buried.
Until we find the one soul who makes the burden of such secrets just that little bit easier to bear.
Lexington “Lexi” Hart is a senior at the University of Alabama. Surrounded by her best friends, her loving family and having fulfilled her life-long dream of making the Crimson Tide cheer squad, everything is going exactly as she always dreamed it would. But beneath her happy exterior, demons lurk, threatening to jeopardize everything Lexi has worked to achieve. When events in her life become too much to cope with, Lexi finds herself spiraling down into the realm of her biggest fear. Lexi falls hard, victim once again to the only thing that can destroy her and, on the way, finds herself falling straight into the dangerous tattooed arms of a guy from the wrong side of the tracks.
Austin Carillo, starting Wide Receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide, must get picked in this year’s NFL draft. He needs it. His brothers need it. Most importantly, his mother desperately needs it. Brought up in a world where the poor are forgotten, the sick are left to fend for themselves and no hero miraculously appears to pull you out of hell, Austin had no other choice but to make a living on the wrong side of the law—until football offered Austin the break to get his life back on track. But when a family tragedy drags him back into the clutches of the gang he believed he had left far behind, Austin finds himself falling. Falling back into criminal ways and falling deep into a suffocating darkness. Until a troubled yet kindred spirit stumbles across his path, where Austin quickly finds he is falling for a young woman, a young woman who might just have the power to save him from his worst enemy: himself.
Can two troubled souls find a lasting peace together? Or will they finally succumb to the demons threatening to destroy them?