Two Brooms Up

Lucas is a loner, but he’s never alone.

From page one, this novel pulls you in.  It’s interesting to learn how this man sneaks around and spies on others.  How he longs for a connection, but pushes those people he knows in person away.  He’s afraid for a “real” connection, so he settles for the lives he creates for those he spies on.

When someone shows up near his current living space things start to turn around.  He goes from being the spy to being spied on. 

With such an intriguing start I was keyed up for an intriguing story to test my intelligence and challenge me.  The story did deliver many twists and turns, unexpected story turns, and side plots. 

Unfortunately for me, after so many twists and turns I felt it fell a bit flat.  With so many plot threads to keep track of, several were never wrapped up.  The ending had me staring at the book saying, “All of that for…what?” 

An intriguing start with a muddled middle, and a disappointing end.  Even the action packed sequence before the final shoe dropped didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat. 

In the end I really WANTED to like this book.  I’m afraid it didn’t happen.

When I first signed up to review House of Dark Shadows I didn’t notice that it was listed as juvenile fiction. I thought the description sounded interesting and I wanted to read it. When I received it in the mail and noticed it on the back cover the first thing that came to mind was that if I enjoyed it I could share it with my 12 year old son. I am so glad I picked this one.

You are immediately drawn into the action and pulled into the lives of the King family. More accurately you are drawn into the adventures of Xander the fifteen year old of the family and David his twelve year old brother as they try to adjust to being uprooted and moved to a small hick town. What they don’t realize is stepping through one secret passage in the house could change their lives forever.

There was only one real complaint I had with The House of Dark Shadows. Okay actually it was two. The first was the way it ended. It left you hanging and wanting more. The second was I didn’t have the second book to dive right into. I definitely recommend The House of Dark Shadows and not just to teenagers. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and cannot wait to get the second book The Watcher in the Woods. I am also looking forward to sharing it with my son.

Here is an exert from the back cover it definitely hooked me:
When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, fifteen-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films . . . but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land.

Then the really weird stuff kicks in: they find a hidden hallway with portals leading off to far-off places–in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen’s dream come true . . . or his worst nightmare.

Last year I was given the great pleasure of reviewing Sandra’s first widely published novel, Lady of the Roses. Two weeks ago Sandra contacted me again, asking me to review her latest novel, due for release tomorrow, The King’s Daughter. Of course I jumped at the chance, and I’m glad I did.

Elizabeth of York was the only woman to be a daughter, niece, sister, wife, and mother to English kings. Her wide connection to royalty did not prove to grant her a charmed life, quite the opposite.

Her life began as a charmed one, the daughter of Edward IV, she was loved by her father and lived a brief life of joy and contentment as the apple of his eye. When war struck their country again at the tender age of five, she and her family were forced into sanctuary, and thus the first hints of tragedy started to enter her life.

Her father survived the battle and lived until she was seventeen, but with his death came the beginning of a series of events that led this hopeful princess into a life filled with death and sorrow. Losing her father, her brothers, her nephew, her queen and friend, and then her beloved uncle (the man she also loved), she never lost her faith. When given an opportunity to run, she stayed behind, determined to let a royal marriage to a man who claimed the crown end years and years of battle.

From the moment you open this book, drawn into a game of revelry, to the end you are hooked into Elizabeth’s life as she tells it. Sandra skillfully relays a heartwrenching tale that pulls you into the heart of a queen. You find yourself enjoying each brief moment of happiness, and sharing each lonely moment of pain and fear.

“Elizabeth, the Good! Elizabeth, the Beloved! Elizabeth, the King’s Daughter!” You will want to know her. You will want to see her find peace. She will be made a part of you.

Thoroughly researched, you can see that Sandra loves her subjects in all of her novels. You are given a touching tale that will leave you with real tears…and you will learn of a period of history through a historical figure often forgotten - but certainly no less important.

While you’re at Amazon, make sure to pick up Sandra’s other novels:
The Rose of York Series:

and Lady of the Roses: