Melpomene’s Top 25 of 2014

What a year!!!! Seriously!!! I have read so many great books, that trying to pick only 25 nearly gave me an ulcer. Stressful. While many of these weren’t released in 2014, I didn’t read them until this year. But here it is:

01 top25

10482195_849029548470181_8349805909394693507_n

1. Flat-Out Celeste by Jessica Park
2. Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan
3. Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
4. The Collectors’ Society by Heather Lyons
5. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
6. The Deep End of the Sea by Heather Lyons
7. Bright Side by Kim Holden
8. The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon
9. Elicit by Rachel Van Dyken
10. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

The rest are in no particular order
11. Even the Moon has Scars by Steph Campbell
12. Becoming Calder and Finding Eden by Mia Sheridan Those two go together. They’re a combo pack.
13. Jacked by Tina Reber
14. Hope at Dawn by Stacy Henrie
15. Red at Night by Katie McGarry
16. The King by JR Ward
17. Vain by Fisher Amelie
18. Greed by Fisher Amelie
19. Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover
20. Until the End by Abbi Glines
21. Burying Water by KA Tucker
22. Infinity + One by Amy Harmon
23. Until We Fly by Courtney Cole
24. Hate: A Love Story by Laurel Ulen Curtis
25. Letting Go by Molly McAdams

What are some of yours??

Review: Becoming Calder and Finding Eden, by Mia Sheridan

Downloads2
When Mia Sheridan first announced she was writing a new book, I was thrilled. When she started writing, she told us that there was so much to say and she would be writing two books and releasing them simultaneously. I couldn’t be happier. Not only were we getting another book, but we were getting TWO! After reading Archer’s Voice, I didn’t think she would be able to come close to Archer, but, boy was I wrong. This is another of those books that I wanna yell, “Just read it!!”

It is so hard to put to words how I am feeling after reading these books. I have never read books like this. The subject matter alone, makes this even more tragic and beautiful. How love can blossom in a time of such destruction and deceit, I will never know.

Synopsis
There is a place in modern day America with no electricity, no plumbing, and no modern conveniences. In this place, there is no room for dreams, no space for self-expression, and no tolerance for ambition.

In this place, there is a boy with the body of a god and the heart of a warrior. He is strong and faithful and serves his family honorably. But he dares to dream of more.

In this place, there is a girl with the face of an angel and a heart full of courage. To her family, she is the vision of obedient perfection. But she dares to want that which she has been told can never be hers.

Eden is brought to Acadia as a little girl, to save them. She is the chosen one. The one the prophecy told of. Calder is the water bearer and one of the many people she will save. As children, their connection was almost instant, but it wouldn’t be allowed to blossom, because she was to be the wife of the “Father” and no one was going to get in his way.

As the years go by, the connection between Calder and Eden is stronger than ever. Eden has been kept away from the other children, but they find times to sneak off and be together and learn more about each other. What starts off as innocent friendship, grows into a fierce love that no man can even think of separating.

“Eden, I vow this. My heart is yours. My life is yours. My body is yours. My art, my dreams. You own each and every part of me.”

I was in a constant state of angst. I was lost in the romance. I was devastated in the crushed dreams. I was downright destroyed at the loss. I was hopeful in the future.

No matter the years or the miles, true love will always finds it’s way.

01become1

This silly, kid-like, review hasn’t even touched 1% of these book’s force. Just go and buy them and you’ll know why I struggled with all the emotions that are running through me. Sometime’s putting words to overwhelming feelings is so much harder than you think.

~Melpomene

Becoming Calder and Finding Eden will both be released on October 5th. Calder is up for pre order now. Finding Eden will be available on release day.

Review: Archer’s Voice, by Mia Sheridan

5

“Sometimes an understanding silence was better than a bunch of meaningless words.”

When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.

Archer’s Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.

OK. Let me start out by saying that the tbr shelf is overflowing with good intentions. Seriously, everyone keeps saying, “You gotta read..” and then I buy it and it gets lost in the shuffle. Well, when Archer’s Voice came out, I was just about to start Leo and then Leo’s Chance. It’s the forth book in the Sign of Love series, but it can be a standalone. I knew I needed to grab Stinger before I even thought of Archer. But everyone kept telling me to skip it and read Archer first, then go back to it. But my OCD didn’t wanna let me do it. After much grumbling, I decided to not listen to myself and listen to my friends, and let me tell you, I made a wise choice. WOW. This book is just…wow.

The emotions that were pulled out of this book, were all over the map. It was another perfect book. There is just something about the silence of Archer that draws you in. He was totally misunderstood. When Bree decides to be friends with Archer, she goes full-bore. They both suffered great pain, in the past, and that pain is what makes them so similar. As I read what he went through, as a boy, I was crushed, devastated, angry and so very sad. All of his suffering was unnecessary.

“I’m afraid to love you. I’m afraid that you’ll leave and that I’ll go back to being alone again. Only it will be a hundred times worse because I’ll know what I’m missing. I can’t…” He sucked in a shaky breath. “I want to be able to love you more than I fear losing you, and I don’t know how. Teach me, Bree. Please teach me. Don’t let me destroy this.”

Sweet silent Archer. Being alone for so long, he was so very childlike in many aspects of his life. It was so sweet to watch Bree teach him things. Some of the things were quite saucy, but it was still very sweet. It was nice to see someone so protective over him. He hasn’t had that in such a long time. He needed Bree, more than he ever thought.

“I stand by my logic though. I think love is a concept, and each person has an individual word for what sums it up for them. My word for love is Bree.”

This book made me cry, made me mad, made me gasp in shock, and made me sit back and remember that everyone is worthy of love.

~Melpomene

Buy Archer’s Voice (Sign of Love, Sagittarius)