Mundie Moms

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Giveaway Winners!


Congratulations to our latest round of giveaway Winners!

#95- Lauren Wilkerson

#60- Denise Zaky

#160- Angela Heaton

Each of the winners has been notified via email and has 48 hrs to respond or new winners will be drawn using random.org.

Thank you to everyone entered our giveaways. We still have more giveaways going on, and you find those in our right hand side bar. Have a great weekend!

Book Review: The Ganzfield Series

Published by Spencer Hill Press
Released on June 18th, 2010
Source- book from author to review
2.5-3 stars- I wanted to like it more than I did

Sixteen-year-old Maddie Dunn is special, but she needs to figure out how to use her new abilities before somebody else gets hurt. Ganzfield is a secret training facility full of people like her, but it's not exactly a nurturing place.

Every social interaction carries the threat of mind-control.

A stray thought can burn a building to the ground.

And people's nightmares don't always stay in their own heads. But it's still better than New Jersey. Especially once she meets the man of her dreams...

Action, romance and a touch of Sci-Fi, Minder is a unique, fast paced read that paranormal fans will enjoy. One of the things that attracted me to this series were the different paranormal elements Kate brings together for her series. Each of her characters has a different ability and power with a creditable scientific touch. From mind readers, charmers, healers, sparks and more, I found each of the powers to be very believable and realistic. Within in the story characters use their powers for good or for their own selfish reasons, which adds to some of the story's suspense.

The story focuses on Maddie who has the gift of telekinesis also known as a Minder. After a horrifying opening scene she finds her self at a school for gifted for kids called Ganfield. It's here that Kate introduces the reader to her cast of characters, some I enjoyed getting to know and some not so much since they give into their darker motivates and abuse their power to get what they want. Much of the story revolves around Maddie and her love interest Trevor. No matter how hard I tried, I had a very hard time relating to Maddie and Trevor. I have mixed feelings about their relationship and I didn't feel their chemistry was believable at all. I like the soul mates aspect of their relationship, but I felt it moved from I like your hot to I love you way to fast. With much of the series centered on their relationship, I wanted to see how it developed over time instead of feeling so rushed.

Though I had a hard time with feeling connected to the characters and I felt turned off with some of the darker motivates of one of the male characters, I was intrigued with the plot. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I also wanted to know more about Minder's fascinating world, and I'm hoping the sequel will explore more of it. With it's cast of interesting characters, it's intriguing plot twists, and an ending that leaves me wanting more, Minder is a good debut, and I'm looking forward to reading it's sequel Adversary. This is a book I'd recommend to older teens as there is mild sexual content, language, and violence.
____________________________________________________________

Published by Spencer Hill Press
Released on August 20th, 2010
Source- book from author to review
3.5 stars- It's a great sequel

Love at "second sight".

The break-in at Eden Imaging put everyone at Granzfield in the crosshairs of a killer.

Do they have what it takes to stop Isaiah? Who will survive- and who won't?

Full of heart pounding moments, and surprising twists, Adversary is a fantastic sequel. I was really blown away at how much more I liked it than Minder, and I'll admit I was a little hesitant to pick it up for that reason. Kate really surprised me, and I love how more in depth her characters are and I really enjoyed her detailed world building. I not only enjoyed the story, but I felt like I connected with more.

I enjoyed all the twists and surprises that Kate threw into her story. It's definitely a darker story and one full of action. When Maddie and a group of students goes away for the night, the come back to find that Ganfield wasn't only attacked but many of their classmates have died. I'm not sure who was more shocked at this turn of events, me or Maddie and her friends. I'll admit I admire an author who's not afraid to kill off some of her characters. Kate totally surprised me by so. During this time she not only showed more emotion from her characters, but she allowed me to become emotionally connected to the story. Not saying that I'm emotionally connected when a character dies, but this is the first time I felt I was able to relate to her characters.

Things definitely heat up a bit with the introduction of a new character, Zach. I not only enjoyed meeting him, but I like how his character shook things up a bit between Maddie and Trevor. I was really surprised at how much I ended up liking Trevor. I felt like his character grew the most and I was able to understand him more. Even though his relationship with Maddie is deepening and heating up, I for whatever reason am still having a hard time with it, which may seem wrong to say since the series revolves around them. I think it's because I feel like I'm being told at how intense it is vs being shown. That doesn't mean I don't like reading about some of their moments together, because I do, I just feel like I missing something with their chemistry.

Overall I felt like this is a great sequel. There is a lot more action, a lot more suspense, and I loved the surprises Kate throws into this story. With it's more sensual context & mild violence, this is a book I'd recommend to older teens and to fans of Minder.

Labels