Blood and Snow

Snow White lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her dad, stepmother, and her cat, Gatsby. Her entire life she's been teased for her fairy tale name, and the fact that her seven best friends happen to be guys whose names begin with the same letters as the seven dwarves.

Everything changes two months before her sixteenth birthday. She's bitten by The Hunter, and transformed into a revenant—not quite human, not quite vampire.

*May Contain Spoilers*

RaShelle Workman adds a vampiric twist to the story of Snow White in her novella, the first in the series, Blood and Snow. However, this version of Snow White gives a more supernatural overtone rather than that of a fairy tale. With quirky details and the promise of vampires this opening novella has me excited.

Snow is the main character throughout the series. She's an absolute klutz who's falling in love with the boy next door. Well, one of them, since there are seven boys living in the neighboring mansion. Snow's mother died when she was young and her father and step-mother often leave her alone for long periods of time. (Yes, the step-mother sounds a little evil.) Readers will connect with her based on her teenage angst and her new found crush. However, since this first installment of the series is so short, it's hard to build upon that initial connection. 

The plot of the series isn't completely laid out in Blood and Snow, but readers do learn that the Queen Vampire has chosen Snow... for something and has already begun to change her into a vampire. This book is definitely a teaser for what's to come. Hopefully in the following novellas, Workman will build on the initial connection that she's created so that readers can have a firm bond with Snow.

Rating: 2.5/5 Cups

Blood and Snow (#1 Blood and Snow series)

Teaser Tuesday (70)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Blood and Snow (p.17)
   - RaShelle Workman


"Lips red as rubies, hair dark as night. Drink your true love's blood, become the Vampire, Snow White."
"I want it."

Always There

In this fresh, poignant novel, Always There, Shelby Lynn LeeMaster grapples with her recent “orphaned” life and how to let down her guard to fully experience true love, allowing it in to her heart without fear. The mother, Betheny LeeMaster, struggles with dying before she could teach and guide her children into adulthood. The daughter cannot break from her own fears, while the mother cannot forgive herself for leaving her children too soon. The different narrators, the mother in Heaven and the daughter on Earth, tell their stories in alternating chapters. Can the two women reconcile their fears and remorse before it’s too late, and Shelby loses the one man she’s destined to be with?

*May Contain Spoilers*

Carol  Ann Albright-Eastman shares the afterlife with the living in her novel, Always There. As a mother worries about how her children turned out after she died from cancer, her daughter struggles with the fear and pain of being, and dying, alone. 

Bethany died from colon cancer when her youngest daughter was twenty. She spends the afterlife with her husband, who died before she did, and sisters. Readers will connect with this character based on her title, Mother. She wonders and worries that she didn't have enough time to prepare her children for the adult world before the cancer killed her. Readers will use this to build a relationship with Bethany, connecting with the universal fear of what happens when we aren't there to help the most important people in our lives.

Shelby was the youngest of Bethany's three children. Saying goodbye to both of her parents before she turned twenty-one took it's toll on her quirky and fun personality. Now she lives in fear. She's so afraid that her life may be stolen by cancer - the death sentence that took her Aunts as well as her mom - that she refuses to let anyone in. Readers will form a bond with Shelby based on her fears. It's too easy to shut yourself off from the world when death looms on the horizon. Especially when alone seems like the safest place from worry and pain. 

Readers will quickly form strong bonds with each of these main characters and they will only strengthen as the plot advances. The story line focuses on Shelby and how close she comes to losing everything that matters - including her destiny, Chance. As Shelby struggles to open up to love, the last Aunt of the family passes away and joins Bethany in the afterlife. When Bethany learns of her daughter's emotional conflict, she tries to find a way to help her. Highly recommended novel! 

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups

Always There

The Governess Affair

She will not give up…

Three months ago, governess Serena Barton was let go from her position. Unable to find new work, she’s demanding compensation from the man who got her sacked: a petty, selfish, swinish duke. But it’s not the duke she fears. It’s his merciless man of business—the man known as the Wolf of Clermont. The formidable former pugilist has a black reputation for handling all the duke’s dirty business, and when the duke turns her case over to him, she doesn’t stand a chance. But she can’t stop trying—not with her entire future at stake.


He cannot give in…

Hugo Marshall is a man of ruthless ambition—a characteristic that has served him well, elevating the coal miner’s son to the right hand man of a duke. When his employer orders him to get rid of the pestering governess by fair means or foul, it’s just another day at the office. Unfortunately, fair means don’t work on Serena, and as he comes to know her, he discovers that he can’t bear to use foul ones. But everything he has worked for depends upon seeing her gone. He’ll have to choose between the life that he needs, and the woman he is coming to love…

*May Contain Spoilers*

Courtney Milan writes the prequel to her Brothers Sinister series with, The Governess Affair. A stubborn governess meets the most stubborn man in the ton, but which will bend first? 

Serena and Hugo share the stage as the main characters. The point of view often switches between them and it's a wonder to read. They both are quick-witted, humorous, and will stop at nothing to get what they want. Serena is an adventurous girl who seems to always find herself in trouble, yet she's brave, open, resilient, and persistent. Readers will connect with Serena on her path of justice based on her personality and her hope for the future. 

Hugo is the villain-turned-hero of this prequel. He's given the job to eliminate the problem that is Serena and readers will love how much he struggles! He doesn't expect to meet his match in the tossed away governess, but he does and it's an absolute riot. He chills her to the bone and then gives her hot tea to warm her soul. The match-up is on even ground and it's a thoroughly enjoyable duel. 

The plot that Milan creates is masterful and intriguing. I loved reading the barbed witticisms that Serena and Hugo spit at each other. I laughed at the unexpected situations and hated the Duke as much as Serena. I can't vouch for the whole series, but if the other books are anything like this prequel, read them voraciously. 

Rating: 4/5 Cups

The Governess Affair