Tag Archives: read in 2017
One Sentence Review – Loved This Alaskan Adventure with Kitty Hawk by Iain Reading
Monday Mini Review – Angel Fall by Susan Ee @Susan_Ee
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Angelfall by Susan Ee is one heavenly story I won from Toi Thomas.
MY REVIEW
I am so glad I won this book because I loved it and I probably never would have found it on my own. The angels brought death, destruction and the apocalypse. Sixteen year old Penryn will team up with Raffe, an angel warrior caught up in angel politics. They will save each other again and again, as they struggle to find a way through the new world they live in. Forbidden love, complex characters and world building full of desperation and danger make me want to now who will be left standing. I was immediately drawn into this dark and desperate world of angel against angel, angel against human, human against angel and human against human, as Penryn and Raffe try to change what’s left of the world they live in.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Crimson Dahlia by Abigail Owen @AOwenBooks
Crimson Dahlia is Book III of the Svatura Series by Abigail Owen.
Filled with magic and supernatural beings in a world fraught with danger.
The covers of the series are done by Debbie Taylor. Fabulous job, Debbie.
MY REVIEW
The battle continues from Hyacinth into Crimson Dahlia, Book III of the Svatura Series by Abigail Owen. This is Lila and Ramsey’s story, and I am eager to hear it.
Lila is locked up, half dressed, being kept in a cold dark pit, yet her snark shines through her chattering teeth. Now that is some great writing, Abigail. Lila’s personality is big and bold and I love it.
How long can she survive? Why is she not able to use her magic to escape…or at least send a telepathic message for help.
Ramsey is a firestarter and he has a special connection to her. He will stop at nothing to find her. She just has to hang on until he can get there.
The characters are not immortal, but can live for thousands of years. The one hundred year old kids go to school, playing at normal. I wonder…do they ever get bored?
All hell breaks loose…people are going missing and cannot be found. They know who is at fault, they just don’t know why. And can they destroy him, before he destroys them?
If sheer stubbornness were a successful strategy, no one would ever mess with this family. Especially the women.
I loved the battles, filled with magics of every type you can imagine. I can hardly wait to see the conclusion.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Crimson Dahlia by Abigail Owen.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Book #3 of the Svatura Series
When Lila Jenner leaves her family and friends to start a new life for herself, Ramsey Pierce lets her go. Determined that the fire raging inside him will never harm her, he denies the magical bond that could be theirs alone.
When an old enemy resurfaces and Lila suddenly disappears, Ramsey realizes that he’ll do anything to win her back and keep her safe beside him. But Maddox, driven by a centuries-old quest for revenge, is stronger than they ever imagined. And Lila could be the key to his ultimate power.
Friends and enemies must band together against this shared threat if any of them are to survive. Even then, they may all discover too late that one dragon is not always enough…
ABOUT ABIGAIL OWEN
Award-winning paranormal and contemporary romance author, Abigail Owen was born in Greeley, Colorado, and raised in Austin, Texas. She now resides in Northern California with her husband and two adorable children who are the center of her universe.
Abigail grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. A fourth generation graduate of Texas A&M University, she attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
One Sentence Review – Angels & Demons – The Devil’s Daughter by Jill Cooper @jillybug
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I won a copy of The Devil’s Daughter by Jill Cooper from Toi Thomas, a love story filled with Angels & Demons.
Way to go Jill. I loved it.
MY REVIEW
I won a copy of The Devil’s Daughter by Jill Cooper and I am so glad I did, because I would have missed this fabulous story filled with characters to die for, romance, demon, angels, and the great battle that was waged to save her soul and give her the freedom from Lucifer that she so desired.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
The beauty of an Angel. The Heart of the Devil. A war is about to be waged for her soul. Can love prove to be the one saving grace that Lucifer cannot master?
Reckless. Impetuous and arrogant. Amara is Lucifer’s daughter in every way. In the high court of hell, no one has captured more angels than she has. But she has never felt anything for them. Not until him.
The high counsel of Heaven sent their mightiest warrior, Cathal, to kill Amara and snuff out the danger she presents. But her beauty causes him pause. He senses the tremble. A flicker of goodness buried deep inside of her.
If Cathal can kindle the spark and allow that goodness to grow, he can save her from herself and from inheriting the flame of hell.
As the gladiator games for her hand in marriage heat up, can Amara find the strength to come out of the dark and stand in the light?
Alien Alligators are in the Aquifer by Gary A Barnes #GaryABarnes
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I love the cover for Aquifer by Gary A Barnes. That alone would have had me grabbing this, but add alien alligators…I love a good creature feature and we have one here.
Goodreads / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA
MY REVIEW
I was looking for a Q for my reading challenge and this popped up. An alien alligator? Oh yeah.
In the Ozark Mountains, in the 1950s, in the hillbilly town of Ellington, Doc was enjoying the slow pace, after life in the busy city. Life is just what you would think, live off the land, uneducated people, no money, but they lived their life to the fullest.
Dr. Thomas Clayton came from there and was back as a herpetologist to do an ecological study. What are the ramifications of pollution on the frog population?
Amidst the croaks of the frogs and the song of the cicadas, a blinding flash, a sonic boom, and…we’re off.
Tina’s home life is comfy cozy, with all the characters sharing, eating, playing. I remember catching fireflies and putting them in a jar with holes punched in the top. Do you? It’s always fun to read a book that brings back pleasant memories. Makes the book seem real…sorta. If you believe in aliens and mutant creatures.
I love how two collegiate city slickers meet the Ozark hillbillies and learn they have more in common that they could have possibly believed.
I was freaking when tina and Larry were sitting n the rock at the lagoon.
The slow building suspense allowed me to get to know and love the characters. To get the feel of the terror that is coming, feel IT coming now…NOW? I do wonder how many of them will survive.
Of course, we gotta have one lizard lover. Don’t hurt ’em. Let’s coexist. Well, maybe they don’t want to. Maybe we are their breakfast, lunch and dinner. MMM…hungry.
I love these B type creature features.
Plenty of time was spent in world building and character development. It was great to watch them grow and change, as they spend more time together, learning from each other.
I knew the ending and loved it anyway. If you are looking for a great alien, creature feature, look no further. We have all the requirements here. All the gory, grisly deaths, mixed with loss, love and romance.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Dr. Thomas Clayton was born to an unwed teenage daughter of an Ozark share-cropper. He was adopted at birth without ever knowing the identity of his biological mother or of his backwoods roots. He now unwittingly arrives in the Ozark community of Eminence as part of an environmental research team studying the pollution affects of the logging industry. Clayton has nothing but contempt for the hillbillies of the area, while they in turn suspect that he is part of a Federal conspiracy to take over their land.
Shot down by the military, an alien spaceship crashes into the Ozark Mountains. The alien crew is killed, but the destruction of the spacecraft allows an aggressive alligator-sized amphibian to escape into the continental aquifer which extends from Canada to Mexico. The amphibians quickly multiply and begin devouring the livestock and ultimately the citizens of Eminence. A military unit from Ft. Leonard Wood attempts to eradicate the aliens only to be destroyed themselves by the aggressive creatures.
With the destruction of the military and the impending destruction of the citizenry, Clayton and the town folk join together to obliterate the creatures using only the resources available to a backwoods farming community. Failure would doom the entire nation as the amphibians could travel through the aquifer to wreck havoc throughout the country.
With the annihilation of humanity in the balance, Clayton discovers the key to destroying the aliens. But using it would require him to intentionally spread the pollution he has sworn to prevent. In an explosive pyrotechnic battle with the creatures, Clayton wrestles with the morality of blatantly destroying a new species or somehow capturing it for preservation before it destroys mankind. Does he prevent the spread of pollution or proliferate its spread to save the world? In the process, Clayton makes a stunning discovery that brings him full-circle to his Ozark roots and the family he never knew.
Homicide Hunter Tells All in I Will Find You by Joe Kenda #JoeKenda
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I have been watching Joe Kenda on Homicide Hunter, a TV show that appears on ID. I binge watch him for hours and hours. I fell in love with the guy, so when I saw he just came out with a new novel, I HAD TO HAVE IT. I find him very hypnotic and I have only seen him laugh a few times. He is a bulldog and determined to get his man…just like the title states. I buy very few books any more, but I am very excited to read I Will Find You and had to have a copy of my very own.
My favorite Joe Kenda quote:
“I don’t understand people, but they interest me.” Joe Kenda
To some, my fascination with murder, murderers, homicide and serial killers may be morbid. Mr Wonderful humors my binge watching and reruns of many of the TV shows, such as ID TV, Forensic Files, Criminal Minds, CSI, NCIS, etc. To say I am fascinated is to put it mildly. I, too, will never understand the people that commit these crimes, but cannot help but want to know more about them.
Goodreads / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA
MY REVIEW
I don’t buy many books any more, but I Will Find You by Joe Kenda is one of those that I just had to have on my bookshelf.
If you think dealing with the scum of the earth can lead you down a dark road, just ask Joe Kenda. He looks all cool, calm and collected, but beware, he is a badass.
I love the first chapter, where he doles out a little justice to a guy trying to kill a fellow police officer. What a way to start a career. His fellow officers called him a shit magnet and kept their distance. It seemed he was always getting attacked or shot at.
Back in the seventies, police officers were not as sophisticated and trained as they are now. We have come a long way, but I feel it takes a special kind of person to be able to put all the puzzle pieces together and find the killer. He has solved 93% of his 387 homicides.
I love when he talks about the right to lifers…will you take care of all the children who need someone to love and care for them? Where are you when they need a loving home instead of raising themselves and growing up on the street, with a gang as their family? Where are you when the mother doesn’t want them or is at the end of her rope?
I also think a lot of lives could be saved if getting DNA results didn’t take so long. Law enforcement needs more money and all the latest greatest equipment and technology to aid them in doing their job.
Some people complained about a couple of shows ID TV ran. Give me a break. This is real life…it’s murder and it’s messy, as Joe says. If you think the TV show is bad, his glimpses of murder in the book is so much more grotesque, horrifying and heartbreaking.
When do you know enough is enough? How many sleepless nights and hauntings from the dead are enough? Each individual must pick their moment when it is time to pass the torch to the next generation of police officers.
Joe Kenda’s personality shines through in this fabulous glimpse into his life as the Angel of Death. I think it is a very appropriate title for a man that is determined to take the despicable off the street and, sometimes, help them leave this world.
My. My. My. I give this non fiction book a solid four stars and the show…five stars. I look forward to Wednesday’s, when I can binge watch Joe Kenda, and God forbid anyone who gets in my way. LOL
You did a great job Joe!!!!
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Detective Lt. Joe Kenda, star of Homicide Hunter, shares his deepest, darkest, and never before revealed case files from his 19 years as a homicide detective. Are you horrified yet fascinated by abhorrent murders? Do you crave to know the gory details of these crimes, and do you seek comfort in the solving of the most gruesome? In I WILL FIND YOU, the star of Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda shares his deepest, darkest, and never-before-revealed case files from his two decades as a homicide detective and reminds us that crimes like these are very real and can happen even in our own backyards. Gruesome, macabre, and complex cases. Joe Kenda investigated 387 murder cases during his 23 years with the Colorado Springs Police Department and solved almost all of them. And he is ready to detail the cases that are too gruesome to air on television, cases that still haunt him, and the few cases where the killer got away. These cases are horrifyingly real, and the detail is so mesmerizing you won’t be able to look away. The tales in I WILL FIND YOU will shock you like the best horror stories-divulging insights into the actions, motivations, and proclivities of nature’s most dangerous species. Don’t mind the blood.
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It’s a Fishy Business – Secrets of a Dangerous Woman by P M Terrell @pmterrell
MY REVIEW
I am happy to be back with Vicki and Dylan in another exciting and dangerous adventure. I look forward to playing with the fishes and dodging bullets.
Due to Laurel’s death, the house and fish business…and the cover up…have become Vicki’s responsibility, but first, she needs to get through the wake.
The fish business is her cover. She’s really a remote viewer working for the CIA. Her job in this adventure, locate Brenda Carnegie, who is involved in an oil scam and some members of Congress are too. As she runs, they chase.
My question right now…where is Dylan? He broke Vicki’s heart. Will he return? Oh, come on, we all know he’s on his way back right now. LOL I am not going to tell you why he is absent, you will need to read the story to find out for yourself.
Since he’s been gone, she has asked her boss and pseudo father, Sam, to help her locate her lost siblings. I can see this coming together and I foresee many issues that will have to be explained.
It does make me wonder if we have a rogue element in the CIA and if there is more danger than I initially thought. I feel the clock is ticking and Vicki isn’t the only one running out of time. And romance…it is hot and heavy, but I have a feeling there will be a bump in the road that might turn into a crater she will fall into.
The plot is becoming more and more complicated, the pace is picking up as my need to know how this will end reaches an almost frantic level, gotta know, reading faster and faster, and I do so want a happy ever after ending…but how can that happen?
Lies, betrayal, corruption and greed. Action ratcheting up to a nail biting level as they fight for their lives. And then…
Assignment over…On to the next one.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Secrets of a Dangerous Woman by P M Terrell.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Dylan Maguire is back in his first assignment with the CIA: to interrogate recently captured Brenda Carnegie. When she escapes again, it’s obvious she had help from within the CIA’s own ranks. With Vicki Boyd’s help, she’s back in his custody and now he’s on a mission to find out why some in the highest levels of government want her killed while others will risk everything to help her. And when he finds out her true identity, his mission has just become very personal.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
p.m.terrell is the pen name for Patricia McClelland Terrell, the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 21 books in four genres: contemporary suspense, historical adventure/suspense, computer how-to and non-fiction.
Prior to writing full-time, she founded two computer companies in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. Among her clients were the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Secret Service, U.S. Information Agency, and Department of Defense. Her specialties were in white collar computer crimes and computer intelligence, themes that have carried forward to her contemporary suspense.
She has been a full-time author since 2002. Vicki’s Key was a top five finalist in the 2012 International Book Awards and 2012 USA Book Awards nominee, and The Pendulum Files was a national finalist for the Best Cover of the Year in 2014. The Tempest Murders was one of four finalists in the 2013 International Book Awards, cross-genre category.
Her historical suspense, River Passage, was a 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Winner. It was determined to be so historically accurate that a copy of the book resides at the Nashville Government Metropolitan Archives in Nashville, Tennessee.
She is also the co-founder of The Book ‘Em Foundation, an organization committed to raising public awareness of the correlation between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She is the organizer and chairperson of Book ‘Em North Carolina, an annual event held in Lumberton, North Carolina, to raise funds to increase literacy and reduce crime. For more information on this event and the literacy campaigns funded by it, visit www.bookemnc.org. She is also the founder of The Novel Business, mentoring authors in the business end and selling of books.
She sits on the board of the Friends of the Robeson County Public Library. She has also served on the boards of Robeson County Arts Council, Crime Stoppers and Crime Solvers and became the first female president of the Chesterfield County-Colonial Heights Crime Solvers in Virginia.
MY REVIEWS FOR P M TERRELL
The following books are lined up in order, first to last. I will be reviewing them all.
- You can see my Giveaways HERE.
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- Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
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Myths and Magic: An Epic Fantasy and Speculative Fiction Boxed Set @_TerriBruce
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Myths and Magic has16 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels by 16 New York Times, USA Today, and Award-winning and Break Out Authors!
With there being 16 stories by 16 authors, it will take me some time to work my way through them all, so I wanted to give you a taste of what is in store for you.
MY REVIEW FOR IRENE BY TERRI BRUCE
Irene and the Witch – Afterlife Book 3.5
Irene is dead, stuck in Purgatory, trying to return to Earth as a guardian angel.
Her traveling companion, Andras, is a 12th century Spanish knight, dead since 1911. Most of the time he is invisible. It takes tremendous effort for him to appear in ghostly form. Makes me think of when Bobby was a ghost in the Supernatural TV show.
They have a psychic link.
Are there things worse than death? You betcha.
Ya want to know what it’s like being in a crystal ball? Ask Irene. Even dead, her impatient recklessness has her in trouble.
Can a ghost burn, feel pain, be tortured, die again?
Irene worked through her fear, knowing they would all die if she didn’t persevere, push through, overcome.
I have been loving this series ever since I read Hereafter. I knew it would be a different kind of ghost story and Terri Bruce’s imagination and creativity have taken me into a world both wondrous and frightening, and I am so happy I am only here as a visitor.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Irene, which is included in the Myths and Magic: An Epic Fantasy and Speculative Fiction Boxed Set. I will be reviewing more of the books, so keep in touch and we’ll talk more.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
16 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels by 16 New York Times, USA Today, and Award-winning and Break Out Authors!
There is adventure out there … if you’re brave enough to risk it.
Explore worlds of darkness, danger, and magic in sixteen exclusive fantasy and science fiction novels, available for a limited time. There are tough choices to be made and dastardly villains to outwit in this breath-taking collection that will have you at the edge of your seat.
Plucky heroes and devastating anti-heroes face off against demons, spirits, shifters, witches, and more in this limited-edition arrangement that features a satisfying combination of epic fantasy, science fiction, romance, urban fantasy, sword and sorcery, and more!
This killer deal won’t last forever, so grab your copy today!
ABOUT TERRI BRUCE
Terri Bruce has been making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember and won her first writing award when she was twelve. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she lives with her husband and three cats. Her second novel, Thereafter (Afterlife #2), will be released May 1, 2014.
Website/Blog / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter
MY REVIEWS FOR TERRI BRUCE
Monsters Are Real!!! Bitter Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff @AlexSokoloff
OMG..Alexandra Sokoloff did it again in Bitter Moon, Book IV in the Huntress/FBI Thriller series.
MY REVIEW
I had received several books of this series and loved them so much, I binge read all three. So apt this book comes after the others. I think I got a lot more from it, because I am totally engrossed in how Cara came to be a vigilante.
In Bitter Moon, Cara relives her tragic past and it is brutal, horrifying, terrifying, and haunting. The insight into her motivation makes me see evil in its purest form. It’s no wonder she takes her revenge as a vigilante on all the users and abusers. The atrocities committed on defenseless children by family, friends, strangers, they need a guardian angel and Cara will fight to her dying breath for herself and for them.
Roarke has walked away from the FBI because of his conflicted feelings about her. He is lost, isolated, confused…As he tries to find answers for himself, Roarke tracks her past. He walks where she walked, meeting some people she knew, gaining insight. The nun simplified if for him, he is on a mission.
Can evil be drawn to a particular person? Can someone attract the bad through no fault of their own?
It is frightening and horrifying as I read of her past and know these things really happen, that the depravity of humans are going on right now. I am at a loss for words with an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness.
I love Cara and don’t know how she can have a happy ever after, but I so much want it for here. If any character I have ever read about deserves something good in her life, Cara does. She is dogged by evil, she never quits, never gives up, willing to take them out one by one.
She runs from IT, but IT follows here everywhere she goes.
Monsters are real!
Research? If half of what Alexandra Sokoloff has written about rape and trafficking, the women and children, throwaway kids, the predatory people out there is true, we should all be afraid. It may be easier to turn the other way, but you never know when EVIL might come for you.
I had wondered if there would be more, because the rest of Cara and Roarke’s story needs to be told, and I am so happy to know…there is.
There are so many great quotes, that I had to share a few of them.
“Look too long into the abyss and the abyss looks back into you.”
“Fear the wolf, or be the wolf.”
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” John Stuart Millshad
Alexandra Sokoloff had me wound so tight, I felt like I would explode. My emotions were all over the place and I did breathe a sigh of relief…and regret…when I was done. The characters have captured my heart and I miss them as soon as I close the ‘cover’. Stay safe everyone, I’ll be back.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Bitter Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff and these novels will be sitting on my reread shelf!!!!
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
FBI agent Matthew Roarke has been on leave, and in seclusion, since the capture of mass killer Cara Lindstrom—the victim turned avenger who preys on predators. Torn between devotion to the law and a powerful attraction to Cara and her lethal brand of justice, Roarke has retreated from both to search his soul. But Cara’s escape from custody and a police detective’s cryptic challenge soon draw him out of exile—into the California desert and deep into Cara’s past—to probe an unsolved murder that could be the key to her long and deadly career.
Following young Cara’s trail, Roarke uncovers a horrifying attack on a schoolgirl, the shocking suicide of another, and a human monster stalking Cara’s old high school. Separated by sixteen years, crossing paths in the present and past, Roarke and fourteen-year-old Cara must race to find and stop the sadistic sexual predator before more young women are brutalized.
ABOUT ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF
I’m the Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of the Amazon bestselling crime and supernatural thrillers The Harrowing, The Price, Book of Shadows, The Unseen, The Space Between, and the new Thriller Award- nominated Huntress/FBI thriller series: Huntress Moon, Blood Moon, Cold Moon. Bitter Moon, Hunger Moon. The New York Times Book Review has called me “a daughter of Mary Shelley” and my novels “some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre.”
I’m a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where I majored in theater and minored in everything that Berkeley has a reputation for. After college I moved to Los Angeles, where I’ve made an interesting living doing novel adaptations and selling original thriller scripts to various Hollywood studios.
In my stories I like to cross the possibility of the supernatural with very real life explanations for any strangeness going on, and base the action squarely in fact. THE UNSEEN is based on real paranormal research conducted at the Duke University parapsychology lab, and BOOK OF SHADOWS teams a Boston homicide detective and a practicing Salem witch in a race to solve what may be a Satanic killing. THE SPACE BETWEEN, is an edgy supernatural YA about a troubled high school girl who is having dreams of a terrible massacre at her school, and becomes convinced that she can prevent the shooting if she can unravel the dream.
I also have written paranormal romance (THE SHIFTERS, KEEPER OF THE SHADOWS) and the non-fiction workbooks SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS and WRITING LOVE, based on my internationally acclaimed workshops and blog (http://screenwritingtricks.com)
I live in Los Angeles and in Scotland, with Scottish crime author Craig Robertson.
When I’m not writing I dance: jazz, ballet, salsa, Lindy, swing – I do it all, every chance I get.
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest
MY REVIEW LINKS FOR ALEXANDRA SOKOLOF
I love these gorgeous covers.
