Choices Stories Review: 4/5 Ride-or-Die

Genre: Contemporary Bad Boy Romance

Summary:

A good girl (daughter of a cop) falls for the bad boy who rides motorcycles and runs with a rough crowd but is essentially good at heart.

Additional Comments:

There is good closure but enough room to expand.
The diamond choices are usually about getting better grades than your rival. The MC tries to be the good girl while falling for the handsome bad boy.
The end is surprisingly action-filled.
The fast cars/ street racing aspect is pretty cool.
Not their best or worst story. Worthy of a sequel, but I’m not sure if it’s a big money maker for the company. There wasn’t a scheme that keeps you buying diamond options like the ones where you need a certain number of followers.

Conclusion:

I’m not sure if they’ll continue the series, but if they do, I will probably check out the sequel.

Audiobook Promotions …

Were on Audiobookcrave.com (which just went under). Ones with links are relisted at Audiobooksunleashed.com.
5 Steps to Surviving Chemistry
Spirit’s Bane (Guardian Angel Files Book 1)
Kindred Spirits (Guardian Angel Files Book 2)
Violence in Vegas (Eagle Eyes Book 1) – not relisted yet
Rescue in Reno (Eagle Eyes Book 2)
Danger in Dallas (Eagle Eyes Book 3)

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – short stories featuring Jillian.
The Dark Side of Science – official prequel to Devya’s Children; Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
Ashlynn’s Dreams – Genetically altered Dream Shaper learns her gift.
Nadia’s Tears – Jillian tries to awaken her sister, Nadia, from a coma.
Malia’s Miracles – Jillian and her siblings try to save a friend’s mother.
Varick’s Quest – Jillian and Danielle get kidnapped. Nadia’s also in trouble.

Check out my other titles available on Audiobooks Unleashed:

Beyond Broken Pencils – contemporary, literary
Shadow Council Combo (Books 1-4)
The Individual titles are available but not yet listed on an ad site
SC 1: Money Makes it Deadlier
SC 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter
SC 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos
SC 4: Treachery Makes it Tense)

Eagle Eyes – mystery thriller

Scratched Off – mystery, thriller; FBI agent vs serial killer, more intense than Shadow Council/Eagle Eyes

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy

The Collins Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 1, Christian mystery
The Kiverson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 2, Christian mystery
The Davidson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 3, Christian mystery

Other titles:
5 Steps to Better Blurbs – for authors
Innova – Christian Dystopia
The Golden City Captives – short fantasy
Fatal Interest – short mystery/thriller

Choices Stories Review: 4/5 Stars Bloodbound

February 15, 2020February 15, 2020 Julie Gilbert Choices Stories, Fantasy, Horror Choices Stories, horror, vampires

promo pic for Blood Bound – Choices Story

Genre: Fantasy (Vampires)

Summary:

This gets lumped up there with mindless ridiculousness that manages to be fun. The premise is that you’re a hot young personal assistant for Adrian Raines, and first day on the job, you manage to discover the boss is a vampire. Welcome to a world of weird.

Additional Comments:

Good Guy Characters: Adrian, your boss and vampire hottie 1, struggles with his inner darkness. Lily Spencer’s your best friend and roommate. She’s the lovable geeky sort. Jax Matsuo’s leader of the clanless vampires and hottie 2. Kamilah Sayeed’s also a romance option. She’s ancient and kinda awesome.
Bad Guy Characters: The Baron’s a sicko even for a vampire in the world. Ferals are vampires who kinda didn’t take to the whole turning thing. Think zombies but faster and more bug-eyed.
History: The premium purchases tend to revolve around seeing history scenes and occasionally getting a cool outfit or a weapon. Weapons are way more tempting than outfits.
They managed to throw in a few balls and parties and opportunities for general debauchery.

Conclusion:

Check your brain at the door and enjoy the ridiculousness.

Audiobook Promotions …

Feb Promos on Audiobook Crave.com (requires email sign in):
5 Steps to Surviving Chemistry
Spirit’s Bane (Guardian Angel Files Book 1)
Kindred Spirits (Guardian Angel Files Book 2)
Violence in Vegas (Eagle Eyes Book 1)
Rescue in Reno (Eagle Eyes Book 2)
Danger in Dallas (Eagle Eyes Book 3)

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Check out my other titles available on Audiobooks Unleashed:

Beyond Broken Pencils – contemporary, literary
Shadow Council Combo (Books 1-4)
(Alternately, the individual titles can be found on Audiobook Crave
SC 1: Money Makes it Deadlier
SC 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter
SC 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos
SC 4: Treachery Makes it Tense)

Eagle Eyes – mystery thriller

Scratched Off – mystery, thriller; FBI agent vs serial killer, more intense than Shadow Council/Eagle Eyes

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy

The Collins Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 1, Christian mystery
The Kiverson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 2, Christian mystery
The Davidson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 3, Christian mystery

Other titles on Audiobook Crave (but buried deep):
5 Steps to Better Blurbs – for authors
Innova – Christian Dystopia
The Golden City Captives – short fantasy
Fatal Interest – short mystery/thriller

Choices Stories Review: 4/5 Stars: Most Wanted

February 14, 2020January 26, 2020 Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, Choices Stories, mystery, thriller Choices Stories, mystery, thriller

Genre: Action/Thriller

Summary:

Been a while since I read this one. I believe it was one of the early Choices Stories. These days, they usually let you name the character. This round you played as either Sam, a US Marshall, or Dave, a detective.

Additional Comments:

Pretty sure this one was action-packed because I can remember some of the chs even though it’s probably been over a year since I finished reading this story.
Samantha’s a bit more bull-headed. Her investigative style is in-your-face.
Dave’s the nice guy. He likes to talk his way out of trouble.
When the chips are down, either would make a great partner to watch your back.
They’re after Tully, a dude with a serious mean streak who’s not afraid to kill anyone and everyone in his way.
They didn’t continue the series, so it probably wasn’t a huge money-maker for them.
The premium choices that they had on offer had more to do with seeing little glimpses into history than collecting something. Like it or not, the collection choices tend to be ones that are more tempting to spend diamonds on.
They left it at a bit of a cliffhanger, which is sad, but oddly, I still find the ending satisfying. That’s a rarity as I tend to hate cliffhangers with a passion.

Conclusion:

I hope they return to the storyline at some point. They’re kinda hard core into the romances, but it’s nice when they put out a pure mystery/action thriller once in a while.

Associate links to follow…

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Nonfiction:
5 Steps to Surviving Chemistry – A primer for chemistry students. Breaks down concepts into simple terms.

5 Steps to Better Blurbs – A book for writers looking to improve their book descriptions

Choices Stories Review: 4.5/5 Stars Big Sky Country

February 11, 2020January 26, 2020 Julie Gilbert Choices Stories, drama, romance, Western big sky country series, Choices Stories

Genre: Modern Drama/Romance

*Will attempt to keep spoiler free

Summary:

Having your car break down in the middle of nowhere turns out to be the best thing that could happen to you. A cowboy comes along and takes you home to his ranch, where you meet his family and all the small-town intrigue you could ever want.

Additional Comments:

The Oakley clan is heartwarmingly disfunctional. There’s the older brother who wants to get with the new world by selling the ranch, the younger brother who wants to save the ranch and keep it going, the grumpy father, and the niece who’s just kind of along for the ride. To be honest, it’s been a while and I don’t really remember their names, except Brooke.
I sometimes take a long time naming my characters based on their looks. This one didn’t take me long. I went with Danielle. She seemed the trusting, naïve but hard-working sort.
The book features country fairs as well as natural and unnatural disasters and hardships.
This story might have one of the most satisfying ends of the Choices stories to date.
Sometimes, I surprise myself by liking stuff I wouldn’t normally read as a traditional book. Guess it helps that these aren’t quite traditional. So many pretty pictures.
Don’t judge on the cover. The cover they made reads “trashy romance” but it was a good story regardless.

Conclusion:

I’m usually fairly good at avoiding spending a lot of diamonds during the play throughs, but sometimes, one must spring for the extra satisfying ending. Its not my favorite Choices story, but the small town flavor added a lot of charm.

Associate links to follow…

Note: I’m starting to use a few ad sites for audiobooks, so codes are disappearing quickly.

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything. That will change very soon.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.

Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Choices Stories Reviews 4.5/5 Stars: A Courtesan of Rome

February 8, 2020January 26, 2020 Julie Gilbert Choices Stories, historical Choices Stories, courtesan, historical fiction, Rome

Pic somebody made of the 3 characters you can be…I chose the first.

My MC was named Gina. Who’d have thought naming could be the hardest part of some of these games.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary:

The main character is a young woman captured by the Romans during the reign of Ceasar as he tries to take over the world.

Additional Comments:

The end kind of let me down, but I thoroughly enjoyed most of the journey.
Every chapter begins with a flashback scene to your time on the run with your family.
This book switched quite often to other perspectives, mostly the main character’s father or mother.
These stories can be as sweet or risky as you wish, but you’ve got to spend diamonds for the extra scenes. Not paying is sort of the abbreviated version of each story.
You can adopt a monkey and a greyhound dog this round.
Your love interests are the wife of a Roman officer, a Roman senator, and Mark Antony.
The main character goes through a heck of a lot in her life. There’s only one point where they really went out of the way to stretch the plot beyond the illogical point to keep the MC alive. Despite this, I really loved that scene.
It must have taken quite a bit of work to get the MC’s life to parallel some key points in history.

Conclusion:

Story themes include: family, seduction, and revenge. They don’t have many historical fiction stories. In fact, this might be the only one. I’ll have to check. I tend to like the stories with higher stakes than winning a dance off. Well worth reading.

Associate links to follow…

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.

Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Choices Stories Review 4/5 Stars: Red Carpet Diaries Book 2

February 5, 2020January 26, 2020 Julie Gilbert Choices Stories, drama actress, Choices Stories, drama, Hollywoord

A nice promo pic created by a fan…I think

*Spoilers possible in discussion

*They warn you that the content could be disturbing to some people.

Summary:

Your first major movie launched a dream career. You get a house upgrade! You also get an offer to do a spy thriller produced by one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Even better, you get to be in the movie with your friend, Matt Rodriguez. This is more his standard kind of movie. Action.

Additional Comments:

Things seem to be going all right until the bigwig producer decides he wants more of you than you’re willing to give. From then on, things at work turn very hostile.
Your friends are on your side, but they beg you to bide your time. You want to take down the bad guy thoroughly, not just throw random accusations around. You need a platform first.
The entire middle of the story turned out to be pretty frustrating. I enjoyed the beginning and the end, but like with Royal Romance 2, there’s a lot of chapters where your character is sort of a pariah or at least being treated like one.
They’ve begun a Red Carpet Diaries Book 3, but they’re not quite done yet, so I haven’t progressed far. The side characters aren’t my favorite, but they’re there for the MC when it counts.

Conclusion:

Overall, it’s an enjoyable series. This had a satisfying end.