ReadingGrrls Paper Safari

Title:   438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin Publisher: Atria Format: ebook was received from the publisher through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review Pages: 288 pages Genre: non-fiction Synopsis:  On November 17, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and blasted him west. When he washed ashore on January 29, 2014, he had arrived in the Marshall Islands, 9,000 miles away—equivalent to traveling from New York to Moscow round trip. For fourteen months, Alvarenga survived constant shark attacks. He learned to catch fish with his bare hands. He built a fish net from a pair of empty plastic bottles. Taking apart the outboard motor, he fashioned a huge fishhook. Using fish vertebrae as needles, he stitched together his own clothes. He considered suicide on multiple occasions—in...

Title:   Grave of Hummingbirds by Jennifer Shutelsky Publisher: Little A Format: ebook received through amazon prime Pages: 204 Pages Genre: Mystery This title will be released January 1, 2016 Synopsis:  In the remote Andean village of Colibrí, a boy discovers what appears to be the body of an angel. But in the face and wounds of the dead, winged woman, Dr. Gregory Moreno sees something even more disturbing: an uncanny resemblance to his beloved late wife that cannot be mere chance. And in American anthropologist Sophie Lawson, still more echoes of the doctor’s lost love stir…igniting the superstitions of the townspeople, and an elusive killer’s deepest desires and despair. When Sophie vanishes, her son and Dr. Moreno must navigate the streets, politics, and mysteries of a place where tortured ghosts and strange omens exist side by side with mortals both devout and corrupt. But they may need nothing less than a miracle to save her from sacrifice at the altar...

Title:   A Grimm Curse (Grimm Tales Book 3) by Jana Jennings Publisher: Patchwork Press Format: e-book received through netgalley.com from publisher in exchange for an honest review Pages: 174 pages Genre: YA, Mystery This title was released on November 20, 2015 Synopsis: An orphan girl befriends an enchanted frog while her cursed stepsister plots revenge in a twist that can only transpire in a fairy tale. Lady Wellington’s obsessive quest for a crown for one of her daughters has ensnared Cynthia and her musical talent in her scheme. Cynthia turns the nightmarish concert into a gesture of true friendship in an attempt to reverse the curse of a frog prince. Attempting to be invisible to her abusive stepfamily while sidestepping the arrogant prince, Cynthia searches for an understanding princess to change Remi back to his rightful form. Things do not go as planned when Remi disappears, leaving their friendship in his wake. Meanwhile, the single-minded Prince Wilh...

Title:   Tough Justice: Exposed (Part 1 of 8) by Carla Cassidy Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases Format: advanced e-book sent to me from the publisher through netgalley.com Pages: 85 pages Genre: Thriller/Mystery This title will be released January 12, 2016 Synopsis: A new job. A new case. A new criminal…? Special Agent Lara Grant  will do anything to get her mark—until her last undercover case, infiltrating the notorious Moretti crime ring, forced her to get close to the top. Way. Too. Close… Now starting a new job in New York City, all Lara wants is to leave the ghosts of her past behind. Until a dramatic sniper attack leaves Lara's face – and real name – all over the media. In the blink of an eye, her cover is blown, her identity exposed. Then a woman's body is found, branded with the ritual Moretti tattoo. Someone knows who Lara is… and exactly how to make her pay … Part 1 of 8 in a chilling, high-octane FBI thriller TOUGH JUSTICE from NYT...

Title:   The Innocent: A Vanessa Michael Munroe Novel by Taylor Stevens Publisher: Broadway Publishing Format: Paperback Pages: 352 pages Genre: Mystery Thriller Synopsis:  Eight years ago, five-year old Hannah was spirited out of school and into the closed world of a cult known as The Chosen. Ever since, followers of its leader have hidden the child and shielded her abductor. Now, childhood survivors of The Chosen who have escaped to make a life for themselves on the outside know here to find Hannah and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help. Munroe reluctantly takes the job, and travels to Buenos Aires to infiltrate the cult and save the girl. Inducted in to a world unlike anything she has faced before, Munroe must navigate unpredictable members and their dangerous cohorts, the impatient survivors who hired her, and the struggle against her own increasingly violent nature so she can rescue the child before the window of opportunity closes and Hannah is lost forever...

Title:   My Girlfriend's Pregnant!: A Teen's Guide to Becoming a Dad by Chloe Schantz-Hilkes Publisher: Annick Press Format: protected epub - received from the publisher through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review Pages: 129 pages Genre: Parenting, pregnancy, adoption, abortion, fathers This book was published August 2015 Synopsis:  Based on interviews with teenage dads, social workers, and medical professionals, this book explores: What it's like to discover that your girlfriend is pregnant What to expect during pregnancy and childbirth The experience of parenthood--both positive and negative How involved the role of a teen dad can be How parenthood can affect young relationships The stress of being a teen dad The impact of abortion and adoption on young fathers. Review: This is one of the only books I've read that focuses on the father.  Most teen pregnancy books are written from the mothers perspective, and I really appreciate the...

Title:   Friday Night Bites (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 2) by Chloe Neill Publisher: NAL Format: paperback Pages: 368 pages Genre: Fantasy Synopsis:  Ten months after vampires revealed their existence to the mortals of Chicago, they're enjoying a celebrity status usually reserved for the Hollywood elite. But should people learn about the Raves--mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle--the citizens will start sharpening their stakes. So now it's up to the new vampire Merit to reconnect with her upper class family and act as liaison between humans and bloodsuckers, and keep the more unsavory aspects of the vampire lifestyle out of the media. But someone doesn't want peace between them--someone with an ancient grudge... (82) Review: Merit is back standing sentinel for house Cadogan. Torn between Morgan of House Nararre and her Master Eric Sullivan. Merit has a secret, she seems to have not fully integrated into a vampire, in fact the va...

Title:  Some Girls Bite: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel by Chloe Neill Publisher: ROC Format: Paperback Pages: 352 Genre: Fantasy Synopsis:   They killed me. They healed me. They changed me. Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but I was doing fine until Chicago’s vampires announced their existence to the world. When a rogue vampire attacked me, I was lucky he only got a sip. Another bloodsucker scared him off and decided the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead. Now I’ve traded sweating over my thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred-year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects my gratitude—and servitude. Right… But someone’s out to get me. Is it the rogue vampire who bit me? A vamp from a rival House? An angry mob bearing torches? My initiation into Chicago’...

Title:   Autobiography of an Assassin: Part One: The Here and the Now by MT Hallgarth Publisher: Troubadour Publishing Format: advanced e-copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review Pages: 273 pages Genre: Mystery Thriller This title was released on Aug 28, 2014 Synopsis:   Beneath a seemingly pleasant and unpretentious façade lurks a ruthless predator... A narcissistic sociopath! Martin has an unusual life – he works as an assassin, having killed his first victim when he had only just turned sixteen. After fleeing to Belgium, he finds himself recruited by a mercenary organisation, more commonly known as ‘La Légion’. Given a new identity, Martin is taken to Morocco to undergo extensive training... training that is frequently brutal and bestial. In Vietnam, Martin is recruited into ‘Section 9’, a covert organisation with the British Secret Intelligence Service. Upon discovering they want Martin to become an assassin, fate interv...