Ashburn by Julia Erickson

Note

I’m posting this review of Ashburn today because Shantelle Hannu (as part of her Author Gems blog series in which she interviews and spotlights various authors and books) is having an interview/giveaway with author Julia Erickson this week, so go check it out! 🙂

Giveaway

GO HERE (or, y’know, to Shantelle’s blogpost where it’s featured. ;)) for the Rafflecopter giveaway to win e-book copies of Ashburn and Diamond! It’s open all week, from today (August 22) until August 28. Hop to it! ^_^

Hidden Gems: Authors You Need to Discover is a weekly blog event being held every Monday from August 1 to November 21, 2016, by Shantelle @ A Writer’s Heart, featuring author interviews, book spotlights, and book giveaways.

Be sure to check it out and follow her lovely blog so you don’t miss any of the delightful posts! ^_^

Title: Ashburn (I.C.E. Agency, #1)

Author: Julia Erickson

I don’t usually read agent-y type books… which is something I should stop saying since this is actually the third agent-y type book I’ve read in the last month or so. XD But still, the point is that contemporary isn’t usually my thing. But I decided to check it out on the recommendation of a friend (thanks, Shantelle!) and was so excited to get to borrow it from another friend (thanks, Sarah!). I really enjoyed this one. 🙂

I loved the characters in this book, and especially how the point of view switches back and forth between Bryce and Cara. Bryce and Cara! Great characters. They’re so sweet together (the growing romance was so adorable), and I absolutely LOVE the bickering dialog between them — it was the best. 😀 So much fun. Also, the Rapunzel thing was funny. XD …Long golden hair. You’ll have to read it to find out. 😉

Bryce is the best, by the way. He’s just such a great character. Definitely a favorite. 🙂 Also, I positively NEED a pair of his agent-y sunglasses! Those would be super handy to have. *thumbs-up* Cara was nice too. And like I said, they’re so CUTE together and I adore their fun conversations — they’re just such a blast to read. ^_^

There was a Christian thread going through the story, which was nice. Also it’s one of the few books I’ve read which was about homeschool graduates. Both Bryce and Cara were homeschooled, which was neat. 🙂 I didn’t really have much in common with them, despite that, but still neat. 😛 The book is also quite clean, for those wondering about that.

Some of the plot seemed to get a little lost in the background at some points so in a way a lot of it wasn’t totally wrapped up (but it didn’t matter by the end, I guess), and I didn’t always agree with the way some things were handled (also, to be honest, the elaborateness of the ending honestly freaked me out, but I’m probably alone there. XD), and other than that I just enjoyed the ride.

Oh! And one of the most cool things of all about this book (you know, aside from the characters and the sweet romance and the banter) was the international chase and mystery and adventure! We travel all over with Bryce and Cara — Georgia to Venice to Paris to Germany… it was awesome to be immersed in all those countries and just gave it an international-spy-thriller feel… which I suppose is exactly what it is. 😉

So! A Christian romance spy suspense fun adventure with just the right mix of humor, dialog, romance, and edge-of-your-seat action, it was overall a very fun read for me, and I definitely recommend it if you’d like something kind of light and agent-y to read! 🙂

From Goodreads:

Cara Stephenson, a talented graphic designer at Silver Strand Technologies, never thought she’d see her childhood best friend again… but when he suddenly reenters her life ten years later, he’s a completely different man. What is he hiding, and why should she trust him?

Bryce Reynolds is a man on a mission- a top-secret one at that! He never dreamed the girl down the street would one day become his link to the destruction of Ravenmeister, Inc.- a front for black-market arms and ammunition. Will he crumble underneath the burden of all his secrets?

When the hunt for a missing technology developer in possession of a priceless prototype drags Cara and Bryce on a high-adrenaline ride through the streets of Paris, Venice, and Munich, they must work together to find what they’re looking for… and survive the trip!

{Goodreads} • {Amazon}

Genre/Category: Christian / Mystery / Thriller / Suspense / Romance

Age Group: I suppose it’s “technically” Adult since the characters are in their twenties, but it’s clean and would likely be most enjoyed by teens. 🙂

Published: 2014

Pages: 319 pages (paperback)

Series?: Book 1 of the I.C.E. Agency Series, followed by Diamond.

When Read: July 11 – 16, 2016

Favorite Character: Bryce A.K.A. Ashburn because he’s the best. ❤

Source: Borrowed from a friend.

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Thanks for reading!

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

 

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July Reading Roundup + Announcements

Before I get to the books I read in July, I have a quick announcement to make! A good friend and lovely blogger, Shantelle @ A Writer’s Heart, is kicking off an exciting blog event today, which will run till late-November, and I’m excited to tell y’all about it!

It’s called Hidden Gems: Authors You Need to Discover.

In this blog event, Shantelle will be posting every Monday from now till November 21st. Each week she will be spotlighting or interviewing an author and their books, and she’s got a pretty exciting line-up, let me tell you! There will also be a giveaway each week.

We’re also encouraged to blog about/review the books being spotlighted each week, if we happen to know them, so that can also be a fun part of it, if you like! I’ll hopefully be doing so at least once. 🙂

Anyhow, I for one am excited about this event. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun! 🙂 The first post is up already so dash on over there, do! And remember to keep watching (maybe follow her lovely blog? *nudges you that direction*) for the rest of them! 🙂 You won’t want to miss this! ^_^

On with the show . . .

I finally broke out of my 4-books-per-month streak — YAY! Only by a couple, but still. *cough* I planned to read WAY more but life happened. *shrug*

Anyway, here’s what I read in July . . . I’ve been reading really WEIRD books for me! O_O A historical fiction, 4 contemporary novels (1 alternate history modern fantasy, 1 superhero fantasy, 1 Diana Wynne Jones book which is its own category, and 1 spy contemporary), as well as a steampunk. Fascinating!

1. The Silent Blade – Jesseca Wheaton

I reviewed this one. Kidnappings and siblings and Ireland and AWESOME Irish names and all that good stuff. As I said in my review, I might have rated it 3.5… but I bumped it up to 4. I’d have enjoyed it more if I’d read it awhile back when I was younger and I had some problems with it storywise, but on the whole it kept me reading and made me happy in the end. ^_^

2. Twinepathy – C. B. Cook

I reviewed this one too! *huggles book* And, for a briefer review, here’s a little something I wrote up for “advance praise” to go in the paperback version. 😀 (I think it’s the first time I’ve been printed in a book? ANYWAY IT EXCITES ME.)

Gripping and fun, Twinepathy is an un-putdownable read that swept me off on a thrilling ride. Featuring an eclectic cast of characters who stole my heart, a mystery with a memory-thief which kept me guessing, and original superpowers that had me longing to enter the book myself, this is a fabulous read to lose yourself in. I loved it and can’t wait for more!

3. The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde

I… don’t know what to rate this because most of it was a 5 star but I didn’t like the ending, so… I’m currently compromising with a 3 star rating, but I’ll probably eventually end up giving it either a 2 or a 4, depending which emotion (enjoyment or disappointment) wins out in the long run. XD

I loved the first half and assumed it was an automatic 5 star read, but then it got scary… and then the ending was really sudden and not what I wanted. Apparently my problem is that I was really enjoying it and then it let me down. *shrug* Others might enjoy it though. And I did love the humor and it was quirky and fun and imaginative and well put together. But some of the ending upset me, and some of it I didn’t care about. I do want a Quarkbeast though . . .

(You can see the rest of my slightly longer, similarly rambly “review,” with some more hidden in spoiler tags, HERE on Goodreads.)

4. Archer’s Goon – Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

ALL THE STARS. (Please do NOT let the weird cover put you off!!! Artists notoriously really don’t know what to do with DWJ brilliance and tend to bungle it and make her books look unappetizing which is hugely unfortunate. -_-) I reread this aloud and . . . MY GOODNESS, THIS BOOOOK. ❤ ❤ ❤ I read it last year and it was one of my favorites, and it was even BETTER this time. *collapses* I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH. It’s quirky and ridiculous and hilarious and mashes so many genres together beautifully and its about a couple of crazy families (including a family of power-hungry wizards who are a MESS) and it’s set in modern times but I don’t mind and has fantasy/sci-fi/time things and the characters are all precious beans, even the ones you don’t like, and it just had me laughing all the time, plus there’s a writer in the story, which is a bonus, and reading it aloud and doing all the voices was the most fun ever. I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUUUUCH. It’s definitely one of my top favorite Diana Wynne Jones books. ❤

5. Ashburn – Julia Erickson

I keep reading secret agent books! In this case, a secret-agent, Christian/Romance/Spy/International Thriller/Mystery type of book. This one was quite fun and I rather enjoyed it. 🙂 I plan to write up a review for it… hopefully I’ll post it later this month. But the romance was sweet and the excitement was thrilling and the characters were fun, and it had a feature of interest namely that although it’s about a secret agent and a girl who gets swept up in all of that, they were both homeschooled originally. ‘Twas interesting. *nods* (Likely because the author was homeschooled. ;)) Anyhow I liked it and hopefully I’ll review it!

6. The Rose and the Balloon – Kirsten Fichter

This stoooory! *huggles it* This was a truly delightful Beauty and the Beast novella, and guess what — it just released TODAY! So go read the hilarious post (and the one before) on the author’s blog in which the twins Prince Nicolas and Princess Nicoline from the story take over the blog. It’s so fun. XD And get yourself a copy! Or wait for the ebook! Either way, you need this in your life. ❤ I will be posting an ACTUAL review for it on my other blog sometime this month, hopefully soon, so watch for that. And there’s a blogtour going on this week so that’s fun too! But Beauty and the Beast + steampunk + delightful characters + family + shenanigans = so much awesome! ❤

And that’s what I read this month…

So! Have you read anything good lately? Do you sometimes read outside your usual genre? What do you do when you love a book but don’t care for the ending? TELL ME ALL!

Also I will probably kind of be mostly on an internet hiatus for the majority of August… (I may post a review or two around here and also on my other blog — plus I need to get my Ishness post up there… But other than that I’ll likely be missing.) So I hope you have a FANTASTIC August and I will see you later! ^_^ Happy reading, all! ❤

Thanks for reading!

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer