New Release: The Time Key by Melanie Bateman

I've recently had the pleasure of connecting with author Melanie Bateman through our mutual publisher. She's not only an outstanding author, but an artist as well! She was able to do illustrations to go along with her time traveling story. I've got the book in hand and will be starting it shortly. Review to come soon. In the meantime, check it out on Amazon and Kindle.

 

SHADOWS THAT MOVE ON THEIR own, a mysterious device that looks like a pocket watch, a man on the run from monsters that exist in dreams—all are connected to Stanley because he interrupted a mugging. Now Stanley holds the Time Key, an object that allows him to travel through time. With the extraordinary gift of being able to see both the past and the future, he may be the only one who can save his family.

And check out these illustrations!!

About Melanie Bateman

Melanie Bateman was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and moved to the United States at age nine. She has an associate's degree in fine art from Utah Valley University, emphasizing in illustration. From a very young age she's had a passion for drawing, specifically nature and the human figure. It is from this creative look on the world that she began to write stories. 

 www.melaniebateman.com

Book Review: The Last Night by Heather Kirchhoff

The Last Night

by 

Heather Kirchhoff

Description

After Sarah Hill's boyfriend dies, everything changes. Caught up in her grief and desire to see him again, Sarah is challenged in moving on. She's sucked back into the world Sarah was in before they started dating-being invisible, bullied. She slowly begins to pull away from everyone, unable to do it anymore. Then one day her reality comes crashing down all around her, pushing Sarah to the edge...

Review

 

I received a free ecopy of this book for participating in the blog tour. It was a really quick read and I read it in about 3 days (which is really rare for me)

Holy cow, the feels in this book. I knew that going in, but it was still heart wrenching. The reader is dumped right into the lap of Sarah's grief right after her boyfriend commits suicide. Her family doesn't seem very supportive either. For awhile, it looks like the only person who truly understands is her kid brother, which made me tear up a bit. 

I'll warn you, the subject matter in this gets a little dark and if you don't take the book in the right context it can be kind of a downer at times. But I honestly think Sarah goes through some feelings that cross through a lot of people at one point or another in their lives. She doesn't deal with them perfectly, but this is a beautiful story if you like to read about someone overcoming tragedy. It's a little slow (as is the norm with this genre) and it will make you sad and even angry sometimes, but the ending leaves you with a nice surprise. 

4 stars

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