Across Eternity by Aris Whittier

Published synopsis:

Born a genius; education, wealth, and prestige came easy to Logan Richards. Actually, there wasn’t much that Logan couldn’t learn or acquire. However, he knew there was more to life than money and power. Logan was determined to find the woman who he'd dreamed of his entire life and know what it was like to love her before he died.

Amber Lewis, a waitress for a five-star restaurant in, Dana Point, California, was overworked, stressed, and wary of life since her sister, Heather, had passed away. Then, one evening while working she fell hopelessly in love with Logan Richards, a chivalrous man who felt deeply familiar.

For Amber, it was the beginning of a voyage of self-discovery and renewal. For Logan, it was the completion of life. For each of them it was the deepest sort of love.

Review:

Logan has spent his whole life loving one woman. A woman he knew lifetime after lifetime. A woman he has to find in this lifetime before it is too late. Eventually, fate finds a way to bring them together.

Amber has had a tough life. Absentee parents, the death of her sister and massive debt have made her not trust easily. But when her eyes meet Logan’s, she has no choice but to fall head over heels and give him both her heart and her trust.

Across Eternity by Aris Whittier is a book about true love that spans lifetimes. Two souls are destined to find each other each time they live, no matter how long it takes. The premise is sweet and the characters are lovable, but as I read more and more of the story, I found myself growing less attached to them.

The idea of fated love is a favorite of mine. Two souls burning only for each other with a passion that can set eternity on fire is as desirable as it is hard to imagine. I found the beginning of Across Eternity drew a picture of this passion that made me want to read more. I was hooked. As I moved ahead, it seemed as if the passion ebbed. The story became somber and I couldn’t help but feel that Logan was willing his own fate. Even though this is explained at the end, I was still left with a feeling that he wasn’t playing fair. It made the ending for me anticlimactic. Amber’s character was also somewhat of a mystery to me as I read on. She started as a strong, independent female lead, but she walked away from her life without a backward glance. What happened to her debt and her day to day life? This really wasn’t explained. Even when we’re swept away with love, there are still loose ends that have to be tied up.

All in all, Across Eternity is a sweet novel about two souls destined to be together forever. A nice smooth read for a rainy day. I thank the author for a review copy and I give the book 3 stars.

Purchase Across Eternity by Aris Whittier

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble.com

Supervillain The Concise Guide: Take Your Shot at World Domination by Ras Ashcroft

Published synopsis:

Are you tired of living a humdrum life? Is there little to look forward to except a dead-end job and more news headlines that remind you of your insignificance in the world? Do you think the future of humanity depends on your potent leadership skills? Well forget about the nonsense of running for political office and become a supervillain instead.

Fancy degrees and qualifications are not required. With this concise guide, you will learn all the basic tricks of the trade. Ease into your first seedy business, create a large organization with interests in finance, media and politics, and build a powerful military force. Eventually you will launch your crusade to rule the entire planet.

Take your shot at world domination – and hit the bull’s-eye.

Review:

Sometimes we want more out of life. And for some, that includes world domination. Thank goodness Ras Ashcroft has written a step by step guide to accomplishing just that. Of course, you have to become a supervillain along the way which includes cheating, scamming, lying, killing and, of course, a safe haven on the moon. If that sounds like something you would like to do, then definitely pick this guide up.

In this tongue and cheek step by step guide, Ras Ashcroft does more than use his dry wit to teach one how to become a supervillain. Reading between the lines you will find that many of things he recommends are already happening in the world. Media empires are controlled by the rich. The finance industry is morally and financially corrupt. Businesses large and small are sometimes led by less than upstanding citizens who are looking to get ahead by scamming the average person. It’s a scary world sometimes and Supervillain The Concise Guide simply points out some of the scarier parts of the real world in a way that we can laugh about. Though we may feel uncomfortable later that we know this is going on and very little is being done to stop it. Perhaps it will take a supervillain to round up all the less than super villains. It would be much easier if the world only had to take down one.

All in all, this is a well written, funny book that is definitely worth picking up – even if you’re not looking to become a supervillain. I thank the author for a review copy and I give the book 4 stars.

Purchase Supervillain The Concise Guide: Take Your Shot at World Domination by Ras Ashcroft

Amazon.com

Tastes Like Human: The Shark Guys' Book of Bitingly Funny Lists by Noel Boivin and Chris Lombardo

Published review:

Humor writers Noel Boivin and Chris Lombardo follow up their definitive compendium of drunken feats, The Man Who Scared a Shark to Death (Penguin, 2007), with Tastes Like Human: The Shark Guys' Book of Bitingly Funny Lists.

Here the authors, who one reviewer of their first book called "fast and funny with the facts, without the morality", present a completely new and unapologetically irreverent take on the list book genre.

Tastes Like Human answers questions people didn't even know they wanted answers to like: Who are the Top Horniest Cult Leaders of All Time? What are the Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Never Return Things? Which incidents qualify as the Top Acts of Karaoke-Related Violence?

All of that and much more, including etiquette tips on matters as diverse as how to use an ATM machine without seeming like a complete prick, a guide to conduct when meeting Queen Elizabeth, and fighting suggestions the next time your mouth makes an online payment for which there are insufficient funds in your credit account (ass, in keeping with the analogy) to pay for.

Chris and Noel, AKA, "The Shark Guys" are the creators of the popular humor site TheSharkGuys.com. Links from their site have appeared on dozens of popular websites including Mental Floss, Sports Illustrated, Cracked, IMDb, and FARK.

Review:

What can I say that isn’t said above? Most importantly I can say – I really did want to know which serial killer shared my zodiac sign (pisces). It turns out that I do care about ATM etiquette. But I probably could have lived my life quite happily without having read about the top 10 exploding animals, though. After reading Tastes Like Human The Shark Guys’ Book of Bitingly Funny Lists by Noel Boivin and Chris Lombardo, I discovered that I cared about many things I hadn’t really given much thought to in the past, and I learned some other things along the way that I won’t mind forgetting in the near future (back to the exploding animals here).

Whether you want to learn about people who shouldn’t win the lottery or famous last words that could use a do-over, this is the book for you. Join the Shark Guys as they are alternately cheeky, rude, way too informative and educational. You will definitely find something in this funny book of lists that you didn’t know that you cared about but come away from it glad that you know it now. I thank the authors for a review copy and I give the book 4 stars.

Purchase Tastes Like Human: The Shark Guys' Book of Bitingly Funny Lists by Noel Boivin and Chris Lombardo

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble.com