#leigh walker

Leigh Walker, The Pageant

Awakening

by Leigh Walker

The Equinox Pact #1

Young Adult | Paranormal Romance | Urban Fantasy

HE’S VOWED TO PROTECT HER…EVEN FROM HIMSELF. ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO SURVIVE SENIOR YEAR. The island of Dawnhaven has a population of 100 and it’s in the middle of nowhere, i.e., off the coast of Northern Maine. If Taylor can just make it through senior year and survive living with her wicked stepmother, she’ll be free, once and for all… BUT THEN SHE MEETS THIS GUY. James Champlain is tall and strapping, with a square jaw. Taylor’s thrilled to discover that in addition to his looks, James is charming, funny and kind. She’s increasingly drawn to him, but… WHAT’S WITH ALL THE RUMORS? People say strange things about James—that he takes his boat out on secretive missions at all hours of the night, that the steady stream of visitors to his estate are disciples of some sort of pagan “institute.” Although Taylor doesn’t believe it, James does claim he can read peoples’ auras. But does that make him a cult leader? And does he want to date her, or just recruit her? AND WHAT’S THAT THING IN THE WOODS? There’s something dark in the island woods, something dangerous. When Taylor encounters it, she learns that not only James is not what he appears, nothing is.

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Note: I received this book from the author and I voluntarily give this review, it is my honest opinion.

It's been a while since I've read a ya book, I've been on an ebook, adult, paranormal reverse harem binge. However when I came across Awakening by Leigh Walker I was captivated, then it kept crossing my path and finally, I was presented with an opportunity to read it and I loved it.

Taylor Hale has had a rough life, the summer before her senior year in high school she moves to a little fishing island off the coast of main. There she reconnects with her father and gets to know the locals when she meets James. After Taylor is introduced to James' world things start to look up as their romance gets sweeter. However strange things are happening and Taylor is in the center of it, what happens when the world you thought you knew begins to change? Well, Taylor is about to find out.

I really enjoyed Awakening and I want to give a good review but I don't want to spoil it for anyone and I think this is the type of book that can easily be spoiled, I think readers need to go in blind or assuming to get the full effect of the story.

The background is a small Maine coastal fishing Island and I loved it. Leigh was so atmospheric when describing the quaint little island and the surrounding island communities, it really sets the stage for something unusual happening while giving the readers a beautiful setting for a mysterious story. There is something about a fishing town that sets up a story for a good mystery.

The Characters

As in true storytelling fashion, Taylor Hale has an evil stepmother that is hell-bent on her destruction. Taylor is really sweet but she kinda just takes the verbal abuse from her stepmother and half-sister. The two a vapid and only look at material things, so Taylor who didn't have much is looked down upon. When I say that Taylor's stepmother Becky (yes she is a Becky, haha) is evil, I mean the nasty things that Becky says to Taylor really shouldn't be said to anyone let alone a child and the fact that she teaches her fourteen-year-old daughter, Taylor's half-sister, to say similar things is horrible. As for Kyle, who's Taylor's dad, seems like a good guy but how can he be when he has allowed things to happen.

Eden is one of Taylor's closest friend on the island and I loved their friendship, they are really close, they share things, are supportive and give each other advice. Eden is one of the very people that Taylor has a healthy relationship with and it was good to see her have good moments. James was another good thing in Taylor's life, I liked the two together, he was mature and seemed to understand her in a lot of ways and take into account her feelings at all times. What I didn't like was that he kept things from her or when he said he would explain he just talked in circles and not really explain anything.

The story itself was amazing, with the setting, and the supernatural. There was a variety of supernaturals and the mythology behind some was different than I was use to and I enjoyed that. The biggest plot twist was something that kinda stretched to the end but you didn't realize it until the plot twist popped up in the last fourth of the book. I was truly shocked and loved. During the last fourth of the book, a lot of things happen and the story ends on a cliffhanger that made my jaw drop. Gawd I really need the second book because I got so bad feelings and I need to know what happens, not want to know, I need to know.

Awakening is the first book in the Equinox Pact series and things are just getting started. This first book was filled with mystery, mythology, the supernatural, romance, heartache, family drama and so much more. I am looking forward to the next book in the series and I am hoping I get more of the same.

The Pageant by Leigh Walker - A Book Review #BookReview #PNR #Vampires #4Stars #book1 #Paranormal #Dystopian #KindleUnlimited #KU

The Pageant (Vampire Royals – Book 1) by Leigh Walker My rating: 4 of 5 stars Dystopian, Fantasy, PNR Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited Down & Dirty

This is a new take on an old theme, refreshed and touched with an aura of ‘The Bachelor’. Free on Kindle Unlimited.

What is it about?

(Blurb from GoodReads)

Who’s the fairest of them all? Young women from every settlement in the land are being…

Premonition (The Division Series #1) by Leigh Walker

Premonition by Leigh Walker Genre: YA Sci-fi/Romance Release Date: July 19th 2017 For fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent…this exciting new science-fiction romance series, filled with twists and turns, will take you for a wild ride!  When Riley heads off to boarding school for a summer work-study program, she knows it’ll be demanding. What she doesn’t expect? To be thrust into an intense…

I am so mad at you, you bastard... for leaving us all here alone like this.  I miss the days when you yelled at me out of love because I fucked something up and while you loved me, I needed to learn.

I miss when you'd chat me up for no reason and always leave me laughing.