Reviews with TLC

Headlocks & Hexes by Jezebel Jorge pins the reader to the mat right from the beginning. Jorge is bold and often blunt but always descriptive. Her characters come alive whether the reader loves them or hates them. There's little neutrality with Jorge's characters. The characters are flawed, tough, and vulnerable. Headlocks & Hexes combines the world of wrestling and witchcraft in unexpected ways that somehow make perfect sense. While at times the sex scenes are quite graphic, they are balanced with realism. Filled with jealousy, betrayal, murder, and obsession, Headlocks & Hexes is an easy, fast, read. This book is currently out of print.

Seems Like Old Times left me squirming the way we do when we recognize characteristics in a character that we don't necessary like about ourselves. Well, that's not quite true, perhaps its more accurate to say characteristics we thought we'd "outgrown" as we matured. The defenses we built to shut out love and true happiness often become mired in what we call reality though it's not really. As I read about Lee's struggles to become the woman she wanted to be I recognized my own struggles to please and find my place in the world. As I read of the love she and Tony shared and she abandoned, my heart ached for lost love yet I recognized my own reluctance to accept love at a young age. Seems Like Old Times is a love story that will strike at the heart of anyone who has ever loved and walked away from a love the heart refused to forget. Sometimes, just as Lee did, we make the decisions we feel we must in the moment, but we sacrifice our own happiness in the p...

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher connected with me in a way I didn't expect. I read this YA novel because my niece, Kaylee, asked me to. No other reason. I'd never heard of it. I knew nothing about it. Yet, if it was important enough for her to ask me to read it, I felt I needed to. Even with her description of the book, I'm not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn't what happened. I started reading and couldn't stop. I was already tired when I started and yet I read until exhaustion took over. I felt upset because I couldn't stay awake to finish it. The next day I even broke one of my own rules and recommended the book on social media before I finished reading it or reviewed it. I even emailed a friend to recommend it for his teenage daughter. I found myself on a quest I didn't understand to get this book in the hands of teens and the adults in their lives. When I finished it that night, I cried and cried. I felt pulled and pushed. I recognized a p...