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The Thaneaddus Chronicles #1
Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery
The skies of the Dark Coast, the Pacific Coastline of U.S. States has been infected with a strange chemical reaction from a military experiment gone awry. Constant cloud cover rules over the lands. Leigha Lowery, a sixteen year-old popular fiction writer in the local free press is pulled from the only home she knows in Detroit, MI when her mother decides on an impulse to marry a doctor she's been dating over the internet and moves to the small town of Banks, Oregon. As she adjusts to her new life of wealth and power, she begins to realize that the rumors about the Dark Coast aren't even close to what she's witnessed. Prince Alexander Sommers, the son of King Royce, and heir to the throne has taken a fascination to her. He pulls her into a world of vampires, werewolves, witches, and many other creatures of the night that have decided to make the Dark Coast their home.
248 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 3, 2008
35 people are currently reading
1220 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
October 14, 2011
I will give Jennifer Hampton credit; I believe she started with an interesting concept. She also created a storyline that pulled me in (despite the numerous and annoying editing issues).
HOWEVER, this is not a complete book. I wish authors would please, please, please realize that there is a difference between a series and serial. If you are writing a series, each book should be a complete story and be able to stand upon its own. You should not be forced to purchase the next book to find try to get the conclusion.
Despite my extreme annoyance and being pulled into a serial, wading through massive editing issues, and some serious continuity issues in the story, I decided to purchase and read the 2nd book in the series before committing to my review. Thank goodness I only paid 99 cents for it.
WTF??? This first book leaves a massive cliff-hanger, and then the second book in the serial picks up with a completely different main character and storyline. Furthermore, the portrayal of the characters from the first book is completely inconsistent with their portrayal in the first book. The second book is full of even more contradictions and inconsistencies in the storyline than the first.
Wow. While I think the story had potential, I can stomach no more and I will not continue the serial. Honestly, I doubt the author knows where it is all going and I suspect that there will never be a satisfactory conclusion.
Finally, Ms. Hampton, you provide a disclaimer that you invested more in cover art than in editing the story. Your priorities are messed up. A cover can only get you so far. Your concept is not bad, however, you have damaged your credibility as an author by publishing a book that is so poorly edited and is so inconsistently written. If you are serious about writing, I suggest you rethink your position on this and invest in an editor.
HOWEVER, this is not a complete book. I wish authors would please, please, please realize that there is a difference between a series and serial. If you are writing a series, each book should be a complete story and be able to stand upon its own. You should not be forced to purchase the next book to find try to get the conclusion.
Despite my extreme annoyance and being pulled into a serial, wading through massive editing issues, and some serious continuity issues in the story, I decided to purchase and read the 2nd book in the series before committing to my review. Thank goodness I only paid 99 cents for it.
WTF??? This first book leaves a massive cliff-hanger, and then the second book in the serial picks up with a completely different main character and storyline. Furthermore, the portrayal of the characters from the first book is completely inconsistent with their portrayal in the first book. The second book is full of even more contradictions and inconsistencies in the storyline than the first.
Wow. While I think the story had potential, I can stomach no more and I will not continue the serial. Honestly, I doubt the author knows where it is all going and I suspect that there will never be a satisfactory conclusion.
Finally, Ms. Hampton, you provide a disclaimer that you invested more in cover art than in editing the story. Your priorities are messed up. A cover can only get you so far. Your concept is not bad, however, you have damaged your credibility as an author by publishing a book that is so poorly edited and is so inconsistently written. If you are serious about writing, I suggest you rethink your position on this and invest in an editor.
January 1, 2016
Prelim Review: After I finished this story I had some issues in regards to writing the review. On the one hand I want to review this book as fairly as possible and that means the good and the bad. Normally when my review has more bad then good, I try to keep things short and to the point. The thing is, I think if Hampton is able to get herself an editor, she might have a decent story in her hands. And therein lies the problem, Hampton admits in the preface that she couldn't afford to hire an editor/proof-reader (the money instead went towards a pretty cover design, and admittedly its very pretty) and she wants the reader to forgive her for this.
I found it hard to. Its not that she had a lot of misspellings (she didn't, though there are a few instances in which the wrong form is used 'you're' instead of 'your' that sort of thing) or even her grammar (which I'm no accurate judge of). The editor, or perhaps even a dedicated beta-reader, could have caught dozens of other problems that could easily be fixed during the revisions process.
Things like the aforementioned wrong form of words being used, repetition of the same phrase or description (Leigha likes to remark about her hair, a lot), the awkward phrasing of some of the sentences in conversations, continuity errors (the mysterious 'Chronicles' book changes weight four times throughout the course of the story), narrative structure errors (back and forth tenses, weird and repetitive conversation tags) and the in-congruent behavior of almost everyone in regards to their ages.
Leigha is 16, however she (attempts to) act like she's in college, then slides into immature and puzzling behaviors before acting like she's middle-aged. Her mother acts as if she's the teenager more often then not. Alexander acts pretty much how you'd expect someone of his age to act (if not more lovesick then you'd think), Maria acts more or less on target and then everyone else falls into varying degrees of high school stereotype. The up and down characterization drove me wild.
Though not half as wild as the pacing and flow of the story. There are no transitions between scenes, times or Leigha's memory vs. Leigha's present. The chapters just...end. The scenes either flow straight into the next one without an acknowledgment of change or trail off into banalities. There are numerous times where Leigha will be talking about the present (such as in the beginning with her mom and Randy discussing their moving plans) and lapse into a memory or flashback, but not bother to mention this until the end, if at all.
Leigha as a character is, well to be blunt, a Mary-Sue much of the time. She's Bella Swan, Hermione Granger and [insert popular teen female here] all rolled into one and none of the sides mesh well. She was an outcast in Detroit yet on the first page she says "I was the junior editor of the school paper, and I was the first underage writer to have my own column in the Detroit Free Press. I had friends, fame, and popularity." Later in the story not only does she go from having 'friends and popularity' to only one friend, but pretty quickly that one friend disappears and she only had her cousin and once she's in Banks (Oregon) she never had any friends because her and her mother moved around a lot and couldn't grow attached to people or things. Yet the whole reason she objected to moving to Oregon was because "Detroit was the only home I knew..."
She also has a very bad habit of fainting. She faints at least a dozen times in the story.
There's also a matter of this is meant to take place in 2026--15 years into the future (17 from when it was first published in 2009). Nothing has changed except we're at war with Russia and like any time during war its dangerous. Russia's winning by the way. And the West Half of the US (mind you I live in NJ, so every state is West of me and Hampton doesn't tell us anymore then 'the West Half' and 'The Coast', but since it includes Nevada I have to think it extends further inland) is now 'The Dark Coast' ruled over by 'King Royce'.
King Royce is a shady fellow, but he makes a treaty with Russia to keep the West Half of the US safe from bombing (screw the Eastern half) and is in talks to make a treaty with the President of the US to help work together to defeat Russia. Okay. Except at least once its mentioned the US and King Royce will be going to Civil War with each other, and that by moving to the Dark Coast you're branded a traitor and never allowed to return to the Eastern Half. In fact that's part of why Leigha agrees to go to the Dark Coast--to get away from the dangerous Civil War that's brewing.
Never mentioned again. Just that once. Everyone else says that King Royce is going to help out the US in exchange for the West Half. Meanwhile nothing seems to have changed by way of technology (still using blackberrys!). I don't know; 15 years ago (1996) technology was MUCH different, I'd expect some sort of forward movement there.
There's a few more issues I could mention, but that's all enough I think.
Despite all of that, buried beneath all the issues is a premise I find intriguing. The whole idea of the Dark Coast and the Chronicles were interesting and I wanted to know more. When Hampton talked of these things--as awkwardly inserted as possible, but still--I wanted to read on. For the price, $0.99 on Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Smashwords, I think this could be worth it. There's a couple more stories out set in this world, along with a side story and another story on its way, so its possible the issues have been improved upon. If you're the type to fret over every issue...unfortunately this will drive you insane.
I found it hard to. Its not that she had a lot of misspellings (she didn't, though there are a few instances in which the wrong form is used 'you're' instead of 'your' that sort of thing) or even her grammar (which I'm no accurate judge of). The editor, or perhaps even a dedicated beta-reader, could have caught dozens of other problems that could easily be fixed during the revisions process.
Things like the aforementioned wrong form of words being used, repetition of the same phrase or description (Leigha likes to remark about her hair, a lot), the awkward phrasing of some of the sentences in conversations, continuity errors (the mysterious 'Chronicles' book changes weight four times throughout the course of the story), narrative structure errors (back and forth tenses, weird and repetitive conversation tags) and the in-congruent behavior of almost everyone in regards to their ages.
Leigha is 16, however she (attempts to) act like she's in college, then slides into immature and puzzling behaviors before acting like she's middle-aged. Her mother acts as if she's the teenager more often then not. Alexander acts pretty much how you'd expect someone of his age to act (if not more lovesick then you'd think), Maria acts more or less on target and then everyone else falls into varying degrees of high school stereotype. The up and down characterization drove me wild.
Though not half as wild as the pacing and flow of the story. There are no transitions between scenes, times or Leigha's memory vs. Leigha's present. The chapters just...end. The scenes either flow straight into the next one without an acknowledgment of change or trail off into banalities. There are numerous times where Leigha will be talking about the present (such as in the beginning with her mom and Randy discussing their moving plans) and lapse into a memory or flashback, but not bother to mention this until the end, if at all.
Leigha as a character is, well to be blunt, a Mary-Sue much of the time. She's Bella Swan, Hermione Granger and [insert popular teen female here] all rolled into one and none of the sides mesh well. She was an outcast in Detroit yet on the first page she says "I was the junior editor of the school paper, and I was the first underage writer to have my own column in the Detroit Free Press. I had friends, fame, and popularity." Later in the story not only does she go from having 'friends and popularity' to only one friend, but pretty quickly that one friend disappears and she only had her cousin and once she's in Banks (Oregon) she never had any friends because her and her mother moved around a lot and couldn't grow attached to people or things. Yet the whole reason she objected to moving to Oregon was because "Detroit was the only home I knew..."
She also has a very bad habit of fainting. She faints at least a dozen times in the story.
There's also a matter of this is meant to take place in 2026--15 years into the future (17 from when it was first published in 2009). Nothing has changed except we're at war with Russia and like any time during war its dangerous. Russia's winning by the way. And the West Half of the US (mind you I live in NJ, so every state is West of me and Hampton doesn't tell us anymore then 'the West Half' and 'The Coast', but since it includes Nevada I have to think it extends further inland) is now 'The Dark Coast' ruled over by 'King Royce'.
King Royce is a shady fellow, but he makes a treaty with Russia to keep the West Half of the US safe from bombing (screw the Eastern half) and is in talks to make a treaty with the President of the US to help work together to defeat Russia. Okay. Except at least once its mentioned the US and King Royce will be going to Civil War with each other, and that by moving to the Dark Coast you're branded a traitor and never allowed to return to the Eastern Half. In fact that's part of why Leigha agrees to go to the Dark Coast--to get away from the dangerous Civil War that's brewing.
Never mentioned again. Just that once. Everyone else says that King Royce is going to help out the US in exchange for the West Half. Meanwhile nothing seems to have changed by way of technology (still using blackberrys!). I don't know; 15 years ago (1996) technology was MUCH different, I'd expect some sort of forward movement there.
There's a few more issues I could mention, but that's all enough I think.
Despite all of that, buried beneath all the issues is a premise I find intriguing. The whole idea of the Dark Coast and the Chronicles were interesting and I wanted to know more. When Hampton talked of these things--as awkwardly inserted as possible, but still--I wanted to read on. For the price, $0.99 on Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Smashwords, I think this could be worth it. There's a couple more stories out set in this world, along with a side story and another story on its way, so its possible the issues have been improved upon. If you're the type to fret over every issue...unfortunately this will drive you insane.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2011
I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the plot, but the book is in serious need of some proofreading. There were points where I almost quit reading it because the grammer, spelling, and incorrect word usage was so bad. The author also changes from present to past tense several times throughout the story. The other thing that galled me was the number of times Leigha "complained" or "whined" about somthing and all of the eye rolling that occurred. Maybe I'm out of touch with my inner 16 year old :-P . I expected more maturity from Leigha, due to the way the author started her character building. One more thing is that it is set 15years in the future, but technology hasn't changed. They are still using Blackberries.
The story line is interesting though and the ending had an interesting cliff hanger.
If editing issues don't bother you, you will probably enjoy the story. However, as the book stands right now, I, personally, would not recommend it to anyone -even though I got it for free through Amazon.
The story line is interesting though and the ending had an interesting cliff hanger.
If editing issues don't bother you, you will probably enjoy the story. However, as the book stands right now, I, personally, would not recommend it to anyone -even though I got it for free through Amazon.
August 18, 2011
I got this as a free book on Amazon and to tell you the truth, I'm quite impressed with it. The problems I had with it, is that is needed to go into more detail about many many things. I found myself wondering what the hell was going on. Almost as if she'd missed an entire paragraph. I got confused in many parts and that began to irritate me. Also the fact that the main character seems to be the ONLY character in the book that is completely out of the loop about the 'secrets' surrounding the 'dark coast' and why her mother and her are there. Other than that, I think this is an excellent book, I even bought the rest of the books, just to read. Hopefully they are great as well, we shall see :)
August 15, 2011
This book defines lame. By the time I figured out how lame, I was already a third through; so I thought I might as well finish it and give it a crappy review. :P ...the characters are unbelievable, the plot is a little bit of everything all thrown into one, and facial expressions are rampant throughout (seriously, you do not see people sigh, grumble, frown five times in one 3 sentence conversation!!) On top of all that, Leigh is an idiot. If you go into the woods even though everyone tells you not to ONCE and get attacked by vicious werewolves, you don't freaking go into the woods again to get attacked AGAIN!!
April 20, 2018
Twilight
Vampires, werewolves and now guardians. One girl, two mystical creatures infatuated with her, and another trying to kill her. Sounds familiar. Who ever edited this book shame on you. But from what the other reviews states, there wasn't really anyone to proof read this book, hense the many mistakes in grammer. The book was...ok. But I still feel as though I was reading the Twilight series all over again.
Vampires, werewolves and now guardians. One girl, two mystical creatures infatuated with her, and another trying to kill her. Sounds familiar. Who ever edited this book shame on you. But from what the other reviews states, there wasn't really anyone to proof read this book, hense the many mistakes in grammer. The book was...ok. But I still feel as though I was reading the Twilight series all over again.
January 30, 2023
This book has a good premise, but there were so many typos that I have no desire to read the remaining books in the series.
Also, the main character, one minute she's extremely angry with her mom and the next everything is fine. She moves to the Dark Coast and is scared and overwhelmed but continually puts herself in danger. Her character doesn't make any sense.
The book felt rushed to get from point A to point B. Had so much potential, but just didn't work for me.
Also, the main character, one minute she's extremely angry with her mom and the next everything is fine. She moves to the Dark Coast and is scared and overwhelmed but continually puts herself in danger. Her character doesn't make any sense.
The book felt rushed to get from point A to point B. Had so much potential, but just didn't work for me.
November 21, 2024
This book needs desperately editing. The concept and idea behind the book is enticing and occasional the book makes really enjoyable reading. But it is spotty, it jumps around, it's repetitive and leaves important information out and there are way too many typos. With editing this book would be a great read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in paranormal fantasy/urban fantasy. Right now, my advice is to proceed with caution.
October 11, 2011
SO! I think the biggest mistake I made with this book was read some of the reviews on here before reading the book itself. Usually it doesn't deter my interest in reading but I think I read one too many of the baddies on here to influence me a little when I started to read it. I kept expecting to not like the book and kept looking out for all the stuff others didn't like. Well that and the author's little confession before the book began was not so great either. The author states how she knows she is not the best author out there and that yes there are a bunch of things wrong with her book because she didn't have the money to hire an editor. She mentions that she is selling this book at the lowest price available because it's so bad and that all of the funds will go towards hiring and editor...
With that said... Jennifer Hampton don't sell yourself short. This was a very good book on many levels. These are one of those books I wish the author would have contacted me about prior to releasing it ;-). First, the concept is good, the characters likable, the pace was great, cliffhanger ending a really good one. Now, the book did need some majoring proof-reading. Usually when I encounter an author who has misspelled something I am able to still figure out what they meant but in this book some things were put in by mistake that I just couldn't figure out what it was meant to be. Once again the concept of the book was a great one but towards the end of the book it resembled Twilight WAY TOO MUCH! Like WAY TOOOOOOO MUCH! The story revolves around Leigha and her mother moving from Detroit, Michigan to Banks, Oregon. It's 2026 and Oregon is not even a part of the United States anymore. It actually belongs to "The Coast" which is being ruled by King Royce. We quickly find out that Banks, Oregon is full of mystical creatures. Leigha's friendships and loyalty to some of the characters were not believable to me. The author doesn't go into enough getting together time to make them believable. However, there was one friendship just like this one where the author didn't go into a whole lot of spending time together but the frienship proved to be believable and great... maybe because they would text, IM each other and had a class together BUT Leigha wasn't even in school that much because she kept getting hurt and getting into so much trouble... Yeah, she ummm kept running into trouble or trouble just kept finding her according to her and OF COURSE there is Prince Alexander who keeps coming to her rescue(TWILIGHT). Ok, I digress.
Note to Author: I think Leigha had too many rolling of the eyes and she did too much groaning. Seriously, nip that.
Note to Readers: Seriously, this was a good book. You will need to get passed all the grammatical errors, misspelled words, rolling of the eyes and groaning but it will be well worth it. Yes, it's like Twilight. Not all throughout but you will find some commonalities which can be forgiven until about the last third of the book. Again, if you can get passed some of these and actually are seeking something like Twilight but a bit different, then this is the book for you. I do recommend this book. I think it was a great start to a series. I think this was a great and brave attempt by the author and I commend her for it.
AND I THINK SHE SHOULD LET ME READ THE NEXT ONE BEFORE RELEASING IT!
Enough said!
With that said... Jennifer Hampton don't sell yourself short. This was a very good book on many levels. These are one of those books I wish the author would have contacted me about prior to releasing it ;-). First, the concept is good, the characters likable, the pace was great, cliffhanger ending a really good one. Now, the book did need some majoring proof-reading. Usually when I encounter an author who has misspelled something I am able to still figure out what they meant but in this book some things were put in by mistake that I just couldn't figure out what it was meant to be. Once again the concept of the book was a great one but towards the end of the book it resembled Twilight WAY TOO MUCH! Like WAY TOOOOOOO MUCH! The story revolves around Leigha and her mother moving from Detroit, Michigan to Banks, Oregon. It's 2026 and Oregon is not even a part of the United States anymore. It actually belongs to "The Coast" which is being ruled by King Royce. We quickly find out that Banks, Oregon is full of mystical creatures. Leigha's friendships and loyalty to some of the characters were not believable to me. The author doesn't go into enough getting together time to make them believable. However, there was one friendship just like this one where the author didn't go into a whole lot of spending time together but the frienship proved to be believable and great... maybe because they would text, IM each other and had a class together BUT Leigha wasn't even in school that much because she kept getting hurt and getting into so much trouble... Yeah, she ummm kept running into trouble or trouble just kept finding her according to her and OF COURSE there is Prince Alexander who keeps coming to her rescue(TWILIGHT). Ok, I digress.
Note to Author: I think Leigha had too many rolling of the eyes and she did too much groaning. Seriously, nip that.
Note to Readers: Seriously, this was a good book. You will need to get passed all the grammatical errors, misspelled words, rolling of the eyes and groaning but it will be well worth it. Yes, it's like Twilight. Not all throughout but you will find some commonalities which can be forgiven until about the last third of the book. Again, if you can get passed some of these and actually are seeking something like Twilight but a bit different, then this is the book for you. I do recommend this book. I think it was a great start to a series. I think this was a great and brave attempt by the author and I commend her for it.
AND I THINK SHE SHOULD LET ME READ THE NEXT ONE BEFORE RELEASING IT!
Enough said!
August 24, 2012
I admit, happily, it was a wonderful read. The lacking stars is simply because of pure editing. I understand the author apologized for the lack of....but it didn't make the read any easier. I am surprised how many people rated the story so low just because of the editing though. Does plot/characters/setting etc account for nothing??? Editing is surely important but not the win/fail mark. You can write a perfectly edited piece, grammar perfection in a box, and it could still very well be utterly boring. A piece has to be able to draw you in. The story was engaging. I do note the editing did keep throwing me back out of the book and into the word of reality. Nevertheless, it has great potential. Perhaps, one the 2nd edition when the grammar police have taken their red pens and bled all over the pages more people will garner the story a perfect 5. Time will tell. It is in my sincerest hope that all this tough criticism does not kill the author's joy of writing. As the story was wonderful and I would hate to never find out what happens next. I notice they have other pieces I will probably be checking them shortly. It was nice to have a heroine who didn't act like a bumbling idiot 100% of the time, is actually likable, and has a mind of her own! Refreshing ...oh so refreshing. Further, the boys...and yes it is plural the poor girl has a bit to much attention are over protective but not chauvinistic, which is also refreshing. The school scenes and a few others did remind me of twilight a bit. But then perhaps to even have your work compared to a multi-million dollar franchise is a compliment? A re-read through though could have saved a lot of the he-she problems (it will be a guy talking and the author says she and vice versa) Also, please stop using the word REVERIE! I get it means to be lost in thought, to daydream, even to dream. It was great seeing it used (I find it a beautiful word, je t'aime le mot)...but after about the 50th time in 142 pages I thought to myself...find a synonym....there are plenty..."shift +f7" in word can be your friend, no?
Wait, wait. No more criticism about the editing! It was great, it was cheap, it was short (sadly) and it was worth every penny and minute that I spent on it.
I loved how all the races were thrown together and blended so well, I loved the politics, I even loved the descriptions of this chronicle book....when will you be releasing it so I too can read it hmmm??? (I demand it in leather binding, easton press does a great job, with proper editing!) I look forward to future releases, all the luck to the author in the future and those who stumble upon this book.
Wait, wait. No more criticism about the editing! It was great, it was cheap, it was short (sadly) and it was worth every penny and minute that I spent on it.
I loved how all the races were thrown together and blended so well, I loved the politics, I even loved the descriptions of this chronicle book....when will you be releasing it so I too can read it hmmm??? (I demand it in leather binding, easton press does a great job, with proper editing!) I look forward to future releases, all the luck to the author in the future and those who stumble upon this book.
October 6, 2011
Beautiful Sins is the kind of book that pulls you into its paranormal world and never lets go. I was intrigued by the unique, clever plot that I’ve never seen before in any vampire book. And I’ve read lots of them! Not only is it the future, but there’s kings, princes, a war, a military experiment gone awry, vampires, werewolves, and other paranormal creatures.
The novel is set in the year 2026. America is at war with Russia and half of the U.S. is now covered in a thick layer of dark clouds. Sixteen year old Leigha Lowery is an average teenager who loves her life, her friends, and her school in Detroit. When her mom meets a handsome physician online and decides to marry him, Leigha’s life will be changed forever. Her future stepfather (Randy) is King Royce’s personal physician, which ultimately means Leigha is forced to leave everything she knows and loves and move to the Dark Coast. (That’s the dark side of the country)
On the outside, it appears as if Leigha is living a “rags” to “riches” dream story. Leigha gets to live a privileged life and live in a mansion. But this place is far from a “dream” come. Leigha comes to learn, it’s more like living in a nightmare.
While trying to adjust to her new life and school, she notices things are not what they seem. She can’t explain what’s going on and it’s hard to accept. And things about Randy aren’t adding up either, like how he doesn’t eat food and his super human strength. As events unfold before her eyes, she discovers there is a world of mythical creatures all around her. One of my favorite parts of the book is how Leigha is drawn to the handsome king’s son, Prince Alexander. There is a special bond and connection between them. Has she found her soul mate?
I thought this was an enjoyable, gripping read with believable, enjoyable characters that you will fall in love with. I loved Leigha and thought she made the perfect heroine because she was likable and down-to-earth. But I LOVED her friend, Maria, too. (She’s Goth.) The plot is excellent and there’s witty humor that made me laugh. It’s different; something new and refreshing. I really couldn’t stop thinking about what a clever idea this was. The ending is going to leave you wanting more with a huge cliff hangar. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m recommending it to all my friends and family.
If you love paranormal fantasy and dystopian fiction, then give this one a try. The twists and turns (and paranormal creatures!) will take you on a most tantalizing trip. So put on your seat belt and…HOLD ON!
The novel is set in the year 2026. America is at war with Russia and half of the U.S. is now covered in a thick layer of dark clouds. Sixteen year old Leigha Lowery is an average teenager who loves her life, her friends, and her school in Detroit. When her mom meets a handsome physician online and decides to marry him, Leigha’s life will be changed forever. Her future stepfather (Randy) is King Royce’s personal physician, which ultimately means Leigha is forced to leave everything she knows and loves and move to the Dark Coast. (That’s the dark side of the country)
On the outside, it appears as if Leigha is living a “rags” to “riches” dream story. Leigha gets to live a privileged life and live in a mansion. But this place is far from a “dream” come. Leigha comes to learn, it’s more like living in a nightmare.
While trying to adjust to her new life and school, she notices things are not what they seem. She can’t explain what’s going on and it’s hard to accept. And things about Randy aren’t adding up either, like how he doesn’t eat food and his super human strength. As events unfold before her eyes, she discovers there is a world of mythical creatures all around her. One of my favorite parts of the book is how Leigha is drawn to the handsome king’s son, Prince Alexander. There is a special bond and connection between them. Has she found her soul mate?
I thought this was an enjoyable, gripping read with believable, enjoyable characters that you will fall in love with. I loved Leigha and thought she made the perfect heroine because she was likable and down-to-earth. But I LOVED her friend, Maria, too. (She’s Goth.) The plot is excellent and there’s witty humor that made me laugh. It’s different; something new and refreshing. I really couldn’t stop thinking about what a clever idea this was. The ending is going to leave you wanting more with a huge cliff hangar. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m recommending it to all my friends and family.
If you love paranormal fantasy and dystopian fiction, then give this one a try. The twists and turns (and paranormal creatures!) will take you on a most tantalizing trip. So put on your seat belt and…HOLD ON!
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April 1, 2011I really loved the plot line of this book for a lot of reasons. I have not read another book that combined the paranormal fantasy genre with dystopian fiction before and I LOVED the combo. The alternate world that Hampton created from what we know in our own reality was definately unique and drew me in from the very beginning. The suspense was built up beautifully throughout the course of the story, getting bits of the story along the way.
Leigha was a fabulous lead character in this book for one very important reason, in my opinion. She was real. She didn't have unrelatable powers or strength of personal character. She was a normal girl, a normal teenager, a girl who reacted to the upheaval in her life and in her world as a normal person would. I liked that she had the same inability to cope sometimes that we all have, but the inner strength and open mindedness to work through it to acceptance. My other favorite character was Maria, a supporting but strong character. Maria was the goth girl that flew in the face of the predominately "snobby" crowd and was her own person. Alex was strongly developed, but his controlling behavior rubbed me wrong. However, I suppose, as a prince, that is pretty much in keeping with his character profile within the story!
The conclusion was great, a perfect cliffhanger. I came to the end of the book, not having a clue how it was going to end, and the ending totally surprised me. I love not being able to accurately guess the end!
My only true issue with the story was with the editing and proofing. There were definately some issues with that, and sometimes it became a bit of a distraction. It wasn't terrible, by any means, but definately something that stopped the flow of reading for me a few times. But it was mostly things like missing punctuation, the occasional double word, or the occasional heterograph. I might have rated the book a little lower because of this, if not for the fantastic plot and characters that truly left me wanting more!
I will definately be buying the next books in the series, because the plot completely has grabbed me!
Leigha was a fabulous lead character in this book for one very important reason, in my opinion. She was real. She didn't have unrelatable powers or strength of personal character. She was a normal girl, a normal teenager, a girl who reacted to the upheaval in her life and in her world as a normal person would. I liked that she had the same inability to cope sometimes that we all have, but the inner strength and open mindedness to work through it to acceptance. My other favorite character was Maria, a supporting but strong character. Maria was the goth girl that flew in the face of the predominately "snobby" crowd and was her own person. Alex was strongly developed, but his controlling behavior rubbed me wrong. However, I suppose, as a prince, that is pretty much in keeping with his character profile within the story!
The conclusion was great, a perfect cliffhanger. I came to the end of the book, not having a clue how it was going to end, and the ending totally surprised me. I love not being able to accurately guess the end!
My only true issue with the story was with the editing and proofing. There were definately some issues with that, and sometimes it became a bit of a distraction. It wasn't terrible, by any means, but definately something that stopped the flow of reading for me a few times. But it was mostly things like missing punctuation, the occasional double word, or the occasional heterograph. I might have rated the book a little lower because of this, if not for the fantastic plot and characters that truly left me wanting more!
I will definately be buying the next books in the series, because the plot completely has grabbed me!
March 23, 2011
Set a few years from now, this is a paranormal romance about a young woman suddenly thrown into a very different world.
America is on the verge of splitting into two pieces. The West Coast is now called the Dark Coast. Living under perpetual dark clouds due to a US military experiment gone bad, it is about to be handed over to King Royce. This is in exchange for his help in America's war with Russia.
Leigha Lowery is a resident of Detroit. One day, her mother abruptly tells her that they are moving to a small town in Oregon, so that she can marry Randy, a very handsome man that she met on the Internet. Leigha is not happy. Once in Oregon, she makes a few friends at the local high school. Some of the women look like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine, and some of the men are very handsome, and with very hypnotic eyes. From the beginning, Leigha realizes that things around here are very different.
She eventually finds out that Randy is King Royce's personal physician, so that makes her an important member of Royce's Court. A number of disappeared in the local forest, and never been found. Leigha attracts the attention of Prince Alexander, heir to the throne, and also very handsome. That is because Randy and Alexander, and a number of people all over town, are vampires. Leigha unknowingly puts herself in danger, more than once, and has to be rescued by Randy and Alexander. Why don't the vampires attack the humans, and drink their blood? It is now official vampire "policy" to co-exist with the humans, instead of killing them. Leigha has no interest in entering the world of etiquette and fancy parties as part of Royce's Court; she would much rather be Ms. Average High School Student.
On the positive side, this is a very good and easy to read teen romance story with just a bit of weird in it. On the negative side, if there are to be future printings of this book, it really needs a trip to an editor, or, at minimum, a proofreader (which the author acknowledges in the beginning of the book).
America is on the verge of splitting into two pieces. The West Coast is now called the Dark Coast. Living under perpetual dark clouds due to a US military experiment gone bad, it is about to be handed over to King Royce. This is in exchange for his help in America's war with Russia.
Leigha Lowery is a resident of Detroit. One day, her mother abruptly tells her that they are moving to a small town in Oregon, so that she can marry Randy, a very handsome man that she met on the Internet. Leigha is not happy. Once in Oregon, she makes a few friends at the local high school. Some of the women look like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine, and some of the men are very handsome, and with very hypnotic eyes. From the beginning, Leigha realizes that things around here are very different.
She eventually finds out that Randy is King Royce's personal physician, so that makes her an important member of Royce's Court. A number of disappeared in the local forest, and never been found. Leigha attracts the attention of Prince Alexander, heir to the throne, and also very handsome. That is because Randy and Alexander, and a number of people all over town, are vampires. Leigha unknowingly puts herself in danger, more than once, and has to be rescued by Randy and Alexander. Why don't the vampires attack the humans, and drink their blood? It is now official vampire "policy" to co-exist with the humans, instead of killing them. Leigha has no interest in entering the world of etiquette and fancy parties as part of Royce's Court; she would much rather be Ms. Average High School Student.
On the positive side, this is a very good and easy to read teen romance story with just a bit of weird in it. On the negative side, if there are to be future printings of this book, it really needs a trip to an editor, or, at minimum, a proofreader (which the author acknowledges in the beginning of the book).
April 8, 2011
Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery, is the first book in the The Thaneaddus Chronicles. This book is set in the year 2026 on the Dark Coast of the United States. Leigha Lowery is the average American teenager who has to leave her home, family, and friends to move to the Dark Coast with her mother's mysterious fiance Randy. While trying to adjust to her new life and school, Leigha discovers she must adjust to a world full of monsters, mythical creatures and the very hot (if over protective) Prince Alexander. Leigha finds herself drawn to the handsome Prince, though not just because of his looks. There is an inexplicable connection between the two of them.
Leigha, like many teens is impatient and has to learn some things the hard way. However, instead of being annoying, Ms. Hampton made an interesting story of it. Aside from not having an editor, I enjoyed reading this book. Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery is a smooth blend of unique and popular ideas. It was a quick satisfying read that made me want to read more to find out the many mysteries behind the various characters. Ms. Hampton is a talented writer and has crafted a good story. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: For a quick, fast-paced, interesting, and clean read, I recommend.
For more information on this and other books by author Jennifer Hampton,visit:
http://mejennihuh2006.blogspot.com
http://jennifer-hampton.com
http://beautiful-sins.com
Angel
www.lorelushbookreviews.com
Leigha, like many teens is impatient and has to learn some things the hard way. However, instead of being annoying, Ms. Hampton made an interesting story of it. Aside from not having an editor, I enjoyed reading this book. Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery is a smooth blend of unique and popular ideas. It was a quick satisfying read that made me want to read more to find out the many mysteries behind the various characters. Ms. Hampton is a talented writer and has crafted a good story. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommendation: For a quick, fast-paced, interesting, and clean read, I recommend.
For more information on this and other books by author Jennifer Hampton,visit:
http://mejennihuh2006.blogspot.com
http://jennifer-hampton.com
http://beautiful-sins.com
Angel
www.lorelushbookreviews.com
April 25, 2013
Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery from The Thaneaddus Chronicles by Jennifer Hampton is about a sophomore girl in the near future of 2026. A future when Russia and America fight and America is split in two, the East Coast and the Dark Coast. The East Coast, the dwelling of our young heroine, is constantly bombarded with terrorist attacks. Leigha, the protagonist of the story, is appalled at the idea of moving to the Dark Coast, a place she can never come back from, with Patricia, her mother, and her mother's "love at first sight" fiancee, Randy. The Dark Coast is deprived of the beautiful star known as the Sun and is a place shrouded in the shadows of the many urban legends we have heard today. Could the darkness be some paranormal phenomenon? Can the "urban legends" be true?
OMG! I love, love, love this book! I deem this book worthy of a 4.5 stars out of five stars. The 4.5 stars is for the amazing story line and the awesome heroine. The remaining half is because there were many repeated words. One that I can think of is "perturbed." Overall, I thought the book was very well done and I absolutely cannot wait for the next one. I will be following this series with as much gusto as a "Belieber" follows Beiber. I can't wait until I get my hands on the next book.
- Kris Myslin
complimentary book given for a free review. juliesbookreview.blogspot.com
OMG! I love, love, love this book! I deem this book worthy of a 4.5 stars out of five stars. The 4.5 stars is for the amazing story line and the awesome heroine. The remaining half is because there were many repeated words. One that I can think of is "perturbed." Overall, I thought the book was very well done and I absolutely cannot wait for the next one. I will be following this series with as much gusto as a "Belieber" follows Beiber. I can't wait until I get my hands on the next book.
- Kris Myslin
complimentary book given for a free review. juliesbookreview.blogspot.com
November 25, 2016
I was a bit torn on how many stars to give this book. On one hand, the story is very interesting and attention catching as well as very different than other supernatural creature themed books that I've read, but what could have been an amazing book I would only consider OK/good because of the writing style (rushed, overly repetitive descriptions of characters and reactions, things suddenly just happening while leaving good if not important detail out, no depth to the characters and emotions, etc) and because of the number of missing or incorrect words as well as several errors/typos. It got to the point where I was mentally editing and rewriting pieces throughout the story so I could decipher it better.
If you can tolerate the writing style then I would recommend reading this story, & I do plan to follow up with the next book or two. It's my understanding that the second book in the series covers an entirely different character while the third finally gets back to Leigha. Hopefully it will shed some light on the cliffhanger ending of Beautiful Sins.
I really do hope the author has been able to improve her writing as well as editing though. There is a lot of potential being wasted if not!
If you can tolerate the writing style then I would recommend reading this story, & I do plan to follow up with the next book or two. It's my understanding that the second book in the series covers an entirely different character while the third finally gets back to Leigha. Hopefully it will shed some light on the cliffhanger ending of Beautiful Sins.
I really do hope the author has been able to improve her writing as well as editing though. There is a lot of potential being wasted if not!
March 4, 2014
The story made me feel like a Twilight fan decided to try her hand at writing, and pulled almost all of her inspiration from her favorite series. I could have gotten past that and tried to enjoy it as a quick, easy read... But the errors throughout the book made it difficult. I was tempted to go through the whole story with a red pen. Some errors were irritating because a writer should know better, and some managed to trip me up completely. At one point, the main character trips over a "crib". I spent a few moments trying to figure out where it came from before I realized she meant "curb". I felt the main character was flat and undeveloped, and would have liked to see the author take more time in fleshing her out, and proof reading her own work.
**edited much much later,
Apparently, I thought so much of this book I put it on my to read shelf thinking I'd never read it... Even the description doesn't ring a bell. Meanwhile, I reviewed it. *shrug*
**edited much much later,
Apparently, I thought so much of this book I put it on my to read shelf thinking I'd never read it... Even the description doesn't ring a bell. Meanwhile, I reviewed it. *shrug*
September 11, 2012
Overall Feedback: This one was a good mix of paranormal fantasy and dystopian fiction. Hampton does a fine job of expounding on the realities we see and forcing the reader to open their mind. A great read for any price.
Point of View: The main charcter is a average every day girl name Leigh and you center around her.
Voice: To be honest it was hard to determine the voice with the editing and proof reading errors.
Character Development: Hampton develops character very well and this helps distract from the need of an editor.
Plot: Due to the editing the Plot is somewhat hard to follow but does not skip out.
Dialogue: This is where editing would of heped most as the conversations are choppy at best.
Pacing: Hampton tries to rush through detail and ends up hurting the pacing as you are a bit confused.
Setting: A little more detail would have brought more to the setting and helped win me over.
Continuity: To difficult to provide any thoughts one way or another.
Point of View: The main charcter is a average every day girl name Leigh and you center around her.
Voice: To be honest it was hard to determine the voice with the editing and proof reading errors.
Character Development: Hampton develops character very well and this helps distract from the need of an editor.
Plot: Due to the editing the Plot is somewhat hard to follow but does not skip out.
Dialogue: This is where editing would of heped most as the conversations are choppy at best.
Pacing: Hampton tries to rush through detail and ends up hurting the pacing as you are a bit confused.
Setting: A little more detail would have brought more to the setting and helped win me over.
Continuity: To difficult to provide any thoughts one way or another.
March 30, 2012
This was free and sounded interesting so I decided to give it a try and really liked it. Yes there are ALOT of grammar errors (which the author warns you about before you even read the book) and there are a few plot holes and a few things that leave you questioning what happened or how you got to a certain point. Aside from that the overall storyline is REALLY good. I will say that the ending is a total cliffhanger that does NOT pick up immediately in the 2nd book or even with the same character. However upon reading reviews of the 2nd book I found out that they do eventually tie in together. So with all that said if you can over look the grammar errors and such it's definitely worth giving it a try. I hope that the author can eventually afford an editor because the storyline is great and has amazing potential.
September 8, 2011
Beautiful Sins is a guilty pleasure of paranormal fantasy coupled with all manner of creatures typically suited for horror/occult outings. Leigha Lowery, a 16yr girl is the centre of Alex’s (heir to the throne) attention and the core character in Beautiful Sins is carefree bookish type whisked to a world where nothing is quiet as it seems. Having moved cross country to the Dark Coast, the Pacific Coastline of the USA, she is forced to grow accustomed to high social standing and strange behaviour of the coasts inhabitants while comprehending death at first sight and the unique ever lasting smell of spilt blood. While targeted for teen readers, Beautiful Sins is the genesis of something darker and more harrowing – young adult escapism for all ages. 3.5 stars.
August 2, 2012
I really wanted to give this book more stars. However, I found the grammar errors made it difficult to read. I know she says that and editor is expensive, but she still should have proofread it better. There were so many errors that took away from the story. I had to go back and reread a sentence at least once every page.
That being said, I did like the book. The plot was interesting and I think it flowed well. I wish there was a little more depth to the characters. We see a lot of Leigha's character, but not much of the other characters. I want to read the other books because I am interested in what happens, but I'm not on-the-edge-of-my-seat excited about it.
That being said, I did like the book. The plot was interesting and I think it flowed well. I wish there was a little more depth to the characters. We see a lot of Leigha's character, but not much of the other characters. I want to read the other books because I am interested in what happens, but I'm not on-the-edge-of-my-seat excited about it.
February 21, 2014
This was an amazing book UNTI the last chapter. Even if the book is part of a series.. it should be able to stand alone.. be read, understand and loved not left open in the middle of a cliff hanger.. A cliff hanger that actually leaves a person in a live or die situation. The characters were really created very well with unique personalities and the story line was one I appreciated. I can’t get past the ending.. I will not be reading the next books in the series…Especially if they are all going to end this way. Even Harry Potter, which goes on and on… can stand alone and be enjoyed even if you don’t read the next book or the book is never written.
Bought from Amazon
Bought from Amazon
November 1, 2011
Seemed like an interesting premise based on the description I read, and it was free for my kindle so I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out it was poorly written, was just a glorified vampire book (which I'm not a fan of to begin with) - didn't realize that based on the description I read, and seemed to not wrap up at all. I realize it is part of a series, but i would expect an author to at least give some degree of closure to a book.
Definitely won't be reading the rest of the series. Seemed like a poor knockoff of the twillight series (which I didn't love either).
Definitely won't be reading the rest of the series. Seemed like a poor knockoff of the twillight series (which I didn't love either).
August 5, 2011
Freebie !!! I liked this book,although it has a lot of traits of Twilight, vampire and warewolf falls for the same girl. I liked the main charactor Leigha although found her infurating at times, everyone hiding secrets from her and she seemed to take it all well where I would be going mental. Did not like the ending find it frustrating when you have to buy the next book just to see who wins the girl !!!But have to say will be looking out for the next book.
August 8, 2013
I liked the plot of the book a lot. As others have pointed out, the editing was not the greatest. One of the things that bothered me the most was calling the main character vegan, then repeatedly having her eat dairy products. The lack of editing made the story a little hard to follow when they mixed up names , but other than that it was just slightly annoying with the editing issue. Even with all of the issues I would still rcommend the book.
March 22, 2012
There's a lot of promise for this story bit I felt the author dragged things out further than she needed. I understand the set up for the series and the need not to give away too much info, but the author left too much hanging, to many unanswered plot lines.
The author could also use another set of eyes to proofread and would benefit from an editor.
The author could also use another set of eyes to proofread and would benefit from an editor.
September 12, 2011
I really liked this book, the story line kept me going and going, wanting to find out what will happen next...I did NOT like all the typos and wrong word usage - to vs. too or sun vs. son, very strange that no one caught these errors prior to publishing. I have to admit i'm looking for the next book in the series so i can find out more about this King and the Prince that wants Leigha!
June 25, 2012
While there are quite a few issues with this novella, the important thing - the story itself - is strong and interesting. The characters are likable and you want to keep reading to find out more about them and this alternate US that they're living in. I will definitely be looking forward to the next in the series.
October 24, 2012
Una recensione per tutta la serie: non bello ma carino. Sto leggendo tutti i libri della serie e visto il modico prezzo vale la pena per chi ama il genere. L'idea è strepitosa, i personaggi niente male, l'editing fa schifo. Nessuna cura nel correggere i refusi o gli errori grossolani. Se costassero più di 89 centesimi non li avrei mai comprati ma ripeto così vale la pena.
December 29, 2012
The plot sounded good - the US divided and the main character leaves all she has known to go to the "Dark Coast". It just never quite made it. Too many Twilight influences and too much teenage eyerolling. The control over the main character by her "stepfather" was too weird for me. Sorry, but I couldn't finish reading it.
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