H. D. Gordon

The Halfling by H D Gordon is the first book in The Aria Fae Series, a paranormal fantasy that exceeded my expectations with fantastic writing and characters that grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go.

Aria knew she couldn’t run from her past, but here she is, in a new place. She is a skate board riding Fae, part of the Brokers, an organization of Halflings, half supernatural and half human. She is an empath and I cannot imagine how difficult that would be in high school. Her empathy and show more need to help gets her in trouble, but I love her for it. How can I resist a strong character who marches to her own drum?

She meets up with Sam, a girl hacker who becomes her BFF and it changes everything. I love the little nerd, Sam, who is your typical teenager…except for her supernatural skills. I love the connection that brought them together, but you will need to find out for yourself. The girls fun personalities and watching them grow and blossom as they create their family kept me on pins and needles as I kept waiting for the bad to happen. I know it has to come, but I love these kids so much I don’t want anything to happen to them.

Thomas Reid is a hottie and I think he is holding a secret that will add more to the suspense.

H D Gordon can take a familiar theme and twist it so creatively that it becomes fresh and original. Her descriptive writing makes the story seem real and I am unable to resist being drawn in deeper with each page I read. The Halfling has so much that I love, the paranormal, fantasy, determined women (albeit young ones) and so much more. As the story grows, so too does the suspense and mystery. I never saw where this was going and I love when a book exceeds my expectations. I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

I received an ARC of Halfling by H D Gordon in return for an honest review.

To see more visit http://www.fundinmental.com show less

At first, I was nervous for the read…just due to the fact that this was my first horror novel, but boy was I surprised and in a good way. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The twists…the turns…the evil.
I never thought that it was possible to be heart-broken from a horror book (but that is probably due to the fact that I haven’t read one previously), though this book definitely broke my heart. I think the reason it did so is because the characters are so young. No, not teenagers, not show more ten years old, but five. I felt terrible for the kids in this book. I just wanted to jump into the book and save them because I knew their parents didn’t believe them.
This book was beautifully written, although I just found one flaw. Not flaw, but just something that I did not particularly like. The way that the five year old kids spoke. Their vocabulary was very immaculate for their age and they seemed to say things that I, myself, would not expect a child that young to speak.
I loved the way that each paragraph changed perspectives. Whether it was one of the children talking, their parents, or their teacher — each and every chapter brought something so wonderful to the book. At first, I was really curious as to why the children were chosen for the book, but then I made my conclusion as to why they were. I believe that each child was chosen because each one had a different background. My thought is that H.D. Gordon wanted us to see how evil effected a different variety of families and their way of life.
I would highly recommend this read, especially around the Christmas time. If you want a thrilling, adventurous, and frightful story this is the book for you. It isn’t a book that will keep you up at night (well, for me it did because I didn’t want to set the book down), but you will definitely receive sporadic amounts of goosebumps while reading this novel. H.D. Gordon does a spectacular job at grabbing your attention as well as allowing your heart to feel so many different emotions: anger, sadness and happiness…all intertwined with each page turn.
I received this book through Goodreads Read It and Reap for an honest review. show less

I absolutely loved this book! This is probably one of my favorite reads in over a year. I may be going out on a limb here when I compare these two, but I honestly think this series is going to be better than Twilight. I loved the characters, the plot, the world they live in, and just about everything else about this book!

Alexa is your typical outcast 17 year old. She lives with her mother and sister, whom she cares about more than anything else in the world. Every day the two sisters are show more told to run to school by their mother, and they obey without really questioning. On top of all of the running, Alexa also has to train with her mother every day. This often results in her ending up with black eyes and other injuries.

There is a reason for all of this violence, training, and running though. Alexa has to defend herself and her family against the Lamia. Leaving her mother to save her sister has turned Alexa's world upside down, even more so because her sister has been hiding some very big secrets from her. She is the last of a race of Warriors and there are actual vampires and werewolves in the world.

Alexa and her sister are sent to find a place marked by latitude and longitude out in the middle of a forest. This place just happens to be a gigantic hidden city, full of a race of elite warrior vampires and werewolves. The people here regard Alexa as their savior, and now she feels like she has the biggest shoes ever to fill. There is something off about the new place they have come to live in, but she just doesn't see the reason for them to need to be saved. Until one day when she goes out for a run deep into the woods...

Along with the main story, there is a love triangle too! Alexa went to school with Jackson before all of the action happens, so they have been friends for a while. Jackson always has witty comments about how beautiful Alexa looks, and you can tell he has a thing for her. When they arrive in Two Rivers, Alexa meets Kayden who just happens to be an elite warrior vampire. She has an irresistible draw to him and finds him extremely attractive, but she struggles with feelings for Jackson as well.

I really did enjoy this book, and highly suggest it to anyone who loves YA paranormal stories. The book flowed nicely and the chapters were short enough to keep me going. H.D. Gordon's writing style is so personable it sucks you in and makes the characters seem real. I was having dreams about this book for the two nights that I had read late! show less

Joe is not a Joseph. In fact, Joe Knowe is not a male at all. Nor is she a Josephine, a Mary Jo, or a Joanna. What she is, is a special girl with a special talent that is both a blessing and a curse.

What first grabbed my attention about Joe is that like me, Joe has a stutter. Though hers is much more pronounced, it helped me related to her sis a character. It seems that characters with pronounced flaws are easier for me to relate to, as they seem much more real. It was nice to see an author show more understand the frustration of someone who stutters who has an important message, and be able to convey it to others who don't.

I'm a big fan of using multiple character viewpoints to tell a story, but I have very mixed feelings about how it was done in this book. With so many characters, it can be hard to distinguish the characters from one another or to figure out who is telling which chapter. Gordon does a great job with listing exactly who is narrating at the beginning of each chapter. It took a lot of confusion out of reading. However there were a few characters you didn't hear much from, and it was easy to forgot about their story lines. Overall, I think Gordon did a great job creating memorable characters, and establishing the importance of characters that you didn't know much about.

There were a few things that made Joe a bit tricky to read. First was trying to get through the stuttering. Like I said, I suffer from what I think of as a sometimes-stutter. And while it can be hard to speak at times, there is no stutter in my thoughts. While Gordon had to be able to depict Joe's stutter, it made her dialogue incredibly hard to read. Another thing that made it hard to read was where Gordon would interject the characters thoughts to complete a sentence, which would then be completed in another way on the next line. I found myself re-reading lines quite a few times, though every time the sentence took on a whole new meaning.

As my TBR pile begins to dwindle, I will definitely find myself reading the sequel to this book. I really enjoyed Joe. It had great characters, really got you involved in the story, and had a clear (and engaging) climax to it. I am giving Joe five stars, and I encourage my readers to check it out. You will not be disappointed. show less