Stephanie Erickson

March Hair is a fun romantic comedy with a touch of magical realism floating throughout its pages. I enjoyed the story, thought the characters and the plot were fun and interesting, but to be honest, found it simplistic and fairly predictable.

While March was an interesting character, there was nothing that really stood out about her, even her hair. Although I loved the concept that everyone has a little magic in them, the fact that her hair would change constantly must have raised some questions from the people in her life and those around her. If the hue changes from one hour to the next because of your emotions, how do you explain that? Her hair would be falling out from the number of dye jobs she supposedly would have had. I felt like I needed more insight into her character, who she was, and why she would be attracted to someone like

Alice was my favourite character in the book, but she was ten going on twenty. I loved her insights into other people, but for someone who was in hiding, she was certainly very trusting. I also didn't mind Robin too much, but the grumpy male lead is something that is overdone in romance novels and can get quite tiresome. You can be worried about what is happening to you and your child without being slotted into the 'grumpy' box. I just find it somewhat immature sometimes and as a trope, it's not one of my favourites. There is surely a better way to get across to people that you are a private person without being grumpy.

The plot itself was fine. Personally, I didn't really feel the connection between March and Robin, or why she was so drawn to him in the beginning. So, while I empathized with both of these characters, I didn't really empathize with their relationship even if it was fun to see it develop. I can't even pinpoint the reason why. I'm not opposed to slow-burn romances because life is difficult and challenging, but I do have a problem when someone keeps probing into someone's life as if they are entitled to know everything about them. People reveal information about themselves when they trust someone, it's not an instantaneous thing, especially if you've been burned once or twice before. I did like the inner monologues from both of them questioning whether it was a good idea to push for a relationship.

Verdict
March Hair was an enjoyable romantic novel about two people who needed to figure out what they really wanted in their lives. I thought the plot was fun, if predictable, and I liked the characters, even if I would have liked to have seen more development. Overall, if you like slow-burn small-town romance, this one is definitely for you.… (más)

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Mackenzie lived in her own world filled with music; you could say it helps keep her sane. Mac can hear other people's thoughts and sometimes it can be overwhelming, so she uses an iLs, an Integrated Listening System to block out the voices and help her focus at hand. Because this was her savior, she majored in music therapy. A chance meeting with a mysterious and extremely handsome man, whose thoughts she cannot hear, sparks her curiosity. Who is this strikingly handsome man? More importantly, why can't she hear his thoughts?

Unseen is an amazing paranormal romance that puts you on an emotional roller coaster. Mac's only family member was the aunt that raised her. She didn't understand her at all and thought of her as a burden. Mac worked so hard, with only her best friend Maddie by her side. Maddie didn't know that Mac could read minds, she just thought she could "read people" with her spidey senses. This was an amazing change of pace for me. I'm not sure what I was really expecting from this book, especially since i chose it based on the cover; I was happily surprised! The story was fast paced, I had a difficult time putting it down. This is one of those books that will keep you up at night to finish and even after you're done you'll spend hours reflecting. Just be sure to have a box of Kleenex at the ready, you'll need it for this one.
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I would give this a 4.25. I listened to the audio book of this with my husband. He doesn't have much time for him to actually read a physical book, so we listen to audio books together on his few days off. We both thoroughly enjoyed this book. An added plus is that my 12 year old son has listened to bits and pieces of this story while he is in the car with us and has now gotten into the story as well and wants to read it too! It's about this girl who is a mind reader and has just gotten her masters in music therapy. She uses an ILS to help her block out the "noise" of everyone's thoughts. Then she is approached by this secret organization called The Unseen and they want to teach her how to hone her skills. That's all well and good, but they are keeping secrets from her and she doesn't know exactly what they want from her or if she can trust them.… (más)

I would give this book a 4.5. I listened to the audio book of this with my husband as I did the other 2 books in this trilogy. We both loved the entire trilogy. My husband did have 1 complaint about this last book though, and I kind of agree with him. He felt that the ending was a bit too rushed and that this really could have been a 4 book series. When we only had 45 minutes left of the book I was like how are they going to get to the end of everything with so little time remaining, but it did. We both agree that Mackenzie's character could have gained more skills and other characters could have been developed a bit more. It almost felt like if you were only allowed to make it a certain number of pages and just realized that you were running out of pages but still had to wrap up the story so the ending gets super condensed. Again, we both seriously enjoyed listening to the audio book and I have already purchased a physical copy of the first book and plan on buying the other 2 books soon. Also on a little side note, there were some eerie similarities between the what the character that wants to run for President says and things that Donald Trump has said, though this book came out before Trump even started his campaign.… (más)