Alex Mar

Paula Cooper was 15 years old when she killed 78 year old Ruth Pelke. She was sentenced to death. The resulting media storm lead to changes in the law regarding the age of offenders in death penalty sentencing.
The author tries to build compassion for all the people involved- Paula, Ruth, and her grandson, Bill, who ultimately forgave Paula and established a long correspondence with her.
The life of Paula Cooper is a sad example of how the system failed a family. Why she was kept with her abusive and suicidal mother is unexplained and unforgiveable. Her time in prison was filled with anger and violence. She never really healed from her abuse, and never forgave herself for what she did.
Bill became obsessed with abolishing the death penalty. The author spends a lot of time on this aspect- the "journeys", the protests, and how this affected Bill's life. She also offers many statistics on the death penalty and the ensuing legal proceedings. So in my opinion the Paula Cooper case is just a platform for Mar to offer reasons to abolish the death penalty, which is fine, but I would rather learn more about the system that let Paula and her sister down. That needs fixing, and perhaps would prevent other instances of teenage rage and violence.… (más)

Anyone who doubts the value of a good editor need only pick up this book.
What a jumble this is.
The first third is very good. Then comes the interminable middle where I, like many other readers, simply gave up and skipped a lot of pages. It's just boring. And finally the end, a sort-of conclusion - and readers are really in need of a strong conclusion.
A key issue is that this book has no real focus; instead, it is the story of many lives that were part of, or came to be part of, the terrible moment when a woman was murdered. There is the killer and her friends and her family, the dead woman and her children, a judge, attorneys, a sister, a grandson and his complicated life, priests, reporters, and the author herself. Perhaps the writer was thinking this would give readers an understanding of the complexity of this case and how it touched so many lives - but we're not interested. The story here is Paula, the killer - who she was, how she became that person, and how her life was tragically shaped by her actions. But apparently the author was just too overwhelmed by information, and too determined to assert her own views, to just write a good book that would have allowed readers to come to their own conclusions.… (más)

No Boundaries was written for the M/M Romace Group's Love Has No Boundaries picture prompt event. It's told in third person from the viewpoint of Jack, a Psy for the military.



I liked this story, it was a short fast read about tentacle sex. Woohoo! :D It even had a bit of tentacle bondage in it and hints of BDSM near the end.

The story is about Jack, a Psy, and Commander Inna, who is Jack's Commander and a Mer. Jack spends the night with his Commander after a night out. Only in the morning, the Commander isn't around and there is an octopus attached to Jack's cock.

Jack's discovery of what Mer's are really like, what they can do and Jack's adjustment to this information is the basis for this story.

The characters were enjoyable, the action fun and the descriptions vivid. I would love to learn more about this world the author created. I give this story 4 Stars.

… (más)