King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: A Circle of Souls


author: Preetham Grandhi


genre: mystery/thriller


published: 2009


pages: 341


first line: The slaaf stumbled along the shore of Willow Lake.


rated: 4 out of 5










In A Circle of Souls 10 year old Janet Troy disappears one day after getting off the school bus. As a short cut walking home, she takes the path along Willow Lake and is never heard from again.



Dr. Peter Gram works at the hospital and specializes in pediatric medicine. Late one night a 7 year old is brought into the ER and they page Dr. Gram to evaluate her. Naya Hastings has been having vivid nightmares and has been sleepwalking dangerously. Her parents are in fear of her hurting herself during her dream states.
Meanwhile agent Leia Bines has been called back to work from her vacation in Hawaii to investigate the dissapearance of Janet Troy in Connecticut.


The story gets very creepy once Naya's dreams become more vivid, and take a paranormal aspect. She begins to see and speak to Janet Troy in these dreams. Janet gives Naya tips and clues about her death and murderer. Naya then passes these clues on to Dr. Peter Gram through vivid drawings.






I found A Circle of Souls to be a page turner. The story took off from page one and just kept on going. It was a fast paced thriller with plenty of plot twists and turns to keep me hooked until the very end. The story had some great, well developed characters. I found myself trying to figure out who the killer was and hoping Leia Bines would finally arrest him. I liked that there was a strong, female investigator on the case. The reader also gets a look into the killers mind and finds out why this person is so sick.




This was a great book, I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good, suspenseful thriller with a bit of paranormal twist to it. Like I said, it got very creepy once Naya starts to talk to Janet in her dreams. I got goosebumps while reading. I felt like the author did a good job when writing about Janet and what happened to her, it wasn't overwhelming to the reader.

"I wont be scared," Naya said, trying to put on a strong facade. "Would you like to lie down next to me?" Janet asked, changing the subject.


The two girls lay down next to each other. Naya wondered why Janet only wanted Dr. Gram to help her. She was a little scared to ask.


"Why the doctor?" Naya whispered into Janet's ear.


"Because he knows what the big, bad man has done," Janet whispered back.

special thanks to Preetham Grandhi for sending me a signed copy of his book!



about the author:

Preetham Grandhi, M.D. immigrated to the United States from Bangalore, India to pursue a career in child and adolescent psychiatry. After his graduation from Yale he has been the chief of service for House 5 at Bronx Children’s Psychiatric Center. He is devoted to helping young children gain insight into their emotional and behavioral needs and empowers them to maximize their inner potential. He also has a private practice and resides in Westchester County, New York, with his family.

-quoted from the authors website: http://www.acircleofsouls.com/about.html

title: Any Given Doomsday (The Phoenix Chronicles)

author: Lori Handeland

release date: November 4, 2008

genre: paranormal suspense

pages: 343

first line: On the day my old life died, the air smelled of springtime-budding trees and just-born flowers, fresh grass and hope.

rated: 3 1/2 out of 5

Elizabeth Phoenix once used her unique skills as a psychic to help in the Milwaukee Police Department’s fight against injustice. But when Liz’s foster mother is found viciously murdered—and Liz is discovered unconscious at the scene—her only memory of the crime comes in the form of terrifying dreams...of creatures more horrific than anything Liz has seen in real life. What do these visions mean? And what in the world do they have to do with her former lover, Jimmy Sanducci?


While the police question Jimmy in the murder, Jimmy opens Liz’s eyes to a supernatural war that has raged since the dawn of time in which innocent people are hunted by malevolent beings disguised as humans. Only a chosen few have the ability to fight their evil, and Jimmy believes Liz is among them. Now, with her senses heightened, new feelings are rising within Liz—ones that re-ignite her dangerous attraction to Jimmy. But Jimmy has a secret that will rock Liz to her core…and put the survival of the human race in peril.

Psychic Elizabeth Phoenix used to be a police officer, but after her partner is murdered, she quits and winds up working at a bar. One day while at work, she has a sudden urge to leave and go to her foster mom's home. Once Liz arrives there, she finds her foster mother, Ruthie, nearly dead. Ruthie says one last thing to Liz before dying.

"The final battle," she managed, though her voice was fading, "begins now."

Liz passes out and awakens later at the hospital with no recollection of what happened to make her pass out. She is questioned by the police who are investigating her foster mother's murder. Their prime suspect is Liz's former flame, Jimmy Sanducci. Jimmy's character is basically a jerk, he cheated on Liz and he treats her badly. But you wonder if the two will get back together and make it work.



Jimmy explains to Liz that there has been a battle going on between humans and demons, and that Liz is now a seer. She finds it hard to believe at first, but slowly comes to realize Jimmy is telling the truth. Now it is up to Liz to help fight the battle, with the help of her new spirit guide, her foster mother.


Liz and Jimmy wind up going to find a man called Sawyer. Sawyer is a shape shifter, he is centuries old.
Now this is the part of the book I didn't like too much. Jimmy leaves Liz with Sawyer. I'm wondering where the heck did Jimmy go? It's like he's a main character for the first half of the book, then he just leaves. Liz is attracted to Sawyer, and the two become intimate, but she is supposedly still in love with Jimmy. I didn't like the sex scenes between these two. Mainly because it seemed like rape at first, then it seemed too cold, no real connection coming from Sawyer.




Sawyer can change into different animals, he's covered in the different tattoos of animals that he transforms into. Sawyer started off as an interesting character, but as the story unfolds, I began to dislike him.



Liz does run into Jimmy again towards the end of the book. Then there's some more strange sex going on, and there are vampires all over the place.



I actually didn't even like Jimmy or Sawyer. And I don't understand how Liz can love Jimmy. Both guys seem like such big jerks to me. Liz was alright, but I didn't understand her relationship with these men. I would want to read the next installment of this series however, to see where the author takes these characters.







This was an ARC from St. Martin's Press and Library thing.


visit the author's website: http://www.lorihandeland.com/




This book has also been reviewed by:

Blacklin’s Reading Room Reviews & More

The Sleepy Reader

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