Meds by Ray Garton

Description
One hot summer day, a man in a business suit running wildly down a busy street attacks a woman and her toddler, neither of whom have ever seen him before.

... As he waits in his pickup truck for his wife to finish shopping, a man decides to take the shotgun off its rack, go inside the mall and open fire on total strangers.

... While waiting to see her doctor, a woman takes a knife from her purse and begins stabbing others in the waiting room.

Something is making people become violent and murderous...something they all have in common. When Eli Dunbar discovers what it is, he becomes afraid, because it’s something he has in common with them–a drug prescribed to him by his psychiatrist. And now Eli is a ticking time bomb.

Do you know all of the risks your prescription drugs might pose? Does your doctor? Or has the manufacturer hidden them from the public in the interest of profits?

Meds...a thriller with deadly side effects.

A compelling tale, and quite relevant in these days of non stop commercial bombardments with drug ads for everything from cholesterol pills to a prescription to thicken your eyelashes. Yes that is a real thing.
So many drugs, so many side effects and risks, and so many warnings of what can happen if you suddenly stop taking your pills, yet millions of people flock to doctors asking for the latest pill they've seen advertising. Drug companies count on this, hence all the ads that tell you to "ask your doctor about (insert name of latest pill) today!"
In "Meds" Ray Garton presents us with a frightening (and not so far fetched) idea of what could happen if people were suddenly unable to refill their prescription for the latest antidepressant and suffered a psychotic break as a result.

Curiosity Quills Presents: Cast No Shadows by various authors

Description
Welcome to the shadowed woods, where the trees breathe with ghosts and the wind whispers of the past.

Twenty-six authors take you through haunted houses and cemeteries with tales that will chill.

Beware the dark, for the spirits await you.

I have always loved ghost stories from the time I was a little girl, so I jumped on the chance to read this anthology.
These tales and their intensity varies. They include ghosts who came back for unfinished business, gentle spirits who want to protect what they love, demonic forces, and even a touching tale of a little girl who never really had a chance to live, until long after she passed away.
There are spooky graveyards, haunted houses, and things that go bump in the night. Some stories are spine tingling others are sorrowful.
Not all are scary, or even meant to be scary but all were worth a read.

4 out of 5 stars from me

I received a complimentary copy for review.

Who We Were Before by Leah Mercer

Description
Zoe knows that it wasn’t really her fault. Of course it wasn’t. But if she’d just grasped harder, run faster, lunged quicker, she might have saved him. And Edward doesn’t really blame her, though his bitter words at the time still haunt her, and he can no more take them back than she can halt the car that killed their son.

Two years on, every day is a tragedy. Edward knows they should take healing steps together, but he’s tired of being shut out. For Zoe, it just seems easier to let grief lead the way.

A weekend in Paris might be their last hope for reconciliation, but mischance sees them separated before they’ve even left Gare du Nord. Lost and alone, Edward and Zoe must try to find their way back to each other—and find their way back to the people they were before. But is that even possible?

This was a heart wrenching read, told in alternating points of view from both Zoe and Edward. The time period moves back and forth between present day when they are on a trip to Paris meant to bring them back together, and the past when they first met, and fell in love. We also learn in these flashbacks how the loss of their child ripped them apart and left them in the precarious state they are currently in. Zoe and Edward thought they were going to be a happily ever after story, but real life got in the way. Fate seemed to put them together, but the loss of their child tore them apart. Each dealt with their grief in their own way, never quite able to come together and share how they truly felt. Edward was left feeling shut out, while Zoe was left feeling Edward blamed her and that he did not grieve as deeply as she. This was a heart breaking story of loss and the dissolution of a marriage, but where there is love, there is still hope.
4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received a complimentary copy for review

The Goblin Crown: Billy Smith and the Goblins, Book 1 by Robert Hewitt Wolfe

Description
Billy Smith is having a rough first day of high school. The new kid at exclusive Francis Drake Prep, Billy embarrasses himself in front of fiery, beautiful Lexi Aquino. He makes an instant enemy in Kurt Novac, the school's surly star quarterback. Then suddenly Billy, Lexi, and Kurt are mysteriously transported to an underworld teeming with goblins, strange animal hybrids, and powerful magic the fact that they're stuck there is probably Billy s fault, too. With help from an unlikely goblin leader named Hop, the teens soon discover that goblins can be both fierce and friendly, with their own rich language, culture, and history a history that foretells of a human arriving to claim the Goblin Crown and lead them to victory against the deadly, invading Hanorians. Could Billy anxious, awkward Billy be the mythical Goblin King? Could saving the goblin race be his destiny and the key to getting him, Lexi, and Kurt back home?

What a fun and action packed story!
Billy Smith has never felt like he belonged. He has always been uncomfortable everywhere he goes. He just doesn't quite fit in. On his first day of high school, with his nerves already on edge, and spying the beautiful Lexi who is a bit of a chatterbox  he accidentally runs afoul of Kurt. When Lexi tries to speak up for him she unintentionally makes things a bit worse. Lexi suffers an injury as they are fleeing, and it is then we find out that Kurt is more bark than bite. In trying to get help for Lexi, Billy transports them to a magical land where Goblins and Humans have been at war, Rabbits are the size of cows and ships fly through the sky powered by giant bats. Some goblins are friendlier than others and not all will welcome these unlikely human heroes.
The target age group for this book is middle school and up, but if you are a kid at heart you too will be enchanted by this captivating tale.

I received an advance copy for review