Review: Shaken - Joss Stirling

In Manhattan, New York, there is a girl with a secret.

That girl is Rose Knight. She needs to raise millions of dollars to save her father's life by any means necessary.

The arrogant and suave Damien Castle is good at uncovering secrets. He's even better at catching criminals.

When Damien meets Rose he knows she's trouble. It isn't her terrible dress sense that drives him to distraction, or even her obsession with Egyptology. It's the fact that he has never felt this way about a girl before.

But when duty and love are both on the line, which one will Damien choose?

Young Detective Agency Series:
Storm and Stone (now re-released as Struck)
Stung
Shaken

Check out Joss Stirling's website for more information

Review:
Life isn't easy for Rose, she's only 16 but she's also the only person in her family that is even slightly responsible when it comes to money and she's definitely the only one who doesn't dabble in illegal activities. For months her father has been held hostage by criminals he owes money too and Rose is being blackmailed into paying a ransom fee for his safety. It's a good job she's extremely intelligent and has a knack for playing the stock market but that is only going to get her so far and things are about to get a whole lot worse. Damien is visiting fellow member of the YDA Joe and his family in New York when he meets their kooky next door neighbour Rose. Rose intrigues him but he can tell she's keeping secrets and it's not long before the boys start meddling in Rose's business trying to find out exactly what is going on. When things quickly go downhill Damien is determined to help Rose solve her problems but will she be willing to trust him when he already betrayed her once by sticking his nose in where it wasn't wanted?

I love Joss Stirling's books, they're always such fun and quick reads and a brilliant way to keep myself entertained for a few hours. You do have to suspend believe a little (what 16 year old would really be capable of raising millions of dollars in just a couple of weeks by buying and selling shares on the stock market?) but as long as you can just go with the flow and have fun with it I'm sure you'll enjoy these books. I love the idea of the Young Detective Agency, it's a school for teens that aims to teach them everything they need to know to go into a future career with law enforcement so it's at least somewhat believable that the students would be good at problem solving and investigations.

Damien is a character we've seen in the previous books and he's always been fun but definitely not a boy who is looking for a serious girlfriend. He's actually quite horrified that two of his best friends are now in a relationship and he makes a big point of telling Joe that he's planning on playing the field for a while longer. Of course everything changes when he meets Rose, she's nothing like the girls he normally goes for and he finds her all the more fascinating because of it. Rose is incredibly smart but not so good with people, she spends so much of her time looking after her father and brother and holding the home together that she doesn't have much left for anything other than studying so her social life is nonexistent. She would love to fit in but she just doesn't have the same interests as most of the people in her class and she's so focused on passing her exams and heading off to uni that she lets everything else pass her by. Damien pulls her out of her comfort zone a little which is really good for her, he finds her social awkwardness endearing but he won't let her hide away from the world. They actually fit together surprisingly well and I enjoyed seeing the friendship build between them.

There is plenty of action in the story, Rose is determined to do things her own way and although she does make a couple of really silly decisions they were forgivable because of her age. She wants to solve her family's problems and she has a dangerous plan but I had to admire the way she was so determined to do the right thing even when it meant putting herself in harm's way. Damien makes a couple of mistakes too but he steps up when she really needs him and that's the most important thing. I also enjoyed getting to know Joe a bit better so I'm really hoping he's going to be getting his own book too.

Source: Received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
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Review: Stung - Joss Stirling (+ UK Giveaway)

Sixteen-year-old Kate has a talent for disappearing. Framed for murder, and hunted by a violent gang, she's running for her life . . .

Nathan is the young recruit tasked with finding Kate before her enemies track her down. He's determined to stay detached no matter what. But when Nathan and Kate's paths collide, neither is prepared for the electricity that sparks between them.

As the net tightens, can they trust each other long enough to stay alive?

Or will their next kiss be their last?

Young Detective Agency Series:
Storm and Stone (now re-released as Struck)
Stung
Shaken

Check out Joss Stirling's website for more information

Review:
As a member of the Young Detective Agency Kate was sent to Indonesia on a mission to infiltrate the Scorpion gang and help put a stop to their human trafficking operation. She was betrayed by her partner though and is now being hunted by dangerous criminals. The YDA have been trying to find Kate since she disappeared a year ago and now that there are rumours she has returned to England Nathan and his team are sent to bring her back to safety. Kate has good reason to believe that there is a mole in the YDA though and she fears going back will be the death of her. Can Nathan convince Kate to trust him and can he keep her safe while he tries to figure out who has betrayed them?

I'm a huge fan of Joss Stirling, I love her Savant's series and I really enjoyed the first YDA book Struck (originally released as Storm and Stone) so I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of Stung and couldn't wait to read it. The story is just as action packed as you'd expect and I loved the mystery and trying to uncover who was working for the Scorpions. I also enjoyed learning about Kate's original mission and how she had been conned by both the gang and her YDA partner which lead to her giving away critical information unwittingly.

Kate has been through a lot and she hates herself for what happened, she also finds it very hard to trust anyone and has has spent a whole year living moment to moment trying to stay one step ahead of the gang. After the betrayal by her friend and partner Tina it's completely understandable why she didn't turn to the YDA for help and why she is so reluctant to trust Nathan now. Nathan is a great character too, he is charming, smart and protective of both the YDA and of Kate and I enjoyed seeing him slowly putting everything together. It was great to catch up with the other members of the YDA too, I loved Raven and Kieran in the first book and it was nice to see how they're getting on as well as getting to know some of the other team members who I'm assuming will get stories of their own further down the line.

Where Stung fell down a bit for me was with the romance. Although I really liked both characters individually and even felt that they made a good couple I thought the romance a bit too rushed considering the circumstances. They pretty much fell straight into a relationship which I didn't find believable because of Kate's trust issues. I get that they knew each other before everything went wrong for her but at the same time she had already been badly hurt by friends and I think she would have needed more time to be sure that Nate was one of the good guys. The romance didn't spoil my enjoyment of the story but I think it would have been so much better if it had been a slow burner.

Stung is still a great read though and one I'd definitely recommend to anyone who enjoyed the first book in the series. There is plenty of action along with a great mystery and I'm sure Joss Stirling fans will enjoy it.

Source: Received from Oxford University Press in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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Giveaway Details:

Thanks to the lovely people at Oxford University Press I have 3 copies of Stung to giveaway to some of my UK followers.

Giveaway terms & conditions:

• Giveaway is open to UK residents only and closes on the 28th of February at 23:59 GMT
• You can enter using the Rafflecopter form below, THREE winners will be chosen at random and contacted soon after the giveaway ends for their contact information.
• The prizes will be sent out directly by Oxford University Press so you must give me permission to share your address if you wish to receive your prize.
• You will have 1 week to respond to my email or new winners will be chosen

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Review: Storm and Stone - Joss Stirling (Now re-released as Struck)

Original Cover and Title

High school can be deadly . . .

Behind the ivy-clad walls of an exclusive boarding school, lurks a sinister web of corruption, scandal, and conspiracy.

American student Raven Stone has noticed something is horribly wrong. First there were the unexplained disappearances. Then there were the teachers’ lies. And now the death threats . . .

Also entangled in the disturbing turn of events is the enigmatic Kieran Storm – a fellow student with a killer intellect and a body to die for. He’s heading for trouble and taking her with him. Raven can feel herself falling in love, but can she trust a boy she knows almost nothing about?

Young Detective Agency Series:
Storm and Stone (now re-released as Struck)
Stung
Shaken

Check out Joss Stirling's website for more information

Review:
As a huge fan of Joss Stirling's Benedict Brothers of course I jumped at the chance of reading her latest novel Storm and Stone. I'll tell you straight away that this is completely separate to her other series and the story has no paranormal elements but that doesn't mean it isn't a fabulous read and it's one I really enjoyed. I'm not sure if this is a stand alone story or the start of a new series but I'm really hoping that we're going to get to revisit these characters in the future, there is definitely plenty of scope for stories about this duo so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Storm and Stone is set in an exclusive English boarding school, one that caters to the children of the extremely wealthy and somewhere that students are supposed to make connections that will help them throughout their lives. Raven isn't from a well off family though, she is a scholarship student who has been allowed to attend the school because her grandfather is the school caretaker as well as her guardian. Raven has had it tough in the last few years, not only has she lost both of her parents but she was bullied badly at her last school and she just wants to find a place where she fits in. Things at Westron haven't been too bad, some of the kids may look down on her but she has a good friend Gina and the others tend to leave her alone. Well, they always did in the past but since the beginning of term things have become decidedly more difficult. Gina hasn't returned after the holidays so Raven is alone and she's facing accusations that she is a thief, Raven has obviously been set up but she has no idea why people have turned against her so suddenly.

The only people still taking to Raven are the new boys Kieran and Joe who seem willing to look past the rumours and see the truth. They not only believe Raven but also stand up for her against the others but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, especially when Gina returns and acts nothing like the girl that Raven was friends with. Kieran and Joe seem to be on Raven's side but she knows they are keeping secrets from her and it makes it hard for her to trust them completely. But what are the boys hiding and why have they joined the school so late in the year?

I really liked Raven's character, she suffers from horrendous bullying that would break most people but she holds her head up high and refuses to let the bullies see how much she is hurting. Inside she is vulnerable and in pain but she has such a tough outer shell and appears to let things bounce off without effecting her. Kieran was fabulous too, he reminded me of a teenage mixture of Sherlock and Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory - he's supremely intelligent but completely clueless when it comes to social situations. The friendship between Kieran and Joe was great, Joe is much more relaxed and is an expert at making friends and fitting in something that Kieran struggles with, but together they make a great team. I loved how they both took such good care of Raven, they were annoyed with the way the others were treating her and determined to help her prove her innocence. The romance that develops between Raven and Kieran didn't feel rushed and I liked the fact that they became friends before anything else.

This story has a great underlying mystery but I don't want to say too much about that for fear of giving spoilers. My only complaint was that we didn't really get to see justice for Raven after one particularly horrible bullying incident - I wanted to see the culprits caught and made to pay for what they did but their actions were kind of lost within everything else that happened at the end of the book. The story definitely feels like a set up for the beginning of a series, again I can't say too much about why I think that without giving spoilers so I'll settle for saying that I'll be the first in the queue to buy any more books that Joss Stirling does write about these characters. If you enjoyed this author's other books then I'd definitely recommend giving this one a try, it doesn't focus quite as heavily on the romance as her Savants books do but what we get is well written and believable and I have high hopes for Raven and Kieran if we are given more books about them.

Source: Received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

New Cover and Title

Paperback / Kindle: