Review: Skinny - Book #1 False Reflections Series - Laura L. Smith - October 2008 Cast your mind back with me for a moment. Years ago, one of my absolute favourite genres to curl up with was what I fondly called Edgy YA Christian Fiction - stories that tackled the real, messy, complicated parts of teenage life without shying away from faith. Skinny by Laura L. Smith is exactly that kind of book, and it has stayed with me ever since I first read it. Melissa grows up surrounded by all the good things  a warm, loving Christian family and a tight circle of friends. She's also a dancer, and it's through that world that she begins to see herself as something she isn't: fat. What makes this story particularly compelling is that Melissa doesn't stop eating altogether. Instead, she starts counting calories and restricting, quietly convincing herself that because it isn't that bad, it isn't really a problem. It's that kind of slow, insidious thinking that makes her j...

Review: Sacred Sex - Tony Evans - December 2013 Welcome back to the cozy corner of The Phantom Paragrapher . Grab a mug of something warm and settle in, because today we’re having a bit of a heart-to-heart. As we kick off 2026, I’ve set a personal challenge for myself: to read at least 12 non-fiction books  one for every month of the year. I wanted to start the year with something that felt foundational, and Tony Evans’ Sacred Sex was exactly the eye-opener I didn't know I needed. Let’s be honest: sex is everywhere. It dominates our screens, our music, and our social feeds. Our culture screams "YOLO!" (You Only Live Once), suggesting that because life is short, we should do whatever feels good in the moment. But Dr. Evans flips that script beautifully. He argues that if we only have one life and one body, shouldn't we treat them with the utmost care, using them exactly as they were designed? Dr. Evans refuses to let the noise of the world drown out God’s intent. H...

Review: Captive Films - Book #2.1 - Jillian Dodd - March 2015 When I needed a palate cleanser between heavier reads, I reached for Captive Films 2.1 by Jillian Dodd, and it delivered exactly what I was craving—a fast-paced, drama-filled escape that I devoured in one sitting. This installment picks up right where the previous book left off, and let me tell you, Knox is making some spectacularly bad decisions. After jumping to conclusions about Ariela (classic Knox), he decides the mature response is to grab his brother and friends for a wild night in Las Vegas to drown his sorrows. Meanwhile, poor Ariela is desperately trying to reach him to explain, but he won't answer his phone. Typical guy move, right? I found myself yelling at the pages, wanting to shake some sense into him. Of course, what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas—especially when you're connected to Captive Films. Photos from their debauchery hit the papers, and suddenly everyone is scrambling. Keatyn a...

Review: Out of the Woods - Book #2 Out Series - Helena Bonham-Young - January 2025 I'll be honest with you all—contemporary romance has felt a bit blah to me lately. I've been in such a reading slump with the genre, picking up book after book only to set them down halfway through with a shrug. But then Out of the Woods came along and completely broke that spell. From the first few chapters, I was hooked, and more surprisingly, I found myself genuinely enjoying a romance novel again. What really got me about this story is how personal it felt. Sarah and Caleb are high school sweethearts who've been together for seventeen years, and there's something so real about watching them navigate that question we've all wondered at some point: Who am I outside of this relationship? Sarah's struggle to prove her independence while simultaneously loving her husband hit close to home for me. My own partner and I have been together for years, and I saw so much of our dynamic r...

Review: The Last Wife - Matt McGregor - May 2025 What starts as a modern fairytale quickly spirals into a chilling psychological thriller in Matt McGregor’s intense and suspenseful novel. Olivia, a humble waitress with artistic dreams, believes she’s won the romantic lottery when she meets the charming and wealthy Lachlan Gibson. Swept off her feet by his attention and encouragement, Olivia is quickly immersed in a world of luxury, love and control. After moving into Lachlan’s lavish home, the cracks in their whirlwind romance begin to show. Small, unsettling things begin to unravel: curious glances from locals, hushed whispers, and a name that Olivia can't escape - Yasmine Gibson. Yasmine, it turns out, was Lachlan’s first wife who died in childbirth just eight months earlier. This revelation alone is shocking, but what’s even more disturbing is how quickly Lachlan moved on—and how much Olivia is starting to resemble Yasmine in every aspect. As Olivia digs deeper, her dream life t...

Review: The Ex - Alex Sinclair - May 2025 The Ex by Alex Sinclair is a twisted, dark, and addictive psychological thriller that had me gripped from the very start — but it was those final chapters that absolutely blew me away. I can honestly say I did not see those last few twists coming, and they elevated the entire story to another level. The book kicks off with Jack a man who once dated a woman we know only as “N.” According to Jake, she was a bit unhinged — so he broke things off. Over the years, he moved on, dating two other women, Nicole and Bianca - he reminded me a bit of a John Tucker character . Eventually, the relationships splintered after a tragedy, but one stuck: Jack and Bianca married and built what seems like a perfect life. Fast-forward almost twenty years, and Nicole has just moved in next door to Jack and Bianca, stirring up old tensions and dangerous emotions. Bianca, it turns out, has been sitting on some dark, devastating secrets about what happened two deca...

Review: Violets for Vanessa - Book #3 The Crystal Falls Series - Dianne Miley - January 2009 Violets for Vanessa can be read as a stand-alone and is a prime example of going into a book blind as I too be honest couldn't even remember exactly when I picked this book up or what I was in for. Even though this is Book #3, I was glad I was able to just jump in and read as I could catch the gist of this story. In Violets for Vanessa, we meet Vanessa who is 25 years old and lives at home with her parents. Her dad is an abuser and violent and hits her mother and has also sexually abused Vanessa and her older sister Layla who died a few years back. Vanessa has caught the eye of one of the bachelors in town - Chad James. He has been praying for God to deliver him a wife and he feels that God is telling him that Vanessa is the one for him. It's going to be a bit more work on his side as Vanessa is loyal to her family and protecting her mother and despite the horrible things her father d...

Review: Let Her Be - Book #6 Hush Series - Lisa Unger - July 2020 I was in one of those moods the other night where I wanted to read something, but everything I clicked on and tried was a DNF the time was clicking on and I knew If I mucked around and started a novel, I wouldn't be able to sleep as I would have been stuck right into it. So I clicked on one of the Amazon Original Stories I had. These are great little quick reads and scratch that reading itch.  I knew I would enjoy this one as well as Lisa Unger is a favorite thriller writer of mine. This book starts with introducing us to Will - he is a writer but with dark demons. He has lost the one he loved and then tried to commit suicide. Now a couple of years later, he has got his life back on track and writing and is meeting with an old friend Emily. She knew his former girlfriend Anisa who no one has seen for over a year except for the odd Instagram post. Will decides to go on a hunt for her and Emily tags along, but as h...