Marylene Ruiz

Marylene Ruiz's favorite authors on Smashwords

Derrolyn Anderson
Latest book: After Last Call.
Published March 24, 2015. (3.00 from 1 review)

Smashwords book reviews by Marylene Ruiz

  • The Athena Effect on March 03, 2013

    spoiler alert ** I received this book for free from the author in exchange for a honest review. I really liked this book. I can't wait for the sequel. First, I wanted to say, who would have thought to come up with 2 main characters with the same name once you use their nicknames "Cal". Some may think that might be a bit annoying or confusing, but I just thought it was so adorable. It did not confuse me at all. They are both very strong and very different characters. Of course, later in the story Calvin decide to give Caledonia a nickname for her himself "Cali". Personally, that sounds so much better for her. Also, the twist to the story with Cali having powers to see peoples auras/state of feeling, really caught my attention and her ability to control animals and people with this power... The beginning of the story was very interesting with Cali living in the woods with her parents very secluded away from everything. Right away my brain was trying to figure out why she had to stay away from society. What was wrong with her parents? Why couldn't they be out in the open? What happened? Then the story goes on to show how ok Cali is with it as she has never seen anything different. In one moment in the story, it talks about Cali hitting her fave spot in the woods, "a glorious hidden meadow", but then goes on to talk about movement caught in her eye and she drew her knife in a flash. That was beginning of showing us how self sufficient she is. I was sad for her when her parents died, but I knew somehow she would be fine. When she first started school, I thought I started feeling bad for her being picked on and made fun of, but very quickly the story showed us that she could get through all of it. I love how strong the author made Cali. Then she meets Calvin in the woods and saves him. That was awesome! I love how the girl saves the boy in the beginning of this story. He was the bad boy that every girl wanted and/or had already. It was great to see the girls get jealous as he started paying attention to Cali. He saw her different than the other girls, but not in a bad way. It was great to see how the love story developed between them. It was very realistic to me. It wasn't like many romance books where all of a sudden the characters are in situations that most people can't even dream of. The author had me feeling bad for Cali with the part of the story talking about the aunt's boyfriend trying to get at her in horrible ways and the aunt believing him over her own niece. That made me feel bad that she lost her parents and she can't even count on the only family she has. I did love how she was able to learn to develop her powers to be able to control him enough to not be afraid of him anymore. It was good to watch him be put in his place. I just wish the aunt had done it. I wish she had seen what was happening and did something for her niece. I caught myself saying "how could she?" while reading alone. It's good that I was alone, otherwise people would be wondering who I was talking to. I couldn't believe at the end how the aunt and boyfriend just sold her off to the professor for him to be able to continue with his study that killed so many people already including her parents. It made me so angry. Later I came to find out that the aunt was swayed by Layla's ability which was the same as Cali's. The aunt was weak, but the boyfriend just didn't care. He just wanted the money. She ran away before they could take her away, but quickly found her at Calvin's house. I was in shock when I found out that they took her in the middle of the night and no one had noticed. I'm so glad that Calvin was start enough to look into the situation with her parents and had come across the information about the professor. This allowed him to be able to find her. I was so glad to see that he was able to come and rescue her. It was a bit corny to see that she put sheets together to climb down out of the window. It also made sense though as they were raised very secluded. Layla's idea based on "cartoons" really made sense at this point. It was great to see them get away... What will happen next though? Will Max catch up with them? The end when Max (the professor's right hand man) turns on the professor for his own plans really has me intrigued. Will Cali try to save Layla and her twin? Will Max find Cali and try to add her to his plans? I really can't wait for the sequel. So many thoughts crossing my mind... This was a great story with both a hero and a very strong heroine. It was also a great love story, but still had a twist of fantasy. I would recommend this book to all of my friends and family.