V. J. Chambers

USA Today bestselling author V. J. Chambers writes about obsession, addiction, and agonized attraction. She pens dark romance and thrillers in varied settings, from contemporary to futuristic to paranormal.

She writes fantasy and sci fi under the name Val St. Crowe.

She lives in Shepherdstown, WV, with her boyfriend Aaron, their new baby son, and their cat.

Website: http://vjchambers.com
Twitter: @vjchambers
Facebook: Facebook profile
Blog: http://vjchambers.com

Jove Chambers

Val St. Crowe

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• Glimpse (The Retroact Saga Book 1) on Aug. 22, 2010
  (no rating)
  Glimpse is about a girl named Zellie. (Love those Z names!) Zellie’s always been able to do little parlor tricks with her mom, guessing the future. What she doesn’t realize is that she has a gift. She sees “glimpses” of the future, and she has the ability to change it. This seems pretty cool, but it totally sucks when she has a glimpse of her major crush, Avery, dying in a car accident twenty years in the future. What’s worse, she’s in the glimpse, and she’s pregnant! Talk about a set up! The minute I heard that, I was like, “I’m in.” It gets unbelievably more convoluted in the best ways. Zellie’s mother was in love with Avery’s dad, but kept herself away from him to keep him from dying. Oh, the agony of love denied! Zellie’s mom thinks Zellie should do that too, because if she stays with Avery, she’ll cause his death. But Zellie can’t keep away from Avery, and mostly, she can’t keep her hands off of him. The sexual tension was pretty awesome in this book. A couple scenes had me fanning myself. Whew. My only complaint would be that the last half of the book is a little wobbly. Certain character’s motivations don’t make a lot of sense. In particular, when it turns out a character isn’t really dead after all, I wondered why the person didn’t just tell everyone she was running away instead of faking her death, which seemed pretty horrible and unforgivable. Also, after building to a suspenseful climax midway through the story, the rest of the book has a little trouble ratcheting up the tension again. Overall, however, these things didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the book. I read it quick and fast, the way a YA novel should be read. I was engaged and interested the entire way through. And–there’s a sequel coming out this year, which is awesome, because I can almost smell the love triangle coming. Eee!
  
• Hush Money (Talent Chronicles) on Jan. 06, 2011
  (no rating)
  Hush Money is one of those brilliant indie finds that just makes you happy. It's a nifty mash up of superheroes, teen fiction, and romance. I fairly flew through it, and found it absolutely wonderful. Just the right bits of angst, tension, and some pretty fun action scenes. There are two really fun things going on here. One is the fact that even though the characters are superheroes, with superhero powers, everything's pretty understated. No capes or masks or anything silly. The end result is that coupled with the voice of the narration, you get something that's much less X-Men and more X-Files. Well, the X-Files meets My So-Called Life maybe. The next really cool thing is the threat of the fascist government organization, which is shadowy and shifty and really interesting. I completely dug that. Judging from its reception, I'm not the only one who thinks it's awesome, but if you need more convincing, the price tag should do that just fine. Give it a chance. You can't even buy a bottle of coke at a convenience store for that!
  
• Heroes 'Til Curfew (Talent Chronicles #2) on Sep. 14, 2011
  
  Susan Bischoff is one of the best indie YA authors out there. From her snappy Whedon-esque dialogue to her to-die-for characterizations, she’s a winner. The second installment of The Talent Chronicles doesn’t disappoint. Joss and Dylan get closer and much kissing ensues. (Bischoff commits the sin of letting teenagers sleep chastely in the same bed, which I think is unrealistic, but what do I know? Anyway, I didn’t care, because I BELIEVED it. It helps that Dylan isn’t lots older than Joss–do you hear that Myer and Caine? Do you?) The angst piles up, as the two misread each other’s intentions–but not in a stupid, romcom way either. In a this-is-totally-the-way-teenagers-actually-think way. Heroes ‘Till Curfew finds the two struggling to sort through their complicated feelings for each other while Marco and the gang mount attack after attack on the Talents. Additionally, we learn more about both Joss’s and Dylan’s screwed-up parental situations. The book rushes towards a tense climax involving the threat of rape (absolutely horrific, btw) and burning buildings. It left me tense and flipping pages like a fiend. I think Bischoff’s strength is that she really knows how to plot a story like nobody’s business. She balances all the elements–romance, action, etc–perfectly, and she makes it look easy. A story like that would read well no matter what she did. But her characterization is spot on too. And add in that snappy dialogue… (“Have you ever thought of me as more than a friend?” Long kiss. “Nope. Never.”) …she thrusts her book into the stratosphere. This book is highly, highly recommended.