Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Title:  Flecks of Gold

Author:  Alicia Buck

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Mary hits and kicks her mom’s boyfriend in self defense.  He is aggressive and abusive.  Kelson becomes angry and violent and Mary fights back.  Mary is attacked in an alley by two men.  There is hitting and kicking.  Thugs attack Mary and Breeohan in a canyon.  There is fighting with swords.  More thugs attack in an alley and Mary is stabbed in the side with a knife.  Mary trains with weapons.  Mary fights a man in an arena with her hands.  Mary hits a man on the boat who is aggressive.  Mary is hit on the head and knocked unconscious.  She is kicked in the stomach and thrown overboard.  Crocodiles attack and try to eat Mary.  Mary is knocked out and taken hostage.  Mary is tortured with arrows being shot into her legs.  She is burned.

Sexual Content:  Kelton and Mary hold hands.  There is some talk of kissing between Mary and Breeohan.  Mary takes off her clothes and underwear in front of the servants.  There is a mention of rape as a man on a boat makes suggestive comments to Mary.  Mary uses the words “ruin me”.  Breeohan and Mary kiss.

Adult Themes:  Mary’s mother is involved with one bad boyfriend after another.  Her latest boyfriend is abusive and steals from her.

Synopsis

Mary does not trust men.  Her father left before she was born and after seeing her mother pass through one bad boyfriend after another, Mary is determined to keep men and love out of her life. Thanks to the last rotten boyfriend, Mary and her mother decide to move to Arizona.  And then, suddenly, Kelson is there.  Mary finds herself drawn to him.  He literally consumes her thoughts.   When Kelson becomes aggressive and kidnaps Mary’s mother, she realizes that her attraction to him hasn’t exactly been normal.  Mary has always known she was different than other people, but until that moment she hasn’t realized just how much.  In an attempt to rescue her mother, Mary enters a completely different world where magic is real and she possesses it.  But danger is lurking everywhere and finding her mother proves to be more difficult than she imagined.

What an enjoyable read!  From beginning to end I was interested in the story.  It has all the elements of a great story- fantasy, action, magic, great characters and romance.  I really enjoyed the magical element of being able to “see” the strands that make up everything, like a DNA, and being able to mentally tweak them to make them become something else.  I love the book cover too, it is so pretty. This is a young adult book but one I feel comfortable letting my 13-year-old read.