Archive for February 4, 2014

Welcome to my stop on the tour for Root Bound (Emma and the Elementals Volume 1) by Tanya Karen Gough.  Root Bound is an upper Middle Grade fantasy adventure recommended for ages 10+. The tour is to run February 3-14 with reviews only.  Be sure to check out all the details and the tour schedule on the tour page.

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My Review

Root Bound took me down the rabbit hole. Or rather down the brownies burrow.

Imagine discovering mythical, magical beings, all shapes and sizes, living under our houses, under our cities.

That’s what Emma discovers when her father’s job lands them in yet another city, in a beaten down old apartment building.

Emma hears strange noises in the walls, shifting shadows, and voices in the vents. It’s as if the building is alive.

Something is, as she discovers when a pile of tiny brownies tumble from the vent grate onto her bed.

Thus begins Emma’s quest of discovery. Both worlds may lose their magic, the brownies need her help, and the answers she seeks about her mother lie at the center of the earth.

From the beginning, I knew Emma would encounter something in that building. It was such a delight that it was brownies. Then the author throws in a ruthless gang of girls who torment her daily at school, strange lights coming from under the weird ladies’ door down the hall, and the curious case of the little boy who can’t seem to go anywhere.

Root Bound is fantastical. Greek and Roman mythology are spread throughout the adventure, delighting you with the different magical beings.

The author nailed it while presenting the girls who bully Emma. I felt like I was back in school, wanting to shrink smaller and smaller, become invisible. Just so they’d leave me alone.

But Emma is no baby. She is a brave young girl, trying to help her new friends, find her own path, and get answers about the dreams she has of her mother.

This story reminded me a bit of The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland combined. If it were a movie, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that Emma wakes up and it was all a dream.

Tanya has a beautiful imagination and has created an extraordinary world and beings and a strong heroine in Emma. It’ll be fun to see where she takes Emma next.

4 Stars

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Synopsis

Root Bound is a fast-paced, action fantasy novel about a young girl finding her place in the world through a series of adventures involving magical creatures, and a journey to the centre of the earth. Root Bound is both a topsy-turvy riff on traditional literary children’s fantasy and an allegorical coming-of-age tale.

Emma and her father, a jazz musician, are always on the move, travelling from place to place as her father’s work demands. Their new home, however, is different. There’s a frightening woman who lives down the hall: she bears an uncanny resemblance to a witch. A mysterious light comes from her apartment, and a small boy seems to be trapped inside.

School in this town is no happy place either, with an odd principal and a gang of girls who make tormenting Emma their special project. And strangest of all is the fact that there seem to be brownies – basement brownies, in the air vent in her bedroom. They are searching for the Wanderer, a powerful being who can help free the Crown Prince of Under from the black magic prison that holds him. Emma travels through the brownie burrow to the valley of Hades to visit with the goddess Ceres, following a series of clues that lead her across the sea of memory to the centre of the world. There, on an inhospitable rock floating in a sea of steaming lava, Emma must find a way to free the prince, release her mother from the sea of memory, and restore magic to both the brownie burrow and the human world above.

 GoodreadsSmashwords  |  Amazon  |  B&N  |  Kobo  | Lulu (trade paper)

About Author Tanya Karen Gough

Tanya Karen Gough owned and published The Poor Yorick Shakespeare Catalogue from 1997-2007, earning a strong international customer base of world class academics and high school educators.

Tanya was also a contributing editor for the Internet Shakespeare Editions at the University of Victoria (BC), audio advisor for the Sourcebooks Shakespeare textbook series, and theatre reviewer for Playshakespeare.com. Tanya grew up in New Hampshire and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Author Links:

Giveaway:

$25 gift card to bookstore of choice, or $25 in books from TBD. Open worldwide.

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This tour was organized by CBB Book Promotions

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Get the Zombie West Omnibus on Amazon.
Add the Zombie West Omnibus to your Goodreads to-read shelf!

ZOMBIES! The Wild West! Romance! Mayhem!

Angela Scott’s Zombie West Omnibus has all this, and more!

“…this is one of the most unique concepts I’ve come across.” —Brian, Amazon reviewer

“These books had me on the edge of my seat and at one point in book three I had to set the book down and pull myself out of the story so I wouldn’t cry.” —Emily Pearce, Amazon reviewer

“This series is one that will stay with you for a long time, prompting you to want to read it again and again.” —Tracy Haidle, Amazon reviewer

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About the Zombie West Omnibus

Zombie West Omnibus Angela ScottThe Wild West is hard enough to survive with its native territory, wanted outlaws, and harsh terrain, but with a plague turning civilized people into brain-eating monsters, survival becomes nearly impossible.

Red has lost everything to the fast-spreading disease: her family, her trust in mankind, and her hope for a better tomorrow. When she meets Trace, a smooth-talking gambling man who’s more city boy than cowboy, she’s forced down a path she’d been avoiding for years. Until his arrival, she’d lived by a certain set of rules—don’t ask names, keep to yourself, don’t let anyone too close—but the jackass of a man won’t let her be, and he has an uncanny knack for appearing at all the wrong times and in all the wrong places.

Each, with a secret of their own, will need to learn that only by working together do they have any chance of surviving The Zombie West.

That is, if they don’t kill each other first.

[Angela Scott’s Zombie West Omnibus includes the three books in the Zombie West series WANTED: DEAR OR UNDEAD, SURVIVOR ROUNDUP, and DEAD PLAINS. Find these books on AmazonBarnes & NobleiTunesKobo, and Smashwords.]

Genre classification: YA/Western Romance/Action and Adventure/ with added zombies for utter mayhem.

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Wanted: Dead or Undead

My Review

I have to admit I started reading this expecting a zombie western with lots of eating and being eaten along with some humor. What I got was so much more.

The story starts on a nail-biting scene that leaves you with no choice but to continue reading.

Trace is an opportunist, a card shark, a bit of a trickster. All he wants is to stroll through life with no complications. That wasn’t hard until the zombies started moving westward.

Red is a no-nonsense woman on a mission. Traveling west towards California, she’s hoping to find her brother. He joined the cavalry to fight the zombies and she hasn’t heard from him since.

The zombie plague has consumed the larger cities on either coast and is rapidly extending to the midwest.

Thrown together by a chance encounter, Trace and Red slowly begin to trust each other. They will have to in order to survive. As they travel westward, their group of two slowly grows, along with their attraction for each other. They both have secrets kept to themselves for fear they will shatter the tenuous bond growing between them.

Angela Scott takes her time developing the characters and establishing her story, weaving in new characters along with their stories and building genuine relationships. The scenes were so well written I could swear I was there. I shuddered in horror, feared the worst, and sighed in delight.

The cliff-hanger ending left my jaw dropping in surprise, already anticipating more. This ending is very satisfying and one of the best I’ve read.

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Survivor Roundup

My Review

The story picks up where it left off. The author gave me just enough back information to catch up and then the story took off, pulling me back in time, to the west and the characters I’ve come to love.

The relationship between Trace and Red strengthens now that some of their secrets have been shared.

Red and Trace head out to gather much need provisions, making it past the horde outside. Their journey takes them to Mill Creek.

The town is like undead central, zombies everywhere. Red’s secret comes in handy as she slips past the zombies as if she’s invisible, scrounging up as much as she can and heading back to Trace, waiting at the wagon.

 The zombies might not have noticed her, but others did, and now they want Red.

She may have made it past the horde, but will they survive what’s coming? Either of them?

I always to into the next book in a series with a bit of trepidation. Will it give me the answers I seek? Will it be as good as the first book?

My fears were allayed in the first chapter. Survivor Roundup is as awesome as Wanted: Dead or Undead.

I’m also big on character driven stories, so the group dynamics were important. Those of you who watch apocalyptic movies and read the books know it’s not just about surviving the cause of it. It’s also about making those life and death decisions, recognizing trouble when it raises its ugly head, and compromising when necessary. Their has to be give and take if the group is to survive. The author had me so wrapped up in her characters lives. Even the ones I couldn’t stand.

And for you die-hard zombie fans. Angela can write those gut-clenching, gory, munching and hacking scenes. What’s a good zombie story without some gnashing and slaying. She does this so well I’d call it writing in color.

The ending for the first book was hopeful. One of the best I’ve read. The ending for this one is darker, harder to take, and you do get left hanging. But that’s what a series is all about. Just like your favorite TV show, you can’t wait for the next episode.

And there’s a big surprise waiting for you in this one. You’ll love it.

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Dead Plains

My Review

The end is here. I’m not talking about the apocalypse. I’m talking about this fantastic series.

There’s not much I can tell you without spoiling it. You’ll be weaving through the undead as the author wraps up individual stories.

Get ready for it. You’ll not get everything you hoped for. After seeing and sharing so much together, the group will have some casualties and not just life and death ones.

That’s where the author shines. Having characters act as they do makes this final book so emotional. There’s no nice, neat conclusion. Some scenes are hard to take. I actually cried a couple of times, that’s how difficult some scenes were. But, there are also some scenes that put a smile back on my face.

As with the first two books, the author wrings it out of you, giving and taking right to the end.

Even her ending is emotional and I was sad to read the last words. I didn’t want to let go.

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There is so much to enjoy is this series. Angela has some compelling cover art and she nailed it with the titles.

Offering her books as an omnibus is genius. I wish it had been available when I started this series. It’s going to look great on my bookshelf.

I recommend this book to everyone looking for a great read and a new series.

5 Stars

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About Author Angela Scott

Angela ScottAngela Scott hears voices. Tiny fictional people sit on her shoulders and whisper their stories in her ear. Instead of medicating herself, she decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. She’s not crazy. She’s an author. For the most part, she writes contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, she found herself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild West–and loving it. Her zombies don’t sparkle, and they definitely don’t cuddle. At least, she wouldn’t suggest it. She lives on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. She graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of her love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didn’t require math. She can’t spell, and grammar is her arch nemesis. But they gave her the degree, and there are no take backs.

Find Angela Scott on her websiteFacebookTwitter, and Goodreads.

GET THE BOOK!

Find the Zombie West Trilogy on Amazon.

Don’t forget to add the Zombie West Omnibus to your Goodreads to-read shelf.

Connect with Angela Scott on her websiteFacebookTwitter, and Goodreads.

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$10 Amazon Gift Card

Zombie West Trilogy Ebook

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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My Teaser for today is from The Hand That Feeds

A Horror Novel

by Michael W. Garza 

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My tease from 8 % 

In a daze, he ran down the hall to the rear of the house. He stood in Alex’s open doorway looking in. Angela gazed up at him from the edge of the boy’s bed. Her eyes bulged in the sockets, her stare wild and crazed as she spoke in a murmur.

“He’s moving.”

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Synopsis

How far will a parent go to keep their child alive?

John and Angela Mason’s lives are brought to a tormenting halt when their ten year old son is reduced to a lifeless shell. John watches his wife slip into madness as his son rises from the dead. He realizes they must escape the terrifying infection in order to survive but how can he choose between the insanity consuming his wife and the undying hunger of his son.

An appetite for death will come in one form or another and it will be left to John to decide on the hand that feeds.

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How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

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