Archive for October 13, 2014

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Welcome to my Monday Minis Reviews.

I have two for you today.

One is an adult horror short story, Cracks in the Sky: The Cellar Jar.

The other is a young children’s rhyming book, Ghosties.

So first, I scare ya.

Then I charm you with some silly ghosties.

Lets get to it!

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Cracks in the Sky: The Cellar Jar

by Ryan Notch

This was a free download from Amazon. It’s still free right now. Go HERE if you want to grab a copy.

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My Review

Narine is scared. She’s been afraid all of her life. Of change, of people, of life, of everything.

Now she’s put her genius to work and built something to rid herself of that fear. Something she keeps in her basement. In a jar.

 Ryan Notch does a great job of building the suspense, putting you in Narine’s shoes. One place I wouldn’t want to be.

Can you imagine a fear so strong, so palpable, it controls every aspect of your life? It’s a wonder Narine ever came out of her house.

But she did, and now she thinks she has the very thing to rid herself of that all consuming fear.

 I just knew the author was going to creep me out. Fear is essential to our survival. It’s a warning from our brain, to beware, to be careful. I imagined all kinds of horrible scenarios because I didn’t have a healthy dose of fear to warn me.

 Narine will discover that sometimes it’s good to be afraid. Wise to be afraid.

I had one of those ‘I knew it!’ moments when I read the ending. It was a zinger!

4 Stars

Synopsis

In this terrifying tale of an experiment gone wrong…

Narine Khosrovian is brilliant and beautiful and ever afraid of every little thing. To her the world is a horror, its wonders locked behind walls of anxiety. Or at least it was, until she built the thing in the basement. A thing of cold steel and quantum fields. A thing to take away her fear forever. But might the fear have plans of its own once freed from her flesh?

I also recently read another book by this author.

The Abyss Above Us was a longer read. You can click on the cover for my review.

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For more about Ryan Notch and his books go HERE.

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And now for some silly ghosts.

Ghosties

by Gerald Hawksley

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My Review

Nothing scary here.

 You meet the quirky ghosts of Ghostie Town in this charming rhyming book with delightful illustrations on each page.

You meet happy ghosts and grumpy ones, sleepy ones and bouncy ones, and even smelly ones. 

This will quickly become a favorite one you and your children will enjoy reading over and over again.

I wish I’d had the print copy so I could enjoy the illustrations in color. They were so adorable. 

4 Stars

Synopsis

Halloween is in the air.
You’d like to see a ghost – but where?
At night when the sun’s gone down,
Come with me to Ghostie Town . . .
Where you will find the most colorful and cheerful collection of ghosties you could ever hope to meet.
Another silly rhyming kindle picture book from Gerald Hawksley.

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You can find out more about Author and his books by clicking HERE.

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So whatcha reading for Halloween? Got any suggestions for me?

I’d love to hear them and thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

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I loved the premise of this book so I was thrilled to have a chance to showcase it!

Zoe is a blogger and a fellow word lover so I’m anxious to read her story. See how she does after being transported into a book.

Talk about being absorbed by a story. LOL

Come on in and check out Zoe and the Demon Slayer.

Enjoy the excerpt.

And don’t forget to enter the giveaways. Yep, there’s two!

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Zoe and the Demon Slayer
by Neel Kay
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Publication date: October 6th 2014
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult
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Synopsis:
Twenty-four year old book worm and blogger Zoe Graves was looking forward to the fourth and final instalment of her favourite book saga – The Augustin Chronicles. The evening was meant to be spent in line at the local bookstore with hundreds of other fans, getting the book, maybe even meeting the author, and ultimately spending the night with the dreamiest hero of them all, Lucien de Forest and the love of his life Noomi Augustin.

But somewhere someone thought otherwise.

Confused and hurt after a mugging by the bookstore, Zoe is somehow transported to another world, and suddenly finds herself in a snow-covered landscape witnessing a bloody fight far away from the English summer, and is left to rely on the help from the rather reluctant Matis, who just happen to be out to kill none other than Zoe’s favourite hero and heroine, Lucien and Noomi.

Although convinced she might be in some sort of limbo or maybe even in a coma, Zoe figures that her role in the story is to prevent Matis from killing her all-time favourite fictional couple.

Purchase:
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Enjoy this glimpse inside the book.
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His eyes were dark, so very dark, and the equally dark hair, although some of it was braided, didn’t look girly or weird at all. Well, maybe a little weird, seeing as men like him usually only existed in the fantasy books Zoe read and not in the real world. She gaped at the sort of Mohawk the tight braids along the sides of his head and the loose hair on top created.

He squinted. “Stop following me,” he said, practically biting at her. “I don’t have time to save odd damsels in distress.” He picked up a couple of dead rabbits from the ground, turned back around and walked away.

Zoe didn’t move. She could hardly feel her feet anymore. “But what about your cloak?” she yelled after him. “Don’t you need it?”

“Keep it.” He waved a hand in the air and kept up a determined walk on the path that led up to the top of a small hill.

Behind Zoe there was a small piece of forestland. Although she couldn’t be sure, she didn’t imagine anyone lived there. Besides, she wasn’t going back to those dead soldiers, not even to just walk past them. She couldn’t stomach the smell. Everywhere she looked, all that she saw were big black mountains far away in the horizon and the big orangey white sky sending down all that snow.

It was then that Zoe realised that she’d continued her pursuit of the man. She didn’t have any choice really. She’d never been much of an outdoor person, and she wouldn’t last an hour under these conditions.

“You’re still following me,” the man suddenly said. His back was still turned, but he had stopped at the top of the hill. “Even if you’re keeping your distance, you are still following me.” He turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder. “Like a damn cat,” he added, sending her a tired glance.

“But maybe my home is in that direction,” Zoe argued. She was out of breath and her dry throat was killing her. “You did tell me to go home. Maybe that is what I’m doing?”

“But it isn’t, though, is it? You said you were lost.”

“Why won’t you help me?” She’d finally climbed the hill, panting like she was completely out of shape, which she actually wasn’t thanks to Jason. Down there, by the foot of the hill, there was a small cluster of houses that didn’t exactly warrant the description of a village. It was just a few houses pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Wherever that was?

The man glanced at her casually and then suddenly did a double take. The brow curled up and suddenly without any warning, he grabbed her cheeks with both hands and tilted back her head.

Zoe tried to pull away, but found that she didn’t have the strength to fight. Instead, she felt a burning sensation behind her eyes, the very eyes that the man kept staring into.

“Your eyes are green?” he said, looking at her accusingly.

She didn’t know how to respond to that. Her nostrils flared and the cold tore at the insides of her nose. What she wouldn’t give for some warm clothes, a roaring fireplace and some hot chocolate. Oh, and that man out of her face. There was a strange familiar charm to his face, but still, he was a cold-blooded killer who was staring at her funnily.

“Is that a common thing where you’re from?” He let go of her while eyeing her suspiciously.

“I-I guess it’s not that uncommon. Why?”

He shook his head. “What’s your name?” He turned around and started to walk down the hill as if he didn’t really care about the answer to his question. But he kept peering back over his shoulder, his eyes squinted, exuding something resembling surprise.

“Zoe. What’s yours?” She followed him, feeling accepted somehow, and it was such a relief that her chin started to wobble.

He nodded and then stopped peering over his shoulder. “I’m Matis,” he said.

Zoe swallowed and fought hard to keep the tears at bay. “It’s nice to meet you, Matis.”

He stopped abruptly and turned. “Is that it?” he said. But before Zoe had a chance to say anything, he made a low grumbling sound, something resembling an ironic scoff, and then continued marching away.

Zoe was confused. “Um, does that mean you’ll help me?” She had to yell it after him, his long strides making the gap between them grow quickly.

“I’ll get you thawed up,” he yelled back, sounding annoyed again. “And get you into some other clothes, something a bit more seasonally appropriate.”

“Oh my god, you don’t know how happy that makes me.”

“You do know that I’m a killer, don’t you? You saw me kill those soldiers. If I were you, I wouldn’t be so fast to rejoice.”

“It’s either death by you or by hypothermia, and I figured you’d have killed me by now if you wanted to.”

Matis scoffed and then shrugged as if she had a point.

“Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m already dead and in some sort of purgatory or limbo. Or maybe I’ve just lost my mind.”

“Wonderful,” Matis exclaimed sarcastically, apparently not really paying too much attention to her. Zoe couldn’t be sure, but he actually seemed offended somehow.

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Author Neel Kay
Zoe Neel
Introvert, creative, awkward.
Neel Kay lives with her husband and two kids in rural surroundings in the south of Denmark, not far from the German border. She’s a trained milliner, studied English at university, and now works a day job as a web editor. But she’s been writing always.Love coffee, scarves and sea views. Oh, and butt-kicking heroines who know how to swing a sword and aren’t afraid to get a little dirty.
Author Links:
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I have two giveaways!

The first is for an eBook copy of Zoe and the Demon Slayer

To enter, please leave your email address and answer this question:

“If you could be transported into any book, which would you choose?”

The second giveaway:

A pair of little book earrings.

Zoe earrings

Click on the rafflecopter below to enter.

Raffle button

Event organized by Xpresso Book Tours.

Click on the banner to learn more and become a host!

Xpresso Book Tours

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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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Welcome ya’ll.

Today I’m revealing the cover art for The Future Without Hope.

This is Author Nazarea Andrews Third Book in her The World Without End Series.

Releasing November 20th.

I find the cover chilling yet serene.

The tracks seem to refer to the future or the end. Yet the colors seem almost calming.

Of course, the scars make me think, not so nice as I know this book has zombies in it.

What do you think?

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Book Blurb

Separated from Finn, captive of the Order, Nurrin has no hope left. But she has survived twenty years of zombies–and she has the unshakable faith that Finn will find her.

But Finn is a long way away. The Order’s influence runs deeper than was ever suspected, and politics are shifting–and zombies may not be the most dangerous thing she’s facing.

Finn always thought the war stripped him of all he had to lose. But with Nurrin missing and doors closing in his face, he realizes there is always more for the world to take–and he will drag the remains of civilization down with him before he gives up on the only promise that matters.

FWH teaser 1

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Enjoy the excerpt!

Each of has a moment where we hit rock bottom. Where nothing makes sense, and going on—fighting to live—is just too much. Each of us have faced that kind of devastating loss.

Before Emilie, and everything changed, life was easy. Not for everyone. There was disease and poverty, abuse and death and war. There was loss, in it’s way. But for so many, it was easy, and difficulties, when they came, faded just as quickly. Life was good.

And then the dead rose, and Atlanta fell, and nothing—not a fucking thing—was the same.

We tried. We tried to build our cities with the Haven walls, tried to keep life what it was with our false government in 1, and companies that tried to pretend that life wasn’t shattered beyond repair.

But it was. And when the dead are screaming, there is no pretending. When you have the very last thing you believe in stripped away, there is no way to look at our pretty falsehoods and see anything but the fucking lie that we’ve built out of the ashes of our dead.

We all have that moment.

And sitting here, in an empty train. This is mine.

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Pre-Order your copy from Amazon HERE.
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NazareaAndrews

NAZAREA ANDREWS – BIO & AUTHOR LINKS:

Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.

Site ~ Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Street Team

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So what do you think? I really want to know!
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!