I’m back to share the fourth book in the Aoleon, The Martian Girl Series, Illegal Aliens!
I’ve been having such a grand adventure with these books and just finished the fifth and final book.
Let’s see what Aoleon and Gilbert, along with their friends and enemies, have been up to, shall we?
Book Title: Aoléon The Martian Girl: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Saga
Part 4: Illegal Aliens
Written and illustrated by Brent LeVasseur
Category: Middle-Grade, 139 pages
Genre: Science-fiction and Fantasy
Publisher: Aoléon Press
Release date: February 1, 2015
Available for review in: PDF
Will send books: Internationally
Tour dates: April
Content Rating: G
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My Review
If you think the cover is wildly awesome, wait until you read this book and gaze upon the illustrations. They are something to see. The world is so detailed and the characters leap from the pages in a 3D effect.
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Illegal Aliens continues the adventure with Aoleon and Gilbert. When last we parted, Aoleon’s parents were imprisoned by the evil Luminon, who are now in pursuit of the two friends when they flee Mars.
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The Luminon declare war with Earth for the much desired and needed bovines. You need to watch out for the flying cows and their cow pattie bombs!
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Right from the first book, it’s hinted that Gilbert might have latent psychic powers and now Gilbert and Aoleon follow Kyrios to be trained on how to use it. The two friends will need to use everything in their bag of tricks in order to rescue Aoleon’s parents and stop the war.
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I was as engrossed in this book as I was with the other three. As the story moves towards it’s conclusion in Book Five, The Great Pyramid of Cydonia, the intrigue, conspiracy, and danger mount for Martians and Terrans (humans).
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This is a wonderful series. The world building, through words and illustrations, is amazing. Aoleon and Gilbert continue to mature and forge an ever tighter bond of friendship. The conspiracies and dastardly villains continue to plot. And the zany adventures thrill you and lift your heart.
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I feel all ages will love this series and can’t recommend it enough.
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5 Stellar Stars
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Book Description:Aoleon and Gilbert have become the Luminon’s top priority in stopping the Martian resistance movement, and after being chased by the Royal Paladin Guard, they are forced to flee the Martian Megalopolis. Aoléon, Gilbert and Zoot escape with the help of Bizwat and his newly found friend, Helios, a first generation soldierbot.After their saucer is destroyed, they crash land somewhere in the deep Martian desert, and they set out to locate Kyrios and the secret base where Aoleon’s parents are being held captive.After battling the forces of nature, starvation, a Klyklon dust storm, (and not to mention a giant slor that almost swallows them alive), they finally make it to their destination. However, after Kyrios gives Gilbert some basic training to develop his budding psionic power, they learn that their journey is far from over.Will Aoléon, Glbert, Bizwat, Helios, and Zoot be able to rescue Aoleon’s parents and stop the Martian invasion of Earth in time?Read part 4 to find out!
Click on the covers for my reviews of the first three books.
and I’ll be reviewing the fifth book, The Great Pyramid Of Cydonia, in May
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Meet the Author
Mr. LeVasseur enjoys crafting good stories based on lovable characters designed to translate well to multiple media formats such as books, games, movies, and toys. He lives in New York when he is not commuting between Southern California and Olympus Mons, Mars. His hobbies include writing, 3D animation, musical composition, and intergalactic space travel. He also enjoys various sports such as skiing, running, and exospheric skydiving.Connect with Brent:Website~ Twitter~ Facebook~ Aoléon: The Martian Girl
If I had to use one word to describe this book that word would be fun. The setting, the characters and the mystery were all very much enjoyable. ~I Wish I Lived In a Library
This was a cute book. It has all the elements of a great Cozy, A quirky cast of characters, A charming location, knitting, and of course dogs and a cat. ~Tea and A Book
A Fright to the Death has a lot going for it! Besides the psychic aspect of the series, which is always a lot of fun, this book takes place in a Victorian “castle” hotel of the sort I’ve always wanted to stay in – and there’s a knitter’s conference going on at the same time. That hits four of my interests right there – knitting, mystery, Victorian architecture, and a touch of the paranormal. Small wonder that I jumped on the chance to do this tour! ~The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
The characters continue to make me smile. Mac’s mom added some normality to help balance out all of Clyde’s family wackiness. This was a nice addition to the series. I am giving A Fright to Death, 5 stars. As an added bonus, I just love the covers! ~Musings and Ramblings
This was my favorite Eastman yet! … A great cozy mystery that will keep you guessing as you meet suspect after suspect, I can’t recommend this series enough. Perfect for cuddling on the couch with a cup of tea…A Fright to the Death will leave you feeling warm and satisfied and itching for the next book in the series. ~Melissa’s Eclectic Bookshelf
Dawn Eastman is a phenomenal writer who can draw her readers in and leave them in suspense until the very end. It is rare that an author can do that. ~Girl Lost in a Book
A Fright to the Death is a hauntingly fun mystery filled with thrills and chills, that will keep you on the edge of your seat. ~Books-n-Kisses
This story is full of twists and turns and will keep you up long into the night trying to find out what happens next. ~Griperang’s Bookmarks
Clyde was my favorite character and I loved that she had psychic abilities. ~Deal Sharing Aunt
Finally Clyde(you’d know why she calls herself that if you knew her real name) and Mac are on their way to Mexico. Or so they think. As the snow flakes thicken, all flights are cancelled, so Mac takes them to a lovely secluded hotel until they can catch another flight. Should be fun as it’s rumored to be haunted.
Imagine their dismay when they are greeted by Clyde’s mother. And she informs them Clyde’s Aunt Vi and Mac’s mother are there also.
The hotel is hosting a knitting conference and all of the rooms are booked so Clyde and Mac have to bunk with their respective mothers. Talk about a sad excuse for a vacation.
I guess it wasn’t funny for Clyde and Mac, but it was for me. They were supposed to be on a sunny beach and instead they are still in Michigan, snowed in with both of their mothers and one very nosy aunt.
The storm worsens, the power goes out, and Voila!, a dead body is discovered.
Someone has murdered one of the hotel’s owners and the list of suspects is long. Now, instead of getting a lovely tan and dipping their toes in warm waters, Mac, a police detective, and Clyde, a former police officer and tentative psychic, have to take charge and weed out the killer from among the stranded guests.
What a great scenario for a cozy mystery. The guests are trapped. One of them is a murderer. And there isn’t a snowballs chance of help reaching them.
Then throw in some very colorful characters.
Clyde’s mother, Rose, who says I told you so. Her tarot cards foretold dark deeds.
Vi, Clyde’s aunt, a self-proclaimed pet psychic, who can’t keep her cute little nose out of the case. Taking her own notes and poking into police business. I swear she was in hog heaven trying to figure it out.
Then there’s Lucille, Mac’s mom, who doesn’t see that this isn’t Clyde and Mac’s idea of a great vacation.
And on to the main characters, Clyde and Mac. I felt for them but had a lot of fun at their expense. The poor souls. Their romantic vacation is a bust and now they are snowed in with a murderer and their mothers. They were trying to get away from their families and instead have to bunk with them. It truly had me snickering.
I had a lot of fun poking around the hotel for clues, sitting in on the interviews, chilling out with the many guests, and discovering hidden passages.
And what’s a good cozy without some adorable dogs and a cat that appears to vanish and reappear out of thin air.
If you’re worried about reading this without having read the first two books, don’t be. The author gives snippets of information from previous events in just the right spots without slowing down the story.
I love cozies and when you add in a paranormal or supernatural element, you’ve made my day.
5 Stars
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Synopsis
From the author of Be Careful What You Witch For, here is the newest Family Fortune Mystery, starring former cop Clyde Fortune, who—snowbound with her kooky family in a creepy castle—is climbing the walls and combing the halls, looking for a cold-blooded killer…
After their flight to Mexico is cancelled, Clyde and her detective boyfriend, Mac, end up snowed in with their families at a supposedly haunted hotel. Clyde’s tarot card reading mother, Rose, is making dire predictions for the weekend, and self-proclaimed pet psychic Aunt Vi is enchanted by the legend of the hotel’s ghost—until the power goes out and a body turns up.
With a hotel full of stranded suspects, Clyde will have to draw on all her skills—both the police ones she’d rather forget and the psychic ones she’d rather ignore—to solve the bone-chilling mystery before someone else gets iced…
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About This Author
When I was ten years old, my two favorite things were climbing trees and reading. As a bonus, I discovered if I combined the two, I could hide from my mother when she wanted me to clean my room. Nancy Drew and I spent many afternoons solving crimes and avoiding chores. Eventually, I moved on to Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, and Stephanie Plum. I improved my housework-dodging ploys.
After many years in Michigan, I now live in Iowa with my husband, son and daughter. When I’m not writing or chauffeuring kids, I keep busy catering to the whims of a bossy bichon-shih tzu mix who wants to rule the world.
I have one print copy of A Fright To The Death to giveaway.
Entry is easy.
Please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and answer this question:
“What do you love best about cozy mysteries? Is it the cover art? The fun, quirky titles? The colorful cast of characters and their names? Or something else?
Thanks for visiting my stop on the tour for Retaliation by Imogen Rose.
This is the third book in the Bonfire Chronicles and it’s a thriller read!
I love the supernatural world and there’s plenty of fascinating characters and plots in this series.
Enjoy my review and the exciting excerpt.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
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Retaliation
Bonfire Chronicles
Imogen Rose
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Horror
Publisher: Wild Thorn Publishing
Date of Publication: 03/15/2015
Number of pages: 400 /Word Count: 84000
Cover Artist: Consuelo Parra
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My Review
I don’t usually start a series with the third book and I worried I wouldn’t be able to follow the story and enjoy it. That was not the case with Retaliation.
I quickly became immersed in Cordelia’s story and as I got attached to the characters all I was thinking was, I have to read the other books.
It’s been a year and a half since Code Uprising was deactivated and things are back to normal, as much as they can be in a supernatural world.
Cordelia now works for King Sebastian and her romance with the sexy Fay, Jagger, is going strong. The human world is safe from further attacks by Sebastian’s now missing power hungry daughter, Katerina.
But something new is starting to happen. A Haiku is left at a gruesome scene involving the kings assistant that may be connected to Katerina. A school is attacked in Japan, leaving all humans dead and another occurs in the US with casualties over a thousand.
A cloaked figure supplies GRIP with a formula they suspect is targeted towards humans. Could it be Katrina’s doing? And why would she only be targeting humans?
The council has a policy of not getting involved in human matters but they may have to change that if they are being attacked by a supernatural entity. While the humans are unaware of their existence, that may change.
Imogen has created a complex world with many strong voiced characters. While I joined this series late, I was provided with enough background to easily follow their stories and connect with past ones.
There are terrorists, spies, all kinds of supernatural beings and humans co-mingling to get to the bottom of the attacks and the action steps as the attacks escalate.
This book came across as believable. You could take out the supernatural element and have a hack of a good action thriller, but the added otherworldly characters and world made it much more interesting and unpredictable.
I’m sure the many that have read the first two books in the Bonfire Chronicles will love this next installment and those that haven’t will want to read them after this great follow up.
5 Stars
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Book Description:
Ever since Bloody Fall, humans have lived in fear.
Even though the apparently senseless human massacres have ended, President Elizabeth Ryan’s administration has been under a cloud of disapproval for failing to bring the terrorists to justice.
She braces herself as a new spate of carnage is unleashed.
Cordelia and Faustine are recruited back into action as the supernatural agencies go on high alert. Has their nemesis re-emerged?
I kneeled down for a better look. Whatever it was, it was clearly alive, and it shirked away, obviously frightened out of its wits. Could it be one of those pets humans liked to keep around? I transformed back to my human state so the poor little thing wouldn’t have a heart attack. “Here,” I whispered gently. “I’m not going to hurt you. Come on out.”
“Demon?” a little voice whispered. It was clearly something supernatural.
“Yep, you?”
“Troll.”
Troll? I’d never met a timid one before. “What are you doing here?”
“I sorta live here.”
“Can you come out?”
The troll scurried from behind the vent, crawled out of the fireplace, and stood up beside the couch. It couldn’t have been more than eight inches tall. I’d never seen one so small before. It was clearly female, with a pink bow attached to her unkempt blond Afro. She was rather grubby, I guessed from her journey through the fireplace. She wore little green dungarees bedazzled with pink rhinestones. And she had the most enormous green eyes that seemed to glow. “What’s your name?”
“I don’t have one.” Now that she wasn’t whispering, her voice sounded like a bee trying to speak human. “None of the underground trolls do,” she continued. “I guess we’re not important enough.” She lowered her eyelash-devoid eyelids, her lips trembling.
I touched her hand gently with my finger. “What would you like to be called, if you could choose your own name?”
“Anything?”
“Yes, anything at all.”
“Humm. That’s hard. It’s hard to commit to a name. What’s yours?”
“Cordelia.”
“Huh? That’s kind of old-fashioned. Where did that come from?”
Old-fashioned? That troll cheekiness didn’t take long to surface. “Cordelia is a family name; I’m named after my grandmamma. I like it, and wouldn’t want to be called anything else.”
“None of my family have ever had names,” she said, her lower lip trembling again. “Each subterranean troll family has a number, assigned by the Don. Then each family member gets given a letter. I am 4695h.”
“That doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Tell you what. Pick a name you want me to call you, and if you don’t like it, you can change it as many times as you want until you find one that’s ‘you.’”
“Humm.” She looked confused. “I can’t think of any nice names. Can you pick one for me?”
“Sure. How about…” I tried to think of a simple one, since she was unfamiliar with names. “Lucy?”
She nodded slowly. “I can… maybe… do that… Lucy.”
“Well, Lucy. What are you doing here?”
“Like I said, I live here. When I don’t live at home, that is. Do you want to see the room I sleep in when the demons are not around? It’s the same one that Dorian uses.”
“Sure, in a moment. Which demons are you talking about?”
“Dorian and his soap buddies mostly. And his son, Luke. I like Luke. He’s kinda hot.”
“When was the last time they were here?”
“Dorian was here a couple of hours ago.” She started fidgeting, lowering her eyelids and shifting from leg to leg.
“Do you know where he went?”
She shook her head. Then she pursed her lips.
“What is it?”
She stared at her feet.
“Lucy?”
She smiled. “I like that.”
“Focus, Lucy. Tell me everything. What’s with the odd expression?”
“Well,” she whispered, her voice so low that I had to bend down to hear her, “something bad happened.”
“Like?”
She raised her hands. “I don’t know.”
“Come on, Lucy! How do you know something bad happened, then?”
She suddenly crawled under the couch like a bug, and just as I was about to grab her tiny ankles and haul her out, she slithered back toward me—dragging something heavy.
I couldn’t get a good look at it. “What is that?”
“It’s Dorian’s arm,” she puffed, as I grabbed it, pulling it out—a bloody, shredded demon limb.
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About the Author:
Globetrotter Imogen Rose was born in Sweden, educated in London (where she received a PhD in immunology), and is now an all-American Jersey girl. She is the author of two bestselling YA series— the Portal Chronicles and the Bonfire Chronicles, both of which have been translated into German, French, Spanish, and Japanese.
In addition to writing, Imogen loves to travel, explore Madison Avenue (she is a self-confessed Hermès addict), watch movies, listen to music, and hang out with her family, friends, and Chihuahua. When she is not writing, she can usually be found sipping a chai latte at an ice rink while watching her daughter slam pucks.
What a fun series. Need a ride? Hop in the Taxi for the Dead. Oh, I’, sorry. Not a zombie? No ride then and consider yourself lucky.
I’ve got lots to share with you today.
I’m reviewing both books, Broken Hearted Ghoul, Book One, and Dead Girl Blues, Book Two.
And I have an awesome giveaway too so don’t forget to enter.
You could win print copies of both books and a skull mug and pen holder plus a $25 Amazon Gift Card!
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Dead Girl Blues
by Joyce and Jim Lavene
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You simply canNOT go wrong with anything written by Joyce and Jim Lavene. ~Back Porchervations
Jim and Joyce Lavene’s newest paranormal Dead Girl Blues will have you reading through the night. Magic, Zombies and a story line so well written this whodunit will leave you wanting more. ~Shelley’s Book Case
Ghosts, zombies, werewolves, sorcerers….there is a lot of paranormal going on here in this cozy mystery. But it all works and makes for an enjoyable read. The characters are all believable and interesting. ~MysteriesEtc.
Dead Girl Blues is a zombie novel with a twist that is new to me. I love finding something unique, original and slightly funny. Imagine a zombie doing a murder investigation. It put a smile on my face, how about yours? ~fundinmental
Dead Girl Blues is a different cozy mystery. It has ghosts, zombies, sorcerer and other creatures. It has lots of drama, humor, wit , car chases, romance and surprises….I want to read the next book in the series. Has lot of characters that I want to find out what happens next. ~readalot
There is something for everyone in this book. I liked this author team and will be watching for more books. ~Bab’s Book Bistro
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Dead Girl Blues By Joyce and Jim Lavene
• Genre – Cozy Mystery (PARANORMAL)
My Review
I’m addicted to cozy mysteries and how could I resist one with a supernatural theme. There’s magic, mayhem, and mystery with many mystical beings.
As I read the first couple of sentences from this second book in the Taxi For The Dead Series I was grinning. I’d wondered if this installment would be as fun as the first and I needn’t have worried.
Skye and Debbie start us off with a bet on whether their next LEP (Life Extended People) would submit meekly or be a runner. Skye bet the woman would submit and she one. Or so she thought until the husband started blasting away at them with a shotgun while the LEP took off across the rough terrain on a four-wheeler. In pursuit, Skye’s poor bedraggled van met it’s end with tires flying off and tail pipe flying through the air. Looks like they’ll be shopping for a new taxi for the dead.
Dead Girl Blues captured me right then and there and I couldn’t wait to read more.
For those who haven’t read the first book I’ll give you a brief recap. Skye and her husband were in a fatal car crash. Approached by Abraham Lincoln Jones, Skye pledged servitude to him for twenty mores years walking the eart. She’s a zombie but looks normal. She doesn’t shuffle or eat brains. She did this to have more time to raise her daughter. Her service to Abe is bringing in other LEPs when their time is up.
In her job, she must not show sympathy and let one slip away. After their twenty years, if now rounded up and brought to the mortuary, they change and become a ghoul. A loved one no longer recognizable.
Three years into the job and one year of working with Debbie as a partner, things are going okay. So, of course, something has to happen to stir the pot.
Abe’s sorcerer is murdered and the zombies that work for him are disappearing after turning into ghosts. If she doesn’t want the same to happen to her, she’ll need the help of Lucas, the amnesiac sorcerer, a guest in her home.
Like the first book, there is more than one mystery going on. Skye is still seeking the truth about the accident that killed her and her husband. Going against Abe’s wishes, Skye pursues the lead, risking his wrath and perhaps being promoted to full dead.
I love it when the second book in a series gives me what I want. This is every bit as good as the first book and I couldn’t be happier.
New mysteries. More mayhem. And lots of ghoulish fun.
5 Stars
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Synopsis
When Nashville cop Skye Mertz and her husband, Jacob, are killed in a wreck, Skye is given the opportunity to come back for twenty years to raise her five-year-old daughter, Kate. With her ghostly mother-in-law’s help, Skye hopes to be there until Kate is old enough to take care of herself.
But three years into her twenty-year service to Abraham Lincoln Jones, the man who gave her the extra time, Skye is beginning to think life might have been easier before she died.
Abe asks her to investigate the murder of his sorcerer, Harold the Great, a man who was a victim of too many snakes. And the Life Extended People (LEPs – a nice term for zombies) who work for Abe have begun turning into ghosts and disappearing. Only Lucas, the possibly evil, amnesiac sorcerer who lives with Skye and her family, can save her from being the next victim of the deadly curse.
To make matters more complicated, Skye has found a lead in solving the riddle of her husband’s death. She has never believed Jacob died as a result of the crash, but hasn’t been able to prove it. Many other people have lost their lives in the same lonely stretch of highway that he did three years before. Skye goes against Abe’s express wishes to discover the truth with a crazy man bent on vengeance.
A supernatural cozy mystery with zombies! I couldn’t wait to read this book.
A car crash ended Skye’s life. Her husband didn’t survive and she was on the brink of death when she was offered a different ending. One she gladly accepted so she could have more time to raise her daughter.
So she pledged twenty years of service to Abraham Lincoln Jones and became a zombie. Not the rotting flesh and brain sucking kind. She still looks pretty much the same. But she is undead.
No longer a police officer, she now drives a taxi for the dead, making pickups for Abe when other zombies times are up, their twenty years of service over.
After two years of driving the taxi it’s become routine, until one pick up changes everything. A zombie, one of Abe’s has been killed before his time was up. A plain gold wedding band left by his heartless corpse.
More zombies are killed and it becomes a race against time to discover the killer before he sets his sights on Skye.
There are so many different plots woven into this one book.
Who is killing the zombies, ripping out there hearts and leaving wedding bands by the bodies? What is the purpose of the rings?
What or who is Lucas, Skye’s strange guest at the inn her husband inherited from his parents? He has some powers but appears to have amnesia. Who called him to Skye? Is he good or evil? Sorcerer or monster?
Perhaps Jacob’s mother can get to the bottom of it. She died but her ghost lingers at the inn. She stayed to help Skye with raising her daughter. Not liking Lucas, she’s still stuck with his presence and he does offer to help her become more solid so she can do more around the inn. Maybe a friendship will blossom and his memories will become clearer.
And just what is Abraham Lincoln Jones? He isn’t human or zombie. Where did he get the power to create zombies? Most of the time Abe is a happy guy, smiling, calm spoken. But it’s not a good idea to makes him angry and questions do that. So who or what he is will remain a mystery for now.
And what’s Skye’s new partners story. Debbie pledged twenty years of service to Abe in exchange for saving her husbands life. This hasn’t been done before. And something is strange about him. Skye senses something different in the man, not zombie. Did Abe make this unusual deal to woo Debbie? He does appear to have taken a shine to her.
See what I mean about many plots. Don’t worry about becoming confused though. The author weaves them together as the book progresses and you can easily follow along. In fact, you’ll be swept into the mystery right to the end.
I loved it. All of it. So much fun. So many mysteries. Lots of supernatural beings. A teeny bit of a possible romance. And many laughs with a good dose of sarcasm here and there. And it’s a series too! So I’ll be visiting with these characters again.
5 Stars
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Synopsis
It’s been two years since Skye Mertz agreed to drive Abe’s Taxi for the Dead, transporting his zombie workers back to the man who gave them an additional twenty years of life. She’s raising her daughter, with the help of her ghostly mother-in-law, and keeps looking for what killed her husband the night she died.
Now she has a partner – a housewife working off her zombie husband’s service – and she’s met a sorcerer with amnesia. It shouldn’t be surprising that a broken hearted ghoul, bent on getting revenge, should show up too. After all, there’s no rest for the dead.
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About The Authors
Joyce and Jim Lavene write award-winning, bestselling mystery fiction as themselves, J.J. Cook, and Ellie Grant. They have written and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Berkley, Amazon, and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in rural North Carolina with their family.
I’m so happy to share Lucky Strike with you today.
After reading this book I did a lot of thinking about luck.
Enjoy my review.
And remember to enter the giveaway!
Do you feel lucky?!
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (February 24, 2015)
ISBN: 978-0545592178
Category: Children’s Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Magic, Friendship, Bullies
Tour Date: April 1-May29, 2015 Available in: Print & ebook, 272 Pages
By the award winning author of ‘The Dogs of Winter’, Bobbie Pyron.
MY REVIEW
Ask anybody in Paradise Beach who is the unluckiest of them all, they’d unanimously offer the name, Nathaniel Harlow.
Nate is so unlucky when he tries to toast some bread, it doesn’t come out burnt, the toaster shorts out instead. Every box of cracker jacks is consumed with no prize in the bottom.
So who would be the unlucky person to get struck by lightning on his eleventh birthday but Nate. Yep. while playing goofy golf, a bolt came down and blew him clear out of his favorite red sneakers.
Now that’s not the way it was supposed to work. For the first time ever, when Nate made a fervent wish and blew the candles out on his birthday cake, they all went out. Not one flame stayed lit. Shouldn’t that mean his wish had come true? His luck had changed? I wouldn’t call lightning zapping him lucky.
Perhaps his luck did change though. He did survive to see more birthdays. And then more lucky things began to happen to Nate and soon he was the most popular person in Paradise Beach.
But is he truly lucky? His best friend, Genesis Beam, doesn’t think so. She’s been friends with Nate for a long time and being a science geek, she doesn’t believe in luck. She just tells him the odds are in his favor for good things to happen. We shall see.
Nate is a delightful boy. He remained positive even though he was unlucky. He never gave up hoping for better. And his friend Genesis. She’s such a cute thing. Both are the outsiders. The ones the others bully and make fun of.
I was worried about their friendship when Nate became popular. I didn’t want him to lose such a loyal friend or abandon their plight to save the sea turtles. Childhood friends are precious and can last a lifetime.
Lucky Strike is a gem. Friendships are tested and new ones are forged. It’s a story of learning to see what’s in front of you and hold tight to it. Sometimes wanting something more shows you’ve had it all along.
My son read this after I did. He’s a bit older than the recommended reading age for this story but he loved it too. We talked about luck and friends, family and how things change over time. Our reminiscing was another gem I discovered from sharing this book with him and we both feel “Lucky” to have read it.
5 Stars
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Synopsis
A rich, southern voice tells the unforgettable story of two vulnerable outsiders, the lightning strike that turns their world upside down and the true meaning of lucky.
Nate Harlow has never had a lucky day in his life. He’s never won a prize, he’s never been picked first, he’s never even won a coin toss. His best friend, Genesis Beam (aka Gen), believes in science and logic, and she doesn’t think for one second that there’s such a thing as luck, good or bad. But only an extremely unlucky person could be struck by lightning on his birthday… and that person is Nate Harlow. By some miracle, though, Nate survives, and the strike seems to have changed his luck.
Suddenly, Nate’s grandpa is the busiest fisherman in their small, beachside town. And Nate finds himself the center of attention, the most popular kid at school, the one who hits a game-winning home run! This lucky streak can’t last forever, though, and as a hurricane draws close to the shores of Paradise Beach, Nate and Gen may need more than just good luck to save their friendship and their town: They need a miracle.
Praise for Lucky Strike by Bobbie Pyron
“This well-told story of growth, friendship, and small-town life hits all the right notes. The quirkiness of the characters and the town never goes too far, and there is an overall cozy feeling to the book. Genesis’s dad is the preacher at The Church of the One True Redeemer and Everlasting Light, but she is a scientist through and through, which adds complexity to the text, including musings on destiny, fate, probability, and weather. Fans of Susan Patron’s Higher Power of Lucky (S. & S., 2006), Sheila Turnage’s Three Times Lucky (Dial, 2012), and Ingrid Law’s Savvy (2008; both, Dial) will find something new for their to-read shelves.”- School Library Journal starred review
“Even lightly sketched characters leap off the pages, adding rich depth to an already satisfying tale. In the slightly fantastical Gulf Coast world that Bobbie Pyron (The Dogs of Winter, 2012) has imagined, people can change in unexpected ways. With just a spark of magic, bullies can become true friends, those without humor can learn to giggle, and perennial victims can emerge victorious. Amusing, endearing and sometimes even electrifying.”- Kirkus starred review
“Bobbie Pyron offers a gentler take on survival and friendship than in her gritty novel The Dogs of Winter. A dramatic and sweetly poignant story, enlivened by a dash of magical realism.”- Publisher Weekly
Praise for The Dogs Of Winter
Junior Library Guild Selection
Kirkus Best Books of the Year!
“Packs plenty of punch.” The New York Times
“This story is amazing. I read it in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down. The writing is captivating and the story is heartbreaking. The characters are wonderful, both the good and the bad. The writing is descriptive and filled with emotion. An absolute MUST read.”-Bev Sharp, The Wormhole
“An amazing story that was emotional and realistic? The book is written in first person, and I think this is a perfect story for young adults and older adults alike. The tenacity of the dogs and the boy will enthrall you.
There were no boring portions of the story, and I believe that the author captured the emotions of the characters perfectly. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.”-Ruth A. Hill, My Devotional Thoughts
” I loved this book. I loved the writing. I loved the characters. The book is adventurous, engaging, happy, sad, and an overall emotional roller coaster all rolled into one.”-BookAngel, As I Turn the Pages
“Bobbie Pyron has a gift for creating characters that live in my heart. She did it with A Dog’s Way Homeand she’s done it with this one, The Dogs of Winter. I wanted to dive into the story, take Mishka in my arms and just love him. Bobbie Pyron has created an emotionally powerful story about survival, love, and healing. This is not a story I will ever forget. It is a truly thought-provoking and unforgettable read.”-Heidi, GEO Librarian
About Bobbie Pyron
Bobbie Pyron was born in Hollywood, Florida and spent her growing up years up in the panhandle, swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and dreaming of being a mermaid. She has degrees in Psychology and Anthropology, and a Masters degree in Library Science, and has worked as a librarian for over twenty-five years.
Her first book, a novel for teens titled The Ring (WestSide Books), was published in October of 2009. Her second book, A Dog’s Way Home (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books), was published to starred reviews in March of 2011. The Dog Writers Association of America recently awarded Bobbie the Maxwell Medal of Excellence and the Merial Human-Animal Bond Award. It was also named a Banks Street Best Books of the Year.
Bobbie Pyron’s book, The Dogs of Winter (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic), came out October of 2012. The Dogs of Winter is a Junior Library Guild Selection and a Kirkus Best 100 Children’s Books of the Year. Bobbie lives in Park City, Utah with her husband, two dogs, and two cats.
I haven’t read the first two Hellfire & Damnation collections but I will fix that soon.
Most of you know how much I enjoy short stories and collections and horror and I got all of that with these.
Check out my review.
Enjoy the excerpt.
And enter the giveaway to win a copy!
Hellfire and Damnation III
by Connie Corcoran Wilson
Publisher: Quad City Press (March 1, 2015)
ISBN:978-0-982444-487-0
Category: Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Tour Date: March 16-April 30, 2015 Available in: Print & ebook, 114 Pages
My Review
I’m huge on short stories and collections so I knew I had to read this batch. The author states at the end of the book that she drew inspiration form true events on all but two of the stories. That explains why one of them felt familiar to me.
Some are scary and some are twisted. A few had me grinning sardonically. All are good.
There are the nines sins or as the author titles them, The Nine Circles of Hell. Each delves into crimes and punishments.
Circle One: Limbo – The Cave Robber
You’ll have an encounter with a giant cave spider.
Circle Two: Lust – The MOnster Within
Meet Brian, “The unhappiest man in El Reno,” who’s plotting revenge against his neighbor.
Circle Three: Gluttony – The Battle of Gate Pa
Crawl with the Maori warriors through the first tunnels used in warfare.
Circle Four: Avarice & Prodigality – Boxed In
Be there when a kidnap victim turns the table on his kidnapper.
Circle Five: Wrath & Sullenness – Do Not Go Gently
A cancer patient who thought he’d live forever does not go gently. Vows to be the worst patient ever.
Circle Six: Heresy – The Final Victim
A Reverend needs one more sacrifice for Satan.
Circle Seven: The Violent – KILLAL
An innocent computer game might not be so innocent.
Circle Eight: The Fraudulent – The Mirror
A heated car mirror solves a cold case.
Circle Nine: The Treacherous – A Losing Hand
It wasn’t hypothermia. It was murder.
I enjoyed all of these stories and enjoyed the authors comments afterwards. She explained a bit about each of the stories that came from true events and then where she got her inspiration for the two that weren’t. It was fascinating.
And the pictures peppered throughout the book made it creepier.
While most of these weren’t truly scary, they did have sin in each one. I think I sinned a bit myself when I celebrated some of the characters deeds.
These would be great reads for when you have only a short time, but I’d set aside enough time to finish all of them. They do suck you in and keep you going from one to the next, to the next…
4 Stars
~~~~
Description
Hellfire & Damnation III by Connie Corcoran Wilson is another tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante’s Inferno. It picks up where the first two collections of short stories left off, using the same framing device of stories that explore the sins or crimes punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno.
The first book was the winner of the Silver Feather Award (Illinois Women’s Press Association), and the Gold Medal E-Lit Award (Horror category) from the Jenkins group. Five-time Bram Stoker winner Gary Braunbeck said of Book II in the Hellfire & Damnation collection: ” Seriously, Connie: can’t you write just one stinker so the rest of us will feel a little bit better?” Braunbeck added, ” Her writing is stronger, streamlined, and often lyrical, despite the nastiness her words describe. This is another impressive collection of tales from a writer I could very well learn to hate if she gets much better.”
Hellfire & Damnation III is another tour of the crimes or sins punished at each of the Circles of Hell in Dante’s “Inferno.” Like the second book in the series by Connie Corcoran Wilson, there are images whether it is a cave where teenagers are trapped, the lair of a psychopathic minister manipulating a young man of limited intelligence into murder, or a rage-fueled airplane traveler unleashing his pent-up fury on a Flight Attendant.
The author adds a From the Author, an informative peek into the creative mind of the author and the genesis of these 9 Tales of Terror. As one reviewer said (of Hellfire & Damnation II), “Connie Corcoran Wilson has written a book of short stories that will not only keep you up late nights reading, but might also keep you up long after you have stopped reading.”
He drove off in Dave’s truck, heading for Reverend Jeremiah Jones’ trailer, the useless wooden peg leg making a hollow tumbling noise in the empty bed of the truck, like a bird hitting a glass window. It sounded like a heavy object tumbling inside a package. It was a sound like a tennis shoe tumbling in the dryer, only with sharper percussions.
When he reached the trailer park, Lee parked under a large tree near the Laundromat just at the entrance of Happy Hollow Trailer Park. He grabbed the peg leg from the bed of the truck, tucked it under his jacket so no one would see what he was carrying, and began walking towards the Reverend’s plot. This was part of the plan. Jeremiah had explained to Lee that it wouldn’t do for them to be seen together. He wanted Lee to make sure he wasn’t followed and to come to his trailer on foot, using the back way. Lee did all this, as requested.
Upon reaching the entrance to the shabby trailer, Lee knocked on the door. He knocked a second time, more loudly. Lee was standing near the entrance to the attached Sacrificial Shed, as Jeremiah referred to the wooden shanty nearby. Lee thought he heard a noise coming from within. It was a faint sound, no doubt muffled by the sound-proofing. It sounded like a bleating animal. Lee turned away from the trailer door and moved towards the doorway of the nearby Sacrificial Shed. It was slightly ajar.
Within, he saw the specter of Jeremiah Jones, knife raised. A terrified creature, approximately three feet high, eyes glazed with fear, helpless, was tied in front of the Reverend. It was a small goat, immobilized by ropes. Jeremiah brought the axe-like weapon down on the animal’s head just as Lee opened the door to enter.
Jeremiah was breathing heavily from his exertions. The struggling wounded goat was bleeding and making a horrible noise in its death throes, still pinioned at the Reverend’s feet. Jeremiah Jones looked up at Lee Elliot and smiled the evil smile of an ogre. The grin of a conscienceless monster. The smirk of a manipulative Machiavelli.
“Did you bring his leg?” Jeremiah asked.
Lee shook his head yes. He reached beneath his jacket to pull forth Dave Downing’s prosthesis.
Jeremiah glanced at the leg. He looked up at Lee, stepping over the still struggling dying creature to come closer to Lee, bloody axe still in his hand.
“Where’s the money?” the Reverend asked.
“There wasn’t any,” said Lee.
“What? No money? There HAS to be. You took the cash, didn’t you?” Jeremiah screamed.
“No, Sir,” replied Lee. “There wasn’t any money. I killed Dave just the way you said to. I threw his body in a ditch out past Colona. Out near Interstate 80. I took his leg off. But there wasn’t anything inside it.”
“LIAR!” screamed the enraged minister as he lunged at the timid young man, bloody axe raised. “Stupid fucking liar! You took it, didn’t you? You took the money! Where is it? Give it to me!”
The Reverend Jeremiah Jones approached Lee with menace in his manner and murder in his heart.
In that moment, Lee Elliot wished he had brought the large butcher knife with him. But Lee had done as the Reverend Jones had instructed. He had thrown the knife into the raging Rock River, which was at near-flood levels this wet spring. Lee had no weapon. Nor had he thought he would need one.
The man he had trusted and aided in committing the most heinous act of his life was about to betray him. Almost the last thing Lee Elliot saw was also the last thing the goat had seen: a heavy axe-like weapon descending on his skull. Coming down so quickly and so forcefully that Lee had no time to fend it off.
As the weapon found its mark, Lee heard birds twittering. He was not sure if he was once again seeing the birds of Lucifer’s sign to him—the European starlings on his front lawn that day—or if neurons were firing stored memories in his head in death. With that last mortal impression of flocks of black birds tearing at the ground, ripping apart the blades of grass, laying waste to everything they touched, Lee Elliot became just one more in a long string of the Reverend Jeremiah Jones’ sacrifices.
The Reverend stood above him, bloody axe poised to strike again, muttering, “You moron. Lucifer always meant for you to be the final victim.”
View the Trailer:
Praise for Hellfire and Damnation II by Connie Corcoran Wilson:
“This collection of 11 short stories in the horror genre is organized around Dante’s 9 circles of hell in the Inferno–limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, political corruption, and treachery. The stories are by turns chilling and blood boiling. The two times I read one of these just before sleeping I deeply regretted it. NOT bedtime stories folks. Haunting and satisfying.”– Joystory
“I love scary books. Among the first adult books I ever read were Stephen King and Dean Koontz. However, these days I find it hard to find good scary books – ones that don’t make me feel like I’ve read this before…and then I was asked to read Hellfire & Damnation II. Corcoran takes us by the hand and leads us through the 9 Circles of Hell, whispering to us the tales of those we find there and the events that have lead them to this nightmarish place. From the first story set in Limbo, Cold Corpse Carnival (giving me yet another reason to not want to be buried!), to the final circle of The Treacherous and The Bureau the reader will be checking behind doors, under the bed and sleeping with the light on!”–Kylie Purdie, Little Black Marks
“‘Hellfire and Damnation II’ is the sequel to Connie Corcoran Wilson’s first book of short stories published in 2011. This book is another tour of Dante’s ‘Nine Circles of Hell’ from his Inferno. It features eleven original short stories: from the 132-year-old corpse of Norwegian immigrant Ole Monson seeking revenge against the living for the desecration of his final resting place in ‘Cold Corpse Carnival’ to the most intimate betrayal suffered between two brothers in ‘The Bureau’. Each story highlights its particular Circle in a novel way, but is partially based on fact as explained by the author at the end. I really enjoyed this book – it was suitably horrific for me. Each story is well-crafted and believable, and I found myself very satisfied with each story’s pacing. I give ‘Hellfire and Damnation II’ an A+! and I look forward to reading more books by Connie Corcoran Wilson in the very near future!”– Mareena McGirr, Emeraldfire’s Bookmark
“Connie pens “Hellfire & Damnation II” in a plot that will really leave the horror with you. The illustrations are just unbelievably good and will get you really thinking about what you just read. I was totally satisfied with the amount of detail within each “circle of hell” she writes about. Now I really need to find the first book in the series to catch up with. Highly recommended for all who love the thrill of horror.”-Susan, My Cozie Corner
~~~~~
I’ve read Connie’s The Color Of Evil Series and very much enjoyed them.
Award winning author, Connie Corcoran Wilson (MS + 30) graduated from the University of Iowa and Western Illinois University, with additional study at Northern Illinois, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at six Iowa/Illinois colleges and has written for five newspapers and seven blogs, including Yahoo, which named her its 2008 Content Producer of the Year.
She is a member of ITW (International Thriller Writers), where she is a writer for their online newsletter, and a member of IWPA (Illinois Women’s Press Association, Chicago chapter), which awarded her its Silver Feather Award in 2012 and 2014, MWA (Midwest Writers Association), AWP (American Writing Program) and MWC (Midwest Writing Center), which named her its Writer of the Year in 2010. She has won numerous E-Lit awards, a NABE Pinnacle award, an ALMA (American Literary Merit Award), Lucky Cinda competition and two IWPA Silver Feather Awards (2012, 2014).
Connie’s third book in “The Color of Evil” series, ‘Khaki=Killer’ was just named a Page-turner of the Year 2014 by “Shelf Unbound” and Writer’s Digest magazine in its December/January 2014-2015 issue!
Her stories and interviews with writers like David Morrell, Joe Hill, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederik Pohl, William F. Nolan, Anne Perry, r. Barri Flowers, Valerie Plame, Allen Zadoff and Jon Land have appeared online and in numerous journals.
Connie Corcoran Wilson’s work has won prizes from “Whim’s Place Flash Fiction,” “Writer’s Digest” (Screenplay) and she has 25 published works. Connie reviewed film and books for the Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa) for 12 years, wrote humor columns and conducted interviews for the (Moline, Illinois) Dispatch and maintains her own blog,www.WeeklyWilson.com, while also twittering (@Connie_C_Wilson), Connie Wilson Author.
Connie Corcoran Wilson was a presenter at the Spellbinders Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii over Labor Day (2012) and at Love Is Murder in Chicago (February, 2014) and will be a presenter at Writers for New Orleans December 19-21st. She has three ongoing series: THECOLOR OF EVIL, HELLFIRE & DAMNATION (short stories organized around the crimes or sins punished at each of the levels of Hell in Dante’s Inferno) andTHE CHRISTMAS CATS, which she writes for her granddaughters. (www.TheColorOfEvil.com; www.RedIsforRage.com; www.KhakiEqualsKiller.com; www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com; www.TheXmasCats.com)
Connie lives in East Moline, Illinois with husband Craig and cat Lucy, and in Chicago, Illinois, where her son, Scott and daughter-in-law Jessica and their five-year-old twins Elise and Ava reside. Her daughter, Stacey, graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, and is currently a Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant.
I have another fun cozy mystery to share with you!
Wicked Stitch is the 8th book in the Embroidery Mystery Series but you don’t have to have read the other books to enjoy this one.
I started this series with the fifth book and then read the 7th book before reading Wicked Stitch. I plan to go back and start from the beginning. I’d like to be there when Marcy first moved to Tallulah Falls.
It’s good to be back with my friends in Tallulah Falls. There’s big doings going on. The town is hosting the Renaissance Fair and all of the business owners are setting up booths to ply their wares and dressing up in period costumes.
Marcy plans on displaying some of the blackwork embroidery she’s been working on along with some other stuff from her shop, The Seven year Stitch.
Everything is going swimmingly until Marcy visits the booth next to hers. The booth belongs to her nemesis, Nellie, who just recently opened up a needlework shop right next door to Marcie’s and even copied her interior decorating.
Trying to once again mend fences, Marcie visits Nellie’s booth only to find her collapsed on the floor, a scarf wound tightly around her neck.
Marcy calls her boyfriend,detective Ted Nash, to report what she found and she’s quickly cleared as a suspect. Well almost. Nellie’s sister, Clara, swears Marcy killed her. The two sisters never liked Marcy from the moment she moved to Tallulah falls and made her life miserable.
Marcy and Ted put their heads together to try to solve the murder, along with an arson case that might be connected. Marcy’s booth gets trashed, people get assaulted, and a killer roams the crowds, invisible is his costume.
It’s never dull in Tallulah Falls. For such a small town, there’s always trouble and poor Marcy seems to always land in the middle of it.
All of the usual characters are back, the good and the bad. I swear those sisters, Nellie and Clara, are meaner than snakes. I was as enraged as Marcy to learn that Nellie had set up shop right next door to her, plying a lot of the same merchandise, trying to steal her customers, and copying her interior decor. I guess it could be considered a compliment and I have a feeling Marcy wouldn’t lose many customers to mean old Nellie.
Not that I’d wish Nellie dead. The obvious suspect would be Marcy. I know Marcy can handle herself and she’s gotten really close with Ted. Their romance is steaming along and they had me giggling and sighing. They are so sweet together. And Marcy’s Irish wolfhound, Angus, is as adorable as ever. I love when the author gives an animal a part in their story. There’s a sweet little rabbit too and Angus adores it. Unfortunately, it belongs to Nellie. I think play dates will be unlikely.
Once the killer was revealed, and it was a surprise to me, I felt the ending was a bit rushed. I would have liked a little more action. It was over so quickly. Perhaps I just didn’t want it to be the end yet.
Spring is here and summer will soon follow. I’d recommend this as a fun mystery to read while sitting outside taking in the fresh air or lounging by the pool. I’m looking forward to visiting Tallulah Falls again.
4 Stars
~~~~~
Synopsis:
When murder strikes the small town of Tallulah Falls, embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer isn’t afraid of getting into the knitty-gritty to clear her own name…
For most small-business owners in Tallulah Falls, the upcoming Renaissance Faire is a wonderful way to promote their specialty shops. For Marcy’s nemesis, Nellie, and her sister Clara, it’s an opportunity to finally put Marcy and her shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, out of business. Apparently the sisters like to keep their grudges all in the family and have set up a competing booth right next to Marcy’s at the Faire.
When Clara is discovered dead in her own booth—strangled by the scarf she had almost finished knitting—Marcy becomes the prime suspect. Now she has to do whatever it takes to keep her reputation from unraveling and get to the bottom of a most deadly yarn…
~~~~~
About This Author
Gayle Trent (writing as Amanda Lee) writes the embroidery mystery series. The series features a heroine who recently moved to the Oregon coast to open an embroidery specialty shop. Marcy Singer left her home in San Francisco, along with the humiliation of being left at the altar, in order to move to Tallulah Falls and realize her dream of owning her own shop. She takes along her faithful companion, a one-year-old Irish wolfhound named Angus O’Ruff. She makes many new friends in Tallulah Falls, but she also makes a few enemies. Thankfully, her best friend Sadie MacKenzie and her husband Blake run the coffeehouse right down the street from Marcy’s shop, the Seven-Year Stitch; and Detective Ted Nash always has her back. Gayle/Amanda lives in Virginia when she’s not inhabiting the fictional world of Tallulah Falls.
You don’t have to have read Sundered, Among The Mythos #1, to enjoy these stories. They take place long before, when the world was different.
I have reviews for A Christmas Dragon and Strings and an exciting excerpt to share with you, along with a guest post from the author about her writing and characters.
And a giveaway. So don’t forget to enter!
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Guest Post
Enjoy this wonderful guest post by author Ruthanne Reid. I was curious whether the characters came first or the plot when starting her stories and how she chose the characters names.
That’s a delightful question, and it has a funny answer. I wanted to be a plotter. I admire plotters with a fierce and fiery passion. Plotting and following an outline seems like weird and wonderful magic to me, I have absolutely no idea how they pull it off.
Every successful story I’ve written has come from characters themselves. The best ones blossom fully in my mind, usually without my permission, and most often name themselves after. Notte, for example (who has a cameo in Strings) told me his name meant night, and has changed throughout the centuries. He uses “Notte” right now because he likes Italian.
One of my recent short stories (“A Hotel Room, a Knife, and a Bottle of Chardonnay”) is a perfect example of character-plot-name: this young man showed up in my head, freaking out over blood and the fact that he couldn’t die. I wrote it down in a furious rush, and only when I’d finished the first draft did he give me his name: Joshua Run. I feel like this name will mean something in later books, too – as if he’s going to be told to run. I can’t wait to get there.
In The Christmas Dragon, Katie Lin named herself, though I didn’t know why she chose Lin at first because that’s not exactly a Welsh name (the reason tickled me pink when I figured it out). Grey also named himself, though it took a while to pry his “real” name out of him. In fact, he never gave me his name, technically; I read it on an envelope that magically appeared in his car!
The stories tend to follow the characters, as does world-building. When I see who they are, I want to know why. The answers to what drives and shapes these characters shows me their environment and the people of influence in their lives, and once you have that many characters running around, plot is inevitable. Desires, dreams, anger, love, and conflict blaze like fire.
Fun fact: the only name I wish I could change is Harry Iskinder’s, from my 2012 book, The Sundered. Why? Because there are already a lot of Harrys out there! Unfortunately, he gave me no choice, and the name stuck. Far be it from me to be the one in control here!
~~~
The Christmas Dragon/ Strings
by Ruthanne Reid
~~~~~
*The Christmas Dragon*
MyReview
In a world filled with all types of beings, Katie just wants to live a normal life. One without magic.
She’s doing just that until someone leaves a box on her doorstep. The box looks so innocent until it jumps. And jumps some more. To keep her neighbors from seeing it, she scoops it up and takes it inside.
Opening the box, she is instantly enchanted by the tiny irridescent dragon. It’s all cute and cuddly until it vomits fire and about burns her kitchen down.
Her attempt at a normal life might not have appeared to be a great success but she was happy. Now Katie’s being dragged back into the dragon war. She has something the Hunters want and an ancient relative may be the only one to save her.
Poor Katie. She’s a descendant of the great wizard, Merlin, so how could she expect to ever live a normal life. Can’t blame her for trying though.
Grey is an elf, but don’t let him hear you say that. He despises that tag and insists on being referred to as a Fae. He’s a preener, young, arrogant, and a bit reckless. I wondered if he and Katie might get together. Didn’t really see it in this short story but who knows.
My fav is Versavious. A perfect name for the little darling. A pearl white baby dragon who threw up on Katie and nearly set her shoes and house on fire. He’s so precious and Katie had her hands full sneaking him to Merlin’s island.
Never dull, no fluff. Just fun and danger on every page. I’m moving on to read Strings, the next short story, now.
4 Stars
*****
Blurb
All Katie Lin wants is to get away from her family: from the magic, from the mayhem, and from the never-ending war.
Unfortunately, someone has other ideas, and sends her a box. A box that jumps.
The tiny fire hazard inside may just force her back to Wales – and right into the path of a dragon war, the Crow King, and at least one reluctant elf prince. Sometimes, running away just doesn’t work as planned.
*Strings*
My Review
It appears John Grey hasn’t changed much since his adventure with Katie Lin in A Christmas Dragon. This story takes place some time later and Grey is marked by some deadly creatures. He can’t fight them in the Ever Dying land of Manhattan and needs the help of humans to defeat them.
This doesn’t sit well with Grey at first, The Ever Dying (us humans) have no place in his life. He doesn’t like them, prefers to avoid them.
So when Grey had to align himself with a group of humans I was curious if his feelings for them would change. They had to. He was fighting for his life and they were risking theirs to help him.
One in particular had Grey looking at humans differently. The bartender he escaped with from a horrific attack. But his distaste for humans makes him wary of him. Grey senses something’s not quite right about the bartender. He seems to know more than he should.
Notte is back. He really creeped me out in the earlier book. He’s kind of a vampire, but different, even scarier. In this story he shows a different side of himself, a nurturing one, as he tries to help his friend, Grey.
By the end of the story, I began to see some redeeming qualities in the arrogant, brash, John Grey. And his power that flows from his music and song is fascinating.
This is darker than the first adventure and added to my enthusiasm for this world. I’m hoping Grey and Katie bump into each other again in the next one.
4 Stars
*****
Blurb
Need help? You probably shouldn’t ask Grey.
A runaway Unseelie prince, Grey feeds on love – a commodity he conjures via music and magic in late-night Manhattan. It’s a sweet gig, if lonely, and Grey is almost sure the dire warnings he was given about New York in December won’t come true.
Then a monster from his childhood attacks in the middle of the night, and everything changes.
He survived, but he’s marked, and more monsters are coming for him and everyone who survived. Grey has no plans to be a hero but fate doesn’t care what he wants. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you aren’t the one pulling the strings.
~~~~~
Excerpt
The Christmas Dragon
The box jumped!
Boxes are not supposed to jump. It’s a law somewhere, I think. Maybe Guyana. Apparently not in New Hampshire, because the box kept jumping.
I sat in my idling car, puffs of exhaust rising in my rear-view mirror, and stared at the uncoordinated box-dance. It was wrapped in the loveliest paper, too, which was a shame, because bouncing on my boot-scraper had roughened all the corners and torn one edge. The bow was big and purple and covered in small green somethings. I wasn’t close enough to make them out.
I didn’t want to be close enough to make them out.
If I didn’t do something soon, the neighbors would notice. The box probably hadn’t been jumping all morning, or there’d be a crowd. Or maybe it was already on YouTube. I didn’t know.
So much for a safe, boring life among the Ever-Dying. New Hampshire, you have failed me.
I turned off the car. Time to go see what invaded my (mostly) magic-free space.
~~~
About Author Ruthanne Reid
Indie author Ruthanne Reid writes about elves, aliens, vampires, and space-travel with equal abandon. She is the author of the series Among the Mythos, and believes good stories should be shared. Subscribe to her free email newsletter for free books and more at http://amongthemythos.com. You can connect with her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ruthannereid), Facebook (http://facebook.com/mythos), or Tumblr (http://ruthannereid.tumblr.com), where she looks at too many kittens and Avengers blogs.
Ruthanne’s love of magic, urban environments, and deep space birthed a strange world with undercurrents of faith, magic, villainy, and heroism (along with swords and lasers, on occasion). Among the Mythos showcases aliens with all-too-human feelings, entire societies on the decline due to greed and fear, protagonists who might actually be the bad guys (or vice-versa), and endings every bit as messy as the world that creates them.
Ruthanne knows from experience that endings are messy. No matter how exotic the setting, how many limbs the characters have or what (if any) genders, the problems and questions addressed by a good story are very real, and that’s why they have power. If she has a theme, it is this: keep fighting, and keep pushing toward hope, because the struggle is worth the finish-line.
Publisher: White Whisker Books (April 20, 2015)
ISBN: 978-0-9863265-0-9
Category: Suspense/Thriller
Tour Date: March 16-April 30, 2015 Available in: Print & ebook, 176 Pages
My Review
Nicole, a high school sophomore, could be described as a child protege. She prefers the term science nerd. Her father works on the Nasa Panel, traveling a lot, and her mother runs her own lab at the university, so Nicole’s proclivity for science and biology are no surprise.
It soon comes to Nicole’s attention that the crows are leaving her small town of Isla Vista. When people’s pets mysteriously vanish, body parts are discovered, the homeless start disappearing from their sleeping spots in the park, and a strange gooey substance starts cropping up, Nicole uses her smarts to try to solve this deadly dilemma.
This is a truly creepy story. It starts like an average day in small town America and morphs into the truly bizarre very quickly.
The characters, even the minor ones, will become as familiar as your next door neighbors. Living in a small town myself, I could relate to the claustrophobic feeling of everybody knowing everybody’s business. Adding in the homeless people made it more intense. The odd behavior of some and the dangerous outbursts of others built the suspense.
As to what’s causing all of this; you know that saying “can’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag?” It doesn’t matter if you are the best of the best. When you run into one of these things, you’d better be an Olympic sprinter or your dead.
I’ve always enjoyed horror like this. Something deadly comes to town. You don’t know where it came from, or why it chose your town. The tension and terror builds, slamming forward to that grand face off when you find out who wins or loses, who lives or dies. Once it’s all over your pounding heart finally slows to a normal rhythm and you mull over the story. I did anyway. Wondering what if this happened instead of that? What if so and so lived instead of died? And so on.
I’m also curious how the author came up with the horrific things that attacked the good people of Isla Vista. Well done on giving me something new to be afraid of. I’ll never look at an innocent object the same way again.
4 Stars
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Blurb
In the college town of Isla Vista, California, small, odd things start happening. Science-geek Nicole notes the crows are leaving. Meg Burdigal can’t find her tabby cat, Schrand. Brian the postman feels uneasy at the rustlings, the shadows he’s seen at the edge of his vision on his delivery route in town. Now Nicole sees fewer and fewer homeless in the park. Using her knowledge of biology and forensics, Nicole searches for answers—but will anyone take the horror she finds seriously?
In this unusual thriller, ‘Watch the Shadows’, author Robin Winter explores where the ordinary slams against the extraordinary.
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Praise for ‘Night Must Wait’:
“’Night Must Wait’ is a knockout. Robin Winter really delivers the goods with her twisting tale.”-Norb Vonnegut, author of The Trust
“The world Robin Winter takes us to in ‘Night Must Wait’ is not the fantasy of Dorothy and Toto, no longer in Kansas; it is the scary, all too-real Africa.”-Shelly Lowenkopf, author of The Fiction Writers’ Handbook
“Readers never know when they pick up a novel if the story will become so compelling that they are taken away to that magical place where one finds oneself inside the world of the book’s characters, conscious of little else. ‘Night Must Wait’ did this for me. I read, forgot that I existed.”– Gina Rose St John, Amazon Reviewer
“Robin’s way around a sentence is nothing short of gorgeous. The beauty of her prose only highlights the tragedies of war and betrayal. In an era when women were still relegated to wife or teacher, Robin’s characters want, and get, more in ways both shocking and violent. I might not want to go to war torn Africa, but I do want to go on more adventures with Robin.”– Kathleen O’Donnell, Amazon Reviewer
Praise for ‘Future Past’:
“Robin Winter’s ‘Future Past’ is an original, meticulously crafted science fiction tale that blends the fantasy of Pinocchio and the hero’s journey with elements of time travel, redemption, and a post apocalyptic world that brings readers to a satisfying, yet unexpected conclusion.”– Matthew J. Pallamary
“Truly imaginative, unique, and gripping — I really really liked it! Robin Winter has a gift for inventing a world we’d be interested in saving, characters we’d be enriched to meet, and ideas about the human condition we’d be wise to ponder.”– John Foran
“Winter shows the strength and versatility of her writer’s voice in ‘Future Past’. Published shortly after her debut novel Night Must Wait, in which the setting offers a strong sense of place as a separate character, the science fiction themes of ‘Future Past’ haunts the reader long after the book is finished. Her first person approach with Ash gives chilling insight into a man-made world with apocalyptic consequences. Winter’s prose is crisp and her pacing sharp, giving fans a science fiction a thrill that is worth the spooky ride.”– Gretel Russell
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About Robin Winter:
Robin Winter first wrote and illustrated a manuscript on “Chickens and their Diseases” in second grade, continuing to both write and draw, ever since. Born in Nebraska, she’s lived in a variety of places: Nigeria, New Hampshire, upper New York state and now, California. She pursues a career in oil painting under the name of Robin Gowen, specializing in landscape. Her work can be viewed at Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara or on-line at www.sullivangoss.com/Exhibits/RobinGowen2012.asp
Robin is married to a paleobotanist, who corrects the science in both her paintings and her stories. She’s published science fiction short stories, a dystopian science fiction novel, Future Past, and Night Must Wait, a historical novel about the Nigerian Civil War.
The spotlight is on Typewriter From Hell, a paranormal romance/suspense novel.
Come on in, check it out, and enjoy the excerpt.
Beware the haunted typewriter!
Typewriter from Hell
by Diane Cox
Genre: paranormal romance, romance suspense
Publisher: Opal Creative Enterprises, Inc.
Date of Publication: November 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9910982-0-0 ebook,
ISBN: 978-0-9910982-1-7 paperback
ASIN: B00GCSL6FC
Number of pages: 147 / Word Count: 20226
Cover Artist: Rebecca Poole
Dreams2Media
Book Description:
Unemployed librarian Ellen Brinson submits her steamy manuscript to literary agent Henry Morgan. The only thing they have in common is that they are both desperate for money. Henry believes the unfinished piece is his ticket back to the big time.
His hopes for a winner are thwarted when Ellen falls in love and is offered a cushy job. As her interest in finishing the manuscript wanes, Henry’s desire to get it published increases.
Enter the Typewriter from Hell. Ellen can’t stop writing. The old Corona is a magnet and it’s wrecking Ellen’s new romance. Henry will pull any dirty trick he can think of to win – and he does!
You’ll laugh your way through this fast paced suspense story and you’ll never guess the ending.
Ellen Brinson peered over her half glasses at the messy typewritten page. The ‘e’ on the old Corona was so occluded it looked like a giant dot. She quickly read through the last few paragraphs she’d just pounded out. She had a screaming headache.
Where the Hell was this stuff coming from? It was true she’d always wanted to write. Her MLS in library science was all about Ellen’s belief that she couldn’t write, so being around books was the next best thing. But, this, this stuff she was typing — she’d never done the things, never even known anyone like the people in this story.
It didn’t matter. Six more weeks and her unemployment was going to run out. The stress of not having a job for two years, of trying to find something else she could do to earn a living and getting nowhere, the sheer desperation, was about to drive her crazy. This book was the only hope she had right now, and she clung to it.
Rubbing her eyes, Ellen stretched and the old afghan that covered her lap slipped to the floor. This damn dump was so drafty; she was always cold. Pushing her chair back, she moved to the other side of the room where a row of cabinets and a miniature stove and fridge masqueraded as a kitchen. She poured a cup of hot water from the kettle warming on the stove and dunked a tea bag in it. Then, she reached under the sink and found a pint of vodka, splashing a liberal shot into the tea mug.
The mug cradled in both hands, she plopped down on the rumpled bed that dominated the small room, and leaned back against the wall. Sometimes she felt like she was someone else. Maybe that explained what happened at the typewriter. Or maybe she was just going nuts. That was probably it.
Ellen took a big gulp of the spiked tea, her mind running in circles like a hamster on a wheel. She had to do something, even if it was wrong. She got up and crossed to the rickety wooden table that held her typewriter. She grabbed the messy pages of the manuscript that had been pouring out of her for the past three weeks. Automatic writing, wasn’t that what they called it? Ellen read a paragraph at random:
Serena slid a glance at the senator next to her. With a twitch of her shoulders, she hit him with a blast of décolletage, and then sent her tongue on an exploratory tour of her mouth. She could feel the man heat up like a kitchen stove.
Another sideways glance confirmed that the front of his pants now looked suspiciously like a tent. Turning her head to look directly at him, she lasered him with the 100 Watt Sex Bomb Smile. Tossing her head back, she trailed her long, red fingernails down her arched, white neck toward her bosom. Then she rose and wiggled her way across the room, giggling to herself.
My God, what crap! Where had it come from? All the same, it was so trashy that maybe it had some potential for being published. It reminded her of the stuff written by Isabel Ritter –no, Isabel Rider.
Rider – she got a visual of the author astride a naked man, bucking in unabashed lust. Ellen laughed out loud, then as quickly sobered as the gravity of her situation struck her.
She ran her fingers through her curly hair. What could she do with this stuff? She needed to send it out to somebody, but who?
And, why would they read it? She was nobody, unpublished. She didn’t even have a friend at a publishing house. She knew a few writers, but they were mostly historians. They would be appalled if she asked them to pass this trash on to their agent.
She read through the pages again. What the Hell. It’s worth a try. Taking in a deep breath, Ellen jumped off the sagging bed, pulled her parka on over her sweats, and tugged on some mukluks. Slamming the door to her flat, she descended five floors of walk-up, her mukluks slapping against each step.
A late spring snow was lazily drifting down as she pushed through the front door of her building, cursing as a splinter poked her hand. She hated this dump. She was beginning to hate New York. Ellen had come here with such high hopes, sure she would discover the glamor and excitement that beckoned in so many novels. Instead, the reality was that New York was no fun for the poor.
In spite of her disappointment, the farmhouse in Iowa where she’d grown up still didn’t look good to her. That was something. Her mother would make her life a living Hell if she had to go back home, broke. Only her father had believed in her dream, and he’d been dead five years now.
“Watch where you’re going!” A guy in a plaid wool jacket bumped her as he passed on the busy sidewalk. She turned into the Strand book store, and headed straight for romantic fiction.
About the Author:
Diane Cox lives in Atlanta, Georgia with two dogs and two cats. She loves to garden, snap photos of her flowers, and dine out with friends. She works hard for her money, so she squeezes in her writing early in the morning.
Some years ago she fell in love with the true story of one of her neighbor’s pioneer ancestresses. After seven years of rewrites, she had learned about the craft. Her next tale -“Typewriter from Hell” was a complete departure from the first, incorporating romance, satire and a bit of fantasy. This year she will bring out a third project, and once again writing will be part of the plot.
She has been in love with books and reading all her life and has always wanted to write. Finally it has happened.
