I have so much to show and tell about this fantastic series, Valens of Legacy.
For each book, Valens Remembered and Valens Rise, I have a review, the authors fun Top Tens List, and a peek inside.
I love discovering a new series and this one has everything I want.
Check out Sherrel Lee’s Valens.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
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Valens Remembered, The Story Begins
Valens of Legacy, Book 1
Sherrel Lee
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Romance
ISBN: 9780985249687 / ASIN: B00CSTZSE4
Number of pages: 92 / Word Count: 26,324
MY REVIEW
Larinda has lost not just two parents, but four. Her biological ones and now her adoptive ones.
As she comes to term with this, she’s also having to accept and become a part of the Valens. Shapeshifters. The mark she carries is a unicorn and her 18th birthday, the time of her first shift is approaching.
When she takes control of the family business, a security firm called Legacy Protective Services, she discovers some papers her parents had hidden away. Now she wonders if her parents deaths, maybe even both sets, were accidental. Her suspicions are well founded when someone or something tries to kill her.
This story is told from two points of view.
The second character is Jemma. She’s a product of the street, never having a real family to care for her. She’s used to living defensively, watching out for herself.
When she’s offered a chance at security, she’s hesitant, knowing a gift horse can be anything but.
Larinda and Jemma couldn’t be more different. One knew loving parents, the other was a street kid. One thing they did share was a mysterious past, lost in childhood.
The author does a great job of world building in this short novella. Not a lot of detail, would like more, and I suspect I’ll get all I need in the next book in this series.
There are shapeshifters galore, mysteries a plenty, and many characters to care about and some not so much. All the makings of an exciting series.
4 STARS
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Book Description:
Do you love reading about ShapeShifters? Psychics? Genetically Engineered Monsters?
Get your free copy of Book One of the Valens of Legacy series now.
As Larinda Nix Thomas buries her adoptive parents, who died in a deadly echo of the accident that took her birth parents, hidden documents reveal that she is being threatened by a sinister force and that she shouldn’t trust even her closest allies. Fate demands she accept her place among the Valens as a shapeshifter, a unicorn, which brings more changes to her life than she could have imagined and puts her on a collision course with her ultimate destiny. In this first book of the Valens of Legacy series myth is rewritten, fantasy and science fiction blend to create a chilling story of death, loss, and discovery.
Struggling to make a life for herself on the streets of Seattle, Washington–Jemma a, runaway is battling to stay safe and unmolested, find legitimate work, and secure an education. Concerned social workers search for her and other runaways to return them to the lives they escaped from. True friends are few and life has made it hard to trust anyone. The memory of loving family no longer exists.
Meet the women who can’t remember their past. Discover their stories. Begin the journey into the world of the Valens of Legacy.
Excerpt 1:
Larinda
Larinda Nix Thomas watched, eyes filled with tears, as her parents’ coffins were lowered into the ground. The rain took no pity on the mourners who had gathered. It blew in past the edges of the tent, dousing everyone who had come to say their last goodbyes.
Grant Mayfair and Griffin Hawke, senior executives with Legacy Protection Services and personal friends of Larinda’s family, stood sentinel beside her. Larinda struggled to hide how much she blamed them for her loss. Legacy, and all the resources at their disposal, hadn’t protected her adoptive parents. Grant and Griffin hadn’t been there to safeguard Boyd and Fiona, and now she was forced to stand beside their graves.
Larinda hugged herself, stroking her shoulder where the mark that resembled a unicorn was hidden under her jacket. Today the comforting habit didn’t work.
Grant reached out and drew her hand into his. “I know you’re hurting,” he murmured. “It’s so difficult to lose those you love to a senseless accident.” He gave her hand a squeeze and raised it toward the numerous friends, employees, and customers who had come to share her grief—and whose safety and livelihoods depended on the company her parents had built. “You can trust that I’ll be here for you,” Grant said. “Help take some of the burden off your shoulders.”
Reclaiming her hand, she gave Grant a weak smile. It didn’t last long.
Senseless accident? Or something far worse? The thought swirled through Larinda’s mind.
Ambassador Magellan came forward to shake her hand. “Larinda, please forgive me. I have duties to address, but I had to let you know Legacy’s services are not in jeopardy because of your loss. I’m sure Mr. Hawke is very capable of stepping in until you are better prepared for such vast responsibilities.”
Larinda stared blankly at the politician as he walked away. Step aside? I know I’m not completely prepared for this, but—just let Hawke take over? Looking at the faces of the men and women who gathered to comfort her, she suddenly wondered how many of them expected the same thing.
Her parents had carefully groomed her in preparation for the day she would take control of Legacy. She had been immersed in Valens culture and schooled in the obligations she would inherit from the day she had become a member of the family. Even at that young age, she’d understood that their pride and high standards were the reason for the success of the two-hundred-year-old company. Boyd’s parents had established the global enterprise and built it into a world-renowned security firm celebrated for protecting presidents and kings.
They had depended on her to carry on when they were gone. She was a Thomas, even if not by birth, and as long as her family survived, they would remain in control of Legacy. It was the least she owed the people who had given her so much.
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Valens Rise
Book Two
MY REVIEW
**Warning: this is book two in the series. May be some spoilers **
I knew I wanted more as soon as I finished the first book in this exciting series, Valens Remembered.
Now that I’ve read Valens Rise, I’m hooked.
The story takes place a couple of years later. Jemma’s been working for the clinic , doing well for herself. For the first time she has security and a place of her own.
That all changes when she gets the phone call. She has a sister she never knew about. A sister she’ll never get to know, and she’s named Jemma in her will.
Jemma is wary of these strangers and what they tell her. And she becomes convinced they’re all lunatics when they reveal what they are. What she is.
The author stepped up her game in this second book. The world is expanded and filled in, the shapeshifters are over abundant and so fantastical, bordering on science fiction, and a love interest begins.
Jemma has grown and become a favorite character for me. She uses her street smarts to protective herself and take the advantage. The author made her transition from street kid to mature young woman believable, which couldn’t be easy as Jemma isn’t just a human, she’s a Valens too.
This second book is longer than the first, but I read it almost as fast, tearing through each page, devouring the action, and loving every minute of it. And, as with the first book, I want more please. Now!
5 STARS
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Synopsis
When Jemma Nix, a shapeshifting phoenix discovers her family’s heritage, she is overwhelmed with distrust and doubt. Her entire family may have been murdered. Her mentor may be using her in a deadly pursuit of power.
Confronted with these facts, Jemma begins to suspect that those closest to her are mad. Refusing to believe their claims of a secret race, she pushes away the one man who may be able to help. The one man who she may be destined to love. Rather than face the reality of her new life, Jemma makes a fateful decision. One that places the Valens in jeopardy and forces them to face a deadly, genetically engineered threat.
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Excerpt – Chapter One –First Week in November
Jemma slipped the hood of her jacket over her hair and crept onto the night-darkened porch. Crouching low, she checked the rain-swept city street for her pursuers. All seemed quiet. She straightened up, readying herself to make a run for it.
As soon as she moved, a man burst out of the shadows of the next building. Gilbert—the man who had tried to abduct her just a few days ago. He ran toward her, calling over his shoulder, “She’s here!”
Behind him, three six-foot-long, DNA-altered snakes slithered down the sidewalk. Adrenaline surged through Jemma and she jumped off the porch, dodging her attacker, who lunged forward to grab her. She pulled her arm in close to her body and spun to her left, barely eluding him. She caught a glimpse of the snakes’ white, human faces just behind him—like demon children from a horror film. The fear of their poisoned fangs pushed her onward, heart pumping.
She dashed down the street and around the corner, realizing her mistake too late. She’d turned down an alley—one with no exit at the far end. She was trapped.
Gilbert appeared at the mouth of the alley, the snake creatures close behind. Desperate, Jemma scooped up an empty liquor bottle lying on the ground and threw it at him. Her aim was off and it went low, catching him in the shins and tangling his legs. He stumbled and fell hard onto the rain-drenched pavement.
Jemma ran further down the alley, looking for a door, a fire escape—anything. All she saw were two padlocked doors. She turned to face her attackers. The snakes were gliding toward Gilbert’s prone body. With terrifying swiftness, they struck, burying their fangs in his face and neck.
The man rolled and twisted in pain, his mouth open in a silent scream. Jemma, frozen in shock, watched the venom’s swift course through his body. The major muscle groups contracted violently in turn, forcing his arms and legs into unnatural positions. The creatures drew back and studied Gilbert’s tortured thrashing with the intensity of children observing a pinned bug, and then glided away.
The poison finally reached Gilbert’s lungs, stealing his breath. She watched in horror as foam bubbled from his nose and mouth.
Jemma wrenched her gaze from the horrific sight. Standing at the open end of the alley was her former teacher, watching Gilbert’s death throes with avid pleasure, his evil pets writhing and circling at his feet. He raised his eyes to hers, and a slow smile spread across his face.
She was next.
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Have fun with the authors Top Tens List!
Top Ten Vampire Movies I love
30 Days of Nights
Blade
Blood Rayne
Dracula (30s)
From Dusk ’till Dawn
Van Helsing
Lost Boys
Ultraviolet
Daybreakers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
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Top Ten Shapeshifters
Sirius Black (Padfoot) Harry Potter
LadyHawke from the movie
Gigul – Jaye Wells Books
Beast – Faith Hunter books
Mercy Thomas – Patricia Briggs Books
Josh and Nora – Being Human – Television show
Elena – Bitten by Kelly Armstrong
Black Dagger Brotherhood – J. R. Ward
Dark Hunter – Sherrilyn Kenyon
Jacob – Twilight
***
Top Ten Songs I Write To
Dark Horse – Katy Perry
Brave – Sara Bareilles
Try – Pink
Blow Me – Pink
Somewhere with You – Kenny Chesney
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Something’s Got a Hold On Me – Christina Aguilera
Thriller – Michael Jackson
Secrets- Jacob Goth
Summer in the City – The Lovin’ Spoonful
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About Author Sherrel Lee
Wrangler of a fearsome Yorkiepoo named Rogue (Half Yorkie half Poodle weighing in at a hefty five pounds). Obsession controlled writer with a passion for making up names and twisting myths.
Sherrel, as the daughter of an Emmy winning cameraman, learned early in life the dark secrets of creating all those incredible fantasy characters for the large and small screen.
Refusing to be crushed at the discovery the monsters, aliens, and Robby the Robot weren’t real, Sherrel’s imagination soared. She became a SELF-proclaimed voyeur of special-effects and expert at fictional character creation.
Website ~ Facebook ~ Amazon ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ StoryFinds
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Tour giveaway:
5 ebook copies of Valens Rise, Book 2, The Valens of Legacy Series – Electronic format of choice (US, Canada and international)
5 prize packs open to US Shipping Only- Each prize pack contains -1 Paperback of Valens Remembered, The Story Begins , Book 1 of the Valens of Legacy Series; 1 Paperback of Valens Rise, Book 2, the Valens of Legacy Series; Valens Remembered lined note book; Bookmark; Coupon for Valens Rise from Smashwords; Key-chain with image of a Phoenix
Click on the Rafflecopter below to enter.
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Busy, busy, busy. So many delicious reads! Some I’ve read and will be posting my reviews soon.
