The majority of the stories left me wanting more–more about the characters and more from the authors. Luckily if that is the case, a lot of these stories are spin off scenes from full length books. Stories that especially stood out for me are:

The opening story by Carolyn McCray, “An Engagement to Remember,” reminds me greatly of James Bond: fancy restaurant, satin dress and champagne turns into mayhem. Computer wizard Rebecca is a great female lead while Brandt takes the firearms. Both feature in Carolyn McCray‘s other works, 30 Pieces of Silver and Havoc. 

“Uh Oh, It’s Magic” by Amber Scott dives into action headlong. Callie has just received a blow to the head. She better figure out what to do fast! As the title hints, this one is urban fantasy. Amber Scott also writes paranormal romance.

Carolyn Mccray reapears in “With Star Diamonds in Her Eyes” as coauthor with Ben Hopkin. This  interesting Paris adventure is science fiction mixed with crime. Ben Hopkin and Carolyn Mccray also author MoonRush: An Action-Packed Near-Future Adventure.

“What a Tiny World” by Jeremy Rodden is a seriously freaky theme park investigation. He is author of the Toonopolis series.

One of my ultimate favorites of this anthology is the short and funny, “It Keeps Getting Shitakier,” by Patricia Mason, author of In Deep Shitake (A Humorous Romantic Suspense)

“Partners” by Mimi Barbour kindof disappointed me because you get a chunk of story without a real climax. Because it is split into chapters it seems longer than the other stories, while being less satisfying. To me this story was the Achille’s heel of the anthology.

The anthology takes a strong finish with “Dark Lullaby” by Cristyn West. The supersnarky profiler Kent works alongside the more diplomatic detective Nicole to solve a case. Serial Killers are what the author Cristyn does best.

Bullets, Brass, & Babes: A Thriller Anthology on Amazon

 In Donora, Pennsylvania the mills are churning ugly smoke in the fall of 1948. Community nurse Rose Pavlesic is a tough cookie– wrangling her patients, family and life into shape with sheer will. Suddenly the time comes when everything is called into question. Her community nurse program lacks funding, her children’s lives are spiraling out of her control, and her husband…she can’t even think about everything wrong with their relationship as she juggles the well-being of the entire town. Her one hope for funding circles around the Superintendent’s family. The secrets of her past come to haunt her and blacken her vision like the fog coating the town.

Rose is an amazing character. Any modern woman would admire the way she uses every moment in the day. From making breakfast, picking up the chores her family neglects to do, watching her nephew, visiting four families before lunch, saving money bill by bill, straight to coming home to dust a second time, and putting dinner on the table. How does she do it? Why by being really friggin stressed and a bit bitter than no one else ever gives her a hand.

Things come to a head quickly in this book as everything starts to crumble on Rose. She’s tough, but there are things that can make anyone curl up into a little ball. After the Fog has great pacing, bit by bit the characters reveal shameful acts and sordid pasts.  Kathleen Shoop sure packs a lot of action into a week’s time. A few typographical errors, an unexplained shift in perspective and a couple of spots I couldn’t help but skim are what kept this book from rating higher. Overall I couldn’t stop reading, and found some serious tears in my eyes. Read this book!

After the Fog on Amazon
Kathleen Shoop’s Website 

a Rafflecopter giveawayCheck out the following excerpt and enter the book giveaway!! Shadow Sight, the first novel in the Ivy Granger urban fantasy series, goes on sale in trade paperback and ebook editions July 24, 2012. Read on for the review by Wren Doloro.

     I sniffed the air and smelled a whiff of sulfur.  Oh, Mab’s bloody bones!  My hand snagged a crucifix off the desk and I started muttering the Lord’s Prayer.  I may not follow any particular faith, but Kaye had taught me a trick or two.  Ten to one odds my client wasn’t bothered by today’s intense heat.
     Color me pixed—the guy sitting on the other side of my desk was a demon.  My hand, the one holding the crucifix in a white-knuckled grip, was starting to shake.
     “You seem to have some inkling as to my lineage, however I am not here for myself,” he said.  “Hell has no interest in you…yet.  I represent a client, someone very powerful who requires your special services.”
     “You’re telling me that you’re some other dude’s lackey?” I asked.  My hand steadied as I held the crucifix out before me.
     “Attorney,” he said, shooting me a narrow eyed glare.
     “Lower than a lackey then,” I said.
     I was playing with fire, or brimstone.  I should order the demon to leave, but there was something intriguing about his story.  I couldn’t help becoming curious.  Someone had made a deal with a devil, literally, to gain my services.  I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or die of fright.
     At least I knew my instincts were good—this was definitely going to be a long day and this really was a client from Hell.

 

Ivy’s best friend Jinx has rockabilly style (like above)

The number of creatures introduced throughout the book is staggering. Because each creature tends to have a way to hide it’s appearance, these fae and demons lurk in plain sight. I found the way this is done to be very clever. Props to the author for including species I have never heard of before. However, I could have used a pronunciation guide for the dark horses each uisge. 

*UPDATE: The author E.J. has informed me that an index with pronunciation guide will soon be in the books!*

E.J. Stevens writes on her Unusual Creatures in this guestpost:

I began a list December 2003 of all the books I finish. Some manga and comics, too, but mostly books. There are seven pages, front and back. All but one is college ruled. Every line a book.

2. I get free stuff

Many books I review are ones anyone could read free or for little, but not everyone knows about them. (I often tweet about these) See my how-to for more on freebies.

3. I read new things.

I find new authors and even new genres. Trying new things is essential, and opens the mind to unique ideas.

Especially when it comes to indie books–there is so much gold out there for you to find!

I communicate with authors, see their work and their marketing techniques.

As a fiction writer, I soak in the publishing process like a sponge. When my novel is finished, I have a good idea of where I’m going with it from there. I learned this as a reviewer!

Some readers of my page want to read more, so hopefully they will stick around while I write.

OMG @MargaretAtwood retweeted me like TWICE

I think we are in a revolutionary time. With internet and social media, authors are more accessible than ever.

Authors see when you leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. They see when you tweet about them. I can’t tell you how many authors have thanked or reached out to me after a review, even super famous ones!

Check out my favorite tweets.

If you think a book could be improved, say it! Then maybe the writer can incorporate your feedback. This is the coolest.

 5. I create connections with authors and readers.

This leads to meeting new people and even new writing teams. Generally this is with the indie authors–something I want to become myself. These connections are great professionally.

For someone as into books as I am, all this is a dream come true. I absolutely love to meet people as obsessed as I am.

Do like mermaids as much as I do? Sultry dancers, princesses, deep sea fishing?

Drowning Mermaids opens from the perspective of ship Captain Trevain. In his thirty years on the boat he’s made millions capturing seafood off the coast of Alaska. He’s never lost a crewmate…until now.  While blowing off steam with his crew at a strip club, a dancer captures his imagination.

Aazuria is a mermaid princess living on land with her sisters. They got her the stripping job as a way to fund new weapons for her people against a looming enemy… Things are happening in the ocean as more mysterious deaths occur, including those close to Trevain.

 Trevain, aged but gentlemanly, offers Aazuria and her sisters a place to stay in his mansion. For the mermaids the offer is too good to be true. The consequences took me completely by surprise.

If there is anything that captures my attention, it’s mermaids. I found this book to be engaging, intelligent and well crafted. The author Nadia Scrieva has a BA in Anthropology and English. It shows. Plot, pacing and editing are all well done. Interesting anthropological tidbits are sprinkled in. At first I became confused with the characters as there are a number of relatives. However, as I read I found them all to be unique, and tied together through the story. 

I would recommend this book to a friend! As a writer about mermaids I think Scrieva’s world is well thought out and the book well-written. There were a few moments towards the end that I skimmed because the dialogue or thought-trail seemed to monologue. The action scenes could have been a little longer and more exciting, but I enjoyed what she wrote. I also appreciate the quick, nicely packed read! I’d like to read the next in the Sacred Breath series.

Drowning Mermaids (Sacred Breath Series)
Nadia Scrieva’s website

“You could tell a man anything, darling. Anything at all. Tell him about the secrets which make us unique–our biological faculties. Tell him about our rich heritage; tell him about our beautiful home and how it’s unlike anything else on earth. Tell him about your years of captivity, about how long and hard you’ve dreamed of this very moment when you could be in the company of a kind stranger and tell him all this. He will very likely respond with ‘Och, that’s funny dear! Now let me see your titties.'” Sionna, pg 28.

Received Book for Free as limited offer on Amazon 

Margaret Atwood is famous for her feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as other best selling titles such Year of The Flood and Oryx and Crake. Her short title I’m Starved for You will satisfy your cravings for her trademark twists, her visions of dark futures based on the seeds of today, and passions that refuse to be subdued by government restrictions.

It’s a short read–less than forty pages. Published by Byliner Inc. the title is intended to be read at a single sitting. I rate this one as four stars because it’s an interesting quick read, but by its nature it can’t hope to compete with Atwood’s more lengthy works. This one probably took her a week or two to write, and the prose has the spontaneity of words she didn’t edit much from the original drafts. It’s organic yet layered. The thing that most bothered me, honestly, was that the type wasn’t centered throughout the page. As I said the prose read as spontaneous, but the lack of center made it feel too slapped together for its price tag of $2.99.

The story explores the lives of two residents of a planned community. In order to cope with the chaos massive unemployment has created, a new town offers jobs to all. Half of the residents are prisoners and the other half are the prison guards. And the next month they swap–everything, positions, houses, scooters. Things are hunky dory until Stan finds a provocative letter from one lover to another under his refrigerator. No longer satisfied with the boring sex he’s been having with his wife, his imagination is captured. Ah, but there’s a twist….

I’m not telling, you’ll have to read it for yourself!

See it on Amazon

Margaret Atwood’s Website

Review of the Sequel “Choke Collar”

Previous cover

 

This book was purchased for review.

Once upon a time there was a powerful magician fated to unite the world of Ourea in peace. He died without his purpose fulfilled, but his spirit lives on in the Grimoire.  His name is the Vagabond.

A thousand years later Kara finds the book– or does it find Kara? A Lichgate or magical portal drops the college-aged human into Ourea in a wooded kingdom, and tells her she must be the new Vagabond. Her life will never be the same. For one, she faces enemies.

Kara journeys to find three different races, many kingdoms with their own spectacular sights, a wide range of magical skills, and an amazing Grimoire with the answers to every question she asks.

 She faces a gamut of physical challenges throughout the book as well as her own internal drama. The sad fate of her family haunts her. Spunky Kara faces her fears and ignorance in the process of becoming a real Vagabond.  A magical prince named Braedan comes along as her guide.

In some areas it seems like a combination between Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Sabriel by Garth Nix, and The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende. 

The landscape on the other side was blurred and bright: a stark contrast to the heavy green glow of the forest, where only freckled rays of sunlight could break through the leaves. She narrowed her eyes as she got closer to the gazebo, but it was impossible to distinguish anything more than colors and rough shapes through the sun’s sharp glare. A plank of wood framed with odd carvings had been nailed to the space above the entrance, and she squinted in an effort to read the dull cuts and make out the word: Lichgate.

(S. M. Boyce, location 102, Kindle version)

This book has great story elements, but I have mixed feelings about Lichgates. I don’t usually read young adult books–my opinion is biased. I only read YA fantasy these days rarely, and it’s usually the kind that make movies. I devoured Twilight and Hunger Games. My favorites are always going to be the ones from my past like Tamora Pierce or Garth Nix.  WAYYY Picky.

Let me start off to say that as a writer of fantasy myself, there is a special place in my heart for worldbuilding. Those are all the little detail that make fantasy special. S. M. Boyce, author of Lichgates put a lot of thought into the creation of the world.

There are both original magical species as well as kingdoms of people all having their own characteristics. No run of the mill vampires, zombies, etc. to be found in this book. There is a lot of good material here–lots of action, great sights, drama, conflict…

However, there are some things that troubled me as I read. First off, I found the editing to be uneven. I read no mistakes in spelling and punctuation, but an editor should have gone through several chapters again for style. Some chapters went by without issue. Generally, I am a quick reader, but awkward sentences with too many clauses often bogged me down. This may not bother the average reader, but it definitely bothered me.

My second major issue with the book has to do with the bounds of magic. The Grimoire and Kara’s buddy Braedan are too powerful. Kara doesn’t hold her own. You can trust me or read on for spoilers.

***SPOILER ****

The Grimoire can be opened at any time to provide answers, a map, or a magic spell. It can even house creatures who can pop in and out whenever you need a ride or a stable.

 The male lead, Braeden, can transform, heal himself, do a billion spells and can even become more powerful like Hulk when he gets angry. A certain sword or poison can affect him, and he has to do anything his Dad says, but otherwise there don’t seem to be limits to his magical power. The high majority of the time, Braedan is unbeatable.

There are no limits to the ways a handy Grimoire can help you on the road. In a real pinch maybe there’s a magical creature with an unexpected power to get you out. It seems to me like the story has too many surprise solutions to any kind of problem to be truly exciting. It’s just a matter of getting a minute to ask the Grimoire or for Braeden to swoop in and save the day. Aside from bringing back the dead, magic seems boundless. It’s not too late for rules of magic or a limitation to be revealed in the second book, though.

The Grimoire: Lichgates (a young adult epic fantasy adventure) (The Grimoire Trilogy)

SM Boyce’s Website

See The Grimoire Encyclopedia

Received Lichgates in exchange for a review