Tag Archives: Book Reviews

Review: Blind Sight Through the Eyes of Leocardo Reyes

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Blind Sight Through the Eyes of Leocardo Reyes
Blind Sight Through the Eyes of Leocardo Reyes by Ermisenda Alvarez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

…they were Edaion’s slaves now.

Leocardo Reyes finds himself transported to Edaion with his blind sister, Odette. With no recollection as to how they arrived and no contact to be had with their parents, Leo has no choice but to accept his new life and try to make the best of it. When Odette starts drawing pictures, Leo tries to find answers to the questions that surround them.

Help comes in the form of Edaion’s youngest princess, Aniela Dawson. Together with Ana, Leo attempts to find out what Odette’s gift is, premonition or a medium. During all this, his world is shaken when Odette falls into a coma. Now, with his only remaining family member in danger and his budding relationship with Ana, Leo must come to terms with the life he’s destined to lead.

Full of tension and mystery, Leo brings an outsider’s perspective on Edaion and on how the immigrants learn of their powers. Partnered with Blind Sight Through the Eyes of Aniela Dawson, Leo’s perspective gives in-depth insight into Edaion, as well as giving a teaser of insight into Ana’s sister Tia.

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Review: Blind Sight Through the Eyes of Aniela Dawson

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Blind Sight Through the Eyes of Aniela Dawson
Blind Sight Through the Eyes of Aniela Dawson by Eliabeth Hawthorne

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whether Alaya liked it or not, she was no longer the perfect angel daughter, but someone better: Ana.

Aniela Dawson is Edaion’s youngest princess. Having been born on the island as a part of a magical family, she thinks she knows a lot about the different forms that magic can take. Until she meets Odette, a blind girl who turns out to have a gift that lets her draw pictures of things she could not have seen.

Ana sets off with Odette’s brother Leo to figure out what powers Odette possesses, premonitions or a medium. Between family drama, her job at the orphanage, a budding relationship with Leo, Ana figures out just who she is and who she wants to be.

While a tad slow at times and full of unanswered questions, such as why her sister fell out of grace and what ways a princess’s life was different than a ‘normal’ teenager’s, Ana comes into her own as a person through her choices in this story. When partnered with Blind Site Through the Eyes of Leocardo Reyes, Ana’s perspective gives valuable insight to the world of Edaion.

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Review: Redbacks

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Redbacks
Redbacks by Aaron Crocco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nobody wakes up thinking they’re going to die today.

James Cole just survived a world-wide earthquake. Together with Tucky, James sets off to find his wife and make sure she’s safe. When a darkness creeps up over the city, James and Tucky find strange creatures coming out as well. Since there are so few left to fight, James decides to join in the battle with the Redbacks. A chance meeting with Travis Hunter gives him a clue about the darkness, and James vows to take out the source of the Redbacks – Travis himself.

Book two of As Darkness Ends, Redbacks gives a lot more action than the first book. By following James around, the reader gets to experience the effects of the Encautum on the survivors and how they react to the Redbacks.

In this quick-paced story the apocalypse continues, forcing survivors to fight the zombie-like creatures brought on by the darkness.

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Review: As Darkness Ends: Book One

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As Darkness Ends: Book One
As Darkness Ends: Book One by Aaron Crocco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Find shelter or die.

Travis Hunter is in Manhattan when the earthquake hit, and finds himself running towards whatever safety he can get to. Afterwards, the survivors gather to make some sense out of what just happened. Shortly afterwards, Hunter finds himself released only to be contacted by a Higher Power to take up a mission as a Runner. Informed that it is now his job to lay down judgement upon all the remaining humans, Hunter takes off to circle the world with Encautum, completing the circle to finish his mission.

While Hunter attempts to stop and help folks on his trip, it seemed like he was given very little choice in his actions. Mostly, he just walked (flew, hopped, etc) around the world, only to be confronted back where he started by a group of survivors. This left a lot of questions to be answered, hopefully by the rest of the books in the series.

A quick post-apocalyptic read, As Darkness Ends sets up the other viewpoints to come in the series by giving us a different take on the end of the world.

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Review: Katie’s Hellion

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Katie's Hellion
Katie’s Hellion by Lizzy Ford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Can’t take you anywhere without you beheading folks,” she whispered.”

The Council of Seven, made up of seven immortal brothers, is falling apart from the inside. With two brothers dead, two more banished to hell for aiding the Dark One, and internal skirmishes happening almost daily, the fate of the human race seems unlikely at best.

And then there’s Katie, a “mere” human that has a remarkable trait – her blood makes her immune to immortal abilities. She finds herself thrust into the immortal world when a four-hundred-year-old baby angel drops in and claims her as his mom, a death dealer shows up outside her window, and gets kidnapped and sent to hell. With going crazy a real possibility, Katie bargains with Rhyn to get out of hell but her plan backfires as he claims her as his own mate.

A unique twist on vampires with a complex world, Katie’s Hellion sets up the rest of the series. As tension between Katie and Rhyn builds, can they find a way to trust each other enough to save humanity?

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Review: Telesa – The Covenant Keeper

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Telesa - The Covenant Keeper
Telesa – The Covenant Keeper by Lani Wendt Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful – and so terrible in my life.”

Leila is searching for a place to belong after her father’s death. Against his final wish, she travels to Samoa to try to find out about her mother, who her father had told her was dead.

After she arrives on the island, she settles into her routine, but a fire builds inside of her that she can’t explain. Even as she adjusts to her knew school – and the God-like boy, Daniel – she gets throwing for a loop again – her mother is alive. Now, she needs to find answers to the cause of the flames. Answers only her mother can give her.

Trying to quench her inner fire, but thoughts of Daniel feed the flames, so she agrees to move in with her mother to find out how to control this power. But even as she learns to control herself as a telesa, she finds out why her mother’s name brings fear to the locals and must decide between her mother’s ways and her own.

Full of Samoan culture, Telesa: The Covenant Keeper is a tale of accepting who you are and standing up for what you believe in.

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Guest Post: JC Andrijeski

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Today I have the pleasure of having JC Andrijeski, author of the Allie’s War series, here to talk about character creation. JC’s writing flows along, her characters taking on a life of their own – and now we know why! She’s in the middle of a blog tour and kindly let me join in the fun! While I’ve only read the first book in her series so far, I can say I was hooked and can’t wait to read the rest of them!

So go grab your coffee and see this post through to the end (it’s a bit long but totally worth it). Leave a comment if you write your characters this way also, or if you don’t, what do you do instead. Now, here’s JC! Continue reading Guest Post: JC Andrijeski →

Review: Grace Awakening

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Grace Awakening
Grace Awakening by Shawn L. Bird
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Just another band geek in a plaid shirt to pass in the halls. Until the music started.

Grace is in grade 10 when she meets Ben Butler, who is two years older than her and convinced he’s loved her forever. After they meet, Grace is the target of mysterious attempts on her life, has frequent trips to the hospital to have some secret medicine, and overhears her mother talking to her aunt about her in a strange fashion. Her parents and even her friends seem torn between liking and disliking Ben, but ultimately Grace decides for herself if she loves him or not.

While filled with Greek mythology references and mysterious attacks, not much happens in this book other than Grace deciding she loves Ben. Much like Grace, the reader is left confused, wondering what is going on and who this girl is in the fight between the gods. Things are set in motion that we never see the resolution to, presumably because they are in book two.

Grace Awakening sets the stage for the (ultimate) conclusion in the war between the gods that want to save Grace and the ones that want her dead. Full of music and poetry, the characters are all painted differently with realistic qualities, yet leaves the reader asking, “Who -is- Grace?”

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Review: Two Moons of Sera

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Two Moons of Sera
Two Moons of Sera by Pavarti K Tyler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mother told me: No, the Moon is made of nothing but broken dreams; its color is the blood she’s seen spilt.

Serafay is a child born of two world yet belonging to none. Raised in isolation by her mother, she thought she was content in her quiet life by the sea. Her mother, a Sualwet (water people) who was experimented on by the Erdlanders (land people), would go out and forage, bringing Sera back books and other trinkets as well as news about the war between the two races. Safe in her cove, Sera didn’t know she was missing anything.

Until she saw Tor.

As they become friends, Sera’s world is torn apart and she is forced to rely on the very people who tortured her mother for her survival.

Told in serial format, Two Moons of Sera drags you into a world similar yet unlike our own, filled with war, love and friendship. With a lush world and full characters, Tyler creates a stunning start to her serial.

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Review: Flidderbugs

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Flidderbugs
Flidderbugs by Jonathan Gould
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Because everybody knows that the leaves on the Krephiloff Tree had three points. But they also had four points too.

Kriffle of the Triplifer tribe is preparing to take over his father’s position as leader of their tribe. He struggles to get to the Fleedenhall due to all the leaves clogging up his home. Leaves in his broth, leaves burying him at night while he sleeps, leaves everywhere! Kriffle knows he must win this debate and get elected so that his side of the Tree can use the Shears.

Kriffle knows the leaves on his side of the Tree have three points. In his frustration, he drags his protesting rival, Fargeeta of the Quadrigon tribe, over to his side of the tree. Fargeeta then takes him to her side, showing him the impossible: four-pointed leaves! But even after he finds out that the other side’s leaves have four points, he has a hard time getting anyone to listen to him, and so Kriffle and Fargeeta vow to get to the root of the issue.

Don’t let this cute story fool you – there’s much more going on under the surface. Gould does a wonderful job creating these characters that even children will love, and their parents can dig deeper for satirical layers reminiscent of Dr. Seuss – with less rhymes.

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