Tag Archives: Book Reviews

Contest Feb 12th-15th

Reviews, , ,

Starting today, Win With eBooks is holding a contest for a Kindle Fire and Amazon gift cards. During the event, there are almost 20 ebooks available for a discounted price. There are some GREAT ebooks here for just $.99, PLUS you get a chance to win other prizes! If you’re still not convinced, check out my review of Rook for a sample of the quality works you can get!

Win a Kindle Fire and Amazon Gift Card

How? Easy peasy. Head on over to winwithebooks.com or the Facebook fanpage and follow the directions on the Rafflecopter. Check back daily for 50 extra chances to win.no purchase necessary

Congratulations to Chris from Ohio who won the Kindle Fire in December!

Review: Leftover Shorts

Reviews, , , ,

Leftover Shorts
Leftover Shorts by Amy Neftzger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

No one saw the soft, white missile.

Leftover Shorts contains three very different short stories, all three of which are told with a different underlying theme.

The Marshmallow War was my favorite, extolling the experienced old-timer over the hardheaded, long-winded new-bloods. The “Fang of Five,” long-time researchers at Merryman Marshmallow Corporation, organize themselves to take on the department head and newer members of the development team. In the end, market shares were up over 500% and team members were down 4 people, including Mr. Department Head. Richly told, you may never look at a pink marshmallow the same way again.

Peripheral Witches deals with the tricks our minds can play on us if we let them. Miriam declares that fairy tales are bogus and is then haunted by witches for the rest of the afternoon. While entertaining, I feel this was the weakest of the three stories, though still well-written.

Parson’s Song is the last in the book. It tells the tale of Billy Parson, violin player and robber, who is born on the wrong side of midnight into a superstitious town. Filled with quick snapshots of poor Billy’s life and death, it was also loosely based on the legend of MacPherson’s Lament.

If you’re looking for some quick, entertaining reads, Leftover Shorts is the dish to pick up.

View all my reviews

Review: Rook

Reviews, , , , ,

Rook
Rook by J.C. Andrijeski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The clouds enveloped my mind, leaving nothing but silence.

Allie Taylor has spend 28 years thinking she was human and, despite being adopted, leading a normal life. She holds down a job as a waitress, working with her best friend, Cass, and has a good relationship with her brother, Jon. Even though she takes care of her mother ever since her father died, her life was more mundane than anything. Except for the drawings and images that she can’t get out of her mind. And the Mono Man, who she finds out is Revik, who has started to follow her around. And the beating she gives her ex, that she didn’t even know she was capable of…

Allie’s world, though similar to our own on the surface, hides a deep secret – the seers. A race of beings with mental powers so powerful that most are enslaved, the seers are feared by the mere humans – including Allie, even after she finds out she’s one of them. Now, she must fight for not only her life and that of her family, but also of the entire human race.

Andrijeski spins a marvelous tale, filled with action, excitement, good guys vs. bad guys, magic and beautiful prose. Allie’s world is familiar yet not, and her process of accepting who and what she is – with help from Revik, prostitutes, her brother and others – is a fascinating journey sure to please.

View all my reviews

Guest Post: L C Smith

Interviews, , , , , ,

Today I have L. C. Smith here for a little Q&A session! I had the pleasure of reading her novel, Falling, recently, and you can find my review here.

First, a little about L. C. Smith.

I love reading, which is why I’m a writer. I live in New Zealand, close to both the ocean and the mountains. In my spare time I love to play tennis really badly, try and grow things in my tiny garden and eat toffeepops.

Falling is a love story about Reid, who after the death of her parents in a car accident when she was eleven, gained the ability to jump into peoples bodies. Not a single person knows her secret, not her only friend Sara and especially not Keller. The problem is, every time she looks into her eyes, she starts to fall into him.

Continue reading Guest Post: L C Smith →

Guest Interview: Jim Galford and Feanne

Blog, Interviews, , , , ,

Today I have the pleasure of having Jim Galford, author of In Wilder Lands: The Fall of Eldvar here with me to do an interview, and he brought Feanne along with him!

For those of you who haven’t heard/read this wonderful book yet, In Wilder Lands is an epic fantasy novel that follows Estin, a wildling, as he endeavors to just be left alone, find shelter and food, and live to a nice old age. When he meets Feanne, she changes his whole outlook on life. For more, check out my review.

And now, because you don’t want to make her mad by forcing her to wait, here’s Feanne.

Continue reading Guest Interview: Jim Galford and Feanne →

Review: Falling

Reviews, , , ,

Falling
Falling by L.C. Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not a stalker, I swear I’m not a stalker.

Reid has a secret. After her parents died in a car crash, she gained the ability to jump into people’s bodies. With some, it’s for fun. With others, it’s this strange pull towards them that she can’t resist. And the hardest to resist is Keller.

Even though she feels the pull from Keller, she is still drawn to him. For the first time, she is the envy of the boarding school she goes to because Keller is hers. Until she falls into him and he finds out her secret the hard way.

Falling follows Reid as she comes to terms with how she feels about Keller and how he comes to terms with her ability. While I wish there was more on what caused the falling to happen, and why Reid inherited the ability, the story was engaging and quick-paced, leading the reader right along with Reid for the ride. I would also be interested to see what happens afterwards, since Keller and Reid are planning to attend the same college. Will her ability persist, or was she simply waiting to “fall” for Keller?

View all my reviews

Review: Finding My Escape

Reviews, , , ,

Finding My Escape
Finding My Escape by Fran Veal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Hannah’s life starts falling apart when she walks in on the double homicide of her parents. Taken in by her aunt, Hannah suppresses the memories of that night, chasing them from her mind as she runs the mountain trails. But, even though she just wants to forget, her mind won’t let her.

She begins dreaming of a place, another dimension. And then there’s Josh, the really handsome boy in her dreams. Josh shows her how to navigate her dreams and protects her from the Others. Encouraging her to remember, Josh gives Hannah the nudge to finally remember what happened that night, and she goes searching for clues in her waking hours.

Luckily, Hannah has Matt, her best friend, to help her through the start of the school year and piece together the puzzle of that night. But as they get closer to the truth, the killer gets closer to finding Hannah, both in her dreams and in the real world.

Gripping and fast-paced, Finding My Escape races along as Hannah and Matt figure out the mystery of her parents murder with the killer on her heels. While I did predict what was happening, watching Hannah and Matt figure out all the pieces, including what they mean to each other, was an enjoyable escape.

View all my reviews

Guest Interview: Zach Kalusky

Giveaway, Interviews, , , , ,

ebooks

Today is my stop on the Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum blog tour! I’m very excited to be interviewing Zach from Xavier Paranormal Investigators. Before that though, I’d like to point you to my 5-star review of Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum. I truly enjoyed the book – which followed as Zach and his crew ventured into Rosewood Hospital. A great mix of suspense, thrills and the unexplained.

But I don’t want to give it all away! Oh, wait, I DO! That’s right, I’m going to give away a FREE EBOOK! But more on that later.

Now, I ran into Zach the beginning of the second day they were at Rosewood, and I’m excited to see how the first night went, and perhaps get some inside info as well! Here’s what he had to say: Continue reading Guest Interview: Zach Kalusky →

Review: Made Up

Reviews, , , , ,

Made Up
Made Up by Emma Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Besides, you know how it is – it’s your choice whether to believe everything you read or not.”

Katia sets off across the ocean to follow her dream – to be a makeup artist – when an assistant position falls in her lap. Excited, nervous, and determined to do a good job, Katia leaves her past troubles behind her. But her demons come back into play as she finds herself falling for the star of the show, Owen, and trying to help her sister out of a deep depression.

Suddenly, surviving her demon boss isn’t the only thing on Katia’s mind. She figures time and space will put things into perspective. But her perspective is skewed by her past relationship, her ongoing family issues, and what the media, and others, say about Owen.

Is she ready to take a chance on him being true, or is she still too scarred?

Complex and “real,” this delightful tale follows Katia as she comes to terms with her past, reconstructs her life, and journeys towards happiness. Her past is slowly brought into play, teasing the reader along to find out just what did happen to her to make her the way she is. As her relationship with Owen blooms, she learns to believe in herself and not in everything she reads.

View all my reviews

Bestseller for a Day 1/6

Blog, , , ,

Just wanted to let everyone know about this great deal from the Bestseller for a Day program. This wonderful program is a way to get new books at a great price. They also feature Indie writers, giving them valuable exposure.

Here’s a little more info to entice you:

Anyone who buys the feature book and signs up for a newsletter on Bestseller for a Day website can qualify to have the purchase price refunded for any of the bonus buys that they purchase.  They will also have their name entered into a draw for Kindle. That’s a great deal!  This month there are 5 bonus buys!!!  This means that in a nutshell, readers can get 6 books and potentially a Kindle for 99 cents this month! Continue reading Bestseller for a Day 1/6 →